Disclaimer: Characters still don't belong to me. I just like playing with them.
Author's Notes: Thanks to Nautica7mk, Ande, havenward, MaidM and Rowe1 for reviewing; you made me smile. As for Mal's actions which seem to be raising several eyebrows...it's Mal. What more needs to be said? I hope everyone who might be reading this enjoys this next chapter. I wanted to get it out soon as a hurricane is bearing down on my part of Florida, which might delay my internet activities during the week. Take care!
Precious
by Kristen Elizabeth
What had she been thinking?
Seated in a mismatched kitchen chair, Inara rested her forehead on her arm, cursing under her breath. She'd made a huge mistake. In a moment of heightened emotion, she'd forgotten all of her plans for the future and reasons for leaving, and declared she was staying on Serenity.
It was entirely Mal's fault.
As if summoned, the man in question ducked into the kitchen just then. She shot up and aligned her back in the perfectly balanced posture of the Companion, unable to overcome years of training.
He seemed surprised to see her, as if he'd already acclimated himself to the idea of her absence. Inara felt his eyes rake over her. Then, just as he had in the cargo bay, he looked beyond her, dismissing her as he would a stranger.
Mal had already passed her chair on his way across the room before she worked up the nerve to address him. "Do you intend to ignore me for the entire journey to Osiris?"
He stopped. She couldn't see him as she refused to turn around in her seat, but she could sense his frustration. "Look, I got a whole passel of little ones 'bout to board my boat. If you're plannin' on stayin' for whatever reason, you can either help out or keep out."
"I do plan to help," Inara informed him. "I've always gotten on well with children."
"Yeah, well, that makes one of us." Mal came around the table with a boyish scowl. "Kids got smudgy hands and loud voices. They run all over, you gotta watch 'em so's they don't kill themselves. And some of 'em ain't all potty-trained."
She hid a smile. "Serenity has certainly survived worse." A few seconds passed. "But you've never done worse."
The momentary truce died a swift death at this. Mal's scowl turned into a glare. "Not now."
Inara jumped to her feet. "They're children, Mal! They're not indentured and they're not criminal. But even if they were, no one deserves the hell you're delivering them into."
"I'm only gonna say this once." He leaned across the table until his face was only inches away from hers. "I captain this boat. I say what happens on it."
"Just when I think I have you figured out," she whispered, repeating words she'd told him once before, but under much different circumstances.
"Sir." Zoë shattered the silence that stretched between them. "They're here."
Something flickered in the ocean depths of Mal's eyes. Something that told Inara to hold her tongue further, but not from fear of him. Mal, she realized in that instant, was smarting from the very idea of what they were about to do.
But he was going to do it anyway.
"You comin'?" he asked Inara. "Bein' so good with kids 'n all."
She gave the back of his head a defiant stare all the way to the cargo bay. Down below, Kaylee and Book herded a throng of approximately thirty children up the ramp. Although none of them appeared to be younger than five or six, they were all skin and bones, dressed in little more than glorified rags.
One child, a little girl with stringy brown hair, looked up at them with wide, scared eyes. She hugged a rag doll to her chest, but carried nothing else. Her feet were bare and her dirty dress hung off her emaciated shoulder.
Inara picked up her skirts and brushed past Mal, charging down the stairs like a woman possessed. She didn't really have a plan, but if she didn't do something, she was quite afraid that her heart would stop beating.
Book stopped her before she could throw her arms around the girl. "Best not to get attached," he told her in a low voice.
"But…" The children were staring at her as though she was a goddess descended from some magical island. Her throat constricted.
"Help me get them settled in, will you?"
Inara nodded at the Shepherd before glancing over her shoulder. Mal still stood on the rusty step, surveying the scene. Her eyes narrowed briefly, but right then was not the time to dwell on him.
She looked down at the child with the rag doll. Next to her was an older boy with a cap of black hair. Next to him, a flame-haired girl on the edge of young womanhood. And then a blonde boy with a missing front tooth. And so on and so on. Inara pressed a hand to her throat.
Kaylee took over where she could not. "Does anyone need to go to the bathroom?" she asked the children. Almost every single one of them nodded. "This here's Shepherd Book. All boys, go with him. Girls, come with me."
The children were apparently used to receiving orders and separated into the proper groups without much confusion. Inara watched them start up the stairs, stopping when they spotted Mal looming over them.
