One Step Beyond

Descending the stairs into the bar, Kaylee and Zoe scanned the tables for Mal and Jayne. A few men sat or stood at the bar running the length of the room opposite the stairs, but most languished in chairs at a collection of tables throughout the dirty, beer covered floor. After the freshness of the outside, the bar smelt of cheap whiskey, sweat and testosterone which even the presence of the few whores wandering the room could not dispel.

Reaching the last step Zoe turned her head right towards Kaylee 'they aint here yet.' she said, walking towards the nearest empty table at the closest end of the bar and pulling out a chair.

'hey ladies' a small chubby red faced man with stained white apron smiled, leaving the hatchway by the end of the bar and approaching the table, two glasses of honey mead in his hands, 'you'se best be careful in here tonight, there are some rough types hangin about' he cautioned them, setting the drinks down.

Zoe took her right hand off the table to rest on the weapon holstered on her right thigh. 'careful is something im familiar with' she remarked, catching the eye of the bartender as he gave a sharp approving nod of his head before returning back behind the bar.

'What you think held em up?' kaylee asked

'Dunno, but they will be here shortly. You happy with that engine fix?' Zoe nudged the bag Kaylee had brought in with them with her toe.

'yeah – it's a beauty and cheap too. I hardly had to barter for it …' Kaylees voice stopped short as a heavy hand fell down on her shoulder and a voice leered in her ear

'well aint you just the shinest little thing'. A wave of sour, whiskey soaked breath wafted over the women as the voice spoke. Pulling her face away from the bad breath, Kaylee twisted her head straight into the red unwashed beard attached to an even poorly washed face of a overweight older man. Un-nerved she glanced to her right towards Zoe, to see her sitting straight in her chair, her gun out of her holster now and resting on the table in plain view. Not intimidating, just ready for any turn of events.

'now I know that you was just steadying yourself against a fall' Zoe said, her tone light but firm 'but watch your hands, we aint lookin for new friends'

'not lookin for makin friends with you' the man sneered at Zoe 'just tryin to say hello to your young friend ere.' As he spoke, his hand roughly stroked Kaylee's shoulder, grazing the side of her neck to push her head into a vulnerable position with his thumbs. Kaylee was doused in another brand of foul smelling breath as he breathed out lustfully at the sound of her small whimper. Zoe made to move at the sound just as the man spoke again 'Aint no thing in the verse I want to do with no gun totting thunderbell like you.' Face contorting in dislike, his voice rose emphasising the venom in his tone and ensuring the exchange was heard by others.

And they were. Across the room a stranger picked up the commotion and decided to head over. It was Zoe who noticed him first, her sharp intake of breath causing Kaylee and drunkard to follow the direction of her eyes to the stranger.

Lithe and sleek, his walk belied the strength in his body. Head to toe in black, black boots and leather trousers, long sleeve black top the only contrast his stark blonde hair. Piercing blue framed by thick dark lashes his eyes were fixed on the trio as he strode confidently between the tables towards the trio.

'Evenin ladies' a deep, warm voice that spoke with an accent hinting back to earth that was, before turning to face the drunk man, ' you know mate, I couldn't help but over hear your attempts to woo this young beauty here' as he spoke his blue eyes flicked to Kaylee, capturing her attention. She couldn't help but notice, he was exceptionally attractive. Stunning eyes fit above sharp lined cheekbones, chisled jaw and a strong aquiline nose. He would look feline and dangerous if it were not for the full bottom lip, which softened the hard features to a seductive menace. There was a humour about him, a sparkle in his eyes that appealed to Zoe and Kaylee even as a small smile floated across his mouth.

'Maybe you should try a different approach?' he suggested politely

'Whats it to you?" the gruff drunk demanded

'Well mate, its like this, I like women, and most of the time, they like me too. ' his full lips moved into a confident smile, 'therefore it doesn't do men any good, reputation wise I mean, when an arsehole like you decides to maul and offend. It reflects badly on us all. I don't like it when the mistakes of others reflect badly on me' his voice hardened, smile fading, 'so I suggest you move away before this spectacular amazon beauty ' he glanced admiringly at Zoe 'kicks your drunken backside from one end of this bar to the other.'

