Chapter Two
"Once upon a time, in a 'verse far, far away, where no man had gone before, there lived a young princess, locked in a tower and beset by an evil league of monstrous goblins and two blue-clawed dragons. That is, until her brother the prince, with his magic staff, let loose the dogs of war and opened a can of kick-ass on the monsters, freeing the princess. They flew away on a magical ship, escaping the monsters and gaining a crew of new friends who would help them fight monsters across the 'verse. No power in the verse could stop them!"
"That's not true," Cancer piped up from her spot on the hold floor.
"Shush, kid, you're gonna miss the best part of the story," Jayne scolded.
"Better than monsters and dragons with blue claws?" Pisces asked, incredibly interested.
"There are no such things as dragons," Cancer said simply. "And I'm not a kid. I'm a teenager."
Jayne rolled his eyes. "You're still muckin' up the story," he said.
"What's the best part?" Pisces asked again. The kid was bouncing up and down a little, too excited to sit still.
"Me, of course," Jayne said.
"This story is not real," Cancer said, nose held high.
And they were back in the circle. It happened eventually whenever they tried to interact with the kids. It was like they ran out of responses and just got stuck in a loop. And Jayne never helped the situation any by, say, moving on. He got stuck in the loop right with them.
"It's just a story. 'Course it ain't real, in the strictest sense. It's supposed to be fun," Jayne said. "Ain't you ever heard a fairy story before?" Jayne asked.
"We're too old for fairy stories," Capricorn said from Pisces's other side. "Am I right, Cancer?"
"You are truthsome," Cancer said.
Figured. The one word Cancer had picked up from any of the crew would be from Mal.
"Well, good thing it ain't for you," Jayne muttered angrily.
"Who's it for?" Pisces asked.
"For the baby," Jayne said. He started playing with the recorder device, deciding to edit out all the students' interjections. He was having too much fun playing film director, River thought.
"Ohhh," Pisces said slowly. "What baby?"
Jayne sighed. "What baby do you think?"
"The one in the mechanic," Cancer stated calmly.
"Was I talkin' at you?"
"You were talking to the general assembly. Hence anyone in the general assembly has the right to answer. You don't like me, Jayne Cobb," Cancer said.
Jayne stared at her for a few moments. "Well, sure I like you. In my way."
Cancer raised an eyebrow. River stifled a laugh.
The Alliance default programming was very hard to change. Cancer would always be able to tell what was true and what wasn't. Pisces would have his curiosity. The Alphas would have their leadership qualities. The trick, River thought, was to stop the Alliance from being able to reach them anymore. If they could stop incoming contact, they could just ignore the fact that the students' personalities weren't their own. They could work with what they had. Maybe.
River put away her sketchbook, knowing the project was going to have to wait. They were making a fairy story book for Simon and Kaylee as a baby gift. River had wanted to knit a baby blanket, but the knitting needles had proven problematic. Then Jayne had hidden them. River could take a hint.
"So, what happened to the dragons?" Pisces asked, still bouncing.
"There are no such things as dragons," Cancer sing-songed. That was new. Maybe she was developing a sense of humor.
"We blew them up," Jayne said, smiling at Pisces. Jayne actually did like Pisces. He found him less annoying than Cancer and reminded him a little of Matty. River didn't have the heart to tell him Pisces's programming was still in development.
"Awesome!" Pisces said, returning the smile.
"All right, Cancer, Pisces, Capricorn! You're up!" Simon yelled from the catwalk.
Cancer got up right away. Capricorn stuck her tongue out at Simon but followed. Pisces looked from Jayne to Simon and back, not asking his question.
"Yes, buddy, you have to go with the Doc now."
"But why, Jayne?" Pisces asked.
"So he can make you better," Jayne said.
"Am I sick?" Pisces asked.
Jayne exchanged a glance with River. "You won't be," River said simply. Pisces was about to ask something else, but then seemed to think better of it. Or his program shorted. It was hard to tell with the kids.
Jayne watched the kids go up the stairs and disappear towards the infirmary. "You think Simon could make Cancer less annoying? Seems to me, she's been gettin' worse in that regard."
"Well," River said slowly, "You do sometimes bring out the annoying in people. So, maybe it's not the programming, sweetie. Maybe it's just you."
Jayne eyed her for a minute. How funny she was. Hah hah. See me laugh. River stuck out her tongue. Suddenly Jayne was thinking there were a lot better uses for her tongue than that. River laughed as Jayne came forward, caught her in his arms, and kissed her. River broke away and started running, laughing. Jayne apparently knew this game. He chased her right down to his bunk, where she let him catch her again.
"I've been wantin' to do this all mornin'," Jayne said, caressing River's face as he laid her on the bed.
"Just all morning?" River asked, smiling up at him. He answered by kissing her. His mind was a wonderful forest of fun ways they could spend the rest of the day. River liked all his ideas. She showed him her enthusiasm by wrapping her arms and legs tightly around him and meeting the intensity of his kisses.
River stopped thinking, stopped knowing, stopped everything but making love to him. There was no other place for this kind of exhilaration, followed by wonderful, glorious peace. The joy, the triumph, the pure excellence and brilliance of the 'verse, this was where she felt them best. Right here, with Jayne. And it wasn't like she had to be a mindreading moonbrain to understand these things. She knew, for once, she was feeling exactly what everyone else in this situation. This was the great leveler. Sex was heaven. That was the truth of it.
