The crew arrived on Kerry in the early morning just a week after they had rescued Angel from the Academy. The Danvers' lived just west of the town of Bailey Hill. After River set Serenity down in a fallow field a few minutes walk from the small, one-story house they'd flown over, the crew gathered at the cargo bay doors. Even Jayne was there. He stood off to one side, and kept his eye on Mal and Simon. Kaylee and Zoë each had a bag with Angel's things. They had the leftover food they'd gotten, all of the supplies, and two of the jumpers Inara had bought her.
River descended the stairs into the bay as if she were going to her own ritual sacrifice to a god she didn't believe in. If she had slept at all the night before, the slowness of her movements and the dark crescents under her eyes didn't attest to it. She carried Angel down with both arms around her. The baby was awake and up looking at the crew. She had finished her bottle and the bananas River had fed her for breakfast, was dressed in the pink jumper, and had her hair brushed into a little tuft held up by a bow at the top of her head.
The sight made Mal frown. Angel looked endearing and adorable. River obviously wanted the girl to make a good impression on her new parents. She really had been doing a fine job as a mother this past week. And after what Inara had confided in him, Mal was beginning to ponder the possibility of letting Angel stay. The better part of him still held with his decision that the girl would be safer and better raised on the ground, but an inkling of doubt had crept in and taken hold.
"Let's go," River directed as soon as her feet hit the bay floor. If this day had to begin thus, she wanted it over as quickly as possible.
Mal hit the button that lowered the ramp and opened the airlock doors. The crew trudged down the gang plank and onto the dry soil. Jayne looked west. Clouds were just creeping over the horizon. There'd be rain by nightfall. That meant high winds when they took off. He hoped this transfer wouldn't last long. There was nobody here wanted to be on Kerry longer than they had to. Whole damn crew was wound tighter than a gold pocket watch.
River kept her eyes on Angel during the short walk to the Danvers' home. She wanted to keep the image of her daughter sharp and bright in her mind for as long as possible. She only raised her eyes when she heard the squeak of a screen door open. Mr. and Mrs. Danvers stepped from their house onto the wide wooden porch followed by four children. The oldest was entering his early teens, and the youngest was a toddler yet.
It was a good thing they lived so far from town because the two parents obviously did not come from farming families originally. Mr. Danvers was tall and sapling-thin with lithe muscles originally used for trapeze and gymnastics which were just starting to be trained for field work. Beautiful, dark skinned Mrs. Danvers still wore baggy harem pants, and although she now put on a white cotton shirt, a deep emerald green vest covered it. Both were barefoot in the early morning.
"Good morning," Mr. Danvers called out.
"'Mornin'," Mal returned. "I hear you folks know a man goes by Garcia?"
"We do," the lady answered. Her wide face spread into a smile. "And that little sweetie must be the new addition!"
River walked forward, her arms unconsciously tightening around the baby. "Her name is Angel. She's eight months old. She is very smart."
Mrs. Danvers reached out, scooped Angel up under the arms, and pulled her to her soft bosom. "Hello, Angel! Oh, aren't you just the most beautiful little thing!"
River winced. It seemed that everything the woman said was an exclamation. Was it healthy for a baby to be raised around someone that vocal? Angel seemed to have the same thought. She looked back at River, her little brows pinched together in utter bafflement.
"We brought all of her things," River continued. "There were some baby food jars left over, and some cereal. She loves carrots, but she won't eat peas unless you mix them with something else. She likes bananas with her cereal, or apricots. She tries to feed herself, but she can't do it on her own yet."
She swallowed through a tightening throat. "Angel goes through thirteen point five three diapers a day, has her nap no later than one 'o'clock in the afternoon, or she starts to get cranky, and she likes her hair brushed before she goes to bed. I put the pacifiers in her bag, but she doesn't really like them. Mostly she sucks on her fingers, so you have to keep her hands clean or she'll get sick."
River reached up and brushed away a few escaped tears. Her voice cracked as she continued. "She's starting to get up on her hands and knees. She ties to crawl, but mostly it's a lunge. Make sure there's nothing in the way she can hit her head on because, believe me, brain damage is no fun.
"But then you knew all that because you already have children."
She turned away quickly and ran back toward Serenity. River tried to keep the out-and-out sobbing under control until she was out of earshot. But as soon as she arrived back at the ship, she sank down on the ramp, pulled her knees up, and let herself bawl.
