The next day started out rather eventfully.
Everyone of the "cast members" was summoned to the dinning area at 9 AM for breakfast Most of them were already up by then, and made it to the estate's dining room by 9:15. However, four members of the cast, Kaylee, and Gabriel, Reagan, and Simon Tam, were late.
The two couples didn't manage to make it to the table until around 9:30. All four individuals had already washed up, and had their hair and make-up (in the women's cases) fixed up, but their clothes were noticeably disheveled, as if they had been put on in haste, and they all were all clearly tired.
Although everyone else had already eaten, they had all elected to stay at the table to talk among themselves. Malcolm had been having a conversation with Zoe about how she liked her quarters, and how she was doing in general, and Inara had been talking to River about how a woman her age should do her hair and make-up, dress and act (since she had been a girl of fourteen when the Alliance had turned her into a lab rat, and in the majority of the time since Simon had rescued her, her mind had been too crowded to pay attention to the current fashion trends of the 'Verse).
Jayne, on the other hand, had been in the middle of complaining about the crew's new accommodations since their "deal" with Niska had begun. "Look, I know the scenery isn't bad and all, and the food here is good, and the bed's are comfy and clean but it ain't right for a man to be forced to stay in one place all the time unless he's in space! And Gorramit, I don't like having no privacy neither! Having these guys following me around all the time..."
The mercenary gestured at all of the cameramen in the dining room, who had all their equipment pointed at the table and those eating off of it. "Is really starting to damage my calm!"
Inara smirked. "Yes, their presence can be quite annoying. But at least we know when they're around. A lot of rooms in this house, including, as I discovered last night, our bedrooms, have hidden cameras."
Zoe and River just nodded, confirming they had already discovered this for themselves, but Jayne and Malcolm both looked shocked and outraged, and where about to open to open their mouths, but the voiced of the four latecomers to the breakfast table beat them to it "What!"
Gabriel Tam, who had been serving out cold eggs, sausage, and waffles for Reagan, Simon and (reluctantly) Kaylee, stood up and walked directly towards the head cameraman, shoving the man's camera to the ground as he did so. "This is an outrage! I never agreed to having cameras placed in our rooms! How could you even think it was okay to spy on me or my family, or even my son's...whatever she is, during our most intimate moments?! I demand to speak to Niska right now!"
The cameraman quickly got up while Jayne snickered at Gabriel's outburst while softly whispering "I guess someone was rutting around last night!"
This, of course, earned Jayne a swift elbow to the ribs, and River softly mimicked banging her head on the table while she whispered, just loud enough that Jayne could hear her over her parents, Simon, and Kaylee's loud argument with the cameramen. "Happens every time my parents go on vacation. And Simon and Kaylee have been at it like rabbits every night since we left Mr. Universe's."
Jayne shivered slightly. "Girl, stop telling me this stuff! I can't know things like that about Kaylee! She's...she's..."
Seeing the perplexed, anxious look on Jayne's face, River added. "Like a little sister to you, I know. But you shouldn't throw rocks when you live in a glass house."
Jayne didn't exactly understand what River was talking about, but he knew enough to know that the gir...young woman couldn't like him talking about her older brother and parent's "nocturnal activities", any more than he liked Kaylee's being mentioned. So the mercenary just shrugged and said. "Fair enough."
By this point, the argument between most of the Tams, Kaylee, and the camera crew had ended, and an agreement had been reached between them. The lead cameraman sighed. "Okay, everyone, listen up! We're already wasting prime filming time so I'm only going to say this once! Mr. Niska has agreed that any footage of a...compromising nature that has been taken of any of you will be destroyed! "
Jayne raised his hand. "So...if, say, I had been alone in my bedroom last night and.."
The elder Tams, Zoe and all the other males in the cast had grimaces on their faces at that mental image, and the lead cameraman quickly cut Jayne off before he could finish that statement. "All footage that would reveal any of you in any state of undress will be deleted! Furthermore, technicians will come around each of your rooms tonight and show you how you can put the hidden cameras in your room into sleep mode for 30 minutes at a time. All that we ask is that you keep the cameras on except when you are changing clothes or engaging in any form of sexual activity, solo or otherwise. Oh, and I would like also like to reassure you that there are no cameras in any of the bathrooms of the villa.."
The elder Tams, Jayne, Kaylee and Simon all blushed as the cameraman continued speaking. "There is one other condition attached to this arrangement. Mr. Niska has observed some of the footage from yesterday, and he believes your reactions aren't authentic enough! Therefore, he has asked that all of you do your best to ignore all of the crew-members and bodyguards that are not part of the main cast, unless one of us directly speaks to you first. In exchange, you will get to have some privacy in your rooms, as I mentioned before.. Do we have a deal, or not?"
Malcolm Reynolds and Gabriel Tam both nodded, and since no one else shook there heads or made any objections, the lead cameraman smiled as he spoke. "Excellent! Now, we have a full day's itinerary ahead of us. Jayne Cobb, we would like you to stay here, in the dining room, after everyone finishes eating and the dishes are cleared away. Everyone else, feel free to explore the mansion, and the Villa, but please do not leave the grounds. We will be interviewing a lot of you today, after we finish speaking to Mr. Cobb."
Jayne sighed. "Is this because I hit one of you guys for violating my space? Because I told you I wouldn't do nothing like that again, but I'm not going to apologize for..."
The cameraman laughed. "Relax, Mr. Cobb. This isn't about that incident. We would just like to ask you to share with us a little bit about your experiences with the Alliance government."
Jayne shrugged. "Ain't much to tell. They keep trying to kill me, or arrest me, so I keep knocking them out or shooting them dead. That's pretty much it."
The lead cameraman shook his head. "I'm sure there is much more to your story than that, Mr. Cobb. But like I said, we'll discuss all of this with you after breakfast."
Jayne shrugged. "Fine. Waste of time if you ask me. Not that anyone ever does."
