Part 4
Summer felt herself laughing, but inside her mind, she was screaming. Her laughter quickly changed from a normal, light-hearted laugh to something hysterical, before her face crumbled into a look of terror.
"I- I can't-" she began, her eyes darting around the room, taking in everything and everyone, finally falling on the two men standing before her.
Shaking her head, she took a step back. When Mal and Nathan stepped forward, she bolted, turning and dashing toward the stairs. The two men looked at each other, then Nathan glanced at the rest of the room and took off after her.
Summer had stopped in the center of the cargo bay, trying to fight off the panic attack, when Nathan reached her. He reached out slowly, so as not to frighten her. His hands wrapped themselves around her forearms, holding her at arm's length, while she took deep, steadying breaths.
"Summer. Summer," he murmured softly, his hands caressing her arms in a soothing motion. "Sweetie, you can't expect me to be the serious one here," he said with a nervous laugh.
A sharp voice came from the catwalk above. "What happened?"
The exclamation served to startle Summer out of her panic-induced trance as she and Nathan looked up to see Inara standing there, looking very upset. "Why didn't Wash answer my-" She was halfway down the stairs when she noticed the group milling at the opposite end of the bay, Mal in front. She stopped suddenly on the step and glanced between Nathan and the Captain.
"Run-tse duh fwotzoo..." ("Merciful buddha...")
Unable to help himself, Nathan rolled his eyes. "Inara Serra, I presume?"
By now, Kaylee had moved to Summer's side, wanting to see that she was okay. Nathan gave her an acknowledging nod, then looked back to Inara.
The Companion attempted to school her face into a calm demeanor and nodded to Nathan and Summer. "That is correct. And you might be?"
Nathan pondered how to answer her. He was dying to be a smart-ass, but knew that now was not the time. Before he could come up with something, however, Mal's voice interrupted.
"Wash! Get us off this rock. We've still got a job to do," the captain ordered, though his gaze remained fixed on Nathan and Summer as he spoke. Wash said nothing and headed up the nearest staircase. "Everyone else... well, ya got places to be."
Kaylee met Inara on the far staircase and pushed her back up the steps, intending to fill her in with what little she knew. Zoe pulled Jayne back through the hatchway leading to the Infirmary. Book followed a moment later, dragging a protesting Simon with him.
Mal felt a rush of weariness run through his entire body. Summer nudged Nathan and nodded behind him. Turning, Nathan saw what- who she was looking at. "You two," Mal directed to them, then realized neither of them had heard him. Noticing their gaze, he turned as well and spied his River, leaning against the catwalk rail. Her expression was confused, but definitely notsurprised. Which didn't surprise Mal at all.
Looking down at the three of them, River simply stated: "You're early."
Surprisingly, River's words made sense to Summer, who tilted her head to the side, eerily, in a similar fashion to her mirror image. She smirked. "You knew we'd be here." It wasn't a question.
Mal looked around, as if he expected to find everyone having snuck up behind him, ready to yell "Surprise!" Hands back on his hips, Mal glared up at River. "Where the hell have you been?"
River matched his stance, and raised an eyebrow. "Watching."
Mal's gaze shot straight to Summer – which Nathan noticed – then back to River. Flustered, he defended, "Now, darlin', it's not what it looked like. Really!"
"What are you talking about?" Nathan interjected, his voice a tad bit suspicious.
Mal's face snapped back to Nathan. "N-nothing. Mind your own business!" Nathan turned to Summer and raised an eyebrow. She shook her head and looked up to River, an amused grin on the Reader's face.
"Mal ?" Wash's voice came over the shipwide comm.
"WHAT!" Nathan and Mal yelled together. Nathan's hand flew straight to his mouth and he spun around, so fast he almost saw stars. Summer reached out to steady him and tried to force back a laugh, which was difficult as she could see Nathan fighting a matching smile behind his hand.
Mal took a deep breath and moved over to the closest comm station.
"Yes?"
"Badger's on the line."
Mal rolled his eyes and looked from the visitors to River, then pressed the button again. "On my way." Taking another deep breath, Mal started up the steps, then turned to Nathan and Summer. "You two," he pointed. "Stay put. No touching. Dong ma?" They both nodded to him, then turned away, each fighting to hide the snicker the captain's words had brought about.
Once he reached River, Mal leaned in to speak to his recently-elusive Albatross. "This what you meant by 'interesting'?"
"You're keeping Badger," River replied, her expression blank.