Glaring at both Zoe and the new blonde stranger, the drunk assessed his chances. The woman, whilst female and surely weaker than him, was however sober and carrying a gun, two things that he wasn't. Her face was stiff with promise that he would not enjoy a tangle with her. He could tell she know how to handle herself. Ordinarily this wouldn't bother him, he enjoyed letting women like this know who was boss, but the blonde man had shifted the scales in the women's favour, adding another potential threat. Reluctantly the drunk released Kaylee deciding to make a strategic retreat, grumbling as he went.

'Thanks' breathed Kaylee, her fingers moving underneath her hair to rub the base of her neck where the drunk had been touching her 'it was right decent of you to come over.' She said, smiling broadly.

'No worries luv, cant stand a man who doesn't respect real beauty when he sees it, and you two got that in spades.' His glaze flickered between Kaylee and Zoe, resting on Zoe for a minute, he shifted his weight onto his back foot his eyes flicking up and down her body coming to a stop when he caught her raised single eyebrow.

Zoe couldn't help but be amused at his blatent appraisal of her, she felt her lips starting to twist into a slight smile when he spoke again. 'Knew that you could take care of it mind, but a man like that wouldn't take kindly to backing down from a lady, just wanted to let you know I had your back.'

'Appreciate the thought' Zoe said (and the man, 'specially one who realises a woman can hold her own) she mused 'we're waiting on our party, care to sit a while?'

'Cheers pet, don't mind if I do.' Pulling out a chair, he slung his compact frame into it as long tapering fingers signalled to the barman for a drink.

'So stranger, where you going to and coming from?' chirped Kaylee who had been watching the glances between the man and Zoe with great interest. 'it aint often a man like you pops into the rim' she said, color rushing to her face as she realised just how keen and whistful she sounded.

The stranger chuckled 'Name's Spike pet, 'though I dare say stranger might fit me better some days. As to my comings and goings,' he said with a little cheeky smile. Then, tilting his head towards her he leaned in to the table slightly as though sharing a confidence, his lowered voice a deep seductive growl 'It's fair to say that if I knew what hidden lovelies this rock held, I might have made it out sooner.' Kaylee's flushed face grew redder in response. He was captivating. It weren't many men that could have such an effect on a girl, even Zoe was looking a little intrigued by this man. Kaylee realised she was in real danger of being mid swoon when Simon finally arrived with Mal, Jayne and River.

As it was, it wasn't Kaylee's blushes that greeted the remainder of the Serenity crew, but rather Zoe, head thrown back in laughter as a strange blonde man sat between the two woman, nursing a beer. Both female crew smiling broadly at the man, as he spoke.

Jayne bumped into Mal as he came to a short stop in front at the scene, looking round to see what caused the captain to halt, he noticed Zoe and Kaylee and the stranger

'Ta ma duh! - aint never seen Zoe laugh like that, you?' he asked Mal

'not recently' Mal responded warily, wondering just what could be so funny as he led the crew to the table.

'so then he said, not you monkey boy and pushed him into the hole!' Mal heard the stranger say as he approached watching whilst his second in command and his mechanic began to laugh anew.

'Well aint this grand, good to hear you pair found something funny.' Mal said

Sobering enough to answer him, Zoe answered 'Good to see you sir, have a seat and meet Spike.'

'Spike is it?' Mal looked down at the blonde man in the chair. Mal was tall, not as tall as jayne, but tall and broad enough, he could sense that this other man would not be put off by bravado. He had a strength to him. Judging from the reaction of his female crew, he also had a way with the ladies to. 'Glad you could get my crew laughing, its been a while since they was as carefree. Mind me asking..'

'Who is this?' Jayne, all brash and aggressive, barged his 6'4" frame past the captain to glare down at the new guy.

'Spike' the blonde replied

'Spike? Aint that a dog's name?' Jayne laughing at his own joke

'Jayne, be nice' pleaded Kaylee 'Don't mind him Spike, he is just a big grizzly sometimes.'

