Note: The last chapter was so short, I thought I'd post another one pretty quickly to make up for it. I would have had this up yesterday but the site wasn't accepting uploads. In case anyone is wondering. The story is 8 Chapters and an Epilogue long.

Chapter 5

Mal motioned to Kaylee to join him and then pointed at Jayne. "Stay."

Jayne nodded, glancing down at the unconscious Simon. "I don' think he's goin' anywhere."

"No one is until we get back," Mal shifted his eyes to Regan and Samantha. Just because these two women knew and cared for Simon, didn't mean he was going to let them alone for a moment.

Jayne nodded and moved stand in front of the door, cradling Vera to his chest.

By the time Kaylee and Mal reached the shuttle, the passengers had disembarked and River was hurrying along the catwalk toward the bunks.

"Simon," was all she said as she tried to run past them.

Mal caught her by the arm and whirled her around to face him, his face serious. "Wait lil' Alba –"

"He needs me!" River tugged her arm out of his grasp and disappeared around the corner, Kaylee following at her heels.

"Yes but we need to -" Mal tried to grab her again but she was too quick. "Tzao-gao!" Mal swore and hurried after her.

Inara kept at his back, breathlessly saying, "She's done nothing but mutter his name for hours."

"Yeah, he's been doin' the same."

"Simon!" River burst into her brother's room and knelt at his side. Tears pricked her eyes and she blinked, salty tears running down her smooth cheeks. She lowered her forehead to his, whimpering, then she lay her head next to his on the bed and put her arm around him. She had yet to notice anyone else standing in the small room.

"Not like me. Can't be. You protect me. You've always protected me. Can't leave. Happy now. " The words flew out of her mouth as she cupped his face in her small hands, pleading with her brother not to give in to the horrors she knew were trampling through his intelligent mind. She couldn't read him like she used to, couldn't sense him like she could the others and that scared her.

Samantha exchanged a confused look with Regan, who simply stood watching her daughter plead with her son to come back from whatever darkness held his mind in its iron grip. It was clear as River whispered to Simon, that she was not the same carefree, energetic girl that either woman had known. She was different.

Jayne, Mal, Kaylee and Inara simply stood and watched silently, waiting, wondering if the crazy girl would be able to bring her brother back from whatever horrors his drugged mind had conjured.

After many long minutes, River raised her head and took a deep, shuddering breath. With an agonizing slowness, she turned around and stared into her mother's eyes.

For a long moment, the only thing that could be heard in the small room was the frantic beating of so many hearts.

Remembering the Miranda incident, Mal hoped that River wouldn't go for her mother's throat. He had no delusions that neither he nor Jayne would be able to stop her if she was intent on murder.

River's mouth moved but no sound came out as dumb surprise registered across her face. "Momma?" She asked in a small voice, her fingers clutching her brother's hand. She looked for a moment as if she would launch herself into her mother's arms, but her eyes flashed and she said simply, "I didn't hear you. Only heard Simon."

Regan glanced at Mal, confused.

"Can hear you now." She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. "Very loud."

Regan blinked, comprehension slowly dawning across her face.

"She's a reader." Samantha took a step back, watching River carefully.

"Oh, fail to mention that, did we?" Mal asked with a flippant shrug.

River's eyes slid open and she shifted her gaze to Samantha. "You try to help him. But you won't. He's gone. Lost. Needs to find his way home."

"Can you – help him?" Samantha asked slowly. She knew the nervousness was showing on her face. She had never met a reader. They were simply not common among the population of any world. She'd heard the rumors that every reader had undergone serious medical treatment to give them their enhanced abilities and that information alone made her wary of them.

"I will take care of him like he always takes care of me." River walked over to Kaylee and took her hands. "We will take care of him."

Samantha and Regan stepped back as Kaylee let River pull her to the bed. "We can help him. You and me. Sisters."

Kaylee's bottom lip trembled. She and River had become so very close. Easy friends. Much faster than she and Simon. She almost did consider the crazy girl her sister.

River smiled, hearing Kaylee's thoughts. "Loves you. Wants to marry you." She shook her head, glancing down at her brother. "But he's afraid. Afraid he can't provide for you. Give you everything he wants to."

"I only want him," Kaylee lovingly touched Simon's face.

"I know. He knows. Doesn't believe. Chivalry. Respect. Propriety. Stupid brother. He's such a boob."

Kaylee giggled despite herself.

"Yes. Happy thoughts. He needs those. Needs to feel them." River's eyes narrowed as she stared at her brother. "He's falling. Can't stand on his own. Needs help – He knows." River shifted her eyes to the wall, her breathing coming in short gasps. "He – knows. Doesn't want it. Shouldn't have to carry it. It's not his."

