Mal came into the hospital in the last bit of outfits he ever expected. I mean seriously he was a sergeant in the unification war. He didn't make the beds or patch the wounded as much as supply the bodies. He holds the door open as Zoe, Jayne, and Willow enter each pushing a casket.

A middle aged woman looked and sighed exhausted it's a long day and it's not getting any better. "What do you got?"

The three crewmates turn to Willow it's time to see how good their little brain really is. Jayne stands quietly saying a prayer that won't get them arrested.

Willow stood straight and this was it. "Corpses… where do they go?"

"Take them down to the morgue arrows will lead you there." The woman replied.

Mal, Jayne, and Zoe look on in disbelief as Willow calmly grabs her coffin walks towards the arrows. "Newbies, I want to keep my job."

The three's brains rebooted and quickly followed Willow down to the morgue.

Jayne looked at his wife and although he's in the minority here he doesn't think she was kidding around when she said she killed two people like Zoe and the Captain did. she's already told him she killed people before in private. This woman is a very peculiar person to him. It's like a mix of three of his crew mates . Xander came back half beaten to death by this Triguy but Willow didn't have a mark on her. It's like Zoë's badassery mixed with River's big brain, and Kaylee's perpetual happiness.

Zoe opened her coffin and Mal quickly jabbed Simon with a green syringe.

Willow opened hers to a 'surprise'. "Hey guys, my coffin's empty."

Jayne opened his and found River sleeping on top of Xander. "What in the hell, how did the lil wupo pull this one off?"

Zoe smiled in disbelief.

Mal looked upset for a moment that wasn't according to plan. "Maybe she really is a wupo."

Willow looked at them concerned. "What's the wu word?"

"Witch" Zoe answered.

Willow glared at them. "There's nothing wrong with that. I'll have you know some very good friends of mine were whoopee?"

Mal rolled his eyes last he needs right now is a lecture on witchcraft at this particular moment. "Alright little one, we needed you to get us through the door you did now go meet up with Wash."

"Yes sir Captain tight pants." Willow replied in a cheerful manner heading for the exit.

Mal rolled his eyes and muttered. "Tyen shiao duh qízhōng liǎng gè." He then turned to Willow and shouted. "And stop hanging out with Kaylee!"

Mal watched Zoe inject Xander and River apparently doc needs the one eyed man to keep little sister calm. "Once they're up, get them to the imaging suite. Let Simon do his thing, and haul it back to the rendezvous. Fifty minutes."

Jayne gave a salute seeing them out and then made a phone call and went into Xander's pocket pulling out his mini computer thing. Within a few minute he's watching raptors pick off a group of people one by one. He watched the scene and can't believe that. Yeah if dinosaurs ever attack just take up gymnastics.

He's brought out of his focus by two people coughing he looks and sees Simon coughing and throwing up and sees Xander holding River's hair as she does the same. "Why aren't you puking your guts out?"

Xander shrugged as unseen to him River held a tray out in front of him. "Guess I'm made of sterner stuff." He coughed a bit and then followed suite as River took the tray for herself when he finished.

Xander walked calmly with River as it looked like Jayne was escorting Simon this was really a three people job and he could have watched out for River on his own.

River watched all the people in her gown. "They're doing it backwards; walking
up the down slide."

"Keep her quiet." Jayne whispered.

Xander lowered his head and whispered. "This is a hospital. This is where patients come to get better... mostly."

River looked at them. "They're going to die."

No one is going to die. "Simon assured her moving along.

River calmly pointed to a bed. "He is."

Simon pushes down River's hand. "No he's not. That man standing next to him is his doctor. He's going to help him."

"He's not going to help him right." River replied.

Simon looked down and whispered. "River, the doctors here are the best in the system. This is one of the top hospitals in the Core, or anywhere else."

"Where you should be." River replied sadly. She looked at the patient she indicated as monitors start to beep wildly. She starts to rise from her wheelchair, and Simon and Jayne hold her down.

"You have to help him." River pleaded.

"River, we don't have time." Simon ordered.

River tried fighting Jayne's grip. "He's killing him!"

"Code Blue."

Xander held River back and looked at the doctor. "Go, we got her."

"Stay here. Don't move." Simon runs toward patient in distress; Jayne looks on angrily this is why you don't take civilians on a gorram mission. Simon breaks through the crowd at the bed. "What do we have?"

