Company For The Journey... Part 2: ~ LEAVE ME BREATHLESS ~

In the morning, Kaylee woke up first and was content to just stay in bed in their tent until her girlfriend woke up too. When River did, her eyes were dull and sleepy and she yawned and cuddled up to her and closed her eyes again. Kaylee smiled a little to herself at that and closed her eyes too, happy to let River take her time waking up. After last night, goodness and the daylight both knew she certainly deserved it.

She wasn't really sure at all how much longer it was after that that River stirred again and sat up, blinking. "Morning's here..." She spoke softly, looking down at her hands as if she didn't quite recognize them and was curious what they were. They were scraped and dirty looking, just like Kaylee knew her own where from all that climbing they'd done on the rocks.

Kaylee sat up too and pulled River back down onto the bedding with her, getting on top of her some and looking down into her eyes, caressing her face and running a hand through her hair. River looked up into her eyes with something like awe or wonder there, and she smiled just a little, reaching up and touching Kaylee's face in return. "Your eyes are magic..." River spoke, sounding kinda dreamy, like she hadn't really woken up all the way. River moved up then and kissed her and somehow Kaylee found herself on her back and under her girlfriend before she'd realized it was happening, and River was kissing her more.. Not in any hurry at all, but it felt so intensely intimate Kaylee could hardly believe how it made her feel. She felt so good and warm inside, and alive, and like birds with fluttering wings were living in her chest.

Kaylee was caught spellbound by it, and she let herself get completely caught up in just kissing with River. She felt like she could do this forever, even if that did sound silly and over-the-top romantic in her head, even now in the moment. She didn't really care that it was going to stop at some point though... Except, when, who knew how long a time later came and it did, and River was looking intently down into her eyes with a dazed sort of look in her eyes, she did wish that it had kept going like that between them... at least a little while longer.

"How, um... So, how are you feeling then?" Kaylee asked her softly.

River sat back, straddling Kaylee's hips and looked at the tent around them and then down at her. Her head was touching the top, it was so close inside this little tent they shared (not that Kaylee was minding that at all, much the opposite actually). "My head feels fuzzy..." River admitted, their eyes catching and locking in a meaningful but illusory sort of way. River just looked into her eyes for a while then without blinking, until Kaylee blinked and then River laughed a little nervously and lay down beside her. "You be on top now?" She asked. "I liked the kissing part better."

Kaylee smiled just a little to herself and, pointedly ignoring all her aches (which were feeling much improved, even if they still bothered her some), rolled them over so she came over top of River and agreeably started kissing her again. River reciprocated automatically and Kaylee let herself move in closer, as close as she could, and, as she did, she felt River noticeably relax in her arms. Felt the difference in the way she kissed. Like maybe she was finding her way back to really wakefulness again... or at least starting to. Kaylee didn't blame her girlfriend for being tired and sleepy, she still was too. After all, they'd both ran all-out through the pouring rain and then went climbing through the hills on wet and slippery rocks until she'd fainted and River had had to carry her who knew how much farther... She was slightly amazed River was doing as well as she was by this point. It was kind of awe-inspiring how resilient she was, really.

As they kissed, the passion between them increased. Hands gliding over soft skin, their bodies moving together in a way that just felt magnetic and nearly out of either of them's control.

River's hand cupping one of her breasts and squeezing, the other hand on her ribs, the small of her back, then cupping her butt. Kaylee's hand, her fingers, inside of her lover, making her tremble and gasp in desire and pleasure, guiding her over the edge of passion... and then River was on top again and Kaylee was soon just completely lost...

The whole experience had a certain dreamlike, ethereal quality to it, and when it was over and she came back to herself and met River's eyes, she found something disturbingly distant there. River looked almost... absent. "River...?" She spoke, looking into her eyes.

"...Everything will be alright..." River replied in a voice that was quiet as a whisper, but unmistakably not a whisper.

