Disclaimer: I own nothing; Joss is Boss. I'm merely playing with the characters… Can I keep Jayne?

A/N: Thanks to all the wonderful people who reviewed and all the great things you said!!! I had a comment on how River seems saner than usual… She is, but the explanation for 'why' will not be explained right away, it will be possibly more of a flashback. So please bear with me, I'll try not to be too confusing!

Chapter 1: Four years later.

Mal sighed as he shifted in Wash's pilot chair. How the man sat up here for hours on end without getting stiff, he would never know. He sighed again when he remembered his reason for being up here; checking their progress as they headed towards Persephone. The ship was powered down for artificial night, and the crew were all still in bed, but Mal was unable to sleep. The reason being why they were headed to Persephone in the first place; River Tam had disappeared from there four years ago. Though he hadn't watched it in months, Mal could still recall near 'nough the entire contents of the capture she had left them, propped up on the console with Wash's dinosaurs. The revelations she had shared in that recording had damn near broke the doc when he'd heard them. 'They'd been a pretty heavy blow to the rest of the crew, too,' he mused.

Mal jumped at a sudden beeping, signaling an incoming wave.

"Fei fei de piyan!" He cursed as he righted himself in his chair and moved to receive the wave. "Renci de fozu," he muttered as he stared at the face on the screen.

"I'm sorry to startle you Captain, but I wished to speak with you." River Tam stared at him through eyes clearer than the captain could ever remember seeing them.

"Really? Woulda thought that would be somethin' more appropriate to be doin' some four years ago, little witch." The old nickname came out unconsciously, taking some of the bite out of his statement. She nodded seriously in response.

"Perhaps, but explanations would not have been optimally received at that time."

"And they will now?" Mal's skepticism showed in his voice, as well as his face.

"Would be better now," was all she said. Then with a deep breath, she continued, "Captain, if I am correct in my calculations, based on past behavioral patterns, you are now on your way to Persephone are you not?" Mal raised an eyebrow at this, surprised by her guess, if it was a guess. Again, memory of the capture floated back into his mind, he pushed it away in irritation.

"Now how would you be knowing that, little witch?"

"Every 5 months, for the past four years, you have been coming back to Persephone hoping for word of my whereabouts." She stated confidently.

"Now how do you figure we're goin' there for you?" The captain asked, attempting to cover his shock at her statement. The genius gave him her patent "you're a boob" look that she usually reserved for Simon.

"You have watched the capture, Captain, you know what I am. It has been 4 months, 29 days, 12 hours and 52 seconds since your last stop there, barring the meeting with Badger two months ago. As of now, you are 4 hours away from the planet."

"Wo de ma. You sound like you're keepin' tabs on us, little River." He tried to look stern to cover that fact that he was still shocked over her continuing revelations that were, as Jayne would say, starting to give him an 'uncomfortableness'. He continued before she could say anything. "Now what was it you were wanting to speak with me about?"

"Not just you, Captain. If you, and they, will allow it, I would like to speak to the whole crew. I am on Persephone right now and can meet you wherever and whenever you would prefer."

"Your brother was mighty broken up at your disappearance, little witch, little Kaylee, too. If your bein' back temporarily is going to make them upset again, I don't think it's a good idea."

River nodded seriously, "I understand; that is one of the things I wish to speak with you about. I would like to come back, if it is permissible."

Mal was silent for a few minutes, deliberating on everything that had been said. Finally he sighed and nodded. "Alright, little witch. Meet us on the Eavesdown Docks in 6 hours time. We got some things to be doing before then."

A smile broke out on River's face, the first this entire conversation. Mal marveled at the way it brightened her serious face. "Xie xie, Captain. I will see you when you arrive." The connection cut and Mal was left staring at the blank screen. Turning it off, he got up and hit the com above his head. "This is the Captain; I want everyone in the mess in 15 minutes." With one last glance at their flight plan, he made his way down to the mess. He figured making coffee would make everyone a mite less crotchety about being woken up earlier than planned.

Fifteen minutes later, his crew began to filter in. Zoe was first, of course, Wash not far behind her after a detour to check the bridge. Close behind the couple came Kaylee, Jayne and Simon. Kaylee, her indefatigable cheerfulness fully in place, was grinning as she watched the two men quietly bicker about who knew what. Even after three years of their odd semi-friendship, Mal was still amazed by the change in his merc and the doctor. Even more amazing was that Jayne had instigated the change. On the one year anniversary of River's disappearance, Simon had gotten more moody that usual and had been snapping at everyone for days. Finally, Jayne had gotten sick of it. He'd grabbed the doc, yelled that they were going out and would be back in the morning, yanked the younger man out the bay doors and had disappeared into the crowd of people on the go-se planet they were parked on before anyone could say a word. Mal still wasn't entirely sure what all happened that night, but they had stumbled back into the bay late the next morning, grinning, hung-over and disheveled. They were also both sporting some cuts and bruises. Neither had more than hinted as to the events of the night; a bar fight, lots of drinking, a whore or two and some story-telling, but they had evidently started to patch the wide rift that had existed between them since the Tams had first come on board. They still fought, but it was obvious that it was more for fun now, rather than to be deliberately cruel.