"Forty-two year old double-bypass post-op, prognosis was positive." The intern informed him.

"BP's 60/20, pulse is thready." A nurse added.

The young intern looked at Simon. "Who are you?"

"He's crashing." The nurse said.

"Get the cart." Simon ordered.

"We have flat line." The nurse said sadly.

The intern went for a scalpel "We've got to crack it."

"We're not cracking a post-op." Simon said

"He's non-responsive, should I call the code team?" The nurse asked

Simon shook his head "Get the infusers and point-four of atropine. What did you give him?

"Just twenty of alprazoline push." The doctor informed him.

Simon sighed disgustedly, He held the syringe in his teeth, He took the defib paddles and zapped the patient trying to restart his heart. "Clear." He looked at the monitor again no change so he tried again. "Clear." The monitor shows a heartbeat.

The nurse smiled. "We've got rhythm."

"He's going tachy." The intern informed them.

Simon nodded. "Yeah, but his heart's beating." He injects the atropine, monitors stabilize, the nurse and young intern look on.

The intern smiled relieved. "He's okay."

Xander and River smiled; Jayne's expression was difficult to read.

Simon glared at the intern if you asked Xander the young doc might just rip his head off at any given moment. "Explain to me how you justify administering a vasoconstrictor to this patient."

"Alprazoline is a pain killer, not a vaso…"

"Unless you combine it with dilaftin." Simon interrupted him. "Which any first-year should know is the standard prep medication your patient was taking before surgery. Your patient should be dead."

Simon walks back to Jayne, Xander and River. "Let's go."

Xander looked at him kind of shocked that was the doc. "Y-yes sir."

River laid out in a chair device with Xander holding her hand gently as she closed her eyes and a holographic image of her brain popped up.

Xander's eyes widened at least something good went further in five hundred years. "You know it's a shame Will's not here she would have loved to have seen this." And seeing a full picture of her brain like this probably would have made saving Joyce's life a breeze as opposed to a stupid aneurysm taking out one of the best women he knew. Xander looked down and smiled seeing River tighten her grip a little.

Simon didn't have Xander's childlike innocence and awe in this material he wishes he did though. Being a doctor he's seeing first hand the damage they did to his eighteen year old little sister. "They lobotomized her."

Xander and Jayne looked on confused as Simon pointed to the hologram for clarity. "They cut into her skull that's a scalpel scar. They went into her skull and went into her brain."

"Well they do that right, tumors and stuff?" Xander countered.

Simon nodded. "Well yeah but she has no signs no trauma. Her brain was perfectly healthy and they just cut into her over and over."

Jayne watched nearly disgusted.

Simon looked at it and mane another horrifying discovery. "They stripped her amygdala."

"What?" Jayne asked.

Xander turned to him. "Remember when Zoe spilled juice all over her shirt last week and me you and Wash did everything in our power not to laugh at her out of fear of her hurting us."

Jayne nodded.

"It's the amygdala that kept us from getting killed that day. It's like she can't turn off her feelings." Xander explained. 'Maybe others as well.' The one eyed Sunnydale native thought to himself.

"OK how do you know the amygdala and not of the scanner?" Simon asked.

Xander shrugged stupid big mouth from the past. He only learned it for Willow's sake and because she was new and he wanted Tara to feel welcome. "It was a very lame joke Willow's girlfriend taught me, then she had to explain to me what the amygdale was.

Simon took a couple moments and Xander watched the screen as River's brain started going into overdrive.

Xander looked at the picture this can't be good. "Doc"

Simon looked up at the screen and panicked before collecting the data. Jayne looked out the way they came in. "Feds at that door we have to go the other way."

Xander kept his hands on a knife. After Twilight showed up he hasn't gone anywhere without it. He didn't think he'd need it again. Xander walked for the door but Jayne grabbed him.

"Too many kid, we have to go out the other way." Jayne said as Simon and Xander joined suite.

River clung to him tightly her worst fear right in front of her. Xander almost thought she was a slayer. "Please, I don't want to go back."

"We're just going to the ship." Xander assured her.