"Everyone, say hi to Captain Reynolds," Kaylee told the children. "Captain…" She gave him a very pointed look. "Say hi."
Mal cleared his throat. "Welcome. I got some rules." Inara sighed. Kaylee opened her mouth to protest, but he went on.
"First off, no runnin' 'round my boat. Stay where you're put and we'll get along just fine. If you need somethin', ask for it. Ain't nobody gonna be put out to help you." He paused, as if about to say something more.
Before he could, a boy of about twelve raised his hand. "Captain, sir?"
"Xing?"
"I kinda speak for everyone 'cause most of 'em ain't old enough to do it on their own." The boy looked up at Mal. "Thank you for takin' us to our new families. We've all been waitin' a long time for this."
Mal's Adam's apple bobbed up and down; he glanced away, his fist curling around the balcony railing. Inara watched him through watery eyes. He forced himself to look down at the boy, but he couldn't seem to speak.
Inara stepped forward, wrapping an arm around the boy's too-skinny shoulders. "Go on now," she encouraged him. "Go with the Shepherd and then we'll all have a little supper, how does that sound?"
The children's eyes lit up at the prospect; they seemed even more eager after that to follow Book and Kaylee to the facilities.
When the cargo bay was empty again, and it was just her and Mal, Inara stormed back up the stairs, mindless of her expensive skirts. She came to a halt just a step below him. "There's your cargo, Mal." She side-stepped him without another glance. "May it bring you great profit."
It wasn't all that much different to make supper for forty than it was to make it for ten or so, Kaylee discovered. Despite Serenity's meager food stores, she was able to make a great pot of stew, with a little help from Book's herbs. It was mostly protein cubes and flash-frozen vegetables that had expired, but the children gobbled it down within minutes.
Wash sat at the wooden table, dipping into his own dinner occasionally as he watched the children sitting cross-legged in neat rows at the far end of the kitchen. Kaylee walked between them, refilling their cups.
"Kids eat a lot," he stated suddenly.
Beside him, Zoë pushed her spoon through her stew. "Yes, they do."
"I mean a lot. Look at 'em go," he marveled. When his wife didn't reply, Wash nudged her ribs gently. "Bao bei?"
"The baby subject's been closed for a while." She stood up. "Ain't no need to make up new excuses." Zoë took her bowl over to Kaylee, offering her untouched stew to the children.
Wash blinked as she left the kitchen without another word to anyone. "What did I say?"
Hunched over his supper, Jayne shrugged his massive shoulders. "Don't she want you to knock her up, or somethin'?" He drained his bowl. "Just plant one and she'll get off your gorram back."
"Kindly never talk about my wife's reproductive organs again."
Simon stared at Jayne. "Do you have to work to be as appalling as you are, or does it come naturally?"
"A little boy who saw too much," River said, staring at the ceiling. "Life comes in too many big pieces and you stop caring for manners." She looked at her brother with a simple smile. "May I be excused?" After a moment without any reaction, she slipped away from the table and joined the children on the floor.
Jayne stood, his lip curling up in disgust, mixed with just a tinge of fear. "Got my fill of creepy kids. Knock if I'm needed." He left, heading for his bunk.
"Doc," Wash addressed Simon once they were alone. "You're a doc."
"Er…yes."
"Tell me 'bout babies bein' born. I wanna know…is it all mess like people say? Can you have sex before? How 'bout after?"
Overwhelmed, Simon shot to his feet. "I really should examine some of the children. They look sickly."
Wash scratched the back of his head as Simon headed to the infirmary to retrieve some supplies. "New excuse. Kids make everyone crazier."
Kaylee approached the table with the big pot in one hand and a ladle in the other. "You seen Mal or Inara?" she asked him.
"Nope."
"I was tryin' to save some dinner, but the kids are so hungry." Her teeth tugged at her lower lip. "It's like they ain't eaten in days."
Wash frowned. "Maybe they haven't."
"You don't really think Capt'n's gonna give 'em to…" She lowered her voice. "…slavers, do you?"
"Tyen shuh duh. You'd think a body could figure another man out after livin' and workin' with him for a couple of years." He shook his head. "Not Mal. He's one great big surprise that keeps on surprisin'."