"We'll help him. I'm trying," Samantha said softly, desperately. "If I only knew how -"

River turned on the doctor. "He saved me." She picked up her brother's journal and hurled it against the wall. "Useless. Won't save him." She dropped her forehead to Simon's. She repeatedly muttered fragmented words, phrases that made no sense, reminding the crew of the frightened, crazier girl she had been months before.

Simon's screams echoed through the ship as he woke, a vicious nightmare gripping his heart and squeezing the very air out of his lungs. He panted desperately for air, his body tangled so tightly in the blankets that he thought he was strapped to the bed.

"Tyen shiao duh!" Jayne swore as he slid open the door, blinking sleep out of his eyes. "What is going on in here!" He cradled Vera in his arms as if the weapon was a swaddling infant. "Ain't he better yet!"

"It would appear – not." Mal narrowed his eyes at Samantha as she hurried to prep a sedative that she hoped would calm her patient.

"Squirmy little one ain't 'e?" Jayne said smugly to Mal, quite pleased not to have Simon duty tonight.

"I noticed," Mal grumbled as Samantha pressed another needle to Simon's arm.

When he wasn't muttering incoherent words only River understood, he trembled so violently, they thought he was having a seizure – which wouldn't have been uncommon given the sheer amount of drugs in his system.

Mal, yet again, pinned Simon to the bed so he didn't hurt himself - or anyone else. After being oddly surprised at the sheer strength in Simon's lithe body, he'd banished the thought that such firm pressure on his arms could hurt the younger man.

Jayne glanced at Kaylee with a short chuckle. "Ain't this your job now? Pinning him to the bed?"

Samantha and Regan exchanged a curiously shocked and disgusted look. But Kaylee remained silent, watching Simon with wide, horrified eyes.

Jayne laughed at the silence that followed, adding, "Eh, I'm sure they take turns."

"I'm sure you'd just love to know." Mal grunted as Simon continued to struggle, showing signs of weakening as the sedative worked its way into his bloodstream.

Not one to hide his interest in sex, Jayne shrugged, "Well – sure. He's gotta be real good ta keep our lil' Kaylee satisfied."

Samantha shook her head, unable to believe what she was hearing. Was this big brute so crass as to discuss – were they really discussing her patient's sex life in front of her? She bit back a groan of disgust. "As entertaining as you two apparently find Simon's – life, please refrain from discussing it in front of us." Samantha prepped another syringe and injected it into his arm.

"Yes," Regan breathed, trying to regain her composure after hearing that very improper conversation. She was certain she didn't want to hear anything about who her son was bedding. "Please."

Jayne frowned. He was tired of all these proper, Core-bred people comin' on his boat and makin' him feel all dirty and uneducated.

River turned to him, hearing his thoughts. "You are."

Regan and Samatha stared at her for a long moment, wondering, trying to understand. The others just ignored her. They'd long given up trying to understand River's disjointed mutterings.

"Detoxing the drugs from his system is causing this behavior. It will, unfortunately, only get worse."

"Worse?" Mal groaned.

"This is pretty worse," Jayne added, eyes narrowing.

"I don't understand. The propoxin should have kept him under for much longer." Samantha shook her head, trying to understand. "It must be a combination of the other drugs in his system. He's not responding well to the sedative."

Simon, having quieted down for a few moments, began to mutter beneath his breath, his body tense, his hands clenched into fists. It took several very long minutes before the sedative took affect.

Samantha picked up the chart on which she'd been documenting his treatment. "I've tried Methadone and Naltrexone and they haven't done a thing." She glanced up, noticing the blank looks on the faces around her and explained, "They're the drugs commonly used to treat narcotic dependence." She pushed a hand through her hair, agitated that she hadn't been able to help her patient as much as she hoped. "I'll have to try something else."

"If nothing works?" Mal asked.

"The toxins in his blood will dissipate – eventually. The longer he remains so agitated, his heart is at risk. He's young and strong but we don't know what kind of vigorous treatment they put him through. The toxins in his blood could overload his normal liver and kidney functions, perhaps damaging them permanently. I'm trying to push the toxin's out, but the dosages in his blood were so high, it's taking far longer than I hoped."

Hours later, the crew had still gotten little sleep. With Mal and Jayne being the only ones strong enough to keep Simon from getting out of bed and hurting himself or anyone else, they had taken shifts watching him - and the lack of sleep was taking its toll.

