"Dad?"

Mal's head whipped to face Simon, who had dropped the bag of medical supplies and gone paler than Mal had ever seen him. His own hazel eyes were wide in shock, and his jaw hung open as he gaped at the man against the wall. "Dad?" squawked Mal in disbelief. His eyes darted back and forth between Simon and the stranger. There was no denying the similarities were remarkable, and the mannerisms definitely fit, but still...

"Hello Simon", replied Gabriel Tam calmly, as though he weren't being pinned to a wall in an alley by a painfully shocked looking man. "It's...good to see you again, son."

Simon's mouth opened and closed a few times, but he couldn't seem to form any words. Finally, he managed to let out a high-pitched, "What are you doing here?"

Gabriel's eyes flicked to Mal for a moment before resting on his son again. "I'd be happy to explain, if you'd kindly ask your...friend to release me."

Fighting to regain some semblance of self-control, Simon took a step forward and placed a hand on Mal's arm. "Mal, it's...alright. You can let him go. I don't think he's going to hurt us."

Mal swallowed and stepped back from Gabriel, looking apprehensive. Gabriel, for his part, looked minorly inconvenienced as he smoothed out his jacket and straightened his tie. He looked back up at Simon. "We have quite a lot to talk about, son. Is there someplace we can do that...in private?" The last was delivered with a pointed glance at Mal.

Mal's face broke into a cold smile. "Don't think there's much chance of that happenin' any time soon." To his credit, Gabriel didn't flinch at the quiet menace in the words that would have made another man tremble.

Simon moved in closer to Mal's side, looking angry now. He raised his chin defiantly at his father and said, "Mal is my husband, Dad. Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of him."

"Your..." Gabriel's eyes flickered over the thin bands of gold both men wore on their left hands. He looked surprised for the first time. Then he straightened up and schooled his expression once again into a granite slate. "I see. You've obviously kept busy these past few years."

"Kept busy?" exclaimed Simon heatedly. His hands fell to his sides and balled into fists. "I suppose you could say that. After all, breaking River out of that Alliance torture camp alone, trying to repair the sheer amount of damage they did to her, living as fugees, trying to avoid bounty hunters and Alliance patrols and any number of other people who want to capture or kill us does tend to keep one rather preoccupied!" He was shouting by now, but he didn't care.

Gabriel spoke in a furious hiss. "You have only yourself to blame for all of that! You kidnapped your sister and turned both of you into wanted fugitives! You threw away not only your own future, but River's as well! It was hard enough watching you turn your back on a successful career, a happy life, but your mother and I never thought you'd drag River into it as well!"

"Threw our futures away? They were torturing River in the Academy! They cut her brain open! When I finally got her out of there, she was close to complete insanity! I had to keep her constantly sedated at first while I searched for a medication regiment that would give her some peace!" Shaking with rage, Simon took a threatening step closer to his father. "You could have helped us. Do you know how much quicker her treatment would have been if I'd had sufficient funds and access to the Core's psychiatric libraries? I begged you to help us, Dad!"

"If I had helped you we would all be dead right now! You, me, your mother, River, they would have eliminated the entire family!" shouted Gabriel.

Simon's anger instantly dissipated into cold shock. "You...you knew? You knew what they were doing to her?" he managed to choke out. Next to him Mal's jaw clenched tightly, and he raised a supportive hand to Simon's shoulder. Thinking quickly, he subtly brushed his thumb over a button on his comm unit as well, shutting it off. Neither Simon nor his father noticed the movement.

Gabriel looked almost mournful. "They wanted River, Simon. She was entirely too brilliant for them to leave alone. They were going to have her one way or another...Even if that meant getting the rest of us out of the way permanently. I did what I had to do to ensure all of our survival." His gaze hardened again. "That's why I'm here now. I've had private investigators looking for the two of you for the past five years. This is the first time they were actually able to pin down your exact location for more than a day, however." He managed a wry smile. "You've been extraordinarily hard to keep up with."

