Title: Out of the closet
Series: Our Mrs. Cobb
Author: Sevangel
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Not mine; all belongs to J.W.
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"I don't want her to go." Kaylee plops down in the co-pilots chair and looks at Wash. "Wash, make her not go."
"How do you propose I do that?" Wash questions. "Cause if you've got any ideas, I'm open to them."
Kaylee looks nervously around the bridge.
"Kaylee, they're gone." Wash reminds her with a grin. "They're a couple miles away in some little town; nobody's going to hear you but me….and maybe River."
"There's a way I could make the boat stop movin' but not shut off life support." Kaylee whispers. "I could wait till we get deep into black fore doin' it and then we'll have more time to talk Willow into stayin'."
"We have loads of time." Wash says.
"Wash, I may not be the best with math but Bellasphere ain't but less than 18 hours away." Kaylee argues.
"Oh, but we have to avoid any chance of meeting up Alliance patrols." Wash grins. "So, I had to do some rerouting to make sure we don't run into them. It's going to take a week."
Kaylee grins back. "Cap'n know?"
"Are you accusing me of making important routing decisions without the permission of my captain?" Wash asks dramatically, his hand over his heart. "I'm hurt, Kaylee, very hurt."
Kaylee giggles.
"By the time Mal realizes what's going on, it'll be too late." Wash says. "Not that he'll argue."
"He might."
Kaylee spins around to see Inara standing in the doorway of the bridge.
"Mal is a proud man and he won't beg Willow to stay." Inara says. "In fact, now that she's said she's leaving, he'll probably do everything but push her off the boat."
"If only we could figure out what she's hiding, then we could have a better chance of convincing her to stay." Simon steps up beside Inara. "But without understanding her fears, we have no wave of validating them as real or not."
"She's your sister." Wash points out. "You get her to talk."
"I know her better than that." Simon replies. "She's not going to talk unless she wants to."
"And if her fears are valid?" Book steps around Simon and leans against the lockers. "If what she's hiding is something we can't handle, then what? I can understand why she might be afraid; I think she'd rather leave on her own then to have us tell her to leave."
"Do you honestly think whatever she may be hiding is so bad that we would really insist she leave?" Simon questions Book.
"I can't think of anything but obviously, Willow thinks there is." Book replies.
"What's that?" Kaylee asks Wash.
"What?" Wash replies.
"That beepin'." Kaylee says. "Can't you hear it?"
"Kaylee, you didn't already do that thing?" Wash asks, looking at the console.
"No." Kaylee replies. "Why?"
"Cause I've got nothing." Wash says. "No control, no visuals, nothing."
"Power's still on though." Kaylee crawls under the console and starts playing around. "I can't find nothin' wrong under here."
"Then what's going on?" Wash asks.
Kaylee stands up and looks at the pilot. "Maybe somethin' came undone when after we landed."
"Are you going to call Mal?" Book questions Wash.
"No reason to." Wash replies, standing up to follow Kaylee. "Kaylee'll fix whatever it is."
"Ain't nothin' big to worry bout." Kaylee assures them as she leads the way to the bay. "If it was somethin' big, we'd done lost power too. Probably just shorted somethin' or somethin' came undone." She steps in front of the panel on the floor and looks at Book and Wash. "Wanna help me lift it up?"
"Yes." Book starts towards her when something catches his eye. He looks towards the open bay door, his mouth dropping open in shock. "Wo de tien ah."
"What?" Wash spins around and his face pales.
Almost too afraid to know, Simon turns around to follow their gazes. "Mei-mei, Willow, what…"
"Oh, God." Kaylee gasps, grabbing onto Inara's hand.
Inara feels the blood drain from her face.
"Don't worry." Willow assures them, reaching up to wipe at her face. "It's not ours."
Simon tries to say something, tries to move but he's paralyzed with shock. His baby sister and Willow are covered almost head to toe in blood, both of them holding a blade in their right hands. The right strap of Willow's tank top is ripped and he can see a fresh bite mark on her shoulder. "What…"
"We need to leave." Willow says. "Are they back yet?"
"No." Wash whispers. "And we can't leave; something's wrong with the boat."
"Liou coe shuai du biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh ur-tze!" River growls.
"River!" Simon says, shocked by his sister's language.
"I should have known." River ignores her brother as she rants to herself. "I should have known what they were planning but I didn't…."
"You were too focused on talking to me." Willow says. "It's why you didn't realize they were here until it was too late."
"Who?" Book asks, growing worried. "Who are you talking about?"
"Reavers." River answers.
Kaylee jumps back with a cry, her face flooding with fear.
"You saw reavers?" Wash asks.
"No, we fought reavers." Willow replies. "How do you think we got so bloody?"
Wash fumbles into his pocket for his handheld com. "Mal, gorramit Mal, pick up."
After a few seconds, the very pissed voice of the captain responds. "This better be ruttin' good, Wash; we're tryin' to do crime."
"You need to get back here." Wash says, trying to remain as calm as possible. "We've got reavers."