'jayne eh?' remarked Spike 'not just for girls then?' he smirked

'I ain't no girl' Jayne responded, smile fading he straighted his shoulders to his full scale intimidating, swinging Martha, the rifle, from where it hung at his side into his fist… 'you questioning my manliess?'

Hearing the menace in his voice Mal moved to interrupt when Spike spoke

'Look mate, didn't mean nothing by it, a rose by any other name and all that… by the way, nice weapon' he said tipping his head towards the knife strapped at Jayne's thigh.

Distracted, Jayne followed the other man's line of vision 'yeah, she a beauty,' he said as he pulled an ornately carved knife out of its hold.

'Looks like she has great balance' Spike remarked 'never can go wrong with a sleek one like that.'

'slices like butter she does' Jayne motioned slashing and stabbing as he demonstrated the elegance of the blade. 'here, you like that one, you'll wanna see this…'

Mal watched as his merc, having found someone genuinely interested in his girls, scrapped up a chair from a neighbouring table, putting it squarely next to the blonde man, ignoring Kaylee's protests that she couldn't see and started showing the stranger all of the weaponry on his person. Mal noticed the way Spike had diffused the situation with Jayne, manipulating him with an ease that implied that the blonde was used to talking his way out of situations. What came as a greater surprise was that Spike appeared to be enjoying his conversation with Jayne. Both men animated as they discussed the relative skill and benefits of knife use against other weapons. This made Mal a little uneasy, any guy who made friendly with his merc on such a level was most likely dangerous. Might be that he wasn't a threat right now, but there was nothing to say he wouldn't be in the future.

'You're covered in blood' River's voice cut through the chatter at the table. Her presence had been briefly forgotten as the Serenity crew had introduced themselves to the blonde at their table. None forgot her now though, faces turning to look at her slightly offset from the body of their party, her distance marking her out someone used to floating on the periphery. Her brown hair hung limply by the side of her face, she stared unblinkingly through the group at the stranger with the white hair. 'You're covered in the blood of thousands.' Her voice just a hush above a whisper.

Jayne stiffened. Gorram crazy was gonna cause more ruckus than normal. Weren't many took kindly to being told they were a killer whether it was their truth or not. Not many took kindly to hearing the ramblings of a strange young girl neither. He looked at Spike in expectation of anger or fear.

Spike was lounging in his chair, one foot resting across the knee of his other leg, his hands, which had been playing with the knife Jayne had shown him, twirling it in patterns on the table, stilled as River captured his attention. Tilting back further in the chair, his face showed neither anger nor upset, but rather he seemed intrigued.

'That so…'

'They surround you.' She shared her secret in hushed tones. 'You're covered in them, screaming, shouting at you to go… to go… to hell.' River cocked her head to the left 'soulless… evil… monster.'

As she spoke Spike remained motionless, his eyes narrowed slightly as his expression became a little more guarded at her last few words. Slowly he moved to draw out a packet from his pocket. Opening it, he lit a cigarette before demanding. 'Look closer'.

River moved. She circled round the back of Spike's chair, all the while observing him closely, before coming to stand by his left leg. The rest of the crew watched as River stared deeply her eyes seeing something beyond the vision of others. Moments passed before her sharp gasp interrupted the silence at the table. Spike smirked.

'How can you? How did you? I can see the light, it's so pure and clean. You are surrounded by it… sunshine all over you.' Startled, River moved back, her expression changing from surprise to wonder and awe. Frantically she looked to her brother, the captain, her eyes searching over the faces of the rest of crew desperate to find some agreement in the group, a validation that her observations were correct, 'do you see it? Do you see?' she begged of them

'See what little Albatros?' asked Mal

'The lightness. It shines like moment of clarity in worlds covered with black. It is the truth of him…' slowly her hand reached tentatively towards Spike's face, moving as though to caress it. Eyes held firm by his she deepened the connection between the two further til she could feel the warmth from the blue eyes seeping into her body. His emotions so clearly displayed for her to read that she almost didn't need to delve any further into him. But she couldn't hold back. There was a sense of this strange blonde man which was ancient, primal and wrong. She could feel a different pair of eyes staring into her, vicious gold was watching, assessing her. Not hunting, learning. Layered beneath that was something more. Layered beneath the faces of the dead, beneath the sunshine, beneath the animal that confused and frightened her, lay the real man and he was all things. He was blessed.

