The Other Shoe

by 3DBABE1999

Adelai Nishka gets ahold of everyone on board Serenity. VERY ADULT CONTENT! PLEASE READ & HEED WARNINGS AT TOP OF STORY!

1. Chapter 1

This is my first attempt at a Firefly fanfic! I hope that fans of the Firefly series and the Serenity movie like this story as well as people who have added my other fanfic to their favorites.

I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING FROM THE T.V. SHOW FIREFLY OR THE MOVIE SERENITY.

( WARNINGS: GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF BONDAGE, BEATING, TOURTURE, RAPE, CHARACTER DEATHS, INSANITY AND P.T.S.D. ALSO HAS FOUL LANGUAGE.) (Please DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE UNDER 18yrs. old or if you will be offended by ANY of the material!) This story is, in my honest opinion what would have happened if Adelai Nishka had gotten ahold of everyone on board Serenity at once. It's also a Mal/River fic This is post Serenity with only slight AU. I Apologize in advance for all spelling, grammar, spacing, capitilization and punctuation errors. (My excuse: Up for several nights straight trying to write this thing, as it wouldn't leave me alone for even a second!) ;-)

If YOU DO READ, PLEASE READ THE WHOLE WAY THROUGH AND PLEASE REVIEW AND COMMENT. All reads, reviews, comments and adds to favorites are excepted and appreciated.

The Other Shoe.

Chapter One.

The Alliance had seemingly no longer posed a threat to River and Simon and that had been a huge blessing to everyone aboard the Serenity. Work was easier to come by which meant more pay and chow for everyone. During times of rest there was no longer any reason to worry about leaving the ship without disguises, fake names or staying hidden from view which allievated River's cabin fever and helped her to keep her new found clarity. Simon and Kaylee could go for romantic dates out in public without fear of someone trying to collect a bounty on Simon. Jane, Mal and Zoe could now look for more prospects of work in more varieties of areas including honest jobs, they could all drink and fight at their leisure without worry of bringing the Alliance down on them and there was a lot less babysitting to do. It was lately a win-win situation for everyone and that was a welcomed gift, as opposed to all the hits that had kept coming just four months ago.

It was sometimes hard to believe it had been only four months since Mr. Universe's Moon and the things that had happened there. It felt like they had gone through a hundred years worth of grief and pain for the first couple of months after, but everyone's physical wounds healed within a couple of weeks and even though the mental and emotional wounds took longer, they to eventionally healed. Aside from an occasional sadness in them and the nightmares that would stick with them, everyone on Serenity had somehow managed to heal.

Mal was on the bridge, it had been his third sleepless night in a row. He had been feeling tense about something, he just didn't know what, he felt he had to keep vigil, he just didn't know why . Whatever it was, it was wearing him down fast. He stared at the stars and his mind went blank and it stayed that way for a while untill he sensed the movement of something no heavier than a feather. "What're you doing nyen ching-duh?" he said without turning around knowing River had just come onto the Bridge. River replied "Couldn't sleep you're thoughts were to loud." She went over to the control pannels and gave them a quick check. "Well SSO-OR-R-RY!" Mal exclaimed slightly amused. He hadn't even really been aware of thinking at all, let alone of what he was thinking about so "loud" as River had put it. River spoke again saying "You're waiting for the other shoe, you think it's all to good to be true, that it's to good to last so there just has to be another shoe and you're scared of what will happen when it drops.", "You don't trust that who'd ever be dropping shoes to drop just one and leave the other on their foot where it belongs." Then she tilted her head sideways and said playfully "I'm hoping they'd have run out of shoes by now." indicating that several "shoes" had already been dropped.

Mal's jaw was hanging so low it could say "Hi" to his bellybutton. He knew River could read minds, but the fact that she knew exactly what he'd been thinking, even when he himself had no clue, had his mind floored. "How'd you..." Mal said gaping at her. "Told you.", "You were thinking to loud, just because you weren't listening to it doesn't mean your mind was being quiet." River said with a yawn and turned to go back to her bunk, but before she left the bridge, she looked over her shoulder at Mal tapped an index finger to her temple and said "No falling shoes in the forcast tonight." With that she danced back to bed leaving Mal nothing short of amazed, feeling lighter now that he knew what had been causing him so much tension and comforted by the little girl who'd in her own way, said that it was ok, tonight at least, for him to fall asleep.

Chapter Two.

The next day Simon was in the kitchen cooking a wonderful breakfast for Kaylee to take to her in bed as a romantic birthday surprise. Zoe was sitting at a corner of the table cutting an apple. Jayne was sitting at the table eating some of the homade cookies his mom sent him. Inara was helping Simon by making sure he didn't get to liberal with the seasonings . River came in and playfully stole a piece of bacon off the plate Simon was preparing, when Simon looked at her his mouth hanging open to say something, River only shot him a look that sarcastically asked "What?" shrugging her shoulders and smiling as she nibbled on the bacon and Simon put another piece on the plate and shook his finger at River in mock scolding. Mal sat at the table drinking his coffee and quietly observing everyone. He couldn't help feeling uneasy with just how easy things had been going lately for them.

He was lost in thought again, remembering the night before how River had given him the comfort of reflecting his own thoughts. He didn't know why he was feeling so paranoid. Ever since River became both pilot and navigator they had not run into any trouble.

"River just how far out does your ability reach." Mal asked suddenly , everyone went quiet and all eyes looked to River. "Just what are you asking? said Simon a hint of aggitation in his voice. "I want to know what your sister hears and sees and how far out she hears and sees it." replied Mal calmly. "Oh." "Um." said River dropping her gaze to the floor and fidgiting nervously she shot a quick glance up and around the room, she looked nervous and scared. "I used to hear and see it all.", "All of it everywhere, all the time, sometimes all at once.", "But now I can control it, so that doesn't happen unless I want it to." she replied sheepishly. "Wait a Gorramned minute.", "ALL OF IT EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME!" What the "HELL!" does that mean? shouted Jayne coming aggresively to his feet, like he was worried she had heard or SEEN something deeply personal from his mind. "All of it, everywhere, all the time, but now only when and what I want to hear or see, it's not the way it used to be, when I couldn't shut it out.", "When it made me crazy." said River tears forming in her eyes. "You mean to say the Verse, the whole Verse?", "You can hear and see the thoughts of everyone in the whole Verse?" said Kaylee awestruck she'd just come into the doorway of the kitchen right on the cusp of the Captain's question. River nodded and said "But I only do it at night now and I extend past the ship so that I don't hear anyone hear anyone on board." Then glancing at Mal as she said "Unless they're thinking to loud." "Dxiogus lan hun zhangs!", "Wuh de tyen, ah, no wonder you were "Fong Lu!" yelled Jayne then muttering some choice curses towards the people responsible and about the things he'd like to do to them under his breath he stormed out of the room nearly knocking into Kaylee. "Well, There went the surprise." said River tears still pooling in her eyes, as Kaylee saw the breakfast that Simon had made her. But no one was thinking about breakfast, romance or birthdays anymore. River looked around at the room sadly because she knew everyone's thoughts. Then she clutched at her temple, tears pouring down her face as she said desperatly "I don't see everything all the time anymore.", "I try to not to use it so much, so that I don't get sick again."

He didn't mean to put her on the spot like that, he'd always been lousy at timing in situations like this and he certainly didn't want for her to cry. He felt like a rotten pile of "gos se" for tredging up a time in her life that she should never have experienced . The fact that she knew that it could make her sick again and still chose to continue to "hear" and "see" at all made him realize just how much she risked sacrificing every night just to help keep them safe. Mal truly understood now, the reason there had been no trouble was because River had been stearing them away from any trouble as she heard or saw it. He'd have to hope that if the "other shoe" were to drop she'd see it in time and that she would be able to help make sure it didn't land on them.

Chapter Three.

Adelai Nishka had the reputation of a cruel, merciless tyrant that couldn't be outsmarted or escaped. Malcom Reynolds and his crew were responsible for two mishaps now that made that reputation questionable. He felt he had been made into a laughing stock. His reputation mattered more to him than his own life, it was his legend, his legacy after all and it would be the only thing he'd leave in this "Verse" once he passed. They'd threatened his life, legend, legacy and reputation. There was no way he was going to let them get away with that.

He wanted them all to pay so badly. He spent so many sleepless nights devising all sorts of unseamly tortures to break them. He wanted the pleasure making them watch each other being slowly, painfully broken before allowing them to die. In fact he was going to stretch out their suffering past broken. He wanted them shattered. He had a new section added to his Skyplex to be devoted to the torture of the crew of the Serenity once they were caught. He also added a new private Infirmary where he could steal them back from death and make them well again so he could tourture them all, over and over again as long as he saw fit. He wanted their deaths to be antagonizingly slow and painful, but most of all he wanted them to stay alive long enough to become so shattered that freedom would be ruined for them. He was not only going to reclaim his reputation but surpass it with the horrors that he planed to unleash on Captain Reynolds and his precious crew.

Niska wanted the Serenity, Captain Reynolds and his crew so badly that money was no object. He had been thinking so long about a way to catch them. He suddenly came up with a brilliant plan. He would hire a few hundred million mercenaries and split a few million of them into every town on every planet, on every moon. Another few million were to be split up through the "Verse" to cover the orbits of every star and every planet in the 34 Tauri (2020) system. The rest were to go over every inch of space with a fine tooth comb. All of them with the orders to bring Serenity's crew back alive and unharmed. He would pay whoever caught them extra plus the bounty he had once put on them. Niska just wanted to make sure there'd be nowhere for them to run, he wanted them caught alive and he wanted them caught now.

Chapter Four.

