It was strange walking along side Malcolm Reynolds. It felt oddly comforting, safe, and familiar. He felt the same way about the ballerina named River Tam.
"Where'd you hide them 'fore? 'Cause obviously it was a smart hidin' spot if they didn't find it and they tore your room apart."
"It wasn't in my room. It was in Brandon's room."
Mal found himself silently hoping that Brandon was another brother or a gay best friend.
"Ah. Didn't think to look with him huh?"
"No. Madam Krau looks down upon relationships while touring and doesn't allow lovers to share rooms. So naturally I hid it with him."
He then found himself cursing. The gorram girl had a boyfriend. Damnit. Damnit all.
"Oh."
"Speaking of Brandon…" she stopped walking and got a strange look in her eyes like she was thinking. "What do I tell him? He doesn't know about all of this. I didn't want to worry him, but when I rushed off without saying where I was going and I appear with another man…"
"Not my problem."
"Of course not. You're just a petty thief vying for your precious necklace."
"Hey! Just 'cause we ain't on my boat doesn't mean that you can start insultin' me again!"
"Oh I'm sorry! Did I hurt your feelings?" she mocked with a lopsided smirk.
"I'll be glad when this is over! You're such a brat!"
"Brat? You're the brat!"
"Am not!"
"Ugh, you're insufferable!"
"I can't wait until I steal this ruttin' necklace and get away from the core and all the bossy little self-important people that inhabit it!"
"I can't wait until you leave and go as far away from here as possible! I hope you get devoured by cannibals!"
There was something about the way that she was looking at him in the moonlight. She was flushed and angry, but that cute kind of angry. She had a defiant "Try to find a comeback" look on her face. He got lost in those gorgeous big brown eyes of hers and had to fight the sudden urge to capture her pouty lips with his.
"Well?" she asked expectantly.
She saw the way that he was staring at her. She shifted a bit under his cool blue gaze that felt all too similar to Brandon's. If she didn't know better, she would have thought that this firefly captain wanted to kiss her right then and there in a very ungentlemanly way. Problem was, she wouldn't have minded.
"Just thinkin' 'bout how much I can't wait to get away from you."
"That makes the both of us, Captain."
"You ain't my crew, darlin'. You can call me Mal."
"I'm not yours either. You can't call me sweetheart or darlin' or any other possessive nicknames that my boyfriend would use on me."
"Demandin' aren't we?"
"UGH!"
She resumed walking towards her hotel. He smiled as he watched her glide gracefully away. He couldn't look away from her great little figure and perfect hair that fell captivatingly down her back and shoulders. He sighed and followed. She hated him. She had a boyfriend. She looked a mite younger than him. Yet something told him he had a shot.
****
"So…this is your home?" Simon asked Kaylee timidly as they sat on the couch and chair in the kitchen.
"Sure is. It's a shiny boat. I keep her flyin'."
"So you're the mechanic or the pilot?"
"Mechanic. Wash is the pilot. He's the one in the tacky shirt."
"HEY!" Wash called from the hallway.
Kaylee laughed. Simon thought that it was the prettiest laugh he had ever heard. She had a great smile too.
"So what do you do?"
"I'm a doctor. A surgeon actually."
"Wow. That's somethin'."
"It is."
"Do you live here?"
"No. I live with River on Osiris."
"Oh."
"For the record…she isn't usually like that."
"Like what?"
"She doesn't usually shout like that. She's stubborn, but sweet. I haven't seen her fight like that before."
"Oh honey don't worry," she patted his arm and they both felt sparks. "Cap'in does that to everyone."
He smiled and she smiled back, both lost in each other.
****
They reached the hotel.
"I'm in room 320. Wait there. I have to talk to Brandon."
"Talk right…"
"What are you insinuating?"
"I-"
"It's none of your business what we do!"
"I-"
"Just wait for me."
She turned on her heel and vanished down the hall. He was surprised that she didn't slap him. He sighed thinking, I'll wait for sure darlin'…
River went to Brandon's room and quietly opened the door. He had given her the other key. He was sitting up in bed reading. A look of relief crossed his face. He got out of bed and embraced her with a kiss.
"I was worried again."
"Sorry. I had to go see Simon."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No. I have to go back to my room. Madam Krau…"
"But that didn't stop you from staying before."
"You know that I aim to misbehave, but I'm just tired from today's events."
"You can just stay. We can sleep-"
She kissed him again signaling the end of the conversation. He nodded and watched her go, completely unaware that Malcolm Reynolds was in her room waiting for her.
She arrived while he was fixing the mattress. There was no telling how long it would take for the men to return. He looked up when the door opened with one hand hovering by his holster. It instantly returned to his side when he saw River.
"Hi," he said quietly.
"Hi."
