A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I've been having a little lack of time but that isn't much of an excuse. Anyway, this chapter rounds of the job, and then things will be moving more quickly on because its been running a little slow.
Thanks to RionaEire and chasny for reviewing.
Thanks to chasny for favouriting and alerting my story.
RionaEire, She would have been around 15, 16 maybe even 18 at the max. I'm sort of still running the exacts of her age and what happened then.
Mal stretched his legs, waking up his muscles from the overnight stay. Running his hands over his face he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before crossing his arms and scanning the room for his fellow crew members. River was happily tucked away in his jacket, snuggled next to him and widening his search he found Sam and Cassie next to one another, Cassie in Sam's own jacket with his arm around her shoulders, her head resting on his shoulder.
He smiled at the sight, finding it nice that they were getting along for once. He pulled himself up off of the floor, running a hand through his unruly hair as he stretched his body again, taking a few steps to get the blood pumping to his legs again. This wasn't a part of the plan yet he didn't feel that it interrupted their plan too much. Nothing seemed to have gone overly wrong except for a days delay in the working.
All of the guests had been locked within a prison like room, which held a few benches and a nice stiff floor for sleeping on. He had no way of contacting the shuttle seeing as how his comm had been taken away from him, the same having been done to the other guests so that they couldn't contact their 'thief' to hide the goods when they went searching the ships for them. This had gotten Mal pretty worried. If the two get away drivers didn't know what was happening, and were caught with the goods, than all six of them were humped, big time.
He decided to pass the time by pacing slightly, taking in the area and getting to know the place in case the need for an escape arose. He hoped it wouldn't but knew that he needed a failsafe plan for when things went south.
Trent shuffled slightly, the light signaling the planet's start of day breaking through the darkness of the shuttle. He didn't want to get up, didn't want to move, he was too comfortable where he was. Where he was he tried to remind himself of. He knew that he was in the shuttle, still waiting for the other's return, and that he wasn't alone. Opening his eyes to remind himself of this fact, he caught sight of brown hair and pale skin, a neck, cheek and ear pressed against his own cheek.
With his senses for the rest of his body returning he felt his arm draped over somebody's body protectively, their back pressed to his chest. How he had ended up like this he had no idea. He remembered that they had fallen asleep sitting up, but he didn't question it but enjoyed it. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this close to somebody, even if it was just a one time accident thing, and instead took to repositioning his head and nuzzling her neck and inhaling her scent and allowing the smell of gunpowder and apples to fill his mind.
Feeling her body turn in his arms he watched as she rolled over and buried her face in his chest with a small smile on her face, her arm creeping over his body and onto his back. He just smiled to himself before putting his arm back over Maya and falling back asleep, catching up on many nights lost sleep from night watch on Serenity.
The next time he woke up he was alone and looking around he found Maya sat in the pilot's seat, staring out of the window. Stretching out his body he remained lying there for a little longer until he felt that he couldn't remain there any longer and pulled himself up, gathering the blankets as he went and dumping them into a pile out of the way. He walked over to the pilot's seat, stretching a little more and rubbing the back of his neck as he went until he was stood right behind it. Leaning on the back of the seat he looked out to see the sun in the sky, hiding behind the clouds, "Sleep well?"
Looking down he found her nodding, "Yeah, thank you. How'd you sleep?" Her head had tilted back and she was studying him carefully.
"Oh yeah, well, it was good. A bed would have been better though. You know, softer, less cold, better," he watched as her lips twitched into a smile and he offered her his own smile, seeing that she seemed more relaxed right now than she had done, well ever. Their eyes remained locked on the others and he vaguely willed himself to pull away, but found that he couldn't and was partly glad that she had tore her eyes away from his and to the scene in front of them. Yet he found himself still staring down at her, even if it was the top of her head. He didn't know what it was but ever since she and he had first talked alone in the bridge, he'd seen a different side to her, one that she was hiding.
