Chapter Three

River does not usually need to concentrate at all. The voices, the thoughts, they just come to her unbidden.

To have to reach out with her brain so hard, she finds this unusual. She tries and tries and all she can sense is Mal's annoyance, Zoe's apprehension, and Jayne's impatience.

Then suddenly, without any warning at all, River it hit by a wall of voices and thoughts and senses. Very suddenly she becomes aware of something very different than any of them was expecting.

They were not robbing a bank.

River immediately clutches onto Jayne's sleeve in horror. He is so shocked by what is happening that he does not brush her away.

Mal takes one look at River's face and begins to retreat. "Let's get out of here!" he orders, and they follow him.

Surprisingly no one appears either inside or outside the building as they make their escape.

But River curls into Jayne on the bumpy ride back to Serenity, shaking uncontrollably with a fear she cannot quite describe.

She knows that they have seen her.

And they know that she knows.

"What in gorram hell went on back there?" Mal demanded to know as soon as they were safely back on Serenity, with Wash taking them into open space as fast as he could.

River said nothing, even as he gave her his most menacing look. She simply continued to cower closer to Jayne, and Mal was about 90 sure that was because of something she knew, and not because of anything he had said.

"River?" he tried once more, without any reaction from her at all. Mal sighed. "Take her back to your room and make sure she's okay."

Jayne nodded and began to lead her away.

"Tell Simon if you think she needs a tranquilizer or something," Mal called after them.

Jayne nodded just before moving out of sight.

"What was that, sir?" Zoë asked, looking over at Mal.

Mal shook his head. "I do not have the foggiest idea. Something not good, I assume. We're just gonna have to wait until River starts talking."

"River starts talking about what?" Simon appeared in the room and strode up to where Mal and Zoë were standing. "Is River all right? What happened to make us take off like that? Did you guy do the job?"

Mal rolled his eyes. "She's fine, Jayne's watchin' her. We have no idea what happened unless River starts talking, and no, we did not do the job."

Simon's eyes widened and he disappeared in the direction of River's bunk only to return in a few seconds and head off in the opposite direction toward Jayne's bunk. Mal would have found it hilarious if he hadn't been worrying about what exactly they had stumbled upon in that bank.

Mal hit the intercom. "Wash, see if you can get a hold of Mr. Universe and find out what the heck is going on that we don't know about."

"I'm on it," was Wash's staticy reply.

"I swear, if either Fanty or Mingo knew what they were sending us into down there I am going to harm more than one hair on their pretty little heads," Mal told Zoë.

She nodded. "I don't blame you, sir."

Inara glided into the room with Kaylee looking (as usual) far more glamorous than being on the ship really required. "What's going on? I passed Jayne and River and then Simon practically shoved us aside to get to their room."

"Is River all right?" Kaylee asked nervously.

Mal sighed. "River's fine! And I'm fine too, thanks for asking." He head off towards the cockpit.

Kaylee twisted her hands together. "I'm not so sure that the captain ought to be takin' River out on jobs with her in a delicate condition and all."

"I agree." Inara frowned at Zoë. "I don't know what happened today but I do know that stress of any kind is not good for an expectant mother."

"I think the stress of being hunted by the Alliance is probably more than a girl her age should be dealing with," Zoë agreed, "pregnant or not."

Kaylee glanced back towards where she and Inara had come from. "I still can't believe our Jayne knocked that poor girl up."

"Me neither," Zoë said. "Frankly, I don't think he did it."

"Please." Inara rolled her eyes. "For once in his life Mal was right. It couldn't have been anyone but Jayne."

Zoë shrugged. "I just have a feeling, that's all."

Kaylee watched both of them. "Inara's right," she said, sticking her hands into her overall pockets. "There isn't another person on Serenity we could even suspect besides Jayne."

"I just knew he had a thing for her," Inara told them. "He was always looking at her funny."

"That was fear," Zoë remarked dryly.

Kaylee didn't hear her, she was too busy staring off into space. "Now that River and Jayne are married and all I think we should do somethin' for them. Like have a party, maybe."

"The captain won't like that." Inara's eyes twinkled. "I say we go for it."

Jayne had to practically carry River back to his bunk, the girl was shaking so hard. Luckily she was able to climb down the ladder on her own, otherwise Jayne would have had to climb down with her lithe little body slung over his shoulder.

She waited for him at the bottom and as soon as he let go of the ladder rungs she reattached herself to his side.

Jayne went over and sat down on the edge of his bunk, tugging her down with him. "You all right, girl?" he asked gruffly.

River pushed her face further into his chest. "I don't want to go back," she said softly.

"Go back where?"

Her thin arms tightened around his middle until he had trouble breathing. "Don't make us go back," she pleaded.

Jayne tipped her chin up with his forefingers to look into her tear filled eyes. "What are you talkin' about? Go back where?"

"They cut and poked." River's lower lip trembled as the tears continued running down her face. "They wouldn't stop and it hurt and hurt until they were done. Then they stuck me with needles when I dreamt until Simon came."

Jayne stared at the trembling, tearstained face before him. He wasn't sure he had ever heard her speak so long without saying something crazy. Frankly that worried him more than if she had gone off spouting random rhymes and such.

River clutched at the front of his shirt with an air of desperation. "Jayne has to keep us safe from them."

"Us?" Jayne asked, momentarily confused.

River removed one clutching hand and rested the palm low on her belly. "River and the Butterfly."

