Firefly: The Land of Cotton
Kaylee walked into the kitchen with her hand on her head. "Uh, coffee…"
Zoe and Wash grinned at her from the table. "Too wild last night?" she asked.
"Not wild enough," Kaylee complained. "I woke up, clothed, and in my own bed."
"Oh honey," Zoe sympathized.
"I hope someone got action…"
"Well I can assure you someone did," Wash assured her with a grin.
Zoe shook her head.
"Well that's good," Kaylee beamed, her usual perkiness rising.
"Hey Kaylee, get a good rest?" Mal asked as he walked in to get his coffee.
"Yeah… rest… that's all I got."
He smiled. "Well on your mission to thank the doctor for those flowers you sort of passed out."
"What?"
"You and Simon in the hallway outside your door. I found you, had Jayne drag Simon to his room, and Lizzy check on River."
"Oh man."
Mal laughed as he sipped his coffee.
Jayne pushed Lizzy's hair to one side and began kissing the back of her neck. She sighed as his hands traced up her bare back. His lips followed his hands. "I like that little gift from last night," he whispered once his lips reached her ear. "Never seen a gal that could bend like that."
She smiled. "Told you I had tricks up my sleeve."
"How many guys have you been with to learn those tricks?"
"Only one, well now two."
He pulled back. "You just telling me that?"
"I don't sleep with people just to have sex. There's only two people I've ever been attracted to enough to sleep with."
He pressed his cheek against the back of her head, letting his nose become buried in her thick hair. "Guess I should feel special."
"You should."
"That other guy isn't the Mooney feller, is it?"
She pulled away, a grotesque look on her face. "Give me more credit than that."
"He seemed awfully touchy-feel…"
"That's because he wants me. He's been like that for years now." She grabbed her robe and slid out of his bed. "Can't believe you would…"
"Wait, wait, wait." Jayne reached under his bunk and pulled out her gift. Still sitting in bed, he handed it to her. "Open that, and after, you can yell at me."
She sighed and opened the package. A cherry violin sat in the small box. "Oh Jayne…"
"I was told it was the best."
"This is amazing. It must have been expensive…"
"Nah… I mean, yeah it was really expensive. But that's okay." He reached out to her, and she stepped into his hug. "You're worth it."
Lizzy frowned though he could not see it. "I have your gift down here too." She put her violin on the small table in his room and grabbed the box that held his gift. "Here."
He opened it quickly, like an eager child at Christmas. "Shun-sheng duh gao-wahn…" he mumbled as he pulled the silver gun out of the box. "Will you look at that. Small handheld… I've heard about these. Only can find on the black market."
"Yeah, well Mooney is good for something. Told me where I could get that on Persephone." She took the gun from him and pointed the weapon at his head. "The glorious thing about this gun is the built in silencer. Always silent, always deadly. Perfect weapon for an assassin."
He waited for her to move the gun from his head, but when she did not, his eyes narrowed. "Why you pointing that at me? Ain't loaded…"
"Oh it's quite loaded. I had it completely prepared for this morning."
"You're quite a bitch. Had me falling for you, and now you got a gun to my head. Who hired you? How much?"
"I was just offered the job last night, before we returned to the ship. You're worth fifty-thousand platinum to the magistrate at Canton."
He attempted to stand up, but she pushed him back with the gun. "If you're gonna kill me, get it over with."
"I didn't really get to tell you how much you're worth to me."
"Huh?"
"Anytime I meet someone, I put a price on their head, my lowest price for killing them. It's a money game, and I know you understand."
"What's my price?"
"I never put one on you."
He stared intently at her. "So is fifty-thousand sounding good to you?"
"I'm not cheap. Neither are you. So until you piss me off…" she twirled the gun around, handing it to him, "… I ain't gonna kill you."
He took the gun and pointed it at her. "You just held a gun to my head. Why shouldn't I kill you?"
She put her hands behind her head in a resting position with a slight smile on her face; her robe unfastened allowing Jayne a view of her body. "Because Jayne Cobb, I know I'm the only girl you let kiss you on the lips."
"Now how would you know that?"
"I could tell you I'm psychic." She shrugged her shoulders, causing the robe to open more. His eyes darted down. "Or I could just say that you instinctively turn your head to the side, slightly straining your neck so your mouth is furthest away from me when we kiss. I turn your head back and kiss you, but you've done it for so long that you just naturally move that way when we're together."
He seemed impressed. "You're good."
"Well I am a hired assassin."
"Ah hell, I'm a mercenary." He lowered the gun, placing it under his pillow. "Now it seems to me that robe wants to come back off."
"Alright Captain. We are entering Demeter atom," Wash announced as they neared Ariel's moon.
"This is going to be a simple delivery," Mal stated, more to assure himself than the others. "Just go to the factory, deliver the cotton, and walk away."
Jayne leaned against the bridge entry-frame. "You know if it's a Blue Sun clothing factory, you can get me a new shirt." He turned to look at Simon.
Simon smirked at him.
