A/N: This story is a semi-sequel to my fic Perfect Identity, which was posted last year on this date. Reading that story is not completely necessary to understand this fic, but knowledge of that story may enhance the enjoyment of this one.
In the darkened room, Chuck lay in bed, pretending to sleep, while he waited for Sarah to drift off. After she fell into a peaceful slumber, Chuck silently slipped out of their bed and crept out of the room. Standing just outside the door, Chuck looked back into the room to make certain he hadn't woken Sarah, whom he knew was exhausted. Rest assured that Sarah was still sleeping soundly, Chuck quietly walked down the hallway.
After disappearing into another room, Chuck took the newest girl in his life into his arms and placed a featherlight kiss on her forehead. Sarah was going to have to share his love with her now. He in turn would have to share Sarah's love as well. Their newborn daughter already held their hearts prisoner.
While holding the precious bundle in his arms and rocking her gently in the rocking chair they had purchased for the nursery, Chuck couldn't take his eyes off of his new little girl. Tonight was her first night in her new home. He and Sarah had just brought her home from the hospital that afternoon. As he looked at her, Chuck knew his daughter was a very special little girl.
Watching his precious, sleeping infant daughter as he rocked her, Chuck became mesmerized by her and unconsciously began to softly sing to her. He couldn't believe Sarah had let him name her Serenity, or more accurately Serenity Jayne Bartowski, or that she had been born on September 30, and so the song he started singing to the sleeping babe was the theme to Firefly, in the style of a lullaby.
Chuck continued to sing the Firefly lullaby to little Serenity whenever he held her. Like the first time he sang to her, he was initially unaware of his singing to his daughter, but gradually he came to realize that he loved singing to his little girl when he held her. He also realized just what he had been singing to his namesake daughter, and more importantly, how she reacted to his lullaby.
Baby Serenity so loved the Firefly theme song as a lullaby that it became Chuck's go-to method when she was fussy or he was trying to get her to go to sleep. He would softly sing the song to her several times throughout the day. By the time Serenity was a month old, Chuck had to teach the song to Sarah. No other song would placate her like that one would.
Sarah Walker-Bartowski had tried everything to get her infant daughter to quieten down. She had tried feeding her, changing her, rocking her, bouncing her, burping her, walking with her. No matter what she tired to do, Serenity just wouldn't stop crying. To make matters worse, her husband wasn't home. She had a screaming baby that couldn't be soothed and no help. She was all alone.
Sarah was becoming more frazzled and frustrated by the second. She wanted to tear her hair out or scream, but she wouldn't. Even though her name was Sarah Bartowski now, she was still Sarah Walker and Sarah Walker wasn't about to let her weaknesses show. If she did that, she would lose all control forever. So no, she would remain calm on the surface, but underneath, she was almost at her wits end. She had no idea what to do. She couldn't hold out much longer.
When Chuck finally returned from the store with a new pack of diapers and baby wipes, Serenity was still crying and Sarah was trying to soothe their daughter by singing Rock-a-bye Baby to her.
"That's the wrong song. It won't work," she heard Chuck say as he pushed the front door open. "She likes the theme to Firefly. You have to sing that to her."
"I don't know that song," Sarah responded, trying not to let the weariness or frustration she felt enter her voice.
Chuck set the new store purchases down on the couch. "Here, give her to me."
Sarah gratefully handed the still squalling babe over to her husband.
Chuck barely made it to the third line of the song before Serenity's tears were quelled and her eyes began to droop. Minutes later she was sound asleep in her crib and Chuck was popping a DVD into the DVD player.
After randomly selecting an episode of Firefly, he jumped to the theme song and played it for Sarah's ears. He continued to play the same portion of the DVD until Sarah knew the song by heart and would be able to sing it to their daughter next time.
That next time occurred later that very day. Serenity was fighting going back down after her 2:00 AM feeding and Chuck was sound asleep in bed in the other room. Sarah crossed the nursery with Serenity in her arms, toward the rocker, her feet shuffling across the soft carpet as she walked. As the chair rocked to-and-fro, Sarah started to sing. Softly, sweetly and hesitantly at first, the words began to flow from her mouth.