River lay down next to her then and cuddled up with her and Kaylee couldn't quite bring herself to say anything else somehow either. She just held River to her like that for as long as River wanted.

After a while, River did get up though, and fetched her clothing from the zip-pouch that served as their pillow. Kaylee went to retrieve her own set of clothing that was strewn about on top and beneath the covers (where it had been carelessly left the night before because she hadn't wanted to bother stowing it away in the second zip-pouch, her pants and over shirt having provided enough of a pillow to get by on.

When they were dressed, River opened the tent roof and got up to standing, going over to check on the other clothes. "Not dry all the way..." She observed absently, going to start another fire.

Kaylee watched her from sitting on their tent bedding, her legs brought up, arms crossed over her knees, head resting on her crossed arms. It just went that way. River brought her food from their packs and they ate, not saying very much.

River just seemed... lost somehow.

She'd been there, right with her, when they'd made love before, Kaylee was sure of it, but... it wasn't enough, was it?

Finally, Kaylee couldn't stand it anymore and she brought River back to the tent bedding and sat her down, looking into her eyes. River looked more confused than anything, but was smiling, just a little in a shy sort of way.

"Stop it, alright?" Kaylee told her softly, moving in to kiss her. "Just stop." She told her again, looking into her eyes and pleading with her in every way she knew, and every way she could only guess at. "Come back to me? Please come back to me?" She pleaded with her unreservedly.

Slow but steady, Kaylee could see understanding start to wash over River's features. She could see the light starting to come back into her eyes. And then River smiled, really smiled, and hugged her. She moved back after a little and stared into her eyes, and Kaylee smiled, but she was speechless, and River pushed her over onto her back and held her down with a playful sort of look in her eyes. "And that's why you don't make sense to me sometimes..." River told her in a voice so downright sexy that it made Kaylee about ready to jump her all over again already.

"What do you mean?" Kaylee asked, her heart beating faster in her chest, her skin heating.

"How you didn't know... When I told you that you saved me... You didn't know what I meant..." She explained. "It doesn't make sense... How could you not know that?" River asked, a genuine sort of awe in her voice. "The answer's so easy..." She told her, kissing her. Kissed her, and kissed her again. "When I'm with you..." She told her softly, kissing her neck. "I feel like me again." She confessed to her. "And each time..." She stopped kissing her and went up to look into Kaylee's eyes again. "And each time you look at me, each time you see me, I think... See? Right now? You're saving me right now, Kaylee... It's a marvel, truly it is... My favorite one ever..."

And River was kissing her again before Kaylee could say anything at all in reply. Inside though, it felt like her heart was blooming like a flower at River's words... Is that what I'm doing? Kaylee asked herself as they both tossed around some, trying to get their clothes off enough to do again what they were definitely going to do again. She felt so much heat and passion well up in her, and River was almost ravenous about it. Not dreamy or ethereal at all anymore. She was right there with her now. So intense... The force of her eyes when they met hers was like live current. Every touch just got better... It wasn't long before any thoughts she had were just gone and all she could do was go at River as intensely and wildly as River was going at her... It was all she could do to keep enough air in her lungs that she didn't pass out, really.

Kaylee didn't know how much time had passed when their passion had finally ran its course, but River was looking down into her eyes, holding her down by her wrists, they were both sweating, and Kaylee's heart was beating so loud in her chest.

"Marry me?" Kaylee asked her softly.

"I... What'd you just say?" River asked in a small, breathless sounding voice.

"I um, well I asked you to marry me...? It was a proposal." Kaylee told her earnestly, having meant every word. She'd never be able to describe to anyone what she was feeling right then, but hells and holly branches was she ever feeling it.

"...Did you mean it?" River asked, looking both curious and thunderstruck at the same time.

"Oh, heck yeah." Kaylee told her, smiling that kind of smile that you couldn't stop even if you had the mind to. She was sure about this. Surer than she'd ever been about much of anything, really. So, of course she'd asked... and oh did she ever mean it, all the way.