That night on board the Serenity, River Tam started to stretch her mind into the Verse. She had seen and heard Niska's thoughts before. She had always managed to stear Serenity away from any threat he or anyone else had posed. Tonight was different. She seen and heard thoughts of the mercenaries who had already made it to close to them to be evaded. She knew who they had been sent by and what they'd been ordered to do. Yesteday night Adelai Nishka was still only harmlessly "thinking" about how to catch them and she felt that she'd kept them all at a safe enough distance from him . She grew angry at her self. If she had just opened her mind all the time, she would have seen this coming sooner. Would have had time to think of a way to get eveyone to safety.

River had no time to warn anyone. The main crew of a weaponized mercenary battle ship named "Bellavahna" filled with over ten thousand armed men had already spotted the Serenity. Within minutes the bigger ship overtook them and the crew of the Bellavahna had used some sort of pulse weapon to disable the power on Mal's ship then forcefully docked. No one had a chance. Everyone on Serenity would have tried to go down fighting, it was just their way, but the entry hatch opened and cannisters of knockout gas were thrown through. It took only seconds for everyone to fall.

When Adelai Nishka received word, that Malcom Reynolds, his ship and his crew had finally been captured and were on their way to him, it felt like Christmas had come early. All of his efforts had finally payed off. Nishka had painstakingly hired all those men and ordered them to spread like a web or net across the "Verse". He had payed billions of dollars. All for what he was feeling at this moment and it was worth it, especially knowing how much "FUN" he was going to have when they arrived. He was suprised however at how little effort and time it had taken to find the Serenity. How little effort and time it had taken to capture and subdue Reynolds and his crew, after all, over half of the men he'd hired hadn't even reached their destinations yet. Nishka didn't know why he hadn't thought of this plan sooner.

It took only four hours at hard burn for the Bellavahna to make it's way to Niska's Skyplex. Niska gave everyone on the Bellavahna their pay plus the bounty and extra. He added a bonus for making delivery quick. Then Nishka had some of his men retrieve the unconsious crew of Serenity and gave instruction to dock Malcom's ship to the Skyplex. He planned to use the ship as a place to display their bodies once they died. Making them into an "artistic" example for the entire Verse to see.

Chapter Five.

When Mal came to, he began to realize that he was hanging upright clamped against a metal rack by his head, wrists and ankles. Facing his friends he could see they were all in the same predicament and that they were alone. He looked at River and said "Other shoe." River looked back at him with sadness in her eyes. He could tell she felt guilty so he softened and said "Can't spend every second "READING" the Verse.", "Who'd pilot the ship if it drove you insane?" Then came the question he didn't really want answered . "Who has us?" The rack felt familiar but he still had hope that the answer wouldn't be... "Adelai Nishka." whispered River. A frightened shiver ran through everyone in the room. River spoke again sounding distant as she locked eyes with Mal "He wants us broken." Malcom looked around the room at all of them and said while struggling againsts the clamps "We'll figure a way out of this.", "No matter what we can't give up.", "We can't let him win."

The door opened and Nishka stepped into the room looking pleased. "EXCELLENT!", "You're all awake!" He walked toward Mal and said "I believe the last time you were here, we discused the works of Xiang Yu.", "I remember we had a splendid chat.", "I feel we never did get to discover the "Real you.", "I am confident that now we'll have plenty of time to get to find out who you really are.", "But first I'm going to get better aquainted with your "friends."

Mal looked pissed as he growled "Chu fei wo se li!", "Nei lan hun zhang!" Nishka just calmly smiled as he reached into a cabinet behind the control panel and pulled out several Video Capture Devices "The torture and breaking of you and your crew will be recorded and played back over the Cortex untill well after I've died.", "It will be an example of what happens to those who cross Adelai Nishka." He said as he turned on the video capture devices and placed them in various positions around the room and faced them toward everyone. He stepped over to a control panel and pushed a button sending electricity through everyone but himself and Mal. All of them screamed while writhing in pain. Everyone except River. Aside from the uncontrolable muscle spasms, caused by the electrical current running through her, she seemed unphased.

Nishka pushed the button again stopping the electricity coursing through Mal's friends. He looked confused and walked towards River. Pointing at her and looking around the room he asked "Why didn't she scream?", "Is she mute?" No one spoke. Nishka looked into River's eyes and after a few moments said "No.", "You're just trying to be strong, trying to be brave.", Then spoke in mock comfort. "You're only a little girl, everyone here will understand if you scream." He returned to the control panel turned some dials and pushed the button. Mal could tell right away Nishka had turned up the power. Almost everyone screamed and shook more violently than before. River however, was still absent of any noticable pain reaction. "Oh hoh!", "The little one is defiant isn't she?" Nishka said smiling at Mal before turning the electricity off.

Chapter Six.

Nishka began to get annoyed after administring five more rounds of electricity at varied intensities and still getting no reaction from the little girl. Afraid he'd kill the others just by trying to make her scream, he pulled the stubborn youth on her rack away from everyone else to across the room while all of her commrades cursed and threatend him. Niska faced the girl towards the others and hooked her up to a seperate control panel. Then he made his way over to Mal and repositioned him and everyone else so they were forced to face River.

Niska got back to River's control panel made some addjustments then pushed the button. The crew of the Serenity shouted out the various ways they would kill him. They could hear the hum of electricity, could see the lights flickering, as the highest possible Amps of electricity that could be survived by a human coursed through River's body. She shook violently but showed no signs of pain. Nishka was now enraged. He grabbed a covered tray from beside the control panel and placed it in front of her. "You're going to be a hard one to break.", "One of the hardest I've encountered." Nishka said as he pulled the cover off the tray revealing all sorts of horrible instruments and picked up an awful looking knife. Getting inches away from River as he brought the knife to her face and stroked the broad side against her cheek as he stated menacingly "But you are going to break."

Mal and his crew were going beserk fighting the clamps that locked them in place and foaming at their mouths with rage. Nishka cast an annoyed look towards them. "Don't worry I'm still going to have my fun with you.", "But for now.." he said, putting down his knife, then walking towards the cabinet behind the control panel on their side of the room and pulled out some long, narrow strips of fabric. "I'd like for you to be quiet." With that he began gagging them one by one and despite their attempts to fight he made quick work of it. When he was finished he stepped back, admired his work then made his way back over to River.

The sick and horrible old tyrant picked up the knife and stepped in front of River. Whispering the knife over her collarbone he grabbed the fabric of her dress. Using the tip of the blade he sliced the fabric fom her shoulders and cut her dress down the middle leaving her bare. He discarded the tattered remnants of her clothing and gazed lustfully at the naked girl. "Such a shame that I have to ruin your beauty." Nishka whispered, grazing the tip of the blade along River's shoulder. He made an incision below the bend of her shoulder. It wasn't deep, but he ran the knife sideways down a small section of her arm peeling away a layer of flesh.

The muffled enraged screams from Serenity's crew had been filling the room the entire time, but River never even winced.

.

Chapter Seven.

Even through two hours of torture River had not made a single sound, had not shead a single tear. " What would it do to his reputation, if word got out that he, a man who thought of torture as an art form, couldn't even break a little girl?" With that thought, Nishka had decided to put aside his need to break the crew of the Serenity and her Captain. His new obsession became to shatter the girl who refused to show pain. The idea of making her suffer the humiliation of breaking in front of the others and the entire Verse made his mouth water.

Nishka leaned the metal rack River was on, out of it's frame, tilting it on it's axis laying her back at an angle. He pulled the legs of the rack up and apart forcing River into a postion of sitting back with her legs opened. He adjusted the height of the rack so that his groin was level with hers. He stood between her legs gliding the knife over her stomach and down to her pubic bone. Inspecting the girls most intimate of places revealed scars of past traumas to the area. Running his index finger over one of the scars, Nishka smiled and said seethingly "I can see you have been tourtured this way before.", "Intriging."

"Let's see if this is the trick to making you cry." said Nishka as he made a deep slice at the side of River's vagina. Then making a few shallow ones across her pubic bone he slowly traveled to the other side and made another deep slice down . The girl still refused Nishka the pleasure of hearing her screams. Even when he put down the knife, picked up a torch and started to burn her in various spots. Starting at her most intimate of places and spreading across her body. Growing irrate he put down the torch and slapped River in the face repeatedly and yelled "SCREAM!", "If you're not going to scream, then I'm going to put your mouth to another use!" He threatened picking up an "O" ring gag from off the tray and showing it to her.

"You will submit to my torture!" The old man yelled punching River in the chest. "You know nothing of real torture." River finally spoke sounding flat and dispondant. Mal knew that to mean, that whoever had tried to break her at The Acadamy had hurt her so bad that what Nishka was doing, or would do, to her was nothing in comparission. Vowing that if he made it out of this alive, he would give Adelai Nishka a taste of his own medicine, before killing him. Then he'd pay a "visit" to The Acadamy and make everyone there who had a hand in hurting River pay just as dearly.

Chapter Eight.

Nishka began to wear down, he was at an impass with how to go about the further torturing of the girl. He'd brought out a cat-o-nine-tails and had whipped the girl till she had no unblemished skin left on her back. He had fillayed pieces of skin from her arms, torso, and outer thighs using his knife. The girl was covered in burns, bruises, welts and blood, but she still was not breaking.

He needed rest after his long gruelling hours of work with the girl. He did feel calmer now knowing that in the end, when he finally made her shatter, he would be creating his finest masterpiece. "I've decided to step out for a while "little one." " Niska said running his finger along River's jaw. "But don't worry I'll send some of my men in to "keep you company" while I'm gone." With that Nishka left the room.

About fifteen minutes passed and six tall, well built men came through the door. Going over to River, one of the men ran his hand over the bulge in his groin picked the ring gag off of the tray and said to the others " So Nishka said we could do anything we want?", " As long as we don't kill or fataly injure her, yeah.", "Anything." Replied one of the other men undoing his belt.