They come outside and watched as the feds came down on them pointing some sort of weapons at them. "Federal Marshals! Don't move!" Xander hear their weapons load this could be a plasma rifle for all he knows. "River and Simon Tam, by the authority of the Union of Allied Planets, you are hereby bound by law. Alexander Lavelle Harris you are also bound."

"Funny… I didn't hear by law." Xander quipped as he was cuffed. He glared at Jayne as one thing became perfectly clear Feds at both exits when they were all nothing but corpses and ghosts in this except for Willow who used the oh so original pseudonym Tara Osbourne. The feds didn't pull this off alone, they had help. Xander turns to Jayne and glared at him.

Jayne looked at him as he was cuffed too many soldiers for him to fight. "What kind of middle name is Lavelle?"

"What kind of mother names their son Jayne?" Xander asked as Jayne ran at him but got blasted for his trouble as the merc fell to the floor. Xander rushed and got a similar thud as he hit the floor. If it wasn't going to kill him why the hell not take a sucker punch at the traitor.

Xander sat down in a relative calm with Jayne and River while Simon talked to the lawman. If Xander didn't know any better he'd swear River is trying to pick the lock.

River started twitching nervously after a while. "Two by two hands blue, two by two hands blue, don't struggle till we leave it's naughty."

Xander stared at his wife in confusion well if that wasn't weird. But in a way it makes sense they're getting transferred. She must mean don't fight until they're out of the room.

Three alliance grunts escort Xander and the others out of the room and into the hallway. Once there Xander looks at the grunt's belt and sees his knife. "Hey that's mine!"

The guard looked at him. "Whoever is coming to collect you insists you remain unarmed no weapons no powders just the clothes on your back so I guess your knife is now my knife."

"Too bad my knife is my sword." Xander quipped as the knife glowed green and the hilt extended into a full blade stabbing the fed in the leg and giving Xander the chance to headbutt him as Jayne head butted the one holding him back and kicked the one watching Simon and River. Into a wall as Simon collapses into the dazed grunt and used his knowledge as a doctor to cut off the fed's air supply keeping it a fair fight at two vs. two. Xander quickly kicked his fed in the groin and head butted him again knocking him down. With the fed down Xander kicked him in the head knocking him out. "Thanks for the sword Giles."

He turned to the sadly familiar sound a neck breaking and Jayne turned him around and freed him from his cuffs as he did Simon and River. Jayne took a gun and handed the other to Simon seeing Xander has pulled out a sword. They really gotta talk about upgrading his arsenal after this.

Simon looked at him confused. "Where are you going?"

"Going out the way we came in." Jayne answered.

Xander looked at him. "There are at least six armed feds out there."

"I know." Jayne Replied.

Simon pointed to the left. "We run."

River is watching the back and forth as a very bad feeling hit her she feels two minds coming their way.

"You got no idea where that goes."

"We'll find our way." Simon offered

Xander nodded thinking back to Tokyo they thought they had the numbers they were wrong... and someone paid for it. "Doc's right. There were six when we left who knows how many now. We should go the other way."

Jayne looked at him this is the black and as he's learning since working with Mal you can't leave things to chance. "I ain't chancing that. I can handle the feds."

River shook her head in fear. "Doesn't matter" Jayne, Xander, and Simon look at her. "They're here."

Xander turns his head at the sounds of multiple blood curdling screams. Why does he not like this? "What was that?"

"Two by two. Hands of blue. Two by two. Hands... blue... two." River couldn't finish it and ran terrified Xander ran after her followed by Simon. Jayne looks at the stairway for a moment but followed behind them.

"Doc where's she going?" Xander asked.

Simon shrugged. "I don't know. There must be some sort of exit this way."

Jayne stopped them after a while he followed the crazy and the crazy led them to nowhere. "I got no intention to run around like a rat in a maze 'til we're dead. Now, we're going back."

Jayne's closing statement was cut off by two screams from where they were as they all ran for a door and smiled seeing a certain redhead on the other end. Willow quickly opened the door for them as the three ran through and saw Zoe and the Captain running up to meet them.

Mal glared at Willow. "This doesn't look like Wash and the ambulance."

Willow shrugged as her cheeks turned red. "I kind of got lost."

Xander looked to Willow and saw his oldest friend smile. "Too damn close, what the hell's going on in there?"

Mal shrugged. "We'll read the wave once we get in deep space now come on."