After the latecomers had finished eating, and the kitchen staff had cleared all of the dishes away, several things happened at once. Kaylee and Simon started holding hands, and made a move to exit the dining room to explore the villa, but they were intercepted by Gabriel and Reagan Tam, who asked to speak to their son in private. Meanwhile, while everyone else scattered to the four winds, with Malcolm and Inara heading in opposite directions, Jayne was left sitting alone at the dining table. "Fine. You want to ask questions, ask 'em. The sooner we are done with this pointlessness, the sooner I can find something to drink in this place."
One of the cameramen shook his head. "It's not even ten in the morning..."
Jayne shrugged. "You've never spent much time in the black, have ya? In space, there's no sun. No moons, neither. No night or day. There's just whatever schedule the Lao Bahn captain decides there is. Outside of that, whenever a man wants to drink, he drinks. And that's exactly what I'm gonna do as soon as I'm done answering your Yu Bun Duh questions!"
The head cameraman nodded. "Very well then, Mr. Cobb. Answer our questions, and I will insert you to the minibar myself. First question, then. What would you say is the worst thing the Alliance government has ever done?"
Jayne sat completely still for a long minute. Long enough that the cameraman was just about to open his mouth and repeat the question, before the mercenary finally spoke. "I know that most folk nowadays would say that what them purple-bellies did to Miranda, killing all those people, making the Reavers...that all of that was the worst thing that the Alliance ever did. But I saw the original recording of that scientist...or whatever she was, who figured out what happened there. The Alliance didn't mean to do none of those terrible things. They played God, and it bit them, and a lot of other folks in the Pi Gu, and the Alliance deserves to pay for that. But I don't think that's the worst thing they've done."
Jayne took a large gulp of the glass of water that he had been allowed to have with him for the interview before he continued speaking. "I know that the captain would probably say that what the Alliance did to Shadow, bombing a world of peaceful farmers into oblivion, was the worst thing the Alliance did. And he and Zoe would both probably say that the atrocities the Alliance government committed on Hera, during the battle of Serenity Valley, should be near the top of the list. I don't know, maybe I'd feel the same if I'd been there, but I never fought in no war. What I do know about war, due to what little schooling I've had, is that it's bloody, and mean, and that, in the end, armies will do whatever it takes to make sure their side wins, even if that means that lots of innocent folk die."
Jayne shrugged. "So maybe it's just me, but I don't feel right judging people for acts of war that I know nothing about. But there is one thing that I do hold against the purple-bellies though. Something I will hate them for until my last breath. There was this place the Alliance used to run. Maybe it's still out there, somewhere. I don't know much about it, actually, but Simon called it the Academy. You should ask him more about that place later, or River, if she's of a mind to speak about it. All I know is that the people there would trick parent's into giving up their children for some shiny special education program that didn't actually exist, then turn those children into lab rats. Then they'd cut into these children's brains, fill their minds with Xiong Mao Niao, and turn them crazy, in some mad scientist's attempt to turn these kids...some of them no older than my youngest sister, into war machines... And the Alliance did all of that, torturing children to turn them into weapons of war, during peace time. That don't sit right with me. It don't sit right with me at all..."
Jayne had a faraway look in his eyes now. "It's true that craz...River Tam and I haven't always been on the best of terms. She can be a real brat at the best of times, and at her worst, well..." Jayne placed his hand on his shirt, right over the spot where the fabric covered up the scar River had given him with a kitchen knife months ago. "Let's just say that girl can really leave a mark when she wants to. But...she didn't deserve what the Alliance did to her at that hellish place. And neither did those other kids the Alliance took."
Jayne looked right a the camera. "The Alliance needs to be stopped, and the Academy needs to be shut down, Dohn Luh Mah?
One of the members of the A/V team gave a thumbs up sign to the head cameraman, indicating that the interview with Jayne was producing excellent propaganda footage, The latter party then opened up his mouth to ask another question, when Jayne suddenly got up from his seat and started walking right past the camera crew "I'm going to have that drink now."
One of the cameramen stepped forward, as if to stop the large man, but the lead camera guy shook his head, and a path out of the room was cleared for the mercenary. The head cameraman shrugged. "Well, I wanted more footage from that interview but...considering that's the most we've heard Mr. Cobb speak since we got here, that was pretty good, and his words still gave Niska plenty of ammunition to use against the Alliance. Besides, we have a whole month to pick that gorilla's brain. It's a marathon, not a sprint. We'll get the merc to open up to the 'verse yet!"
...Meanwhile, in the main living room...
Simon sighed at the frowns his parents were giving him as he and Kaylee followed Gabriel and Reagan Tam into the living area for a private chat. "Okay. Gabriel. Reagan. What is it you want to speak to me and my girlfriend about?"
Kaylee's face seemed to light up from the inside as she broke into a million watt grin after Simon called her his girlfriend, but the elder Tams took no heed of this fact when they began speaking... Gabriel frowned. "Your mother and I actually wanted to speak to you alone, son. Miss Frey, would you be so kind as to give Reagan and I a minute to converse with our son alone?"
Kaylee forced a smile, but Simon was easily able to see the anxiety and uncertainty in her eyes as she nodded and began to walk out of the room. "Sure, I'll just go exploring this place. Maybe I can find the central cooling unit and make some adjustments. It was a little cold last night..."
Simon gently put his arm on Kaylee's shoulder, stopping the mechanic's forward momentum. The younger doctor then moved his arm so that it draped over both of her shoulders, and moved his body in such a way that Kaylee's was tucked protectively against the side of Simon's body. "Whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of Kaylee. I may have agreed to participate in Niska's little circus, partly because I wanted to give you and mom and a chance to be a part of me and River's lives again, but make no mistake...I don't trust either of you right now. But I do trust Kaylee. She's earned that trust 100 times over. So if you want to say something to me, then say it. But I'm not going to let you intimidate Kaylee into leaving the room before you do."
