6

"JAYNE!" Mal bellowed as he flew down the stairs toward the medical bay. It had taken all off ten seconds for the news that Jayne had knocked Jenn out to reach Mal. As far as he could tell there wasn't a word in the verse to explain how mad he was right then.

He burst through the door of the medical bay and grabbed Jayne by the scruff of his shirt. Despite the size difference between the two men, Mal through him against a wall and drew his pistol. He pressed the end of the barrel to Jayne's temple and held the man to the wall by his shirt."Would you mind explaining to me what my sister is doin liyin' there on that table with the print of your gun still fresh on the back of her head?" Mal was screaming so loud his voice seemed to fill the entire room.

Jayne opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again. He opened and closed it a few more times without saying anything. He looked like a fish that had jumped on to land and was now gasping for air. Simon tired to take a step forward toward Mal.

"Doctor if you make one move that aint to help my sister then you and me are gonna be dancin' next, that clear?" Mal asked, his voice dripping with menace. He never looked away from Jayne, who continued to squirm under Mal's blazing gaze.

Simon said nothing but stepped back to where he was. Kaylee looked around unsure of what to do next. She was standing at Jenn's bed side holding her hand. "Cap'n," She started.

Mal ignored her.

"Captain," Zoe said, appearing in the door way, she had run all the way from the bridge but you wouldn't know it by looking at her. She was calm and completely in control. After a few seconds Wash showed up behind her, breathing heavy and sweating slightly.

"Zhè shì bù hǎo de gǒu shǐ," Wash muttered under his breath.

"Sir," Zoe said.

"Ya know I'm think real hard here Jayne," Mal said, his voice now quite and dripping with acid, "and I can't seem to recall a decent 'nough reason to keep you breahin'"

"Captain I'm not sure that's a wise course of action at this point," Zoe said. She remained in the door way, completely still.

"Mal she was screamin bout the girl, threatinin' to bring the alliance down on our heads!" Jayne screamed, "I had to stop her."

"Jayne, not another word," Zoe said. "Sir as much as Jayne deserves this, this isn't the time or place to handin' out punishment."

"Oh really?" Mal asked, "How do you figure that?"

"Sir," Zoe said, taking a step toward the captain, "we need Jayne for job. Justified or not we can't afford to be down a man on this."

Mal gritted his teeth and pressed the barrel a little harder against Jayne's temple. Zoe's words had obviously gotten through to Mal, and he seemed to be even angrier because of it. He continued to stare Jayne down, the seconds passed like hours. Everyone in the room waiting to see what Mal would do.

"Shèngjié de shén my head hurts."

Every face in the room turned to the table where Jenn was lying, now awake. Every face but Mal's; he continued to stare at Jayne. "Doctor I'd be much obliged if you would see to my sister."

"Right," Simon said, turning Jenn. "How are you feeling?" He pulled a pen light from his pocket and clicked it on, "can you follow this with eyes?"

Jenn waved him off, "get away from me. Mal what the hell are you doing?" She moved to get off the table, but Simon held her down. "I said don't touch me!" Jenn said.

"Jenn it isn't what you think," Kaylee protested.

"Zoe, take Jayne to his quarters and lock him in," Mal said. He holstered his pistol and turned to Jenn. Zoe stepped up the second Mal moved and nodded to Jayne to follow.

"Will somebody please explain to me what's going on?" Jenn demanded.

"Mei-mei," Mal said, "What you think these two have done aint exactly the truth." Mal told Jenn about how Simon and River came to be on his ship and with Simon's help he told her what they had done to River.

"How can they get away with something like that?" Jenn demanded, frustrated. "Why wouldn't people have said something by now? Or done something to stop them?" Jenn was horrified. The thought that someone could just take these gifted children and turn them into human guinea pig, it was infuriating.

"What you're feeling right now," Simon said, "all that anger and unanswered questions, that's exactly what a felt when I first got River's messages. It doesn't get any better. It only gets worse. Especially when River has a bad day"

Jenn felt awful, "Simon I'm so sorry I made such a fuss. I had no idea."

"It's alright," Simon said smiling sorrowfully, "you get surprisingly used to it after a while."

Jenn reached out and placed a hand on Simons. She gave a gentle squeeze and tried to look reassuring. "It still doesn't make my reaction acceptable." She said quietly.

Simon nodded and Jenn turned to Mal. "Dàgē dàgē, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have caused you so many problems. What can I do?"

Mal put a hand on Jenn's shoulder and said, "You can stay out of trouble long enough for me to read mama's letter." He smiled that devious smile he had.

"You mean you haven't read the letter yet!" Jenn exclaimed.

Mal laughed and shrugged. "A captain has to tend to his ship and his crew. An he's gotta put that 'for everthin else."

Jenn scowled at her brother who couldn't help but laugh at his sister's attempt to be mad at him. She looked more constipated than anything else. "Stop laughing at me and go read that letter," Jenn said. She had tried to be mad at her brother but his laughter was infectious, she had to get him out of the room before she completely cracked.

