"New Order"

Ch. 6

(Serenity, Infirmary)

Inara, Kaylee, Connor, River, and Book stood outside. Jayne and Zoe settled Abby down and detached the stretcher. Zoe stood, out of the way, behind Mal. Jayne, soaking wet, put the stretcher away quickly and then stood next to Zoe. Abby laid on the Infirmary bed, barely holding on to consciousness. She was soaked with blood and rain. Mal was covered in Abby's blood and wet from the rain as well. Simon quickly dried off his wet hands and put gloves on.

Abigail grabbed onto Mal's hand. Mal remained as the doctor carefully took out the one bullet. The Captain stroked Abby's hand, desperately trying to keep her close to him.

"Come on. Just a little bit longer. Stay with me," Mal whispered, kissing her bloodied hand as she slowly began to loose her grip. When she did, Mal held on tighter. "Don't you leave me, again."

"In simple terms: The bullet hit a major organ and damaged a lot of tissue. This is bad," Simon said to Mal.

"But she'll be alright, right?" Mal asked, trying to stay calm and collected.

"I can't say for sure, Captain," the doctor told him.

Abby spoke faintly in Mal's ear, "Connor."

Mal glanced frantically around, "Connor. Come here. It's alright."

Connor ran into the Infirmary and stood at his mother's side. Mal made room for the 8 year old boy.

Abby spoke directly at Connor, giving him a small smile and caressing his small cheek, "Connor, you know where to go."

The boy nodded. He looked over up at Mal.

"We need to get her home," he told him.

"Where? Shadow?" Mal asked.

"No. Earth-that-was,"

Mal looked over to Abby.

"Trust him, Mal," she told him faintly before passing out from the pain.

Mal kissed her on the forehead and went outside with Connor to let Simon do his work. Kaylee and Inara stepped over to them.

"How is she?" Inara asked

Mal looked down at Connor and told him, "Go tell Wash where to go," Mal looked over to Zoe, "Zoe, go with him."

Zoe nodded in acknowledgement.

"Yes, Captain," Connor said.

"Good, boy," Mal patted the boy on the shoulder softly, almost reassuringly.

Kaylee watched as the two left. She went over to Mal and asked him softly:

"Cap'n'?"

Mal turned to the window and watched Simon clean Abby's wound when he answered.

"It's bad," Mal said simply. "He'll do his best. But, it might not be good enough this time." Mal looked at Kaylee and told her soberly. "I'm gonna need you to get more juice out of the engines. Wherever we're goin', we're going to get there real fast."

Kaylee nodded, "Aye, Cap'n'."

"Mal, I thought the Alliance had declared Earth can no longer support human life anymore," Inara said.

"I trust Abby, Inara. It's as simple as that. She knows whats goin' on better than any of us, right now," Mal told her.

To be continued . . .