Series Title: Like A Rolling Stone

Chapter Title: Can't You Hear Me Knocking?

Chapter Number: One

Genre: Adventure/Romance/Drama

Pairing: River/Jayne, Simon/Kaylee, Mal/Inara, Zoe/Wash, Book/God (Yes, dead characters are still relevant…)

Timeline: Post BDM.

Rating: PG (Series will range from PG to potentially NC-17)

Disclaimer: Whedon's world, my manipulation…

Summary: Four months after Miranda, River, the new pilot of Serenity, discovers an unlikely presence aboard the ship. She wants to hide from it, so she delves into the minds of her crew mates…

Author's Note: Chapter is River-centric. Not sure yet if the story will switch perspectives or not. And this series is centered on and going to be eventual River/Jayne. Hey, isn't the chase almost more fun than the catch?

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Can't You Hear Me Knocking?

"Please God, make me a stone…" River moaned, shuddering and collapsing onto her knees. She was hugging her chest and her eyes burned. She was seeing the Reavers again. Except this time, their bellies were purple.

"He already has," a deep and gentle voice spoke out to her.

"Then why don't these dreams stop? A stone does not have a mind, a brain from which to experience a series of involuntary images and sensations-" she said, stopping herself short as he came forward.

Sheppard Book stepped out from the shadows. The world was black and white. The girl stopped seeing in color when he came. The highlights were stark. Very white. And the shadows were deep. Very black.

Where they were she could not say.

Irrelevant. Indescribable.

"You have become one sense your escape. Rolling along, picking up the pieces of those around you. Yet still on your own. Still rolling, even when you should have stopped. Do you know where your home is?" he asked her.

She shook her head no…but began to think of a logical and rational answer to such a seemingly easy question.

"Do not think about it. A home does not require hesitation," Book said.

River didn't know what to say. Her mind felt empty as she tried to bring to words what her home was.

"Do you remember what the Captain told you about piloting?" the Sheppard asked her.

She nodded.

"Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse...but you take a boat in the air that you don't love…she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down…tells you she's hurting before she keels. Makes her a-"

But before River could finish, word for word, what Mal had told her when she first grabbed Serenity's reigns, the world vanished.

Varoom…Varoom…Varoom…Varoom

The calm hum of the ship during the artificial night aboard Serenity lulled River into a meditative trance upon awakening from sleep. Curled up in the pilot's chair, with her knees against her chest and her feet perched flatly on the seat, she allowed her head to fall back to the headrest. Feeling the weight of her skull atop her cervical spine, she slowly began counting the mass in pounds of her entire head.

"1…2…3…" she said aloud quietly, as if trying to hide it from someone else in the room.

But there wasn't a single person on the bridge.

At least, that's what she thought.

However, something kept itching on the surface of her skin, making it prickly and causing the fine hairs on her arms and back to stretch away, standing on end.

She interrupted her own counting involuntarily.

"Someone's here…" came forth from her mouth.

Opening her eyes, the dark brown pupils danced in unison to the left, and then slowly moved to the far right, her body staying completely still. Sighing, River patiently began to place her feet to the floor below.

"It's not okay to hide…" she spoke aloud again, unintentionally.

"What's that mei-mei?" Simon asked, as he quietly slipped into the room.

River turned her head slightly at his voice, wondering if it was his presence that she had sensed.

"No, someone else is here too…" her thoughts escaped her lips.

"Uhhmmm…I don't see anyone…if there's somebody else in here you'd think I would…" the doctor's voice trailed off. River sensed that he was catching himself again, forgetting that some of his sister's strange behavior still existed within her even after Miranda. That thought of his was interrupted with the real reason he had come aboard the bridge. She knew what he was going to say but she waited for him to do it himself.

"River, have you seen Kaylee? I thought maybe she was here fixing…something…I can't seem to find her…and-" Simon began.

"She's in the showers, replacing the grease with the soap. The water's temperature is high in relation to the crew's overall preference, turning her skin pink but she likes it that way. More comfortable that way. Her thoughts are even warmer than the sheet of hydrogen and oxygen particles racing across her skin…" River paused, her head tilted to the side and her lips parted slightly, exposing only a few of her top rowed teeth.

She shut her eyes and could sense Simon's curiosity as he listened in on River tapping into Kaylee's mind.

Then her eyes flew open and a grin spread across her cheeks. They turned bright red, and River dared not to spin the chair around and physically suggest to Simon where Kaylee's mind was wandering.

But perhaps she underestimated his intuition and how well he could read River without psychic powers.

"I…uhhh…think I know where this is going…" he began to turn around towards the hatch to leave.

"River?" he inquired in the frame of the doorway.

She removed herself from Kaylee's increasingly dirty mind to listen to Simon wholeheartedly.