The men looked through the cabinets in the room and found some ropes, some long thick wooden dowels, leather collars, and leashes. "Looks like Nishka plans to have fun with all of you later on." One of the men said looking at Mal and held up a leash smiling. All the men then went to River. One man stood in front of her holding a rope another pushed a button on the side of the rack that released her from the clamps. The man with the rope grabbed one of her wrists and tried to get the rope around it. Her unrestrained hand balled into a fist. She hit the man holding her so hard it sent him reeling. She lept off of the rack and danced circles around the men getting in well placed punches and kicks. Soon they all fell into a pile around her feet. All of them dead.

Chapter Nine.

River made her way across the room to Mal and released him. He looked foundly at his little albatross as he took off his duster and placed it gently around her. One second they had a hope of being free as Mal and River released the others. The next second the room was flooded by men with guns. The cowards opened fire, shooting them all with tranquilizer darts.

Waking up and realizing they were back to square one had Malcom devistated. The sight of River laying naked in the floor, still unconscious with her hands tied around each end of a wooden dowel and ten new men in the room surrounding her, ripped at his heart, knowing what these monsters were going to do was just to much. One of the men forced the ring gag into River's mouth and tightened it around her head then put a collar around her neck, hooked it to a leash and pulling her neck close to the dowel that spaced her hands and tied the leash around the middle part of it leaving enough of the end of the leash to grab. Another man worked on binding her legs using a wooden dowel as a spacer to force them opened at the knees. By the time the men had put the finishing touches on her restraints River came to. At first she struggled weakly against the bindings and looked around confused. A few moments later she realized what was happening and allowed her mind go to a place where she would feel no pain.

The group of men positioned the girl onto her knees. One of the men grabbed the leash and used it to force the girl to stay upright he rubbed his crotch vulgarly against the back of her head, saying "I'd love to fuck a whole through the back of your skull." . The man closest to her face smirked at the other's comment as he undid his pants and grabbed River's hair. He put the head of his large erect penis at the opening of her mouth and lingered there a moment before violently shoving himself into the back of River's throat. He held her like that, forcing her to gag on his cock, letting her turn blue and said "You killed my bestfriend", "So I wouldn't give a fuck if you choked to death on my dick right now you little cunt.", "But Nishka wants to keep you alive till you break.", "So I'm gonna take pleasure in making you suffer as much and long as I possibly can." He pulled back just long enough to let her to get a breath. Then he plunged into the back of her throat, blocking her airway again. After a few minutes of repeating the heinous act the man ejaculated into the girl's mouth. Holding himself down her throat as he came forcing her to either swallow his disgusting cum or drown.

When the man withdrew himself from River's mouth she wretched and vomit spilled down her neck and chest. The man looked down at her and punched her in the face. Another man took his place and repeated the disgusting offense that his commrade had just commited. After three more men orally raped her, one of the men made a commit on how the girl looked "dehydrated" and pissed down River's throat and forced her to swallow. The man holding the leash kicked River in the back knocking her forward onto her face. Then he kicked her in the stomach before he got on his knees behind her, unzipped his pants and stroked his cock to a full erection and said "Gonna fuck you like the bitch you are." Grabbing her hips and digging his filthy fingertips into the wounds on her sides. He slowly inched himself till he was balls deep in her vulnerable sex. " Not a virgin but she's still fucking tight as hell!", "Little slut feels fucking good!" The man exclaimed to his friends. Then he pounded into her relentlessly hard till his climax. Another man replaced him but he directed his shaft into her ass and mercilessly tore into her, fucking her as hard and as deep as he could while reaching around and pinching her nipples saying cruelly " How does it feel knowing we can do what ever we want to you?", " How ever we want?", "When ever we want?", " And", " There's nothing you can do about it." Grabbing her shoulders and pulling her in to meet his thrust he jerked, panted and moaned as he shot his load. Over the hours River had been fucked raw in every hole and the men had just kept taking turn after turn. The second the last one finished the first would be hard and ready to start the cycle all over again.

Chapter Ten.

The group of men took some of the other pieces of rope and hung one from the center of the ceiling in a hangmans noose, fastened two pieces to the floor and two a piece onto the walls on each side of the room. Two of the men drug River to the ropes. Wrapping the noose around her neck. Then the one rope from each of the walls were tied tight around her wrist and the other set was tied around her thighs. Lastly they stretched up the ropes from the floor and tied her ankkles. Only then did they cut away the previous bindings. Pulling the remaining ropes tighter so that she dangled from the ceiling by her neck. She had to struggle to stand on the tips of her toes so that she could keep from strangling and with her ankles bound it was even harder to keep her feet under her. Her arms were pulled away from her body leaving her defensless as the men started to use her like a human punching bag. Some of the men had picked up the wooden dowels and started using them to bludgen her, stiking her in the knees, back and chest.

Between the beatings she was recieving and the fact that with each hit she took, she lost her footing and started to strangle it was no wonder that River finally began to lose consciousness. One of the men didn't want to let her have that small mercy and grabbed the knife from the tray. Seeing the gleem of the knife as it neared her face River jerked back crying out in fear. When the man made a slice along her cheekbone she started to panic as she felt it and screamed. In her semi-conscious state she had lost focus on the place her mind had been in during all these hours of torture. She was starting to feel all of the anger, fear, and pain that she had been trying to block out flood into her. It started to take injections of a very strong stimulate evey other hour just to keep the girl fom blacking out she was in such unbearable pain.

When Nishka returned he was pleased to see how much progress had been made during his absence. River still wasn't broken, but, she was starting to fracture now that she felt the pain, anger and humiliation of everything that had been done to her. It was a small but powerful victory for Nishka. "You are a very skilled fighter." Nishka said as he walked toward River. He gestured toward the video capture devices and said " Unfortunatly for you and your friends, you forgot who you were dealing with.", "I saw eveything." He cocked his head looking smug and continued "But it was a very brave attempt at escape.", "I imagine it wounds your pride knowing that it was and will always be futile.", "To know that you are going to die here like this.", " But perhaps, you will live longer than your friends.", "I think it it would be most humiliating for you, and a more fitting punishment for your defiance, to live out the rest of your pathetic little life as a sex toy for my men and as my own personal pet slave.", " I think that it would be most agonizing and humiliating for you if we could break you so badly that you willingly call us your Masters and willingly beg to please us."

Chapter Eleven.

Nishka had now come up with some very creative ways of torturing River that would also help in the breaking of Malcom Reynolds and his crew. Nishka's men loosened the ropes. River was now to weak to stand and she colapsed to her knees. The men then pulled the ropes tight again forcing her to stay that way. Then Nishka approached Mal smiling as he pulled a syringe from his pocket. He injected Mal with the syringe and said "This is a most wonderful drug.", "It can turn the most flacid of penises into a raging erection." He chuckled as a bulge began to grow at Malcom's groin and said "And it rerquires only seconds to take full effect." Mal turned pink with embarrasment as Nishka pulled his pants and underwear to his knees and exposed his large erect manhood . Pulling a cock ring from his other pocket Nishka said to Malcom "This will keep you hard as long as I see fit." and then he fastened it around the top of Mal's ballsack.

Nishka had two of his men pull Malcom's rack to the other side of the room placing him in front of River. Understanding what the sick bastards intended on happening, Malcom thrashed wildly struggling to get free of the rack. His loud muffled protest became pleading sobs as Nishka grabbed River's hair and even though she struggled he manage to shove her face to Mal's crotch and force her vulnerabley open mouth over his penis. He pushed the girl forward till the head of Malcom's cock blocked River's airway then said "If you don't want the little girl to die strangling on your dick you have to pull your hips back.", "But, if you stay back to long, I will push her further forward untill eventually you have no more room to pull back, making you kill her." Malcom panicked as River started turning blue proving the evil man's point. Then Nishka opened the section on the back of Malcom's rack allowing him just enough space to pull back and let the girl breath. He glanced down at River saw her humiliated downcast gaze and tried as best he could to apologize. But, through the gag it just came out garbbled. As soon as he heard her take a breath he had no choice but to push himself right back down her throat. Repeating the process Mal began to hate himself as the natural workings of his body took hold. His balls grew tense and Malcom began to pant, grunt and gasp with each movement he made. The cock ring denied him his climax and all Mal could do was continue moving his hips back and forth with tears of anger, shame and disgust pouring down his face.