She entered the room looking absolutely stunning. He hadn't noticed how beautiful her skin was until they were in good lighting. The way she moved across the room mystified him completely. It was all sorts of peculiar, seeing as they had just met hours before but he was so gorram attracted to her it hurt…
She picked up on how he was looking at her. "Born with a third-eye" Simon had said. If she didn't know better, she would have thought that he was undressing her with his eyes. She studied him more carefully. She hadn't noticed before, but he was rather nice-looking. His eyes caught her attention. Cool, steel blue with a hint of danger wrapped up in mystery.
"Now what?" she asked quietly as she crossed the room.
"We just have to wait. You should get some sleep. It's late," he commented.
"You can't order me around!"
"I wasn't tryin' to!"
"Well I'm not tired!"
"Well I didn't know that!"
"I have to pick up."
"I'll help."
"Okay."
"Okay."
They worked in silence and got the room back in order for the most part. They sat down on the couch with a space in between them once again in silence. It was comfortable silence, almost like they didn't need words.
"Have we met before today?" Mal asked. She was caught a bit off guard.
"I don't believe so. I have never left the core."
"Probably not then."
"Why?"
"You seem awful familiar like. It's just a feelin' I s'ppose. But I've come to listen to them…learned the hard way to…"
"Oh?"
"Yeah. War'll do that to you. Learn all kinds of things 'bout yourself…the 'verse…"
She considered that for a moment and got that faraway look in her eyes. "But the things you learn might be untrue, based on faulty logic and fake logistics. War is the ultimate example of the dark nature of human beings. How can you learn anything that hasn't been tainted by the darkness? It's spread about, touching everything in war. People aren't all bad, regardless of what you may have seen or been through. Everyone has a darkness, but everyone has a light even if it's just a flicker…"
He took a second to digest what she said. It made sense, but the dancer had no idea what war was like.
"How can you judge? You're what, sixteen? You probably don't even remember the gorram war!"
"I'm nineteen, and yes I do!"
Nineteen? Hey…that's legal…he thought briefly before returning to yet another enjoyable argument.
"You go out and spend weeks in a filthy trench watchin' your friends die one by one and tell me that everyone has a light!"
"Both sides lost men. Think about what they thought about you! They thought the same about you!"
She had a point. Damnit, the dancer had a point! "But…"
"But…?"
She smiled at him. He was defeated.
"I learned to trust my feelin's all the same."
"Is that why you protected me?"
"What?"
"You protected me."
"I don't know…I just…yeah. That's why."
"Well…thank you…"
"Did you just thank me?"
"Yes, I did."
"Wow…"
"Don't act so surprised."
"Why not? I am!"
She rolled her eyes. They were both smiling. Somehow it just felt right.
"Ain't it strange?"
"Pardon?" River asked.
"The way that this is…I mean…don't it feel kind of…natural?"
"Come to think of it, it does."
"Sometimes I get this feelin' like something ain't right…something is outta place…"
"Me too."
"But it went away."
"It did."
"Why do you think that is?"
She smirked. "I can't quantify that."
"It must be a big damn conundrum if'n you can't figure it out."
"Are you complimenting me?"
"No…a compliment would be if I called your big brown eyes gorgeous."
Their eyes locked and their hearts pounded in response. She thought that he was quite pleasant when they weren't fighting. But when they were, she found him so rutting sexy.
They felt like they should kiss. It felt like the natural thing to do. So, they moved a little closer gravitating to the other one's lips. River pulled back and hopped up like she sat down on a tack.
"You know, Brandon has brown eyes…"
"Right…Brandon," Mal sighed. "So what does this 'Brandon' guy do for a livin' anyhow?"
"He's the male lead in the show."
"That guy you were dancin' with is him?" Mal asked, unable to hide his amusement.
"Yes, so?"
"A dancer, huh?"
"Men can be dancers!"
"Yeah…just never pegged straight ones to be the ones dancin' in tights…"
"You are such a chauvinist!"
"Okay, fine! Men can be dancers!"
"You don't mean it!"
"I do!"
"Liar!"
"I don't care if men wanna dance!"
"No, but you think it's funny!"
"How do you know?"
"I can tell!"
"Well I do! It's funny that he's a dancer! And he's freakishly tall, if he's the one I'm rememberin', and he looked a mite older than you!" Not that the older than her matters, 'cause he was still younger than me by more years than I care to think on and yet I'm here wantin' to kiss her and thinkin' on other things when we've just met…
"How dare you! You're attacking someone you've never even met! He's only a few inches taller than you and he's only five years older than me! How would you like it if I started attacking your girlfriend?"
"I don't have one!"
"You don't?"
"No!"
Good, she thought to herself. Before the argument could continue, the door was kicked down. And before she could process what was going on, his arm was around her waist and he was pushing her to the floor.
