A/N: And now into the rewriting of one of my favourite episodes of Firefly - Our Mrs Reynolds :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 13

"Hey now, you fellas get a mark on my boat, we gonna find ourselves havin' a falling out."

"Ain't a problem, Cap'n," Jayne assured him. "Me an' the Doc ain't wastin' no bullets. This is disarming practice," he explained with a grin.

Mal nodded that he understood and tried not to smirk as he turned and walked away. They were planetside for a job but didn't need to be anywhere for a while yet. This far out of town, Triumph weren't much more than mile on mile of dust and nothin'. Nobody would hear a shot fired and they sure'n wouldn't pay no mind to a couple of fellas scuffling in the dirt behind a Firefly. 'Sides, Mal didn't mind the idea so much of the doc learnin' to defend himself. He was the only one aboard who didn't seem capable of taking care of his ownself, since surprisingly even the Shepherd seemed to know his fist from his elbow. Couldn't hurt for Simon to know which end of a piece was what, nor how to get away should some kidnappers decide they wanna take him away again. That kind of thing was never gonna sit well with his mei mei nor Jayne apparently.

Mal weren't sure he was ever gonna have a full understandin' of how such a band of folks came to care for one another and be out in the black like they were, and he'd heard the story. Was still a might odd to him, but then Mal supposed each of the crew aboard had their own tale to tell, himself included. Sometimes it was best not to ask too may questions nor wonder on things too much. Let things be, they often worked themselves out in the end.

This he was thinking as he walked back up the ramp into the ship, glancing up onto the catwalk when he saw the swoosh of pretty skirts. Inara graced him with a smile before moving away, following River somewhere or other. Womenfolk and their ways, it was the biggest mystery in the 'verse to Mal. He and Inara, that was a whole mess that never did so much work itself out and probably never would, but there was still no use worrying on it, he supposed.

"Cap'n?" said Zoe, approaching from the stairs. "We about set to head out?" she checked, double-checking the fastening on the strap at her wrist without so much as glancing down.

"Been thinkin' on this plan we got," said Mal, considering it some more even now. "Thinkin' maybe we need a third man."

"Cobb?"

"Maybe. How'd that sit with you?"

"He has a way with a gun."

"He does that." Mal nodded and smirked. "You should see him and the doc out there. Seems the young doctor has a mind to not let himself be nabbed nor taken for a fool again."

"A little combat training couldn't hurt," Zoe agreed, smiling a little herself. "Though might be safer if he stuck to doctoring for the most part."

"Can't argue with that. You wanna bring Cobb in to talk tactics? Think I need words with Miss River about her menfolk while I got the chance."

Zoe nodded in comfirmation and headed out, whilst Mal hurried up the stairs and went in search of the womenfolk. He looked about in the galley, tried the engine room, and was about to head down to the passenger dorms when he heard a whole lot of laughter coming out of the Companion's shuttle. Moving up to the door, Mal cleared his throat and knocked, though he barely waited for the invitation before he let himself in.

The women all stopped their giggling the moment he was present, though their smiles remained. Mal hadn't a mind to ask what their talk had been of. Most like he was better off not knowing. The looks on their faces were enough to be worrisome to any fella that stumbled across their secret talks.

"'Scuse me, ladies, but I need a word with our Miss River," he said, looking to the little woman in question.

"She is available to converse, Captain," she said, rising gracefully from the pile of throw pillows and curtseying prettily before following him out into the corridor.

Mal closed the door to the shuttle behind them both, and folded his arms across his chest. River looked him over, head cocking to one side as she stared.

"Take it you know your fella has a mind to teach your brother to defend himself?" he asked, trying not to look a might creepyfied by the way he was bein' stared at.

River smiled and he didn't want to know why.

"He's such a boob," she said, complete with sigh and eye roll, "but means well. Simon is out of place, out of his world. Wants to fit when he should better stand apart."

"That's as maybe." Mal nodded, not entirely sure he had followed every word she said, but perhaps getting the gist at least. "Fact o' the matter is, I got no problem with his having some kind of skills that way, but what I don't want is any unpleasantness. You tell me true, little one, since you're his sister as well as the only one aboard this boat that sees inside other folks heads-"

"There is no danger," she interrupted swiftly. "Brother means no harm to those aboard and will use his skills for good only. Much as she and Jayne-man do."

Mal saw steel in her eyes and heard it just the same in her voice. T'weren't no doubt that this young woman, her face and body like a fine china doll, had the heart of a lioness beating in her chest. More'n once she put Mal in mind of his own dear Ma, perhaps as she might've been when she were so much younger.