As they all sat down, Mal couldn't help but look at the empty chairs that had been occupied by River, Book and Inara. Inara, refusing to change her earlier decision, had left bout 3 months after River. Book, deciding that there were others more in need of his guidance than those onboard Serenity, requested to be dropped on the planet of Haven close to a year after Inara left. The substantially smaller crew had been very subdued for a good while after, Kaylee especially. She had lost her closest friends onboard within a few months of each other. Mal could still remember the way she had sobbed when Inara said goodbye; it damn near broke her heart to watch the Companion leave. Damn near broke his too, but that weren't something he was admitting to anyone, even himself most days.

"Cap'n?" Mal started, and looked around in surprise to see his crew all looking at him in curiosity and varying degrees of annoyance. He wondered briefly how long he'd been lost in thought.

"Right, well I just got a wave which affects us all, and our plans on Persephone." He paused, unsure how to say it, before deciding on bluntness. "The wave was from River…" He wasn't able to get any further as the mess was filled with loud voices, loudest being the doc's.

"Where is she? Is she alright? What's happened?" Simon was nearly beside himself with anxiety at word from his mei mei.

"Bi ziu! Doc, sit down!" Mal nearly shouted at him. When the younger man reluctantly complied, Kaylee tugging on his hand, the Captain continued with what he had been trying to say. "Now, little River is currently on Persephone and has requested a meeting with us all. We are 'bout 4 hours out from the planet, I've told her to meet us in 6. Till then, its business as usual, dong ma? Zoe and I will meet with Badger; see about getting us another job. Jayne, stock us up on ammunition. Wash, get us fueled up. Little Kaylee, you and Simon are doing the shopping. Doc, it appears that the cortex is still clear of new warrants, but keep yer head down anyway. There are still those who might not remember that you're no longer worth a whole lot of money."

About 2 years back, the warrants for the fugitives Simon and River Tam had inexplicably disappeared off the cortex. The cortex was always checked before hitting atmo of whatever planet they were headed for, but so far, they kept coming up clean. It appeared that the Alliance had somehow lost interest in the Tam siblings. Mal couldn't help wondering, and Zoe had shared his suspicions when asked, whether River had had something to do with the warrants being taken off. He still remembered her words from the capture; "they will never stop looking for me." If that were so, then there were only a few things that could account for the Alliance halting their search. The Captain hadn't mentioned these options to the doc, not wanting to upset him, though he imagined the other man had already thought of them, top 3 percent and all. He was probably just refusing to acknowledge them.

Finished giving orders, Mal got up and with Kaylee's assistance, made breakfast for the crew. They ate quickly, before spreading out across the ship. Kaylee went down to the engine room to check on her girl and get her ready to break atmo. Mal, Wash and Zoe disappeared up to the bridge, while Jayne and Simon made their way down to the cargo bay. Not long after the Shepherd had left, Simon had taken his place lifting weights with Jayne. The two men had discussed all manner of things while they were lifting, including Ariel and River's departure.

"Why do you think she wants to talk to us? It's been 4 years, why didn't she come back sooner?" Simon questioned as he took his place by Jayne's head as the merc settled himself on the weight bench.

"Dunno, doc. Maybe she weren't able to get away 'fore now. Or she just found us and wanted to let us know that she ain't dead. Could be all manner o' things."

"Maybe…" The doctor mused, his minds turning over all the possibilities he could think of. They kept mostly silent for the rest of the trip into Persephone. In fact, the whole ship was nearly silent, each person aboard caught up in their own thoughts and memories of the last 4 years. And in thoughts of the erstwhile crew member they had lost, who might now, finally, be coming home.

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Chinese translations:

Fei fei de piyan - "Baboon's ass-crack"
Renci de fozu - "Merciful Buddha"
Wo de ma - "Mother of god"
Xie xie - "thank you"
Mei mei - "little sister"
Bi zui - "shut up"
Dong ma - "understand?"

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Reviews are love. I hope that lived up to everyone's expectations!! I'll try to update again soon. Thanks for reading! - Druid