Jamie walked up the ramp to Serenity, returning from the surgery with his datapad and a drive full of information. He was excited, more excited than he'd been in a long time; the take from this sting could bring down the whole gorram organ ring!

I forgot what kind of fun this was; the whole taking down criminal scum vibe. Helping folks instead of stealing or selling information.

He walked into the galley, and smiled as he saw Inara; she was sitting with the boy they'd rescued. She'd dug into her old inks and brushes and was teaching him how to write calligraphy. He looked like he'd changed and probably eaten; the boy looked much happier.

Inara looked up and smiled. "Hi, bao bei."

"Hey, ai ren." he said, and kissed the top of her head. "Who's the budding artist?"

"'m Brian." the boy said, distractedly greeting him, his focus to the character he'd been writing.

"I'm Jamie."

"Jenny said you were from Ar'el, like me!" he said now, more excited.

"That's right, I was born there. Where did you live?"

"Ar'el City. With my mama."

Jamie caught his tongue just in time, as Inara shot him a look that said shut up.

"Ariel City is real nice...how old are you?" Jamie asked.

"'m three." Brian said, holding up three fingers, then trying to match the strokes Inara had used with her first drawn character.

"Hey, you're pretty good at that." Jamie said. "Looks just like 'Nara's."

"He is very good at it. He's got natural talent."

"Nat'ral tal'nt." the boy repeated, not taking his eyes off the paper.

"Jamie, can you meet me in the bay?"

"Sure, Simon. Meet you in 2." Jamie said into his wrist comm.

"Everything alright?" Inara said, looking up curiously.

"Probably wants to cross check the info I found with what they found downstairs."

"Hmm." she murmured noncommitally. He frowned, trying to read her face; she was keeping it impassive though, and wouldn't let it falter.


"What's up, Simon?"

"I got the information back on the boy we just rescued."

Maggie Mendez walked past rolling a redheaded woman in a wheelchair. Petaline trailed behind with a satchel full of paperwork, and Maggie's doctor bag over the other shoulder. Simon grabbed Jamie's arm and pulled him towards the sleeping quarters.

"Maybe we should talk in your room."

"Uh, sorry, doc. I'm already taken."

Simon shot him a glare, and shook his head exasperatedly. Jamie closed the door behind him.

"Okay, we're here. What's so damn important?"

"I checked the ID on the boy. His mother was named Mari Faulkin."

"Was named. You mean she's dead?" Damnit, that name sounds familiar.

"It seems so. He was in the foster system for about 8 months. I'm still not sure how he ended up in the middle of an organ transplant ring. I imagine Internal Affairs is going to be having a field day with this information; it looks like somebody in the Foster care system is dirty."

"That's terrible, doc. But what does it have to do with me?"

"It's about his father."


What happened?, Inara thought. Jamie looks like he's see a ghost.

River came in from the other doorway, from their bunk, Mal not far behind. Both looked a bit pale as well; their faces were tense.

"'Nara, you got a minute?"

"Sure, honey. Brian, why don't you show Miss River and Captain Mal what you can do with those inks?"

"'Kay." the boy said, turning to greet the newcomers.

Jamie took Inara by the arm and pulled her away, more fiercely than he had in a long time.

"Jamie, Tian Shia..."

"'Nara...that kid in there is mine."

"What?"

"I...Simon just told me. He's genetically my kid. After he told me the name of his mother...well, I remember her now.

"It was about 4 years ago. I had just been chosen to join the Operative program, and I'd been promoted. I went out to celebrate with my buddies from the CID. I met a girl at the bar. Her name was Mari. She was dark-haired, beautiful...she was an artist. Neither of us was looking for anything specific, but we enjoyed ourselves." He could see her face like it was yesterday, although the alcohol and bar lighting blurred the image.

Inara watched curiously, wondering at the man's control once again. If he had any feelings about it, he wasn't showing them yet, although the stuttering told its own tale.

"I...I never talked to her again. I never knew she had a kid, didn't think we would. I guess I just...didn't think about it."

"Honey...did you think I'd be mad?"

"I...I don't know. I wasn't sure."

"Honey, you know we can't have one on our own. This may be a gift from Buddha...something we should be happy about." She smiled up at him now, and he saw the acceptance in her face.

"Okay. I guess...we should tell Mal. Not like he won't-"

"What?"

Jamie sighed. "I shouldn't have said anything. Mal's got a developing talent like River's."

"Shuh ma?"

"They haven't talked about it yet, because they're not sure what extent it has."

"Wow. But that can wait. It looks like you're a daddy." she said, a slight grin on her face.

"Well, that makes you mamma." he said, a grin growing on his face.

"We should tell Mal anyways. It's only fair."

"Yea."


River was showing Brian how to write another character when she suddenly went unfocused; Mal stiffened next to her, where he had been smiling at the boy's talent with the brush. He put his face into his hand, and sighed.

Jenny and Kaylee saw them react strangely, then saw Jamie and Inara come walking back in.

"Mal...I have a...sort of announcement."

"I think I can guess what it is."

"I'd say you probably could. All the same, I think everyone deserves to know. Might as well get everybody back from the surgery, if we're all done over there."

"Yea, sounds like a plan."

