Chapter 2

Mal as always went via the bridge on his way to breakfast. It was habit- check the navigation (always perfect), check their progress, check the cortex. Finding nothing of interest, he carried on towards the mess. It felt early to Mal. He'd slept deep and long and woken naturally which was always a bonus. Time was a hard concept in the middle of the black. Customers expected them to make drop offs according to the time on their planet, but with the scenery changing so little around them, and only the unnatural burn of a bulb to distinguish day from night it was hard to keep track of where in the day they were meant to be. Mal tried to keep the day and night roughly the same, but there was always the inevitable time changes when landing planet side, making jet lag a way of life.

The ship was fairly quiet, and Mal had thought he was the only one to emerge from his bunk till he found River sitting at the table in the mess, nursing a mug of something. 'Mornin'' He greeted her as he went to get his daily fix of black liquid that was meant to taste like coffee. He looked back at the table when he reached the counter, surprised at the non response from his pilot. She looked pale, like she hadn't slept well. Not that unusual, to be sure. She was staring into the depths of her cup like it held the answers to the 'verse.

Mal poured the not tasting very much like coffee at all liquid into his mug, taking a long draw where he stood before walking to the table. 'Yesterday was good.' He commented.

River didn't look like she was listening much.

'Stole from the rich, gonna feed the poor.' Mal said, leaning back in his chair, mug in hand.

River finally looked up at him, a smile that looked more like a smirk on her face, a single eyebrow risen in question.

'Ok, so stole from the not quite so rich, to feed the not all that poor but relying on the cargo anyway, and so what if we happen to be getting paid for doing it.' Mal corrected himself. 'We get paid, you did some damn good flying, we got away without being shot.'

River finally spoke to interrupt. 'For now.'

Mal looked over at her. 'Something you know?' He asked.

River shrugged, her gaze returning to her mug. 'Not right. Not in balance. Connected. Spider can still catch the fly without being physically present.'

'There gonna be a trap at the drop off?' Mal asked as much as stated.

River shrugged again before looking over at him. 'Feels funky.' She finally added, something Mal could very easily identify with.

'That why you don't look so good this morning?'

'Sleep was interrupted. Brain was arguing with head.'

'You had a headache? Why didn't you get some of the doc's marvellous medicine?' he asked without thinking.

'No drugs.' She said with some vehemence.

'Ok, no drugs.' Mal said, 'I can understand that.' The issue of drugs was an ongoing one between River and Simon that Mal had had to referee on more than one occasion. Only he could stick his foot in it that fully.

Mal was about to offer a soothing cup of tea instead when Zoë walked in, followed closely by Jayne. In the next thirty seconds the mess was full of noise as they were joined by Kaylee and Simon. Mal swore the couple never had a bad day- always smiling even first thing in the morning. Wasn't so bad on Kaylee, he was used to her eternal sunshine mood, but it was downright unnerving to see Simon smiling so much.

Simon, predictably, caught on to River's less than sunny disposition, but sometime between Mal watching the others come in and Simon noticing River she had sat up straighter in the chair, wasn't holding the cup quite so hard, and even had the smallest of smiles on her face. Only training stopped Mal doing a double take. 'Good morning mei mei- are you feeling ok?' Simon asked as he leaned over to give her a kiss on her forehead.

'I'm fine, Simon.' River answered, almost automatically.

'Would you like some breakfast?' Simon asked, moving toward the counter and Kaylee who was using some of the fresh fruit they had to liven up the protein based cereal.

'Already ate.' River said, which Mal was sure was a lie, but wasn't about to contradict her in front of her brother. Her brother would ask why, and River would be forced to admit that she had a headache, and the Doc would immediately suggest drugs as a counter-balance which would only cause arguments which would totally mess up his sunny disposition. And as the captain, it was surely his right to prevent that from happening. He saw River's smile broaden slightly, and knew she had caught his thought. She caught his eye as she stood up from the table, thanking him with a slight nod of the head which Mal returned. 'Gonna go do some flying.' She said to the table in general, disappearing off in the direction of the bridge.

Kaylee joined her on the bridge mid morning. They worked closely together as Pilot and Engineer, helped by a mutual love and respect for Serenity, and were also close friends. Kaylee was possibly the first one on the boat that had seen past her craziness to view her as a girl, back pre Miranda, and they were often found giggling together, the bonus being that it drove Mal mad. Could be that they often happened to be sitting and giggling exactly where the Captain happened to end up not purely by chance.

They talked a little about the engine, how it was running in general, going over Kaylee's wish list of parts for the engine before moving onto more important discussion items.

