A/N: This is basically a love letter to the epic-ness that is Serenity and Firefly. I have always wanted Dean or Charlie or anyone for that matter to drop a line from Firefly or Serenity. And since it hasn't happened yet (to my knowledge), I figure it's because they haven't seen em yet!
So here we go: From Sam's POV, a fluffy movie night with Dean and Charlie!
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own any of the characters. AND If you haven't seen Serenity yet, I doubt this will make any sense.
Nerd on!
New Favorite Movie
"What do you mean you've never seen Serenity?"
Charlie was looking at Dean like he'd just killed a puppy.
"I mean, that I've never even heard of it. Sounds like something to do with horses and little girls," Dean said and took a pull of his beer.
Ohh no. Here we go.
"Horses and little girls? Horses and little girls!" Charlie said, throwing her hands up in disgust. "How have you made it to 2015 and never heard of Serenity? I'm so disappointed, Dean. So very disappointed. In fact, I don't think I've ever been more disappointed!"
Dean looked to me for help, but I just shook my head. For a guy who drops pop culture references left and right to have never heard of Joss Whedon's masterpiece that is Serenity was akin to a stab in the back to someone like Charlie. And I didn't disagree with her outrage, I tried to get Dean to watch it on one of our nights off, but to no avail. In fact, I got a similar answer: "Hell no, sounds like a chick-flick with horses." I had tried to explain the premise of the movie, how it was based on a show and how much he would actually enjoy it, but he had already tuned me out.
"Sam, how have you never made him watch it before? He practically is Malcolm Reynolds!"
My hands went up to ward her off. "I've tried, Charlie. I've tried."
"Dean," Charlie started. She walked up to him and grabbed him by the chin and made him look her in the eyes. "It's a space western about a smuggler captain who sticks it to the man and has supernatural elements. Toss in some humor, blood, guts, glory and family in there . . . this will be your new favorite movie, I promise."
Dean lifted his eyebrows a little, Charlie had caught his attention. "A space . . . western?"
Charlie nodded and smiled. Her eyes were lit up, she knew she had won.
"Hot chicks?"
"Multiple," Charlie chuckled.
"Well, alright then. What are we waiting for? Put the sucker on."
"Earth that was could no longer sustain our numbers, we were so many. We found a new solar system, dozens of planets and hundreds of moons. Each one terraformed, a process taking decades to support human life, to be new earths."
Charlie shoved some popcorn in her mouth and squirmed around to get comfortable. "That's totally going to happen, you know," she said, mouth still full.
Dean paused the movie and scolded her. "No talking during the movie. Winchester rule #346."
Charlie mimed zipping her lips closed and tossing the key.
He pressed play and the narration went on.
"We meddle."
"River?"
"People don't like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do. What to think. Don't run. Don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome."
Dean huffed at that. And I knew what he was thinking. Sounded like Angels.
When the teacher shoved the pen into little River's head Dean leaned back a little and tried to contain a smile. Yeah, Dean was going to like Serenity, and Charlie was right, it was probably going to become one of his favorite movies.
"Have you looked at this scan carefully, Doctor? At his face? It's love. In point of fact, something a good deal more dangerous."
I watched Dean glance down at the beer in his hands and saw Charlie peek over at the both of us. Joss freakin' Whedon.
". . . This landing is going to get pretty interesting."
"Define interesting."
"Oh God, oh God, we're all going to die."
Charlie was chuckling in her seat, trying to contain her laughs. It made me smile, and I watched as Dean hid his own smile behind another pull of his beer.
"Take me with you!"
"Get back in the vault with the others!"
"I can't stay here, please!"
"There's too many."
Malcolm pushed the man off the mule and then shot him when the Reavers took hold of him. I didn't look away from the screen, but felt Dean's glance at me. Would Dean and I have done the same? Some days I'd say Hell no. Others . . . others I have no idea. I took a breath and watched the chase scene go on. I'd always thought that scene was important. Malcolm Reynolds is not your A-typical hero. Heck, half the movie, you're unsure if he really is one. If that doesn't parallel Dean's and my lives, I don't think anything could.
"Miranda . . ."
Charlie was practically bouncing in her seat and I couldn't help but laugh at her. She looked at me with a huge grin on her face. "I love this part."