Malcom was taken past the point of pain as he was denied several "would be climaxes". His movements became uncontrollable as the fevered frustration of his body took over. "You have one chance to end this." Nishka said to Mal "If you don't take it you'll be left like this for the rest of her life." The captive man nodded he wanted this to end. "I want you to beg me as your master, to allow you to cum." said Nishka as he removed Mal's gag. Mortified with what he was being forced to do, he choked out "Please Master I need to cum.", "Please let me cum." Mal was shaking with anger and he clenched his jaw in disgust as he found himself hoping it had been good enough to please Nishka. One of Nishka's men closed back section of the rack making it to where Malcom could no longer pull away. Nishka pushed River's mouth all the way to the hilt of Mal's penis. He held her there a few seconds then slid her halfway back up the shaft before pushing her forward as far as she could go. Within seconds his body began to spasm. At this point Nishka removed the cock ring. Mal tensed and a shudddering moan unwillingly escaped him as he poured all of his pent up loads of cum into River's mouth. It was to much for River as it erupted into her all at once she began to wretch as she tried not to drown. Mal cried out as he seemingly could not stop cuming. Nishka only continued to force River to endure wave after wave of her Captain's climaxes. When the last climax finally hit, Mal came with a wimper and bawled out in shame "Oh huh Aagh GOD!", "I'M SO SORRY!", "River, I'm SO SORRY!" Nishka looked all to happy as he patted Mal on the shoulder in mock comfort and replaced his gag saying "There's no shame in having enjoyed it.", "From what I understand the little slut is a good fuck." Then Nishka cast an evil smile at Malcom showing him another syringe and said "But, of course you'll only find out just how good she is when you've tried her completly. As Malcom's muffled screams of protest rang through the room Nishka injected the helpless man again. The rack Malcom was on was layed back flat as his penis grew erect again and River was forced into the air as the rack was pushed under her. River was forced to straddle Malcom and the ropes binding River were tightened so that she couldn't move as Nishka positioned Mal's cock at the opening of her dry vagina. River closed her eyes and a look of revulsion spread across her face as the pewtrid old man pulled her hips down forcing Malcom's penis to become fully immersed inside of her. Malcom's muffled curses and threats went unnoticed as Nishka had one of his men bring over a horrible metal falic, shaped object. Pushing a button on the side of the object made the awful thing, come to life, with the humming of it's vibrations. Then Nishka put the object to River's clit. She winced in pain and pulled as far back as she could go. Nishka brought the object up to attack her clit again and River tried to thrash away. Nishka maintained the object's contact with the girl untill she began to tense and shudder. Unwilling River had been brought to a painful orgasm and the spasms from her fighting it had brought Malcom to his climax. Like a master pupeteer Nishka had controlled River's movements untill both she Malcom had been forced to cum several times. Nishka let out an evil laugh as he said " You see even the little slut enjoyed herself." When it was over and River was removed from on top of the Captain. Mal couldn't bring himself to look up he felt so, guilty, humiliated and defeated. Two of Nishka's men repositioned the rack to become upright and pushed Mal back to the other side of the room as Nishka approached Jayne pulling another syringe from his pocket, holding up the cock ring and saying "Your turn."

River died even more inside when Simon was brought in front of her. Like with Mal and Jayne before him, all of his attempts to fight or protest the inevitable were proven futile. He had still been forced to reach several climaxes as he was forced to orally rape his own sister. When the cock ring was removed he screamed as he came in seemingly endless waves "PLEEAASEE, I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS!", "NO!", " GOD, PLLEEEAASSEE MAKE IT STOP!" "No, GOD NO!" Simon broke into choking sobs of shame and guilt as he finally grew flacid only to be injected again. The boy lost his mind and a muffled torrent of unintelligable threats and swears flowed from his gagged mouth as River was positioned on top of him and made to bring him to yet another climax. When it was over Simon was catatonic.

Chapter Twelve.

River became so very fragile now and she'd flinch eveytime a man so much as looked at her. She'd cry out recoiling in fear if a man reached out to touch her. If a man actually put his hands on her she would scream and struggle at her bindings weakly trying in vain to escape or defend herself. Nishka was dissatisfied. The girl was still far from being broken. He had given her a chance to end her suffering by putting her on her knees, removing the ring gag and telling her " Beg to suck the dicks of all these men,crawl to them, call them Master, like a good little whore.", "Then.", " When it's over, if I'm pleased with how convincing you are, I'll consider killing you after. Meaning I might not make you live through the shame of being used and disgraced any further." But River just looked straight into his eyes and screamed " Gun ni ma de dan, nei ngong kau dxiogu!" "Fine!" Yelled Adelai slapping River with the back of his hand, then, saying in a chilling tone "Once you're broken into a mindless toy I will let you be the one to break your friends in the most gruesome and humiliating manners.", "Oh and you will break." River's only response was to spit in Adelai's face which earned her another backhanded slap and for the ring gag to be fastened even more tightly around her head.

The girl's continued defiance angered Nishka to no end. He needed something that would take away all of her hopes for freedom and a way to break her will to fight. He would give anything to see the girl shatter. To finally beat the strongest person to ever defy him. To finally get to create his greatest masterpiece ever. Nishka decided he'd give an opritunity, to one of his captives. "I've come to the realization that I really know nothing about this girl." He said gesturing at River. "I don't recall meeting her in any of our previous encounters.", " I don't know who she is or how long she was on board your vessle before your capture.", "I don't know who she is to any of you or what her purpose was on your ship.", "All I know is the LITTLE BITCH DEFIES ME!" Nishka said losing his temper. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself then gesturing to his captives he said "So, I'm going to give a chance to be free, to anyone of you, who'll tell me anything that might help me break her.", "The deal's even open to you Reynolds.", "You give me what I need to break her and I will call it even between us and let you go." Mal just gave the bastard a look that clearly told him to go to Hell so Nishka shrugged and said "Of course my generosity is limited to just one of you.", "Whoever remains must still be punished for their participation in acts of defiance against me." As Nishka paced around the room he was met with defiant glares from most of his captives. As Nishka neared Jayne he made a noise indicating he was willing to talk.

Nishka removed Jayne's gag and asked "You'd like to take my offer?" "Yeah." Said Jayne shame filling his eyes. Malcom Reynolds was adding the killing of Jayne Cobb to his must do list as he listened to the selfish oaf 's betrayal. "Um, I don't really know alot." Said Jayne before blurting out "Just that she was taken by a place called The Acadamy when she was fourteen . They were trying to make her into the perfect assassin or something and suceeded in making her a crazy freak instead, before her brother saved her and brought her onto Serenity. She'd sometimes mutter something about two by two hands of blue.", "Whatever that was, it seemed to be something she was scared of." "Good man." Said Nishka beaming a creepy smile at Jayne. "If she breaks you'll get your freedom.", "You said she had a brother.", "Is he here?" Nishka asked. "Yeah, he's the Doc over there." Replied Jayne then he asked "Why?"

Gesturing to his men Nishka orded them to pull the ropes holding River till she was forced back to the tips of her toes. Then he pushed Simon on his rack over to face her. Nishka made sure the boy was looking into his sister's eyes. "A brother's love for his little sister.", "How sweet.", "I imagine, that without him, you would have no one else in the verse that would be there for you no matter what.", "And, that without him, you would lose all hope of ever being free." Nishka said looking at River. Then he picked up the knife walked behind Simon and forced him to look into River's eyes as he slit his throat. River screamed. Anguish and rage coursed through her as she watched the only person in the verse that ever truly loved her, die. The girl couldn't stop screaming as she was consumed by guilt and grief. River's body was shaking with mournfull sobs as she began to lose coherency. All ability to think left her and all her actions and behaviors became instinctual. Taken to a most primal state of mind River Tam finally revealed her "True Self". The look in her eyes became vacant, her sobs turned into maddened shrieks as she began to struggle wildly at her bonds with no regard to her own safety as she started to strangle turning blue. Eventually River passed out and nothing would bring her to. So, the men had to loosen the rope around her neck to keep her from dying. Nishka was displeased, the girl had been rendered to nothing more than an animal and she still would not completly break. He walked to Jayne's side and said to the traitor "I guess the information you gave me was completly worthless." Then he stabed him in the gut, the blade of the knife making a sickening metal agaist bone scraping noise as the tip bottomed out in between Jayne's vertabrate. The light left Jayne's eyes as Nishka removed the knife.

Chapter Thirteen.

On the planet of Dyton a man named Gordon Myers sat in a little pub trying to find work for himself and his crew. He Captained a freight ship named Argo and he was willing to take most jobs even honest ones. He was making small talk with the bartender about people who may be looking to hire a man with his "moral flexability" when he overheard the mention of familiar names coming from a booth full of mercs in the corner. Politely excusing himself from the conversation, he went over to the booth and asked the men "What is this I hear about Malcom Reynolds and his ship Serenity?"

The men were inebriated and happy to brag about how they had become instantly wealthy upon the delivary of Reynolds, his crew and his ship to Adelai Nishka. They drunkly jeered at what Nishka had wanted the crew of Serenity for. Gordon knew of Nishka's reputation and knew that Malcom Reynolds and his crew were in serious need of help. He could leave them to fend for themselves but Reynolds had once spared his life and disillusioned his naive beliefs in a world without sin. Gordon felt as if he owed the man a life debt. He also felt he owed the young River Tam more than he could ever repay. It was dishonorable to not repay such debts and Gordon was no longer a dishonorable man.

Gordon ordered his crew back to Argos and gave his pilot instructions to take them off planet and to set course for the orbit of the planet Ezra. Taking on all of Nishka's men would be a challenge but with a loyal crew comprised of skilled fighters and marksmen plus the element of surprise they might successfully rescue the Captain of Serenity and his crew. At full burn it took six hours to arrive at Nishka's Skyplex. The pilot of the Argos had made a stealthly enough arrival to not have been detected. The trick was now to find a way onboard Skyplex. Gordon had his mechanic bypass and disable the Skyplex's airlock as they forcefully docked. His people rushed the unprepared members of Nishka's gang. Knowing what they were here to do. The crew of the Argos made as many kills as possible as they searched Skyplex for Malcom Reynolds and his crew.

A full two days had gone by since their capture and the crew of Serenity were losing hope of ever being free again. When there came a sudden commotion from outside the room. Nishka was about to send his men to investigate when the door burst open and a man that Malcom had once known only as The Operative stepped in followed by a small group of heavily armed people.

Chapter Fourteen.

Gordon ordered his men to subdue Nishka and kill his lackies and went over to release Mal and the others. He hadn't even noticed River on the other side of the room untill Malcom automatically rushed over to her the second he was free. It was a sickening sight as he approached to help Mal cut her down. He was certain the girl was dead untill Malcom took a knife to get the gag from her mouth and the rope from her neck. The second the blade got close to her she stirred awake and seeing only the knife the girl whined and recoiled in fear. She made panicked noises as she struggled weakly against the hands that tried to steady her as the bindings were cut away. Once she was cut free the girl fell limply and Mal caught her before she hit the ground. Malcom gently gathered the terrified and shaking girl to him and sobbing, he sank to the floor with her.