River flat refused to leave Simon and Samantha had insisted she be there around the clock to monitor her patient so blankets, pillows and mattresses had been piled on the floor beside the bed. Fortunately, Simon's room was one of the doubles in the passenger dorms, having moved into the larger one when Kaylee had had begun sharing his bed.

Kaylee fixed the next room for Regan and even slept in the passenger bunks herself in an effort to be closer to Simon. She would have preferred to be in the room with him, but there were enough complications right now. She didn't need to add to them.

"Lucky we just finished a job that paid well," Jayne said as he brought Mal a plate of food. "Otherwise, we'd be starvin' an' -"

"I can pay you," Regan said from behind him. She looked from Mal, to Jayne to Kaylee. "I can pay you all for looking after my children. Keeping them safe."

"We don' need your money," Mal said with an air of disgust. "Simon's earned his passage as our medic."

The annoyed look on Jayne's face as Mal declined was evident which only encouraged Regan. "I will pay you anyway - when we reach -" She looked at Mal. "Where are we going?"

"No destination at the moment."

"Well, when next we land, I will withdraw any amount you need."

"Doubtful the banks on the worlds we frequent are connected to your accounts."

Regan exchanged a look with Samantha. "We're not -"

"You know too much about us," Jayne stroked Vera as gently as a man would stroke a woman. "Not thinkin' we're gonna drop ya off so's you can go straight to the authorities, are ya?"

"Do you think I would turn in my own children?" Regan asked, aghast.

"You didn't know." River said, patting her mother on the arm. "But you didn't believe either. Thought Simon was crazy. Thought he just missed me. I missed him. He could feel it. He didn't know. He didn't understand."

"Know what, River?" Samantha felt the girl had just given her a bit of unforeseen insight into what was going on in her, and possibly Simon's, mind.

"Understand what?" Regan asked, confused.

River tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. "He could hear me calling to him. Calling for help. And he came for me."

No one understood and River was clearly irritated until Samantha's gaze shifted from Simon to his sister, realization dawning as her eyes widened. River turned to the doctor and patted her hand. "Understand now."

"He's telepathic."

The collective gasp and emotional shock that rolled through the room buffeted River's mind so strongly that she visibly staggered from the blow.

Kaylee's eyes widened as she stared down at Simon. Was that possible? Could he –? Is that how he knew how to – She felt her cheeks warm at the thought.

River closed her eyes and clenched her fists, trying to shut out the voices suddenly screaming in her mind.

Regan stared at her son, disbelief crossing her refined features. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be. He'd never shown any signs. She whimpered as the guilt over abandoning her children rent her heart into tiny pieces.

"A guay," Mal muttered, shaking his head.

"Ta ma duh!" Jayne groaned.

River simply smiled at them in a slightly disturbed, deranged sort of way.

TBC

Chinese translations for Chapter 5:

Tzao-gao! - Damn it!

tyen shiao duh - name of all that's sacred

guay - hell

Ta ma duh! - fuck me blind

Response to readers comments:

TheScribe3 – Well, he has. But he's more hurt about their refusal to help than truly blaming them for what happened to River. Hopefully you think its still good after reading this chapter…:)

Jessclifton – Bring in Gabriel. Not – exactly.

Thedunnie2 – Thanks for such a long review. I love them! Just my POV (which I notice not many share) but I just don't think their parents were the horrible people everyone makes them out to be. Yes, they are social elite, caring more about prestige and position and not wanting to risk losing it on Simon's 'hunch', but I don't think they truly knew what was happening to River. The explanation I give isn't a long one, but hopefully it will be satisfactory. I'm glad you're craving more. I do try to purposely end chapters on cliffhangers.

Deirdre Reivyn – Ohh, someone new! I'm glad you're enjoying the story. I haven't read a lot of Firefly fic, but I'm hoping the idea is at least somewhat original.

Momin8r – Well, Simon thinks himself fixed by the end - kinda. But – well, things don't always work as he thinks they should. Jayne? Concerned? Sure, for his own neck . . . Jayne is a bit – rude in this chapter. I do so love writing the ape-man's lines. Heh

Pokey – In the script for 'Safe' where we see their parents, there is a lot of cut dialogue, which shows they really did care for their children. Gives a bit more insight into their characters. Hopefully, this chapter lives up to expectations. I have a feeling it won't but . . . we'll see.

JC6 - Glad you still like it. This one has a little revelation - kinda.

Scott - Ahhh, catch that did ya? Good job :)

Ivy3 - They had a different motive for doing what they did to him, and then there was that thing they didn't expect...poor Simon.