'So, it's your turn.' River finally said, turning her seat away from the console she had mostly been pretending to man, to face Kaylee in the co-pilot seat.

'Oh yes.' Kaylee agreed, with much enthusiasm at the prospect, rubbing her hands together. 'Okaaaay.' She drawled; chin resting on joined fingers, regarding River with glee.

River waited out the silence, purposefully concentrating on Mal who was ranting about keeping the cargo area clean to Jayne to stop Kaylee's thoughts from entering. The anticipation was part of the fun, and River felt like only recently she had been learning to have fun again.

'Got it!' Kaylee finally exclaimed. 'Okay, by the time we land on Raking, you've got to have made up Jayne's face. With everything. Blush, eyeshadow, lipstick.'

River couldn't help but grin, as her tiredness faded, her headache dimmed at the prospect of carrying out the latest dare. 'And if I'm successful in this venture?'

'If you manage that I'll…do your washing up chores next week.'

'An enticing prospect.' River agreed. She didn't mind washing up, per se, but as Kaylee had successfully got Simon out of their bunk in his underpants on the last dare for Mal to see, River had had to do Kaylee's sanitation chores for a week. A week off of any chore was good after spending the last week ensuring that the waste pipes stayed unclogged.

The dare game had started by accident, when Kaylee had dared River in the middle of the longest seven day trip between planets ever to steal a pair of Mal's undergarments and hoist them flag style in the middle of the mess. So had began a game the two used to liven up the hours between jobs whilst deep in the black, mostly at the male member's of the crews expense.

'Any restrictions?' River thought to ask as her brain started whirring at how to get Jayne into the position to paint his face.

'No violence.' Kaylee immediately said. River pouted. 'And no drugs from your brother's stash.'

River wondered about her own stash, but didn't think this was the time to bring up the many tablets she managed to keep her brother from knowing she hadn't taken.

'No violence, no drugs.' River repeated. 'There's always my feminine wiles.' River mused with a grin. 'Wear a little dress, show a lotta leg, get him concentrating on a part of my body not holding a make up brush.'

'Hey, that's not fair! This is Jayne. Ok, new revision, no sex.' Kaylee said, making both of them start giggling, just as Mal came up the stairs to the Bridge.

'Hey what's the joke?' He asked, sounding bemused.

'N..nothing Captain.' Kaylee said, bringing the giggles under control but not being able to wipe the grin from her face. 'I was just gonna go…do something useful in the engine room.' She said, slipping from the bridge quickly, starting to giggle again as she did so.

'How far out are we?' Mal asked sitting in the chair Kaylee had vacated. He'd learnt not to probe about what the girls were giggling about as River was honest enough to give it to him straight- last time he'd asked they'd been discussing size attributes between the men on the boat. Although River had said quite bluntly that they were discussing the length of the penis sizes on the boat in relation to the size of hands and brain power. Mal had composed himself enough to ask if this included her brother. River had shaken her head, but then added that Kaylee seemed quite fascinated by it.

'Ten hours, fifty three minutes and-'

'Good, right on course.' Mal interrupted.

River glared at him for a second for even thinking that they wouldn't be right on course. Mal just grinned at her. 'You want a break? I'm gonna be on the Cortex for a while seeing about more jobs.' He told her.

River nodded, taking her leave. She wandered towards the Mess, grabbing some fruit and a glass of water and taking it to the table with her so that she could ponder Kaylee's latest dare while she ate. Several problems presented themselves straight away, the most obvious being getting Jayne into position without using violence. She pondered bribing him- money always seemed to work well with Jayne, but she didn't know if she had enough to convince him to let her put make up on him. The other problem being she didn't actually have much make up in the first place. Last time they'd been in Persephone she'd brought herself some lipstick, but that was about it. She knew about applying it, through observing Inara, but had never really thought about using it on herself.

Inara. That was it! She would have loads of make up, and River was sure that Inara wouldn't mind lending it to her if she didn't mention that it was for use on Jayne.

She finished eating and rinsed the empty glass before making her way to Inara's shuttle. Inara was on the cortex when she got there, so she waited patiently outside for her to finish before knocking on the shuttle door.

'River- it's nice to see you. Come in.' Inara said, leading her to the couch. 'Would you like some tea?'

'No, thank you.' River replied, sitting on the comfortable seat. Inara sat next to her.

'What can I do for you then?'

'I was wondering if I could borrow some of your make up. I would like to experiment.' River said. She didn't particularly like lying, even by omission but experiment covered a whole passel of ventures. As long as Inara didn't ask her to elaborate on the term.