Gabriel's frown deepened. "That is no way to speak to me or your mother, Simon!"
Simon glared right back at his father, while both of the females in the room visibly tensed up due to the conflict between the two men. "Don't try to pull that Go Shi on me. You and mom haven't been acting like parents since you ignored my warnings about River! And then you, Gabriel, even said that if I kept looking for my sister, you would wash your hands of me. So don't act like you can just..."
"Please stop this! Both of you!"Reagan put her hands on her husband's shoulders to try to calm him down, and Kaylee followed the elder woman's lead and did the same to Simon, causing both men to visibly calm down a little before Simon's mother resumed speaking, in Simon's direction this time. "You're right, Simon. Your father and I haven't been the best parents to you and River in recent years. But we are trying to fix that now. That's one of the reasons that I even came up with this whole reality show set up, so that the two of us could spend some time with you and River. Talk things out. Become a family again. Make things like they were."
Simon sighed. "I know that, mom. I just; ...after everything that's happened, I'm certain that, whatever happens in the aftermath of this show airing, neither the 'Verse, nor this family, will ever be the same again. But like I said, River and I have at least agreed to give you and dad a chance to be part of our lives again."
Reagan nodded. "Good. Now, let's try to move onto a more pleasant topic of conversation, shall we? Where, exactly, is River, right now, Simon? Your father and I wanted to discuss some possible good news with you and your sister."
Simon just shrugged, and turned to ask Kaylee if she knew where in the mansion his sister was. As this was happening, Gabriel whispered into his wife's ear. "But I thought we were going to talk to Simon about his relationship to that Meh Lien Duh Jyah Jee..."
Reagan, watching Simon's interactions with Kaylee, as the couple was frantically discussing where River could have gone, even as they looked at each others eyes with a tender affection that Reagan was able to identify all too easily, whispered back to her husband. "Not now, Gabriel! Give it a few days, until we know more about this 'Kaylee girl', you and Simon have both cooled off a little, and we've built up some rapport with our children again."
Gabriel nodded. "Yes, dear. Now, where in the Guam is our daughter anyway?"
...Also meanwhile, at the minibar...
Jayne looked behind the bar area for several seconds, pushing aside some of the cheaper bottles of booze, and turning his nose up at some liquor brands that where too fancy for his taste, before he finally settled on a slightly worn looking bottle he liked the look of. The mercenary pulled the bottle, as well as the shot glass, out from behind the bar with a smile and poured himself a shot, all while whistling the tune of "the Hero of Canton. However, just before Jayne could raise the glass to his lips, he saw, in very tiny letters, the words, "Bottled and Distilled on Ariel", printed on the bottle.
Jayne stopped humming, and his smile turned to a frown as he quickly downed the shot, then immediately poured himself another one. The mercenary raised his glass towards his reflection in the mirror and spoke in a mocking tone. "A toast...to the hero of Canton!"
Jayne quickly drank the second shot, and poured himself a third, as he sang, in a spiteful tone. "The man they call me."
Jayne was just about to down the third shot at well, when he heard a voice calling out from somewhere up above him. "He shouldn't drink this early in the day. Especially not alone."
Jayne snorted at the familiar voice, but he jumped in his seat a little when River opened the cover of the ceiling vent she had been crawling in, then jumped down and landed on her feet right behind Jayne. However, Serenity's "Public relations officer" quickly schooled his features to resemble stone, then growled. "I'll drink when I gorram want to, cr...I mean, gir!"
River chuckled. "He knows...I mean, you know, that I can read your mind. Why do you pretend you aren't startled?"
Jayne shrugged. "Force of habit, I guess."
River accepted this explanation with a nod. "He...You should still not be drinking now. She heard what you said to Niska's puppets, but we're not in the Black. We're on this world for a month and it would be best for him...for you to get used to the rhythm of this sphere."
Jayne sighed. "Maybe you're right, but I don't care. I wanted to drink, so here I am..." The mercenary's words were met with a frown by River, but when a stray thought entered Jayne's head and wouldn't let go, he put the glass down and turned towards a smirking River.
The young woman spoke. "It's a good question. You should ask."
Jayne sighed. "You know it creeps me out that you can reach inside my head like that, right?"
River's smirk widened as she simply nodded. Jayne shook his head. "And you also know that you're annoying me right now by not just answering the question before I have to ask it?"
River frowned, but just nodded again. Jayne cursed under his breath. "Than gorramit girl! Why don't you just answer the question?"
River's eyes went downward. "I know what they...what people are thinking, but it's not the same as ideas given sound and form."
When Jayne just looked at River like she had grown a second head, River added. "I know what you are thinking, but I still like to hear you say it."
Jayne shrugged. "Oh. Nobody's ever told me they like the way I talk before. Alright then. Where in the 'Verse are we? Niska's men put blindfolds on us for the entire trip here, but the way I figure it, you probably know where we are anyway, being a telepath, and smart and all. I figure the answer's got to be in that craz...I mean, that brain of yours."
River frowned. "Sh...I know where we are, yes. But I can't tell you. You are planning to steal a ship and escape with that knowledge. I cannot allow this. Your plan could cause jeopardy" Seeing another confused look on Jayne's face, River sighed and added. "The possibility of harm."
Jayne sneered. "Right. Can't allow Simon to be put in danger..."
River nodded. "Simon gave up everything for her, and it is true that I will not allow him to come to harm. But I was actually talking about you. I can't allow you to leave this safe haven and endanger yourself. It isn't safe to leave yet."
Jayne looked away from the youngest Tam. "I don't need your concern, girlie. And I'm not worth it, anyway. But you know...thanks, I guess. Even though you're still being a pain in the Pi Gu by not telling me what I want to know."
River shook her head "You are worth my concern as much as any member of Serenity's crew, save Simon."
