A/N: I usually try to respond to all my reviews in the following update. Unfortunately since my brain went on a vacation and my imaginary friends went on strike there were too many for me to reply to without making this A/N ridiculously long. I would like to say thank you all so much for all of your support and patience; as well as all of the reviews both good and a bit harsh. I try to take criticism in the spirit it was given and look at my work objectively but sometimes it's hard. What can I say, sometimes you can't help being defensive over your baby.

Much luv to you all and I sincerely hope this was worth the wait. So without further ado…. Here it is "Safe".

Oh and I don't own any of it….

"Noooo!" River screeched as she wretched her arm free from her brother's grip. "Noo! I don't want to go in there! You can't make me go in there!" She yelled at him as she frantically backed away and curled herself into a ball on the common room couch.

"Okay, okay, it's okay…" Simon tried to sound soothing and reassuring but the frustration in his tone was hard to conceal.

"It's not okay! You can't just dig into me; shove pointed needles into my eyes and ask me what I see!" She spat out at him; eyes wild. She had not slept in days; the voices and whispers and screams had become incessant. Her head throbbed violently and her hands shook as she fought valiantly to keep reality in focus. Too many voices, too many trapped voices. No sky, no grass, no air, just metal, metal and the smell of oil and gunpowder.

"Alright, okay." Simon gave in as he pinched the bridge of his nose and inhaled deeply. "We don't have to go in then," he said and closed the infirmary doors to illustrate his point and hopefully pacify his sister. "See no tests today, it can wait."

"No rutting tests." She sobbed softly. "Stupid son of a bitch dressed me up like a gorraam doll." She muttered bitterly as she tugged at the ends of the hot pink sweater she was wearing.

"No tests, no shots," Simon reassured her, "Just let me just give you a smoother…"

"No! No! No!" She shrieked as she ripped the bag from his grip and hurled it violently in the direction of another thread of consciousness. "Liu kou shui de biao zi he hou zi de ben er zi (Stupid son of a drooling whore and monkey)!" She spat out as the bag collided with the doorframe, its contents scattering just as Mal stepped through.

"So she's added cussing and the hurling about of things to her repertoire. She really is a prodigy." Mal said sarcastically.

"Not you," she said in a bitter whisper as she realized who it was she had sworn at. It wasn't him she looking for, it wasn't him who she had wanted to throw things at. It was the deserter, the shi ruo (weakness), the Riddick.

"It's just a bad day," Simon said a bit dejectedly as he bent down to pick up the scattered contents of his kit.

"No," Mal said angrily. "A bad day is when someone's yellin' spooks the cattle. Understand? Ever seen cattle stampede when they got no place to go? It kinda looks like a meat grinder and we'll lose half the herd."

"She hasn't gone anywhere near the cattle." Simon defended.

"She hasn't," Mal agreed. "But in case you hadn't noticed her voice kinda carries. We're two miles above ground and they can probably hear her down there. As soon as we unload she can holler until our ears bleed." He paused to give River a pointed look. "I would take it as a kindness if she didn't."

River snorted at him as she tugged at her hair. The girl was there, she had ears, they could pretend her away all they wanted, but she existed and she resented being told otherwise. "The human body can be drained of blood in eight point six seconds given adequate vacuuming systems." She was not a child; she would not be lectured so. Let him fear her. Cut him down! A voice screamed in her head and her body twitched with the shift in her reality.

"See morbid and creepifying I got no problem with long as she does it quiet like." Mal said easily; unaware that in that moment River had calculated twenty seven ways to kill him before he left her line of sight. Twelve of which would be silent and quick, the other fifteen, were not.

"This is paranoid schizophrenia Captain," Simon shot back; bitterness and anger heavy in his tone. "Handcrafted by government scientists who thought my sister's brain was a rutting playground. I have no idea what will set her off. If you have some expertise…"

Mal stopped him. "I ain't the doctor and I'm not your gorraam babysitter either. Gag her if you have to; I got trade to be done." He snapped harshly.

