A Note From Me:
It's been a long time since I updated and I apologize to anyone who's been following this story. The truth is, life does get in the way, but it feels like I've been writing this chaper off and on FOREVER! I kept deleting entire passages and rewriting them. To be perfectly honest, I'm still not completely happy with the way it turned out... but here goes. Enjoy.
Pierce's eyes flashed angrily and he tightened his grip on Josephine's arms. "What have you done?"
Jo winced at the added pressure but remained silent, the smile finally leaving her face.
The bearded man's eyes turned back to the quickly retreating crowd and widened as he saw the two men now openly trading blows. He turned his back on them, dragging Josephine off the platform.
"Gwen!" he called loudly, and the tall woman appeared out of nowhere, a frown etched across her face.
He shoved Jo towards the woman and gestured to the others. "Get them back on the ship, something isn't right."
Pierce pulled a gun from under his tailored shirt as his head glanced from left to right before turning back to Gwen. "Where's Wendell?"
"I don't know Sir... I haven't seen him since the fight broke out."
The old man grumbled under his breath and turned toward the crowd, quickly disappearing in the throng of bodies. Josephine thought she had heard him say "coward" but couldn't be sure, as Gwen's rough hands were now pulling her in the opposite direction. She craned her neck behind her, relieved to see that Pierce's other men had grabbed Mira and the small family, and that they weren't far behind.
Josephine watched as Gwen glanced over the heads of the crowd to the ships behind them in the distance. She seemed to struggle with her decision for a moment, before trading one crowd for another as she swiftly changed direction and slipped into the sea of bodies behind the auction platform.
Josephine felt as though she were being swallowed by a wave of color as the larger woman forced their way through the color-coordinated slaves still waiting to be auctioned off. The different pigments seemed to swim before Jo's eyes as the reality of the situation hit the others and their captors tried to keep them in line.
As quickly as they entered, they stumbled out of the jostling chaos, and Josephine, taking deep breaths, took in their new surroundings. They were right outside the small smatter of buildings that indicated the remnants of a town and even farther away from the ships than they had begun. Jo craned her neck behind her as Gwen led her in between the rundown buildings and frowned as she realized the others were no longer following them.
Josephine dug her heels into the hard earth at her feet, forcing Gwen to stop and look back angrily.
"Keep moving," she spat, pulling Jo a few feet in front of her, her bound hands almost causing her to loose her balance.
"But," Jo panted as she fought to catch her breath, "You've lost the others."
"They know where the ship is... they'll make it or they won't." She tugged Josephine's arm again, pushing her gun into Jo's back. "And if you don't get moving, maybe I'll tell Mr. Pierce we had a little accident. I doubt he'll care much now."
Jo resumed their quickened pace, trying to push her worries over Mira and Elise's small family to the back of her mind. She glanced around her quickly as Gwen forced them left, around another building, the shouts from the crowd never getting any quieter. She realized suddenly that the larger woman was trying to skirt around the crowd in her attempt to return to the ships as opposed to the much faster and yet slightly more dangerous direction of straight through the mass of people.
Loud gunshots rang out from the other side of the buildings, and Gwen slid to a stop, forcing Josephine to do the same.
"Goushi!" Gwen turned to face Jo, panic evident in her features. "Our stops have never been compromised. Who's following you?"
"Why do you assume someone's following me?" Jo feigned innocence.
"Because pofu, everything was fine until Mr. Pierce took you up on the auction block." Gwen raised her gun until it was pointed squarely at Josephine's chest as she stepped closer and lowered her voice to a growl. "Do you think it will all stop if I end you right here?"
Josephine stared at the woman in front of her, silently weighing her options. She didn't think Gwen actually expected an answer, and she let her sarcastic comment choke in her throat. It wouldn't do her any good, in fact, it might just get her shot.
As if someone were reading her thoughts, a muffled gun shot rang out from behind Gwen, startling them both. Jo only had a moment to react as she watched Gwen's eyes widen in shock. Josephine didn't feel as though she had been shot but her bound hands kept her from making sure.
Gwen tumbled forward into Jo quickly, the barrel of the gun hitting her chest as it was pressed between them.
They hit the ground roughly, Jo's bound hands scrapping on the hard earth. The gun barrel slid to the side from Gwen's weight and Josephine said a silently prayer as the larger woman's finger jerked the trigger. The discharge was loud and for a moment Josephine had the odd sensation of being deaf. She watched a piece of the wood building next to them splinter before turning back to Gwen's lifeless body.
