((Author's Note: First of all, I love you all for your lovely feed back. I was a little nervous this wouldn't find an audience so I started out writing for me. But it's good to know even a handful of people are waiting for it! And now for another chapter of : Out of the Cold!

PS: While school has begun the DVD comes out Tuesday...and should be coming to my door. Which means...well, should mean the muses will remain alive and well))

Zoe Alleyne Washburn was widowed and pregnant. It was not a combination the woman cared for. She had expected to be married. The worst part was she had known before her husband died. She'd found out while they stayed with Shepherd Book at Haven. But unfortunately things got busy pretty fast and she just hadn't had the chance to tell him. His death had been brutal and sudden, with no warning and no time to say good bye. The woman had grown cold in the last seven months as her belly grew. She was eight months along, though the captain thought it was seven. The Tams knew better because Simon was a doctor and River was...River. Jayne had been avoiding her out of fear. Mal tried to strike conversation but when she didn't respond he'd eventually give up to bother Inara. Kaylee had been working with the engine a lot, and probably enjoying her romance with Simon. Zoe wasn't sure, and didn't blame her. Simon did weekly check ups to make sure the baby was safe and sound. Growing well, he'd said last. River was the only one who didn't seem to feel the need to give her space.

River who'd woken up a man from cryogenic slumber just to knock him out. Zoe had no idea what to make of it but the fact was she'd given up understanding the girl long ago. The teen had her own motivations for virtually anything, and that was just fact. She had been wary about leaving the man alone at all, saying she wanted to be there when he woke up. But after Mal had gone off to talk to the Enterprise's captain, River had gotten antsy.

As a result Zoe was now watching him. Securing him had been interesting. Jayne had suggested they just cuff him. River had insisted such measures wouldn't be enough. He was completely strapped to the gurney in the infirmary, and she'd made sure they were tight. When he began to stir groggily, Zoe cocked her gun as a gentle warning.

"Morning sunshine." She snorted. "How you feeling?"

Khan shot her a dirty look, for the answer was humiliated, but he returned his face to neutral. He wasn't about to tell her that. He was puzzling over the methods used to hold him. He could exert enough strength and break the straps. The woman would make a good hostage to free his crew. Either with her own gun or a syringe of some form.

"One funny move and I shoot." Zoe warned warily. "River asked me to keep it non fatal, so it will be non lethal. But it will hurt like hell and I will get you back on that table."
"Do you know who you are addressing?" Khan turned his head drolly, examining the room around him. A very basic and sparse infirmary.
"Khan Noonein Singh. Captain is examining your file." Zoe rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Seems River's got it in her head to help you. Captain has turned passive about it. That arrogant blonde boy seems to think there's a force in the verse that can stop River once she's made a decision."

"You should never have woken me." His voice remained calm and collect. Zoe rolled her eyes and sighed.
"We didn't. River did. She just does stuff like that for no reason sometime. Seems she's got it in her head to help you and your crew." Zoe replied simply.
That took him off guard, but he didn't show it. And of course, he thought of Admiral Marcus who'd woken him. The man had offered false promises in return for Khan's aid and threatened his entire crew.
"Help us." Khan scoffed. "Likely story."

"It is the story." The small voice came from the doorway and Zoe turned, a wry smile crossing her face. River was a reader. She knew what was going on in a person's head. "I am not this Marcus. I have no desire for war or violence. I want to people safe. I want to help you and your people go some where you can live where no one can bother you. And Inversely..." She looked up from the gadget she was holding, that Zoe thought wad distinctly advanced tech and pondered whehre she got. "Where you can't bother anyone."

"You intend to maroon us." Khan predicted. "Is that your answer?"

"One way of looking at it." River Tam approached him. "I saw in your head. You and your crew have been wronged for anyone expecting you to do anything but what you have. You were created in such a way it was the logical next move. But I'm also not foolish enough to believe you won't repeat it if you get the chance. Producing the same causes and expecting a different result. Definition of insanity."
"River, care to illuminate what it is he's done?" Zoe replied warily.
"Not at the moment. Captain wants to talk to everyone, yourself included, I'll take over guard duty." River's smile to Zoe was earnest, but Zoe suspected this meeting was going to get pretty interesting. However she nodded and slid out wordlessly, only a single glare at the man strapped on the bed.

Khan was honestly surprised by the girl's next move once the warrior had walked away. She moved forward and undid the straps on the bed.
"No real need for those. I've got a good range on you, and I imagine that's uncomfortable." She smiled softly, her expression confusing him.

"...Right." He nodded, trying to understand what she meant by range as he sat up, rubbing his arms. "So. What do you think my crew and I have done?"
"You have superiority issues." River concluded. "You take over, oppress, and not occasionally kill people you consider lesser. You'd consider the crew of the Serenity lesser. So while I want to help you and your crew, I cannot in good mind leave you in the position to continue those habits. But the planet I'm bringing you two isn't some backwater ice planet. It's fully developed and terraformed. A few million bodies of the former inhabitants who all died, but I don't think you'll be affected with your biology." She held out the tablet. "Miranda."

Khan eyed her warily and took the piece of tech, which he pondered if was fancier then the ship they were in.
"It's not. The Serenity's the single most beautiful thing I've ever seen." River said, earning a strange look.
"The Serenity?"
"This ship." River replied.

Khan eyed her warily, beginning to grasp the situation, but looked down to the tablet again. The planet was as she promised, fully terraformed, and fairly well developed in terms of buildings.
"What killed the former inhabitants?" He inquired.
"It was called the Pax. The Alliance used it to try to subdue the people. Most of them laid down and died." She sighed. "They simply eating, drinking, working, everything just stopped."
"And the rest?" He looked up. "What happened to them?"
River frowned before leaning forward and bringing the tablet to another display. This one held a rather horrible monstrosity.
"They became Reavers. Savage creatures that haunt space. Most particularly around Miranda. They don't stop till their dead, no sense of reason in them at all. Zoe phrased it to my brother once as they'd rape you to death, eat your flesh, and sew your skin to their clothing-optimally in that order."
"You said they surround the world?" He snorted. "Oh yes, good choice of planet."
"They took all the ships off world." River replied. "None remain on the planet. And I figure if any saunter down you and your crew are more then capable of handling them."
"You're right on that note." He looked up at her. "And how do you know so much about me and mine?" Khan demanded.

River smiled again, but this one unsettled him. It was a smile that held a secret, some single thing that made her better then him. She leaned forward and tapped his forehead with her pointer finger. Not a fan of being touched, he moved to smack her arm away but she'd retracted it.
"From in there." She chuckled a bit. "Oh. One final note."
"Hm? What's that?" Khan laid back, attempting to feign disinterest.

"The S.S. Enterprise will be escorting us to Miranda because they have actual guns on their ship where as we have one large man and his large gun. It will make passing through Reaver territory considerably easier." She explained.
Khan tensed and sat straight up, his eyes narrowing and falling on the girl.
"I am not going anywhere with that ship."

"...They've already beamed the Serenity on Board." River moved forward but didn't break eye contact. She began to move to touch his hand but reconsidered, recalling his earlier reaction to being touched. "You don't have to be scared though. Just as much as I'm going to be protecting everyone from you. You and your crew are under my protection."
"The protection of a little girl. Oh yes. And who are you to make such bold claims?" Khan asked coldly.

River's little smile returned and she tapped a few buttons on the tablet to relay the fuzzy security feed from her personal battle with the Reavers while Mal sent out the signal.
"I'm River Tam." She proclaimed. "And no power in the verse can stop me."