River rose fluidly from the couch; her mind unaware of her body's motion as the Captain turned to leave the way he had entered. The ship shuddered from the exertion of landing and he grabbed the railing to steady himself. In his pause River had cleared half the space between them.

"This is you pilot speaking," Wash's voice came over the comm, "There is a ninety seven percent chance of fiery death this morning, as our fearless leader has yet to replace the compression coil."

River had been intent on closing the rest of the distance between herself and the Captain when the gross miscalculation of fact distracted her. "Wrong." She frowned as she backed up toward the couch once more. "He grossly over estimates, the true probability is only twenty three point five seven four."

Mal smirked, "Kaylee! Ain't no amount of whining gonna get us parts we ain't got coin for!" He yelled into the bay; forgetting his own rule on the volume of one's voice around the cattle.

Simon looked at his sister blankly.

"It should be known the probability increases drastically as time passes. Blow out the candles and make a wish." She ended on a giggle before she skipped away; leaving her brother as usual staring open mouthed in her wake.

Despite Wash's assertations Serenity made a clean and somewhat smooth landing on a flat piece of grassland edged by an overgrown forest on Jiangyin; far enough outside of town to give themselves a bit of privacy for their less than legit dealings yet still close enough to not draw suspicion. Unfortunately and unbeknownst to the crew despite their carefully chosen landing spot their presence did not go unnoticed.

"See that boys?" Stark nodded his head up at the landing cargo ship. "Fancy vessels such as that," he continued as he turned his back on his two companions to finish skinning the rabbit they had caught. "Don't land here unless they got somethin' to sell. If they happen to have something we need." He paused to rip the hide from the carcass. "We take it."

"Niou fun (cow crap)." Simon swore and aptly so as his foot squished into a big steaming pile of it.

"'Bout time you broke in those pretty shoes." Jayne chuckled as he and Riddick herded the last of the stragglers down the airlock ramp. Simon ignored the merc as scraped his foot along the metal.

Riddick gave the remark a brief smirk before going back to his scowling. He'd planned on jumping ship as soon as they hit dirt side; he'd planned on it, 'til he found out it was Jiangyin. As much as he didn't really want to be stuck on the ship with Crazy for another week it was still slightly more appealing than being stuck on this hell hole of a rock for however gorraam long it took for a decent ship to pass through; which judging by the look of the few settlements they'd flown over, wasn't often. He was stuck; 'til they got back to Persephone at the least to pay out Badger, and the irony of winding up back on Persephone wasn't lost on him either. God really was one sadistic prick.

"Ha! Git along!" Jayne whistled as he slapped the rump of a particularly lazy steer.

"They walk just fine if you lead 'em." Riddick snapped at him as they headed down the ramp.

"I like smackin' 'em. What died in your pig gu (Ass)?" Jayne retorted. Riddick had been absolutely fucking hell to be around the last week; he was sick of it, and had an inkling of the cause.

"Come again Cobb?" Riddick asked him with just the slightest hint of a threat in his tone.

"You been all sorts of tetchy this past week, its gettin' right annoyin'." He grumbled.

"Remember who you're talking to." Riddick warned.

"Oh go to hell," Jayne snapped right back. "You and Crazy been glarin' each other down for days, don't think I ain't noticed."

"Fuck off." Riddick barked.

Jayne snickered but didn't push the issue as they reached the bottom of the ramp and got within Zoe and Wash's earshot.

"Next time we smuggle stock let's make it somethin' smaller." Zoe laughed from her perch on the rail of the makeshift corral as Jayne and Riddick approached.

"Yeah we need to start dealing in those black market beagles." Wash voted. "Much cuter, smaller poop."

"Think the Captain would let me keep one instead of a piece of the cut iffin' we did?" Kaylee asked hopefully.

"Not a chance in hell." Zoe told her with a smirk.