"Take my love, take my land. Take me where I cannot stand. I don't care, I'm still free. You can't take the sky from me. Take me out to the black. Tell them I ain't comin' back. Burn the land and boil the sea. You can't take the sky from me. There's no place I can be. Since I found Serenity. But you can't take the sky from me."
Serenity cooed contentedly at the beautiful sound of her mother's voice singing her favorite song. As Sarah sang, Serenity kept her eyes fixated on her mother as though she were watching her sing.
When the song ended and the room was quiet once again, Serenity's eyelids fell over her eyes and and she drifted off to sleep. Sarah smiled at her daughter's sleeping form and the serene look on her face. She had done it. Pleased with her accomplishment, for a long time Sarah gently rocked the chair back-and-forth just watching her daughter sleep. She would have to tell Chuck about it when he woke.
From then on, both Chuck and Sarah would sing the Firefly theme song to their daughter, whose name was derived from the series. Sometimes the proud mother and father would sing together in harmony and would continue to sing after their baby girl had fallen asleep, singing to each other.
Serenity Jayne Bartowski's young life continued to be filled with all things Firefly as she grew. When Serenity was six months old, Chuck took her out on a father-daughter shopping trip. He took her to a very special store, one which sold Firefly and Serenity based apparel, including sizes for babies.
As Chuck browsed the selections of outfits in Serenity's size, Chuck found that he wanted to buy all of them. They were all just so great and his daughter was named after the series and subsequent movie, Serenity. After a long, difficult, almost tortuous debate, Chuck was able to put one of the outfits back. Trying to pick another to put back would be impossible, so Chuck took all of the remaining outfits in his hands to the checkout counter.
Upon seeing the large selection of Firefly/Serenity outfits Chuck intended to purchased, the salesman was prompted to comment on Chuck's apparent love of the series. "I'm not the only one," Chuck responded. "The theme song to Firefly is little Serenity's favorite song. She loves it."
"Wait," the salesman interrupted, intrigued. "Her name is Serenity? Your wife actually let you name your daughter after the show?"
Yeah, her name is Serenity Jayne. And I think my wife let me pick that name because she was born on September 30. Before then, she wasn't too keen on the idea."
"She was actually born on the anniversary of the day Serenity was released?" the salesman exclaimed. Chuck couldn't describe the expression on the salesman's face at that point, but the words that followed clearly explained its meaning. "Sir, if I may say so, you have the coolest baby in the world!"
When Chuck arrived back home from his shopping trip, Sarah was resting on the couch. The sound of the door opening woke Sarah from her nap and she saw Chuck carrying her beautiful little girl in one arm and the large bag he held in the other.
Getting up from the couch, Sarah went to relieve Chuck of some of his load, taking Serenity out of his arms, leaving him the shopping bag. As Sarah re-bonded with her baby after being separated from her while she was out with her father, she directed a question at her husband, asking, "What's in the bag?"
Instead of responding to his wife's question verbally, Chuck laid the bag on the couch next to Sarah so that she could look through it. While she held Serenity in her lap, Sarah began to pull things from the bag one-by-one. The first item she pulled from the shopping bag was a brown onesie which said Firefly across the front. The next item she pulled from the bag was a pale blue sleeper with a drawing of a spaceship and the word Serenity printed below it. After that what Sarah found in her hands was an infant dress which Sarah recognized as being reminiscent of the one the character of Kaylee had worn on the show.
Sarah continued to pull assorted kinds of baby clothes out of the the bag with various Firefly phrases and references on them. By the time she pulled the ninth item out of the bag, which still contained more clothes, Sarah set the outfits she had removed so far aside and looked over at the man responsible for the bag's contents. "Chuck why did you get so many baby clothes about Firefly? Did you buy everything in Serenity's size the store had?"
"No," Chuck replied in a tone that Sarah found suspicious. "What, I didn't," Chuck continued after seeing the look Sarah was giving him. "I put one of them back."
