Hi all, much thanx to earthdrago and lily for reading the first part of my fic. Sorry it took ages to write chapter 2. Just to let you all know, I am aware that I made Zoe going out of character. I read somewhere that Gina Torres was looking forward to the day Zoe snapped and became emotional. So I decided that the threat of loosing her crew, husband, and baby kinda would be the thing to do it. There will be more on her in the next chapter. And much thanx to my wonderful beta Kat! I hope you all enjoy Monty's crew ;)
Say One Last Goodbye
Chapter 2
"Where the hell is Monty?" A red headed woman grumbled outside of the Alliance hospital. She was leaning against an ambulance and squirmed in the uniform that was one size to tight. Her comrade was sitting a foot away lighting up his fifth cigar of the night. He was unusually tall and thin, although an observer could easily see that he had a natural grace. Shifting his position, he rested his head on the woman's feet. The woman grumbled in protest the man blew his smoke upwards towards her.
"Aw c'mon Haven he'll be back soon. With new fun people to meet." He said sarcastically while flicking his ashes up into the air.
"Hey they can't be that bad. Mal was a good egg. His crew can't be that bad." Haven replied with some optimism, "Well at least there will be some other women on board. Hasn't been one since that bitch Bridget." The man below her giggled through his smoke.
"Let's just hope that they are less psycho. Or at least equally psycho. I manage to live with you after all." The woman kicked her feet out causing the man's head to meet pavement.
"Owww!" The man screamed obviously being over dramatic.
"Wimp," Haven laughed. She bent over and attempted to kiss the man.
"No way! No way, Haven. We talked about this." The man jumped away from the woman and got off from the floor now looking down slightly so they could match eyes. Haven's happy disposition melted away and left a cold remainder.
"Iggy, I don't have serious relationships. I don't believe in labels. And I thought you agreed with me."
"Sure I did!" Iggy replied his face getting redder by the moment, "I said whatever I had to say to get you to pay attention to me and-"
"Get me in your bed?"
"I was going to be more gentle about it but yes. Eventually, Haven it's gotta be something more! Fang-she we hide it. When we are together we can't speak or….Haven it's a prison." The woman looked at her lover straight in the eyes without hesitation.
"Well then I guess we are done with. I have fun. And I'm not having fun with you anymore. I haven't in weeks…in fact I'm not sure if I ever did." Iggy just stared at the woman; he couldn't imagine anything worse for her to say.
"Haven! Iggy! We got a patient to transfer." Monty screamed from a distance.
"We're on it." Haven called back and she jumped into the ship without a glance at her ex. Iggy ridded himself of his broken pride for a moment to open the back of the shuttle. Monty ran to the shuttle, or waddled was a better description. He was accompanied by a young man who looked older than the age his body presented and a beautiful woman who was dressed as a nurse. The uniform was obviously too big for her but Iggy still could tell she was quite an ample woman. Iggy thought that maybe the new guys wouldn't be so bad. Then he heard the other woman cry…Zoe; he had seen her before. She was somewhat like Haven, but more calm and poised. If Zoe was a graceful but deadly praying mantis, Haven was a jackal. But this once graceful woman was lost in the shell of an insane woman.
"Everything alright?" Monty whispered into Iggy's ear. The man nodded and helped the young man load in Zoe.
"No one has even bothered us." Iggy said back, "Everything ok on your part."
"We had to knock out an ol' nurse. But we apologized. C'mon, let's get out of here." Iggy nodded and jumped into the ambulance as Haven took off.
When Iggy sat down he saw the younger man rip off his scrubs and cradle his head in his hands. Iggy had no idea how to relate to these new comers. Sure Monty's crew had encountered Reavers before but…it wasn't the same. The beautiful woman broke the silence.
"So what are we going to do?" Her voice reminded Iggy of a bird from his home planet. It made him both homesick and lusty at the same time.
"Well you can join my crew. We could use a good doctor like you Simon. Can't say that we've had better luck than Mal when it comes to fightin'. And at the moment our doctor is the cook!" Monty laughed large and out loud. It seemed incredibly out of place but Iggy was used to the man's random laughter.
"And 'Nara…well….you always can help us-"
"I will not take any of the crew as clients if that is what you're getting at Monty." The woman said with absolute confidence and majesty. Monty shook his head.
"Never meant that 'Nara. Wouldn't do that. Everyone on my ship is gentlemanly-" Haven snorted from the cockpit. Iggy rolled his eyes.