"Will ya just look at the right lazy bunch I got for crew." Mal snapped as he headed down the ramp. "Let's get a fire under our asses people, got money to be made."

Jayne and Riddick snorted in near perfect unison while Zoe and Wash exchanged an eye roll. "Let's go boys," she grunted as she hopped down from her perch. "Our fearless leader has spoken."

Riddick and Jayne got the obstinate herd moving again down the line as Zoe and Kaylee went to check the ropes which held together their makeshift corral and Wash headed back up to the ship; giving the Captain a mock salute as he passed.

"What the hell is Crazy doin'?" Jayne asked.

Riddick followed his gaze down the line of fencing to see River on the ground eye level with a cow that was holding up the rest of the line. "Hell if I know." Riddick shrugged.

"Many souls…" River continued her conversation with the young heifer. "Very straight, so very straight and simple," she said in wonderment. "Born anew beneath the sun; go, grow, and be slaughtered but that is the way of the world little one. My heart cries for you, but I can carry your pain no longer."

"Cattle on the ship two weeks, and she don't go near 'em." Mal said as he came up behind Jayne and Riddick. "Suddenly, we're on Jiangyin and she's got a driving need to commune with the beasts?"

River looked up from the cow and though she spoke to Mal her eyes were on Riddick. "They weren't cows inside. They were waiting to be." She rose and held onto the railing as she leaned back to feel the cool wind against her face. "They forgot. Now they see sky and they remember what they are. The wind may carry the burden of their souls and the River may flow unhindered." She smiled serenely.

"Is it bad that what she just said made almost perfect sense to me?" Mal asked squinting against the harsh prairie light.

"You ain't the only one." Riddick snorted as he studied her carefully.

"Come on now," Mal said to River as he reached for her. "Let's move you clear of the work." River cringed away from his touch.

"What are you doing to her?" Simon demanded.

"I was fixin' to do some business." Mal informed him. "I can't be herding these steers and your sister too."

"I'll keep her out of the way." Simon said. "But you don't need to say things like that in front of her." His eyes darted to his sister who was idly playing with a few strands of her hair and humming to herself.

"Yes." Mal deadpanned. "I've clearly upset her."

Simon bristled at his remark and Jayne snorted while Riddick continued to mull and watch. Girl seemed to be a different the second she stepped off the ship. She had said the cows were painful to be around, was that what pushed her off the edge? Being stuck with the herd on board? If she heard animals like she heard people he could see it; maybe, if he squinted. He slammed the door shut on his thought process. What the hell was he doing? Girl wasn't his issue, she was the Doc's. He was kicking on anyway, what did it matter to him? Except he couldn't escape the fact that it did; it mattered greatly and the more he tried to tell himself it didn't, the more it did.

"It matters to him because he understands. Can't look away once you've finally started to see." River said suddenly looking up from her hair; all save Riddick looked at her blankly before returning to their business as though she hadn't spoken. She released a sigh and tried to not be hurt by it.

"She didn't mean any harm and understands more than you think." Simon said quietly to the Captain.

And more than you do. Riddick thought to himself; River jerked her head up in his direction.

"More than you do." She snorted. "Shi ruo (weakness)." She spat out bitterly and Riddick glared at her from behind his goggles. Vaguely she mused over why they all seemed to talk around her, like she wasn't truly there. She supposed in a way she wasn't, but in another way she was more there than anyone of them. She was more a part of the sky and the wind and the trees then they could ever hope to be. The River flowed through all and everything; she could feel the new buds on the trees, the whisper of the dry stalks, the flutter of the butterfly; she frowned. She felt blood on the wind.

Mal bristled thinking the snort and the insult had been directed at him. "Never figured she did Doc, but when a man's engaging in clandestine dealings he has this preference for things going smooth. You're sister; she makes things not be smooth." He said through a clenched jaw.

