This is for all the people who demanded it.

This is the sequel to SCATTERED TO THE WIND so you need to read that first before this or it won't make sense.

As usual I own nothing.

Italics denote flashbacks throughout

Its explains what happened to Mal, why Jayne mellowed out and why Simon got so mean, how River got sane and how everyone coped with the six intervening years. It will also (as it goes on) answer all the relationship questions posed from the first story.

Driftwood

Mal stands behind the market stall selling fresh fruit and vegetables, and watches the young woman in the flowery summer blouse and cropped trousers, weave her way across the market place. She pauses occasionally to look at the stalls. Mal notices her toenails are painted perfectly pink.

She stopped in front of the very stall he was hid behind. Mal shrank back, trying to make himself smaller, unnoticeable.

Kaylee stares hard at the small shining pile of scarlet strawberries on the market stall, and licks her lips. She digs into her pocket and counts the loose change she has. She sighs and pouts and shoves the money away. She turns away from the stall.

Mal nearly calls out, nearly yells her name across the market. But he stops himself, despite imagining her throwing herself into his arms and him spinning her round. He would buy her a whole bucket of strawberries.

He moves forward to get a better view, and sees her stop again. She is looking at a computer information screen. Her head droops forwards and she covers her mouth with her hand. Mal thinks he sees the glisten of teardrops on her cheeks as she walks away. Kaylee…no don't cry…

He waits a minute so she doesn't see him, and walks to the screen. He calls up the last viewed pages. The Tam's faces stare at him – River, all eyes and dark hair, and Simon looking the same as he had when he walked into Mal's life. But it gave no new news of the pair. No wonder Kaylee was upset.

Mal rubbed at his chin, the two-day-old stubble scratching at his hand. He sighed. Why wasn't anything ever easy? He turned and headed back to Serenity, alone.

Mal is patrolling the corridors. Prowling them. It's the middle of the night and he can't sleep. He's walked every inch of his ship. Listening to every little sound that isn't silence. Thinking that he might wake up all alone on Serenity and all this will be a dream. He balls his hands into fists and wills the falling feeling out of his stomach.

He stops by Zoë and Wash's door and hears the sound of soft talking. Zoë's singing. A lullaby to baby Mal. He'd never realised she could sing.

Mal pads slowly away and pauses at Kaylee's door. He can hear movement. He taps gently on the door before pushing it open. He climbs down carefully.

"Cap'n…" she blushes.

Mal has caught her all dressed up in her pink layer cake and twirling round the room like a ballerina.

"S'ok Kaylee," Mal says grinning. He sits on her bed. "I'm just happy you got it back."

Kaylee's eyes are brimming again as she sits next to him, her dress rustling around her.

"Ssshhh mei mei don't cry," Mal puts his arm around her and kisses her forehead.

She smiles through her tears. "Sorry Cap'n. Just pleased to be home."

"Me too," Mal feels tears prick the back of his eyes. He blinks hard. "Now shut up, you're making a mean old man want to cry."

Mal reread the Core warrants for the third time that evening and sighed. They haven't changed in the last four days, why should they today? He shuts down the computer screen and walks slowly back to the dining room, still limping heavily. He drops into a chair with a muttered curse and checks his stitches. He did them himself, they're not pretty but they're keeping his leg together. His face is killing him; his stitching abilities aren't good enough that he'll trust them on his own face. He used some high tech skin glue stuff that the doc had tucked away.

He sits down to his meal alone and pours himself a cup of cider. He takes a swig, downs another couple of painkillers and looks around. His eyes catch the pretty flowers Kaylee insisted on painting up the walls.

Mal puts his face into his hands wincing with pain, and feels his eyes fill with tears.

They're not coming back. None of them. They think you're dead. For all you know they're dead too.

The tears spill over and make his hands wet.

Just get to Monty. Get to him, get yourself right. Then hunt for them. These things can wait.

Mal keeps telling himself these pretty lies as he pushes his food around the plate.

