On their first day of leave on Londinium, the crews of Lady's Revenge, Serenity, and Calamity Jane hit the town. After months in the Black, they were all ready for some fresh air and sunshine, the hustle and bustle.
Most of the women went shopping for the day, meeting the rest of the crews for lunch at the Lonely Cod, a large pub in the heart of Londinium. The pub was an exact replica of an Earth-that-Was English pub, with excellent pub food and a whole selection of stouts and ales. The crews ate well, and most of the women went out for another round of shopping, while the rest scattered about in groups, looking for entertainment. A large group found a local arcade, with virtual reality games, as well as more traditional skill and chance-based amusements. A somewhat smaller group found a fairly dingy bar, near to a blackout zone, that served some of the best beer they ever had; they were all fairly soused by the time everyone returned to the estate for dinner.
"Wass th' bes' damn' beer I ever tasted." Mal slurred; Jim Raven, Jayne, Jo Stephens, Ken Baldwin, Claudia Braeden, and Badger had spent the day at the Salty Dog Tavern getting thoroughly drunk.
"It sounds like it, bao bei." River quipped, amused at the headache they'd all have in the morning.
Jamie presented Inara with an overstuffed bear, won at the arcade; he turned out to have an uncanny talent for skeeball. Inara was delighted with the playful gift.
Marcus joined them for dinner, pleased to finally have somebody to spend time with; despite his position as Chief of Staff, he had no family or friends other than the crews of the three ships, and his brother.
River sat at the table, somewhat destabilized by the day's exposure to strangers and the sheer number of people around the table. She forced herself to calmness, focusing on the purest minds she could; Jayne's usual steady rocks of thoughts were tumbling today, rolling about from the drink and the excitement of being on leave. Mal's familiar darkness of thoughts was spinning about, lit by a hurricane of sheer joy at being with what he considered family, with a new wife and a job they could finally be proud of.
She finally found calmness with two minds at the table; she felt the calm, deep pools of Marcus' mind and the steady green fields of Claudia Braeden's thoughts. She found something interesting in Braeden's mind; Marcus seemed to be occupying her mind more and more often. She nonchalantly observed the two as they flirted unconsciously, and a smile grew unobserved on her face.
Marcus surprised them all the next day by having them pack for a night trip and ushering all of them onto a large shuttle. They found camping gear for everybody on board, along with refrigerated coolers of food and drink.
"I thought you all might like a day in the woods; there is a park along the Thames river that has a campsite and a number of natural attractions. It is as untouched by civilization as you can find on Londinium."
Still hung over, Mal smiled. "Sounds like a great idea."
The Thames River Natural Reserve park was beautiful; looking much like a natural reserve from the American Northwest on Earth-That-Was, it was a prime spot for vacationers, hikers, and wildlife watchers.
The crews enjoyed the attractions, fishing, hiking, and climbing all day. After returning with the evening and pitching the tents, the friends gathered around a large campfire. Jayne had brought out his guitar, and Al Remshaw pulled out a small wooden flute. Everybody relaxed as the night wore on, just quietly talking, enjoying the peace.
Marcus and Tom sat side-by-side, eating the stew that Jenny had cooked up over the fire. Both men were companionably silent, remembering the last time they had sat around this campfire, when they were both children. Tom suddenly looked up, and grinned, then said "Gotta go." and went off to find somewhere else to sit.
"This seat taken?" a smoky, dark, work-roughened voice said. Marcus looked up into the striking, angular face of Claudia Braeden.
"Not at all. Please, sit." he said, scooting slightly to give her room. She sat right next to him, almost touching him, despite the extra space, and dug into her own bowl of stew.
"This is good stuff. Kinda sad that we don't have a cook as good as Jenny on Calamity Jane."
"I'd be hard-pressed to find a cook as good as Jenny even on Londinium. She's got quite the talent."
"Pretty damned good shot, too, from what I heard."