"Haven wouldn't know a gentleman if he was giving her a lap dance." Iggy yelled in Haven's general direction.
"Because gentlemen always give lap dances…oh wait that's only invalid circus performers." Haven yelled right back at Iggy.
Monty completely ignored his crew.
"Mal told me you were good with the one heist. And the more help the merrier."
"And Zoe?" Inara looked over to the casket that held Zoe's pregnant body.
"I'll watch her…" Simon said quietly, "I owe her that. At least." Monty nodded his approval. Inara placed her hand on Simon's back for comfort. But it didn't seem to help.
Iggy felt the need to break the tension.
"Well I guess I'll introduce myself. I'm Ignatious Finerly. Mechanic, tumbler, among other things. You can just call me Iggy." He held his hand out to Simon. The doctor nodded to him but did not take his hand.
"Simon." Was all he said.
"I'm Inara. Please to meet you Iggy…Simon's had a rough couple of days." Inara said to the mechanic.
"No problem. We all have our off days." Iggy sighed and twiddled his thumbs. "So Inara what do you do for a living?" Monty laughed once again.
"How dumb are you boy? If you didn't fix the ol' girl so well I would wonder if you were really a monkey." Iggy was left with a puzzled look on his face. No one was willing to explain to him what was so funny.
Jayne Cobb woke.
"Hazel! Go get Dr. Salmon. The big guy's awake!" Jayne heard voices say followed by the sound of running and heavy breathing. It took him a few moments to realize the heavy breathing was his own. His eyes finally began to tell the difference between blurs and actual objects. One such object was a voluptuous nurse who was checking all of the machines that surrounded Jayne.
"What the hell…" He attempted to say but his throat was throbbing with pain.
"Shhh…don't talk Mr. Cobb..." The nurse said to him, "You're throat has been damaged. Just wait for the doctor…and thank God that you are alive." Just then all of the memories of what happened at Serenity rushed back to him.
"Kaylee?" Jayne mouthed making sure his vocal cords were uninvolved. The nurse shook her head not understanding him. The mercenary looked to his left side…he remembered she lay there before he fell under. Now there was an empty bed where she used to be. No…not Kaylee…Jayne said to himself. He pointed over towards the empty bed and the nurse frowned.
"Oh. The young girl…she passed away last night. I'm sorry." This statement played repeatedly in Jayne's head. She was dead. His Kaylee…the girl who was the closest thing to family he ever had. Everyone on the boat made fun of Jayne's supposed stupidly…but not Kaylee. Jayne had brothers…but he never had a sister, until he met Kaylee.
"No! You gorram fools are hiding her. You back births took her away." Jayne yelled, his voice was actually heard through a raspy gargle.
"Please Mr. Cobb! You need to remain calm for your own condition!" The nurse ran to restrain him, but he threw his hand against her waist to stop her. Not knowing his strength he hurled the nurse against the wall. She lost consciousness as she hit the floor. Jayne pulled all of the tubes from his body and jumped out of the hospital bed. He rushed through the hospital with nothing on his body other than the hospital gaze. He had to find her. They were hiding her. It was all because of Simon and his crazy sister, now the whole Alliance was on their tails and they took his Kaylee away. They took her and they were hiding her. Jayne rushed down the hallways throwing his head into every room as he went by.
"Mr. Cobb!" A doctor in the hallway screamed. "You shouldn't be out of bed! Look at your legs!" Jayne pulled his head out of a room and let his head fall to look at his legs. They looked more like a patchwork quilts than legs. And the seams were beginning to snap and blood began to spurt out. Jayne looked up at the doctor with a mixture of hatred and sorrow. He felt a pin prick in his body and then he didn't feel anything.
From the moment Inara put her left foot onto "Sister" she knew that she would stay for a while. Although she was no Serenity, she did seem, oddly enough like a sister of Inara's old ship. She thought that it might be the fact that similar men controlled them. Worn out men from a lost war looking for a reason to stay alive…but Mal was gone now. Monty explained to Inara on the way, that Sister was also a transport ship but slightly larger than Serenity. There were more tenant rooms and a larger hold area. The only thing that Sister lacked was an infirmary. But Simon would probably take care of that. Inara turned her head to get the young doctor's take on the ship. Instead of finding awe or disapproval she found indifference.
"I'll need to turn one of the rooms into an infirmary. Is there a certain room you don't use?" Simon asked Monty who was busy helping Iggy transfer the wheelchair Zoe was currently in, off the shuttle.