"Alright then," he said, nodding his head. "Speakin' of your fella, might have a use for him on this job today. You think that'd sit okay with him?"

"If there is coin to be made and guns to be fired," she admitted, rolling her eyes as she trudged back to Inara's shuttle door. "Sometimes, all men are boobs."

The job went off without a hitch and Jayne weren't sorry to have played a part in it. Course he had hoped his take'd be a share of the coin, but t'weren't too much cold hard cash floating around on Triumph. Instead he was told he and his would be fed well the next few nights from the food handed over to the Captain by Elder Gomman, and was offered a long stick that when turned made the sound of rain. He was less than impressed, at least until the liquor started flowing.

By the time he staggered back aboard Serenity sometime after the world had long turned dark, Jayne had come to believe his was the greatest of all prizes.

"There's my little woman!" he slurred some, falling ungracefully towards the bed where River sat. "Miss me, bao bei?"

"Imbibed too much," she said, rolling her eyes but smiling just the same. "Does not know even left from right," she noted, placing her sketch pad and pencils to one side and helping drag the rest of Jayne onto the bed.

"Y'know the fancier you talk the sexier you is to me?" he told her, laughing and leering all at once.

River didn't answer that. As much as her Jayne-man desired it, it would do neither of them any good tonight. As inebriated as he was, little would be achieved here but sleep, she was sure of that. It might have been a shame, but quite honestly, she wasn't really in the mood to be either romantic or lustful tonight.

A day spent in the company of the other women pleased her well enough. On good days she walked and talked just as they did, brushed her hair, danced on her toes, practiced elegant penmanship. It was easy to forget the world had changed. She might have been at the house on Osiris, in the company of her peers, though the grease marks on Kaylee's face gave her away as no real lady. She was perhaps River's favourite aboard ship in any case, a sister in more ways than one. Someday in a whole other way if Simon could ever see past the end of his stethoscope.

River smiled, looking down at Jayne who was already eight three percent of the way towards sleep. Nobody here was all as they seemed. Kaylee in grease was more princess than anyone. Simon was hero in coward's clothing. The Shepherd had claws too.

The smile turned to a frown on River's pretty face, a shudder running through her. All was not as it seemed in more ways than she could quantify. Now was not the time, no time, no way, no escape, not yet. Closing her eyes, she lay down beside Jayne and curled her body around his own. His arm went automatically and protectively over her. Listening to his breathing, feeling it run through her, River lulled herself into a false sense of security and into slumber for now.

She sat up with a start the next morning, feeling as if she almost hadn't ever been asleep at all, though many hours had clearly past. Beside her, Jayne slept on, dead to the world with his arm slung across her legs. River could not say what exactly woke her. She only knew something wasn't right, in fact, it was altogether wrong, and couldn't be ignored a moment longer.

With the grace of a cat, she slid from under Jayne's hold and flipped from the bed, moving out into the hallway without a sound. Much of the ship was in relative darkness as the rest of the crew slept on. Lights were only just now beginning to come on, substitution daylight whilst vessel-side. River didn't care about dark or light, she saw in her mind's eye that something was amiss and it was her complete focus.

Slipping down the corridor unnoticed, she felt with her mind more than her hands or feet, though both were constantly reaching out across the floor and the walls.

Into the cargo bay, quiet as a mouse, she moved, light increasing all the time. She felt a presence, more than one, and one that should never be here. As her feet moved on the grated floor, a shadow passed by. River never flinched, just swung out an arm which Mal caught with ease.

"Hey, now," he said sharply, meeting River's flashing eyes. "You okay there, little one?" he checked, mindful that she may be sleep-walking or not altogether in her right mind in this moment.

River took no offence to what might've been an accusation, felt no concern about the niggling fear she knew Mal felt because she was always an unknown factor, always.

"Affirmative," she said, nodding once, letting her arms fall from his grasp. "Not alone," she added, eyes darting left and right.

Her meaning was clear, and though Mal knew she could be feeling the presence of something existing only in her mind, as had happened before, he wasn't taking any chances. His hand went to the pistol at his hip, and his eyes roamed over the shadowy corners of the cargo bay.

"Somebody here, best show yourself now!" he called out, tone as stern as any Captain could ever be.

"She is a liar," said River then, catching his attention. "She is a liar and no good will come of her."

She seemed to Mal to be staring off into nothing when she spoke. Made him wonder if little River had a notion to call herself out on fabricating things, and yet, he almost thought he felt some other person here, some presence aboard his vessel that didn't ought to be there.

