Thank you guys so much for reading! And waiting patiently for this chapter. (I hope) sorry it took me so long. I lost the use of the computer I was using to write. But I have a new one! So here's this chapter.
Mal has had a rough time of it lately. The Bryce job went south with all sorts of complications, the cargo still cluttering up their hidey-hole. Then River ran out of meds, and Serenity was still dangerously low on fuel. And then Dr. Tam's alliance trap. And then Dr. Tam's con at the hospital. And then the gunfight with the Alliance on the roof. And now his mercenary is bleeding internally from a gunshot wound and his pilot's father is sitting in his ship, looking at him with the whiskey colored eyes of his albatross, asking him the one question among thousands he knows the answer to.
"What next?" Dr. Tam asks. Mal answers without hesitation, "Now we leave this gorram rock as fast as we can, refuel on Bellerophon with the money from selling the meds from the hospital, and then head all the way out to Lilac where we can unload the tracked meds. Then we buy as much fuel as we can and hide out in the black for the next four months until the alliance calls off the worst of its manhunt. We can drop you off in Regina with enough cash to last you for a few months on our way out to Lilac. They could use a doctor there." Inara and Dr. Tam are quiet for a moment. Then Doctor Tam says in a quiet voice, "And my wife? She could be taken into custody for conspiracy, even if she doesn't know anything."
Mal's eyebrows furrow. "There's no way we can make a stop for her. The alliance is right behind us." Dr. Tam looks down at the table again, and Inara looks away, over her shoulder, her expression sorrowful. Just then Simon walks in, shirt still covered in Jayne's blood, and says, "Actually we might be able to. Our house is on the outskirts of town, in the direction of Bellerophon. If we can get a message to her, so she's waiting for us on the roof, we can make the pickup in less than two minutes." Mal looks at him with incredulity, "Shi ma? Is that what you think? The alliance is literally a few hundred meters behind us. We can't make a stop."
"We can if it's short." Simon says, his resolve visibly strengthening with every word. His face, already hardening into its stubborn expression, his arms lifting to cross in front of his chest. The picture of an immovable object. Mal has learned to dread that look. He breathes in deep and tries to stay calm. He replies, "We could if we could comm the house, but we can't. The Alliance will have surely cut off all communications in and out." Simon arms get tighter across his chest. "And I'm willing to bet River can hack her way through." Mal voice rose, his arms rising up to mirror Simon's "I'm sure she can. But it will take time. Time that we don't have." Then suddenly, River's voice floats over the comm," I already have hacked through Mal, let Simon send his message. So then we can all move on from this."
Mal drops his hands and started to storm out toward the control room. Simon rushes to the comm, and begins to type out his message: Go to the roof. This is Simon and Gabriel. If you need proof, Simon's favorite toy when he was little was a stuffed mastodon. Gabriel eats apricot jam for breakfast. Simon pushes send and Gabriel starts forward, moving to thank his son, but as he lowers his hand to put it on Simon's shoulders, Simon shrugs away. He turns from his father and with a worried glance at Kaylee, he runs toward his captain and his sister.
When he gets outside the door of the control room, Simon can hear them arguing. He walks in and sees his sister is seated in the captain's chair, Simon stands in the doorway silently watching as she and Mal yell at each other.
Mal is irate," How dare you disobey my orders! I am captain, what I say goes. I am trying to protect my crew!" River looks upset, anger tinged with defensiveness flooding her voice, "I can do this! You don't need to protect me all the time. It will only take a minute! The message has already gone out. What would be the point in not stopping now?" Mal's eyebrows almost hit his hairline. "What's the point? What's the point? The point is not stopping to pick yet another fugitive, while twenty ships are on our tail!" Mal takes a step closer to River, looking like he's going for the controls, when River's hand clamps down on his wrist. Mal turns his eyes slowly toward his pilot, full of steely fury. In that quiet voice that everyone on Serenity has come to fear far more than his showy threats of bodily harm, Mal says "Best let go of my wrist 'tross, before I decide to be less than forgiving about this small bout of insanity." River just gazes back, her expression of ambivalence unchanging. Then she says in a whisper, "Come on Mal. That's my mother you're talking about leaving."
River drops her hold on the captain's wrist, and Mal holds her gaze for only a moment before turning away, not looking at River who is still flying Serenity at break neck speed toward the Tam mansion. He waits for her say something else to him, and when she doesn't, he says, "I'd accept that if you hadn't just tried to leave your father to the Alliance. What's the real reason your doin' this Mei Mei?" She still doesn't look back, but this time she does answer. She says, "For Gege. He saved his father, he wants his mother. I owe him this. Jayne says family needs to be taken care of. Simon is family, even if my parental units are not any longer."