"What do you want with us?"

Gabriel studied his son's face for a moment. "The unofficial understanding is that if I bring you and River in, they'll let you both live. You'll need to spend some time in jail, of course, and River will be sent back to the Academy to finish her training, but you'll be alive. They're going to catch up with you sooner or later, son. You can't evade them forever. And when they finally do catch you, they'll take River back anyway, and you and-" he gave Mal a pointed glance. "Anyone you're with at the time will be shown no mercy."

Simon wanted to give an angry reply, he truly did. But his head was reeling from too many revelations at once, too much betrayal, too many possibilities, none with a favorable outcome...

Fortunately, Mal still had it together. In one fluid movement he pushed Simon behind him and drew his pistol. Aiming it at Gabriel's head, he said, "Now, I think we all need to take a step back here. I don't rightly know what kind of man sells out his own children to the Alliance, but it sure as hell ain't the kind of man I'll let take my husband and sister-in-law anyplace."

"And you're willing to risk the rest of your crew that way?"

Mal gave a shrug and a dangerous smile. "Oh, we're right fond of risk-taking. Makes the days so much more interesting. We're also pretty fond of Simon an' River, so the whole thing kinda works itself out."

Simon forced himself to speak. "We've managed to avoid capture for almost five years now. And what's more, we've been happy. We have people that care about us, care enough to actually help us when we need it. River has people who make her laugh and would kill to protect her. Even if I could give that up...I couldn't take it away from her."

Gabriel sighed. "Unfortunately, that's no longer your decision to make." He didn't turn around or react at all when two burly, heavily muscled men appeared around the corner and came to stand at his back. Their hair was shaved close to their skulls, and they were dressed similarly in black cargo pants, heavy vests, combat boots, and dark sunglasses. One was fair-skinned and what little hair he had was light blond, and the other had a ruddy complexion and a faint scar that ran the length of his cheek. They looked polished and professional, but still dangerous.

Mal and Simon's eyes went wide, and both turned to the other end of the alley in time to see two more black-clad men move to block the only other route of escape. Mal immediately began calculating all possible means of getting Simon and himself out of this situation alive and free, and mentally cursed the odds that presented themselves. His gun arm lowered slowly, but stayed tense and ready to act.

"What are you planning on doing with us, Dad?" inquired Simon softly. His eyes were hard, but he trembled slightly as he met his father's gaze.

"These men have been paid incredibly well to deliver you and your sister unharmed to the Alliance. A second team should have rounded up your cohorts and taken River into custody even now. Your ship is Serenity, correct?" he asked Mal, clearly not expecting a reply. "Hopefully your crew was wise enough not to offer any resistance. These men are the best at what they do." Simon gaped at his father in absolute horror.

Mal's eyes narrowed furiously. "You'd damn well better hope no harm befalls my crew. If any a' one of them gets hurt on your account, I will end you." He added with a sneer, "Even if you are my father-in-law."

Gabriel's lip twitched in disgust at the term. He motioned slightly for the men at both ends of the alley to move forward. They started, and Gabriel said quietly, "I'm sorry it has to be like this, son. Please believe that if there was another way..." His voice trailed off, and he lowered his head.

One of the mercenaries called out. "What do you want us to do with the other one, Dr. Tam?"

Gabriel looked up. He took in Mal's determined face and said, "Take him with you and turn him over to the Alliance for giving aid to fugitives. Otherwise he'll no doubt make trouble for all of us." He paused, glancing at Simon. "Try not to injure him too badly if you can avoid it."

Simon had never in his life been so overcome with rage as he was at that moment. His teeth clenched as he saw red and his fists clenched so tightly that his short nails drew blood from crescent-shaped wounds. It took all he had to restrain himself from hitting his father. Taking a few deep breaths, he forced himself to calm down and turned to Mal. "What do we do?"