"I'm glad that you're up here. I'm…glad that Mal made you our pilot. It just…makes me feel…I'm not sure I know how to say this but…"

She swiveled the seat so she was facing him. Not wanting to read his mind, she waited for him to reveal to her what he was going to say, even though it would take her mere seconds to read him and find the truth that words couldn't accurately convey.

"I feel done," he finally blurted after a few attempts at other words. "Done isn't the right word for it, but after all we've been through…it's just like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. It's like we're really a part of this crew now…" he finished, smiling back at her.

"My job is finished, and yours has just started," he said.

She reciprocated with a smile just as warm and genuine as his. She loved to see her brother's face in such a way. If it were possible to make it permanent, River would make it so.

Breaking their locked gazes, Simon turned his face toward the ground and slowly began to turn away. She watched him as he left the bridge and stepped down the stairs into the narrow hallway that led to the galley.

River turned the chair back around and closed her eyes again. It was late in the artificial night, but everyone on Serenity seemed to be awake.

Before the incident on Miranda, River could never voluntarily read minds and receive clear thoughts. That only worked on occasion back then, but she soon discovered that after killing all those Reavers, a certain clarity dawned upon her. She had promised herself not to abuse this ability much, as it could land her in troubles unforeseen. After all, things were troubling enough with her and people nowadays without reading their minds.

But she wanted to keep her mind away from that lingering presence that hung around the bridge…

So, she tightened her eyelids.

Listening in, River's mind immediately snapped into Zoe's head.

The first mate was alone in her bunk, sitting on the only double bed on the ship (not counting Inara's). She was folding up clothing and putting it in a trunk.

Wash's shirts…

River suddenly felt a stinging sensation in her forehead. It carried down her face and focused in on her eyes. It was too much. Too much pain and she had to force her eyes open. From the corner of each of them, a single stream of tears fell. She quickly wiped them away. If pain were a brute force, she thought, Zoe's could kill the entire crew.

River decided that she would leave the woman alone. She was a solitary person, very private and to read her mind felt like a decimation of her character.

Moving her mind out of the room, it streamed down the hallway and into the cargo bay. From there it wafted across the scaffolding and flashed into Inara's shuttle.

The companion was pacing back and forth in her quarters. Thinking heavy thoughts. But they were fast and racing through her mind, giving River a headache. Something about Mal, of course, but these weren't the general thoughts she seemed to always have on the captain. They were frantic, but reserved. Worried, but relieved. Upset, yet excited.

"What had happened?" River wondered to herself.

And then, the psychic could see through Inara's eyes. The woman was holding a syringe that was held within a delicate box. She quickly pulled the lid off of it and pulled it out.

River ran herself out of the companions mind.

No needles. No more. She couldn't handle the sight of them. And although she would often be injected by them from Simon for treatment, she did that mostly out of favor for him.

They still hurt though, she thought. Regardless of whose hands they were in.

Moving away, River mentally entered the galley. There were two people in there. Drinking and cleaning guns. The scent of gun oil filtered through River's nose and she twinged at it. Guns. Almost as bad as needles.

"So," Jayne began, after taking a swig of whiskey. "They definitely stayin' on board?"

River knew he was referring to Simon and her. She also knew that Jayne knew the answer to that question. But the merc enjoyed pestering Mal about it regardless. Plus, the man always played up his edge. Had to stay rough and tough.

"Yup…" Mal replied. His tone suggested annoyance, but he also made it sound like a parent telling a child. The captain liked to bite back.

"It's been four months now Jayne. How's about you stop askin' the same gorram questions?" Mal continued.

Jayne just snickered and continued cleaning his weapons. Sometimes their conversations seemed like an old habit, she mused. Going through the motions, not really paying much attention to words or phrases.

"Ya know, I ain't a ruttin' gene-yes," Jayne started. Mal immediately scoffed at that statement, as if his gun-for-hire was hitting on some kind of news.

Jayne lifted his eyes for a moment to watch Mal as the browncoat poured himself another shot and continued cleaning.

"As I was sayin'…Bin four months now since Miranda. You know as well as I that the news we broadcasted from Mr. Universes' hub ain't sittin' right with 'em Rim an' Core folk alike," Jayne said.

"Yup…" Mal responded in the same tone he used before.

Jayne slammed down his gun cartridge.

"Gorramit Mal, what in the hell is a small ship like ours gonna do come the next big damn war?" Jayne asked, rather seriously.

Mal stopped and looked up. One of his eyebrows dipped, feigning deep contemplation.

"Hmm…you know Jayne…" Mal stuck a hand under his chin.

River knew he was pushing the merc's tolerance. There was a dramatic pause before the captain continued.

