Chapter Thirteen

River had to wait a moment longer, and that was when she felt him. Mal. He was outside the other door that came into this room. If she did anything now to spook this man it could cost problems and lives, that was the last thing she wanted. Her mind reached out to Mal's as she forced herself to forget about this horrible man who was slowly trying to undress her. River knew that he wouldn't be able to do anything before the rescue party arrived. If anything went wrong, then she knew that she was able to defend herself, and that is what she would do if it came to that.

Mal stood at the door and waited for Jayne to make his appearance. Jayne had come a long way since Miranda. He had even accepted River; they had become siblings in a way and bickered like it. A loud explosion rocked the building and Mal grinned. That was the other thing about Jayne, the bigger the explosion the better. Mal forced his way through the first door, and that is when he found River. Her eyes closed, her fists clenched, and her head turned away from the man who was slowly undressing her. He moved forward quickly, he grabbed the man by his shirt and threw him against the wall. Still facing the other guy he backed up, so he was next to River.

'You ok Angel?' His voice low.

'Yes, I knew that you'd be here soon. I couldn't spook him.' River replied as she started to dress again.

'He didn't lay a hand on you, right?' The tone in Mal's voice was him begging for any excuse to hurt him.

'No, we'd better get him in the room with the others.'

Mal nodded and pushed him in and grinned as he saw the rest of Serenity holding the others captives. He pushed the leader against the wall to join his team-mates.

'If only you'd been a few minutes later I would have given you the greatest fuck of your life.' He leered at River.

River bent her head and looked uncomfortable. Simon and the others realised what had almost happened. The doctor glared as he moved forward to hurt him, but he never got a chance as Jayne was closest hit him once, and then kept punching him. Once the leader was down, he grabbed Vera and brought it down hard between the other person's legs. He screamed in agony, his hands clutching at his privates and tears streaming from his eyes.

Jayne looked at River and grinned at her. Simon smirked as much as he and Jayne wound each other up; the idiot was good for some things.

River stood next to Mal as the professors, and all the students were found. They all then had to be checked out for injuries and any emotional trauma that might have occurred. They had tried to get River to talk to someone, she had looked over at Simon, and he had politely told them it was not needed as his sister was no longer going to be a student at their academy.

Geni watched how everyone interacted with River. She still couldn't see what was so remarkable about this 'little' girl. It didn't matter to her, Geni had gone up against tougher opponents for things she wanted and had always come out on top. This was not going to be any different, except that the prize was the best thing of all, Captain Mal Reynolds.

It didn't take the crew to pack up River's things, and they seriously wanted to be gone before the authority arrived to take the prisoners into custody. Serenity and her crew were still wanted for various illegal activities. They may have fought the alliance, but they were still a immense power it would take a lot more to kill that monster.

Mal opened the door of his quarters, knowing deep down who was there to see him.

'Come in River.' Mal moved away so she could come in. They did need to talk, and this, or her quarters were the only place they could do that. They also both knew that River would not wait for it to happen.

'Thank you for coming for me.' River whispered as she stared down at her hands.

'River.' Mal placed a finger under her chin and lifted her head.

'Don't say we can't be together.' She begged. 'It's obvious we can't be a part.'

'I know.' Mal replied sadly. This thing between them couldn't be stopped; space and time had just made things worse. Their feelings had become a lot stronger. 'Let's just take it slowly. I still don't think that we should be doing this.'

River smiled and went up on her tiptoes and gently kissed him. Mal groaned and wrapped his arms around her waist, crushing her body to his and kissed her passionately. River wound her slender arms around his neck and fell into the kiss.

Geni was sitting down and eating when in walked River with a smile on her face. She had seen the young woman go into Mal's quarters. It took everything in her not to create a problem. Geni stood and walked over to River.

'What does he see in you?' She asked snottily. 'Mal needs a strong woman, one like me.' River just smiled at her with joy.

'We've all been through a lot together, these are the things that you'll never understand or be a part off.'

With that Geni growled angrily and shoved River against the wall and placed her hand around River's neck and squeezed.

'He's mine, and with you out of the way permanently Mal will see that.'

TBC