"She is. Talented marksman for only having shot for a few months."
"So you're the chief of staff of the prime minister." she temporized, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. In her peripheral vision, she could see Tom sitting with Chin Shu, and the two beginning to roar with laughter as they looked her way.
"Yes, that occupies much of my time. I also act as a liaison for your crews with the Marshals. It is interesting work, but not quite the exciting field work I would prefer."
"Maybe you should come out on the ships more often, do some work hands-on." she wheedled, a grin growing on her face.
"That sounds like an interesting idea. Which ship do you think I should come with?" he said, in a lower tone. Hmm. I haven't had this kind of interest in...ugh, has it really been that long?
"If you didn't have any particular one in mind, I could probably think of one." she said, looking away nonchalantly. Step in, turn to the right.
"Really? I already had one in mind, to be honest." Step to the left, draw foot to meet.
"Ahh, I'd imagine Serenity, huh?" she teased. Spin out, and back in to meet.
"Well...in point of fact, I thought Calamity Jane could use my help in penetrating the Blue Sun labs first." Tilt her back, hold that pose...
"I think the Captain could be persuaded." she said. "I'm feeling a bit restless, want to come for a walk?" she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him to his feet; he got the distinct feeling he didn't really have a choice in the matter.
"I believe I shall." he said dryly; River caught his eye across the campfire, and he saw that she had a broad smile on her face.
River had observed the intricate dance steps from across the fire; Mal had been involved in talk with Raven about some damnfool thing, and had totally missed it. She beamed when she saw Braeden nearly drag Marcus away from the fire, and thought, It seems the Serenity loveboat curse doesn't just work on Serenity. Maybe it's you, bao bei?
Mal had continued talking with Raven, but she heard back How's that?
Marcus and Claudia just disappeared off somewhere.
Ha! I thought something was going on at dinner yesterday.
Like I said, bao bei. You're a walking match-maker.
Everybody slept in the next morning, and after cleaning up their campsite, returned to their ships about noontime.
River pulled Mal away from the estate, and they called for a hover car; following directions that River had requested from the Prime Minister, they arrived at a nondescript office-like building in the capitol city of Londinium itself.
"Good day, Lisa." Doctor Shaver said, opening her door and coming in. A nurse followed with a tray of lunch.
Lisa Lang was sitting at the small desk in her room, writing.
"Nurse Liang told me that you didn't have any nightmares last night."
"That's right, doctor." Lisa smiled up at the short, slightly graying doctor. He looked over her shoulder nonchalantly, and saw that she was writing in her journal. He looked away again, respecting her privacy.
"I'm glad to see you're writing in your journal. I think it's really helping you."
"So do I, Doctor. It's nice to be able to talk about some of these things."
Doctor Padraig Shaver smiled down at her. Patient Lisa Lang was doing extraordinarily well, for a person who had been programmed by the finest butchers and brainwashers in the Alliance. She was slightly emotionally immature; although 20 years old physically, she acted more like a girl of no more than 13. Her years in the Academy had stunted her emotional growth slightly, but she had made leaps and bounds in recent days to advance her maturity level.
"I was thinking, Doctor. There's someone I'd like to talk to."
"Who is that?"
"River Tam, my friend from the Academy."
"I think that can be arranged. I'll go see if I can get you a 'Wave terminal." Doctor Shaver smiled at her again; a visit with a friend might be just the thing.
He left again, and Lisa ate her lunch. Doctor Shaver came back in about a half hour later, with nothing in his hands and a somewhat downcast look on his face.
"I'm sorry, Lisa, I couldn't get a 'Wave terminal for you."
"I understand Doctor. I just...I wanted to talk to her." the girl was unreasonably disappointed.
"I think I've got the next best thing, though." he grinned, as two people entered the room behind him.