She often came across as cold hearted and uncaring about simple talk and chit chat, but that was just a cover that she used to hide under. He saw that. He thought that because she's been doing it for so long she must have forgotten how to let people in properly. He knows he would have probably. But he saw the small changes taking place, her tense muscles easing on the ship, her body more relaxed than usual, allowing small smiles to find their way to her face and the odd laugh here and there. She was even becoming more civil with Phoebe and Mal than when she had first arrived.
His lips grew thin as he adverted his gaze and stared out of the window, slightly bored as the silence grew thick and heavy around them once more.
Mal was growing irritated and concerned. He was irritated at the fact that they were still being held prisoner and was concerned at the fact that there was a search being put together for the ships that everyone had arrived in. He knew that if those two didn't receive a heads up than things were top side up. Everyone had long ago woken up and Sam had asked him if they were getting out anytime soon, to which he had to painfully say no and to hold on tight.
He hated the feeling of not being in control of a situation, made him feel vulnerable and weak. Vulnerability and weakness was not something that Malcolm Reynolds associated with his personality, they weren't something that he was accustomed to and wasn't used to feeling them for such a long period of time.
Instead of continuing is impatient pacing he decided to sit down and rest his legs having giving up trying to find a decent way out. River was wide awake by now and stalking around the small room, her eyes scanning over every surface carefully taking in every small and minutely unnecessary detail. He turned his head to find Sam and Cassie still talking, only with a different kind of attitude this time. Her face was set in a scowl and his in one of stupidity and annoyance. Mal watched as she threw his jacket in his face, muttering something to him before pulling herself up and storming away to stand on the other side of the room from him.
Sam had done it again; he's pissed her off by saying something stupid, completely and utterly stupid. Mal had tried to tell him that all he needed to do was keep his mouth shut, but apparently he has the problem that he had with Inara. He still does every now and again. Humoured by the sight of young love he laughed to himself, hoping at the same time that nothing did amount.
"Something musta gone wrong," Rocky inputted none too optimistically as she dug into her bowl of protein mush.
"Rocky, I'm sure ev'ryone's fine, just late is all," Phoebe replied with her optimism.
Rocky stared up from her bowl, glowering at her sister with certain seriousness that she was accustomed to wearing, "They woulda called in y'know."
Jayne watched, shoveling food into his mouth as the older sibling stared back, knowing that she was defeated in the argument but not giving up the staring contest. He knew something had gone wrong but he didn't say anything or do anything. He was too old to do it alone. He also knew that if the others needed their help, they would have gotten a message over the comm's by now, and seeing as how they hadn't, he knew that everything was under control.
Well, as under control as the Captain's plans ran as smoothly as, which is hardly ever.
Phoebe finally bowed her head in defeat but he knew that the older child would find something to say in response, which would then kick off an argument that extended to another infamous Tam sibling squabble. He decided to interrupt as she opened her mouth to speak, "They're fine, woulda rang if they were in trouble an' needed help. Don't worry; they'll be back 'fore ya can say… 'They'll be back'."
A knocking pulled Trent and Maya from their thoughts as they turned to the door of the shuttle. Sharing a glance, Maya was the one who stood up and walked over to it, a gun drawn and ready by her side just in case. They had long ago hidden the package out of sight and had been anxious for this visit all morning, the need to get it over and done with itching at their bones and crawling over their skin. She checked through the window and returned the safety to on before reholstering her gun and opening the door wide open, allowing the crisp sun to run over the surfaces of the shuttle that it could reach. "We're here to search the premises for a stolen item," the security guard ordered, brushing past her and straight into the shuttle uninvited, two lower ranked officers following behind and conducting a search of the place.
"By all means, we've nothing to hide," Trent welcomed, smiling graciously from his seat in the chair as he watched the guards face change to one of curiosity. His eyes glanced to Maya and then him and Trent exchanged a knowing look with Maya before looking back at the guard, waiting for his comment to come.
"Two of you?" he asked, pointing to each of them in turn his head turning from one to the other in accordance with his finger.