Dean didn't scold her, River's fight scene had already started. He leaned forward and had both elbows on his knees and a grin on his face too. "Did that actress do her own stunts?"
"Yeah," Charlie said, nodding.
Dean's eyebrows shot up, "Impressive."
"Right?" Charlie asked with a laugh.
"I could have left her there. I had an out. Hell, I had every reason in the verse to leave her and haul anchor."
"It's not your way, Mal."
"I have a way? Is that better than a plan?"
"Only one thing is going to walk you through this, Mal . . . Belief."
"You know I always look to you for counsel, but sermons make me sleepy, Shepherd. I ain't looking for help from on high. That's a long wait for a train don't come."
Dean glanced down at his beer again, one side of his mouth turned up in a grim smile.
"When I talk about belief, why do you always assume I'm talking about God?"
Dean looked back up at that. Something flashed in across his eyes.
"I never credited the Alliance with an overabundance of brains. And if you're the best they've got . . ."
"Captain Reynolds, I should tell you so that you don't waste your time, you can't make me angry."
"Please, spend an hour with him."
"Huh, and you think I'm just like this guy?" Dean asked Charlie.
The fight between the Operative and Mal started and Charlie said, "Yup. See, look at how well he can take a beating!"
I laughed. "She's right. I've never known anyone who can take a beating like you and still come out on top."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Dean said under his breath.
"Shepherd!"
"Ah, shit," Dean said, shaking his head. He knew what was coming up. "Son of a bitch."
"Shouldn't have been you. Alliance should have hit us. Should've hit me."
"That crossed my mind . . .I shot him down. I killed the ship that killed us. Not very Christian of me."
"You did what's right."
"Coming from you, that means almost nothing."
. . ."Just don't move."
"Can't order me around, boy. I'm not one of your crew."
"Yes you are."
Shepherd grabs Mal's face and I can't help but to look to see Dean's reaction to the line coming up.
"I don't care what you believe. Just believe it."
Dean looked down at his beer and then to me. He raised his eyebrows a little and nodded. I nodded back.
"I'm sorry. If your quarry goes to ground, leave no ground to go to. You should have taken my offer. Or did you think none of this was your fault?"
"Son of a bitch," Dean muttered under his breath.
"I don't murder children."
"I do. If I have to."
"Why? Do you even know why they sent you?"
"It's not my place to ask. I believe in something greater than myself. A better world. A world without sin."
Dean looked over to Charlie and me, "Jesus, has this guy been talking to the Angels?"
Charlie huffed out a laugh. "Sounds like it, huh?"
"Every minute you keep River Tam from me, more people will die."
"You think I care?"
"Of course you care."
"Oh, this Mother-Trucker is goin' down," Dean said shaking his head.
"There's a lot of fine ways to die. I ain't waiting for the Alliance to choose mine. . . So I hear a word out of any of you that ain't helping me out or taking your leave, I will shoot you down. . . Get to work."
"Wooo-we!" Dean said smiling. He pointed to the screen and said, "I like this guy."
"These are just a few of the images we've recorded. And you can see, it isn't what we thought. There's been no war here and no terraforming event. The environment it stable. It's the Pax. The G-23 Paxilon Hydroclorate that we added to the air processors. It was supposed to calm the population. Weed out aggression. Well, it works. The people here stopped fighting. And then they stopped everything else. They stopped going to work, they stopped breeding, talking, eating. There's 30 million people here and they all just let themselves die. . . I have to be quick. About a 10th of a percent of the population had the opposite reaction to the Pax. Their aggressor response increased beyond madness. They've become. . . well, they've killed most of us. And not killed . . . they've done things."
"Reavers. They made them!"
"Duuuuuude," Dean said. He blinked at Charlie, then me before turning back to the screen.
"I aim to misbehave."
Dean took a long pull of his beer and said, "Yeah, I like this guy."
"Sir!"
"Target the Reavers! Target the Reavers! Target everyone! Somebody fire!"
Dean started laughing out loud, slapping his knee, while Charlie chuckled, probably enjoying Dean's reaction the most.
"Yeah, they definitely didn't seen that coming!"