She struggled underneath the larger woman for a few seconds, unable to budge her and wishing for the umpteenth time that day that she had her hands free.
The sound of footsteps ceased her struggles and she tried to peer around Gwen's large frame only to find herself blinking into the harsh sun. The footsteps got closer until Josephine could make out the boots of the person they belonged to. Her eyes traveled upwards over the mostly black silhouette until they reached her unknown saviors face and she gasped in surprise.
"Wen?"
The young man looked down at Gwen, frowning. He hesitantly reached out with his left boot and nudged her body, jostling Josephine in the process.
"Is she... is she dead?"
Jo studied Wen's handsome but currently dumbfounded face for a short second before answering.
"She is... that can sometimes happen... when you shoot a person." Josephine paused. "Not that I'm not grateful, of course, but do you think you could get her off of me?"
Wen glanced down at Josephine in embarrassment and nodded. He quickly moved around to Gwen's legs and stooped over to take them in his hands while Jo watched. She looked behind him in surprise however, when a new, taller, shadow fell across her face.
The new arrival had been stealthy and Wen hadn't heard the person approach. He gave a startled cry as a strong arm wrapped around his chest and he felt the prick of metal against his throat, forcing him upright again.
"Zoe NO!"
The tall woman froze, but didn't remove her arm from Wen's chest or the knife from his throat. Zoe turned calm eyes to Josephine and gave her a questioning look.
"He was helping," Jo stated plainly.
Zoe stared at Josephine skeptically for a moment before finally releasing the young man and assisting him with the body at their feet.
"Who was she?" Zoe asked, nudging Gwen's body with her foot, just like Wen moments before.
Josephine opened her mouth to answer as Wen helped her to her feet, but the young man beat her too it.
"A very mean, dangerous woman," Wen answered quietly.
Jo stared down at the large red stain on Gwen's back and was surprised at the slight nausea that overtook her. She couldn't remember ever reacting this way to something so mildly violent, not after everything she had already seen or been through. She placed her hand tentatively at the side of her stomach as she realized where the nausea most likely came from.
All the madness that had been happening around her had succeeded in doing what nothing else had been able to do before. She had completely forgotten that she was pregnant and the whole reason for starting out on this damned trip in the first place: to find Mal and tell him... tell him what exactly, she hadn't quite figured out yet.
"Jo?"
Josephine looked up to see Zoe and Wen staring at her oddly. She blinked slowly a few times, regaining her focus.
"Sorry." She turned slightly to the side, showing Zoe her bound hands. "Could you?"
The taller woman stepped forward swiftly, the small silver knife still in her hands, and sliced through the material binding Jo's wrists.
Jo immediately pulled her hands in front of her and flexed her wrists, rubbing them together in the process. Her muscles ached, but the soft material hadn't left any marks on her wrists, as though it had never been there.
She glanced back down at Gwen's motionless body in silence for a moment before going to her knees beside it.
Zoe and Wen watched in confusion as Jo tentatively put her arms beneath the large woman's torso and leg, struggling, even with her free hands, to turn her over.
"A little help, please?"
The others shared a quick look before going to their knees on either side of Josephine, and together they turned Gwen's body onto it's back.
A flash a metal in the bright sun brought Jo's eyes to what she had been looking for, the large pistol still grasped loosely in the dead woman's hand. She retrieved it quickly and pushed herself back to her feet, the others following. The large gun barely fit in her hand, but she checked to make sure there were rounds in it just the same, before turning back to the others.
"Alright, let's go." Jo turned on her heels, in the direction of the chaos, silently trusting that the others would follow, but was stopped short by a strong hand on her shoulder.
Josephine turned her head to find Zoe's dark hand on her shoulder, holding her back. She turned back to the first mate, Zoe's hand dropping back to her side in the process, to see her shaking her head from side to side.
"Captain's orders were to find you and get you back to Serenity, ain't no time for anything else," Zoe stated matter-of-factly.
Josephine shook her head, mimicking Zoe. "I can't do that and you know it. I'm not trying to be noble, it's the last thing from my mind. But Mira's out there somewhere and I have to find her." Josephine flashed suddenly on the tiny family she'd met aboard the Finder. "And three others. A husband and wife and their little girl."
"But Mal said..." Zoe protested.
"Gorrammit Zoe, I don't give a jiashi xingjiao what Mal said, you can help me or you can get out of my way!"