Kaylee looked at the four of them; there was some tension in the air that she wasn't sure of. She frowned, but forced herself to patience. Simon had come up the stairs too, after checking on his other patient, and joined her. I need to tell him soon. O'course, he might know already. Still... Simon gave her a tight hug, probably fuelled by the things he'd seen today; she understood the need for comfort after seeing things like that. She was thankful that she only rarely had to leave Serenity to take care of things like that.


Once the special Marshal clean-up teams had arrived and taken the detained prisoners for questioning, and taken over supervision of the confiscated facility, the crews of Serenity and Lady's Revenge were back on their ships, setting up for their next raid, on the Colm McLaren Clinic on Anson's World. They had a new team of the unit coming online for these raids, led by a former browncoat named Peter Talmudge, on board a war surplus Alliance Patrol Boat called the Bu Kuh Nuhn (Talmudge had previously run a private security company called TalSec, which had handled security for high-profile clients in the rim and border worlds after the war); they would be hitting one of the other surgeries that had been identified by Raven's crew previously, on Jubilee.

Everyone had gathered in the galley, except for their rescued passenger, Cynthia Bartole, who was resting in the dorms.

Jamie stood behind the boy, one hand on his shoulder. Brian was sitting at the table again, wondering at the gathering of people...they felt like a family. He hadn't felt like that in a long time.

"Alright, everybody. I've got a bit of an announcement. Simon told me earlier, although I'm surprised some of you didn't notice any resemblance...this boy is my son."

Brian beamed; his new daddy and mamma had taken him aside earlier and explained it to him.

There was a mix of shock and pleasure, although Mal didn't look altogether pleased; Jamie saw his face soften as he looked on.

"That's so shiny!" Kaylee squealed, with similar reactions from Jenny, Petaline, and River; Jayne grinned at Jamie and shook his hand manfully. Wash and Zoe shared a glance and smiled, then mobbed Jamie and Inara in turn. Mal had stood back for a while, watching with concern.

"So what are you planning on doing?" he asked, trying not to sound harsh but knowing it carried in his voice. He saw the boy's face drop, and immediately regretted it.

"Well, Mal, both Inara and I want to stay on board Serenity, and I want to keep Brian close to me. I'm not going to let him live without his daddy anymore, not if I can help it." Mal heard the unspoken challenge and promise in his words; the boy was more important to Jamie than staying.

"Just...we ain't had a little boy on board Serenity yet. Not sure if it's gonna necessarily be safe..."

"It's as safe as I can imagine, Mal. Nowhere safer in the 'Verse than in his home, with family about."

Mal slowly smiled then; he'd been thinking the same thing. "Alright, then. Welcome aboard, short stuff." he said, scruffing the boy's hair as he felt the joy rise in the child; and truth be told, in everybody else.

"There'll haveta be rules, o'course. There're gonna be places and times where you'll need to be quiet or hide, and you'll need to listen to us all if there's danger; and there are sometimes dangerous things all about a boat like this. We haven't exactly chosen the safest life, neither."

"S'okay." the boy said, looking up at Cap'n Mal. "Wa'n't no safer with the other kids at the last place." Mal's heart nearly broke, hearing such words in so world-weary a tone from such a young boy. He crouched down, kneeling at eye level.

"We ain't gonna let nothin' happen to ya, little one. Dohn ma? All of us here look upon the other'n as family, and look after t'other."

Brian nodded now, smile growing on his face.

"We'll need to think of schooling and such; I see you're already a bright boy, but you can never stop learnin'." The boy's face had fallen slightly on hearing that he'd need to still have school, but Mal could see that the boy was also willing to learn.

"Mal, I think with all of the special people on this boat, we can all teach him different things in turn." River said, smiling.

"And Jayne, I don't want to hear that he learned cussin' from you." Mal growled, looking at the former merc. Jayne looked a bit sheepish, but grinned.

"Boat like this, Mally ole boy, you think 'e's gonna hide from't forever?" Badger put in, a grin on his own face.

Zoe and Wash stepped forward; Mal eyed them cautiously, but River could see the grin on his face. "We've got an announcement too, I guess. Good time to clear the air."

"We're pregnant!" Wash said, excitedly.

"Jeez Wash, you're not even showing yet. You might just keep that slender figure." Jayne snarked. He yelped when Jenny smacked his arm.

"Okay, Mr. Pedantic, Zoe's pregnant. I just helped."

There was another round of congratulations.

"Uhh, Captain?" Simon said, stepping forward with Kaylee.

Mal just shook his head. "Let me guess, there'll be a little Tam running around too?"

"Give it about 7 months, and maybe a year after that, and yes. We're pregnant as well!"

"Well then. I guess this is a day for letting out secrets."

River looked up at Mal through her hair, smirking.

"I'm developing a Reading talent, almost same as River."

Everybody went silent at that; except for River, Jamie, Inara, Simon, and Kaylee.

"Sir?" Zoe asked, a bit stunned at the prospect.

"It's genetic, the doc tells me. It seems to've triggered when River and Jamie got kidnapped before the Academy takedown."

"Uh...wow." Wash said, remembering his words those months ago. "I guess you really are turning Reader."

"That I am. You can stop making jokes in your heads about me, I can hear them now."

"Well, except for me. I can keep making all the dirty jokes at your expense that I want." Jamie said, snickering.

The others laughed too, the ice broken.