"The Captain succeeds on foiling his own dealings well enough without the girl." River said absently, more to herself than anyone.

Jayne chuckled and Mal shot him a dark look which as usual had no effect. Briefly he mused over the fact he was going to have to work on his glares; he wasn't getting the kind of Captainy respect which was owed to him.

"Right…I'm very sorry if she tipped off anyone about your cunningly concealed herd of cows." Simon retorted.

Both Riddick and Jayne chuckled this time but Mal didn't bother with the look; he kept his gaze hard on the boy. "I'm starting to think you got a little too much time on your hands Doc, and I think I got a notion regarding that. How about you take your sister for a little walk?"

"A walk?" Simon asked skeptically.

"Yeah someplace… away." Mal said pointedly.

"Probably best if we stay close. The Alliance has us marked as fugitives."

"It's not the Alliance you should be worried about." River said easily as she plucked a leaf off a nearby bush; though the others continued to ignore her Riddick did not.

"You stop actin' like a fugitive and nobody will notice, not in these parts anyways. Alliance don't much care for folks in these parts and they don't much care for them. How do you think our boy Riddick managed to stay on the lamb all these years?"

"Skill Mal." Riddick pointed out absently, his attention was still focused on the girl's ominous rambling. "Something they ain't got."

"Well now's the chance to learn. Riddick, why don't ya take the Doc and his sister to town, show 'em the fine art of blendin' in."

"Ain't a gorraam babysitter Mal." Riddick snapped, River's words momentarily forgotten.

"I'm not sure it's such a wise suggestion." Simon said uneasily; discretion wasn't River's strong suit and he'd already had one near death experience with the convicted murderer.

"Might not want to mistake it for a suggestion." Mal said evenly. "Riddick you take a walkie and get the supply list from Kaylee. We'll give ya a holler when the jobs done."

"Ain't a fucking babysitter Mal." Riddick growled again clearly pissed his earlier protest had been ignored. He was Richard B. Fucking Riddick, 'verse's most wanted; he did not play fucking wet nurse to a couple of Core bred fugies.

River had seemingly stopped paying attention to the debate swirling around her as she struggled to pull a large stone from beneath the bush she had been plucking leaves from.

"I wouldn't think of it so much as a babysitter as I would an opportunity to share your particular skill set with those less fortunate." Mal smirked.

River stepped back to analyze the position of her rock; frowning she adjusted it an eighth of an inch to the right. She tilted her head to the side and after a moment she placed a large branch fourteen and a quarter inches behind it. "Rudimentary." She mumbled to herself. "It will do." She sighed dramatically. "You are all now safe." She announced loudly. "Gratitude may be displayed with gifts of chocolate or apples."

The assembled crew took a moment and raised a collective eyebrow. Simon exhaled deeply, "Come on River, let's leave the criminals to their clever scheming." Riddick eyed the odd placemat for a moment longer than the others. Experience had taught him she didn't do anything at random but he would be gorraamed if he could figure just how the hell a stick and a rock would save the day.

"What is it?" Simon frowned as he held up a small, dusty, rudimentary wood carving.

"A duck," Riddick grunted looking up from a case of hunting knives.

"A swan," River corrected them both.

"River, how can you even tell?" Simon asked looking at the thing from another angle. He honestly didn't know how Riddick had even come to the conclusion of a duck.

River ran her hand across the rough wooden sculpture; her fingers picking up every stroke of the carving knife. "It was made with longing." She said wistfully.

"What like they really longed to see a swan? Whose never seen a swan?" Simon asked missing the point entirely.

"Explains why it looks like a duck." Riddick snorted. "Guess they only ever heard of it by rough description."

"River don't touch that…" Simon quickly stuffed the wooden whatever it was back on the shelf and plucked River's fingers of a dirty piece of used farming equipment. "That's a …" He looked to Riddick for an answer. "What is it?"

"A post holer Doc."

"A post holer?"

"Yeah for digging holes, for posts."