River lashed out blindly pushing against Mal's chest and striking him in the face as she struggled weakly to get free she cried out in a hoarse whine " No more", "Please", "I can't take anymore." Then her body trembled as it gave out and the girl lost consciousness again. Tears were pouring down Malcom's face as he said softly "Your safe now." Gordon was hesitent as he spoke to Reynolds saying " You and your crew are going to be brought onto my ship for any needed medical care.", 'And.", " I'll have my mechanic start the necessary repairs on your ship to get you flying again." Mal had forgotten the presence of anyone else in the room. Realizing he had no choice but to trust The Operative because his crew were exausted and out numbered he nodded hesitantly and pulled River closer to him then said " Zoe I'd like to give Simon a proper buriel on Mr. Universe's Moon with the rest of our fallen loved ones", "So I'd appreciate if you two.." he indicated to Gordon... "could get his body onto Serenity and please find a respectable way to conceal him." "Sir what about Jayne?" Zoe asked knodding to the giant hollow mass that was once Jayne Cobb ." Leave the traitorous Hun Zhang he no longer has place on my ship alive or dead. " Yes Sir." Said Zoe solemly and she and Gordon moved over to Simon. After gently removing him from his rack they carried Simon out of the room and disapeared down the hall.

Malcom began to take in the goings ons around him. Inara was comforting Kaylee who was crying so hard she could barely stand and seemed to be in shock as she whispered "But it was my birthday." Some of The Operative's men were scavaging the room for things that could be usefull. One bound an unconscious Nishka and took him to The Operative's ship. For the seamingly, detatched Malcom, time was moving in slow motion when firm gentle hands grabbed his wrist and tried to pry River from his grasp. When Mal only refused to let her go and pulled her protectively closer to him the patient voice of an older man spoke respectfully saying "Sir, I need to get her to our Infimary.", " It's alright.", "She'll be safe with me, but, you can stay with her, to be sure." Mal relaxed his hold and the older man gathered River into his arms and hoisted her into the air." Another set of hands helped Malcom to his feet and guided him gently along, keeping pace with the older man so that Mal wouldn't lose sight of River.

When they reached the Infirmary of Argos, the older man layed River down on an exam table. The person who had helped Malcom, sat Mal on the other exam table, told him he needed to stay sitting and went to help the older man. Mal watched as they worked on River. Treating her visible injuries and dehydration in the best ways possible. When they finished the older man finally introduced himself as Doctor Harold Bourland and told Malcom that River had sustained brain trauma and had slipped into a coma. He told him that there was no way of knowing when or if she'd wake up. That when she woke up she may be sevearly mentally impaired and that she may have no memory at all, not even of who she is or she may only remember or only forget the violence inflicted on her. "Brain injuries are tricky.", "She may come out of this with all of her memories and mental faculties in tact or it may only be spotty loss of memory and brain function.", "There's no way to tell." The Doctor had said as he placed a hand on Malcom's shoulder and continued " I've done everything I can medically, for now, there's nothing more that can be done for her, besides waiting." "What about the rest of my people?" Asked Mal. " From what I've seen, they will have already been treated by my interns for dehydration, minor burns, and your young mechanic would had to have been given a mild smoother for her shock.", "By now they would have all been taken to private rooms so that they could rest comfortably.", " Replied the Doctor. "Speaking of which." Said the Doc. " I need to get some fluids into you.", " Then you need to get some rest as well."

Chapter Fifteen.

All the men on Skyplex that had worked for Nishka had been killed and Gordon had some of his people scavaging the whole site. Gordon also ordered his mechanic to get the repairs of Serenity underway. Once his people were started on their ordained tasks, Gordon decided to go check in on River.

When Gordon entered the Infimary he wasn't suprised to find Malcom there keeping a close protective vigil over the girl. When Gordon recieved word on River's condition he felt pity for the girl and for the man who stood by her side looking helpless. An akward tension was filling the room when Malcom finally spoke in a hoarse whisper asking " Why are you helping us?" Gordon replied " When you knew me as The Operative you spared my life.", " Because of that I owe you a life debt.", " So when I heard you might need help I felt I had no choice but to provide my assistance." " I never said you owed me anything." Said Malcom in a quiet but aggresive manner. " I didn't say you did, nonetheless, it's still a debt that I'll owe you for the rest of my life and I have to repay it everytime I have a chance to." Gordon replied. " No one really believes in things like that." Malcom said. " I do." Said Gordon then he looked down at River and said " Besides you're not the only one I did this for. "I'm also indebted to the protection of this girl for as long as I live.", " Seeing as I once so wrongly used my skills to try and bring harm to her." With that Gordon left the room.

After a few seconds the Doctor spoke saying " Captain Gordon Myers feels he owes so many people for all the wrong he's ever done.", " But, he's most remorsefull about the pain and deaths he caused while pursuing this girl.", "He didn't do this just for some belief in a life debt.", "He did this because he wanted to, because he wants to make up for his past.", "He wants to be a better man.", " I thought you should know that." Malcom was amazed and grateful. He no longer held any animosity for The Operative now known as Captain Gordon Myers.

Chapter Sixteen.

Hours had passed since their rescue and Malcom could no longer keep his eyes open. He was sitting in a chair holding River's hand as he finally nodded off. For a few moments it was just blackness and he was feeling comfortably at peace. Then colors started to form in his vision and began to take on blurred shapes. He could hear the murmmers of unintelligible noises and voices. As his focus began to sharpen the blurred shapes became men surrounding River and they were hurting her. The noises became the sounds of her being beaten, the voices became the men's taunts and River's pleading screams. Malcom began to cry out and thrash in his sleep. Suddenly he jolted awake his alarmed scream echoing around the room.

At some point Gordon had come back into the infirmary and he and Doctor Bourland were standing over him with looks of concern on their faces. "Captain Reynolds.", "Are you alright?" Asked Gordon ignoring Malcom's obvious embarrassment. Mal shifted uncomfortably and said to him. "Yeah I'm fine.", Then he pushed his chair back away from the two men, stood up crossing his arms in a skulking manner and glared at the floor like it had insulted him "Captain Reynolds would you please follow me?" Gordon asked breaking the akward silence. Malcom nodded went to River gently kissed her hand and said "I'll be back soon." and then followed Captain Myers down the hall and when they were alone he said " I never thanked you for saving my life and the lives of my crew.", " I should've been more gratefull.", "For that I'm sorry." Malcom extented his hand and Gordon accepted it in a firm shake as Mal said "Thank you." Malcom followed Gordon untill they came to a stop in the cargo bay. "I was going to do the honors myself.", Gordon said as he gestured toward Nishka who was naked and bound with ropes in the same fashion River had been. " But I figured you were going to want to deal with him personally.", "If you feel up to it.", " There's a few things here you'll recognize." Gordon pointed to various objects in the room. Malcom nodded, this was something he definatly felt more than up to.

First Malcom started by taking a razor and made small nicks far up under all of Nishka's fingernails. Then he took a pair of tweezers and pried the fingernails off one by one. He pried open one of Nishka's eyes and made short, thin shallow slices on the inside of both the upper and lower eyelids. It took only minutes for Nishka to start begging for mercy but Malcom was no where near through. He injected the old pervert with the drug that would force an erection and locked the cock ring in place when it took effect. Then he forced the ring gag into Nishka's mouth. " I'm going to show you what it feels like to be raped." Malcom growled as he made a slow deep incission in the flesh between Nishka's balls and his asshole. Malcom broke one of the wooden dowells that had been used to beat and bind River into four equal length pieces. He shoved them slowly one at time into the newly created opening and began moving them in and out each time trying to thrust them deeper. Nishka howled in anguish as he felt his body being torn. Malcom hissed "How does it feel knowing I can do whatever I want to you?", "When ever I want?", " How ever I want?", "And", " There's nothing that you can do about it?" Malcom went around to Nishka's back and cut a line down each side of his backbone. Peeling the skin off of his spine and started severing certain nerves making it to where any pain felt at all would be unbarebly intense. Nishka's pathetic screams and whimpers filled the room as the man became a sobbing wreck. His pleas falling on deaf ears as Malcom took enough pleasure in making the torture last just over an hour.

Before allowing the evil old man to die Malcom wanted to make one last strike to his ego. He pointed to a Video Capture Device that had been placed in the room and said " The entire Verse just saw how easy it was to break you.", "Your going to be remembered.", " As a sad, pathetic, chicken shit coward who had to hurt a little girl to make himself feel like a man.", " That's what your reputation's going to be when you die.", " You're going to be the punchline of jokes as soon as this is over.", " In time you won't even be a memory, it will be like you never even exsisted.", " No one is going to care who you were or what your reputation used to be.", " You're nothing anymore.", " The whole Verse just watched me turn you into nothing." Having vented as much of his rage as possible. Mal injected Nishka with adrenaline so he wouldn't die to quickly. Then he took the razor and made a deep vertical slice down Nishka's abdomen exposing the former tyrant's intestine. Reaching inside Malcom pulled a lower length free and severed it using the razor. " It's nice and full of shit." Said Malcom. Then he cut off the old man's hideously erect penis. He shoved the shit filled intestine into Nishka's mouth. Mal forced it down his throat using the man's own penis. He held it there and listened to the final noises of the bastard choking to death. The poetic justice of killing Nishka with torture had felt as right as he had needed it to. Gordon looked in awe at Malcom saying " Remind me to never get you that pissed off at me." Malcom gave a sarcastic half chuckle" You can clean up in my quarters.", " Go on, I'll dispose of this "mess"." Said Gordon. Malcom nodded his appreciation and left the cargo bay.

Chapter Seventeen.