Mal's brow furrowed as he began to worry. She had mentioned that she'd been watching earlier and he feared what she'd felt if she had, indeed, witnessed the kiss between himself and her double. "Wasn't my fault, ya know..." he trailed, wanting to judge just how angry she was.
Letting him stew a moment longer, River let a smile creep and then straightened. "Go." Giving him a push, she nodded toward their twins. "I'll keep an eye on us." Mal huffed and gave her a quick kiss before stepping through the hatch, and heading for the bridge. Summer had watched the exchange with much interest, while Nathan was examining the detail of their surroundings.
'I should be much more concerned,' he thought to himself. Oddly, once the initial shock had worn off, he found himself feeling right at home. Summer watched him move over to a nearby crate and hop up onto it. "So," he plastered on a smile. "Whatcha been up to?"
Summer looked to Nathan in surprise. 'He wants to make small talk nowshe thought, folding her arms. "Excuse me?"
"Well," Nathan shrugged, tracing a finger along the edge of the crate. "Occurred to me that, short of the 'Hey,' 'Hi' and 'How are ya?' this morning, we haven't spoken in... how many months?" Adding a shrug, he continued, "Figure now's good a time as any, since we're under house arrest." He nodded in River's direction. Summer turned to see the younger her, back to leaning on the rail, watching them.
River gave her a small wave, then straightened. "You need to eat," the psychic said before disappearing through the hatch, thus leaving Nathan and Summer completely alone.
Nathan was swinging his legs and staring at the floor when Summer turned back to him. After a few moments of silence, Nathan chuckled.
Sitting up straight, he ran a hand through his hair and said, "Man, and I thought movin' to Wisteria Lane was gonna be weird."
Summer could help but let a smile slip. "At least you won't have to worry about getting cancelled. Again."
Nathan put on a mocked offended expression. "That's just mean! True," he conceded with a smirk, "-but, still, mean." They shared a laugh before Nathan exclaimed, "They cancelled Gina, too," the look on his face revealing that, though he was sad to know this fact, he wasn't surprised.
Summer grimaced. She made a mental note to call Gina once she got home. Assuming, of course, they would get home. "I've decided I won't even lookat a script until I know what network it's going to." Nathan put on a determined expression and nodded sharply. "Hey, didn't you film somethin' in February?"
Summer nodded, moving over to lean against the crate next to the one he was sitting on. "Yeah, Terminator spinoff," she replied. "Just the pilot, so far. Won't air until next year."
Nathan nodded. "So? What's the story? Or can you not say?"
Summer took a moment to decide how to answer. "Pretty much... River," she grinned at him, then added, "But a robot."
Nathan raised an eyebrow in her direction. "So, you're, like... theTerminator? Do you get to say: 'I'll be back.'?" Nathan tried to impersonate Arnold as he quoted the rather famous line.
Summer shook her head and smiled. "No. Well, at least not yet," she mused. "I did get: 'Come with me if you want to live.'" She gave the line just as she had for the camera, then raised her eyebrows.
"Nice," Nathan nodded approvingly. "Well," he patted her closest arm, giving her more of a push. "Good luck with that. Here's to one of us stayin' on TV." Summer looked away quickly and winced, but Nathan saw it. Doing the math, he closed his eyes and let his head drop. "Aww... Summer." He jumped off the crate and moved to the center of the room. "Don't you realize?! Anyone who's everstood in this room," he threw his hands up in the air, "and FOX, Do. Not. Mix. Seriously!"
Summer pushed off the crate. "Adam did X-Files," she threw out.
"Yeah, beforehe stood in this room!" Nathan sighed heavily and looked at his friend. Seeing her expression, he felt the need to apologize. "Sorry. You'll do fine," he said sincerely. "Take FOX by storm." He threw a hand up. "All else, you know eight possible special guest stars," he added with a cheesy grin.
"I'll keep that in mind," Summer mused. She moved back to the crate he'd just been sitting on and hopped up herself. Nathan returned to the crate and hopped back up as well.
"So... here's us," he breathed, looking up at the Mule.
"...on the raggedy edge," Summer nodded, unable to stop herself from completing the quote. The two turned to one another and shared an amused smile before their eyes began to wander once more to their surroundings. Summer focused on Jayne's workout station, as Nathan shifted his gaze toward the Infirmary hatch.
Looking back to Summer, Nathan couldn't help but ask, "What exactly was she watching that got me-" he cut himself off, cursing silently at the slip before continuing, "Him... all defensive?"
Summer's eyes widened and she made a face, trying to look completely innocent and confused.
Ironically, despite being an actress, she failed miserably.
TBC...