Chapter 1

River sat at the helm of serenity, feeling fairly serene herself. She stretched out, wiggled her propped up bare toes. She removed her sunglasses as the sun set on Paquin and the sky darkened. Rare was it these days, a year after Miranda, that they spent a night planetside. Rarer still she wasn't included in a job. She had protested at first, but Mal had been adamant.

"You don't fit in darlin'," He had been reasonable enough two mornings ago as the plans were solidified. "Inara will play the companion to me part, Zoe and Jayne will be bodyguards. We're trying to keep this as smooth as possible. We can't use someone who, though lord knows, would be the best bodyguard in the 'verse, would be suspicious. You are just too damn young. No one would buy it."

He was right, she reflected, sitting in the chair she now thought of as hers and Wash's, never forgetting the man who had occupied it before her, but knowing his easy loving spirit wouldn't begrudge her taking it as her own. Her toes tapped fondly on Wash's dinosaurs. And even though she had been annoyed at first being excluded from the job, she had to admit to enjoying this time alone on the ship. Kaylee and Simon had decided to go off to the local fair while the job was at hand. She closed her eyes and could feel them leaving the old fashioned Ferris wheel that Simon had gallantly spent what little coin he had on taking them for a ride. She smiled, feeling the love and excitement that Kaylee was feeling at being with her love on a beautiful night on a planet with a real Oceanside as they walked, trying to find a place to open their bottle of wine and have a small supper away from prying eyes. Simon worried it was such a small gesture, the Ferris wheel, but the only gesture he could afford. Boob, thought River. Don't give Kaylee so little credit.

She searched through the night to the others. Her talents had been so much clearer since Miranda. She had been practicing on reading only the thoughts, emotions that she chose to pick up and block out the ones she didn't want. It was hard, there wasn't exactly a guide book to this kind of thing. But being on Serenity was actually a good environment. Being out in the black, she only had six minds to contend with, rather than the thousands, (Millions if it was a core planet), all milling around in her mind planetside, vying for her attention. This at one time had kept her locked in her insanity. Miranda changed something. It freed something in her. Simon couldn't explain it, and neither of them chose to question it. She had slowly been able to improve this selectivity to read what she wanted, ignore the rest. Her friends, (yes, they were all her friends now, this lovely truth growing stronger with the passing months), had been her unknowing guinea pigs. They had helped her hone her psychic abilities so that now she could respect their private thoughts by keeping herself out of their minds, but delve into them when she needed to. Very helpful on a job.

The job. Fairly simple. Mal would go to a party, improve the air of respectability by having a companion and bodyguards at his side so Mal could cozy up to a man called McMahon. A business associate of Badger's (not exactly comforting, that). But he had the connections they needed. It was an unsavory connection, a not exactly legal trade of some patented aerosol enhancer of agricultural growth, especially on moons which were notoriously harder to grow quality foodstuff on. Something that would fetch a great price on the border planets, especially in the black market. Nothing harmful, but nothing that one would want the alliance to catch whiff of, and as such, some unsavory characters involved. Mal and his crew were charged to relieve this contact of his supply of the aerosol, one way or another. There was room for negotiation to pay for the goods Badger had said, but added with a smirk on his face that outright theft wasn't out of the realm of possibility. Mal had wisely decided that the negotiation aspect was most likely the safest way to go. McMahon was known to usually sell his goods through legal channels, but would gladly sell to the black market when the price was right, and Badger had put up a decent amount of coin to acquire these particular goods. Actually a very handsome price. Badger was increasingly trying to shift his business towards the grey side of the market rather than black. So here they were attending a party to propose a grey market price rather than trying to infiltrate McMahon's warehouses for a black market theft (although theft had been Jayne's vote). McMahon was holding this party, apparently a moderately posh one. Hence the companion and bodyguards to lend the air of respectability that Badger had advised.

River, still sitting at Serenity's helm, first caught up with Jayne's mind. Everyone these days regularly made good-natured jokes about how anyone who had full-fledged unlimited access to Jayne's brain would surely be driven insane. River, they laughed, had never stood a chance. Jayne took these jibes good-naturedly. They all would have been surprised though, to know that River loved Jayne's mind. It was so simple. It wasn't a dumb mind, it was just simple and clear. Jayne had a strong sense of good, bad and basically good and basically bad. He was crusty and though not exactly moral in a traditional sense, he did have a clear sense of morality and pragmatism. It was why he had tried to betray her and Simon on Ariel, he looked out for his own, and had seen them as both a threat to their safety and an opportunity for profit. Jayne's moral code made his decisions on Ariel so long ago plain. River fully understood Jayne, and she respected his reasons. And she also knew that things had changed these days. River, and even Simon fell well onto the side of crew and family in Jayne's book. He would protect both of them with his life, though he'd never admit it out loud. Despite all of this though, Jayne, more than anyone else, would have been surprised at the affection River felt for the Jayne brain.