River couldn't get a grasp on her surroundings. She felt like she was trapped in a dark fabric that wrapped around her. It held her suspended in between waking and slipping completly into oblivion. As soon as she became aware of the sensation she felt the fabric shift and it began pulling her up . She struggled against it as she felt herself rising, being brought to just beneath the surface. She didn't want to wake up, she wanted to slip away. River didn't want to come to, so that they could hurt her again. No matter how hard she tried to stay under, her consciousness came rushing in on her. She heard the muffled sounds of men speaking, felt a pressence getting close to her. Instant fear overcame her and by shear reflex she blindly struck out. Crying out when she made contact she jumped trying to get away and landed hard in the floor . She frantically made it to her feet and tried to run only to find herself trapped in a corner. She could only see the blurry shadowy shapes of the men. She knew that they were advancing on her and she could not make out any details of the room to use as means of escape. She could only make out murmured voices and noises, so she couldn't get any ideas from her captors.

River knew her inability to completly see or hear put her at a disadvantage. She burrowed her back into the corner and tried sliding along the wall on her right side to escape. But she wasn't fast enough. It gave one of the men an oppritunity to come around behind her. With no where to go except through one of the men she started to whimper and brought her arms protectivly to her face. River knew she wasn't strong enough to beat them in the state she was in and it made her feel vulnerable. Crying as she felt the pressences of the men coming closer. She cowered helplessly, her frightened sobs rattling her body. There were arms suddenly wrapping around her shoulders and she was pulled back into the chest of a man. She let out a terrified cry and pissed herself as she felt herself being pulled away from the wall. She fought weakly her mind reeling in fear and shock. "Cowards!" River sobbed out. The figure of the other man was suddenly right in front of her, so close that she could feel him breathing. It startled her and she flinched away as he touched her putting his hands on her wrists. Wedged so closely between them she panicked. "PLEASE!", "NO!" She cried trying to writhe out of their grip. Feeling weak and sick, because she knew they were going to torture and rape her again, River buckled inward as she whined "Please", "I can't take anymore." River slipped out of the grasp of both of the men and collapsed into the floor coming to rest on her hands and one of her hips. Feeling dizzy and defeated, the girl didn't even have enough strength to get her knees under her, so she drug herself over to the man in front of her, wrapped her arm around his leg and begged in a terrified whimper "Please, just let me die!" Then River let out a humiliated cry as she broke. Shaking she reached for the man's crotch and sobbed pleadingly: "I'll give you anything you want!" The man in front of her pulled her off of him and moved away but, only for less than a minute. He returned and River let out a disoriented cry as she heard the hiss and felt the pinch of a smoother being injected into her neck.

When River had started to stir Mal's first instinct had been to go to her. But she had jolted awake the second he had neared her. Then she had tried to get away. Doctor Bourland had tried to help him. But. No matter how they had tried to calm her, she had, cried, screamed at them, fought them and begged them not to hurt her. River didn't seem to have known they were trying to help her. Then she had broken, because she thought they would hurt her and that had scared both men. Mal knew in his mind that if she had recognized him, then what had happened meant she was afraid of him personally. It was painful for him to think she might ever look at him as a monster like Nishka. As soon as Malcolm had injected her with the smoother he and Doctor Bourland returned her to the exam table and then Mal retreated to give her some space. The doctor quickly went to River's side and checked her vitals then when he was certain she was fine he turned his attention to Malcolm the pain, fear and anger of what had happened was written on his face. "She's been through an awful trauma she didn't know she was safe and she didn't know she was fighting against you."

Chapter Eighteen

Another hour had passed and Malcolm sat at River's side brushing his hand lightly across her forehead repeatedly, whispering soothingly "You're safe boa bay.", " It's safe to wake up now.", " No one's gonna hurt you." She had started to stir awake only a few minutes prior only to seemingly slip back under and the Doctor had encouraged Mal to try and coax her into waking. Malcom was scared that this may do more harm than good.

River whimpered and the Doctor signaled Malcolm to back off a bit. Doctor Bourland now came to River's side saying " It's okay River, I'm a Doctor you're safe.", " Those men can't hurt you anymore.", "River you're safe now.", "Can you understand me?" River groaned, nodded slightly and dared to open her eyes afraid it was a cruel joke. She looked around the look in her eyes was wild with fear for a few moments as she slowly sat up then they filled with recognition. River was humiliated knowing that the Captain was there and that he had seen her break and her eyes filled with tears as she looked to the floor feeling sick as she remembered what had caused her to finally, really break. She cried hard whining out in disbelief "SS-I-I-M-O-ON" and scanned the room in hopes he would come running to comfort her. Malcom reached out to comfort her and tried not to feel hurt when she winced as if about to be struck. He just gathered the traumatized girl into his arms, she weakly struggled, her breathing became panicked and her body trembled. Malcom hoped that this wouldn't be what finally shattered her beyond repair. After crying hard for three hours straight River had started to hyperventilate and had to be given oxygen. The exhaustion from crying and the weakness from her injuries, plus the fact that she had some serious pain medication still coursing into her system took it's toll. No matter how hard she fought it Malcom's embrace had become comfortable and she began to doze off. Once the girl was sleeping soundly, Malcom layed her gently back onto the table. When he moved his legs he had a numb tingly sensation and his back was stiff from standing still for so long. He felt somewhat exhausted himself. Leaving River in the capable hands of Doctor Bourland he decided to finally get the rest suggested by the Doctor sixteen hours earlier.

After a full eight hours of sleep Malcolm felt more mentally sound. When he went to look in on River he was suprised to see that she was awake and calm. "How you feelin darlin?" Mal asked as he entered the Infirmary. " I'm a little better now." Answered River looking anywhere but directly at Mal. "We were just about to discuss some records from The Acadamy that Captain Myers managed to recently obtain.", " I could really use some privacy with my patient without any interruptions Captain Reynolds.", Said Doctor Bourland as Mal closed the infirmary door behind him. "What records?" Asked Malcom interrupting. " Well they're personal to River and I don't know if she'd feel comfortable to discuss them with you here." Said Doctor Bourland looking quizically to River. " It's fine for him to see.", "He's going to need to know." River tried to say flatly but tears pooled in her eyes and in the last few seconds her voice cracked and she spilled out all at once in a big heavy sob " I just want it over with!" " It's all right here Sir." Said the Doctor sounding solemn as he handed Malcom a Holo-File . First Doctor Bourland walked Malcom through the brain scan images and their meanings then he said " You see at first I thought the brain injuries were from what happened here at Skyplex.", "But, it turns out it was injuries she endured at The Acadamy that never fully healed." Mal examined the file. The sick bastards at The Acadamy had recorded every detail of what they had done to River. Their sick, depraved and heinous acts were so aweful that Mal thought what they had done to her made Nishka and his minions look like gentlemen. " To be honest, looking at those scans of how bad the injuries originally were, she's lucky to have made it out of that place alive at all.", " But, the facts that her mind was still somewhat intact and she came out with any free will of her own.", " Is simply, well I would say impossible, but, she is sitting here somehow." The Doctor gave Malcom a baffled look, shrugged then said " What makes her even more remarkably and unbelievably strong.", "Is that she went through all the torture they put her through at The Acadamy and she didn't break.", " They were never able to turn her into the thoughtless, emotionless drone that they wanted her to be.", "Add that on top of what Nishka and his men just put her through.", " Plus the death of her brother.", " It's a miracle that she's not only alive, but that she still has any coherent or independent thought at all is astounding.", " With that said, River is a medical miracle, but she, is well..." " As strong as I am.", "I'm still crazy and I could become violent and dangerous or completly broken and vulnerable at any time.", " Without any warning what so ever." River chimed in finishing the Doctor's sentence. "I was going to say you would have varied and unpredictable states of mind second to second.", " That it could be a dangerous situation to everyone involved including you, River, especially you.", " And that it wouldn't be your fault or anyone else's." Said Doctor Bourland "Captain Myers knows of some places where she would be treated well and they would be well equipped for her situation."

Chapter Nineteen.

" What do you want to do River?", " Do you want to go away somewhere or do you want to stay on Serenity?" Asked Malcom. River looked grateful and the Doctor said " You do understand that The Acadamy engrained intense trainings of all the most deadly combats into her ?", "And", " That at the drop of a hat on any given day she may randomly forget everything but that training?", " Or.", "She may suddenly start to feel vulnerable and any kind of sudden movements might make her lash out in self defense.", " She may act out when she has flasbacks or nightmares.", " You do know that if any of those things ever happened she could seriously injure or kill you and your whole crew or herself before you even had a chance to blink?", " Do you realize what it would do to her?", " For her to get a lucid moment shortly after, only to discover, she'd hurt or killed all or most of you?", " What would it do to you, Captain, if you witnessed, her hurt or kill herself or any member of your crew without you being able to do anything about it."

"The Doctor's right, it's really dangerous for all of us." Said River cooly still avoiding looking at Malcolm, then she took on a bitter, sarcastic tone as she said " I could become a mindless weapon at any moment.", " I could, suddenly lose all the humanity I have left, become the weapon I was meant too be and just kill every living being that I come across." "I don't believe that." Said Malcolm "And I'd still stake it all on the theory that you're a person, actual and whole." He said putting his hand gently on River's shoulder. Feeling the girl tense under his touch Mal dropped his hand and took a step away looking hurt. Then it occured to him that River may not want for him to be near her at all, that she may no longer want to live on his ship and with Simon gone she may feel she had no place there anymore.

