Title: Sugar Plum Fairies Dancing
By: Nefertiri's Handmaiden
Disclaimer: I don't own "Firefly." If I had, there would have been more shirtless Simon.
Characters: Everybody, but focus on River and Simon. Mention of Simon/Kaylee, Mal/Inara, and Zoe/Wash, could be River/Jayne if you decide that it is.
Spoilers: Post much everything, but no direct spoilers to anything.
Summary: In which Jayne plays his guitar and River demonstrates another talent, though this one isn't so scary as many of her others.
Christmas on Serenity, Simon found, was surprisingly pleasant.
It was no secret that Simon had never fit in on Serenity as well as River, though he thought he was learning. He ran a hand over his sweater - a gift from Kaylee - which was of a style that he wouldn't be caught dead in back on Osiris, but that was warm and mostly serious and functional. He wiggled his feet in heavy boots that he'd never even seen advertised anywhere in Capitol City. His socks were thick wool that he'd never needed in the warm climate of his home.
No, he'd never be like River, who fit into this ship so seamlessly, but he'd figure it out eventually, especially if it meant being close to Kaylee.
Kaylee. He glanced down at her. She was curled up next to him on the couch and resting her head on his shoulder. She breathed slowly and deeply, almost asleep. He smiled and pressed a kiss to the top her head. He saw her grin, so he did it again.
They were all gathered in the dining room, full off of a dinner of real meat and vegetables and real hot chocolate flavored with rum, though Simon had no idea how the captain had gotten so much steak or how Kaylee had found real chocolate so far outside of the core. He found himself not caring too much. They'd exchanged modest presents that held more sentimental than monetary value, but everyone seemed happy.
Jayne had broken out his guitar and started playing. Simon was always surprised at how well Jayne played. The man was a brute with few to no redeeming values that Simon could see, but he knew guitar. The songs had started out as lively and happy, but now as they all drifted into a happy laze, Jayne's choices were softer and slower, some even sad.
Jayne played from the center of the room, where he sat comfortably in one of the hard-backed chairs that sat at the table. Kaylee sat comfortably against Simon on the couch that they kept in the small nook of the kitchen. Mal and Inara were cuddled up on one of the comfy chairs. It seemed that after so long avoiding their feelings, they were going to be as close as physically possible for as much time as possible. Zoe sat alone in the other large chair in the sitting area, near Kaylee and Simon. She looked lonely, but strangely at peace, her belly swollen out in front of her. The baby would come any day now and a little bit of Wash would be back with them. River was stretched out flat on the floor near Jayne's feet, barefoot as usual, taking up as much space as possible, but no one complained when they had to step over her to get to the hot chocolate still on the stove.
Jayne's song was low and melodic, floating gently. Simon watched everyone contentedly, most people half-asleep but unwilling to go to bed and break the spell.
Slowly, River rose. Simon cocked his head at her, but she ignored him. She stretched a bit, leaning back and forth, rolling her ankles and wrists and neck. His eyes widened as he recognized the sequence of movements.
Then, slowly, she raised up on her toes and began to dance.
Jayne's playing stuttered for a moment, but Simon reached out a hand, rousing Kaylee. "No," he murmured, "keep playing."
Jayne looked confused, but he grunted and kept playing.
Simon's words had captured everyone's attention but River's. They all looked at him, eyes opening fully again, and then to River, at whom Simon was staring.
It had been a long time since he'd seen her dance ballet. She hadn't danced since before the academy. Apparently, she hadn't forgotten a thing. She still moved as gracefully as ever, legs lifting slowly up high above her head and arms flowing. It was beautiful. Even Jayne couldn't keep his eyes off her as he played.
After a few moments, Simon recognized the dance. It had been years since he'd seen her dance it, but he was in the top three percent. He had a good memory. The last time she'd danced this dance was just before she'd left for the academy. He'd used to help her practice.
Not that he could dance. He couldn't: not at all. But he could stand and lift her into the air when she told him to. As a result, he knew the names of all ballet lifts, but couldn't dance a step. He'd just walk from place to place and lift her up in the air.
Gently, he disengaged himself from Kaylee and stood up. Jayne almost stopped playing again and made a smart remark, but when Simon didn't start dancing he just kept going. River twirled closer to Simon and even though he hadn't done it in years, he still remembered how to grip her on the hip and under her raised leg and lift her high into the air above his head. Kaylee let out a little gasp as he did, but everyone ignored it, too focused on River's dancing.
River was heavier than she had been at fourteen, but still lighter than she should be: always tiny. He lifted her with ease, set her back down, and watched her spin away again.
Her every move was calculated, professional, perfect. She could have danced professionally by age twelve if his parents had allowed it and if it had actually, truly been what she wanted.
But she'd wanted to learn. She'd wanted to know more. She'd wanted to know everything.
And now, he supposed she did know it all. That was a heavy weight for her to bear. Usually, it weighed her down. No tonight. Not with their new little family so close, so content.
He took a few steps to meet her for the next lift. The area of the kitchen wasn't as great as the large dining room at their parent's estate, and he had to make a calculated guess on where she'd want him next. Whether he guessed well was up for debate, because she would have worked her way back to him no matter what he'd done, smoothly integrating the change into her elegant movements. The next lift wasn't as high or spectacular as the first, but he had to dip her a little, which took all of his focus and made him lose his train of thought. He didn't try to get it back. He just watched her dance.
She floated across the room, each movement choreographed and flawless, arms placed precisely in the right position, toes pointed as close to en pointe as one could do without proper ballet shoes, legs bending, lifting, torso swaying.
Simon lifted her again, this time with both hands on her waist, her hands on top of his, lifting her as high as he could, holding her, turning around once, and then setting her back down. His movements would never be as graceful as a professional dancers and certainly never as perfect as hers, but it was functional.
Simon was largely a functional sort of man. It was probably why he'd never taken to dancing.
River's green dress, the thin cotton one with the handkerchief hem, fluttered around her. She looked positively ethereal. Simon watched, lifted, saw his sister spin, was reminded of how beautiful she'd been at twelve and thirteen and fourteen on the stage with dancers upwards of ten years older than her, holding par, showing them up, and then saw that now, at eighteen, she was a whole new kind of amazing.
His beautiful baby sister, who wasn't such a baby anymore.
The dance seemed to last forever, though it only took a few moments in reality. River soared with graceful leaps, swayed with the sound of the music. For a moment, it seemed as if the music was coming from her, not from Jayne and his guitar.
Finally, River slowed to a stop, posing high on her toes with her head bowed to her chest in absolute stillness until Jayne's fingers stilled on the strings of the guitar.
Everyone stared at her. Inara was crying and Simon was smiling softly at her. Everyone else just seemed in awe.
Slowly, River lowered herself off her toes and raised her head to look around the room. "This is her Christmas gift."
No one said anything until the Captain cleared his throat. Inara wiped the tears from her eyes. "That was beautiful, mei mei."
"Thank you," said Zoe, and as usual, her words carried the gravity that no one else's could.
River nodded, hugged Simon, and laid back down on the floor.
It was a few minutes before Jayne started playing again, and even longer until anyone went to bed.
-fin-