Jayne just shrugged again, but he was thrown for a loop by what River said next. "She's still crazy, you know. Tenses and pronouns don't always come out right. My thoughts still get mixed up with the thoughts of of others. Past, present, future...all blend together. Some wounds have healed, but scars still remain. And my brain pan still isn't quite right, and it never will be."
Jayne shook his head. "Yeah. Cause you still got brain damage, from what them Hwen Dan did to you. I remember Simon saying something about that in that hospital on Ariel. Something about them stripping your amyg..something out of your head."
River nodded. "Amygdala. That's what they took...among other things. Now I feel and see everything. The albatross knows which way the wind will blow, but she is still wounded."
Jayne chuckled. "I'm not going to pretend to understand what you just said, crazy girl, but I think I have some idea of what they did to you. What the Alliance was trying to turn you into. And..."
The mercenary drank another shot. "I almost helped them finish what they started when we were on Ariel. I...almost helped them get your brother killed and turn you into some mindless drone. I know that weren't right. My mamma raised me better that that."
Jayne wouldn't look River, or her reflection, in the eye when the dark haired young woman sat on the stool on his left and started speaking. "No, it wasn't right for your to hand Simon and I to the Alliance like that."
Jayne's posture sunk slightly as his shoulders slumped just a little. The change was almost imperceptible, but for River, the man's posture of defeat, regret and shame was easy to read. River sighed. "But it was also wrong for me to slash you with that knife a few days before that. Or for me to hit you where I did at the Maidenhead. She...I am sorry for hurting you."
Jayne shrugged. "It weren't your fault. You were not right in the head...well, even less right in the head, when you did those things."
River nodded. "But I still hurt you, and the scar of one wound is still there. I am still sorry. Is she forgiven?"
Jayne looked up, took one look at River's sad, pleading eyes, and sighed. "Yeah. I guess you are."
River smiled and briefly patted Jayne on the shoulder. "Than she...I forgive Jayne too, just as Simon did a long time ago. You've saved our lives many times since then, just as we have saved you. Pointless to keep score, hold grudges... hold on to regrets."
Jayne took a long, hard look at River before he poured himself another shot. "You know something, little girl? You're not so bad to be around now that you aren't so messed up in the head."
Jayne saw a fire build up behind River's eyes just in time to jump out of the bar stool and evade the psychic's wrath as she stood up, kicked over her chair, then downed the shot of alcohol herself. "Da Bian Hua! See? She is not a little girl anymore! She can fight, She can drink, and she take care of herself! She doesn't need him treating her like a child!"
River then threw both the empty shot-glass, and the half-full bottle of liquor, at the mirror behind the bar, causing the floor behind the table to become covered in glass and alcohol The fiery young woman then turned to Jayne, who had his hands out in front of him in a placating gesture, and pointed a single finger directly at him. "No more drinking for you today!"
After River stormed off in a huff, Jayne just shrugged, looked at the mess River had made, then at the hallway River had retreated down and sighed. "So much for that pleasant moment of sanity."
The Tams (sans River, who nobody had seen since the incident at the bar), and the crew of Serenity spent a long day exploring the villa. Truth be told, though, after getting a brief look at a map of the small number of entertainment complexes in the villa, the group split up. Kaylee, Mal, and Zoe spent most of the day conducting routine maintenance on a locked-down Serenity in the Villa's garage, Inara spent her day meditating in the villa's lush garden center, having tea in her room, and catching up on some much needed sleep, while Simon and the elder Tams went to the Villa's infirmary and discussed possible new treatments for River's mental instability. Now that there were two doctors, instead of one, working on the problem, Simon and Gabriel had access to a much better equipped infirmary than Serenity offered, and River was actually able to stay on one planet for more than a few days at a time. Unfortunately, River herself had proved impossible to find, despite Jayne's brief search for the troubled teen/young woman after the incident at the bar, which the mercenary conducted for reasons that he himself couldn't quite figure out.
Jayne had been the only one to fully explore the Villa that day, after it became evident that River wouldn't be found until she wanted to be, mostly for lack of anything better to do. Jayne's usual shore leave activities, whoring and drinking, had been denied to him during this particular forced "vacation." The first of Jayne's usual activities had been made impossible for him due to the fact that, other than Reagan Tam and the female crew-members of Serenity, there where no women at all to be found in the Villa. No real women, anyway. Jayne had found a dirty lover bot in a dusty closet full of cleaning supplies, but the device in question didn't look near sanitary, and that type of robot had always given him the creeps anyway. After he exited the supply closet, leaving the creepy android completely untouched, Jayne had also avoided drinking anymore throughout the day.
This decision to temporarily abstain from alcohol was partly pragmatic in nature, as the merc's feet had been unsteady, causing him to sway slightly as he walked, for over an hour after drinking so much so fast, and Jayne had nursed a hangover for most of the day after that. However, Jayne also feared some kind of petty reprisal from River if he were to drink alcohol anywhere in the Villa for the rest of the day. Because Jayne knew that, sure as the turning of the worlds, River would know if he did so. Furthermore, part of Jayne felt that his insistence on drinking after the crazy girl had warned him not to had contributed to her outburst this morning, and Jayne felt...surely not guilt, he reasoned to himself, merely a desire not to add to River's mental instability, so the Doc wouldn't have even more reason to chew him out later.
In any case, Jayne had wandered from one automated game or diversion to another, growing bored of all but two of them quickly. However, Jayne did find the lone shooting gallery in the Villa amusing for a time, and the mercenary had relished in the opportunity to keep his marksmanship skills sharp during his time in the Villa. But as the mercenary soon discovered...
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! "This ain't no fun! The targets move too slow to simulate real fighting, and they don't shot back neither! Stupid game!" Jayne had then carefully set the air rifle back into its case, and stomped off while cursing that "Core worlders can't do nothing right!"
