Let me start this by saying I love these wonderful characters, but I own nothing. Sherlock, The Doctor and the entire Serenity Crew are all someone else's money-makers ;)
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"... And don't think too loudly!" The Doctor admonished as Sherlock opened the TARDIS door onto the pastoral scene.
"Really." Sherlock muttered under his breath.
The air outside was cool and smelled of mouldering grass. The ground crunched dryly under the soles of his shoes and the cloudless sky was a brilliant shade of aquamarine.
Sherlock took in the wondrous sights of his first new world... It was really rather boring. The Doctor hadn't even set them down near a town.
Sherlock's head snapped up as the sky started emitting a deep growling rumble and he spotted a vehicle in the sky surrounded by steam and ozone. He presumed it had just entered the atmosphere and was readying to land. He watched the ship bear across the sky, lifting his chin and turning in place to follow it's trail as it passed directly over head. Quizzically, the ship seemed to take notice of the TARDIS as they passed.
"AH!" The Doctor exclaimed as he came up beside Sherlock, "There they are!"
About a half hour later the two men were standing in front of an aerodynamically improbable space ship, waiting for all the hissing, grinding and clanking to settle so the crew could disembark.
The Doctor had his hands stuck into his coat pockets and was rocking back and forth on the sides of his feet, grinning from ear to ear. None of his mild antics, however, could distract Sherlock from absorbing every last detail of the land-fall and grounding.
At long last the outer cargo bay door started it's achingly slow descent, groaning and complaining the entire time. The loading ramp settled onto the rocky dirt with a heavy, crunching thud and the inner bay doors whirred open to reveal most of the crew waiting to disembark.
Sherlock blinked rapidly as one of the crew members started squealing loudly and launched herself at The Doctor, a brown-and-pink blur of grease cover girl. The Doctor opened his arms just in time to catch the flying mechanic and returned her bear hug with equal enthusiasm.
"See, Cap'n?" The girl said in an odd accent, "I told ya he'd pop up soon!"
"That ya did, Kaylee," The Captain agreed, "And with company in-tow." The Captain looked Sherlock over then stuck out his hand. "Captain Malcolm Reynolds, at your service."
"Sherlock Holmes." He replied, clasping the Captain's hand and giving it one firm pump before releasing it.
The Captain shooed Kaylee back toward the ship then opened his arms wide to herd the Doctor and Sherlock further to the side of the ramp. "My crew will be sure to introduce themselves once their work is done, but for now I'll ask you two just to stand clear of the ramp so you don't get knocked about any." The statement was made with authority, but not intended as a rude demand. Captain Reynolds obviously cared about his guests' welfare and was just as obviously comfortable with people following his lead.
While Kaylee, a tall, thin, dark woman and a stocky, gruff looking man slung crates into the the back of a rickety transport an elegantly clad man with dark hair escorted a regal woman with olive skin down the ramp to greet the Doctor.
The woman gave the small, self assured but unemotional smile of the well affected while the man's smile was slightly more timid.
"Doctor!" The woman took the lead, authoritative, "It's so nice to see you again!"
"Ah! Inara!" The Doctor took the artfully upheld hand, kissed it, then lifted it over her head and turned her about as if she were a child in a new dress rather than a professional entertainer. She giggled and her face lit up like Christmas. "This is my friend, Sherlock. Sherlock, this is the lovely Inara accompanied by Doctor Simon Tam."
Sherlock gave doctor Tam another of his perfunctory handshakes along with a nod and kissed Inara's hand with a calculatedly dashing smile.
Sherlock and the Doctor waited patiently for fifteen minutes before the grizzled man drove the cargo transport down the ramp and onto the dirt of the makeshift landing pad.
The tall, dark woman walked over to greet them, "Doctor," She stripped the leather gloves off her hands and held one out, but the Doctor tugged her into a quick hug, "And I hear you're Sherlock...?" Always glad to meet someone who paid attention to details, Sherlock took her proffered hand firmly in his.
"Where is your lovely husband?" The Doctor asked. All motion ceased for a split second before people found elsewhere to do their tasks. The Doctor looked stricken to the core, smile melted from his lean face. For a moment his mouth hung open, before he quietly murmured, "Oh, Zoe... I'm so sorry."
"Not your fault, Doctor." Zoe said after giving herself an almost visible shake. She cleared her throat. "You weren't here when..."
"Reavers." Said a small feminine voice from the mouth of the cargo bay. "Five years ago, last month. It was very sad. Kaylee cried."
As Zoe found elsewhere to be, Sherlock looked up at the young woman standing at the top of the ramp. Her brown hair was cut in a serviceable but comley style, her dress was a little well worn but of a cut that flattered her nubile figure and printed in colors that brought out the gold hues in her brown eyes, she had no shoes or socks. Sherlock caught himself before he could frown.
"Don't need shoes in The Black, Sherlock." The girl told him. She knew his name, but he was sure she hadn't been anywhere near until a moment ago.
The Doctor caught his attention. "You're thinking a little too loud, my friend." he held out his hand to the girl who silently glided down the ramp, took his hand and pressed it to her cheek. "This is River Tam, Simon's younger sister. River, meet Sherlock Holmes."
