Note: I'm so sorry for the long wait on this chapter! I started a new job and school semester since my last post. So thanks for being paitent, hopefully I'll be able to have things up a bit faster from now on but I can't promise anything.
Joss is boss.
/
Morning sunlight slowly colored Serenity gold. The people inside stirred. They'd been living in suspended animation. After the Miranda broad wave, Serenity and the crew had stayed parked, healing their bodies and repairing the ship. Today life started again.
Zoe stared out of Serenity's bay window, her eyes fixed on the dusty bit of moon surface they were leaving; the surface where they were leaving the body of her husband. "Goodbye, my love," she whispered as the ship fought against the gravitational pull of that little moon, and headed into the black.
"Not goodbye," came a soft female voice from the doorway. River's bare feet made no sound as they carried her across the room to Zoe's side. She stood staring out the same window but seeing something completely different than the grieving warrior woman.
"Trails," River said, "they cross. Tapestries, patterns. Threads." River turned eyes that saw things far away to Zoe. "Wash's thread is cut."
"River, honey. I c..can't…" Zoe couldn't continue. River grabbed her hands, her usually distant eyes glinting with purpose and determination.
"But one divided yields a product of two. One is gone but the second remains." River's eyes were intent, as if trying to force Zoe to understand the message behind the ramblings. "Left, but left something behind. He grows." River placed a delicate hand on Zoe's lower stomach, "He's here still."
Zoe stood, eyes wide a tear threatening to spill from one, her full lips half parted as she asked, "How?.. How can you know River?" The tear trailed down her brown cheek.
"She perceives," River whispered, "She knows." River stared out the bay window into the black and swirl of galaxies, holding Zoe's hand while the proud warrior women melted, tears of grief and joy washing down her face.
River hummed as she walked back to the cockpit. She sat down in the co-pilots chair, folding her legs underneath her.
"You disappeared might' quick, little Albatross," Mal said, looking over from the controls he'd had to grab to keep them flying straight when the girl'd run out.
"Urgent matter needed attending to. The matter has been resolved," replied River, who was flipping through flight screens and patterns, on the console.
"Might wanna let me know, next time."
"Affirmative." River giggled.
"I know you ain't laughin at me," Mal said, but without any real feeling behind it.
"Affirmative. Amusement was directed at Mr. Washburne, and his fascination with extinct terrestrial vertebrates. He appears to have designated specific flight paths as stegosaurus, jinfengoperyx, etcetera."
The Journey to Persephone would take several days. During that time, most of the crew sought distractions, and applied themselves with an enthusiasm and attention to detail, never before seen on Serenity, to their chores. The recycled air was tense, but working seemed to ease the worries each crew member carried.
The ship was organized and cleaned from the tip of the cockpit to the end of the firefly drive. Kaylee rewired and repaired the engine room so that it looked like it had never encountered crazy space monkeys. Simon scoured and labeled every tool and surface in the infirmary. Jayne was prompt disposing the garbage and didn't even complain when he drew septic vac duty. Inara took up residence in the kitchen going through every cabinet and drawer, washing dishes, and organizing utensils. Mal cleaned out the cockpit, with occasional help from River, and in total they found eleven plastic dinosaurs; two fell out of an overhead hatch, a tyrannosaurus was found tangled in the wires of the drive feeds, and one stegosaurus, tragically, melted its tail while hiding in the auxiliary life support cables during a circuit explosion.
Three days is a long time in the black to some and not enough to others. Serenity's crew started falling into a new pattern of life during the three days it took to reach Persephone, but those three days were not enough for them to adjust to it.
Zoe sat contemplating the life that had ended and began considering the one starting within her. Mal and Inara were working on their relationship, but it was Mal and Inara, happily ever after was gonna take a while. Jayne cared for his weapons, disassembling and oiling them. Kaylee and Simon took every second alone they could to explore their new sexual relationship. And River she danced.
Thursday approached, and with it Jayne's second anatomy lesson.
Jayne was waiting in the hold before the ships clock had even struck eleven. In order to distract himself he did some pull ups but it only took him twelve minutes to do a hundred. He followed that up with push ups and bench presses. It was 11:23 when he set down his weight bar.
"Apeman is anxious," River peaked her head over the railing above Jayne, her hair hanging down in dark waves. She moved down the stairs her hand trailing on the rail, while her skirt trailed on the stairs. "Commencing our lesson prior to the scheduled time would be advantageous," she said stopping a few feet short of Jayne and staring unblinkingly up into his face, "Both parties are present and there are two hundred and six bones in the mature human body for Jayne to learn."
River moved. Her tiny fist flew towards Jayne's face; he was fast enough to avoid it, but that forced him to take a step back, making him fall over his weight bench. River was on the other side of the bench before he hit the ground, she cradled the back of his skull in her small hands, "Occipital bone." She smiled down at him and disappeared from view.