"Yes," Maya replied nonchalantly as she crossed her arms across her chest, tilting her head up slightly and jutting out her lower jaw in defiance as she cocked her head to the side and studied the guard's reaction.
"Two of you for driving a one-manned shuttle?" he voiced and Maya shifted her weight from one foot to another, preparing an answer to his question until Trent interrupted, his voice a little higher pitched to begin with before calming down slightly to his normal voice.
"Well we can't stand to be away," this was where his voice dropped back to it's normal tone as he stared over at her. Pulling himself up from his seat he slowly edged his way towards her with his arms outstretched, "from each other for too long. It just drives us all kinds of crazy." He watched as Maya stared at him blankly, one eyebrow raised in that questioning way of silently asking him if he knew what he was walking into. "Isn't that right honey?" His hands landed n her shoulders and he gave her a pleading look, silently asking for her to play along.
Noticing the guards gaze shift to her she quickly shook her head and put on her most affectionate and pleasing smile, one hand coming to rest on his chest, "Yes sweetie." Her arms snaked up to his neck, resting on his shoulders as she fixed him with a warmish smile. Her voice slightly husky and seductive she continued on, "I can't stand the thought of you being away from me for too long, and you just had to insist."
Trent smiled back, his hands falling from her shoulders to her waist, one hand slipping around her back to pull her closer. "Well, I couldn't stand the thought of you possibly cheating on me with Jayne," he remarked and he watched as she bit her tongue to stop herself from laughing at the absurdity of the comment.
"I can reassure you of that fact later on when it is just you, and me," she ran her hands up his chest just for good measure, smiling truthfully with the joke still fresh in her mind.
Grinning back boyishly his mind was still aware of needing to make this seem real, "I'll hold you to it then," he half whispered to her before bending his head forward and brushing his lips with hers, lingering slightly longer than was necessary before pulling back to reveal an in shock Maya staring back at him.
"Are we all finished here because we have a certain business to attend to," he glanced back towards the guard who had had front row seats of their small show, his hands still wrapped around Maya almost protectively.
"Yes sir, everything appears to be in order, good day and thank you for your co-operation," he nodded them good bye before departing and closing the door behind himself, leaving the two of them in an awkward silence.
He turned back to her, all manners of playing around gone as they stood there, in each others arms, unsure of what to do.
Neither of them moved for what felt like years, basking in the silence, until the sound of the comm. unit came to life, Rocky's voice trailing out of it, "Trent? Ya there? How's it lookin'? What's goin' on?"
The sound was like a knock to the head, bringing them both back to the shuttle, "I should, probably, ya know, answer…that." Trent thumbed over his shoulder as they less than gracefully detangled themselves from one another.
"Yeah, sure, we don't want her to worry do we?"
"No, no, we er, we don't."
He made his way over to the pilots' seat and had a rushed conversation with Rocky before disconnecting and turning back round to find Maya focused solely on the simple task of dismantling and reassembling her guns. A thought hit him, to break the silence and hopefully return things back to some level of normalcy, "Does this mean we still get that private 'you and me' time later on then?" His answer was a blanket in the face that had been in her easy reach and a small humoured smile that he preferred more than her blank and utterly confused face she had only been wearing moments before.
She didn't know what to say. She couldn't say anything to be honest with you it just, left her speechless that he would come out with something so wrong. Cassie fumed at the thought of any guy ever saying that to a woman, she'd expect something like that from Jayne, not Sam. She was fuming over what he had said and the more she thought about it the more she couldn't change the facts, no matter how many times she span it, it still came out the same way to her.
She tried to reassure herself that what he meant, by the look on his face when he had tried to apologise, wasn't what she thought he had said, but couldn't bring herself to. He had his foot in his mouth again and she was getting tired of playing nice to him after he'd insulted her.
