Brave New World

by Ultrawoman

Sequel to 'Her Bodyguard'. On the run from both the Tams and the Alliance, River and Jayne, plus Simon too, have boarded Serenity at Persephone and are now off into the black, hoping to find a new place in the 'verse to call home. Maybe they are destined to stay aboard the Firefly for keeps, but life won't be easy, even if they are accepted amongst the crew.

27. Chapter 27

A/N: Apologies for the delay. I uploaded this to the site but didn't actually attach it to the story - duh! Anyway, I had two thoughts on how to end this fic, and this option won out in the end. Love it or hate it, I thank you all for sticking with me to the end, and for all the lovely feedback I've received over the past 10 months - thank you :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 27

Time was strange. River had always thought so, and never more so than now. There were day cycles aboard Serenity that seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Sometimes weeks appeared to have the length of four as they passed by slow as molasses. When she thought of her past, River could scarce believe she had only been gone from her home about a year. Three hundred and eighty four days to be exact, but she was the only one counting anymore, and then only because it was difficult not to. Osiris, the Tam family estate, fancy dresses and lowly servants, it all seemed a hundred years ago. River Tam had fallen asleep, like the princess who pricked her finger on a spinning wheel. The needles were sharp and took her under, deep, deep into the void. A kiss from the most unlikely prince awoke her senses, and he showed her a whole new world. In that world, the princess found a family, a life, and the answers she needed to end the last of her sleep and the madness that came with it. Peace was upon her now, and though she had fallen from princess to pauper in terms of societies status rules, River Cobb felt she was the richest woman in the whole of the 'verse.

It was not the way she pictured her life to be, but then River considered she never could conjure up a completely clear scene when she thought of the future, not until very recently. Certainly this was a million miles away from what her life ought to give been, or more accurately, a couple of hundred light years from the place she was born. When it came to finding a place to settle, they could have gone back now, if not to Osiris then at least to some place more civilised, closer to the Core. It was not what River wanted and she knew for sure it would never suit her husband. Where he went, she followed. After all, he had walked in her shadow long enough, catching her when she stumbled, standing by her when most everything else fell away.

Now there was a family that visited, and a house to call their own. A village nearby with neighbours who cared but didn't ask too many questions. Adventures were less, but work was enough. For once there was time to relax and enjoy, and that mattered now more than ever. Food came from the land, and extra coin from work Jayne gained from others - odd jobs, heavy lifting, a little security. All of a few weeks since Miranda, and life had new meaning. A new beginning in a brave new world that knew the truth of what surrounded them, what governed them. Out in the black, closer to the Rim, River felt completely ungoverned, more free than she ever had in all her days, and in more safety and security than even dear Serenity could provide.

Some days she missed the home she had made out in the black. Missed guh guh and Kaylee, Captain Daddy and Inara, Wash and Zoe, Shepherd Book, but they were never too far away. Visits were possible, waves were sent. Nobody had to be alone. River found herself happy, satisfied, content with Jayne alone, and yet there would be another.

"Going to be perfectly imperfect," she said, a hand at her stomach that was flat yet through the thin cotton of her dress. "Half mommy, half daddy... Perhaps a little more mommy," she considered with a smile.

"What you sayin' there, bao bei?" asked Jayne, stepping up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Soon be more to love," she told him, facing into the warm western breeze that blew her hair and her dress back. "More to take care of," she continued, leaning comfortably into her husband's embrace. "Two little women, in time," she said, looking back at him with a wide smile.

Jayne looked shocked a moment and then he smiled too, pulling River around in his arms and kissing her soundly. Never had thought that this was how his life was gonna turn out, but he wouldn't change it for nothin' in this whole 'verse, that was for gorram sure.

The End