Josephine turned on her heels once more, a little surprised that Zoe didn't just grab her and throw her over her shoulder, and hurried back around the buildings towards the crowd. She was even more surprised, however, when Zoe stepped up next to her, matching her quick stride, eyes determinedly on the path in front of them.
"Hey, wait up!"
Josephine felt the tiniest of smiles grace her lips as Wen's voice called out from behind them and she could hear his boots beating hurriedly into the dirt.
Jo retraced Gwen's previous steps. They turned right around an old wooden building and were back in the main square again. The crowd had thinned and she could hear the distant rumble of engines as multiple spaceships prepared to take flight. She skidded to a halt just outside the buildings, Zoe following suit.
"Who...who... are we looking for again?" Wen panted, having finally caught up.
Zoe turned skeptical eyes to him, but it was Jo who spoke first. "We?"
Wen lowered his eyes to the hard dirt at his feet, embarrassment crossing his features. "I was hoping, since I helped you... with Gwen... that maybe you'd give me a lift out of here."
Jo stared at him solemnly for a moment. "Odd request... considering none of this would really be happening if it weren't for you anyway."
Zoe turned confused eyes to Josephine as the small amount of hope in Wen's face washed away.
"Fair enough, I guess." Wen turned from them as though he were going to walk away, but quickly faced them again. "I'll still help though, if you'll let me."
Josephine smiled slightly, realizing that their situations weren't that dissimilar. After all, hadn't she inadvertently gotten Mal and the rest of Serenity's crew hurt on more than one occasion in her attempt to flee from Rawley? She sighed as the memories washed over her and met Wen's eyes.
"Listen... I can't promise anything, it's not really up to me" she began slowly. "But we'll try to take you with us."
Wen smiled brightly, and when he did his whole face shone, making Josephine gasp slightly. He truly was a beautiful young man.
"Good enough for me! Let's find your friends then and get out of here!"
Josephine nodded and turned back to the jostling, though somewhat smaller, crowd. "Right... after you Zoe."
Zoe turned confused eyes to her again. "Shenme? You didn't have a plan?"
Jo threw her hands into the air. "Do I look like plan girl? You're the one with the expertise in this area!"
Zoe, managing to only look slightly annoyed at Josephine's exasperated air, turned away and stared at the crowd again. She spoke after a few short moments.
"Where was that woman taking you?"
"Gwen? Back to the ships... Mira and the others were being taken there by more of the slavers goons," Jo answered.
"You know what this ship looks like?"
Josephine thought for a moment. "I didn't really get a good look at the outside, I'm not sure."
"I know what it looks like," Wen answered quietly.
Zoe nodded. "Good. Then we make our way towards it and look for the others. Stay together. The Captain, Jayne, River and Simon are out there somewhere looking for you..." Zoe trailed off. "Come to think of it, we rushed in to this mighty hastily... should of had some sort of communications set up."
Jo blinked in surprise. "That isn't like you guys."
"We were worried... makes you act stupid," Zoe stated matter-of-factly. "Alright, lets go."
Zoe lead them straight into the crowd, with Wen bringing up the rear. It seemed to be consisted mostly of slavers trying to keep their property in line, but, now that the buyers seemed to have fled, the slavers were out numbered and their prisoners were becoming aware of it.
Slowly, but surely, Zoe pushed their way through the throng of bodies, none of which seemed to pay them the least bit of attention. Josephine turned her head left and right, searching for Mira or Elise and Richard, and every so often she would catch a glimpse of Simon or Jayne flanking them. She was relieved to know that she and Zoe had been spotted but couldn't help wondering where Mal was during all of this.
A sharp elbow to her left side caused Jo to loose her train of thought and she turned in that direction, gun at her waist. She drew her breathe in quickly as she spotted a familiar face a few yards away.
"Mira!" She turned back to the taller woman's back in haste. "Zoe, I've seen Mira... this way!" Josephine swung her head back in the direction she had seen the young woman only seconds before but she was gone now, as though the crowd had swallowed her whole. She stared in disbelief for a moment, before pushing her way left, a newfound determination in her eyes. She vaguely heard Zoe calling out to her above the noise of the crowd, but she pressed on, forcing her way to its edge. She stopped for a moment to catch her breathe and looked out into the distance at the ships that still seemed impossibly far away.
If that was Mira I saw, Josephine thought, she must have gotten away. Otherwise they surely would have had her on the ship by now.
She glanced behind her for a moment, her eyes searching for a glimpse of Zoe or Wen in the crowd but she couldn't see them. She fleetingly pondered going back in search of them, but there was no guarantee she would find them again. She opted instead, now free of the crowd, to keep moving towards the spaceships.