The second diversion that caught Jayne's attention that day, however, was a little more entertaining . The tracker found that one of the buildings in the villa was a private, fully automated movie theater, which had been constructed and painted in such a way that it resembled the theaters that had been prevalent on Earth-that-was during the early 21st century. After selecting, using the automated food processors to make two delicacies that could usually only be obtained on Core-worlds, and for an outrageous fee at that, called "soda pop" and "popcorn", Jayne used the movie selection terminal near the entrance to select a film, Shortly after Jayne sat down in the center most set of the theater and started enjoying his snack and beverage, the film, titled, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" started to play on the large screen in front of him.
Jayne repeatedly found himself laughing at the archaic technologies the characters in the film had access to, as well as their ancient dialect, but he enjoyed the film anyway. The movie's storytelling was interesting, the characters were dynamic and multi-dimensional, and Jayne found he could often identify with many of the characters. By and large, by the time Jayne exited the automated theater while trying to pick the last few corn kernels he had tried to eat, the mercenary could honestly say he had enjoyed watching the movie, and he thought he should recommend the flick to Malcolm and Zoe later.
However, as amusing as some of the diversions of the board-walk style villa had been, Jayne's thoughts were once again on worrying about where River had gone by the time he had arrived back at the mansion just in time for dinner, only to find that none of the other cast members had seen her since breakfast. Even after the Tams had convinced the kitchen staff to prepare real roast beef, which had been River's favorite food since she had been a little girl, as the main course for dinner, and Simon had tried yelling into every vent panel in the house that River should come down so she could eat some, the psychic had simply shouted for Simon, and everyone else, to "Leave me alone!"
Dinner that night, which consisted of fresh vegetables and warm bread as sides, and chilled fruit for dessert, was one of the best meals that Jayne had ever tasted, However, despite the quality of the food, there was a general tense, unhappy mood for most of the table's occupants. Zoe was silent during the whole meal, saying nothing as she slowly and methodically ate her food in silence as her sad eyes looked out into the middle distance. The woman was obviously thinking about her dead husband, but by now, everyone at the table knew not to bring up Wash in conversation around Zoe unless they had to. So no one commented on Zoe's silence or vacant stare, even after the dark skinned woman wordlessly left the table to wash her dishes after she was done eating.
Simon, for his part, kept looking at the only air vent in the dining room, as if staring at it hard enough would make River come down and join everyone else for dinner, and the young doctor looked more and more sullen every minute this state of affairs did not occur. Reagan Tam also looked at the air vent in question from time to time, but she was less obvious about it than her son, and the Tam matriarch still tried to keep up polite conversation with her husband, who for some reason, would shoot a mild glare in Kaylee's direction from time to time. The usually irrepressibly happy Kaylee was also somewhat out of spirits, since even her attempts to hold Simon's hand did not leave a dent in the man's unhappiness, or his worry for his sister.
Meanwhile, Malcolm and Inara quietly ate their meals on opposite sides of the table as they tried, and time and time again, failed, to not look at each other with longing expressions on their faces every few minutes. Jayne rolled his eyes at this display, and he seriously considered just telling Malcolm and Inara to just "Go to your room, get to rutting, and be done with it!" The only thing that stopped Jayne from doing so was the mercenary's sneaking suspicion that the captain might start a fight with him if he actually did so. And even though Jayne thought he could probably take the captain in a fair fight, or before Mal could start a fair fight, he was also aware that Zoe, wherever she was, would jump in on the captain's side of the fight...and that would be the end of Jayne Cobb. So instead of commenting on the captain's love life, or lack thereof, Jayne just left the table, bringing his dishes with him to clean them in the kitchen, as soon as he was done eating. "Well, that was fun. Why don't you all just let me know when the mood around here get less depressing? Until then, I'll be in my bunk...I mean, my bed. Whatever."
Everyone glared a little at the mercenary when he left the table, and they did so again when he returned to the table with a large glass of water and a set of plastic-ware "What? I just realized I'm still hungry, so I'm gonna just take some of this food up to my room, And since the crazy girl decided not to grace us with her presence this evening, I figured I would just use her plate." The tracker picked up the immaculate dinner plate that had been set in front of the seat that had been reserved for River Tam, then pilled it high with a little bit of every kind of food at the table, including an extra-large serving of roast beef, and then exited the room, ignoring Reagan Tam's stage whisper that, "In civilized cultures, we eat at the table!"
Simon Tam had sighed when he noticed that Jayne had cleared the last of the roast beef from the table, and the young doctor sighed as he stood up, said, "I'll be back in a minute everyone!" The young doctor then preceded to follow Jayne down the hall as he began to speak. "You can't take the last of the roast beef, Jayne! We need to save some for River to eat la..."
But Simon's words were cut of as he saw Jayne, quite a distance away, leave both the large plate of food and the tall glass of ice water by an air vent next to the floor in the living room. The young doctor was puzzled by this action, until, several seconds later, after Jayne had already left the room, a pair of skinny arms opened the vent from the inside, quickly pulled the plate, plastic ware, and glass of water into the dark vent with her, then shut the the vent covering again. The whole process took about three seconds.
Simon had just shaken his head then, not sure what to think about Jayne's uncharacteristically altruistic action. The young doctor continued shaking his head as he walked back to the dining room as he thought out loud. "Where did that come from and why didn't I think of doing that?
Shortly afterward, everybody, except for River, who still couldn't be found, despite the fact that she had briefly snuck in the kitchen a few minutes ago and left her empty water glass and mostly empty plate (the remnants of her mashed potatoes had been molded into the shape of a smiley face) in the sink, was gathered into the living room, the host explained why they were there. "Okay, everyone. So let me ask you a question. What's the biggest flaw in most reality shows."
