Disclaimer: Joss Whedon, I love you for creating this.
A/N: I am SO SORRY to all of you who have been waiting for updates. I know, I suck. Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry. Do you still love me? There's a teeny bit more Rayne in this one, and the plot thickens, so I hope you enjoy!
Chapter Three: Learning the Steps
"You see, Malcolm Reynolds. I've said it before." Badger rambled in his English accent. Straightening is dirty tie, he swaggered around the dingy desk that was his work space. "I don't like the way you look at me."
"Just tell us 'bout this job a yours." Mal sighed.
Badger smiled slyly and said, "Just a routine job. Some settlers on Kigira got an extra shipment of Alliance medical supplies. I want that shipment."
"Fine. What's in it for me and mine?" Mal replied, gesturing to the bulky merc on his left and his number two on his right. River was somewhere behind him, Jayne ordered to keep a constant eye on her.
"Standard pay. Nuthin' fancy." Badger answered in his fancy accent, bored with this whole interaction.
"We'll take it." Mal stated curtly.
"Oh, and try not to get your ass caught by the gorram law this time." Badger sat back in his chair, turning his apple peeler and waited for Malcolm Reynolds and his three sidekicks to leave his office.
"I hate that man." Mal stated once his little group was safely out of Badger's lair.
"He has similar feelings towards you. The girl could sense his dislike of you, though it was mixed with amusement." River commented, practically dancing as they walked to the mule. "He thinks-!" Turning to ask why she wasn't continuing, Mal saw River doubled over in a position he had seen way too many times already today, and was met with the sound of wet retching. "What's the matter, Little One?" He said rushing over to where she stood, wiping at her mouth. Jayne was already there, looking uncertain and disgusted, yet strangely worried.
"He thinks it is fun to mess with you. To screw with your brains." She giggled suddenly, a high pitched sound. "Maybe you'll end up like Little Crazy girl!" After than, she did a swift flip, landing like a cat on the mule and sat down to wait for them to join her.
"Lucid. The Doc said she was gorram lucid." Mal muttered, walking to the driver's side of the mule and climbing in. "I'm gonna have me a talk with that luh suh when we get back to my ship!"
"Doc, you gotta sec?" Mal called, not waiting for an answer as he entered the medical bay and closed the doors.
"Is something the matter, Mal? I thought, for once, that today's excursion had gone according to plan." Simon questioned, sarcasm dripping from his voice.
"Doc, it was only a meetin with Badger today. No plan." Mal quickly explained.
Simon drew a deep breath and nodded his head, "Well that explains why there are no wounds."
Mal nodded for a second before looking at Simon like he was insulted. "My plans are always mighty fine. The bad guys just don't like to go along with 'em!" He defended. "Anyway, there was one little problem today."
"And what was that?" Simon smiled, unworried as he looked for a certain bottle in one of the numerous medicine cabinets.
"Lil Albatross decided to puke her guts out and then went right back to being her fong luh self." Mal exclaimed as Simon dropped what he was holding and turned towards the Captain. "I'm guessin you didn't know about her sudden upchuck tendencies."
"No. I mean, it could be a side affect of the drugs I've been administering to her. The combination of certain chemicals could be a strain on her gag reflex. Perhaps if I lowered the amount of treatment to 3.5 milliliters it would—"
"Aaaagh! I don't care for all the fancy little details. Just fix it." Mal ordered, opening the med bay doors again and walking out them. On his way up the stairs, he called out so Simon could hear, "If I die cause your sister decided to toss her lunch into some bushes, I'm going to come back and haunt your sorry pi gu!"
"Mei mei?" The Doc asked, gently shaking River awake. "Mei mei, are you all right? You never sleep here." He stroked her hair, playing the role of a doting brother trying to keep his sister sane perfectly. "And Mal informed me that you got sick on your trip today."
"Da ge will make a good father. Dotes on sister like he will dote on child. Kaylee did well." River mumbled, yawning as she sat up. "Technical construction of furniture such as this is not fit for unconscious uses." She paused frowning at the look of confusion on her brother's countenance. "It's uncomfortable." She clarified.
"River, why are you sleeping here in the first place? Are you sick? Perhaps I should bring you down to the infirmary and run a few tests." Simon proposed, laying his hand on her forehead.
"No! Blue hands, white walls! Don't make me go back there, Simon! Save me!" River cried, clutching her head between her hands and curling into a ball. "They play with brains, make them into toys. Don't make me go back."
Simon gently removed her hands from her head, making a mental note about the dose percentage he had been giving her lately. Clearly it was not working all the time. "Mei mei. I'm not trying to make you go back." She whimpered. "Listen, River, it's me. It's Simon. I will never let them hurt you again. You will never go back."
"Simon." She whispered, looking into his eyes as he kneeled in front of her. "The girl is okay now." Carefully, she moved her hands away from her head, looking as if she was fighting to maintain control of her own body. "Kaylee is looking for you. She requires your immediate assistance. Don't worry, she's fine. She's in your bunk." River informed, knowing it was the quickest way to get away from her brother. He would never abandon his family when they needed him and at this moment Kaylee definitely needed his help. "Hormones are raging. Doubts in her head. Thoughts are being thought. Go to her."
Rushing off to find his wife, Simon didn't notice his sister slipping from the family area into the passage to the cargo bay.
She knew he was there. Heard the pulsing rhythm that made his heart so musical. Heard the soft grunts as he stressed his muscles, keeping himself in shape. Up and down and up and down and up and down until he got tired.
She sat silently in a corner, hidden behind a crate of supplies, just listening to him. Up and down. Up and down.
The rhythm calmed her. She knew it by heart and sometimes, if she concentrated hard enough, she could hear the full symphony of sounds that made up Jayne Cobb.
Up and Down. Breathe. Up and Down. Breathe. Bu-bump. Bu-bump. Up. Bu-bump. Down. Bu-bump. Breathe.
It was such a meticulous yet casual process that it reminded her of her dancing. Without realizing it, she began imagining the ballet steps to the rhythm. Her feet moved without instruction and without shoes, relying simply on years of practice to perfect the steps. Pirouette. Plie. Batterie. Avant. A couple triple steps and finish off with a foutette rond de jambe tournant. Again and again.
She didn't realize when the up and downs stopped and left only an orchestra of nonchalant breathing and slow heart rates.
"What in the gorram 'verse are you doin', Crazy?" Jayne finally asked, mopping up his sweat and looking as if he thought she actually were crazy.
"Being insane. They think of her and so she is." River cryptically replied, smiling as she began to spin in endless circles. "Heartbeat calms the demons. Makes them feel at home. Stops them from talking so loudly in her ears."
"What?" Jayne asked, stupidly trying to piece together what she'd said. "You mean…" His face lit up with understanding before dissolving back into confusion. "My heart is like hell?"
She dissolved into giggles over his misinterpretation.
"Heart like hell and better in red, clothed in fire."
"Gorram it, girl, don't ya even think about tryin' ta light me on fire!" He exclaimed, worrying over her gibberish. Getting up from where he previously rested on the weight bench, he walked over to her and wrapped her loosely in his arms. "You all right, girl? You're kinda speakin' Crazy-talk again."
"Overload of voices. Mighty crowded in here." She tapped her skull and put her hand over his heart. Her head filled completely with the unique beating of his chest, the thumping rhythm that always calmed her down. "Better now. Only one noise to listen to. Bu-bump. Bu-bump. Bu-bu-bump. Every time. Safe. Home. Yet irregular. You should have that looked at." She smiled and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him lightly on the mouth before dancing away.
"I'm confused again." Jayne said to the empty cargo bay.