The sparse landscape left little cover and Josephine knew, if they were looking, they would almost certainly see her coming.
She spotted a small wooden work shed in the distance and made her way towards it. It was close enough to the ships that, from there, she might be able to figure out which one belonged to Pierce.
Jo hesitated for a moment as she got closer and the angle of the sun was forced behind one of the large ships, allowing her to see that someone was sitting, propped up, against the small shed. She squinted, trying to see better, before realization hit her.
"Wode me," she whispered to herself as she broke into a run, the heavy gun out in front of her.
She fell to her knees in front of the first body, Richard's body, and shakily pressed a finger to his throat, hoping desperately for a pulse. When she felt nothing, a strangled sob escaped her throat and she moved to the next body. Elise's small frame had been hidden behind her husbands, but now Jo could see her clearly. Face slack, eyes wide, shoulders slumped down. Her stomach was a mess of red, as though whoever had done this hadn't thought one bullet would be enough to kill her, but had instead emptied the entire clip into her.
Josephine shook her head fiercely back and forth, willing herself not to cry, but as she turned her head she caught sight of something a few feet away that wouldn't allow it. A few feet away from her mother lay Libby's small broken body and Jo rushed over to it. She absently laid the gun in the dirt as she used both hands to check for the little girls pulse. But like her father, she found none. She sat back on her heels and slammed her hands into the ground in frustration.
Jo whipped her head around as a small, pained cough issued from the shed and she thought she saw Elise make the tiniest of movements. Hastily, she wiped the tears from her eyes, leaving dirty smudges across her cheeks, and hurried over to the young mother.
She put her hands on Elise shoulders as she spasmed slightly, trying to move her arms.
"Don't try to move," Josephine spoke quietly, moving her hands from Elise's shoulders to her ruined stomach, trying to stop some of the blood flow. She pressed firmly, making Elise gasp slightly in surprise, and looked around frantically for someone to help.
Elise let out a rattling cough, forcing Jo to turn back, and a small trail of blood seeped out of the corner of her mouth.
"Where's Lib... Libby?"
Josephine's heart broke in two at the woman's question and she painfully forced a smile to her face. "She's coming, she'll be here soon."
"Is she hurt?"
"No, of course not," Josephine lied as fresh tears crept out of the corners of her eyes. "She's almost here, you just have to hold on."
Elise's eyes rolled back into her head for a moment before focusing on Jo again. "Richards dead... and I'm dying."
"You're not... you just have to hold on."
Elise tried to laugh and the sound rang horribly in Josephine's ears. "Yuchun di nu hai. You can't fool me... I was a nurse remember."
She coughed again, sending more blood from her mouth. "Where's Libby, where's my xiao nu hai?"
"She's almost here," Josephine repeated.
"Not going to make it... tell her... tell her I love her." She paused and gripped Jo's wrist with more strength than she thought possible. "And promise me, you'll make sure she's safe... that you'll take care of her... Promise?"
The smile left Jo's face and she nodded at the dying woman. "Of course I will."
"Thank you," Elise smiled and a few moments later, took her last breath.
Josephine sat back on her heels once again and raised her palms in front of her face. They were still wet with Elise's blood and other fluids and she scrubbed them furiously against the course white fabric she wore. When her hands felt raw she stopped and looked down at the thick smears on her simple dress, over her stomach, and it managed to push her that extra step.
Jo crawled on her hands and knees until she was a few feet from Richard and Elise's bodies and retched violently into the dirt until nothing more would come and she felt entirely empty. She stayed like that, head hanging down, for a few moments until a shadow fell over her and the tips of brightly polished boots appeared beneath her eyes.
Before she had a chance to look up, the owner of the boots fisted a strong hand into her hair and pulled tightly, forcing Josephine to her feet and face to face with an angry, bearded Pierce.
"Thirty years," he spat, his face so close to her own that she could feel his breath on her skin. "Thirty years, I've been in this trade and nothing like this has every happened... not till you."
He paused, moving his hands from her hair to her neck, and Josephine clenched her hands over empty air, suddenly wondering what had become of Gwen's gun.
He squeezed slightly and lifted until her toes skimmed the ground, a show of strength that defied his age.
"My men are dead... every last one of them, so I think a quick bullet to the head is to good for you." He continued pressing against her throat and Josephine's hands closed over his own in a feeble attempt to pry them off. After a short while white spots began forming over her eyes and her struggles lessened.