Sarah laughed softly at the response, finding her husband adorable. "Serenity doesn't need this many Firefly outfits," Sarah replied, her tone becoming more serious.
"But they were all just so awesome and our daughter is named after the show."
"I know that Chuck, but even so, she doesn't need so many outfits referencing Firefly. Serenity is growing up fast. Too fast," Sarah added somewhat sadly. "She won't be able to wear this size for very long and then we'll have to go out and get her all new clothes. She has so many things in her current size already. She'll grow out of those before she gets to wear all of them."
"I know you're right Sarah, but I just couldn't decide which ones to get. They were all just so..."
"Shiny?" Sarah cut in, giving Chuck a playful smile.
Hearing Sarah make a reference to the show caused Chuck's eyes to go wide and his mouth to open in surprise. "Yeah... How did you know that?"
"That show plays often enough in this house. I've picked up a thing or two."
"Sarah, have I told you lately how much I love you?"
Sarah leaned over and kissed Chuck's cheek. "Not since you got home from your little shopping spree a couple of minutes ago. Speaking of which, where did you get these from?"
Once Chuck gave Sarah the name and location of the store, and after taking care of some of Serenity's needs, including putting her down for a nap, Sarah took the bag with the remaining clothes Chuck had bought and headed for the location he had given her.
When she went up to the sales counter, the salesman working recognized the purchase right away. "You must be Serenity's mother!" Your baby is so cool and you have to be the best wife ever, letting your husband name your daughter after such a great show."
Sarah didn't know how to respond to the man's comments so she simply said thank you before continuing on to the point of her visit. "My husband got too many and I'd like to return some of these."
Upon hearing this the man's face fell, which brought to the forefront of Sarah's mind, the heartbroken look Chuck had on his face when she walked out the door, bag in hand. That look, which tore at her heart was what led Sarah to return only two of the items and exchange the others for various larger sizes.
The forlorn look Chuck had on his face when his wife left instantly brightened when he saw that she hadn't returned everything, but rather got different sizes, an action which would allow their daughter to wear Firefly based clothing for a longer time, in addition to making him smile. Serenity was also still asleep when the woman he loved returned, so Chuck took the bag from Sarah's hands before getting his hands lost in her hair, kissing her.
Chuck often played parts of Firefly while spending time with Serenity, skipping over or muting the bits he deemed unsuited for Serenity's young age. Sarah wasn't too thrilled with the practice, but as long as he was careful about what their daughter saw and heard, she allowed Chuck to 'educate Serenity about the origin of her name,' as Chuck called it.
One day when Serenity was eighteen months old, 'Uncle Casey' arrived at the door of Casa Bartowski for a visit. When Chuck opened the door with Serenity at his side, he was surprised by his daughter's reaction. Serenity pointed her tiny little finger at her gruff 'uncle' and began squealing in her small baby voice, "Jayne! Jayne! Jayne!"
Sarah, who was on her way to the door when Chuck answered it, also heard her daughter's excited exclamations. Of the three, it was Casey who was most confused by Serenity's words. He couldn't understand what the small toddler was saying, but he did know that whatever it was, it had something to do with him.
Seeking clarification, Casey turned to the girl's father. "What is she saying?"
"Um," Chuck replied trying to suppress a laugh. "I think she's calling you Jayne."
"She's calling me Jayne? Why would she be calling me that? Jayne's a girl's name and I'm no girl," Casey responded with a hint of a growl seeping into his voice by the end of his words.
By now Sarah had made it to the door and was also trying to hide her amusement.
"I know that and so does Serenity," Chuck answered, still finding the whole situation funny.
"Then why would she be calling me by a girl's name?"
"Jayne is actually the name of a male character on a TV show Serenity knows. For some reason she must think you look like him. I'm not sure why... though now that I think about it," Chuck continued after a brief pause. "I guess you do resemble him a little."
"Jayne!" Serenity called out again, looking at both of her parents and then back at Casey.
"No baby," Sarah responded, bringing herself to the toddler's eye level. "That's Uncle Casey."
Serenity studied her mother for a while before turning to her father. She tugged on his pants to gain his attention, then pointed at the thoroughly bewildered man standing outside the door and once again said, "Jayne."