"I'm a leaf on the wind, watch how I s-"
"Dude! No!" Dean yelled at the screen. So much for no talking during the movie.
"I never planned anything. I just wanted to keep River safe. I spent so much time on Serenity ignoring anything that I wanted for myself. My one regret in all of this is never being with you."
"With me? You mean to say, as . . . sex?"
Dean chuckled.
"I mean to say."
"The Hell with this. I'm gunna live!"
Dean laughed aloud again, slapping his thigh. "Oh man, that's too good."
The Reavers start breaking through the door and Dean sits up straighter when Zoey walks out and starts shooting them. "Dude, she's a badass!"
"Just you wait," Charlie said, engrossed by the fight scene.
"You shot me in the back!"
"The bastard shot him in the back!" Dean said. He almost stood up, he was so pissed.
"I know the secret. The truth that burned up River Tam's brain. Rest of the 'verse is going to know it too. 'Cause they need to."
"Do you really believe that?"
"I do."
Charlie elbowed Dean's shoulder. "Get it? He's gotta believe in something!"
Dean smiled down at her and looked back to the movie.
"You willing to die for that belief?"
"I am."
"Hey! Nice hip draw!"
"Of course, that ain't exactly Plan A."
"Sam, did you see that draw?" Dean asked me, smiling. I just nodded.
"Fall back! Everybody fall back! Fall back now!"
"Oh this is good. This is really good!"
"My bag!"
Simon gets shot. I've always hated that part.
"My bag. I need adrenaline and a shot of calaphar for Kaylee. I can't . . . River . . . River, I'm sorry."
I didn't look at Dean. I couldn't. We'd been there too many times. I'd seen this movie a handful of times, but I knew the lines coming up by heart.
"No. No."
"I hate to leave."
"You won't. You take care of me, Simon. You've always taken care of me. . . My turn."
River runs and dives through the door only to get pulled back by the Reavers. Dean looked at Charlie and me in surprise. "Dude. She better still be alive."
The movie cuts back to Mal and the Operative fighting again.
"What is up with this guy and his sword?"
"Do you know what your sin is, Mal?"
"Ah, Hell. I'm a fan of all seven!"
"HAH!" Dean laughs.
"But right now? I'm going to have to go with Wrath."
Dean chuckles again, "Been there, man. Been. There."
When the Operative hits Mal in that nerve cluster, Dean straightened again. I had to hide my smile to not give it away.
"You should know, there is no shame in this. You've done remarkable things. But you're fighting a war you've already lost."
Then last minute, before he gets stabbed, Mal steps and elbows him in the windpipe.
"Yeah. Well, I'm known for that."
Then Dean cheers when Mal immobilizes the guy.
"Hell, I'm going to grant you your greatest wish. I'm going to show you a world without sin."
"That's right!" Dean starts and then the movie cuts to River kicking the Reaver's asses. "Dude!"
Charlie has a manic smile on her face and I can't help but put one on also.
"This chick is all time!" Dean said, his eyes completely glued to the screen.
"Sir."
"It's done. . .Report. . . River?"
The door opens to River holding her axes and dead Reavers spread around her.
"DUDE!"
Then the soldiers blow up the wall behind her.
"DUUUUDE! You all better run! She's going to kill you all!"
"Stand down. Stand down. It's finished."
Dean turned to find Charlie and me looking at him.
"Shut up," he said, holding back a smile.
"It ain't all buttons and charts, little albatross. You know what the first rule of flying is? Well, I suppose you do, since you already know what I'm about to say."
"I do. But I like to hear you say it."
"Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take a boat in the sky that you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. But love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down, tells you she's hurting before she keels. Makes her a home."
"See, you're just like Mal, Dean. He even has his own Baby!" Charlie said and she elbows him again.
The credits began to roll and Charlie turns the movie off.
"So, Dean. What did you think?" I already know the answer. He loved it, but he would have loved it even more if he had found out about it by himself.
"Not bad. Not bad, at all."
"Not bad! Not bad?" Charlie practically shouts.
Now I want nothing more than for this to be a real episode.
Also, I LOVE Supernatural as is . . . but could you imagine how FREAKIN' AMAZING it would be if it was Joss's creation? Or Joss wrote some episodes?