"Go read your letter Mal," Jenn said, after Mal continued stand and chuckle into his hand. "Please before some other crisis draws you all important attention away."

"All important hu?" Mal asked, "I like the way that sounds."

Jenn scowled again and raised her fist to punch her brother.

"Alright mei-mei," Mal said, still laughing, "I'm goin." He turned to Simon and in a very serious tone said, "Doc I don't wanna see my sister outta this bed 'til she's fit to be, do you and I have an understandin?"

Simon opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it and just nodded at the captain. "We do Captain."

"Mei-mei, you stay here til our fine doc here has a chance to fix you up right," Mal said at the door. "And doctor, see if you can't fix that bàng bàng stuck up her pìgu dòng."

"What!" Jenn shouted. She ripped one of her shoes off and hurled it her brother's head. But the automatic doors were already closing. Her shoe bounced harmlessly off the glass and Mal roared with laughter from behind the door.

"Tā mā de biǎo zi de érzi," Jenn muttered under her breath as she scowled after her brother.

Simon looked around the room for a moment and tied to find a way to distract himself. But his sister was sound asleep and Kaylee had slipped out at some point during the commotion. It was just him and Jenn, who was still fuming on the table. He couldn't help it anymore, he burst out laughing. "I'm sorry," he said through fits of laugher.

Slowly Jenn turned her head to face Simon, "I can't imagine what could possibly be so funny," she said, her words venomous.

"It's not so much funny as, well actually kind of sad," Simon said thinking about it for a moment. He stopped laughing and smiling all together. "Seeing you two together made me think about me and River. We used to fight and play like that." Simon was quite now; he stared at his sister looking like his heart might break. "I had always hoped that when I got River away from . . . that place she and I would go back to being the sister I always knew."

Jenn could tell Simon was hurting, but she honestly didn't know what to say to the man. She hopped down off the table and walked over to where he was standing over River. Gently she put a hand on his shoulder. He didn't move to accept her hand, nor did he move to push her off. He just stood, staring.

"What if I had gotten to her sooner? What if I hadn't been so unwilling to part with that money or if I had started asking questions as soon as River stopped writing? Maybe I could have saved her. Maybe I could have kept her from getting this bad. Maybe I could have . . ." Simon trailed off.

"Simon you can't blame yourself for what happened to your sister. You did everything you could to help her. Most people would have just let the letters be and done nothing. But you saw what she was saying, saw through the code and saved her. Simon you saved her." Jenn said. "I know it doesn't seem like it now, but she will get better. She can live and be free and she has you to thank for that."

"She has me to thank for being mentally ill and fugitive from the government we used to find shelter under," Simon said, shirking off Jenn's hand and her words of comfort.

Jenn stepped back, "You're wrong about that." She walked over to the door that opened with a hiss as she approached. She kicked her shoe over with her toe and slid her foot back in. "She has you to thank for her life." Without another word Jenn stepped through the doors and walked toward the stair case she was sure would lead her back to Mal's room.

She was wrong.

Somehow she ended up back in the Cargo bay, which only confused her more. She walked to the middle of the bay, over what looked like the Bombay doors. She turned around in circles, looking to see if she could spot something familiar. But when Mal and Zoe had been leading her through Serenity she had been completely absorbed in deciding wha to tell him about mama and her letter.

Now she was lost.

Jenn thought again, she knew that Mal had taken her upstairs that was where the galley and the crew quarters were. So she would head upstairs and see what she couldn't figure out. It was a ship; it could only be so big. She certainly wasn't going to call out for help and let Mal know she'd snuck away from Simon without being checked out again. She didn't like doctors. Not that she had anything against Simon personally; she was just never comfortable around doctors.

She headed up the stairs and the up the second set passed the landing. The stair case she was on continued up another flight and then there were cat walks that led to four other doors. She glanced up the stairs, but couldn't see anything past the bend of another landing. She was sure she'd only gone up one set of stairs but that was before shed be clobbered by that giant Jayne.

Jenn went up the first few stairs and tried to hear something that might hint her in the right direction. But she couldn't hear anything up the staircase.

"Can I help you?" A smoother female voice said from behind Jenn.

Jenn started and turned around. Standing there was a probably the most beautiful woman Jenn had ever see. She had long dark curly hair, dark sultry eyes, and her clothes looked like they were made from the finest silks ever produced. She startlingly beautiful, and from the looks of it very, very upset to see Jenn standing on Serenity's deck.

"Hi," Jenn said unsure wha to say to this woman.

"Who are you?" She demanded? He tone carried a kind of authority that demanded answering.

"I'm Jenn, uh Jennifer Reynolds."

The woman covered her face with her hand and exclaimed, "Mal nǐ méi chūxi de érzi huò ěr, not another wife!"