Kaylee smiled seeing Inara come back on board. "Hey Inara, how was your checkup?"

"Same as last year… what's going on here?"

Kaylee smiled and breezily answered as she raised one of her fingers. "Oh, let's see… We killed Simon, Xander, and River..." Inara looked aghast she knew Mal and the doctor didn't get along but Christ. She listened as Kaylee continued raising her fingers "...Stole a bunch of medicine, and now Zoe and the Captain are off springing the others that got snatched by the feds."

A futuristic ambulance approaches. "Oh, here they are now."

The ambulance pulls into the bay. Kaylee walks down the next set of stairs to push the button that closes the cargo bay door. Mal climbs out of the ambulance, goes to the cockpit window. "Tell me we weren't followed?"

"Nothing on the whole way back." Wash assured him.

Jayne came out with a smile this might be their best job ever. He hopped out and immediately afterwards Xander ran out and punched him in the face knocking him down.

Jayne got to his feet furious. ""Nee TZAO ss-MA? Nee-YOW wuh-KAI CHANG?"

"Filthy rotten son of a bitch. You called the feds." Xander shouted.

Mal rolled his eyes he was hoping to do this in private.

Jayne wasted no time and tackled him into the ambulance and punched Xander in the stomach. "I didn't rat on no one you little piece of go-se."

Willow looked at him. "Then why did you make a call from the hospital."

Jayne looked at her apparently she didn't run that far. "I was calling my brother, trying to get him to change his ruttin mind about our 'marriage'."

"OK, I believe you." Willow said with certainty. Xander got to his feet and Willow simply warned. "Break it up or I will."

Jayne's eyes widened what the hell is that face. Xander came to an immediate stop seeing the resolve face.

"OK, so you didn't do it. Sorry for attacking you." Xander said quivering in fear of the resolve face.

Jayne shrugged he was tempted to. But after what Willow did for him after Jayne day he couldn't see her suffer losing what sounds like her last friend from home. "You hit me I hit you."

Mal looked in disbelief he thought for sure Jayne did it but he guesses not. "OK, you all have jobs to do get to them."

Willow looked to Xander and made a movement with her head as he followed her out. Willow opened up her bunk as she and Xander hopped in and sat down on her bed with her.

Willow looked at him. "OK so we've both grown and we are both are much different people. Kind, forgiving people."

Xander's eyes widened this sounds like she's asking for spell forgiveness. "What did you do?"

Willow looked away. "I might have... well... I called the feds."

"YOU WHAT!" Xander looked at his best friend in disbelief,. "Sheesh Will, why didn't you just strap us into an ACME rocket while you were at it?" Xander complained.

"It was the only thing I could think of." Willow defended her choice.

Xander looked at her. What would she have to gain from calling them it makes no sense. "Will, I'm trying to understand your brain right now, I really am, but I keep coming to coyote with an acme rocket. Why would you need the feds?"

"I don't, but I needed Twilight out in the open and for him to know where we were." Willow replied. "Xander how do you think River knew where to go? I made sure you guys were safe and I knew you and Jayne could protect the others."

Xander ran his hands through his hair. "For what? I mean are you that anxious to die? I miss Buffy and the others everyday but is life so bad out here you want that maniac to find us. I think we can make a life here."

Willow smiled Kaylee is becoming a good friend so is River she's actually liking this life and that's why she's doing this to close the book on their past and enjoy their future. "So do I, but we can't have that life if Twilight just keeps chasing us through the universe. So I put a tracking spell on his ship when he landed in Ariel to get you. Once it docks somewhere else I'm going after him and wherever he lives will probably have what we're looking for about Buffy. Either way once everyone falls asleep tonight I am finishing this once and for all. And I'd like your help if that's OK."

Xander held his head he suddenly feels like he's back in Sunnydale. "So let's think this through for a moment. Very real chance of getting really, really killed, very little chance of success… what are we waiting for?"

Outside of the vent Jayne was listening to every word spoken between the two Sunnydale natives while torturing Mal by having the doctor take his place in loading the shipment as a thank you for helping save him and River. He looked up and saw River standing next to him as well listening to their respective spouses plan out tonight.

Author's Notes

Thank you to everyone who left reviews and is still following the story.

Chinese

Wupo – witch

Tyen shiao duh qízhōng liǎng gè – all that is holy two of them