A rush of Chinese follows. "They just broke atmo or somethin'?"
"No, they're physically here." Wash replies. "And River and Willow decided it would be a good idea to go fight them."
"WHAT?" Mal and Jayne both yell. "You best go get them…"
"They're right here." Wash interrupts. "Covered head to toe in blood."
"What the gorram hell….." The com flies out of Wash's hand, hits a pole, and shatters as he's tackled by a hundred and ten pounds of redhead.
"River, I thought you said we killed them all." Willow moves off Wash and turns him over to check for damage.
"I thought we did." River replies, pushing the rest of the crew behind some crates. "I guess I miscalculated."
Seeing that there's no physical damage done to Wash, Willow grabs her blade off the floor and joins River's side in the middle of the bay floor.
"RIVER!" Simon shouts. "WILLOW!"
"Just a sec." Willow replies.
The two reavers standing in front of the girls lick their lips and then pounce. Willow drops her blade and dives to the side to avoid being tackled while River kicks one across the face.
"See, it's no fair." Willow jumps onto the back of a reaver, tightening her arms around his throat. "You've got that whole training thing working for you; me, I'm just a normal….will you stop trying to bite me." Willow smacks the reaver on the back of the head, trying to keep him away from River so she can finish killing the other one. And with a swipe of her blade, River cuts her reaver's head off. "Okay, a little help here." Willow says.
"Heads up." River warns.
"Okey-dokey." Willow jumps off the reaver and kicks it in the butt, pushing it towards River who decapitates it with a single swipe. "Eww, gross."
River swipes at the reaver flesh on her shoulder with a grimace. "It's actually kind of ironic." River comments. "Seeing how it wanted to wear my flesh."
The watching crew runs towards them, Simon at the forefront. The doctor steps on a puddle of reaver blood and slides across the floor, his arms wailing wildly. He hits one of the dead reaver's body and trips over it, landing with a loud thump.
River looks at Willow, then Simon, and then back at Willow. Their eyes met and they both burst out laughing. "Told you heads up."
-
Mal yells over the com repeatedly, his shoulders tense. "Gorramit, Zoe, your husband's playin' a gorram joke on us and I'm gonna throttle him."
"Not if I get there first." Jayne growls from the back seat of the flying mule.
"He's my husband." Zoe replies evenly. "I get to do all throttling first."
"Don't this thing move any faster?" Jayne asks, weapons clenched tightly in his hands.
"I'm goin' as fast as I can…." Zoe hears somethin' behind her and glances in the rearview mirror. "Fuck."
Mal looks behind them, his face going pale. "Jayne."
"Got em." Jayne opens the weapon hatch and starts pulling out guns.
"They're catching up too fast." Zoe says, eyeing the reaver ship following them. "We ain't ever gonna make it home."
Mal starts to mentally figure out their options while still taking the guns and ammo Jayne hands him. 'Mal.'
"What?" Mal grunts.
"Huh?" Jayne replies.
"Somebody just said my name." Mal says.
"Weren't me." Jayne replies.
"Me either." Zoe says.
'Mal, it's me.'
Mal picks up the com and hits the button. "Willow, what's goin' on?"
"Sir, what are you doing?" Zoe asks.
"Answering Willow." Mal answers.
"Huh?" Jayne leans up from the back seat to look at the com. "I didn't hear nothin'."
"That's cause nothin' was said." Zoe replies.
"Gorramit, I heard Willow plain as day." Mal argues. "Like she was sittin' next to me."
'Mal, stop playing with the walkie talkie thing and listen to me.'
"See, she just done talked." Mal says.
"Sir, I think the stress has finally gotten to you." Zoe says, risking another glance back. "But on the plus side, at least you won't get the chance to develop an ulcer from it."
'Mal, listen.'
"A'right, Willow, I'm listenin'." Mal says.
"Zoe?" Jayne questions.
"I don't know, Jayne." Zoe tightens her hands around the steering wheel as she tries to up their speed.
'You've got reavers behind you, don't you?'
"Yeah, how'd you know that?" Mal asks.
'I just do and you don't have to talk out loud. Just think it and I'll hear you.'
"Oh, hell no, woman." Mal growls. "If I'm gonna have a conversation with you, it's gonna be out loud like normal folk, dong ma?"
'Okay, how close are the reavers?'
"Three hundred or so feet behind us." Mal replies. "Why?"
'How far are you from the ship?'
"Zoe, how far are we from Serenity?" Mal questions his first mate. "Willow wants to know."
"Half a mile or so." Zoe replies, glancing over at him like he's gone insane. "You're talking to Willow right now?"
"Yep." Mal says.
"Okay then." Zoe replies.
"Willow, we're…" Mal starts to say.
'I heard, well actually you thought it and I heard but anyways, Zoe's driving, right?'
"Yeah." Mal replies.
'Tell her not to freak out, kay?'
"Willow said not to freak out." Mal tells Zoe.