"You could go anywhere you want, you don't have to go back to Serenity.", "But you don't have to be locked up in some loony bin either." Said Malcolm, his voice broke as he thought about her going off on her own. He wanted to know for sure that she'd be okay and he felt he couldn't do that unless she was willing to let him look out for her. River pulled her knees to her chest, wrapped her arms around them, burried her face in the concealment that offered and started to cry. She could hear Malcolms thoughts and they were not what she thought they'd be. She thought that with no obligation to keep her on board his ship that Captain Reynolds would gladly take any excuse to cast her out, she had proven to be more trouble than she was worth on more than one occasion and she felt that included now. But Mal was letting her choose to go back to Serenity if she wanted, he was even hoping she would go back despite the danger. She felt his dispair, his guilt, how badly he just wanted to comfort her. How he thought she couldn't handle being near him and was trying to be respectful of her. He wasn't turning her away and his mind was actually filled with fear when he thought of having to see her go.

She knew he would never hurt her and that her discomfort was irrational but she couldn't bear to have him touch her and she couldn't bare to even glance at him. But she also couldn't bare to leave the only home she knew when being given a choice to stay. Timidly she peaked out of a space between her hair and could see Mal shifting nervously uncertain of whether or not to try and reach out to her again. "I want to go home." Said River in a meek whisper. "Okay I can arrange for you a trip to Osiris, I can even have your parents meet you there to take you home." Said the doctor sounding hesitant. River sat up and boldly managed to look straight at Malcolm. Swallowing hard and fighting an urge to cringe she said. "Serenity is the only place I've ever considered home.", "And.", "I want to go home." She finished as tears she didn't know had formed spilled down her face. Unwillingly her face pulled into a pout, she felt like a runaway admiting to her family that she couldn't handle life on her own and that she wanted to be taken home were she belonged. Malcolm's face distorted, blurred by her tears, she could no longer make out his features. But she could hear his thoughts. He wanted to comfort her but he didn't want her to flinch away again. So River reached for him and it was all the cue he needed. She shuddered as his touch was a little unexpected, her sobs covered for the startled cry that escaped her as she fought to control her fear. She pulled him closer untill his arms wrapped around her, burrying herself in his chest she finally felt safe again.

Chapter Twenty.

With River having reached more than a couple milestones in the healing process in less than a day, Malcolm began to feel a little better himself now that he knew she would be okay and that she still thought of Serenity as home. Mostly he felt better because she had finally allowed him the comfort he had needed in comforting her. Promising he wouldn't be long Mal excused himself to go check on the others.

Upon seeing him enter Zoe came between Malcolm and Inara. "Sir." She said her voice bordering between fearful and distraught. Mal didn't catch her tone and he tried to peak around her into the rest of the room trying to catch a glimpse of Kaylee. But all he could see was the top of Inara's head and a mountain of blankets. "Is Kaylee in here?" he finally asked. "I need to know she's okay." "She's sleeping again.", "Yu Sun had to give her another smoother. Zoe said her voice still wavering. "Yu Sun?" Asked Malcom still completly oblivious. "She's one of the ships doctors" Zoe replied but now her voice cracked making it blatantly obvious that something was wrong. "Are you okay?" Asked Malcolm half confused. Zoe had always been so tough, she always came out of everything alright, he hadn't even thought to ask about her welll being till now. "Is River..." Zoe asked diverting, she knew that if River was still in bad shape that the Captain wouldn't be here. "She's awake and seems to be recovering well." Answered Malcolm, but now he caught on. "That's not all though is it?", "Zoe what's wrong?" Asked Mal truly concerned for her. "Nothing, with me Sir." She replied and now a tear slid down her cheek. "Then what's going on?" Mal asked getting nervous. "We should talk elswhere Captain." Said Zoe grabbing Mal's sleeve and tugging for him to follow. Mal managed one last look back before being towed out into the hall and realized that there had been one extra barely noticeable lump underneath that mountain of blankets.

"I apologize Sir, it's just that with Kaylee being in her very delicate condition, I wanted to avoid upsetting her any further." Mal shook his head bewildered "How bad is the shock?", "It can't be serious enough to kill her." , "Can it?" Mal asked. He thought back to the war and remembered troops dying of nothing but shock, but there had almost always been severe injuries to go along with the shock. Kaylee had suffered more mentally than physically and the Captain just couldn't see mental trauma alone killling someone, but the way Zoe sounded had him worried. "She is getting weaker Sir but I doubt she'll die.", "It's the baby we're all worried about, along with how she'll take it if she miscarries."

"Whoa!", "Wait!", "Baby?", "I'm missing something here!" Mal exlaimed trying to wrap his head around what he just heard, then bringing himself to speed he swallowed hard and blurted "Kaylee's pregnant?", "Loa tyen, boo." Whispered Mal, now he was going to cry. He didn't know much about medical stuff past knowing how to patch up a bullet hole. But he did know that seven rounds of high voltage electricity being pumped into a pregnant woman couldn't be good for the baby. Add that to the devestating loss of the baby's father that put it's mother into an unshakeable shock, along with finding out she's pregnant only to learn she may lose the baby and it was suddenly all to understand the very real threat to lifes of the unborn child and it's mother. No wonder Zoe was so upset.

"Sir, I'm sorry I thought the doctor would have told you something about how Kaylee was doing." Said Zoe numbly as she realized the Captain hadn't known. "He only mentioned she would have been given a smoother for her shock.", "He never told me anything else." Answered Mal looking angry. "This is my fault", Said Mal sounding ashamed. "None of this would've happened if I hadn't done business with Nishka." He said as he strangled on a sob. If he had known about what Kaylee was going through at the time he would have made a few unsavory additions to Nishka's torture. A faint voice called out from the room. "Is that the Captain?" Kaylee asked sounding weak. "He came to see how you are." Mal heard Inara say. "Do you feel up to seeing him?" She asked. Ther was silence and Mal shook his head sadly, but understanding he started to walk away. Zoe didn't know what to say to ease his guilt. She just watched silently as he turned his back and started leaving. "Mal" Inara called. Malcom froze in his tracks and stood there waiting. "Zoe?" Inara called again. "Yeah." Zoe called back. "Could you tell Malcolm Kaylee wants to see him?"

Mal didn't hesitate again. In fact he was far to eager to get to Kaylee's side. The scene was diferent now. Inara sat beside the bed and little Kaylee was propped up against a wall of pillows smiling sadly at the sight of Mal. "It's not your fault." Kaylee said reaching for his hand. "If you had of refused that job from Nishka he would have fond a way to make you take it.", "That's the kind of luh-suh, he was.", "You really wouldn't have been able to make a different choice.", "And.", "When you found out we were takin medicine that those people needed..." "I sentenced everyone to suffer by Nishka's cruelty when I didn't finish the job as instructed.", "And, then I sealed our fates when I let him escape even after what he did to Wash and I." Mal interupted. "You're so stubborn!" Exclaimed a frustrated Kaylee. "You won't see that the choices you made then are because of the kind of person you are!", "You're an honorable guy Mal!.", "What you chose was right!", "Why won't you see it?" She finished looking stern. Then Kaylee's face softened "Captain, none of us blames you and we don't want you to blame yourself.", "Dong ma?" Zoe and Inara both nodded that they too placed no blame on Malcom and Inara spoke saying: "She's right Mal, none of this is your fault and we all know it.", "It was Nishka who did this to ALL OF US.", "He made the choices he did because of the kind of "Hun zhang" he was.", "And we all know what you did to him to make sure he got what he deserved."

Chapter Twenty-One.

"How is mei mei?" Kaylee asked sounding worried. "River is recovering quickly." Said Mal "I don't think much of anything can keep that girl down.", "Physically anyway." Kaylee looked relieved as Mal asked: "What about you darlin?", "How you doin?" "I really don't know yet.", "The doc says it's to soon to know which way the cards will fall." She answered. " I just know I have River to thank for my child even having a chance at living." "What do you mean?" Asked Mal. "You see, I had just found out I was pregnant before going to breakfast that morning.", "And, I wanted Simon to be the first to know." Kaylee swallowed hard trying to fight back tears as she continued. "I was going to tell him that night.", "But, before I ever got the chance, we were captured.", "When we all found at it was Nishka who had us...", "All I could think of is what he did to you and Wash.", "What might happen to the baby if I was tortured like that.", "I think River picked up on it, even if she didn't she knew what it would take to distract Nishka away from the rest of us.", "I think she purposely kept from breaking to keep him focused on torturing her and to keep us ALL safe."

Mal considered what Kaylee said. It might have seemed far fetched to some that a person would be so selfless as to allow themselves to be tortured and humiliated in such a way, but not to Mal as he realized Kaylee was right. River had been willing to sacrifice herself for them. Kaylee began to get tired so Zoe showed Malcolm out. "And that's not all Sir." Said Zoe suddenly once they were out of earshot of the others. "When the doctor's assistants examined us they found that our physical injuries were minor compaired to what they thought they would have been seeing.", "According to them, we shouldn't have been able to walk out of there.", "Yet somehow we did.", "Kaylee was only worse off because of the shock of losing Simon put her pregnancy at risk.", "If Simon hadn't died, Kaylee would have come out just as fine physically as Inara and I.", "I think River somehow kept us from being as seriously injured as we could have been.", "Maybe that's to big an assumption to think she could actually do that."

"I don't know Zoe, I think River is a mystery that no one will ever solve." Mal replied. "But I know if she could do something like that, that she wouldn't hesitate to protect the people she cares about."

Chapter Twenty-Two.

Two weeks went by since the crew of Serenity had been rescued and it had been the longest fourteen days of Malcolm Reynold's life. First, because Kaylee still wasn't out of the woods and he couldn't help but worry about both her and the baby. Second, because everytime River so much as dozed off she'd bolt right back up again thrashing and screaming due to some horrific nightmare and no one other than Mal could comfort her which meant a lot of sleepless nights for both him and River. Third, because even though he tried to make her see diferently, River felt at fault for their capture because she had shut her ability to "READ" off for even a second, she felt that if she had just left it on all the time she would have known sooner and none of any of this would have happened. She'd wake up crying sometimes because she felt responsible for her own brother's death and in turn Kaylee's current crisis.

