Chapter 1: Plans

"Do you know how many brothels they have at Harpper's Point?" Jayne asked, a disturbingly large smile on his face.

"No," Zoe said, wishing the Captain would be back soon.

"Five," Jayne said with relish. "And twelve strip clubs. Granted, two a them is male strip clubs, but that's still levees ten clubs for my viewing enjoyment. Got any idea how many lap dances a fella could get with twenty platinum?"

"No," Zoe hoped her voice clearly communicated that she did not ever want to know how many lap dances could be purchased with twenty platinum.

"Mor'n I could get in the time we're gonna be there," Jayne sighed, disappointed. "Still, I figure I'll go to two or three, you know, between brothels ta keep me in the mood."

"Remind me never to ask you what your doing on your leave again," Zoe said, shaking her head.

Jayne grunted, "Wha'r you doin'?"

Zoe took a deep breath. "Wash and I are going to the spa."

"A spa?" Jayne grunted. "Like with the mud on yer face while strangers sit and file your toe nails?"

"That's pretty much the idea."

Jayne burst into laughter, "Wash is gonna have mud on his face?"

"Most like," Zoe nodded. "But then, he's not looking much forward to that."

Jayne kept laughing.

"Naw, what I think he's eager for is when we're gonna be naked in the hot tub."

Jayne stopped laughing. "Wha?"

"Yeah," Zoe said. "It's real relaxing. I could imagine spending hours in there. You know, just him, me," She smiled slyly, "the steam."

"Hun," Jayne grunted. "Well, I guess, I could see . . ."

They were interrupted as Inara, followed closely by the Captain, stormed on to the bridge.

"Have we hailed Happer's Point yet?" Inara demanded.

"Someone's in a snit," Jayne grunted.

"Just waitin' for you," Zoe said, shooting an annoyed look at Jayne. She leaned forward, pushed a few buttons to open a comm link and then slid aside so Inara could talk to the ground.

"Harpper's Point," a Docking Tech said. While his voice was projected loud enough so that everyone in the bridge could hear it, Inara was the only one that could see him on the vid screen.

"I am the Companion Inara for the ship Serenity," The beautiful woman said gracefully. "We request docking for refueling purposes."

"Do you have any business here companion?"

"No," she smiled. "Not this time."

"All right," the Tech said, entering some data into the screen in front of him. "Make of ship?"

"Firefly class."

"Refitted with Extenders?"

"Yes," the captain said softly.

"Yes," Inara repeated.

"Type of fuel?"

"Standard Hydro-mix," the captain muttered.

Inara turned her head and glared at him. She'd done this a thousand times before; she knew the routine by now. She turned back to the tech, "Standard Hydro-mix."

"Kay, sure I can't interest you in the Polly-hydro?"

"No," the captain instructed.

"It's a little more expensive," the Tech continued. "But it's worth it, 'cause . . ."

"I'm sure," Inara snapped pleasantly. "Standard is adequate."

"Fine, then," the Tech muttered, "I's your engine. What's you ETA?"

"Twenty-five minuets," the Captain provided.

"Twenty-five minuets," Inara said, struggling to keep her voice pleasant as she visualized turning around and grabbing Mal by his throat and ringing it until he stopped acting like she didn't know how to dock the gorramn ship.

"All right," the Tech said, unaware of Inara's foul mood. "Looks like we got a spot for you at docking port E, number 16."

"Thank you," Inara said. "Serenity out."

* * *

"Attention everyone," Captain Reynolds voice announced through the ship's comm system. "We've gotten the clear from Harpper's Point to dock and refuel. We'll be landing in about twenty minuets. For those a you don't know, Harpper's Point's a straight up trade center. You can get most anything you need there. We're gonna have to dock for about 7 hours, so you'll have plenty of time to shop. To fuel the ship we gotta turn it off, air, heat, everything, which means you can't stay on Serenity. Don't worry, Harpper's is well outa the Alliance's way, and they work hard to keep it like that. It'll expect ta see all you in the cargo bay in twenty minuets time, ready to get off."

"You said we had to stay here," River said, her voice trembling just a little. "You said here was safe."

"Here is safe," Simon quickly explained, licking his lips. "More safe than most places at least."

"Why are they kicking us off?"

"They're not kicking us off. The ship needs more fuel. It's just for a couple of hours."

"Where will we go?"

"I don't know," Simon admitted, "I guess we'll just walk around. They said it was a trade center, we could window shop."

"Aww," Kaylee's voice said from the door, "Not bein' able to buy anythin' takes half the fun."

River scampered behind Simon, peaking over his shoulder suspiciously.

"Ah, hi, Kaylee," Simon said uncomfortably. "How do you feel?"

"Just shiny, a-ok," The young engineer said. It was abundantly clear that she was not welcomed in the room, River was terrified of her and the doctor was confused by her. She wanted to retreat gracefully and, maybe, find an out-of-the-way hole to crawl into. But they didn't have the time. She pressed forward bravely. "I was wondering if I could Shanghai River for the afternoon."