Liz stared at clouds of the moon, motionless and speechless.
"What's wrong?" Kaylee asked her.
"Something doesn't feel…" she trailed off as she noted Mal's 'don't-say-you-have-a-bad-feeling-about-this' face. "It's nothing. But I'm just going to say, Simon you should give River a sedative."
He instantly became defensive. "What? Why would I do that?"
"Call it a gut instinct."
"She's a psychic," Jayne added.
Simon turned to him with a stunned expression; Liz bit her lip.
"What? It's a joke."
"I'm just saying, we are close to Ariel…"
The clouds parted before the ship, revealing the large factory and oversized Blue Sun logo.
"Let's try to make this a quick delivery," Mal stated. He walked out to the cargo bay as Wash landed the ship. Zoe and Jayne followed him.
"Trust me on this Simon," Liz tried again. "I have a gut feeling. She doesn't need to be awake on this moon."
"If you could tell me why…"
"I'm not really sure yet," she hurried off after the other three.
"Do you think you should?" Kaylee asked.
"I wouldn't feel right doing that without a reason."
"Explain to me your logic about sedating his sister," Mal stated as he loaded the crates onto the mule.
"It was a hun…"
"No. That's knowing something. What the hell do you know?"
"I'm just piecing clues together." She lifted the tarp off the crates, displaying the Blue Sun logo. "See that symbol? Anyone else notice that it's on all those random objects that she destroys?"
Zoe and Mal had blank faces.
"My shirt…" Jayne mumbled.
"She attacked your shirt, not you. My peach can…"
"Those other food cans when we were playing cards…" Jayne added.
"All Blue Sun. I think they did that stuff to her."
Mal threw the last crate on the mule. "Then I guess all the more reason to finish this fast."
River opened her eyes and lifted her arms; she noted that she was covered in sweat. "Simon?" she whispered. Delicately, she slid off her bed and walked to her door. A quick flash of blue caused her to stop in her tracks. "The little blue things… crawl, all over…" She began scratching at her arms, struggling with herself. Soon she fell back against her door and crashed through it to the ground.
"River!" shouted Shepherd Book as he ran out of his room.
The girl was seizing on the floor.
"Doctor! Doctor!"
Simon ran up to his sister and Book. "What happened?"
"I heard her crash through the door."
"Goddam. Liz said I should have sedated her…"
Mal shook the hand of the man he had delivered the cotton to and tucked the money into his coat. "Pleasure doing business with you boys."
Liz sat up from her leaning position on the mule.
"What is it?" asked Jayne who had been lounging behind her.
"River… Tyen shiao-duh…" She took off running to the ship.
"What the hell?" asked Zoe.
"Cap'n, we need to get back," Jayne suggested.
"Sir, look at this," a man in a suit called out. He was standing at a computer screen with several lines across it. Suddenly one of the lines became sporadic, like an earthquake reading.
A blue hand grabbed the screen, turning it to the shadows on the other side of the desk. "See if it's a match." The hand turned the screen back around.
"On it." The man in the suit began typing quickly. "It's checking… what the?" The erratic line suddenly became straight again, but a different line had a sudden high peak, then went straight. "It just stopped…" the man in the suit stated. "And another, is it two?"
"One who cannot use their power – and one who can very well," said the blue hand man. "No ship leaves this place."
Lizzy took her hand from River's forehead and took a deep breath. River lay on the ground, breathing calmly as if in a deep sleep.
"What the hell was that?" Simon asked, ready to lunge at Liz.
"You remember when Jayne joked about me being psychic?"
Simon's eyes widened.
"Yeah, he was telling the truth without knowing it." She jumped to her feet. "Now we gotta get out of here. If anyone else could sense her…"
"Sense what?"
"How about all that sit-down-and-chat come after we save our asses?" She ran to the cargo bay where the other three were entering on the mule. "Wash, take off," she said, hitting the comm.-button.
"But the Captain…"
"He's here. We have to go. Fast."
"On it."
She ran to the door and hit the switch for it to close.
"What the hell is going on?" Mal yelled. "Who gave you control of my ship?"
"Just getting us out of here. River had a little spell and gave off some heavy waves that even I could feel and if anyone else was scanning for them, well we'll be in deep shit."
Mal continued to stare blankly at her.
"If we don't leave now, they'll keep everyone from leaving. They'll board the ship. They'll find River and kill off the rest of you, and not a pleasant death."
Mal pointed at her. "We're talking later." He hit the comm.-device. "Get Inara to meet with us, even if she cuts her time on Ariel short. We got to move fast."
Jayne stared at the ground in front of him.
Mal motioned for Zoe to leave the two alone.
"What the hell are you?"
"What?"
He grabbed her arm tightly. "This morning you held a gun to my head and now you're spouting out shit like you know everything. So who and what are you?"
"You're hurting me…"
"Answer me!"
"I'm a psychic!"
He continued to stare at her and refused to loosen his grip.
"And I don't know everything. I only know rumors and warnings. And all I honestly know is I don't want them to find me because they'll probably slice open my brain like they did to River."
