DISCLAIMER: Don´t own Firefly, all belongs to Joss Whedon.

NOTES: I apologize deeply and humbly for not writing anything in such a long Time, but the upcoming Exams I am facing and my thesis keep me on my toes!!! I hope there are still people out there who like to know how this will go on, so here´s just a little thing to keep you going. I will try to update more regularly with the holidays coming up and all.

CHECK OUT THE DVD SET …I already got it and it´s a treat!!!!!!

Keep on flying!!!

HOME

„ How´s our girl doin´?"

Jayne and Simon both looked up as Malcolm Reynolds walked in.

" Not as good as I´d like!" Simon answered timidly, his eyes meeting the captain´s gaze. Mal approached the gurney with an expression of weariness on his handsome face.

" She didn´t wake up yet?"

His eyes sought Jayne who was leaning against the far off wall, arms crossed in front of his broad chest. The mercenary shook his head.

" She´s cold as ice."

" I´ll give her another ten minutes, if she hasn´t come around by then I´ll wake her up with an injection of adrenalin." Simon added, sorting through a nearby cupboard.

" Her lips are starting to turn blue and I´d rather not take any more risks on my sister´s life!"

Mal just nodded. There was nothing he could say, the doctor was right. If this hadn´t worked they would find another way. They had to….

With an exasperated sigh, Simon closed the cabinet doors, fscing the two other men in the lab.

" We´re out of blankets here and we need to warm her up. I´ll have to fetch additional blankets from my cabin, if she´s not awake when I return, I´ll start the procedure." The young doctor announced with a pointed look before he left sickbay.

Mal´s eyes returned to River, who lay on the gurney still as a corpse or a statue, covered with several blankets. Her pale, peaceful  face framed by the unruly mass of her tangled dark hair.

Mal couldn´t help but be reminded of an old fairy tale his mother had told him once when he would not go to sleep as a little boy. A tale about a sleeping princess in a bower, waiting for some sort of magic kiss to free her from a spell…….

The notion almost made him laugh, despite the situation they were in; River sure did look the part with her pretty face and that pixie- like quality …..but Jayne Cobb was hardly a prince and anyone who ´d even mention something like that to him would most likely be closely acquainted with the mercenary's fist.

Mal shook his head and chuckled.

" How easily we forget…." He mumbled, unsure if he was talking to himself or Jayne.

" …after everything she´s done, she ´s still such a fragile little thing."

Jayne growled and rubbed his hands over his face a few times.

" It´s the one ruddin´thing that I can never really forget, it´s always somewhere in the back of my mind. No matter what the gorram´ girl is capable of, she´s still ….." He ground out when Mal turned from River to look at the other man. Nodding, pursed his lips thoughtfully.

" That scare you sometimes?"

" Nope…." Jayne ground out, taking a deep breath.

" What scares the living hell out of me is that she does all these things when she has no ruddin´clue as to how she does it. Doesn´t know how it all works, she just ….Gorramit it , Mal …she just goes and does them and it´s bound to get her into trouble sooner or later!"

" You know.." Mal  shook his head, trying not to smile. " Don´t think there´s much use in tellin´her what to do, she´ll just…"

" Do as she pleases, I know! Doctor probably still thinks that it´s all me havin´a bad influence on her, corruptin´his sweet, innocent sister!"

Mal could not help but grin a little.

" That may be so, but the doc has cooled down a fair bit. But you´ve been havin´a bad influence on that girl!"

Jayne grinned back, but as his gaze swept over River, he grew sombre again.

" Been pridin´ myself on that for a while, but not even the devil himself could tell her what to do and what not. It´s part of what I like about the doctor´s crazy little sister. Can´t lie to her either……that gorram´girl takes a look at you and knows what goes on in your ruddin´

 mind!"

" Strange how things work out, ha?  Who´d have thought that we´d come to rely on her aptitude this much?"

" Guess we all have our little quirks…Kaylee´s never been to a special school or sumthin´ and she´s the best mechanic,  Wash talks a whole boatloads of rubbish sometimes, but he´s one hell of a pilot, I´m good with guns…..hell, even the doctor has his uses. And my girl …well she just happens to be a mind reading genius who can walk into people´s dreams."

This time Mal could not help but shoot Jayne a mocking grin.

" Now listen to you! To think that you would have left her to some religiously crazed crowd a few months ago!"

" Anybody lays a hand on that girl…."

" Oh, lemme guess…" Mal interrupted the mercenary. " You´ll break it?"

" Nah …." Jayne told him with a sardonic grin.

" I´ll rip his whole gorram´arm off and beat him to death with it!"

" How come you only say the really romantic things when I happen to be unconscious?"

" River!"

Then men turned around staring at her in shock as she started coughing violently. Her voice sounded hoarse and brittle, but she gave them a weak smile.

" I´m so cold!"

" Your brother is getting more blankets, how are you feelin´?"

Mal asked her with a worried expression. Her skin was so pale that it seemed almost translucent.

" Cold …..thirsty."

" We´ll get you some water and maybe Kaylee can whip up some hot broth to warm you up!"

" Captain ….." River closed her eyes for a moment. She felt a paralyzing tiredness and so very, very cold.

" Hades …..that is where Niska is going. They are taking Inara to Hades."

Jayne furrowed his brow as he carefully put one hand on River´s forehead.

" You sure? Never heard of that planet."

" It´s not a planet….It belongs to Olympus" Mal said gravely.

" Hades is a moon." River whispered, opening her eyes again.

" Not more like a peace of bleak rock, really. But has his own atmosphere, it´s been a hideout for pirates and smugglers."

" We´ll fit right in then!"