With River's already frayed mind and torent of unpredictal emotions, her being filled with fear, guilt, remorse and grief wasn't helping matters. In fact it was proving to be a dangerous mix. Just as Doctor Bourland had predicted, River was having violent outbursts during nightmares and flashbacks. She had never acted out against anyone from Serenity except for Mal, however. So far most of her outburst had been directed at any male crew member of the Argo foolish enough to go near her when her gaze grew vacant. Her outbursts had ONLY happened during or after a nightmare or flashback and had always been defencive actions never outright attacks. Mal knew that even a mentaly stable person would be prone to random violent outburst after such an ordeal, after all he himself was still touchy and jumby. Mal figured it to be the fault of the "IDIOTS" that tried to manhandle her when she was obviously in a state which included himself. He didn't blame River for defending herself when she felt vulnerable.

The good thing was that even though River was more than capable of killing anyone who was dumb enough to try and touch her when she wasn't willing, it never came to that, athough to say there hadn't sometimes been a few bones broken would be a lie . River had always caught herself before it went to far. It would be like someone flipped a switch, one second River would be kicking the asses and taking the names of any man foolish enough to get to uncomfortably close to her during a flashback and then, "click", she'd freeze, drop her fist to her sides, look around blankly a few seconds, realize what had happened, feel guilty and ashamed and then she'd bolt, disapearing for hours at a time. Most of the men had gotten smart enough to stear clear of the little crazy girl. But Mal had gotten his ass kicked by the little ninety pound girl plenty of times as he always threw himself into the middle of the ruckus to add to the beating of any man stupid enough to actually take a swing at River. With River acting on nothing but blind fear Mal would almost always end up one of her casulties to. Still Mal went to her aid every single time no matter how many times she ended up breaking his nose. Even Captain Myers, who may have been the only person in the "Verse" with fighting skills to rival River's, got his ass handed to him by the girl on a couple of occasions while trying to restrain her.

Captain Myers had the tolerance of a saint. It seemed he acted with the same ferver and determination when he decided to help someone as he did when he decided to kill them. No matter what the goings on from the people of Mal's ship Gordon stayed truley and unconditionaly, good, helpful, friendly and hospitable to all of them. After taking them to Mr. Universe's Moon for Simon's burial. Gordon helped to put the final touches on Serenity to make sure all of her parts were in working order. He even replaced all of the parts that had been falling apart for forever.

Gordon offered for Mal's crew to stay longer, because he honestly hated to have them leave. Mal really appreciated the gesture, he shook Gordon's hand, thanked him then told him he'd have to refuse, that he had done a lot of thinking on it and come to realize that both River and Kaylee would fair better once they were home. Captain Myers understood and insisted that Malcolm take Yu Sun so that they'd at least have a doctor on board. Malcolm gladly accepted the offer and as they left the atmosphere of Mr. Universe's Moon G made sure to reiterate that Mal call him if EVER he or River needed ANYTHING no matter what and said jokingly: "It is a life debt after all." But Mal knew it was more than that. He and Gordon now considered eachother friends and they were both loyal to a fault.

Chapter Twenty-Three.

River had already made the move back to Serenity two days ago. The ship seemed to be the girl's preferred sanctuary after every "episode" that she had. Mal remembered the first few times she had disapeared and no one could find her. Then one day she had disapeared. Mal had thought nothing of it because it was becoming common place. He was puting supplies on Serenity and as moved into the cargo bay he caught a glimpse of hair and feet sbove him and knew that this had been where River had been running to. "Hey little albatros." Mal said gingerly as he knew she may still be in a wild state. He heard the girl let out a quiet sob as her feet disapeared. "It's alright bao bay.", "If you don't wanna go back to the Argo you don't have to.", "You can just start sleeping in your own bunk if that's what you want.", "I just stocked the Kitchen so you can have Serenity all to yourself till it's time for us to leave Argo." Ever since that day River hadn't left Serenity again and if Mal, Gordon or the doctor wanted to check on her they had to seek her out because they knew she wasn't going to come to them.

Mal had taken to sleeping on Serenity as well. He didn't want to be to far from River. But during the day he had responsibilities on Argo that kept him away from her. It was a relief when Malcolm actually got all of his people back on his ship and got Serenity back into open space. He promised Captain Myers he'd keep in touch but even with their new found camaraderie Mal couldn't wait to be Captain Reynold's again so leaving was all to easy.

Chapter Twenty-Four.

Turns out Mal had been right about getting River and Kaylee home to Serenity and back into space were they belonged. Yu Sun said Kaylee's health was improving and that she was coping with the grief of losing Simon better. River's "episodes" had decreased substancially to mostly nightmares along with flashbacks happening only every so often. Inara had become a big help with both River and Kaylee. She used her arts of comfort to help them both heal mentally. Even Zoe had taken on a very maternal nature where either Kaylee or River were concerned. Mal felt at times dispised as he was the only male. For him it was like being in the middle of a hornets nest where so much as the wrong kind of "thought", movement or action could get him stung. But when night came along, or River had an "episode" Mal would feel appreciated again. EVERY night River still had nightmares and Malcolm was still the only one that could calm her. Not that everyone else didn't try. River acted less violently to the women than she had any man. But, she NEEDED Malcolm and it soon became pointless for anyone but him to go running to comfort her at nights, thus, making him feel appreciated for saving everyone else a sleepless night.

Eventually it got to where Mal wouldn't leave River's bunk even after he'd soothed her back to sleep. He'd just fall asleep next to her with his arms appropriatly crossed over his chest only waking if she had another bad dream but mostly sleeping through till morning. In fact now that he was staying the rest of the nights in River's bunk after she had the first nightmare of the night Mal noticed that she stopped having a second nightmare each night altogether. So without really thinking about it Malcolm started slipping into bed next to a sleeping River nightly before she had that first nightmare of the night and for some reason with him there it never came. It became so routine to lay beside her and hear her shallow breathing that he never really thought about the abscence of his own nightmares since he started sharing her bed.

Days seemed to go by smoother too. River rarely had a flashback anymore and when she did they no longer caused any violent outbursts. For a month things had been going smoothly. Kaylee was finally able to come off bedrest, making everyone breath a sigh of relief. She dove right back into work, rumaging around in her beloved Engine Room, admiring all the new parts Serenity had aquired and playfully scolding the Captain that he better not let any piece of Serenity get in such bad shape as the old parts had been in again.

The way River walked around started to look like dancing again. She was still said about Simon and sometimes looked into the infirmary with an air of expactation that he'd be there only to scitter away with disapoinment when she saw Yu Sun and remembered her brother was gone forever. It was still common place for her to cry a lot about losing Simon. But somehow she was dancing through Serenity again. Her light gracefull movements catching Malcolm offguard as he had forgotten how quiet she could be. He had to get used to her popping up out of nowhere all over again. Which provided a few comical moments for the others because watching the Captain jump out of his skin was always worth a couple of laughs.

Chapter Twenty-Five.

Although Malcolm never brought it up River could see the way he sometimes looked at the light pink scars that covered her arms. She could hear his thoughts. Every time he thought about those scars he got angry with himself. And even though River knew that anger wasn't directed at her, just sensing his anger was enough to cause an apprehension within her. Which turned to fear and triggered her first flashback in weeks. It was no where near as bad as it could have been. But it had still been the worst to hit for her, from an emotional standpoint because in a sense Mal had caused it. Although she could never tell him that. She was extra clingy after Mal was finally able to calm her again. Once she pulled herself together she excused herself for the sanctuary of her bunk. Just not willing to deal with anymore for the moment she settled in determined to stay there the rest of the day.

Malcolm was no idiot he knew what he had been thinking about right before River's meltdown. He was just completly wrong on how his thought triggered her "episode". He thought he had tredged up bad memories. Which made him feel aweful but at the same time made him curse about her being a "READER". He hated the fact that River had to bear the weight of his thoughts or anyone else's just because she was still having problems getting her "GIFT" back under control. He wished their was a way to take it away from her, no matter how useful it sometimes proved to be. He no longer cared about the "GIFT'S" usefullness he just didn't want River to suffer because of it anymore. As he slid into bed next to River that night he whispered his apology and he left his arm draping over her side as he fell asleep holding her for the first time.

The next morning Mal came from River's bunk and Inara just happened to bump into him at precisly the right akward moment of his leaving. No one other than him (and probabably River had picked up on it too) knew that he had been staying the whole night in River's bed. Not knowing why he thought of it as a big deal to be caught while coming out in the morning. When everyone already knew he had been going in their to comfort River at nights in the first place was beyond him. But for some reason, Mal felt like he had done something wrong by taking partial residency in River's bunk. His guilt/ embarrassment was obvious but also something else. Inara knew that Mal would never be or do anything inappropriate with River but by the way he had a glow about him was unnerving. Her training had given her an insight to notice such things as a person in love. Seeing this she beamed an understanding smile at Malcolm. It made her sad to know he would never be hers. But she had known from the beginning he was never really meant for her, nor she for him anyway. She knew she would never give up the life of a Companion and she couldn't expect for Mal to just die pining for her. So it was with a touch bittersweet that she felt truly happy for Mal, and that he loved someone so deserving as River. Inara felt it was a good match. Malcolm would never do anything to hurt or offend River and she could kick his ass if he tried.

Of course Mal was completly oblivious to the way he felt no matter how apparent it was for Inara. And even if he was aware of his feelings he would never act on them. River was just to sacred. He would never risk hurting her any further by trying to turn their relationship into something that might ever cause her pain.

THE END

(FOR NOW ANYWAY)