When everyone was being released she was glad for the extra space and almost ran from the room and not glancing back over her shoulder as she hurried past everyone and out of the long hall and through the wide front doors. Hearing Mal's shouts she didn't turn to look at him, only carried on with her mission to get to the shuttle without a confrontation with Solomon Reynolds again. She wasn't in the mood. So when she reached the shuttle, hearing laughter and the sound of Trent's happy voice, a bigger dent was put into her unhappy mood and she swung the door open and marched inside. "Ta ma de, does ev'ryone need to be so gorram happy?!" she called into the shuttle, stifling the laughter from both Maya and Trent as they looked at each other before turning their gazes to her.
"Did something bad happen?" Trent asked, shuffling forward in his seat slightly.
Cassie stared at the floor as she crossed her arms and legs from her seat on the bench next to Maya, "No," she squeaked out, offering confusion to her listeners.
"Then what's wrong?" Maya tried, shuffling closer to the young girl.
She was spared a small pleading glance that quickly disappeared as soon as the shuttle door opened and the last three people stepped in, signaling a full party. "Trent, take us off, we got ourselves lost time to make up for. Kid," Mal turned to Maya, pulling off his tie and loosening the top two buttons of his shirt as he went, "where are the goods?"
In answer to his question she stood silently and stalked over to a nearby wall whilst the engines kicked started into life. Bracing her hands on the wall she swung her foot once, twice, than a third revealing a sheet of metal that easily fell away at the force, the brown package hidden behind it, his only comment at the hiding spot was a small, "Huh." Shaking his head as she picked it up, replacing the metal back into the wall he made a comment, "I never even knew that was there. Shocking the kinds of things ya ship could be hidin' from ya," he laughed and a few other small laughs joined in as he retrieved the package and kept a firm hold on it, glancing to Cassie every now and again, who was still sat stiffly with her arms crossed defiantly across her chest.
Taking a quick glance over to Sam, who looked equally as annoyed as her, he sighed and shook his head to himself, knowing that they'd make up again at some point. He turned his attention onto the window and watched as the sky changed from the warm, early morning blue to that cold but friendly for him gray sight of his ship, Serenity, hidden behind a valley a few miles away. As it got nearer the tension in the small cramped space eased up slightly, sighs of relief filling the space and Malcolm Reynolds joined in with these noises, glad that they were home free with the good.
When they arrived back Cassie was greeted by Rocky, who had thrown her arms around her sister in a bone crushing hug and everyone knew she had been thinking the worst of the situation. Mal moved past them, knowing where their newly acquired stolen item was going to hide, to store it away until they arrived back on Persephone.
River mulled past everyone, making her way to shuttle 1 to change back into her other clothes. Cassie was escorted by Rocky as they talked about the party and Sam stalked off to his own bunk feeling sullen about the outcome. Maya and Trent made their way to the galley, looking for some food to eat. They had been in that shuttle for at least 17 hours without a shred of food because they didn't think they would be grounded for so long.
"So, that went smoothly," Trent commented as they entered the hall that led to the crews bunks before turning their path towards the area of the galley.
"Some how," Maya commented as she made her way to the cupboards, going straight for a bar of protein. Pulling two out she handed the second bar to Trent, who offered a 'Thanks' in return as he put the kettle on, setting two cups down. He put his back to the counter and opened his bar of protein, happily and hungrily taking a bite out of the foul tasting thing. He glanced up to see that she was doing the same and he couldn't blame her.
When the kettle had boiled he paused his eating to pour two nice hot steaming cups of tea for the both of them, handing her one he took a sip of his, relishing in the liquid that quenched his thirst after so many hours. They stood there for minutes across from each other, drinking and eating silently until their contents were gone, the only sounds in the room being the odd sentences and words from the engine room floating in and the sound of the weights being put down in the cargo bay.
Once he had finished, he put his own cup in the sink and washed it, which was quickly followed by hers as he shuffled out of the way. He watched for a second before doing a quick sweep of her and snapping his eyes away, only to look back at her legs with curiosity getting the better of him. "So why do you wear shorts all of the time?"
"Shuh muh?"she asked, turning to face him with a single raised eyebrow.
He motioned to her legs, repeating the question and adding on a quick, "I mean, you don't seem to wear anything else besides them."