Jayne nodded. The butterfly, huh? He thought to himself. Jayne wasn't sure he had eve heard someone refer to a baby as a butterfly before, but somehow with River it seemed to fit. He couldn't help but think that it was the kind of thing his mother would appreciate.

Not that she would ever meet or hear of River, because despite the current situation he found himself in, Jayne had every intention of defying Mal and proving his innocence with regards to River's… well, innocence.

"Promise," River pleaded, grabbing Jayne's hand and putting it on her belly where her own had previously been. "Promise you will take care of the Butterfly and River."

Jayne tried to pull his hand away, but the tiny wisp of a girl held his wrist too tightly. He could feel the warmth of her body on the small mound of flesh he was touching. Jayne thought back to the last time he had seen his mother. It was also the first and only time he had ever seen his youngest sister. She'd been barely a few weeks old, all pink and wrinkly still. Jayne thought about the babe growing inside River, even smaller than his sister had been, squirming behind his hand at this very moment.

"Promise," River repeated, softer this time.

"Promise," Jayne found himself saying. "I promise I'll watch out for ya."

River let go of his wrist. "You're a good husband, Jayne Cobb," she said with a little smile.

Jayne groaned.

"What happened?" Simon demanded to know, dropping unannounced into Jayne's quarters.

Jayne looked up from the gun he was polishing. "Shh," he said, holding one finger up to his lips.

Simon looked over to the bunk where River was sound asleep, cocooned in a pile of blankets.

Jayne continued cleaning his gun. "She's fine, doc. None of your concern anyhow."

"What are you talking about?" Simon exclaimed. "She's my sister! Of course it's my concern."

"Not anymore." Jayne tossed his rag aside and carefully returned the gun to it's case. "As soon as you found out that little girl had become a woman you dumped her on the first person you could."

Simon's mouth dropped open. "I most certainly did not!"

"Did you or did you not send the captain down to marry yer 'lil sister off to me?"

"I did b-but," Simon stammered.

Jayne's eyes were cold. "You dumped her on me and now you're acting like you care?"

Simon was stunned. "I was trying to make sure you didn't leave my baby sister high and dry with your heir in her belly. I was trying to do the right thing."

"And you did," Jayne said. "And I did, so now I'm not sure what you want from me."

Simon looked over at River, still sound asleep. "The same thing I wanted when I first came to Serenity: to keep River safe."

"I will," Jayne told him. "And as soon as she tells me what happened down there on that planet I'll make sure you know of it too."

Simon nodded, semi-satisfied. "Thank you." With that (and one last glance towards the sleeping River) he left.

River was still sleeping when Mal called Jayne into the cockpit. He re-tucked the thin brown blankets around her slight body before he left the room.

"You talk to Mr. Universe, yet?" Jayne asked when he got to where Mal and Wash were waiting for him.

"Unfortunately yes," Zoë muttered, no doubt recalling Mr. Universe's habit of flirting with her via satellite.

"He's on the line," Mal told him. "We were waitin' on you before he told us what he knew."

"Jayne," Mr. Universe greeted cheerfully. "I hear you got yourself hitched recently. Maybe now you'll stop making eyes at my love bot, Lenore."

Jayne rolled his eyes and grunted a reply. He wasn't particularly amused, but they needed Mr. Universe so it paid to stay on his good side.

"We're ready to hear what you found out about that bank we were at," Wash said, his hint just un-subtle enough for Mr. Universe to get.

Mr. Universe disappeared from the screen for a moment and then ducked back into sight. "Well you definitely weren't at a bank, so it's a good thing you didn't try to rob it." Mr. Universe laughed to himself.

Mal's patience was rapidly running out. "Could you just get on with it and tell us what it was and not what it wasn't?"

"It's a government funded training facility. To be more specific, it's where your friend Ms. Tam would have been transferred to by now."

Wash glanced nervously over at Mal, who was having the same shocked reaction.

"How could you possibly know about River Tam?" Mal demanded to know.

"Aside from the fact that you just told me?" Mr. Universe asked, laughing jauntily.

"Aside from that, yes," Jayne snapped.

Mr. Universe tilted his head. "Can't stop the signal, Jayne. The second you folks hailed I was hacking into the facility's security feed. River Tam and her brother are two of the most wanted individuals by the Alliance these days. I recognized her almost immediately."

"Great," Mal muttered.

"So, you're harboring a fugitive, huh? Can I assume that also explains the sudden change in Jayne's marital status?"

Jayne lunged a little towards the screen, but Mal stopped him before he did something stupid like punching out the equipment.

"I hope Serenity's engines are running better than they usually are," Mr. Universe continued, typing and checking screens out of their view, "because you folks are going to have a fleet of Alliance ships on your tail in less than twenty four hours."

Mal turned away.

"Thanks for the good news, we'll be in touch," Was chirped before disconnecting the feed.

"What are we going to do?" Zoë asked softly, looking to Mal.

"What we ought to do is dump crazy and her brother on the first moon we come across and get our butts out of here before the gorram feds show up."

Mal turned to Jayne with a look that could have killed a lesser man. "If River gets dumped anywhere she'll be taking her brand new husband with her."

"Aw, Mal," Jayne started, but Mal interrupted him.

"I swear to you, Jayne," Mal said slowly. "If anything, and I mean anything, happens to that sweet girl then something will happen to you, do I make my self clear?"

"Sweet?" Wash mouthed to his wife from behind Mal.

Zoë shrugged.

"Do I make myself clear?"

With a scowl, Jayne nodded. Mal was pissed at him, but at least no one guessed he was getting soft.