Mal's P.O.V.
Dragging my hand down my face I sit at the table in the galley thinking about what just happened.
Serenity was borded. River got onto the other ship and hacked into the comms. Working through a plan with each of us, all but the Doc.
The Doc... he's what's got my brain so muddled.
From what I heard out of River he did something to the hunter. All I know is one second I see him letting himself out of Serenity, the next he's clutching at his chest and collapsing. The boy got himself shot. And to top it all off his chest is a pattern of scars. All different shapes and sizes, and it looked as though none were caused by the same thing.
River didn't seem suprised to see them which just confused me further. She ran straight to the Doc rambling into his ear, then telling him off, and giving him a shirt.
The two had seemed to have a bit of a silent conversation before the Doc passed out.
Gorram it all, I hate having more questions than answers.
Zoe's P.O.V.
As I sit in the galley next to the Captain I think about Simon Tam. The ships resident doctor. The pansy ass Core boy trying to make his way in the Black all in the name of his sister.
What I saw today changed how I see him.
The scars on his chest are bad yes, but the ones on his back. Dear God. How has he been walking around like nothings wrong. It looked like his skin was flayed and pasted back together.
Seeing that I think, no I know that the Doc has another story to tell us... I'm just not sure I want to hear it.
Wash's P.O.V.
Simon, dear god...
My brain just keeps stalling on me. The kid is nice enough once you start to break through that layer of ice of his. But I never would have thought that those would be hiding beneath that last layer.
I now understand why he always wears shirts even when the rest of the guys have stripped them off, heck I've even seen Book without a shirt on once or twice.
I'm also starting to regret the way everyone has been treating him. I mean we all know that he's taking care of River but I guess we've never stopped to think about him.
Jayne's P.O.V.
I've seen some pretty messed up shit in my time. But it looks like someone fed Simon through a grinder and glued him back together...
I guess he's not the pansy I thought he was. I wish...no the boy wouldn't talk to me about that shit. He's barely started talking with me again.
Inara's P.O.V.
It looks like the Tam siblings have more secrets than what we've already uncovered.
Simon has always appeared to me as someone with greater depths than what all of us have been shown by him.
Simon's chest...someone was methodical about the damage they caused. Each type injury placed very specifically. Burns across his ribs, knife marks slashed across his abdomen, what look to be electrical scars across his pectoral muscles. But these scars were not made on an adult body, they are old, they've grown for years it seems.
As a Companion I can't help but notice that Simon is very well muscled, that he is definatly more than just a pretty face. It looks to me as if he worked very specifically to build his muscle mass.
I want to think that he should have told us. But everyone on this ship has secrets that they do not want to share. It would be hypocritical of me. For if we demand the secrets of one, we must demand the secrets of all.
Kaylee's P.O.V.
Crying in her bunk, she tries to work through her mind how people could be so cruel. Thinking about how people took River and messed her up always twists Kaylee's thoughts. But Simon, they did the same to him didn't they, just not the same technique.
Thinking about Simon, Kaylee comes to a realization. He never lets anyone worry about him. He always deflects it or becomes increasingly uncomfortable. He worries about everyone, all the time.
River's got her brain problems but Simon's making progress on helping her get better.
Cap'n, Zoe, and Jayne are always beaten, broken, and boody so he worries about them.
Wash and I always manage to injure ourselves in some silly way or another. He always takes care of us. Seeks the both of us out because he knows we won't come find him should we hurt ourselves. We just brush it off as something silly and go about our business.
He takes such good care of all of us, but who takes care of him.
This particular thought made the tears flow harder
Book's P.O.V.
The atrocities of man, I thought that I was done being suprised by them at my age. Apperently I was mistaken.
That boy and his sister...
The two of them seem to have been put through more than any one person could handle and stay the same. Yet neither of them could possibly be the same as they once were.
River taken from her home at 14, because she was brilliant, to have her brain toyed with. She struggles to stay in one piece. And we just had a discussion on her Reading abilities. She sees and hears to much and she can't block it out.
Simon found out his little sister was being hurt, and dropped everything to save her. The scars look older than two years though. They happened before River went to the Academy.
This realization disturbed the Shepard. Because it means that they were likely to have been inflicted by his parents.
Author's Note
The Characters belong to Joss Whedon.