Disclaimer: I do not own Serenity the ship, even though I love her dearly. I don't own the crew from Firefly, but Elizabeth and her friends are mine, plus this story idea.

Finding Her Serenity

Chapter 1: The Junkyard

Dear Simon,

By now you will have realized that I have left. Please don't think that I did so because I thought I wasn't wanted. I understand now that all of you on board Serenity cared for me each in your own way. I left because I feel that there is more for me to do and you can not help me. Don't look for me. I understand all of you too well to be caught by you. Besides, where I am going, none of you can follow. I hope all of you will live long and happily. Good Bye.

Love,

River Tam

Simon Tam reread his sister's letter once more in astonishment. Why would she leave? He couldn't understand. It had been three months since the crew of Serenity had told the known worlds about Miranda. In all that time, River had not shown any signs of unrest or that she needed to do something.

Kaylee stepped into the room. She was still in her wedding dress with flowers in her hair. "What's the matter Simon?" She asked when she saw the look on his face.

"She's gone." He choked out.

Kaylee stared at him. "What?"

"River's gone." He said feeling the adrenaline starting to hit him.

For a moment Kaylee couldn't move. "She's gone?" When her husband nodded, she ran out of the room holding up the skirts of her dress. "Capt'n!" She cried. "Capt'n! Rivers gone!" She found the others in the dining room talking over what food and drink was left. They stopped when they saw Kaylee's distress.

"What is it Kaylee?" Captain Malcolm Reynolds asked from his chair where he had been talking with Zoë.

"River's gone!" She cried as Simon followed her into the room.

Mal looked at the doctor. "Gone?"

Simon nodded his head and showed them the note. "She left. Her room's empty and she's not on the ship."

Mal read River's note and wondered what could have made their little albatross jump ship just after her brother and best friend's wedding? What could have made her jump ship at all? She loved Serenity as much as anyone else did.

The searched for years looking for River Tam, but they never found her. She was right when she said she knew them too well to get caught by them. While they searched, life moved on. Kaylee and Simon had children who loved Serenity as much as Mal himself did, not that Mal's kids didn't love their home, they adored it like their father. Inara was very proud of them. Zoë never remarried but stayed with her captain. After all, she was his right hand. Jayne really didn't change. He stayed on board but threatened to leave often, although that might have had something to do with the children that kept bugging him. River knew this would happen. It was in their natures to continue life like this and she would have loved to have been a part of it, but something was pulling her. There was still more for her to do before she finally found her Serenity.

200 years later on the planet Cerulean

Elizabeth Meer Reynolds stared up at the most beautiful ship she had ever seen. Looking at it, she easily understood why her ancestor Malcolm Reynolds had fallen in love with the old Firefly class ship, Serenity.

"What a piece of crud. No wonder you found it in a junkyard." Her friend Taylor commented as he caught sight of what Elizabeth was dreamily looking at. "Are you sure you want that?" He asked pointing at the broken down old Firefly. At 23, Taylor was what most girls considered attractive. He was basically tall, dark, and handsome.

Too bad he has such a big mouth. Elizabeth thought as she gave Taylor a sour look.

Taylor met her gaze. "What?" He asked innocently as she started down the hill of smashed parts, broken machinery, and all around junk. "I'm I wrong?"

Elizabeth ignored him and continued down the hill. A good half hour later they were standing at Serenity's side. As much as she hated to admit it, Taylor did have a point. Serenity would need some major work before she ever made it in the air. Ignoring that for the moment, Elizabeth started to circle around her Firefly. When she finally made it to the back, she realized that this was going to be much more work and money then she thought. And so far she had just looked at the outside!

"Well," Taylor said as he clapped his hands together. "If the outside is this ugly, do we dare to look inside?"

Elizabeth glared at him again. "Of course we do! We can't fix her up if we never even look inside. And she is not ugly. She's the most beautiful ship I've ever seen!"

Taylor stared at her. "You are insane. You know that right?"

"Yep!" Elizabeth said proudly as she smiled widely and strode up to Serenity's back entrance.

Inside, Serenity was just as old and decrepit as the outside. There were old boxes and miscellaneous objects strewn across the floor and the staircases were rusting. "Well," Elizabeth said as she looked around the large room. "At least she can't look any worse." Taylor gave her a skeptic look.

"Are you sure you want to spend the majority of your life savings on this?" He asked as he nudged an empty box with his foot.

Elizabeth didn't say anything, but instead walked forward through the junk. She looked 0ver the whole ship, peeking into rooms that had previously been used as guest rooms, storage areas, playrooms, and all other sorts of things. As she looked through the rooms and areas and little spaces, Elizabeth thought of all the people who had lived on this ship. In the two hundred years since Elizabeth's several time great-great-grandfather, Malcolm Reynolds, had owned Serenity, a lot of history had passed. Elizabeth had been obsessed with Serenity's history as much as her own family history, begging her parents to tell her stories about Mal and his crew since she was very young. Her obsession had actually led to her friendship with Taylor. When she found out that the boy sitting next to her on the bus on the way home from school was related to Zoë Washburn, the same Zoë Washburn that had been Malcolm Reynolds right hand, she tried to get him to talk to her. Although Taylor would have put it differently. ("She wouldn't leave me alone! She followed me like a two foot tall Kindergarten stalker!" "I did not!") Elizabeth must have had at least some of the same determination and leadership skills, because the older boy had followed her as loyally as Zoë had followed Mal from that time on.

"Well, all right then." She said as she started to walk back to entrance of Serenity. "First, let's pick up this mess. Then we can look around and see what we need to repair." She told Taylor, picking up some trash as she did so.

Taylor started to straighten the empty crates. "And I suppose you'll make the rest up when you get there."

"Yep. Does that work for you?"

"Yeah, that could work."

"Okay then. Let's get to work.