Kaylee glanced back at the children. River was teaching them a little song with accompanying hand claps. "I'm tryin' not to get attached, but they're all so sweet. Can't help it." She looked back at him. "When you and Zoë have a baby, I'm gonna be a goner."
Wash attempted a smile. "No fear, mei-mei. Don't see that happenin' for a while." His expression soured. "She'd have to start talkin' to me again."
Mal shook his hands over the pull-out sink to dry them. It was late, several hours after dinner, and probably safe for him to come out and scout for food.
True, he had been hiding in his bunk ever since his awkward encounter with the children, and it was a mite shameful, but better than being stopped in his tracks by one of their misguided, grateful stares.
He climbed up the ladder and came out into the main thoroughfare. His ship was serene once again as the children had been put to bed in the hastily-assembled cargo-bay camp. Kaylee was probably staying the night there with them. Book, too, more than likely. Perhaps even Inara was deigning to sleep on the hard ground, rather than her piles of silken pillows and satin sheets, which she'd probably already reassembled just to tick him off.
Thinking about Inara's bed, or more specifically Inara in her bed, had Mal tripping at the entrance to the kitchen. He caught himself just in time to keep from falling on his face.
"Careful," Simon said, looking up from the cup of tea he was pouring. "I'm running low on weaves."
"Good thing we're headin' to Osiris." Once his pride was gathered, Mal started searching through various drawers and cabinets for anything edible. "You can stock up."
"About that…do you really think this is the best possible plan?"
Slamming one drawer shut, Mal rounded on the young doctor. "Had just 'bout enough of bein' questioned on my own boat. We do the job, we get the money and we keep on flyin' and maybe even eatin'."
"I'm not questioning your decision to take this mission," Simon corrected him. "Although I find it abhorrent in every possible way, it's not my primary concern right now."
"Let me guess." Upon locating a packaged protein bar, Mal took a big bite. "Your sister."
The younger man set down his cup. "The reason I chose your ship, Captain, was that you were heading away from the Core and it didn't seem like you had any plans to go back in the future. I need to keep River as far away from the Academy as possible, because if the niao se dub doo gway find her, they will take her and play with her brain even more. And this time, the damage would likely be irreversible. If it's not already."
"Nice speech. But Osiris is where our money's at."
"And what are we supposed to do while you're on planet, selling children to the highest bidder?"
Mal threw aside the bar's silver wrapper. "You could always drop in on the folks."
A moment passed before Simon shook his head. "Kaylee keeps trying to defend your actions, but I wonder how long she'll be able to. It's putting a strain on her kindness." He picked up his drink. "And that's saying something."
He didn't want the doctor's comments to sink in, but they did, through the tiny cracks in his painstakingly-established walls. After Simon had departed, Mal stood in the silent kitchen for a long time. His thoughts were a jumbled mass, but one thing seemed clear. If he kept avoiding the children, he was no better than the people who would be buying them.
The cargo bay was quieter than he'd imagined it would be while housing a large group of children. Their pallets were spread out just beneath the stairs and railings, and a few artificial lanterns provided light for any child who might still fear the dark. In the eerie glow, Mal could see Kaylee and River sprawled out amongst the children, each girl sleeping soundly. Book had nodded off in a chair nearby, his Bible spread out over his chest. It could have been a homey scene, if not for the feeling of foreboding that hung in the air.
Someone started humming just then, and Mal searched the semi-darkness for the source of the throaty tune. He should have guessed. It was Inara.
She sat upright against a stack of containers, not seeming to notice or care about their filthy state. Her eyes were closed as her low humming turned into whispered words to a song he'd never heard. Was it sung to her as a child, or had she learned it on her own for the rare lonely night when the Companion had no companionship?
But while her song intrigued him, it wasn't what had Mal staring at her as though he'd never seen her before. She had four or five children gathered around her, using her silk skirts as bedding, her body as pillows. Her arms cradled two of the smaller ones against her soft chest. She sang to them in their sleep without a thought for her own comfort.
Mal turned away from the sight, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. He'd seen her as a whore, a temptress, a business partner, a friend, an object of desire, a worthy adversary. But until that moment, he'd never thought of her as a woman.
It wouldn't change anything, he decided. Even if it changed everything. The plan was outlined and engaged. Until it was all over, for better or for worse, none of them could know the truth. Least of all her.
With visions of chained children moving to the haunting melody of Inara's song, Mal found no sleep that night.
To Be Continued