Disclaimer: I don't own Firefly or Serenity.

Prompt #13: Osiris - Standing outside his old home after a year on the run was one of the hardest things Simon had ever done.

Words: 559

Simon knew this was a risky venture.

Osiris was one of the most heavily secured Core planets. There were cameras on every street linked into the Cortex and running facial and iris recognition. Alliance officers ran regular patrols through every neighborhood. Not to mention he was still technically a fugitive from the Alliance. He and his sister were still wanted by everyone in the galaxy and their blind grandma. Coming home was not the great celebration it should have been. One wrong step, and Alliance police would be all over the street like buzzards swarming to a fresh carcass.

And yet here he was, barely a hundred meters from the front gate of his childhood home.

The Tam mansion still looked exactly the same. He wondered if his parents were home or if they were out socializing. He wondered if Lao was still the head chef. He wondered if Madame Chi still lorded over the maids. Was Roger still the groundskeeper? Was Miss Lilli still his mother's stylist?

"Thinking of playtimes past, Simon?"

He chuckled at the voice in his ear. "Nostalgia isn't that bad, River."

"Why return to the prison? Miss the gilded swing, the fancy food, the silver mirrors?"

"Just satisfying an old curiosity."

River snorted. "Lies."

"Not really."

"Truth now, yes?"

Simon sighed. "Fine. I was...curious."

"About?"

"Change."

"Clarify."

He shrugged, even though she couldn't see it. "We've been gone for almost two years, but you'd never know it from looking at the house. Nothing's changed at all." Scratching at the scruff on his face, Simon grinned. "Can't believe how glad I am to be out of there."

"Still miss it at times."

"Some of it." Mostly he missed working in the hospital. The fast pace of the ER, getting his hands on and in patients. Helping people, saving lives. Making a difference, no matter how small.

River spoke again, her words holding a hint of her quirky smile. "But not enough to lose what you have now."

No, he agreed quietly. Not enough to miss Serenity, or her crew, or the grease-smeared engineer who fixed her. The engineer who held his heart and future in her strong, capable little hands. He heard a faint beep coming over the comm link. "River, what's wrong?"

"Facial recognition is running your face. Two minutes until they have a match." He heard a quick series of beeps as she began firing up Serenity's systems. "Time to run away from home, Simon."

Simon didn't need to be told twice.

The shuttle broke atmo just as Alliance police swarmed the docks. Simon leaned back in the copilot's chair and sighed. "Yeah, I think I'm put off visiting the old homestead for a good long while. Maybe forever."

"Good," said River as she navigated out of Alliance space. "Never want to go back either."

"But isn't it funny? Nothing's really changed."

"Nothing ever does."

"You think they miss us?"

She shrugged. "Do you want them to miss us?"

He thought about it for a moment or two, then shook his head. "Doesn't really matter, does it? We can never go back."

River nodded sagely. "But we can go home."

"Yes." He smiled as he thought about what awaited them upon arrival. "We can go home."

A Tam sibling outing!

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