A few long moments passed, and River heard someone approach. She glanced up at Zoë as the older woman came around the side of the ship, and sat down next to her. Zoë took the girl in her arms to let her finish her crying. River wasn't much for physical contact, but she let herself be folded up into Zoë's side. She rubbed River's back and brushed the hair from her face. She was humming while she rocked her.
As it happened sometimes, River's mind wandered separate from her body. Time stopped obeying its natural flow, and River got a glimpse of something yet to come.
"You'll be a mother," River choked out. "You'll be a wonderful mother."
"Not likely to happen," Zoë answered. "Don't you worry about me. I've pretty much given up on it, anyhow. I got plenty of hope for you, though. You got a lot of life left ahead of you. This is just one little bump."
River shook her head against the older woman's shoulder. "First death. Then pain and screaming. Then joy. Just won't be the way you expected. You'll hold him before another year is out."
Zoë hated the little thrill she felt inside while River had her heart smashed. She held onto the girl for a while longer, but her concentration drifted.
&&&
River ran off, and Zoë followed slowly behind after setting the baby bag she carried on the ground. Kaylee buried her face in Simon's shoulder, unable to hold back a few of her own tears. Simon lifted his arm up to her shoulder and squeezed. Inara's eyes were cast toward the ground.
"She doesn't want to give Angel up, does she?" Mrs. Danvers asked.
Mal shook his head. "Not particularly."
Angel started to fuss. All of this newness was terrifying, and the Danvers' youngest son was pulling at his mother's pant leg in attempt to get her attention. He was starting to whine which set Angel to another level of upset.
Mrs. Danvers looked at her husband. He shrugged. The crew shifted and tried to find a way to gracefully exit.
"Well." Mal cleared his throat. "You folks are real generous to take Angel in like this. I'm sure she'll be fine here. Don't be surprised if River feels the need to stop by and check on her girl every once in a while."
He started to lead the crew away when he heard Jayne muttering. It sounded very much like Jayne was calling into question his mother's virtue and Mal's own ability not to drool on himself.
"What was that, Jayne?"
"Nothin', Cap, just thinkin' yer makin' the wrong choice. Again."
"And how is that?"
"They got four kids already. They don't need another one," he pointed out.
Mr. Danvers' brows lifted at that.
"You're sticking up for my sister?" Simon questioned.
"Any time your sister is spending with the rugrat is time she ain't goin' bughouse on the rest of us."
"So, you're joining the others in saying I should've let Angel say?" Mal wanted to clarify.
Jayne nodded"The kid ain't that bad. She keeps fairly quiet, don't eat too much, an' she gives the girl—River, I mean—somethin' to do besides pilot and be crazy. Besides, with as much as them two—" he pointed at Kaylee and Simon—"go at it, you might be havin' a baby on yer ship in another year's time, anyway. Whatcha gonna do? Ask your mechanic and the Doc to find another berth when lil' Kaylee gets knocked up?"
"Hey!" Simon sputtered, his face a ripe color of raspberry.
"That—what? No!" Mal spun on Simon and Kaylee. "You ain't…are ya?"
"Not right this second," Kaylee answered.
"Good." He turned back to Jayne. "And, besides, it ain't my place to make that decision anymore. Girl's been handed over. She got new parents. You want me to take their new baby away, too?"
Mrs. Danvers huffed. "Now, wait just a minute!"
The crew faced her, and watched as she adjusted her hold on the whimpering infant. Her little boy had started climbing her side in order to get into her arms and displace the intruder.
"Gorram it, Tomas, would you grab him before he pulls me over!" she shouted to her husband who quickly did what she asked. "All right, then."
She lifted Angel up to look the baby in the eye. She took in the curve of her face and the way Angel was sucking on her fingers, just like the River-girl had said. Mrs. Taborri Danvers had been looking forward to meeting this child for nearly a month. When Garcia had contacted her and her husband about them taking in a baby that had been born as one of the subjects at the Academy where her oldest boy had disappeared into, she saw it as karma. Of course she would take the little one. It was implied that she had sprung from a test tube fully formed, or at least that was the way that Taborri had pictured it. There was no mention of a mother or anyone else that wanted the girl. It had come as something of a surprise to have the baby handed to her by a tearful girl who couldn't have cracked twenty years old yet.