"Isn't that what a shovel's for?" Simon asked skeptically.

"You really ain't ever done a days work in your life have you boy?"

"It doesn't matter, it's dirty and sharp." Simon ignored Riddick's remark and led his sister back over to the crafts section. "See less sharp things here." He spoke to her like she was a two year old and quite honestly River was offended. Offended and bored.

"Sister's not dumb Doc." Riddick mused.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Simon asked heatedly.

"You're the one that said she was some kind of genius but you don't seem to think the girl can touch a glorified shovel without cutting off a finger. Hell, no wonder the girl spends half the time cussing and throwing shit at you, I would too." He snorted.

"She has a name." Simon responded coldly.

"What?"

"She has a name; you keep calling her the girl. Her name is River." Simon snapped.

"Here's a hint for you Doc." Riddick leaned in close and lowered his voice. "Rule fucking one of laying low is NOT to go yelling your names out in crowded places."

"Crowded?" Simon looked around the deserted shop; besides the three of them the only other person was the teller who was half asleep over his newspaper. "Nobody heard me, besides it's not like I called her River Tam."

Riddick growled at him. "Are you fucking kidding me? This ain't a ruttin' game Doc. This is your life. Your sister's life. And right now my goddamn life too."

"Do you really think I don't know that?" Simon snapped right back. "That I consider this whole thing a game? Does it look like I'm having fun? Sure it's fun being forced to the ass-end of the galaxy, to get to live on a piece of luh suh (garbage) wreck and eat molded protein and be bullied around by our pyen juh duh jiou cha wen (stubborn martinet) of a Captain."

"That piece of luh suh (garbage) and that pyen juh duh jiou cha wen (stubborn martinet) of a Captain are the only two things keeping you outta the Alliance's grip you spoiled piece of gou shi (shit)." Riddick growled at him as he backed him into a corner. "I'd pull my head outta my ass if I was you. Top three percent don't mean shit out here on the Rim, sooner you figure that out Doc, the better off you'll be." He grabbed the Doctor by his arm. "I'm done with this shit. Get your sister and let's get what we came for." He turned back to look for River; the only problem being, the girl was gone. "Oh son of a bitch, where in the gorraam hell did she go?"

"What do you mean she was right…" Oh hell. Could today get any worse? Simon asked himself.

"You hear that?" Riddick asked Simon.

"No what?"

"Music."

Mal surveyed the damage a few weeks of having the herd aboard Serenity had done to the hold; which was littered with big steaming piles of gou shi. "This is the last ruttin' time." He muttered to himself and turned as he heard footsteps coming up behind him. "I heard there was some idea regarding beagles. They got smallish droppings right?"

"I believe so Sir, but I have to warn you, your mechanic wouldn't be liable to part with them once we got them on ship." Zoe chuckled.

"The hell she wouldn't already got stabbed 'cause she wanted to go to some fancy shindig."

"Sir, you forget I was there." Zoe laughed. "Little Kaylee didn't have nothin' to do with the stabbin', you handled that fine yourself."

"Sometimes I question your loyalty Zoe." Mal grumbled.

"Me too Sir, everyday." She smirked. "Also the disreputable men are here."

Mal turned around fully to see the Grange brothers, or rather who he assumed to be the Grange brothers talking to Jayne and Kaylee in the corral. "Well, we better go and take their money." He said with a smirk as they turned and headed down to make the deal.

**

"Good morning, Gents." Mal greeted with the smooth slickness of a street salesman as he took in the two scruffy looking men; Yup definitively disreputable, he thought to himself. "You must be the Grange brothers. Hope you're hungry for beefsteak."

"Attractive looking animals, ain't they?" Jayne asked from inside the corral as he leaned against the post.

"They ain't well fed. Scrawny." The older brother replied with a disinterested glance.

"Fei hua (nosense)." Mal argued unworriedly but sensing a bit of negotiating was to be done he added, "Hay and milk three times a day; fed to 'em by beautiful women."

