Chapter Five

Mal was surprised at how calm he could manage to be. He was falling apart inside, warm blood was soaking his shirt, and yet he managed to keep walking, one foot in front of the other, all the way to the shuttle.

Once inside he headed straight for the communicator, and he laid Simon down on the floor. He paused a moment to access the situation.

Simon didn't have much time left. He'd lost too much blood too fast, and gone into shock. Mal had never even seen a man on the battlefield survive this kind of wound.

Moving aside, he allowed Jayne to keep pressure on the wound while he turned on the communicator and hailed Inara. Zoe already had the shuttle off, flying back toward Serenity. Inara soon appeared on the screen in her nightgown.

"Mal? I honestly didn't expect-"

"No pleasantries today. I have a favor to ask."

Inara frowned. "I'm not sure what I can…are you covered in blood?"

"Simon's been shot. He's dying."

Her eyes widened. "What happened? No, nevermind that. What do you need me to do?"

"He needs a doctor. A doctor who won't turn him over to the Alliance."

Inara typed for a few moments on her computer. "Where are you?"

"Osiris."

She typed more. "Can he make it to Persephone?"

"That's eight hours of flight. He'll be dead in under one. You're gonna have to do better than that, 'Nara, we're depending on you here."

"Okay. Just a second," she stared at the computer screen, obviously reading something. "I'm going to have to break communication. I may have something, but it's a long shot, and I need to talk to them first."

"Do it."

The screen went black. Mal kneeled down next to Simon, taking him off Jayne's hands.

"Sir, his chances of making it…" Zoe stared as Jayne wiped blood off on his pants.

"He'll make it. Even if we have to go to Persephone," Mal said stubbornly, using the back of his hand to brush Simon's hair back from his face. Zoe and Jayne shot him curious looks, and he backtracked. "Can you imagine what kind of hell his sister would put us through if he didn't live? He'll make it."

The screen flickered, and Inara once again came into view. Mal stumbled to his feet, leaving Simon in Jayne's hands once again.

"What's the news?"

Inara smiled. "Head for the second moon, quadrant five. There's a large grey building right by the lake in that quadrant. Go in the back door. Doctor Sparks will meet you there and have him team prepped for surgery."

Zoe changed the ship's direction, heading toward the directed location. Mal sighed with relief. "I can't thank you enough," he said.

"The only thanks required is that sweet young man pulling through," Inara said. "You make sure he does, you hear me?"

"He will."

Gorrammit, he will.

Mal waited with River outside the operating room for three hours.

River was an emotional wreck. She kept babbling, making no sense to anyone but Mal. Mal understood exactly how she felt- he felt about the same, after all. He leaned against the wall, his hands stuffed in his pockets, his head pounding with pain from stress.

"How are things?" Zoe asked, and Mal looked up. She handed him a cup of coffee, and he took it with an appreciative nod.

"Don't know. Haven't heard anything yet," he said.

"And River?"

Mal glanced down the hall to where River sat leaning against the wall, her head in her hands. "I'm not sure. She seems pretty bad."

"She knew he was hurt before we even told her," Zoe said quietly. "Said she felt it, in her mind, and in her heart. Said she heard him call for her."

"M'not surprised," Mal said with a shrug.

The door to the operating door suddenly opened, and the doctor came out, his smock soaked in blood. Mal took a deep breath, and just moments later, River was standing by his side.

"Captain Reynolds," the doctor said in greeting. "Doctor Tam had massive internal hemorrhaging, flooded his chest cavity with blood. We managed to place a drain, repair most of the damage, and extract the bullet."

"He'll be okay?" Zoe asked.

"It's fifty-fifty," Doctor Sparks said. "I've done as much as I can for him. The next twenty four hours will likely decide it."

"Cap'n!"

Mal turned to see Jayne running down the hallway. "What?"

"Alliance may've spotted us, we need to go now.

Mal cursed, turning back to Doctor Sparks. "Is he stable enough to move to our infirmary?"

"It would be risky, but yes, I suppose-"

"Good. Do it," Mal ordered. "River, come on. Let's go."

The girl didn't move. She was muttering at her feet, once again uttering nonsense. Mal took her by the arm and started walking her to the ship.

"Your brother's going to be fine," he said to her as they walked. "He'll be just fine, we just need to get him away from Osiris."

"Because you're the captain," River said, seeming dazed.

"That's right."

"Because… you lo-"

"Let's go!" Zoe said as she passed them. Mal led River out the back door and into the waiting ship, and then he stood at the cargo bay, waiting to direct the medics to their infirmary.

For what seemed like the hundredth time that day, Mal was sitting in the infirmary, his elbows propped on the edge of the bed. The machines all relayed the same information: stable, but weak.

"Captain, dinner's ready," Zoe said softly from the door. Mal shook his head.

"Not hungry."

"Where's River?"

"Finally asleep," Mal explained. "I took her to her room."

Zoe nodded, and then hesitated. She leaned against the doorframe, crossing her arms. "Sir, you weren't even like this when Kaylee went down."

"This is a bit more serious than what happened to Kaylee."

"It did have good results, in one way."

Mal looked up at Zoe incredulously. "Good results? What in the gorramn hell could possibly be good about this?"

Zoe reached into her pocket and pulled out a wad of paper towels. Unfolding it slowly, she revealed a white egg shaped object about the size of a strawberry.

"During surgery the doctor stumbled on this and removed it," she said, and Mal stood up and walked to her, taking it from her.

"It's that computer chip," he said, studying it closely. "This is what the Alliance was looking for."

"And not only do they not know that we have it, but they most likely think Simon Tam is a dead man," Zoe pointed out. "Both of which work to our advantage."

"Unless he really does die," Mal muttered, looking back at the lifeless figure on the bed.

"He's a fighter. He won't die when he knows his sister is still here to protect. Gives him something to live for," Zoe said, walking over to look down at Simon. Mal followed her, standing on the other side of the bed.

"Why didn't he listen to me and stay the hell down?" Mal asked under his breath, shaking his head.

"It's not in his nature to leave a man suffering. Even a man like Jayne," Zoe joked. "But, on a more serious note, Captain…what's our next move?"

Mal thought for a minute, and then he opened his hand to look at the white capsule again. "We look at the information we stole from the facility. It should tell us how to open this thing. We need to find out what was so important that they had to hide it away in a respected citizen."

Zoe nodded. "We'll get started on that straight away, sir. Anything else?"

"Not now."

Zoe touched Simon's arm gently, and then she turned and left the room. Mal sank back down into the chair by the bed, watching Simon's face for any signs of life.

Nothing.

Mal woke up to something squeezing his hand. He lifted his head, realized that he'd fallen asleep leaning on Simon's bed, and also realized that the squeezing of his hand had been Simon's hand.

"Hey, you're awake," Mal said groggily, and Simon nodded, though even that movement was weak.

"What happened?" Simon asked, his voice hoarse.

"You got shot."

"Y-Yeah…is J-Jayne okay?"

Mal almost laughed. "Jayne is fine. It was only a graze. You, on the other hand, gave us quite a scare."

"Should be d-dead."

"Should be. Thanks to Inara's unending contacts, we found a doctor who could save you," Mal explained. "Same doctor got that computer chip out of your chest."

Maybe if he hadn't been drugged, Simon might have seemed more surprised. As it was, though, he just nodded and slurred, "That's good…wh-where's River?"

"She's asleep. She's fine. Worried to all hell about you, but fine," Mal said. "You need to stop worryin' 'bout everyone else and go back to sleep. You need your rest."

By the time Mal finished the sentence, Simon was already asleep again. Mal felt the doctor's hand relax over his.

"You'll be fine…"