"I love you," she whispered in Jayne's ear. He kissed her neck in response. He was too busy for words just now, but he'd show her. Even though he said it now, too, River did still appreciate being shown. As often as Jayne wanted to. She smiled and closed her eyes, imaging they were floating out in space together, their bodies entwined as they drifted, unattached to anything but each other.
As they lay together after, Jayne's arms wrapped protectively around her, River allowed herself to think again. The subject she landed on was one she'd been thinking about a lot lately, mostly because of Kaylee and the baby growing inside her. Before Jayne, it had never occurred to River that she would want to have a child. She liked them just fine, the same way she liked ice planets. She did not have confidence that she'd be able to handle one on a daily basis. But now, lying in Jayne's arms, River once again found herself fantasizing about their future children. Beautiful little creatures with Jayne's eyes. Stunning blue. And River's brain. With amygdala.
Jayne wanted their children to look just like her. That was that. Little mini moonbrains running around the ship, dancing and laughing, stealing apples from each other. That's what he wanted.
Not that he'd admit that, but he did. He allowed himself to think it when he thought River wasn't paying much attention, when he thought she had other things to occupy her mind. Or when he thought she'd be too tired to delve too deeply into anyone's mind. Like now.
River was suddenly scared. Her heart started beating rapidly as a thought came to her. What if she couldn't have children? What if the Alliance had done something to her that would prevent her from conceiving? Or, worse, what if they found her after she had a child, turned her, forced her to hurt the mini moonbrain? How could she think of future offspring when such a possibility loomed before them?
With all the things River did know running through her head, it was awful, torture, really, to encounter something she didn't. Especially when it was about her own body and the hold the Alliance might still have on it.
River told herself not to think about it. But the thing everyone thought of when they were told not to think about purple elephants, was purple elephants. Totally wrong purple elephants.
"You all right?" Jayne asked.
River looked at him. His face was full of concern. He'd been looking at her, admiring her, until he noticed she looked disturbed, distracted. He didn't like it when she looked like that. It meant something bad was about to happen. Or did happen. Or was happening at that very moment halfway across the 'verse. There were countless possibilities when River looked like that. But none of them were good.
"I'm fine," River answered.
Jayne kissed her neck, lightly, thinking "Sure, sure, and I'm the king of England."
River laughed.
"This funny to you?" Jayne asked, kissing her again.
And just like that, River could stop thinking again. For a second, anyway.
That's when it hit her. The electricity. No, the memory of electricity, and now a fever. So hot. His heart beating too fast, his mind full of a beautiful woman with grey eyes and a child that had never been. He was so close now, surrounded by people River had met but had apparently never known. Flying toward them on a ship made to feel like hers. A ship that, by rights, shouldn't have been flying at all. It should still have been in the base under Khonsu City.
Holy hell and gorram it all, the Browncoats were here!
She jumped up from the bed and almost forgot to put on clothes. Good thing Jayne had been thinking how sweet her naked body looked or she'd have run up to the bridge.
"What's going on now?" Jayne asked. He'd thought there was more sex. He liked more sex. More sex was the best.
River muttered to herself in Chinese as she realized she was trying to put her dress on backwards.
"Seems like a losing battle there, Moonbrain," Jayne muttered. "Hell, leave it off and come back to bed."
"Can't." Jayne waited for further explanation. "Jordan," River said, nearly flying up the ladder.
"What?" Jayne yelled up after her. She hoped he remembered to put on pants.
"Jordan!" River yelled over her shoulder as she ran for the bridge. "Captain!" she said as she slid to a stop beside him.
Mal was talking to someone on the monitor. "Now, the way I remember it, the last we saw of any of you, you were trying to put bullets in us. How do I know this isn't a way to finish that job?"
"Mal, you think I would really risk my ass in this bucket of barely space worthy junk yard Frankenstein pieces just to come and kill you?"
General Sonja Gellar.
River's head started spinning. Why hadn't she seen this coming? She should have seen this coming.
"Well, people have traveled farther to kill me," Mal muttered. He didn't believe it. Sonja was making a good point.
"She's telling the truth," River said.
"Glad you could finally join the conversation, River," Mal said. He'd expected her sooner.
"I had to put a dress on," River muttered.
Mal hadn't needed to know that. Serves him right, acting all Captainy.
"All right, that's it. We're docking, dong ma? I don't have time for this horse shit," Sonja said, angry. But also, scared. The screen went black.
"Hey!" Mal yelled.
River reached over him and started the docking protocols from their end. Mal was distracted by his confusion.
"What the hell was that?" Mal asked.
There was a rumbling as the other ship attached.
River pushed the intercom, "Simon! We're gonna need you in the hold."
"You givin' orders on my ship?" Mal asked.
"What the hell did you mean by yelling Jordan and running out of the room?" Jayne asked, finally arriving on the bridge.
"Oh, this might be a conversation I don't need to hear," Mal muttered under his breath.
River decided to ignore the Captain. He was apparently in a mood. Instead she answered, "I meant, dear, that Jordan's on the ship that just attached to us." Jayne still looked confused. "He's here, Jayne."
"Wha – "
"And soon, they'll all be here," River whispered, realizing how much worse this was about to get.