Bewildered, River skimmed her hand over his face, reading him with her fingertips. Spike could feel her confusion as she tried to reconcile what he was.

From somewhere outside her, far away, River heard her brother speak.

'What truth mei-mei?' simon asked

River quickly pulled her hand away from Spike as though his skin burnt her. Even as the speed of her withdrawl caused her to stumble her eyes remained fixed on his. Breathing hard she dropped her left knee til she perched in prostration on the floor and spoke what she had read in the very deepest of his mind, 'He's a saviour.'

'What mei-mei' Simon watched as Spike reached out to try and pull River up

'Get up tinkerbell'

'Who's saviour' having remained silent alongside the remainder of the group Zoe's voice cut in.

The crew looked on at River's bent head in reverence, resisting Spike's attempts to persuade her up from the dirt floor…

'Who's saviour Crazy?' Jayne demanded

'Mine'

The voice was light and female. All the heads except 2 spun round to find the source of the voice. Behind spike, no one had noticed her approach, captivated, as they had been, by the scene playing out with River, stood a diminutive, attractive, blonde haired woman. Petite frame, no more than 25 years old, she stood, lightly tanned arms crossed, returning the curious looks of the crew with a gently amused stare of her own.

'You making friends honey?' She asked, moving her green eyed gaze to Spike, who had shifted right to face her.

'We're getting along.' His short reply.

'Any reason you've got a young girl kneeling at your feet?' she asked innocently although her tone betrayed her amusement at the situation.

'oh this…' Spike waved a hand in River's direction 'she's a seer, got herself a blast of dark 'n' light from yours truly and is still processing.' Turning back to River

'You want to get up petal? I don't deserve no genuflecting at my feet.'

Resisting the gentle pull of his hands, but raising her head River questioned

'How do they not hate you? How have you silenced them?' becoming more insistent, 'The bad men took me and cut me up.' She whispered 'Hurt me. Cut me. No longer whole. Just parts.' Gulping in a breath 'Parts of what I was. And some parts I wasn't. But they're here now, in me, all the time.' River's agitation increased 'in me, all me, no me. What is it I am?' she turned pleading brown watery eyes to Spike.

In those eyes Spike recognised a madness he had felt himself many years ago. The signs of regret, the painful realisation of misdeeds and misery. He understood her confusion for he had felt it himself when trying to reconcile the two sides of his character with one another. But how to satisfy her?

'I don't know tinkerbell. I'm not a smart man, not a good one either. ' He reached a hand out to hold her chin, tilting her face upwards, stroking away the hair that had fallen in front of her eyes with his other hand. He took a deep breath. More and more he met those who needed his guidance. Wasn't so long ago that he cared about the ramblings of a different crazy girl, but he was used to making sense of the mysteries of speech. He was used to finding a pattern in the discounted ramblings which often flowed from unsettled minds.

'You can silence the voices, but you can accept them, make peace. They will always keep you separated to some extent. Aint gotta be a bad thing. Seems to me that it's just a question of mathematics. Take a number, don't matter which way you divide its parts, it always adds up to the same amount eh? Way I figure it, it don't matter bout whether your parts are neatly organised or all re-arranged in an order which cant be fathomed, the total is still adds up the same… OK tinkerbell?'

The rest of the table had watched as Spike talked river down from her panic. His gentle caress on her skin as his words reached her, taking the sting out of the hysteria which was settling in her.

'just a sum of parts?' she questioned 'not influenced by divisions, omissions or additions…Anomolies just being constant should be factored in to all equations and calculations' her tone thoughtful. She nodded, as though reaching a decision. 'acceptable'.