Just when he was about to call out again for whoever was there to show themselves, a little red-headed slip of a thing made herself known, appearing from behind the cargo brought aboard from Triumph.

"Now who do we have here?" he asked curiously, lowering his gun for the moment but keeping his trigger finger poised. "You got a reason for sneaking aboard my boat?"

"I believe there's been some misunderstanding, sir," she said, demure and shy as anybody Mal ever saw. "My name is Saffron. I... I'm your wife."

"Huh," said Mal, looking as dumb-struck as he felt.

River only laughed.

"I miss somethin'?"

Jayne came lumbering from the room, not as hungover as some might've been after the amount he put away last night. He reckoned somebody sending a message over the comms had brought him around and his little woman was already gone. Now that he found her on his way to the cargo bay, she didn't look altogether right.

"Liar and a tramp!" she said, folding her arms across her chest.

Jayne frowned hard, then wished he hadn't when his head protested some.

"We got what now?"

"Another member of the crew," Simon explained, appearing by his sister. "It would seem that in payment for all your services on Triumph, the Captain has gained a wife."

"Gao yang jong duh goo yang!" Jayne cursed colourfully as ever he had. "Ain't as if I come from the most civilised o' places, but ain't no sellin' o' girlfolk into marriage when you run outta coin. Wouldn't happen to no sister o' mine."

"I assume the women in the maiden house have no choice. No blood relatives to protect them, perhaps, or families that would sooner give up a baby girl to be raised elsewhere than try to afford to keep her," Simon presumed, clinical in his explanation as the doctor often was. "I couldn't imagine being so cold nor so desperate myself."

He wandered away still thinking on that topic, leaving Jayne and River alone. She looked all kinds of pissed and for the life of him, Jayne couldn't say why she oughta be. Mebbe she had thoughts about the rights o' womenfolk that made her so mad, but t'weren't as if he nor her brother agreed with treating them so bad, and they said as much already.

"Bao bei?" he said, his hand at her tense shoulder. "You okay there?"

"She is fine," River confirmed, finding a smile, seemingly shaking off whatever had come over her moments before. "It is nothing of concern to us. Captain does not want his wife. She'll be gone soon," she said brightly, reaching up to kiss Jayne's cheek.

She practically skipped off down the hallway from him, leaving her man to stare after her, wondering what just happened. Curiosity over the situation with Mal overtook him then and he wandered out into the cargo bay to get a look at the bride, if he could. Seemed the party was all broken up.

"I'm afraid you missed the excitement," said Book, the only one left there now. "Apparently we are to welcome the new Mrs Reynolds aboard ship."

"So I hear." Jayne nodded. "That all legal and proper?"

"As far as it's possible to tell, the marriage ceremony of the Triumph Settlers was performed between the parties. Every place and culture is different, which is why it's likely the Captain had no idea he was being wed."

"Huh," said Jayne, inarticulate as ever.

He scratched the stubble on his chin, and Book watched him, trying to decipher is such a look on Jayne's face meant he was in deep thought or just trying not to soil himself. It was often hard to tell the difference, he found.

"Perhaps the young lady might find a friend in River?" Book suggested then. "For all of her abilities and struggles, she is such a polite and generous girl. I'm sure Saffron would appreciate a companion for as long as she's here."

"Ain't so sure River's the type to be makin' girly friends, Preacher man. 'Sides, she didn't seem all that impressed with the newcomer."

"Oh? I wonder why that might be. Does she perhaps know something we don't? Should we give some warning to the Captain?"

"River always knows plenty we don't, but if'n she saw trouble comin', she'd tell ya... or me, anyhow. Pretty sure we're safe from some little girl picked up from the ass end o' nowhere special."

"Yes, let us hope so."

Book smiled as he spoke, which Jayne took as a good thing. Honestly, the Shepherd was more than a little amused. River herself could be perceived as nothing more than a mere girl, a helpless waif, but that was simply untrue. She was a woman in more ways than one, and far more intuitive and powerful than a person might presume on first glance. The trio that had boarded Serenity when he did certainly intrigued Shepherd Book, but for the most part, he felt safe enough in their company, and sure it was the right thing for him to stay here on the ship with them. Though technically River, Jayne, and Simon were all fugitives, they had good reason to keep on running from those that wanted them back. God willing, they would be able to do just that, for as long as it took for them to find a safe place they might call home more permanently.

In the meantime, Book needed to speak with the Captain about his new wife. He had a sermon to give, a short but necessary one, about a certain special hell.

To Be Continued...