Nobody felt like answering the man's question right now, so the host's smiling face fell a little. "Nobody? Okay, I'll just tell you. In most shows, the cast is not able to see how they look to the 'Verse until the first season has already been filmed and starts to air on TV. But since "Keeping Up With the Tams' is a program not authorized by the Alliance, we do things a little differently around here. Our show has shorter episodes, only taking place over a day or two, but we are going to air them more frequently, one episode at a time, so that it will be harder for the Alliance to find us, and we can get the word out about the many evils of the Alliance. The very first episode of "Keeping up with the Tams" airs in just five minutes...and you are all going to be watching it!"
A collective groan came out of every member of the cast, besides Reagan Tam, who seemed excited, and one groan could even be heard from the nearest ceiling air vent, but the host's enthusiasm remained undiminished "Oh, come on! I'm sure the people of the 'Verse want to know how you all feel about being in the limelight. That's why we are going to be filming all of your reactions to the debut of the show!"
Malcolm nodded. "So that's why the camera crew is around us right now. Let me get this straight. Your plan is to film the lot of us, watching our reactions to being filmed?"
The host nodded. "It's a little more complicated than that, but yeah, you've got the gist of it."
Jayne face-palmed himself. "You're going to be watching us watch ourselves? That's just Yu Bun Duh.
Zoe nodded and glared at the host. "Agreed. You are wasting our time"
The host chuckled nervously. "Well, that's what our benefactor said was on the agenda for tonight, so unless you want to be in big trouble with the boss, that's what you'll be doing. Now Joo Koh and watch the show!"
The cast members that were in the room all did what they were told, but Jayne, Malcolm and Zoe all crossed their arms in defiance as they did so. Truth be told, everyone but Reagan, who oohed and awed about the cinematography and editing every now and again, didn't find the opening of the show impressive, to say the least... The pilot started with a minute solid of narration by the host, explaining that the show was about "An innocent Core-World family, broken by the machinations of the corrupt Alliance government, trying to live together and become a family again..." Several photos of the Tam Estate on Osiris, as well as an older picture of a still intact Tam family, when both Simon and River where still children, where shown on the TV screen for several seconds.
The TV broadcast a different set of images, of most the crew entering the villas and looking around in awe, Kaylee calling the mansion "shiny" and Jayne pushing a cameraman to the floor, as the narration continued. "...as they interact with the crew of misfits and delinquents that reluctantly gave the two younger Tams, River and Simon, sanctuary before these two brave siblings risked everything to broadcast the first wave revealing the evils the Alliance perpetuated on Miranda."
Another set of images, showing the Alliance scientist who discovered what had happened to Miranda, in the few moments before the Reavers closed in on her, and more words of narration were spoken during the rest of the show's introduction, but only the elder Tams paid attention to any of this, as all of Serenity's crew-members were too busy glaring at the host to pay any attention to the show for several minutes.
Zoe jumped right off her seat and got right in the host's face. "Hwen Dan! You didn't mention what the rest of Serenity's crew did for this 'Verse?! You didn't even bring up the fact that Shepard Book or hell, even my husband, Hoban Washburne, died helping River get that signal out?!"
Kaylee pouted and crossed her arms. "Ta Ma Duh! Zoe's right. Everyone on Serenity helped get that wave out, not just Simon and River. And he didn't even mention the sacrifices that some of us made to get the word about what the Alliance did, out to the the Rim and Border Space! That's just not right!"
Malcolm stood up walked besides Zoe, and though he put a calming hand on his first mate's shoulder, to keep her from throwing a punch, he too glared at Niska's stooge. "No, it's not right. And this man has a lot to answer for. What the Guam were you thinking? Telling the whole 'Verse that Simon and River did the whole thing by themselves!? The whole crew pulled their weight in that endeavor, and I'm not going to just stand here and let you belittle me, or the members of my crew, including those who have fallen in the line of duty, by saying that a couple of Core worlders who didn't know the first thing about how the 'Verse really worked when me and mine took them in, did it all by themselves!" Malcolm turned towards Simon Tam. "No offense meant to you or your sister, doc. You've both earned your stripes since then, and you definitely pulled your own weight at Mr. Universe's place, but it was a team effort, and the 'Verse needs to know that."
Simon nodded. "No offense taken, Captain. I'm just as pissed off as you are."
River's voice echoed from the air duct. "Me too!"
The host sweated a little. "Hey, I don't write this material, I just read it! If you have a problem with the introduction, take it up with our benefactor."
Malcolm didn't blink. "I'm taking it up with you. You tell Mr. Niska that if that introduction doesn't get changed to more accurately reflect what happened, before the next episode, there will be trouble, Dohn-luh-mah?
The host nodded. "I will talk to our benefactor and see what I can do. In the meantime, if you and your first mate would kindly get out of my face, sit down, and watch the show, it would be greatly appreciated."
All of the "bodyguards" that were standing around the film crew touched the holster of their guns in order to emphasize the host's point, so Malcolm and Zoe reluctantly sat back down and looked back at the TV screen.
After that, nobody spoke during most of the episode's remaining run time, even when the cameraman who Jayne had pushed was shown on screen, criticizing the mercenary. "I know that Mr. Cobb comes from an uncivilized world, outside of the Core, but he still should know better than to act like a complete savage and knock people over for no reason!" Jayne hadn't said a word about the man's critique of his behavior but the tracker glared at the cameraman in question, who happened to be in the living room at the time, for a solid ten minutes, and if the mercenary blinked during that time, that scared man didn't see him do so.
The episode presented certain events slightly out of order, so the next thing that was shown was the Captain's speech about the evils the Alliance had perpetuated at the Academy, Miranda, and during the Unification War, including the war crimes committed against POW's after the battle of Serenity Valley, and the complete destruction of Malcolm's home-world, called Shadow, by orbital bombardment. According to the captain, this last atrocity had caused the immediate deaths of thousands, including Mal's own family, and the slow, gradual deaths of millions more, Many individuals, both soldier and civilian, who had depended on the sustenance provided by the crops that had come from the small farm world, starved to death before the Independents had been able to punch a big enough hole in a blockade of Alliance warships to get a new trade route set up between another farming world and Rim space.
