Title: Brotherly Love (6 snapshots)
Author: 2K
Genre: gen
Characters: Simon, River
Summary: 6 small snapshots of Simon's feelings for River from her birth to a year or so following the BDM.
Notes: Part 5 refers to the R. Tam Sessions It makes sense if you haven't seen them, of course, but it helps. Unbeta'd, so all mistakes are mine and I'd love them pointed out to me.
Feedback: ...makes the world go round. Review, even if it's just a simple "I like it!"
1. Simon Tam loved his sister, and vowed he always would. Even if he didn't think she was human.
He was five, a child prodigy, and she was a newborn, tiny and quiet in the alliance hospital. He knew that he should love her, so he did, but his parents had promised him a baby sister and this definitely did not look human.
They assured his young analytical mind it was, though, so he had to nod as wisely as he could and pretend he agreed with them. Maybe when he was a doctor he could run tests and prove them wrong.
Weren't babies supposed to cry and be larger and... wrinkly? She was so small and smooth and quiet. Everything he had read about babies had said they were loud and cried to get what they wanted and slept a lot. She was so alert and he hadn't seen her cry once since she was born.
His nanny, now their nanny, agreed with him that that was unusual but assured him she was human. He just pursed his lips and vowed that he would love his sister, even though he planned to prove to everyone that she wasn't human.
2. Simon Tam loved his sister, but only because he had to. She was a real brat.
He was nine and she was four and a complete pain. And smarter than he was. Frequently correcting his spelling, saying things like "that isn't how you spell hypothalamus, Simon, you need another a" or simply "that's wrong."
His nanny, now just his nanny again and the only adult who paid attention to him anymore, assured him it was a phase she would grow out of. "Eventually," she said, "River will start acting like a normal girl. She's just making up for how silent she was as a baby."
He didn't agree.
His parents didn't agree, either. They spent all their time doting on her, buying her anything she wanted and ignoring him. It was her fault.
3. Simon Tam loved his sister, but only as much as a brother should.
He was sixteen and she was eleven, a child who no longer recognized herself a such with a mental capacity that far surpassed his.
When he promised his father at the age of 10 that he would be a doctor, he had become slightly more worthy of attention in his parents eyes although it meant his nanny would have to go away.
This meant, even though she had expressed that from an early age she didn't need a nanny, that she was more drawn to him now.
"Simon," she would often say, "can we play Independents and heroes, like we did as children?" He would shake his head at this, both the fact that, at her age, she didn't consider herself a child while he still considered himself one, and the fact that the war was so long over and they had no reason to play this game.
When he said no, as he always did, his parents would always scold him and tell him to stop being foolish and play with his sister. He always consented to the games eventually.
4. Simon Tam loved his sister, but he was torn in two directions about it. She was in trouble.
He was eighteen and she was thirteen, a student at a school that was hurting her. He was sure of it.
"It's a code, mother, can't you see?" he would plead for the umpteenth time before being turned down again, before being told he was crazy. That River would be home in just a few months and everything would be alright.
Everything wouldn't be alright, though, and he knew that. By the time ayear had passed and he had fully cracked the code his genius sister put into every letter, simply "they're hurting us. Get me out," he was ready to take action. It was another year before he had the resources.
5. Simon Tam loved his sister, but he was terrified both for and of her.
He is twenty and she is fifteen, frozen cryogenically and ready for transport.
He risked everything to save her and succeeded. When he got her he was given a mysterious phrase, to say in case she was ever triggered. This had confused him.
Simon had also been given video recordings. Several small discs with River on them, selections from her first day there to the last. The people who had gotten her out had her said they were all they could get a hold of and he had believed him. When he watched them he was startled, shocked almost to tears.
When he sees her kill someone, he is afraid of what she could do and what he might have to use that safety word for. When he sees her ask if she'll still be able to dance it breaks his heart.
6. Simon Tam loves his sister. She's still the most important part of his world.
He is twenty-two and she is eighteen, and they are aboard a spaceship hiding from the Alliance.
He rescued her from the academy and they somehow found their way aboard this ship where so much has happened. They have unlocked the secret inside River's brain, a dark and terrifying secret having to do with Reavers and Alliance conspiracies. He has learned that River is a psychic and an assassin. They even have friends, something that neither had as a child.
River is now the pilot of their ship, after the death of the real pilot and husband of their first mate. She sits up in the bridge now, always in the copilot chair, saying she's talking to Wash. She's still scared of the infirmary because it reminds her of the room in the Academy they worked on her in, so he runs the almost unneded tests on her while she's up there.
After all this time, even though he's married to cute and girly mechanic and she's wooing the large and gruff mercenary, even though they have been through so much, they still have love. Still have family.
For some reason it makes everything okay.