The Doctor opened his mouth to speak, but the girl cut him off. "Alliance got him. Tried to make it look like Reavers did it. We brought the Reavers to the Alliance. They'll never forget what Reavers are. Wash didn't make it. Punched a hole in his leaf." She was talking about two different people, now. Killed by two different factions.
She turned toward Sherlock and took his hand in both of hers. She ran her thumbs over the back of his hand before flipping it over to smooth her fingers over his palm. She rubbed her soft cheek against his knuckles then patted his hand and dropped it. "Nice to meet you Mister Holmes." Out of the corner of his eye Sherlock saw the large man who had not been introduced falter a step then change course to intercept the trio as they meandered up the ramp to the cargo bay.
"Hain't you got pilot-ee stuff to do, moon-brain?" He asked the girl in a low voice that set Sherlock's teeth on edge but she just laughed, a tinkling, melodic giggle.
"Haven't you got mercenar'ee stuff to do, Jayne?" she asked him back, mocking his accent and vocal tones almost perfectly, but a pitch higher.
"Now, Now!" Captain Reynolds admonished the two, as if they were bickering children. "Do I need to separate the two of you?"
"No Captain!" River quickly replied, "Jayne was just leaving. Got better things to do than stand around letting a fong luh girl make fun of him." Sherlock could sense tension between the two. Tension that wasn't quite sexual, but not exactly familial either.
Jayne walked into the ship grumbling something under his breath.
River slipped her arm around Sherlock's and trapped his in the crook of her elbow. He looked at their linked arms with raised brows but said nothing.
"Come now, Detective," River purred at him, "Would you like to explore the town? Buy a girl a drink?"
"Sherlock..." The Doctor tried to get his attention with the 'I should tell you...' tone in his voice.
"FAHNG-Sheen, Doctor!" River waved off whatever he was about to tell Sherlock, "Ni fei hua!" She gave the men a dazzling smile.
"I'll just tag along, then." The Doctor gave her an equally bright smile and positioned himself at her other side.
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The walk into town wasn't as long as Sherlock had originally thought and he was occupied by chatting to the Doctor and River with her oddly accented English and Chinese mix. She caught onto his manner of speech very quickly and seemed to know more about him than she would have liked to let on.
They crested one more hill and below them, spread along the edge of a plains region filled with blue and brown grasses that gently swayed in the breeze like a calm sea, was a ramshackle village of clapboard buildings, loose livestock and swaggering people.
"Well! Here we are!" The Doctor exclaimed and started down the hill into town.
River heaved a sigh and frowned at the Doctor for just a second before rearranging her face into a bright smile and glancing at Sherlock out of the corner of her eye. "Don't miss much, do you?" She asked him.
"Not often." He dryly confirmed her odd query and they set off down the hill after the Doctor.
The town, up close, looked a little more shabby than it did from afar. The roads were packed dirt with boardwalks along the sides connecting all the buildings so the people of this poor town wouldn't have to tromp through the mud when it rained.
The Doctor decided to browse the local General Store so River and Sherlock followed him into the small shop. Sherlock stopped just inside the door to let his eyes adjust and River let go of his arm to browse with the Doctor. Sherlock found himself oddly entranced by this waif of a girl as she walked around the room with a small smile on her full lips. She ran a finger along a porcelain plate and stroked the handles of a post-holer. Her eyes flicked to him then back down to her own hands.
"It's rude to stare..." She murmured, suddenly shy, "Not shy... Just, watched." Her eyes flicked to him, then to the store keep and back to her hands. The store keep had been watching them with almost a glare since they stepped over the threshold and it was making her uncomfortable. Sherlock stepped up to her and offered her his elbow.
"Would you like that drink, now?" He smiled down at her and she returned his grin with a relieved sigh and a nod. She took his arm, tucking hers neatly into the crook of his so he could lead her back out onto the street. The Doctor looked up from the piece of memorabilia he was inspecting as the two left the shop so he was still looking at the door when Jayne walked in and looked about.
"Jayne! My man!" The Doctor got his attention. "What would a fellow like you be doing in a place like this?"
"I, uh..." The Doctor waited for the burly man to come up with a good enough lie. "Mal sent me for kitchen supplies." He finally supplied.
"Oh?" The doctor quirked an eyebrow.
"Yeah, uhm, some food-stuffs."
"Alright, then!" The Doctor smiled brightly at the lad. "Let's see the list. I'll help you fill it."
"List?" The poor guy looked so confused, it was almost painful.
"A list of supplies you need?" The Doctor clarified. "I bet, you've forgotten it."
"Uh, yeah..." Jayne seemed to want to be anywhere but in the store.
"Not to worry!" The Doctor almost laughed at Jayne's transparency. "I'm sure Mal only sent you as a joke. I bet he sent Kaylee and Zoe with the list."
"How do you-" Jayne stopped talking as he heard Kaylee's voice flitter into the store. "Oh."
"Well, how about us boys go get a drink?" The Doctor couldn't resist.
"Now that I can do." Jayne agreed heartily.
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