Although Malcolm's words, especially those concerning Serenity Valley and Shadow, were quite poignant, the crew of Serenity had collectively pieced together a rough idea about what Malcolm's worst experiences with the Alliance had been like, so the information being presented onscreen via the Captain's recorded words was not new to them. Even so, the crew of Serenity respected the gravitas of the subject matter the captain had spoken about. So they respectfully said nothing as he talked.
Reagan Tam did attempt to speak at one point, while the captain on the TV screen told the 'Verse about the destruction of his home-world, the woman tried to speak to the Malcolm Reynolds that was actually present in the living room. "You poor man! I had no idea..."
But Malcolm quickly shut her up as politely as he could manage to do so at the time. "No offense ma'am, but I really don't like talking about it."
Nothing more was said for several minutes, but the show's climax, which started with the argument between Mal and Inara last night, got everyone's attention. After watching the recording of the argument between the captain and ex-Companion (which even drew River's attention, as the psychic opened the ventilation shaft enough to stick her head out of the ceiling and watch for herself), almost every member of Serenity's crew reacted to last night's incident in the living room. Zoe rolled her eyes at Mal and Inara's latest row, Jayne smirked as Inara gave the captain a tongue lashing, but frowned slightly when Inara cried after the verbal altercation between her and the captain. Simon just frowned the entire time, as he privately thought that both Malcolm and Inara had been foolish to say some of the things they had said the previous night, but Kaylee, who punched Malcolm in the shoulder (not hard enough to leave a bruise, but hard enough to hurt) was not so impartial "Nice going, making Inara cry like that, Buhn Dahn!' River for her part, just looked pensive, while the elder Tams pretended nothing important was happening, as they did not feel they knew either Malcolm, or Inara, well enough to know who had been in the wrong.
Malcolm and Inara, on the other hand, both looked at the ground and tried the best they could to become one with the furniture and dissapear while their argument was being broadcast, but as soon as everyone else had reacted to the bit about Inara crying, the captain glared at Kaylee slightly, while saying, "Don't hit me again." then turned to the former Companion. "I didn't mean to make you cry like that, Inara, I'm..."
Inara shook her head, refusing to meet Malcolm's eyes. "Don't, Mal. Just don't." The ex-Companion spoke loud enough that everyone else in the room could hear "The captain and I already talked things out, and everything is fine now. I'm staying on Serenity." This admission caused several members of the crew to sigh in relief, and Kaylee to break out into a wide grin that made Simon smile as well. However, before anyone had a chance to say anything else, the crew was, once again, captivated by another moment the film crew had captured., which the host's voice over explained had happened right after Malcolm's argument with Inara
After, the clip, which featured Malcolm at the minibar, talking to himself, played, Malcolm swore and glared at the host. Hwen Dan! That moment was supposed to be private! How did you even pick up those words and make them sound that clear?! I was half a room away from the camera crew, and I was whispering!"
The host shrugged and smiled. "Sound amplification technology has a history that goes all the way back to Earth that was, Captain Reynolds. But thanks to our generous benefactor, we have access to some of the most state of the art sound amp equipment there is! We can monitor, record, and hear anything any of you says, outside of the small windows of privacy we agreed upon this morning. It's called the future, captain, so you'd better get used to it!"
Malcolm's glare only intensified, but everyone else was too busy turning towards Malcolm with wide eyes, as they were all able to ascertain what Malcolm had really been talking about when he had whispered to himself about cheap whiskey in fancy glasses. Well, everyone except Jayne, who frowned and said. "What's everybody staring at the captain, for? And what's this gorram nonsense about booze and cups about anyway?"
River, whose head was still hanging upside down, sighed and whispered "Boob."
Inara, on the other hand, had a different reaction than everyone else as she frowned. "Mal? Is that really why you think you and I keeping fighting? Because I look down on you?"
Malcolm refused to meet Inara's eyes. "That's not it. I don't want to talk about this right now."
But the ex-Companion wouldn't be swayed. "I think this is the perfect time for us to talk, Mal, while everything's out in the open! If you don't think that I look down on you because of some classist Go shi, then explain to me what you were talking about! Because it sure sounds like, just because I was born in the Core, or raised at the Companion training house on Sihnon, you think, that I thought, I was too good to spend time around you, or the crew or Serenity! What else could you have possibly meant?!"
Malcolm stood up from his seat and, ignoring everyone's else's gazes, looked right at Inara "I meant that I'm not good enough for you. Not because of some accident of birth, or where you were raised, because that Go shi doesn't really matter. You're a better person than I am, Inara You don't have blood on your hands, like I do, and no, Reavers don't count, cause they ain't human anymore. And deep down you know that I'm right. That's why you push me away when ever I try to get close to you, even after you lost Companion status. That's why we argue whenever we spend five minutes together in the same room. And that's why, after I failed to save your friend, Nandi, you decided to leave Serenity. It's also the reason why, sooner or later, you're going to leave all over again."
Inara shook her head. "Mal, that's not why..."
But the captain didn't wait around long enough to hear Inara speak as he walked towards one of the exits to the room, glaring challengingly at the gunman guarding the door. "I need some air. Now, are you going to move, or am I going to have to move you?"
After the bodyguard looked silently at the host, who nodded, the gunman stepped aside and let the captain pass. Inara, for her part was able to avoid any emotional outbursts as the last five minutes of the broadcast, which was mostly just boring drivel about the other members of the cast settling into their rooms at the mansion (aside from the more interesting bit where Simon told his parents he would be sharing a room with Kaylee) that everyone in the living room was too preoccupied with the moment that had just transpired between Malcolm and Inara to notice. During those last five minutes, however, Kaylee re-positioned herself so that she and Inara were almost, but not quite, side-hugging, and Inara allowed the mechanic to do so. When the broadcast ended, Inara leaped of the couch to run and find Malcolm.