He waited for an answer as she just stared at him with a debating look in her eyes, questioning herself how she could easily and softly put it. "I have my reasons." She turned away from him and began making her way towards the door, Trent following her wanting a sane answer from her.
"Which are?"
She turned on the spot so suddenly that he nearly slammed into her, coming up just short of her, "Reasons I withhold until further notice." Maya turned on her feet again and left a stumped Trent standing in the hall with his mouth agape at the fact she wasn't talking.
"Oh come on," he called after her retreating back, "that's, that's not," he then made some indistinguishable sound before dropping his voice and talking to himself, "that girl just get's more and more secretive," as he made his way towards his bunk for a nice warm sleep in a bed.
Rocky rubbed soothing circles on her sisters back as she sniveled quietly next to her, her fancy dress for the party still on her body, "What did he say 'xactly?"
Cassie lifted her hand and rubbed it underneath her nose before putting it back to her side and leaning into her sister's hold, "He said, 'From what I hear, mechanics enjoy all kinds a dirt an' filth in ev'ry form.' Stupid jien huo," she reported, straightening up slightly.
"Yep, that's boys for ya'," Rocky inputted with a note of 'I-told-ya-so' in her voice, "anyways, I'm sure he didn't mean it like ya think he did."
"Yeah he did," she almost shouted back and Rocky just shook her head before jumping off of the hammock and picking up a wrench, making her way to the engine and putting herself to the floor, peering underneath it.
Rocky's voice floated out form underneath the engine, slightly muffled by the metal but Cassie heard it all clearly, "Cass', ya'r forgettin' he's Sam Reynolds, son of Inara and Mal Reynolds. Ya 'member how much they, well Captain, put his foot in his mouth? Sam's just the same, he likes ya really. He just don't quite get it right all the time."
She shrugged her shoulders at her sister's words, figuring there had to be some truth behind them. It was true what she had said about Mal and Inara. Even after admitting their feelings and getting hitched they still argued. They even argued after having their first child, the second and their third. They still argued now. It was typical and normal to find them arguing.
Sighing Cassie jumped off of the hammock, "I'm gonna go change, back soon," she absently told Rocky, receiving a vague wave from underneath the engine before disappearing out of the engine room and down the hall.
Rocky climbed out of the engine and brought her knees up, putting her arms around them and sighing to herself. She hated how her sister was like this. Not for the fact that she hated seeing her upset, which she did, but for the fact that her sister was upset about a guy who couldn't offer a compliment without screwing it up, whereas she wasn't having many guys flit around her. Hell she would give anything for any guy to look at her the way Sam looked at Cassie. Sure she had dated a little on Shadow, but not much, and now that they were always on the move, she hadn't had the chance out here either.
Sighing to herself, she set her mind on fixing the engine up and making sure that everything was fine and safe for any fancy diving they may be needing any time soon.
"So lil' Albatross, we all set for Persephone then?" Mal asked as he came to stand behind her on the bridge, the dress she was wearing long gone and exchanged for her usual ensemble of combat boots, summer dress and a shawl.
"Estimated time of arrival approximately three days and four hours, forty-six minutes," was her report and Mal smiled at the notion of her knowing the exact time of arrival. He only hoped that Badger stayed to the agreed amount and he was hoping for a nice little drink that he hadn't had in a while, he really needed one. Running a hand through his graying hair he turned on his heels and fled the bridge, wondering if Jayne still stocked some of that nice amber liquid that often went down well after a long hard night of worry and panic.
Persephone, he thought over. It was where two of the few co-pilots were living and one of the new mercenaries. Perhaps he could interview them, see what they were like among recommendations and see how they fair in opinions of the Alliance. He'd have to take River and Jayne with him that was for sure, they deserved a say in who was going to live up to their roles. He wanted to make sure that they were happy with the new people and that they cleared them as well as he did, so that they were declared safe to board his ship and with their little family.
Chinese Translations
Ta ma de - - - dammit
shuh muh - - - What?
Jien huo - - - Cheap floozy