Wash sat at the controls of Serenity, waiting for something to happen. Mal and Zoe had been gone for an hour, and something usually went awry by this time, but he hadn't heard word of anything. He glanced over, his eyes coming to rest on his dinosaur toys. He smirked. Waited a moment. His hand reached out for the dinosaurs.
"How do you do it?"
"Ahhhh!" Wash let out a strangled noise of surprise. His hand pulled back quickly. He turned around and came face to face with River.
He sighed, trying to steady him self. Her head was tilted to the side; her expression spoke of curiosity. But there was something in her eyes that made him wary. He licked his lips. "Do what?" But a hundred voices in his head screamed that he already knew.
"Remember yourself?"
Wash didn't know how to answer her, but he felt his mouth move, and heard himself answer. His voice sound strange – detached – like it was a thousand miles away. "You find something to hold on to." It had been a few years, but Wash would know the voice of Alpha anywhere.
"There are so many voices." She whispered. No longer an inquiring mind, but a frightened child.
Alpha stood suddenly, but River didn't jump as Wash had expected. "It's hard." Alpha replied, his voice warm and soothing even through his concise words. He walked towards her, embracing her in a hug even as she shook her head.
They stood there for a long moment, River shaking in his arms. Then she pulled away, her head turning to the controls. There was a beep, and suddenly Wash was back in control. He took a step back, uncomfortable with their closeness. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. There was another beep, and he was drawn out of the conversation.
A clatter of shoes rang down the hallway, and Mal charged in, quickly followed by Zoe and Jayne. They all halted, surprised by the scene before them, River and Wash still too close. River looked Wash in the eye, seeing something no one else could. "Will I be okay?" She asked softly.
Wash's head moved of it's own accord, nodding in understanding. He suddenly realized the conversation hadn't been intended for him at all, but an echo of something long ago.
For smeghead'smantra