Kaylee kissed him on the cheek. "If it cheers you up I slapped Simon."

Mal starts to laugh. "Why mei mei?"

"For being dead. Seemed the thing to do."

Mal peered through the window of the infirmary to see Simon tidying. It was three a.m. in the morning and the boy was muttering to himself and throwing things into the trash.

Mal saw him frown hard at a bottle, trying to decipher the Chinese writing on the faded label. He finally gave up and threw it away. Mal had tried to restock the infirmary. Usually not from traditional sources. Hence the crap Chinese bottles.

Simon's collar was undone by several buttons and his hair was even messier than it had been earlier. He wondered if his good doctor was lost to them. He had been the last one to welcome him and he'd had a gun pointed at Mal's heart for most of the time. The steely look in the younger man's eyes had told Mal that he was more than capable of hitting his target. Mal wondered where his innocence had gone.

"Don't you know you're spying on my big brother?" A voice said in his ear.

Mal jumped and turned to find River grinning at him. She could still move silently if she wanted.

"River sorry I…"

River grinned again and took hold of his hand. She dragged him bodily into the infirmary.

"Look who I found!" she says to Simon as he looks up from arranging scalpels at right angles to the tray they were on.

Mal thinks that maybe a part of the old Simon is still there.

River hops up and sits on the couch. "It's been ages since we did this Simon."

He looks remotely horrified but Mal can see the wicked sparkle in her eyes. Mal gives her a smile and she hops back down.

"I'll let you two talk," River says and leaves the room.

"I, I should apologise for my behaviour earlier captain."

Ah, thinks Mal, there he is.

"Its ok. I wouldn't want my sis or girl running up to a dead man," Mal can't resist playing with him. "At least they didn't slap me."

Simon's eyes narrow very slightly and he puts down the scalpel he's holding rather harder than he meant to. He folds his arms.

"Why now?"

"What?"

"Why come back now? Why not four, five even six years ago? The 'verse ain't that big." Simon's got a hard look in his eyes again, and Mal wonders how much of their doctor is still there, really there. Running with Jayne all those years had to warp you.

"I didn't have a choice Simon. I said I'd tell you all and I will. We all got things to explain. Just not now."

"When this is all over I'll be able to make the nightmares go away."

The screaming is incessant. Its ear splitting and terrified. Simon is sure its River screaming. Then someone slaps him hard round the face and the screaming stops. Jayne is shaking him, none too gently, and River is peeping round his shoulder, babbling at him, "It's a nightmare Simon. They get into your head too…"

"Nimen dou bi zui!" Jayne snaps letting go of his shoulders.

"What's going on?" Book appears in the doorway, his hair completely wild.

River shrieks and ducks away behind Jayne, only her fingers gripping into his bare bicep the sign that she's there.

"Go back to sleep doc. It's alright Preacher. Simon's just channelling his sister."

Simon flops back against the pillow, and realises his face is wet. He wipes hurriedly at his eyes, but it doesn't really help.

River scrambles up onto his bed, clambers over his legs and puts her arms around him. She strokes his hair and makes cooing noises. The same noises he makes to her to calm her.

Jayne rolls his eyes and leaves the room. Book smiles at them. "You can't bottle up everything Simon. Sometime you're going to want to talk about the events of six months ago."

Book left the room.

"You can talk to me," River snuggles her cheek against his right ear.

Simon shakes his head gently.

"I know you miss her. I know you wanted to die with her. You think you left them…left her to die."

"No…" How could she know that? How could she know anything like that? He'd never said a word about it. Not a single word for two whole days. He'd been too stunned, too afraid. Then life had to go on. He had to protect River. Reminding her of another lost home wouldn't help her.

"I know you do. Guilty secrets Simon. Pretty lies." River walks her fingers up the side of his head. "Poison you. Poison memories. Lies with bows and ribbons, ruffles and lace." She leans in and whispers in his ear. "The taste of strawberries can't cover the taste of lies."

Translation Notes

Nimen dou bi zui - Everybody shut the hell up!