Mal drops his head and sighed. Simon moves from the doorway where he was watching the exchange, to stand behind Mal. He gazes with wide eyes at his sister but says nothing. Mal raises his head and said, "Fine. Just this once I will forgive this insubordination. For the good doctor. Since the message is already sent. Never again. We clear." River simply nods. Simon inches forward to place his hand on his sister's shoulder and then turns to look at Mal. He looks at him, sees the worry wrinkling on his brow, the affection for River in his eyes, and has nothing to say except, "Thank you." Mal looks back him and says, "Thank me if and when we get off this gorram rock alive." Then he turns and walks away. Simon turns to follow, and as he exits the room in the corner of his eye he can see River sigh and lightly caress one of Wash's dinosaurs.
Mal and Simon walk back into the galley where the rest of the crew are waiting. Simon calls over to Kaylee, deliberately not looking at his father, and says, "We're going to try and pick up mother." Kaylee looks up from her cup of tea and gives a small smile and says, "That's nice. I'll finally be able to meet her." Mal moves back over to Inara and winds his arm once more around her waist, as Simon leaves the room again, going back to his infirmary to check on his brother-in-law. Everyone in the Galley is silent, as they wait to get closer to the Tam mansion.
Minutes tick by in awkward silence, as Serenity approaches the outskirts of Osiris City. For a while nothing could be heard in the ship except for the gentle thrum of the engines. Then River's voice floated once more through the comm, announcing," We're approaching the roof. I'll drop the ramp soon, you'll have 90 seconds to get her inside, before the Alliance ships get in shooting range and we'll have to leave."
Everyone except Jayne and River, files into the cargo bay in preparation to disembark, while Serenity descends lower toward the flat terrace roof of the Tam estate. Simon finally turns and faces his father, looking him in his eyes, and says, "You'll need to convince her quickly. I will be only a distraction to slow her from making a desicion. I'll stay and do my job as a physician in helping Jayne." Then as he begins to turn away, Gabriel shouts after him, "Wait! Come with me, She'll want to see you." Simon just keeps walking back toward his infirmary, answering back over his shoulder, "Then all the more incentive for her to get on the ship quickly."
Zoey gives a small smile at that, and turns toward Kaylee saying, "He doesn't realize it yet, but he sounds more like Mal every day." Kaylee and Inara smile at that. Mal doesn't look at any of his crew, his eyes facing straight ahead at the airlock, and then says, "Hush all'a you. We have to do this quick like. Tam get up here in front." Gabriel walks on shaky legs to stand nearer to the airlock beside Mal, his hands twisting together. He starts to say, "Thank yo-" but Mal cuts him off, saying instead, "It's your daughter you should be thanking, or maybe your son, seeing as this is supposed to be a sort of gift from her to him. The rest of us would have left."
Gabriel says nothing to this cold assertion, but instead proceeds to imitate Mal in his single minded focus of the wall before him. Serenity begins to shudder and shake as she gets closer to the surface of the roof of the Tam mansion, and her thrusters push unevenly against the concrete, scorching the edge of the azaleas bordering the roof. A woman stands in the shadows of the small doorway leading up from the house. She is tall, with wavy chestnut hair that falls just below her shoulders, the right side pulled back just slightly with a jeweled clip. Her clothes are sumptuous silk, but modestly cut, bringing to mind genteel elegance. But that image is ruined by the way she clutches at her silk shawl, arms tightened around herself, giving the impression of a frightened little girl. Her expression is that of hunted prey, nervous and twitchy.
This is Regan Tam. Alliance born and raised, and as a young woman was the belle of Osiris society. She was the perfect socialite, well-mannered, well-bred, and well-educated. A little too educated perhaps, since she fell in love with a young medical student far beneath her social status when she was only 19. Gabriel Tam was almost a decade older than her, and far too poor for her family to consider suitable. It didn't matter. Regan fell for his mind, enraptured by his intelligence. So she married him anyway, and then pushed, wheedled, encouraged, and hinted until his position became worthy of hers. It was her connections that propelled her husband to his position as department head.
But that woman died a long time ago. It was a slow death barely perceptible at first. It started the day River went away but that was only the small death of bereavement that every mother experiences. It got infinitely worse when Simon was lost to them, lost in his own paranoia, leaving them more and more each passing hour without his little sister. So much so that when he left physically she hardly noticed the difference. But the final death of Regan Tam's heart was when she the news came over the coms one day while she was getting her nails done, that awful message from Miranda. The realization that Simon's paranoia was not so unreasonable. That was what finally broke her. So maybe it was more accurate to say that Regan Tam's remains were waiting huddled in its fine wrappings on the roof of the home that used to house Regan.
But that was about to change. Serenity touched down on the roof. And then the ramp slowly lowered. The airlock doors unfurled. And revealed Regan's husband. There were others standing beside him, strangers, but Regan didn't really see any of them. Her vision had tunneled down to Gabriel. Mal had made the smart choice by insuring that his face was the first she saw. Her lovely doctor. She was busy mentally checking him for wounds. There was blood splattered on his the right side of his face, its rust color contrasting sharply against his pale skin, but it didn't seem to be coming from him. His hair and clothes rumpled, but he seemed physically unharmed. His expression however. His expression, she didn't know what to do with. His face was stretched tight with worry, his shoulders tense with the weight of it, but his eyes. His eyes had a light in it that both of them had been missing for so long.