"River!" the girl shrieked, and rushed over to embrace her friend. River hugged her, and pulled her over to the bed, where they sat down and began chattering like teenagers again. Lisa was excited at the news of River being married; although she'd been on the ship when it had happened, she'd been so out of it at the time that it had seemed like a dream. River heard all about the kindly doctors and nurses, and that one male orderly who was so swai...
Mal pulled the doctor aside, and they chatted in the corner.
"How's she doin', doc?"
"Although I have to respect doctor-patient confidentiality, I can say that she's doing remarkably well. We've removed almost all of the primary trigger responses that had been embedded in her, and a good deal of the secondary responses. The combat training is something we'll never be able to get out of her; it's a muscle memory, rather than a neurological response. At least we've removed the triggers, although I have the feeling she retains much more control over it now."
"So you think she'll completely recover?"
"She's already well on her way. I think she'll be a happy, well-adjusted 20 year old in just a few month's time, maybe 8 months at the outside. I am concerned, though...I know that you know her from your attack on the academy, and that Mrs. Reynolds is well-acquainted with her. We've had trouble identifying if she has any living family. Do you know of any?"
"Can't say that I do, Doc. Don't know the girl that well, I'm afraid."
She doesn't, he heard.
"River says she doesn't though." Mal whispered to the doctor.
"How do you know?"
"Because she just told me." The doctor's mouth dropped wide open at that.
"Well, anyways. Although the Alliance will certainly look to take care of her once she's released from our custody, I'm afraid she doesn't really have any family to look to."
"It's a damned shame." Mal said, seeing where this was leaning.
"It's not something we need to worry on right now, as she has a long way to go before she's ready to move on; but it is something we need to keep on the back burner. She'll need a place to go, that has work structured enough to keep her on an even keel while she settles into life on her own."
"We'll be able to figure something out by that point. My boat is already full enough, and it ain't exactly the safe life we lead."
"Oh, no. That's not what I was aiming at, Captain. I was just wondering if you knew of anybody who would be willing to take up a guardianship position for the girl."
"I'll think on it and let you know."
"Thanks, Captain."
Lisa and River visited for another half hour, then Mal and River had to go; Lisa said goodbye to them sadly, but was satisfied with a promise of a future visit.
By the end of their three days of rest, the crews were rarin' to go; ships were seen to, guns were being cleaned, and their flight plans were being set.
The evening of the third day, Marcus showed up at Calamity Jane with a bag. "Permission to come aboard, Captain."
"Permission granted. Come on up." Shu smiled, motioning over his shoulder to show Marcus where to put his things.
"Glad you're comin' along with us; with your knowledge, might be we'll find that hole Cap'n Reynolds was talkin' about."
"I'm glad to be coming along. Sitting at that desk all day does tend to grate on one."
"Hopefully the Prime Minister's office won't fall apart with you gone?"
Marcus chuckled. "My administrative assistant takes care of most of the actual work in the office anyways. I only tend to get in the way, gum up the works with my short circuiting of the system."
Marcus and Shu passed Braeden in the common area; she grinned at Marcus, seeing his bag over his shoulder. "Dinner's in 30!" she called after them.
Marcus grinned back at her, and continued on to the passenger dorms, dropping his bag in his bunk.
River sat at the galley table after the evening meal, her guns disassembled around her. She didn't have all that many guns, at least not as many as Jayne, but she had 4 or 5 small, concealable pistols, a long-barreled scoped rifle, and a pair of boot daggers. Mal walked in just as she started polishing the long, shining blade that was her most recent acquisition. He winced as he saw the sword, then grabbed a drink and sat down at the table.
"Never can get used to that thing."
"What? It was a wedding gift." River said innocently, although she knew quite well that Mal associated that sword with more than a few of the scars he carried. Marcus had given them both the sword on their wedding day, claiming that it would get more use in "better hands."
"Weddin' gift or not, it's creepifyin' the way you moon over that steel."
"I could get the purloined Reaver weapon." she said saucily.
"On second thought, I'm fine with this one." he grinned.