"Simon I don't want to go!" River practically screamed into his ear as she dug her hands into his shoulders and arm. Her older brother winced in pain and turned to scowl at her the way older brothers always scowl at younger sisters. Kaylee thought it was cute. When he turned to look at the engineer his scowl was gone, but he still looked suspicious and confused. "What do you mean, 'Shanghai'?"

"Well," Kaylee said, taking a deep breath. "Inara'n me are gonna go shopin' up at Harrper's Point an' we were wonderin' if River'd like ta come along." When Kaylee leaned to the left to try to get a better look at River, Simon noticed that her hand flew to her stomach when she did that and she sucked the air in through her large smile instead of breathing normally. The gut wound she'd received was still bothering her; Simon made a mental note to have her in for a follow up examination as soon as they were back in the air, or perhaps, back out of the air. "Wha'da'ya say, sweetie? We're gonna try on dresses."

That piqued River's interest; she may have been severely traumatized by years of torture and testing and she might hear voices that weren't there, but she was still a girl, and a young girl at that. A young girl who hadn't gone shopping for three years ago, since before she went to the academy. She had wanted something special to wear on her first day. She pushed herself away from Simon a little. "Dresses?"

"Yeah," Kaylee said, thrilled that she was getting a response. "We'll pick out a real pretty one and you can wear it to dinner."

"Dinner?" Simon asked.

"To celebrate the job," Kaylee explained straightening up. "If pay's good enough Cap'in always treats us."

"And this last job, it paid well enough?"

"If nothin' else he got a ship's medic," Kaylee said smiling sweetly at him. "That ain't worth nothin'."

"He also has attracted undue Alliance attention at great risk to his ship and it's crew," Simon said cautiously. "I don't think this is a situation he want's to celebrate."

"Your just sayin' that 'cause you don't know 'im," Kaylee insisted. "You just gotta spend some time with the Cap'in, you'd see he's the nicest man you could ever wish to meet."

Simon was convinced he'd see no such thing, however he didn't feel like arguing with Kaylee on that point. She was young, beautiful, outgoing, brilliant, kind and innocent, not even Captain Reynolds could find it in his cold black shriveled heart to not love her. However, Simon felt he had none of those things going for him, there was room enough in Captain Reynolds' heart for a passionate hatred of the overeducated rich boy who'd foolishly brought his insane sister on the ship, making them a top Alliance target.

"Um, Kaylee," Simon said quietly. "We don't have any money."

"Silly, I told you the Cap'in treats."

"No," Simon said, "That's not what I meant. River can't buy a dress because we don't have any money."

"Oh don't worry about it," Kaylee said. "Inara an' I'll buy it."

"No," Simon said. "We couldn't possibly accept . . ."

"We're not givin' it to you," Kaylee said, looking at Simon as if he were crazy. "We're givin' it to River." Kaylee leaned and winced again. "What do you say, sweetie? Want a new dress?"

"Yea," River said before looking at her brother. Simon knew that all he'd have to do was frown at her and she'd decline, opting to spend the entire time with him. But as much as he'd prefer that he knew that it would be better for River to do something normal, and to spend time with other girls. And as much as his pride was hurt, having to depend on others to cloth his sister, he had to acknowledge that the only cloths she had now were Inara's hand-me-downs, which were usually too big for the young girl. He was already dependent on the Companion's charity. He wished he had an excuse, beyond that of gross stupidity, for not being at all prepared to care for River after he saved her.

"Just be sure to thank Inara and Kaylee," he said, forcing every word out.

The look of sheer joy on his sister's face convinced him he'd made the right choice.

"Thank you Simon!" The girl said excitedly, throwing her arms around her brother so suddenly and forcefully that he staggered.

Kaylee let out a little laugh before she caught herself. She was sure that Simon was embarrassed by this adorable display of affection, she didn't want to make it worse.

"Shiny," Kaylee said, pushing some of her hair behind her ears and smiling sheepishly. "I'll just let you get ready then an' see ya in the cargo bay."

"Ah, yes," Simon said, watching her leave. She still wasn't walking quite normally, and her hand was defiantly pressing on her stomach, she probably had more pain that she was going to let on.

"Someone has a crush," River said in a sing-songy voice.

Simon turned and looked at her critically, "What on earth-that-was are you talking about?"

River just smiled at him.

To Be Continued . . . (Don't forget to review!)

Hey all, I just want to take this opportunity to apologize to EloraCooper4, parisindy, Soulbound, and the Saint of Cheese. Wash, as much as I love him, doesn't show up again, except in passing reference. This is because (with the exception of the dislocated thumb) Wash has a very, very good day. Let's just say if I wrote out what he and Zoe were doing the story'd have to be bumped up to an R rating. And as much as some people might like that, I, as the author, think it would be over-all distracting. So, with all reverence to Wash, he and Zoe are granted an undocumented day of bliss.