When he came forward and embraced her she was still trying to puzzle it out. But she didn't wonder at it for long, because Gabriel leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "They are both alive. And waiting for us. They are on the ship, we need to get on, fast." And with those words Regan Tam came back to life. She was not whole, not by a long shot, but her eyes suddenly matched those of her husbands. Alight with hope.
Zoey watched with the Tam's reunion with the hole in her heart more tender that it had been in a while, as she saw husband and wife brought together again. So unfair, that even the Alliance scum got to have their love intact. But she said nothing. Because the only way to keep breathing was to do what she always did. Follow her Captain, Her Sargent, Her guiding light. He didn't fill the hole, not even slightly, but at least she wasn't fumbling around blind like she was after she lost her sister.
Even if he was a much different man than the one who pulled her to safety so very long ago. After all that man wouldn't have stopped for Mrs. Tam. But Miranda changed them all. It had put hole in her heart, but it had also restored Mal's faith. Maybe not in God, but faith none the less. Faith that in the end, humanity could still change for the better. The operative, River's recovery, and the even the small unsuccessful uprisings that followed had proved that to him. So here she was watching the Tams hurry up the gangplank of Serenity. Products of Mal's faith.
Regan didn't hesitate for even a second. Mal had been so sure that she would, had braced himself for the Alliance coming in to range, for the shots fired, and for having to knock his 'tross's ma unconscious. But Regan just hurried into the belly of Serenity, proving her son's words to be correct. Her anxiousness to see her children, pushed her hesitation out of the way, and made her hurry all the more. Gabriel seemed to be surprised as well, to see his wife come along without any trouble. But he too said nothing as he kept his hand tightly in hers, and walked back into the criminal's ship.
As soon as their feet crossed the threshold the ramp began to fold up and the airlock began to seal behind them, Serenity lurching steeply as she shot back up into the sky, once more giving chase to the Alliance. For the first time Mrs. Tam looked at her surroundings, observing with critical eyes the grimy ship, and it's even grimier crew. Her gaze fell over the man who stood with his hand on a large and frightening gun on his hip, his hair ruffled, a brown coat of rebellion around his shoulders, a glaringly obvious declaration of an outlaw. She didn't feel comfortable looking at him, and instead moved her gaze to the tall dark woman by the door, but she couldn't look at her for too long either, something in her expression and stance just screamed dangerous. So on to the young girl standing behind him, staring at her with open curiosity. Streaks of dirt on either cheek, underneath wide eyes the color of milk chocolate, peering at her beneath a mop of messy straw-colored waves. A pretty thing for such an unmannered creature. Standing on the other side of the outlaw was a Lady who looked at once more out of place than Regan did, and also more fitting standing in this dirty hold. She wore the grace of an aristocrat and the clothes of a companion, a peacock among pigeons. Regan was briefly curious about why she was here.
But her curiosity was short lived as her mind turned again to her children she looked to her husband to question him, but before a word left her mouth, the man with the gun called out to the dangerous woman in a loud voice that startled her, " We need to get to Bellephron. Now." The woman nodded and the crew jumped into action. The dirty girl moving past her in a rush, the two outlaws rushing up the stairs into the recesses of the ship, leaving behind the Lady and the Tams. The Lady looked with pity upon the couple, and said with a soft voice, "Come on, Simon is this way" as she gestured to the corridor underneath the stairs.
"But what about River?" Regan asked worried. Gabriel's lips pressed into a thin tight line. But Inara just stated with a carefully blank expression placed over her face, "River's busy. You'll be able to see her soon, but for now we should go and see your son." Regan worry increased with the vague answer, and she asked, "Busy?" looking at both the Lady and Gabriel. But her query received no answer. Her worry mounted even higher, but sensing she was not going to get the answers she so desperately seeked about her daughter, she allowed her husband to tuck her arm into his and lead her through the corridor and through the bright yellow galley toward the infirmary. She was glad to be by his side again. He had been distant since the Miranda transmission, refusing to talk about its content at all, much less how it pertained to their children. But now it seemed, they were once again a team.
They drew nearer to the infirmary, and Regan Tam took in the sight before her. Her son looked very different than she remembered him, and yet exactly the same. As she watched he leaned over the very large man laying down on the operating table inside the infirmary, tending to the severe wound blooding his abdomen. He looked so like his father like this. She was frozen where she stood. What could she say to him? Apologies hardly seemed adequate. He was unlikely to want to hear her questions much less answer them. But then he looked up from his work and spotted her. His eyes met hers. And she couldn't get to him fast enough.
He met her at the doorway to his infirmary, and she wrapped her arms around him in a vice like grip, as the rest of the crew, and Gabriel, held their breath waiting for his reaction. He tensed at first. But then she was whispering something to him that they couldn't hear, but that obviously meant something important, because then he was hugging her back just as tightly. What they didn't hear, was Regan's fervent and sincere apologies.
P.S I hoped a fixed those confusing tenses. Thanks for the reviews!