The gruff man had spoken true. The Danvers family boasted five children including the one who may or may not still be alive inside the Alliance facility. Her husband had to be bossed into accepting the new arrival, and little Kaelem refused to be talked into the idea of sharing his mothers lap at all. The taking of a child to try and replace what she'd lost wouldn't do anyone any good, and that young lady was obviously as in love with this child—her child, those eyes didn't lie—made it all the more wrong.
Mrs. Danvers wheezed out a long-suffering sigh. "Husband, I don't think we can keep this girl!"
Mr. Danvers winced at his wife's sudden change of mind. "Taborri…."
"She ain't mine, Tomas!" She shook her head. "I thought she'd sink into me like one of my own when I finally held her, but you know what? I think I like the idea of rescuing the baby from a life unwanted better. But Angel's wanted." Mrs. Danvers turned to the Captain. "If you truly don't want her on your boat, of course this little darlin' will have a home here."
The tight space that Mrs. Danvers had put Mal in was not to be envied. On the one hand, his crew would stop thinking of him as the heartless hundan they currently viewed him as. On the other, there would be a baby who happened to be a fugitive onboard a smuggling ship that regularly saw trouble, gunshots, and Feds. He turned to the only other person who appeared to be on his side.
"Doc, you really think your sister's capable of taking care of Angel long term?"
Simon thought back over the last four months since they released the signal. "Ever since we were on Miranda, River has been more or less stable. She's been calm, and hasn't had any episodes. There are still some nightmares, but nothing like it used to be. She has been focused and relaxed. Her brain appears to be running at a normal speed…." A new thought birthed in the doctor's brain.
Mal interrupted his thought process. "So, you're saying she can do this?"
"Yes. That's what I'm saying."
So much for his one supporter. Mal shifted back toward the Danvers' and threw up his hands in defeat. "If you're sure you're willing to give this baby up now that you've got her…."
Mrs. Danvers plopped Angel down in Mal's arms before he was given a chance to do anything but catch her so she didn't fall to the dirt. "You tell her Ma that if she or Angel ever need a place to hide out for a while, they're welcome here."
"Uh, yeah." Mal handed Angel over to Inara. The girl had really started crying when she was put in his arms. "Well, we're real sorry about this."
"Don't be," Mr. Danvers insisted. He had his youngest by the arm and was trying to keep him from running after his older sister and brother. "We're just glad the girl has a nice family to stay with."
"Thank you so much!" Kaylee flung her arms around Mrs. Danvers. "This is just the nicest thing you coulda ever done! River loves Angel so much, and she'll take real good care of her."
"Can we go now?" Jayne grumbled. "Glad the girl's stayin' an' whatnot, but hows about we go an' tell the crazy one, and get off this rock, huh?"
Mal waved him off. Man just had to open his mouth, didn't he? He turned back and shook hands with the two Danvers adults, and led his crew back home.
Inara stepped in front of Mrs. Danvers once Kaylee had released the woman. "You're very generous. Thank you."
"It's wrong to take away another's baby like this. Alliance's done that enough, and I won't be a party to it."
Last good-byes were issued and the crew trekked back to Serenity. Zoë and River still sat on the ramp, though the younger woman's tears had stopped. When River saw that Inara carried Angel, she stood, and looked at the Captain and her brother.
"Here," Mal plucked Angel from Inara's arms and deposited her into River's. "You get your wish. She's yours. Just don't make me sorry, little albatross."
"I…?"
"Yeah, yeah, you get to keep her, she stays. But she is your responsibility," Mal warned. "Not your brother's, not Kaylee's, not Zoë or Inara's, and definitely not mine. Angel's hungry, you feed her; she's got a diaper-full, you change her; she makes a mess, you clean it up. Dong ma?"
"Yes. Yes, I understand. I'll take care of her."
"All right, then. Let's get aboard and get going. We ain't had work in a week, and this boat don't fuel herself, you know." Mal opened the doors to let his crew inside. "We'll call Badger, see if he has anything for us. River, you make sure you do that accent thing. He tends to be nicer to us when you do the talkin'."
Jayne was the last one in. He'd gotten wrapped up in his amusement at the sight of River getting handed that baby, and told she could keep her. She'd looked surprised, not sure she heard right, and a little scared. Guess that Garcia fella was right—just like the Virgin Mary. Crazy girl wasn't so scary when Jayne thought of her in those terms.
As last one in, Jayne hit the control panel and closed the airlock. He laughed a little as the landscape of Kerry disappeared behind thick steel. "Merry Christmas."