Disclaimer: I own nothing, which is a hell of a shame. Joss is boss.
A/N: deanandjo4ever1 pointed out that I never really explained the time frame of this. I figured it is Post-OiS but Pre-BDM. Also, this will be Rayne. I hope this helps. And I apologize for taking so long with this. Finals are from hell.
Interesting.
Jayne was not an owl. River was sure that he would be. That was why she had come to him last. Every other member of the crew had turned out to be owls. She had known, of course, that Simon was an owl. He was the one who led them all. Who hunted her. Who gave her the artificial emotions. Her ge ge was an owl, and she was a mouse. Owls hunted mice. Simon didn't mean to be an owl, so she forgave him.
When River heard Simon decide to give her the drugs, to become an owl, she went to Kaylee. She followed the sound of Kaylee's joy to the engine room, where Kaylee was working on a fluid leak. Kaylee was checking the compression coil, but River knew the fluid was coming from the auxiliary life support. She didn't correct her. Kaylee was very smart about engines. She would figure it out in about 2.93 minutes.
"Kaylee?" River asked as she entered the engine room and sat cross-legged beside her.
"What's up, River?" Kaylee's face lit up. She was so bright and cheery. River was glad to have a friend with such a happy mind. Sometimes when she was depressed, she would visit Kaylee's mind and soak in the sun. It never ran out.
"Owl. May I burrow here?"
"Sure, River," Kaylee nodded. River knew that she didn't quite understand. However, Kaylee knew that River was asking to stay. River supposed she didn't really have to grasp that River was hiding. She didn't want Kaylee to worry. She hated when Kaylee worried. Clouds covered the sun.
River sat silently watching Kaylee work. Kaylee jumped up and muttered to herself when she realized where the fluid was coming from. Hmm. Only 2.81 minutes. She must have lost a variable or misplaced a sign. Where could her calculations have gone wrong? She didn't realize she was ripping her hair out until Kaylee was shaking her shoulders and crying for her to stop.
River cocked her head and looked into Kaylee's mind. "Cloudy."
"Simon!" Kaylee called. "Simon, hurry!"
"No!" River jumped up and managed to flip herself into a crouch on top of the engine. "You said she could burrow!"
She was too busy looking into Kaylee's clouds, trying to figure out why she had become an owl, that she did not notice Simon come up behind her until he had successfully injected the Dopamine into her.
The next night, River attempted to evade Simon again. She tried to burrow with Wash in the bridge, but he told Zoe, who told Captain Daddy, who told Simon. Shepherd Book tried not to be an owl but he decided that he had to alert Simon to take her to a more open area when she began to knock things off of his shelves when her ballet became more advanced. Inara had welcomed her, but returned her to her brother when she deduced that River was avoiding her medication. Everyone was an owl.
Except Jayne.
She sighed internally as her thoughts returned to now, in Jayne's bunk, under his bed. She didn't have to peek into his mind to know that he was nervous. He wasn't moving, but he was awake. She could tell; his breathing was irregular. Why wasn't he sleeping? Maybe he was uncomfortable. Well, there was no if about it. His discomfort with the situation was rolling off of him in waves.
The floor was cold. She was uncomfortable, too.
