"Whore." Hetter spat the word.
"Rather be that than what you are," Roxanna said, turning from him.
He grabbed her arm. "How can you bring a life into this world knowing what you are?"
"Let go of me."
"You have to repent of your wickedness."
She stared at him, then laughed out loud. "Repent? Of being with a man who actually treated me well, of wanting this child more than anything in the world? What should I repent over?"
"For being wa."
"I'm impure? That's so …" She dragged her arm from his hand, her sleeve tearing.
He snatched at her again. "If you don't repent your child will be born unclean, and you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven."
"If it's full of people like you …" Suddenly she doubled over, hit by a wave of pain unlike any she'd known. She started to gasp.
"What … what is it?" Hetter asked.
---
River stared out at the stars, her mind ruthlessly controlled, sending her consciousness out into the vastness of space, but to only one place. It hurt, being in such close proximity to hands of blue, but she was doing what Freya had asked.
"River, you okay?" Hank watched her from the co-pilot's seat, her skin shining with perspiration. He was itching to fly, but right now all he could do was be there for her.
"Need to keep us … just so," she muttered, making a minute adjustment to the steering, taking them a half degree further around the planet's axis.
"No, I mean, are you okay now?" he asked, ready to up and run should the erstwhile psychotic decide to appear.
"No. Still crazy."
He reached out to touch her. "I meant –"
Her hand snaked out, grabbed his wrist and squeezed. He gasped at the sudden pain and the feel of bones grating together. Obviously hadn't been fast enough.
"No words," River said softly, her hair hanging down between them. "Nothing will make the taste go away." She let go of his wrist.
He sat back, cradling it, flexing his fingers. "Ow?"
"Nothing broken. At least for you." She hadn't looked at him the whole time. Again making a minor course correction, her hand stilled and her head lifted. With a speed that equalled her wrist-grabbing manoeuvre, she pulled the com down. "Kaylee. Roxanna needs you."
Her voice echoed through the ship and bounced back at her. No thought. Just action. To help. To save. To be.
---
Kaylee ran out of the engine room and flew down the stairs towards the guest quarters, pulling up almost in disbelief at the sight of Hetter helping Roxanna towards the infirmary, his arm around her waist.
"I think … I think it's started," he said, his face white.
Kaylee nodded, going the other side and letting Roxanna lean on her too as they got her inside. Between them they managed to get her onto the bed before another contraction hit, but this one had her screaming in agony, clutching at her head.
Hetter put his hands up, about to leave. "I … this isn't …"
Kaylee turned to glare at him. "You stay. You're supposed to be a Christian man. You're gonna stay and help. If I'm gonna birth a baby, I damn well need someone with me."
"But I'm not a doctor. I don't know what to do."
"Well, I'm guessing it might be your fault, so you stay!"
"I was only trying to apologise –"
Suddenly River flew down the stairs, right into Hetter's face. "You weren't apologising! You were ranting, telling her the unborn child was going to be a bastard and she was going to hell!" She was barely an inch from his nose. "A child who is about to lose a mother, to come into the 'verse never knowing who … and you were condemning them both!"
To Hetter's credit he didn't back down, but whether that was due to courage or being petrified with fear was debatable. Still, he managed to say, "I tried! She attacked me!"
"Two lost souls, adrift forever …" Tears began to roll down her cheeks. "How dare you …" She turned and ran, back towards the safety of her shuttle.
Kaylee looked at Hank, who had followed River in. They both felt Serenity rock slightly.
"Shuttle's back," the pilot said.
"Good." Kaylee glared at Hetter. "And you'd better get out of here before I tell the Cap'n what you did."
Hetter looked about to argue, but Hank moved in closer. Muttering to himself something about having fallen in amongst thieves, he scuttled off back to his room.
Simon ran in from the cargo bay, the others at his heels, just as another scream ripped out of the infirmary. Immediately the young doctor was inside, fixing sensors to Roxanna's forehead, chest and finger.
"When did the contractions start?" he asked, checking the readouts.
"I don't … don't know." Roxanna could hardly breathe. "An hour ... maybe."
Kaylee was shocked. She'd been in labour while Hetter was berating her. "Cap'n, that man …"
"Captain, I need everyone except Freya outside. Now." Simon's voice was calm, no inflection, but it was an order.
"Okay." Mal turned to look at his crew. "You heard the doctor."
As they left the infirmary Simon looked down at Roxanna. "I can't give you anything for the pain. Not since the Codafenicol. I don't have anything stronger."
She grasped his hand. "I know. I …" Her eyes closed as she tried not to cry out.
Simon's eyes narrowed. If she'd only been in labour for an hour, this was far too soon for another contraction. "Roxanna, does it hurt anywhere else?"
She nodded, her teeth clenched tight. "My … head," she ground out. He picked up his scanner, about to run it across her head, but she stopped him. "Please …" Roxanna was fighting for breath. "Please …"
He thought she was begging him not to. "I have to see," he said softly.
"Not what … I need … boy or girl?" she managed to say, gasping against the pain.
Simon quickly ran the scanner over her belly. For a moment it was unclear, then … "Girl," he said. "It's a little girl."
Roxanna smiled. "Always wanted … a little girl. To dress her in … pretty clothes, make tea … tea parties for her …" Her voice halted and her eyes opened wide as a spasm flooded through her so hard that she almost lifted from the medbed. She screamed, tearing at her head.