"Uncle Casey," Chuck said, trying to correct his daughter.
"JAYNE!" Serenity demanded.
At this, Chuck and Sarah could no longer contain their amusement and let out the laugh they had been holding back. Seeing as there was no convincing her otherwise, Chuck and Sarah went along with their daughter. "Okay Jayne. Come on in."
Serenity smiled and gave her parents a satisfied, 'I told you so' look. Chuck then scooped her up in his arms and Sarah kissed her little face, while Casey entered the house still confused. There was no denying on the parts of Chuck and Sarah that their baby wasn't absolutely adorable.
Nine months after Serenity started speaking, when she was about 21 months old, the word shiny began to enter her vocabulary.
At 29 months Serenity began to sing little songs she had learned. She would sing the usual children's fare like her ABC's, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Mary Had A Little Lamb. But her favorite thing to sing was the chorus of Hero of Canton, which she had learned from watching Firefly with her father. Her parents, Chuck in particular found her singing of that song supremely adorable and loved getting Serenity to preform it when company came over. With her toy guitar in hand, Serenity would stand in the center of the living room, play the toy instrument and sing, while Chuck, Sarah and whatever company was visiting would sit and watch the cute little show the pint-sized singer would put on for her audience.
When Serenity was three years old, Chuck and Sarah took her to a local animal shelter to look for a puppy, but came home with two kittens instead, one male and one female, which Serenity named Wash and Zoe.
So far all of the infusions of Firefly into Serenity's young life either came about naturally or required very little time, effort or dedication on the parts of Chuck and Sarah. The most either had to do was learn a simple song or treat mild allergies. That all changed when Serenity was four years old.
One night while her parents were tucking her in for the night, Serenity made a seemingly out of the blue request, she wanted a hat like Jayne's. Neither Chuck nor Sarah knew what had prompted Serenity's request that night. She hadn't recently seen the episode of Firefly featuring Jayne's hat, nor had she ever expressed any interest in hats before. Wherever the request came from however it wasn't one that Serenity was going to forget.
The very next morning she again expressed interest in having a hat like Jayne's. All that day the family scoured various shops looking for hats, none of which met with Serenity's approval. Her want was very clear, it had to be just like Jayne's hat, only with girl colors.
Accepting the challenge of his only child's request, Chuck chained himself to his computer that night and began searching the Internet for a hat which matched Serenity's requirements. Chuck had to spend hours of time on the computer each night for a week, sacrificing sleep and precious time alone with Sarah. But finally he found a suitable match. Now it was Sarah's turn to take over from Chuck, putting in time, effort and dedication of her own to fulfill her daughter's request.
What Chuck had found on his search were knitting instructions for a hat which looked like the one Jayne wore, now all Sarah had to do was learn how to knit. After several failed starts and weeks of long, nightly work, sacrificing her own sleep, as well as all of her chances to spend time with the husband she loved so much, Sarah finally completed the project that started with a simple request from her four-year-old daughter.
The night she finished the hat Sarah stayed up longer than she usually did, working very hard in order to get it finished and barely had any time to sleep before the responsibilities that came with a new day pulled her from the warm, inviting bed. Chuck and a still tired Sarah presented their daughter with the hat that very morning and when they saw her face light up upon seeing the purple and baby blue hat, they knew all their sacrifices had been completely worth it. The little girl immediately pulled the hat over her head. She loved that hat and from then on Serenity was constantly wearing her hat everywhere and always with a big, bright, adorable smile on her face.
The influence of Firefly would continue to be part of Serenity Jayne's life throughout the years. An influence which started the very day she was born, and even before, when her father fought so hard with her mother to give her a name which was derived from the show, a battle which he ultimately won when she decided to come into the world on the very special day of September 30, a day which has since become doubly special. That day was so incredibly special because to Chuck and Sarah, Serenity Jayne was a very special little girl and their greatest treasure.
A/N: To all readers of Chuck fanfic who are also fans of Firefly, this story is dedicated to you. I hope you enjoyed it.