Right now, Jayne was as clear as ever. He sized up the party, acting the part of bodyguard with ease, not trusting anyone really. A small(ish) part of him was really hoping the job would go south so he could do some brawlin.' River smiled at him, understood his desire more than she should, and moved on.

Zoe was also clear minded. Hers held the relief it always felt while working, as it was a chance to focus on something other than the dull grief that pulled at her heart during idle times. It was very slowly lessening, as the space grew longer between her and the loss of Wash. But a job was always an escape for Zoe. Nothing out of the ordinary there either.

Inara... always the hardest to read. Her mind was also clear and straightforward like Jayne's. Yet unlike Jayne, this clarity was because of her training to suppress everything underneath a calm exterior. She had obviously learned that control was best established by suppressing emotions themselves, not just the appearance of them. Her mind always occupied a place of uneasy calm to River, with unknown secrets simmering underneath. It didn't make her any less loving and wonderful though, and River smiled as she felt Inara's fleeting thought that she enjoyed being on Mal's arm like this, as part of the crew helping out of a job, and just the simplicity of being with Mal at a party. She also seemed perfectly natural in her surroundings, alert, but perceiving nothing out of the ordinary. They had only just arrived and were just beginning to introduce themselves as a wealthy man in agricultural machinery sales on vacation in Paquin, taking advantage of the company of a well-known companion as he attended the local party.

River, eyes still closed as the sun continued it's slow descent into the blackness, drifted last to Mal. Here was the one she had grown probably closest to with her pilot training and his growing trust of her on jobs. Closest to, and yet also the one she had made the primary focus of her blocking out training of her psychic abilities. His emotions were strong and dark behind his easy wit and very real affection for everyone aboard Serenity. Zoe's emotions were dark too with the lasting memories of the war, of Serenity Valley and the loss of Wash at Miranda. Yet her love of Wash kept a blinding light shining through her grief. Mal didn't have that. His nightmares plagued him and his apparent easygoing nature was hard won, a testament to his character that he could be such a good man with all of those demons. River felt she had a special bond with Mal. She knew all to well the effect of trying to be normal when nightmares, both asleep and awake threatened to take over. She knew that these days more than ever when she was more often orbiting the planet of normal.

Even Mal's confused feelings towards Inara weren't enough to cut through his darkness. If anything, Miranda had widened Mal's perceived chasm between him and Inara. Inara knew this too and it bothered her that he either couldn't or wouldn't let her use her companion training and her love to assist in healing him. But River knew Mal resented that Inara could never know the pain and sacrifice that people like him and those he had seen die had made while she had been in companion training, living a life in relative comfort, and very much on the side of the alliance. Even though he felt some kind of love for her, Mal couldn't bring himself to let this go. It was akin to the contempt he had once felt for Simon. But Simon had passed the Mal character test with the story of his rescue of River and the willingness to sacrifice the life and luxury he knew for someone he loved. This passing grade had been awarded even higher marks not long ago when one night, when it was just the two of them in the cockpit, River had shared the real story of Simon's rescue. No one knew that Simon was actually there at the academy and was instrumental in getting her out. He had been vague when he explained this part of the rescue two years ago when he met the crew of Serenity. No one had been particularily interested in listening to him then, and he'd never bothered to correct Mal's disdain that Simon had simply paid to have other people do his work. River had painted the picture of a Simon much braver and resourceful than Mal had ever given the boy credit for. That day, the Captain's measure of Simon had gone up a notch or two.

Mal had also been instrumental in River's recovery, though she thought she was likely the only one aware of this. From the get go, after Miranda, Mal had begun training her as pilot, including her in jobs, teasing her like a normal person, until she went ahead and became more normal. His acceptance of her made her more comfortable in her skin than she could ever remember feeling. He never feared or questioned her abilities or intuition; in fact he trusted them and never failed to listen to her advice or urgent whispers in a job gone bad and how they could get out of it. River trusted Mal and his judgment wholeheartedly also.

Mal also was alert, but largely at ease as he made his way through the party, introducing himself and Inara to the locals. It all made for a very easy night and hopefully they would be back on the ship and ready to take off with the cargo in a few hours. Just to be sure, River used her family's minds as a launch pad to leap through the minds from person to person through the party, more methodically than she once would have though possible. Click, click, click. Like snapshots of innocence. Excitement that a certain lady was here, hope that a certain man would ask this one to dance, hope that this night would constitute enough wining and dining that these two companies would merge. it was all pretty straightforward.

Suddenly, River gasped. This mind was not so easy. This wasn't the party they thought it was, or at least it wasn't going to be. McMahon knew Mal was coming, knew who he was representing. And he did plan to deal in coin, yes he certainly did. But when it came to delivering the goods, there was, not surprisingly, a much more grey area. Take the money, keep the goods. And he had the muscle on his side. Zoe and Jayne didn't stand a chance. Why had she not seen this before? She took this oversight onto herself and allowed herself a brief moment to berate herself for her bad judgment before switching to the more pressing problem at hand.

