"The Alliance is not pleased, Mackenzie," Inara said. I kicked at some gravel and sighed. I had made her promise not to tell my brother she'd been in touch with me, so she took initiative and decided to act like my mother.
"I know, but I can't really help it. It runs in my blood," I smirked. Annoying the hell out of Alliance was one of the things my brother and I did best.
"You know they've put a warrant out for you. You're wanted. You can't stay in one place for too long. Why won't you just come with us?" She asked. I sighed.
"You know why," I said. "Mal will kill me. I haven't kept in touch with him since before the war, and I was eight then. He promised to take care of me, and I haven't really let him."
"So let him now. I mean, sure he's an arrogant pain, but when it comes down to it, he's really handy to have around. We're headed to Persephone after this, so if you don't like it on Serenity you can get off there. I won't bug you about it anymore, I promise," she pleaded. I could never say no to Inara.
"Fine," I grumbled. We walked through the busy streets in silence. I kept my head down, in case there were any Alliance scouts looking for me. I felt bad for ignoring Mal for all these years, but I had to prove to myself I wasn't dependent. Why should a woman need to prove that? Well, I was raised by Malcolm Reynolds.
When we entered the ship, it was mostly deserted. Inara led me into the kitchen. She pulled out a chair for me to sit in.
"Sit here. Mal should be back soon. He's finishing a job," she said. "I'll go see who else is on board." She left.
I sat awkwardly by myself in the kitchen for several minutes. I heard footsteps and looked up. A black haired girl only a few years younger than I, poked her head around the corner and looked at me curiously. She walked tentatively toward the table and sat, studying my face.
"You're worried," she said at last. "You don't need to be worried. Everything will be fine." I didn't know what she meant by that. There were more footsteps, and by the sound of it, their owner was running. A tall, familiar looking, brown haired boy ran into the kitchen and up to the girl.
"River," he said. "You shouldn't be running off like that." He was slightly out of breath. The girl, River, never took her eyes off of me as he spoke.
"I felt it, Simon. She's here," she said. Simon looked up at me, as if noticing me for the first time. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Passenger?" he asked.
"Yeah, you could say that," I laughed. There were more footsteps and Inara walked in followed by Mal and the other members of his crew whom I'd only heard of. I stood and sighed. I hated confrontations. I looked at Mal for several minutes, and he returned my gaze. He hadn't changed much, just aged. He still had the same attitude about him, the same commanding presence, and the same desire to come across as scarier than he actually was.
"You got old," I said lamely. I expected him to shoot back some rude remark, but instead the corner of his mouth twitched and turned into a smile.
"Mack," he said, holding his arms outstretched. He pulled me into one of those smothering hugs that I hadn't received from him since I was a kid. "You've gotten taller," he observed. He released me and turned to his crew. "I see you've already met the Tams."
"Tam…" I thought. "The ones that the Alliance want?" I asked. He nodded. I realized why they looked so familiar.
"Inara informed me that you two know each other quite well. You'll have to explain that to me later. This is Wash, our pilot," he gestured to a blond man with an amused smile on his face. He saluted to me. "Zoe, who you might remember," It was true. I hadn't seen Zoe for as long as I hadn't seen my brother, but she hadn't changed much either. "Kaylee, our engineer," a spunky young girl smiled at me. "Shepherd Book, our 'spiritual leader'," and elderly black man nodded in greeting. "And this is Jayne." He pointed to a tall, muscular, gruff looking man who only grunted in return. He then addressed his crew, "This is my sister, Mack. She is going to be traveling with us to Persephone." He turned back to me again. "We need to talk. The rest of you let's get this heap off the ground."
We walked out of the kitchen and into the cargo bay. I sat on some crates left in the middle of the platform. Mal paced a little and then leaned against the stairs.
"It's been a long time," he said finally. "I didn't think you survived the war." He studied my face intently.
"I know I should have kept in touch," I said. "But that wasn't exactly practical. I had no way to reach you, so I figured it would be best if I went off the charts. Besides you would have worried too much."
"I'm worried now," he said. "You're only twenty and you're on the Alliance's most wanted list." I laughed a little. Mal's seriousness was awkward for me.
"I think you're just jealous I got on there before you," I said. "Besides, I'm fine. You'll let me stay, then?" I was hopeful. If I was allowed to stay with Mal, things would be so much easier for the both of us.
"You can stay," he nodded. "I'm sure you'll be useful. Just do me a favor," he said.
"Anything," I said relieved that he wasn't mad at me.
"Don't ever disappear like that again," he said and walked up the stairs and to the cockpit. I smiled to myself. He was still afraid to admit that he cared about me. Typical.