"Roxanna –"
"Save her. Please save my baby." She twisted in agony, her body contorting in a fashion it wasn't meant to. "Please!" she screamed.
Simon reached for his hypos, wanting to help despite what he'd said, to alleviate … then there was silence. Roxanna fell back onto the bed, her body slack, her eyes wide, staring at nothing.
"No … no!" he shouted, his hands on her chest, beginning compressions. "No!" He breathed for her, forcing air into her lungs. He felt Freya at his side.
"Simon."
"Adrenaline. In that –"
"She's gone." She put her hand on his. "You have to save the baby now."
He stared at her, then at the flatline on the monitor. "Frey …"
This time she took his shoulders, squeezing tightly. "Simon. The baby."
The pain seemed to bring him out of his daze and he turned to the drawers, dragging out the instruments he needed.
"Cap'n?" Kaylee said in a small voice outside the infirmary.
Mal couldn't answer. Instead he put his arm around his mei-mei and held her tightly, watching as his wife and Simon prepared to try and save the child.
River watched Mal pull Kaylee into his embrace from her vantage point high on the stairs. Heard him call her mei-mei. No blood between them, just honest affection. He'd told Mr Frye she was the sister he'd never had. He chose her. Chose to make her his family. As the activity in the infirmary increased, River walked slowly up the stairs again, thinking hard.
Jayne watched her go.
Simon let his body work on autopilot, making a sweeping incision across the woman's belly, lifting the skin and muscle away before opening the uterus. Fluid poured out, but he didn't care as he reached inside and took hold of the baby.
"Freya."
She put her hands under the tiny arms, allowing Simon to clamp the umbilical cord and cut it.
"Simon … I don't think she's breathing properly."
Kaylee whimpered a little, and Mal tightened his arm around her. Zoe squeezed Hank's hand even more.
---
Simon walked towards the bridge, having tidied Roxanna up, closing the wound. Most everyone else had gone back to their bunks, or just someplace else, and when he left the infirmary the common area was empty. With heavy feet he climbed the few steps to where Mal was sitting in the pilot's chair, alone.
"It was a burst blood vessel in the brain, Mal," Simon said, rubbing his hands through his hair, feeling as if the room were smaller than ever. "Nothing anyone could have done."
Mal turned from looking out at the stars. "And the baby?"
"She's … better. Out of the woods, I think. Kaylee's looking after her."
"River said Hetter was arguing with Roxanna. Did that have anything to do with it?"
"Possibly. It would have raised her blood pressure, and with the labour, but … it was going to happen. The tumour had weakened that area significantly. It was only a matter of time."
"Then you did the right thing."
"I'd like to bury her on Corvus."
Mal shook his head. "Not a good idea, Simon. They might still be around."
"Freya said the Cry Baby worked, that they're not there anymore – if we go back now, take the shuttle, we … please, Mal."
"And if they come back while we're there?"
"Then what do you suggest we do with her?" Simon was getting angry, his tiredness making him snap. "Dump her with the rest of the trash?"
"I didn't say that."
"No, and I didn't hear you coming up with an alternative suggestion either!" Simon was waving his arms around. "Come on. You're the captain. You tell me what we're going to do with her!"
Mal got to his feet. "I'm thinking of you here, doc. You and your sis. You and your sister and your child. You really want to put them in danger?"
"Don't you think that's for me to decide?"
"Since when did this become a democracy, doctor? I'm still captain of this boat. I decide what we do." Mal's own anger level was growing.
"Really. Really. Well, I'm still waiting for the captain to make his mind up."
"Already did. You ain't going."
Simon balled his hands into fists. "Mal –"
"Stop!" Freya stood in the doorway, her whole body vibrating with tension. "You will stop this right now, both of you!"
"You telling me what to do too?" Mal asked.
"Yes. I'm telling you … both of you … to stop being so stupid." She stepped over the sill. "We've just lost two people. I think you could both do with showing a little respect."
Mal glared at her, then saw the lines around her eyes. His anger faded instantly. "You okay?" He crossed the bridge in one stride and put his arms around her.
"Not particularly, no. And this doesn't help."
He helped her to the pilot's chair, making her sit down. Simon was immediately by her side, checking her pulse, her temperature.
"Your blood pressure's probably up," he said quietly.
"Yeah, well, I'm not surprised." She took a deep breath, trying to calm the beating of her heart. "Only, if you two are about to come to blows, can you go and do it someplace else a little more quietly?"
"I really think I should check you over in the infirmary."
"I'm fine."
"Frey –" Mal began.
"I'm fine. Honestly. Just … empty. Maybe some food would be good."
"I don't think anyone's prepared anything."
"Then it'll be pot luck." She stood up, swaying just a little, even as Mal put his arm around her. "I think everyone could do with something to eat, don't you?"
---
It was a sober meal, everyone pretty much wrapped up in their own thoughts. A dozen times Kaylee went to say something, but Simon shook his head at her. He'd given the crew the barest bones of what Andrew had told him, but it wasn't that that occupied them.
Eventually Mal spoke, his voice falling into the quiet room. "Simon, you're right," he said, everyone turning to look at him. "Roxanna deserves something better'n just a hole in the ground."
The young doctor sat up. "Thank you. I'm sure the town's people will be willing."
"Yeah. They seemed like good folks."
"We could go down the same way, if I can use the shuttle."
"You ain't going."
"What?"
"You ain't going. If anything happens while you were down there, if you got taken by those blue handed hun dans, you think I could ever forgive myself?"
Simon stared. "Then who …"