"Well you can take yer pick. There's only seven of them taken by my crew. So if you see varmints in the room just keep on going." Monty said pushing Zoe to Simon who took hold of the wheelchair and Zoe, who still silent. He nodded and started to walk towards the right side of the grand staircase that was in the middle of the ship.
"Not even a thank you? Man what is that guy's problem? No one has a day that bad." Iggy grumbled taking off his brown beret. Inara sent him a death stare.
"Why don't you watch the ones you love be killed by Reavers then you can worry about Simon's manners." She snapped. Monty looked down at the floor and Haven rolled her eyes at her ex. Inara shook her head, amazed that she allowed her emotions to take such a hold on her. She supposed that the Reaver attack changed her as well.
"I'm sorry…" Iggy said shoving his hands into his pockets. He ran up the stairs and wandered into the opening that was to the far left. Inara watched him as he went, he just didn't understand…he didn't seem like a bad person.
Inara's thoughts were broken when a muscular black man with a huge gun walked into the holding area. He was even larger than Jayne. His bicep looked like the size of a cantaloupe from Isis. The companion was forced to falter slightly, the frown on his face looked lethal…not to mention his size.
"How was the trip? I hope the Alliance stayed away from our new crew members." The man's deep yet gentle voice asked with a newly made smile on his face. Inara was forced to raise her eyebrow.
"Of course. We did kinda borrowed a plan from the Serenity crew…so it had to work." Monty said with a smile. Inara didn't feel like telling Monty the same plan that they used actually resulted in the Alliance capturing three of their members.
"I'm glad to hear it." The man said with a laugh as large as he was. He stomped over to Inara and held his hand out.
"Darcy Jenners. I take care of these babies." He said nodding his head towards his weapon. Inara took his hand and shook it.
"Inara Serra." Darcy smiled larger, if it was possible.
"Inara, now that's a pretty name."
"It means ray of light…heaven sent. It is quite beautiful." Another male voice said. A man walked over to Inara with a slight smile on his face. He was also a larger man but next to Darcy he looked practically tiny. He had a filthy derby hat on his head that he lifted when he came to Inara.
"Efram Zhen. Resident merc and resident scholar." He bowed to her and took her hand that he gently kissed. Inara tried to smile but she noticed that the man's teeth were practically green they were so filthy.
"Pleased to meet you." She managed to say.
"Oh believe me you will retract that statement later on." Haven said with a wry smile as she came into the room. Efram ignored the pilot and offered Inara his arm.
"May I show you around?" He asked. Inara looked at his arm and shook her head she couldn't imagine what germs his skin carried if the man never brushed his teeth.
"Oh no thank you…I can manage on my own."
"Yeah sister!" Haven said starting to walk in front of the men. She flicked her long curly red hair in Efram's face on her way to the cockpit.
"Oh that girl." He mumbled to himself. Inara turned her head back to Monty to see a thin teenage boy struggling with a box that contained meds that Zoe needed. Inara rushed to help the boy. He looked shocked when she took the other side of the box.
"I…I…" He started to say as Efram picked Inara's arms off the box.
"He can manage." He said putting her hands on his forearm. She immediately ripped her arms from his.
"Efram…go tell Haven to get Sister goin." Monty replied with an authority in his voice that Inara had never heard before. She looked back to Monty with a certain amount of thanks in her eyes, although she didn't need his help. Efram mumbled something vulgar and ran up the top of the stairs and stopped at the middle doorframe, which opened to the cockpit. The man looked down at Inara with a dirty glance and then threw himself into the room.
"I'm sorry, 'Nara. He's a good man…smart as a whip…"
"But he doesn't respect women or anyone for that matter. There's a reason Haven's room is as far away from his as possible. Not that she couldn't take him." Darcy sighed while adjusting his gun so it was now on his back. The boy walked past them and stumbled into the direction that Simon went. He almost slowed down to get a look at the new woman but he continued on remembering how Efram humiliated him. Inara however watched him all of the time.
"Who is that?" She asked looking towards Darcy.
"Bastian. Bastian Montague. He's the mutt of the crew. Poor kid." Darcy sighed again with a frown.
"He's made of hearty stuff, just like him Mum." Monty said coming along side Inara. He did not offer her his arm, instead he simply said,
"Want to pick out your new room? I'll steer you far from Efram. We can make sure that it's close to Simon's infarmary…" Inara smiled genially, the first one in a long time.
"I would like that." She said not bothering to correct the correct pronunciation of infirmary.
So that's it! Please review, though do not flame me please, constructive citicism is welcome though. Thanks all :)