"It was something to see." Kaylee giggled from her perch on the fence as she stole Jayne's hat who chuckled along with her.

"They's branded." The younger Grange brother pointed out with a jerk of his head.

"You boy's are hittin' all the sellin' points. Fresh brand's a dead giveaway. Claim 'em as your own." Mal said with a causal wave of his hand.

The Granges didn't look convinced; or rather they feigned indifference. "Twenty a head." The older offered.

"That's an amusing figure in the light of you already agreed on thirty with Badger." Mal replied his hand unconsciously resting on his holster.

"That's afore we seen 'em. They're atrophied, standin' around on a ship for near a month." The older continued to argue.

"My comprehension is, less muscle, more tender the meat. Thirty." Mal said pointedly and the brothers stepped away to talk amongst themselves. It didn't go unnoticed by any of the crew the way their eyes darted around constantly and they started at the slightest sound.

"Problem Sir?" Zoe asked quietly.

"Nope, minute from now we'll agree on twenty five." Mal said confidently. A strong breeze stirred a nearby clump of trees. The Grange brothers went for their guns, but did not draw.

"They seem a mite jumpy to you?" She pressed.

"That they do." Mal admitted, his eyes never leaving the brothers.

"You feeling real sanguine about this deal?" She asked.

"Absolutely." Mal told her assuredly. "What's 'sanguine'?"

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Means 'hopeful', interestingly enough it also means 'bloody'."

"Well that pretty much covers the options don't it?" He smirked at her.

"Long as we get paid in the end I don't mind the bloody." Jayne said as he leaned against the post.

"Deal's nearly done, we get our coin and we'll be on our way." Mal said easily. "All the same, Kaylee girl you keep close to Jayne."

"Won't let her outta my shadow." Jayne answered for her as he pulled her down from the post and shifted her into position behind him. "Hat looks better on you girl. Keep it." He grinned at her.

Riddick skidded to a halt abruptly; causing Simon to nearly collide into his back. Riddick turned on his heel and pretended to be deeply engrossed in the news postings as five very determined looking lawmen strode past.

Simon opened his mouth to fling an insult at the convict before his eyes registered the presence of the law. "Morning officers!" He held his hand up in greeting and spoke perhaps a bit too loudly. They ignored him and the breath he hadn't realized he was holding whooshed past his lips.

Riddick glared at him, a look which was unsettlingly close to his sister's patented your-such- a-boob look, even with the goggles on. "Least you didn't go for the formal introduction."

Simon ignored him as he scanned the street for any sign of his sister; he caught a flash of bright pink as River turned a corner. "There!" He pointed out to Riddick and they both launched themselves off the porch after her.

"See the problem with twenty three boys is it ain't thirty." Mal explained patiently.

"I'm thinking maybe we just walk away entirely." The older brother said, though the emptiness of the threat was obvious.

"I'm thinking you do that and we got ourselves serious trouble." Mal responded coolly.

"Yeah of the you-owe-us variety." Jayne added as he climbed through the fence and positioned himself behind Mal. He reached over and helped Kaylee through keeping her close to his side.

The elder brother considered. "We can go to twenty five."

"Well," Mal said with a bit of an exaggerated sigh. "We'd be takin' a loss but you look like clean and virtuous boys. We can deal." The older brother snorted a bit but reached into the bag the other had handed him.

"Marcus and Nathanial Grange!" A voice snapped and in the next second five lawmen removed themselves from the brush; weapons drawn and all business. "You are both wanted in connection to the murder of Rance Durban. You are bound by law to stand down!"

"Son of a bitch." Mal swore under his breath as he raised his hands above his head.

"We got a Plan B Sir?" Zoe asked.

"Nope."

"Just gonna wing it then Sir?"

"Yup."

"Aww ruttin' hell." Came Jayne's answer from behind them.