"I think you've done freaked out enough for all of us." Zoe replies. "Ain't got no…"
'Zoe, I need you to look around at everything in front of you.'
"Willow?" Zoe questions out loud.
"Oh, hell, they've both lost it." Jayne mutters to himself.
'Yeah, it's Willow. Just look around and you don't have to talk out loud, just think it and I'll hear it. But right now, I need you to be my eyes, I need to see what's around you.'
"Hell, no." Zoe replies. "Ain't no way I'm conversatin' with you in my head. I'll just speak out loud."
'Fine, but just look around you.'
Zoe does as told and looks around at the bareness they're driving through. It's nothing but rocks and trees and dirt. And the reavers are almost on their tail.
'You need to go faster.'
"Mule don't move no faster." Zoe says, clenching her hands around the steering wheel.
'It will now. Just hold on tight.'
"Hold on." Zoe warns. "We're speeding up."
"Mule don't go no faster." Mal argues but as he says it, the mule speeds up and rises a little higher into the air, higher than it's possibly able to.
"What the gorram hell is goin' on?" Jayne shouts.
"I don't know." Zoe yells back. "But I ain't doin' this."
They continue to move faster until they're traveling at a speed that is at least twice what the mule is actually able to achieve. Within a few moments, they can see the familiar sight of Serenity, only a ways in front of them. And a glance behind them shows the reaver vehicle still behind them. Their speed doesn't even slow down, they just head towards the open door of Serenity.
"This ain't gonna end well." Mal mutters. "Willow!"
-
"What's she doing?" Wash asks Book quietly, gesturing to Willow who is standing on the bay floor under the catwalks, her eyes closed tightly.
"I don't know." Book answers. "Isn't there another way to contact the captain?"
"No." Wash replies. "Kaylee's too freaked out to go under the boat right now and that means the console won't get fixed and that's the only other way to contact them."
"Mei-mei, I need to take you to the…"
"Not yet, Simon." River interrupts. "It is not over yet."
"What?" Kaylee screeches. "There's more?"
"They are on the way." River replies. She grabs Inara's hand and tugs the companion away from Willow to the staircase the rest of the crew is sitting on. "For your safety and the safety of those around you, I must request that you stay over here until the ride is complete."
"What?" Wash pushes a hand through his hair, completely frustrated.
"Go upstairs." River instructs, shooing them with her hands.
"River, what's going on?" Wash moves up the stairs, a little too afraid of the genius to argue with her.
"Time will tell." River replies. She waits until the crew is standing on the walks over looking the bay before walking over to stand beside Willow, taking the witch's right hand in her own. "Ready?"
"Are you?" Willow asks. "To kill me that is?"
"Won't be needed." River assures her, squeezing Willow's hand reassuringly.
Wash looks down at River and Willow and starts to walk back down the steps when he sees the mule flying towards the boat; flying so much faster and higher than it should be able to.
"What the?" Kaylee gasps. "Wash, that mule can't move that fast."
"I know." Wash agrees.
"It's not slowing down." Book says, eyes wide with shock as the mule moves closer and closer to the inside of Serenity.
"As fascinating as that is, does anybody else notice something different with Willow?" Simon asks, leaning over the railing to peer down at River and Willow. "Because as far as I remember, Willow has red hair."
"Oh, my." Book gasps.
"And is it just me or does her hair seem to be floating around her head like there's a breeze?" Simon asks.
"Yes." Inara agrees, her mouth opening in shock.
"Lao-tyen boo." Kaylee screams. "They're gonna get run over."
-
"Brake!" Jayne yells. "Stop this gorram mule."
"I can't." Zoe yells back. "I can't do anything."
Mal braces his hands in on the dash in front of him, preparing himself to see River and Willow flattened by the mule. He can hear Kaylee screaming above him, feel Jayne's hands squeezing the back of his seat but he just stares at the two girls in front of him.
The mules flies into the boat, straight at River and Willow, and then comes to a dead stop, the front of the mule brushing the front of the blood covered girls.
Jayne starts to jump out when he's suddenly pushed back in.
"GET DOWN!" Willow screams, waving one hand at the mule. She pushes the three people in it down, her free hand coming up in front of her. She mutters under her breath, pulling energy into herself and pushing it out of her hand until a decent size fireball in floating a few inches above her palm. She throws it at the reaver vehicle a few feet outside of Serenity and it instantly blows up. "Thicken." She waves her hand at the open doorway, an invisible shield blocking the aftermath of the explosion. "Return." The mule drops back down to it's normal height and turns off. "Release." And with one more wave of her hand, she releases Jayne, Mal, and Zoe. She then turns to look beside her. "Well, guess it was time."
"Guess it was." River agrees.
Willow looks up to see everyone yelling and screaming, hands gesturing everywhere. "I don't feel so good."
River grabs Willow's arms, barely catching the witch before she hits the ground. She hears the boots stampeding towards her and looks up to see Mal and Jayne barreling down on her. "Did you have a nice ride?"
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