The ex-companion hesitated, however, when she realized she had no idea what she was going to say. At least, not until River, whose head was still hanging upside down from the vent, said, "You need to tell him your secret. The captain will find out, sooner or later, and it would be better if you told him first."
Inara looked slightly startled by River's words, even as the psychic in question closed the vent and scurried away to parts unknown after speaking them. However, Inara quickly decided there was wisdom to what the teenage girl had said, and the woman ran out of the room. Inara's footsteps were filled with purpose as she looked everywhere she could think of to find Malcolm. But the man wasn't in the room he shared with her, or in the shuttle bay, or even in the exercise yard. In other words, he wasn't in any of the places that the ex-companion had thought the captain would choose to spend time alone. However, after searching the mansion and its grounds for half an hour, passing (and ignoring) an angry Simon and Gabriel Tam, who were arguing about something (Kaylee's name was mentioned, but Inara didn't stick around long enough to hear the details of argument between father and son) she finally found Malcolm, sitting on a bench in a dimly lit area of the Villa's gardens.
Inara forced a smile as she approached the captain. Malcolm's muscles visibly tensed as he saw Inara approach him, but he made no move to leave the bench as she sat on the other side of it, a foot away from the captain, and spoke. "I never took you for a gardening fan, Mal. It's actually hard for me to imagine you with a green thumb."
Malcolm's lips turned up slightly, but the man didn't quite smile as he replied. "That's because I don't have one. Never had a talent for growing things myself, but my mom, back on Shadow, sure did. Her garden wasn't as big, or shiny, as this one, but she she put a lot of time and effort into making sure every plant in that garden grew."
Inara nodded. "Gardens reminds you of home. Better days."
Malcolm nodded. "Better. And simpler. Why are you here, Inara? There's nothing left for us to talk about. I've already spoken my peace."
Inara shook her head. "But I haven't spoken mine. You didn't give me the chance to before you ran off."
Malcolm sighed. "I guess that's so. Sorry. I'm not really good at talking about...feelings."
Inara shook her head. "Neither am I. At the training house, control was the first lesson, and the last. I was taught that my emotions were distractions to be overcome, and never spoken out loud, much less acted upon. I've spent my whole life wearing one mask after another for my clients, and now that part of my life is over, and I'm sitting next to one of the few men I've ever met that's only ever wanted me to be myself. And I have no idea what to say."
Mal nodded. "Let me make it easy for you then. " Mal looked Inara in the eyes. "I'm not a poet, Inara, or one of the countless lords that I'm sure have tried to romance you in the past with shiny words that I don't know the meanings of. And like I said, I usually keep my feelings close to the vest. So when I simply tell you that I care for you,...well, that means something."
Inara's eyes widened slightly, but the woman did not speak, so Malcolm prompted. "I'll ask you this question once, then I'll never bother you with it again. And neither answer will impact your status as a member of my crew. Do you care for me too?"
Inara turned her eyes away from the captain. "You shouldn't have asked me that, Mal. Not now."
Mal frowned. "Why the gorram hell not? We've been tiptoeing around this elephant in the room for too long, already!"
Inara nodded. "Yes. It has been too long." The ex-companion turned towards Mal, who was startled by the tears that were falling from Inara's eyes as she resumed speaking. "Yes, I do care for you, Mal. I would have thought that would have been obvious by now. But it doesn't matter now. There can't be anything between us. You're too late We both are."
Inara tried to leave, but Malcolm gently grabbed her arm to stop her, and the former companion let him. Mal shook his head as he took Inara's face in his hands. "No, I don't accept that. How can it be too late for us when we are both here, alive and whole? When we've both finally told each other how we feel? I don't care what that fancy school of yours taught you, this, two people caring for each other, that's a good thing! That's one of the few ways that most folks can find happiness in this crazy 'Verse!"
Inara shook her head and reluctantly pulled away from Mal's touch. "I'm not most people. And I can't have that happiness with you. It would be selfish of me to even try."
Malcolm shook his head. "Selfish? Now you aren't even making sense, woman. Look, whatever problems you think think might be caused by us being together, I know we can overcome them."
Inara shook his head. "Not this time. This is a problem that not even the great Malcolm Reynolds can overcome." Before the captain could open his mouth to protest further, Inara quickly blurted out. "I'm dying, Mal!"
Malcolm's posture stiffened, his face turned whiter than Inara had ever seen it, and the fiery determination in the man's eyes died a little, as if the captain had just aged ten years in the span of an eye blink "What?!"
Inara cried harder. "I have a disease, Mal. A very rare one caused by a terraforming event I got caught up in over a year ago. It's not contagious, and I'm still asymptomatic, but the doctor I saw on Ariel says that the antibiotic resistant bacteria in my heart and lungs could start attacking my cells any day now. I have six months, maybe a year, left to live, before Frank Roddenberry disease causes me to suffocate to death. That's why it wouldn't be fair to you for us to start anything between us now. I'm dying, Malcolm Reynolds, and there's nothing in this 'Verse that anyone can do about it!"
Inara's crying became bawling then, and the former Companion's make-up ran down her face. Not being a man of words, Malcolm Reynolds had none to comfort her with, so the captain did the only thing he could do. He held Inara as tightly as he could, and let the woman he loved cry onto his shoulder.
AN: So here we are, another chapter into the story I'm sorry this chapter took so long to get out there, but I've been rewriting part of this chapter, over and over, and I still don't feel like it's up to my usual standards of writing. Still, I hope you all enjoyed reading it, despite the downer ending of the chapter. Bur rest assured, this story, and Inara's, are not over yet. Anyway, please leave me some feedback in a review! Reader input is greatly appreciated!
I would like to say thank you to all my readers, especially, Cowgirlcadet1701,bjq, and for reviewing my last chapter! And a special thanks goes out to my beta-reader. I couldn't do this without you! Until next time, I am...
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