DISCLAIMER: By now …it´s clear they are not mine, they belong to Joss who´s gonna shoot a shiny movie with them ……
NOTES: THANKS THANKS THANKS , to all you beautiful, wonderful people who still read this and wished me the best of luck on my exam! It humbles me so evertime I read your feedback and makes me so very proud that you like what I write! I can never thank you enough!!!!
So here is just a small thing I wrote right after my exam yesterday and I promise I will update a few more times over the holidays!! I promise ….more to come!!!!
COLD
River took a shuddering breath, her eyes fluttering shut.
She allowed herself to lean back into the pillow beneath her head. She had said it …Hades, she had told them. Now all she needed to feel was warmth. She reached inside, reaching out her hand to touch the other thing, slipping back into her own mind.
They were in the grey room, lying on the floor. She was on her back, staring up at the ceiling she could not really see, then turned her head. The other thing lay in her vicinity on it´s stomach…panting. River could see only one dark eye as the rest of it´s face was turned towards the floor. She reached out with an effort, grabbing a hold of the thing´s hand and squeezing it tight.
" You brought us home…." She whispered with the slightest tone of surprise.
It afforded her the mockery of a smile that River had become so accustomed to, part predatory part childish.
" I´ll always see us safely home." Her mirror- image returned softly.
" We are one now, little sister. I will never lead you astray…."
She did not want to stay to sleep in the lab, so they had put her up in her tiny room. Mal had started to talk strategy immidiatly. Where to land, what to do, what the enemy might do ……he had smiled at her wryly.
" You can maybe help us later, once you´re rested and warm …….".
Jayned had smiled grimly at her, still holding himself back a little…..there was something that bothered him. But River was too tired and cold to make the effort of probing his mind as he left with the captain. Wash had already set course.
She slept no more than two , maybe three hours. Kaylee had brought her warm broth to warm her up. Even after her rest River still felt chilled to the bone.
She looked up as the door slid back to reveal Jayne whose tall, broad frame filled almost door-case.
For a moment he just looked down at her, his face set.
" Mal´s eager to get on with the plannin´, wants to know if you got any other intel. She must have told you sumthin´…..since you were gone so long." His voice sounded pressed and low. River cradled the cup in her hands, hoping that some of the heat would seep into her cold fingers, and watched him as he started pacing the room.
„ You look like you´re going to yell at me"
Her soft voice made Jayne turn around to look at her. There were dark rings under her eyes and she was even paler than usual, if that was even possible. She looked tired and drained and very, very vulnerable.
" Not gonna yell at ya´, why would I?"
She lifted an eyebrow, taking another sip of the hot broth, her eyes still fixed on him. He was pacing the confines of her small cabin like a caged animal, a very dangerous animal on the brink of an explosion.
She could feel the scolding waves of feeling that he emitted unknowingly. Feeling the heat of his emotions made River even more aware of how cold she felt. So cold that she welcomed wave after wave, as though they could warm her.
" You usually yell when you are angry." River said unperturbed, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders with one hand.
" I´m not angry!" Jayne growled.
" Yes, you are ……you always get angry when something scares you. That´s the way you deal with this kind of things!"
"Gorrammit River!"
Now she had done it! He was yelling at her. What was that gorram` stubborn girl thinking?
He was not scared…….why would he be?
" If you ruddin´well know everything, why are you askin´?"
She said nothing. River simply sat there, looking at him. Then she put the empty cup down on the table next to the bed.
" I´m sorry! "
" No you are not!"
" You´re right , I´m not …..I just ….."
" Gorrammit River! I hate it when you do that …..that thing you did just there……with Inara, the dream-walking. You are still as cold as a ruddin´ ice-block! Nobody knows how you do it, if you get in trouble …."
" You want to…..
" When you do those ruddin´things I …I …don´t know what to do! I´m not smart like that….it makes me feel all kinds of creepy!"
River couldn´t help but smile. He was wound so incredibly tight and it was because of her. The thought alone made her feel tingly down to her toes.
Gingerly, she got off the bed and stepped towards him.
"Your hands are always warm!" she whispered as she moved to take a hold of them.
River leaned into him, guiding his arms around her until they clasped behind her back.
" You are so warm…."
She felt his sharp intake of breath, felt the anger subside until he had it under control. One of his rough hands slid upward slowly to cup the back of her head. Jayne pulled her closer and it felt like she could just melt into his warmth.
River closed her eyes and sighed. She could feel his lips moving over her forehead, her hair.
He was still struggling with himself over something and this time she did not intrude.
He bent down as though to pick her up, his voice sounder raw and hoarse.
" We´re ok though, aren´t we?"
" … no power in the ´verse, remember?"