Just as she thought she was about to black out Pierce's body flinched and she was dropped unceremoniously to the hard earth.
She landed on her back, what little air she had left knocked out of her, and stared openmouthed at the scene that now played out before her.
Mira had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and launched herself onto the old man's back. Josephine watched in astonishment as Pierce desperately tried to shield his eyes from the girl's furious scratching and at the same time buck her off his back.
It was like watching some hideous version of the piggyback ride she remembered from her childhood, and if the situation had been less dire, Jo might have even laughed.
Reality came rushing back suddenly, and Jo made use of Pierce's temporary distraction by retrieving the gun she'd left by Libby's body. She turned back around in time to see Pierce throw Mira to the ground and pull a small revolver from underneath his shirt.
"Don't!" Josephine raised her own gun and raced back to them, praying she wouldn't be too late, when a loud gunshot rang out from the opposite direction. She saw Pierce fall to his knees in front of Mira and behind him, in the distance, Malcolm Reynolds and the rest of Serenity's crew, running towards them.
Josephine froze, the gun still out in front of her, in surprise.
Mal payed practically no attention to the man with the gunshot wound in his leg, except to take his gun away. He motioned for Zoe to help Mira up and made his way straight to Jo, where she still stood in shock.
"This isn't the reunion I had in mind," Mal spoke quietly when he was in front of her.
"No," Josephine admitted. "Me niether."
Mal stepped closer and placed a hand to her cheek. "I mean, look at you... you're filthy."
She laughed at that, a soft bray that was cut short as Mal's lips claimed her own in a tender kiss. Jo had forgotten how deliciously warm those lips could be and she felt as the world was falling away as she moved closer to him. She pulled back after a moment and looked down to see that, in a sense, the world had fallen away. Jo hadn't noticed Mal lift her and guide her legs around his waist in an effort to bring their mouths closer together. She blushed in surprise and uncurled her legs, forcing him to let her slide back to the ground.
"Wendell!"
They both turned around as Pierce yelled out to his son. Josephine's eyes roamed over the others to see if the handsome young man was still with them and she found him cowering behind the much taller Zoe, avoiding his fathers gaze.
"Wendell, help me!"
Mal turned back to Josephine and took her hand. "Time to go," he spoke, tugging gently on her hand.
Jo glanced over her shoulder at Richard and Elise's bodies, still propped up against the shed. "But..."
"There isn't any time xin gan," Mal said, reading her expression. "The laws on it's way... best not be here when they arrive."
Josephine hesitated, still staring at the bodies, and Mal placed his other hand under her chin, turning her head so that she was looking at him.
"You can't do anything for them now. The Feds will take care of it. That's one thing they're good at... grave diggin'."
Josephine nodded and allowed him to lead her back to the others, where a whimpering Pierce was still crying out for his son to help him.
"Lets get back to Serenity," Mal addressed the others before turning to a terrified looking Wendell. "You comin' with us kid?"
Wen's eyes darted back and forth between Mal and Jo's face in surprise before nodding.
"Then best get a move on," Mal spoke, leading the way.
Zoe hesitated, staring down at Pierce for a moment. "Sir?"
"Leave him," Mal answered Zoe, still walking with Josephine. "Let the Feds handle the hundan, it's what they get paid for," he spoke softly, only Josephine close enough to catch the weariness in his voice.
They walked for a short while, well past the other ships that were left, until Serenity came into view and Josephine could see what was unmistakably Kaylee jumping up and down on the platform. As they got closer she could see a few boxes piled up outside.
"Are those my things?"
Mal nodded and stopped walking, forcing her to do the same. "Yours and Mira's. Found 'em when I was searching the Finder."
Josephine couldn't hide her surprise. On the very top of the pile was the large rectangular box that held the present Inara had helped her find for Mal.
"River," Mal called out loudly, looking behind him for the young psychic. "Get us ready to fly."
River nodded and led Mira past them, but the young woman craned her head back towards Jo, who tried her best to smile reassuringly as they entered Serenity.
"Simon, show our young guest to his room... Zoe and Jayne, get those boxes on the ship."
Zoe headed for the boxes, Simon and Wen not far behind her. As the Doctor passed, however, he rubbed his jaw and jerked his thumb behind him towards Jayne.
"He hit me!"
Josephine couldn't help but smile at the outrage in his voice as he passed. Jayne strolled after him, whistling softly under his breath before shouting back to Simon.
"Yeah, well... Mal said to make it look realistic!"