His grip loosened when he saw the tears in her eyes. "Have you ever read my mind?"
She remained silent.
"Liz…"
"Of course! I always do!" She jerked her arm away from him. "Everytime I meet a person I do."
"That how you judge how much their life is worth?"
She nodded. "I'm horrible, but… but that's why I knew you were different than…"
"Don't you dare start telling me who I am or what I'm like. And if you read my mind again, I'll kill you." He pulled the silver gun from his belt and forcefully tossed it at her. "And I don't need anything from you." He charged up the stairs to the bridge.
Liz fell to her knees clutching the gun and crying uncontrollably. "in Gaelic Dear God, why place this curse on me? I am not strong enough to bear a cross." She turned the gun around, pointing the barrel at herself. "in Gaelic All this power has brought me is pain. I drove my brother… I use it to kill. I am no angel. There is no hope for me."
"in Gaelic But I believe if one prays, there is always hope. The prayer itself is hope." Shepherd Book walked forward.
"in Gaelic Or the prayer is an excuse."
"in Gaelic But isn't an excuse the hope to not receive punishment for failure or disobedience, or even both?"
Lizzy continued to stare at the barrel of the gun.
"in Gaelic How is it that you end up on this boat with a troubled girl – a girl who has the same gift as you? Divine providence has put you here. You cannot leave when that child needs you most."
"Firefly Serenity, stop you ascent and prepare to be boarded," an Alliance transmission interrupted them.
"When we all need you most," Book added.
Liz tucked the gun in her belt and hurried to the brig.
Mal was leaning over the comm.-screen. "May I ask why we are being bordered?"
"That is need-to-know Captain."
"And let me guess, I don't need to know." He took his finger off the button, causing the screen to go black. "We need a plan."
Lizzy and Book entered the brig. "in Gaelic Do something now, Lizane."
She bit her lip and stared at the Alliance ship out the window.
"You speak that too?" Mal asked.
"Alright kids," Lizzy whispered.
Jayne silently glared at her.
"I'm gonna get us past them with some heavy-duty mind altering on them. I'm going to pass out from it, but so will they. When I hit the deck, the deed will be done. Wash, as soon as I go down, get us out before another ship sees us. I'll explain everything when I wake up."
Zoe stared intently at her. Mal signaled for her to not ask any questions.
Liz stepped forward and planted her feet firmly beneath her. "in Gaelic Alright assholes." She stared intently at the ship and after a few seconds, her knees started to shake. A warm sensation formed above her lips, and then, she was out.
Jayne rushed forward, catching her in his arms. He wiped away the blood from her nose.
"Wash, get us the hell out of here," Mal ordered.
"Already on it."
Jayne stroked Lizzy's hair. "Will someone get that goddam doctor?" he yelled.
"What happened?" Zoe asked.
"And is she going to be okay?" Mal added.
"It looks like her brain worked at – at just an amazing speed. I can't really be sure without the right machines."
"But will she be okay?"
"Without seeing the whole problem, I can't treat her properly. She may wake on her own… she may remain in a coma."
"That's great. She was gonna shed some light."
"She was going to help me help River." He glanced up. "Well she didn't say she would, but one way or another she would."
Jayne sat huddled on a small loft near the medical bay where he could keep an eye on Lizzy.
"Do you sit up there to hide how much you care for her?"
The mercenary glanced down at Shepherd Book. "Don't know what you're talking 'bout preacher man."
"I heard your argument with her." He folded his hands behind his back and casually paced as he talked.
"That was really none of your business."
"You didn't see her after you left. That gun you threw at her, she was going to shoot herself with it."
"She wouldn't do something that dumb…"
"It was not an act Jayne. Some things may fool me, but a prayer like hers was true."
"Well why the hell would she get suicidal on me?"
"Who can know what disturbing things have happened to her? You might have been the only balance in her life, and with that gone, why live?" Shepherd shrugged. "And it seems to me, she was your balance as well." He walked into the med bay, giving Jayne time to think. "I'll stay with the girl Captain."
Mal nodded his head and walked out with Zoe.
Simon sighed. "I don't know what else to do. They don't train you for psychic injuries in med school."
"Go rest doctor. I'll call for you if anything happens."
River played Liz's ukulele as Simon and Kaylee sat on the couch. "Isn't it amazing how Jayne and Liz became so attached to each other? He was so upset when she fell."
"I'm more amazed about her ability that she kept hidden from all of us."
"Not all of us," River corrected her brother. "I knew. She let me know."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I promised her. She was going to teach me things."
"Or she was going to use you to save herself."
River stood and threw the ukulele at Simon then stormed away to her room.
He lifted the cracked instrument and glanced at Kaylee's disapproving glare. "What? It could be true."
Jayne hopped down from the loft and walked into med bay. "I'll watch her Shepherd."
Book bowed his head and walked out. He glanced back and noted Jayne bending over to kiss Liz's forehead. With a smile, Book continued to his room.