River just looked like her brain wasn't working for a few seconds. "...We don't have anyone to marry us. Maybe Lola could, do you think?"

Kaylee laughed. "Is that a yes then?" She asked a little playfully.

"Yes." River smiled softly to her. "Yes is an inevitable fact in this situation..." She told her in a very intimate sort of way, moving down to kiss her.

They just sort of lay there, making out for a good long while until River stopped and sat up, she looked over in the direction Lola was. "You're my fiancé now, but... the rabbit who's going to marry us is hungry... and probably also needs a hug?" River spoke, looking down to Kaylee. She was a little playful, but there was very strong emotion in her eyes too. "She... lost her family today."

Kaylee sat up so River was straddling her lap and looked into her eyes. "I'll get breakfast for her. You can take care of the hug?" She offered, hopeful it would cheer her fiancé (and what a great word that was to use) up.

"Agreeable." River smiled shyly.

Kaylee kissed her again and the two of them got up, got dressed again, and Kaylee went to fetch a rabbit-sized portion of food while River went to pick up Lola and cuddle her in the promised hug. Kaylee stopped a moment and looked at that, bemused greatly. She shook her head and smiled, her mind drifting to a very funny daydream about their wedding with Lola up on a rock with a flower necklace... that she was snacking on, of course. It's what rabbits did, yaknow? A markedly darker thought occurred to her and she sighed, looking down at what presently consisted of their food supply. It wasn't much, really. Not at all... an if the forest was burnt, where would they get more?

Feeling the weight of that thought, she got up and brought Lola her breakfast, watching happily with River as their new furry friend ate what they offered her. As River cooed over Lola a little more, Kaylee got to standing and padded her way over on stockinged feet towards the mouth of the cave. River watched her on her way out, but didn't say anything. Probably because there wasn't much to say, really. They both had to know the problem well enough.

The scent of it caught her stronger as she got closer to outside. Burnt things. Lots of them.

She came out of the cave they'd been in and saw sky, then walked up to the edge of the rocks and just stared. "Siwang he hei'an de dongxi du zouliao wo de daolu, bing zai qi shenhou liu xia huangliang..." She spoke under her breath to herself, even as she heard the very faint sound of River walking up behind her.

All to the fore and the right was all mostly burnt away, about as far as you could see, but... to the left, a wide river had made a firebreak. She let out a relieved breath. That was the way they were going, the direction Inara was. "We ain't gonna starve, River. That's good, huh?"

"It is good..." River agreed with her softly. "I'm very grateful."

Kaylee turned to her and saw River still with Lola in her arms. "Oh, River." Kaylee spoke, touching her face and hair and gazing at her as River met her eyes.

River smiled just a little. "Even in bleakest darkness, there's always light waiting for us out there. We just have to remember to look." She told her.

Kaylee smiled. "For me...? That's you. You are the kindest soul... and you are also even cuter than rabbits sometimes, River Tam. My light you are... And, I swear... I'll always try my best to be that for you also."

River sighed, smiled shyly, blushing just a little. "You're so good at that..." She told her.

"At what?" Kaylee blinked.

River turned away. "At getting me all flustered and blissful inside? At making me want sex with you so very often?" She spoke, pausing a moment as she walked away, before heading on back into the cave.

Kaylee swallowed once and smiled, all too pleased with herself somehow. "She does know just what to say to me sometimes, don't she?" She mused to herself. She took one last look out over the landscape then turned and trailed after River, some very pleasant sex thoughts running through her head.

Sex, she mused cheerfully. She really did like having sex with River a whole lot...

Chinese translations:

"Siwang he hei'an de dongxi du zouliao wo de daolu, bing zai qi shenhou liu xia huangliang..." = "Death and dark things have walked my path and left bleakness in their wake..."

(please note: I'm only getting my Chinese from Google Translate, so I can't guarantee it's accurate at all)

to be continued

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