River allowed Spike to tug her up from the floor before he reached out a hand to the blonde still standing behind him watching. 'This is my lady.' He said pulling her into his side, his arm creeping round her slim waist to hold her loosely.

'Buffy, this the crew of Serenity. Mal there is the captain, Zoe his right hand, Kaylee mechanic, Simon the Doc and Jayne is the muscle. This' he turned to river as he spoke 'is tinkerbell, resident seer and something more, if im not mistaken…' he trailed off thoughtfully, looking intently at Rivers face, searching for the answer to an unasked question.

'Hey everyone, im Buffy. Nice to meet you all.' Buffy introduced herself as she surveyed the group. She spotted the tall black woman sitting next to Spike, she looked strong and capable. 'Spike known you long?' Although meant for everyone, Buffy's question was clearly directed at the woman.

'Stepped in to help us with a troublesome man.' Zoe responded non-commitally

'Well I hope you had no need for him in the end.' The smile she gave doing little to cover the barely hidden threat.

'No need.' Zoe agreed

Jayne snorted in amusement at the tension going on between the two women. This blonde was someone to watch if she could get Zoe's back up. Who would think such a tiny little thing was so possessive.

Satisfied with the answer from Zoe, Buffy turned to face her man, ' Honey, did you meet the people we're supposed to hook up with?' She asked

Spike drew back a little from her 'Yeah, just before I met this lot. All set. You get my smokes?'

A little smirk crossed Buffy's face 'Nope' she replied, popping the 'p' in a teasing tone

'Well then, guess we're gonna miss our rendevous whilst you go back and get em.' Spike replied, his tone equally light

'Kidding. You know you really should have a little faith.' Buffy said bumping her hip against his side.

'Have all the faith I need.' The smirk on spikes face stretched into a broad leer as he stretched his left hand up to pluck a packet that sailed through the air. Looking beyond Buffy, he smiled 'Cheers luv.'

"No worries blondie' Taller than Buffy, the latest arrival moved with an exaggerated roll of her hips. Thick brown hair swung around her shoulders, resting on the ripped t-shirt that barely covered her mid-rif. Big brown cow shaped eyes scanned the group dismissing the women, giving appreciative glances at both Mal and Jayne before settling finally on Buffy as she spoke to her.

'Hey B, what happened to you man? I was lookin for ya. Saw this totally hot outfit, you woulda gone crazy over.' Brown eyes flickered towards Spike. 'You gonna introduce me blondie or you gonna leave me standing here wanting.'

'never knowingly left anyone wanting.' Spike smirked 'specially not you luv. Everyone this ere is Faith, don't let her intimidating manner put you off, she is just as soft as a little kitty cat. Just mind her claws.'

Faith flashed a little smile around the group, widening when she noticed jayne watching her. Stretching her arms up above his head, she pretended to yawn 'wow it sure is peaceful round here. A girl could get bored without no one to entertain her.' Her smile grew more enticing as she bent forwards to lean her hands on the edge of the table. Her eyes flicked from Mal to Jayne, ' don't suppose any of you know where a girl can get a drink do ya?'

Without preamble, Jayne shoved his glass across the table to her. Smiling as she sipped the dark brew, Faith turned her attention back to Spike and Buffy. 'So…we all set?'

'Sure are luv. In fact we had best make a move fore it gets too late.' Spike pulled himself out of his chair, ' Zoe, Kaylee - a real pleasure' he said with a broad smile As he moved towards Buffy he stopped. Turning back he briefly brought his hand to Rivers face 'you take care Tinkerbell. Find someone with quiet thoughts to help you through the darkness.' He whispered.

'Good to meet the rest of ya. As he walked past Jayne's chair he put a hand on the larger man's shoulder 'See ya mate.' Before flinging his arm over Buffy's shoulders turning her towards the exit.

'Well that always the way. Soon as the evening gets interesting I gotta go.' Faith said looking at Mal and Jayne. 'Maybe see you fellas around' with a final wink at Jayne, she was gone.