"The same gorram thing," he finished.

Jayne sighed in relief. Then he began to chuckle.

"What in the 'Verse are you laughin' bout?" Mal asked with a smile.

They were quite drunk, River thought. Else their intolerances and bickering wouldn't be so easily brushed to the side.

"Fer a minute there I thought ya'd say we were gonna fight a war or somethin'" Jayne continued to chuckle as he said that.

Mal then put everything down. The mercenary noticed this and looked up. An uncomfortably serious look overcome Mal's countenance.

"Wut? Say somethin' wrong?" Jayne inquired.

"No…" Mal's head turned to the right. "It's what I did say…"

Jayne's face twitched into his thinking mask, River noted. The man always did put on that expression when he wanted others to think he was thinking. Generally, it was used just so someone would hurry on and explain themselves to him.

"The same gorram thing…" Mal quietly muttered again as he stood up and walked towards one of the lockers.

"We're landing on Persephone tomorrow…or rather it would be today in six hours," Mal said, noting that he was up way past artificial midnight. "Badger's got us a job. Ya'll will protest when you find out what for, but I ain't listenin'. There's hardly a decent job here in the 'Verse, now with the Alliance suppression and all…"

River left the conversation to think on this. The captain was right. Ever since Miranda, the tension was so thick amongst the planets and colonies that the Alliance was cracking down on its citizens, taking away certain rights that some thought were impossible to not have. The Alliance presence was remarkably strong even on border worlds. They were trying, hoping to stop any and all rebellions since the signal was sent from Mr. Universes' home. They had immediately launched a campaign to turn Miranda into a myth. Damage control, as Zoe once put it.

"Mal, that go se planet is crawlin' with the Alliance. No way we're gonna step foot without causin' trouble," Jayne whined.

He was right, River thought. The crew of Serenity technically did not exist, as the government's almost daily propaganda stated. They didn't exist, Miranda did not exist, and Reavers were the boogey men that hid in children's closets…

"We can get to Badger and back without trouble," Mal said.

"How?" Jayne loudly demanded.

"You'll see…" the captain stated, turning back around to collect his guns.

"If this involves you wearin' that pretty flower bonnet, I just dun think that'll-" Jayne began.

"Go to bed Jayne," Mal ordered. "I don't pay you to plan, I don't pay you to think, I don't pay you to talk."

The merc was hitting on Mal's last nerve. This coincidentally meant the whiskey was wearing off too.

Jayne ignored him and reached for the alcohol to take another shot. Mal grabbed his arm in mid reach.

"Six hours Jayne. That 'nough time to sober up?" Mal's free hand grabbed the bottle.

Jayne grumbled and started putting his guns back together.

Mal began to leave the room with the whiskey.

He stopped at the doorway.

"I need to know," he began. Turning around, the captain continued. "I need to know that your loyalty is with mine and me and no one else. I imagine you'll be tempted in ways something fierce to turn on us if'n means better money, or as you'll soon learn once we're planetside, better security. 'Cause these next few weeks, months, or even years ain't gonna be what it used to be."

River suddenly wanted to enter Mal's mind deeper and find out just what he truly meant. What could possibly be so bad that Jayne will want to betray them for safety over money?

Turning her mind back to the two, she listened in on Jayne's response.

Nothing.

Mal angrily turned around and left.

"…right…" was all the captain muttered.

Veep Veep!

River awoke from her mind reading. The cortex was beeping. She turned the chair to the left and flipped a switch. It was an announcement. More propaganda?

As she waited for the information to load, she looked out at Persephone in the front windows. They were on the dark side of the planet, moving closer and closer to the sunrise.

Then a face appeared abruptly on the screen. She looked back to the left. It was hers. That same damn picture taken back at the Academy. Blue-ish tone of light. Hair greasy and sticking to the scalp. Big brown eyes trying to absorb the camera man. Dark circles rounding the eyes, making the white orbs appear to be projecting from her face.

Removing herself from her own face, she looked across the screen to read what the news meant. Her fist tightened on the arm chair. The Alliance still wanted her. Only now the demand as to how was unequivocal.

"Wanted: Dead," she said aloud monotonously.

And the bounty.

It was beyond amazing in monetary value. Priceless could almost be the term for it. Even the rich could see a reason for fulfilling this government request.

But did the government really have this kind of capital to expend?

River was about to turn off the cortex and snuggle up in the chair, hoping to sleep before they would hit atmo, but a twang of curiosity hit her. Where was Simon's warrant?

She entered his name on the keyboard and nothing popped up. What about Mal? Nothing.

That's right, she thought. They did not exist. But why her?

"It's unimportant," a familiar voice said to her.

Gasping, she flew around in her chair and jumped to her feet.

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