'Oh of course, River!' Inara said. She stood, walking to a little chest and beginning to root through. 'Does your brother know you want to experiment?'

River scowled at the comment, but forced down her temper. She liked being around Inara. The Companion's natural hold on her emotions and thoughts made it easy for River to be around her and talk to her. But Inara also seemed to be stuck with the view of her as a child even after everything that had happened. 'Does he need to know?' River eventually asked.

Inara must have picked up something from her tone, because she turned to view her properly. 'I'm sorry River- that was thoughtless. I wasn't suggesting that you needed your brother's permission. I didn't phrase myself well. I was thinking that Simon could help you buy your own supplies when we next get the chance.'

'I have my own credits.' River pointed out.

'Of course, of course.' Inara sat back down next to her. 'I'm sorry, I keep forgetting…' She trailed off, and River got an image of herself standing, weapons in hand, covered in blood, covered in Reaver blood.

She fought the shudder threatening up her spine, and tried to smile. 'I'm not a child.' River finished for her.

'So much has happened.' Inara said, as if that was some sort of explanation. 'The way you flew yesterday- it was amazing.'

River nodded at the complement.

'I've got some basic stuff for you to try- I can help you if you want? Help find what suits you. Although personally I don't think you will need much- you have an enviable skin tone.'

'I can do this.' River said. 'But thank you. I will return it when I am done.'

'Oh, no need. These are all things I don't use.' Inara said.

River stood up, her hands full. 'Thank you.'

'That's quite alright. And I'm sorry, about what I said.' She got a thoughtful look on her face. 'Perhaps one day soon we should have a spa day.'

River knew she was just trying to make up for what she said, but was intrigued by the idea. 'What would a spa day entail?' She asked.

'Well, we could invite Kaylee and Zoë, and just spend the day pampering ourselves. Things like facials, and massages, and makeovers. It's good fun and very relaxing.'

River thought about this for a moment. It did sound like fun, and normal. 'That sounds enjoyable. Do you think Zoë would do it though?' She asked, doubtfully.

'Every woman likes a little pampering.' Inara said. River noticed the use of the word woman and understood what Inara was doing. 

River nodded again, and thanked her before exiting the shuttle. She had the make up, the promise of a spa day, and wouldn't even have to return the make up one she'd used it on Jayne. She just hoped that Inara wasn't too mad at her once she realised what the make up was to be used for and would still do the spa day.

She began walking to her room, but changed course, heading towards the bridge. Mal was still on the cortex, and acknowledged her entrance with the smallest of nods which she returned as she headed to the bank of lockers. She lined up the jars and bottles Inara gave her, laying out the brushes and other applicators carefully before closing the door and walking over to the pilot seat. Checking the navigational system, pleased to see that they were still on time and that for once their landing on planet would coincide with the unnatural time patterns they had on the ship. River found the jet lag hard to deal with, finding sleep a general chore anyway.

They would have a night docked on the planet before the exchange scheduled the next morning. As River thought about the exchange an uncomfortable feeling crept up on her. Like an itch that was too deep inside to scratch, it niggled at her brain, wriggled between neurons; something was off but she didn't know what. She let herself relax back in the chair, staring out in the black, letting the itch deepen inside of her, letting the background noise of the people thinking on the ship rush through her. A flash of yellow resounded in her head, like a lightening bolt splitting through the horizon.

'River!' Mal's voice startled her, and she was on her feet, staring down at him before she realised where she was. 'Woah.' Mal said, hands out in a "take it easy" way. 'You were really out of it. What were you thinking about?' he asked, immediately thinking back to their conversation earlier that morning.

'The exchange of goods for payment.' She confirmed his thought.

'Still feel funky?' He asked.

She nodded. 'Don't know why.' She added, with frustration, sitting back down again and facing the black. She didn't let control of her brain go like that for that very reason. It was too hard to pull back again, to stop the flow of voices and thoughts and feelings that threatened to overwhelm her once they had started. She had no idea what the flash meant, if it even meant anything to do with the exchange, or was just a random picture picked up from someone else.

'Don't matter, li'll albatross. If the job goes belly up…well, it wouldn't be the first job to go belly up.' He pointed out.

'I'm going?' She asked.

'Don't know yet. Haven't planned that far. Might need you on the boat for a quick getaway. Anyway, I hear lunch calling.' He said, standing up, gesturing for her to lead the way. 'What will come will come.'

'I'll get Simon to prep the infirmary.' River said brightly.

Mal laughed as they walked.

(like it? Loathe it? All reviews/suggestions/critiques welcomed)