River's mind raced through possibilities as to how she could plausibly put herself there. Not a bodyguard, it doesn't fit with the charade. She thought. They had to keep up the charade until the right moment. She had to be there. Only she could feel out the right moment to break cover.

NotabodyguardNotafriendNotasisterNotadaughterNota...

She shot up out of the chair, ran to Inara's shuttle and started going through her clothes. Posh but not too posh. This meant there weren't a lot of options with clothes, and there was definitely only one option for a plan. She grabbed an emerald green dress, a bag and then raced to Kaylee and Simon's room. While she searched through their room, her mind flew back to where she had left Kaylee and Simon. A quiet picnic by the seaside docks. She had to get to them quick. She had to balance the scales. Mal and Inara, River and Simon. Mal and River, Inara and Simon. Kaylee would understand.

The mule was long gone with everyone else who had left earlier this evening, she was going to have to run. Luckily, it wasn't far to Kaylee and Simon. They could get a taxi from there. She opened Serenity, felt the warm summer breeze hit her face, but paid it no mind as she locked the hatch behind her, hitched up the skirt of Inara's dress she had changed into and began her flight through the docks.

Simon and Kaylee clinked their plastic souvenir glasses together with the wine they had bought, listening to the ocean lapping up on the shore during low tide. It was without doubt a lovely night so far. Simon couldn't remember feeling so content on a planet in years. He didn't look around in fear of being discovered, he just enjoyed the moment. The job Mal had found for them should be simple. And hell, if it wasn't, they could handle that too.

When he was a child, Simon had read all the super hero stories, adventures stories, swashbuckling pirate stories he could get his hands on. He couldn't get enough of them. He became immersed, as children do, in tales far more interesting than the lives that are usually mapped out for them. Then Simon had grown up, invested in the real world of his parents and peers like everyone else had. He become a doctor, he'd been good at it, he enjoyed it, and he was prepared to have the conventional privileged life that being a surgeon on a core planet afforded him. And life was good. He looked around now and reflected on his life today. River was safe, was saner than she had been since he had seen her as a teenager pre-academy. Yet here he was, on the run still. He might not be the main hero in this story. But he was the ship's doctor on a pirate ship. He had put on muscle, learned to fight. He might not admit it to everyone else on the ship, other than Kaylee who knew his heart and soul. But, damn, wasn't life good.

He leaned over and kissed Kaylee after the first sip of their, let's be honest, second bottle of wine that night. She giggled against his lips and returned the kiss wholeheartedly. He cupped her cheek with one hand and started to bend her over onto the dock when they heard frantic footsteps interrupt them.

"River, what on Earth..." Simon trailed off as he took his sister's appearance in. She was wearing a beautiful green dress, of the quality he would have been used to seeing her in at one of his parents' parties. Although this one left very little to the imagination and River's expression was pensive. River handed Simon some clothes and Kaylee Inara's supply of hair clips and products. He and Kaylee exchanged a glance and he felt the pleasant buzz from the wine begin to dissipate.

"I need your help." She said simply.

So here they were, a party of two sneaking into McMahon's party. It was actually pretty easy with River being able to find an unguarded exit where guests were coming outside for air and cigarettes and politely holding the door for what they assumed were other party goers to come back inside. Simon, dressed now in a rather posh suit that River had found in his closet. Why he had ever thought he would need a suit like this as he packed for a life on the run two years ago River would never know. Yet the suit, and the fact that it was expensive, but now two years out of date by the core's fashion standards made his character as a border planet aristocrat that much more believable and she was grateful for it. He had left Kaylee, who had gone back to the ship to prepare for a possible quick take off.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" He had asked her, brushing her hair back out of her face. She grinned at him.

"It's what has to be done Simon," She answered, and with a glint in her eye "I like that my little pirate doctor is becoming a jack of all trades!" Simon ducked his head in embarrassment and Kaylee laughed and caught his lips in a quick kiss before parting. "I love you."

Kaylee had done River's hair up as best she could on a dockside in the dark. Which actually wasn't a bad job. Inara's green dress was certainly one she would only wear on a more modest planetside engagement. It lacked straps and was a simple gown, without any of the lace or beads that a core planet would demand. River had done her own makeup hastily before leaving. Kaylee had only corrected a few things, adding some rouge to her cheeks and some kohl to her eyes. She felt unrecognizable and caught Simon stealing curious glances at her during the taxi ride to the party, taking her in. She turned to his gaze and he maintained it.

"Any questions?" She asked.

"No, it seems okay. Are you going to be alright?" Simon replied. River felt a wave of warmth towards her brother, whom, after her becoming someone he didn't have to watch constantly, she had become so much closer to. The way real adult siblings should feel towards each other. He trusted her. He'd play his part, and he'd let her play hers. She trusted him too. Simon, like her, wasn't the same person who had boarded Serenity two years ago.

"Yes," She said. "I just hope we can fit into the charade."

End Part One