A/N; Just to reiterate – this is not intended as negative commentary on adoption, which I personally view in a positive light.
Also, some POV changes within scenes here, hope they're not too disorienting.
Knights in Shiny Armor
It was a small, charming white house. There was a well-tended yard with a fence around it and a few half-grown trees. It didn't look like a place that could inspire the tension in River's stance or the aggression that had been in Jayne's when he left the boat. Kaylee chewed her lips at the view of the quiet green-lined street in the lazy town. Beside her, River muttered about being commanded to stay on Serenity when she needed to be out there with the others. Privately, though, Kaylee thought Mal was right; River was too tightly wound emotionally and needed to be a step removed from the action. Two nights back, Simon had seriously been considering sedating his sister, something he hadn't had to do since Kaylee couldn't remember when.
"Are – are we sure about this?" She questioned tentatively over the comm system, to distract herself from River's preternatural stillness and the whiteness of her face. "This place don't look so bad."
Mal was finishing loading his gun and talked without raising his head.
"You still able to take things and places like this at face value, we got some talkin' to do." He shoved the gun into its holster and nodded casually across the street, to where Kaylee knew Jayne to be hidden in amongst the trees.
Mal was right. Kaylee had seen the information herself – Mr. Yarborough's genetic son had died a few years earlier under very suspicious circumstances, and he'd had to stand trial for the death. But the town mayor was the man's brother-in-law. The case against him had been a local one, and it was dismissed by the head of the local court – who incidentally was a friend of the mayor. According to Cooperative for Children's internal policy, however, Mr. Yarborough should have been ruled out as an adoptive parent just based on the fact that he'd been bound by law for such a crime. But, again, the town mayor was his brother-in-law.
"The two of you get goin', now," Mal said to Zoë and Inara. Minus the bow she'd told River she felt she might need, Inara smoothed the hem of her business jacket with one hand. She and Zoë stepped out down the street into the cool spring sunshine, approached the charming little house as though they'd just come at a leisurely pace from one of the nice mules parked along the street. Meanwhile Mal faded back and around, coming up on the house from the street behind it.
Inara knocked on the door at the corner of the house and a pleasant-faced middle-aged man in an oversize green jacket responded. Kaylee leaned in closer to the view screen, trying to see him better from the grainy feed carried by the pickup in Zoë's collar. River hovered at her side, hands pressed anxiously together. Kaylee set a hand on her sister-in-law's shoulder in attempted reassurance.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Yarborough," Inara smiled all polite and calm-like, "We're from Cooperative for Children." She pressed a hand to the ID badge attached to her jacket collar.
The man sighed. "Is this about that complaint, again? I've spoken with someone else from your agency about this. He said there was no need for an in-person interview."
Inara smiled smoothly while Zoë stood blandly at her side. The first mate must be working very hard at not being intimidating, Kaylee figured, because the man hadn't cast her even one nervous glance.
"We only need to ask a few questions, and speak with the child. For paperwork purposes. It should take no more than ten minutes of your time."
Less, Kaylee prayed; the longer they were there the greater the chance they'd blow their cover and Mal and Jayne would be necessary.
"Oh, very well. Come in." Yarborough stepped back and called, "Darwhen!" into the interior of the house. Kaylee's heart lurched at the sound of the name.
"Actually, sir," Inara smiled on, "we need to conduct our interview with the girl in private. Your porch makes for a nice, relaxing environment. You understand."
He was frowning now. "No, I don't." Behind him, a short shape appeared in the pick-up's range. Kaylee heard River's breath quicken. Feet, legs, a torso and finally a head cleared the shadow of the porch's overhang. Darwhen stood there with her hands behind her back.
"Hello, Darwhen," Inara said quickly, hopefully before Darwhen had time to give anything away, "My name is Ms. Serra and I've come from the children's agency to talk to you for a bit. Would you come out unto the porch with me, please?"
Please, please, Kaylee begged the screen image of the little girl. Slowly, Darwhen nodded, but then tipped her head to look up at the man who stood in the doorway. He shrugged. So she went, followed Inara across to the far end of the porch. Zoë moved half of the distance they did, angled after them but keeping her body between the man and the other two. Yarborough laughed.
"What are you, my keeper?" He asked lightly, but Kaylee heard an edge under the words. Out of the corner of her eye she saw River's hands fist on the console.
Zoë smiled blandly over her shoulder just as her captain appeared at the other end of the porch, reaching up to take Darwhen whom Inara was lifting down.
"Hey!" The man started forward, his right hand sliding under his jacket – and there was quietly, suddenly, a cocked gun at his temple.
"I'm thinking you got one more head than you rightly need." The big merc growled it. "Please, do, pull that out, so I can relieve you of it."
River's hands were clenched around the view screen now. Kaylee tried prying them gently away as Mal, Inara and Darwhen moved out of view of the pickup and Zoë trained a second gun on the piece of go se that was raising his arms at Jayne's prodding.
"Things straight, there?" she asked the merc who reached around gingerly and pulled Yarborough's weapon, a knife, from an inside jacket pocket. There'd been no outcry from the street about armed strangers, but Kaylee sure wished they'd hurry.
"Yeah," Jayne answered Z, patting Yarborough down roughly. "Gorramit. I was hopin' he'd put up a fight an' I could knock it out of him."
Zoë nodded. There was the sound of a mule starting in the background. She traded her gun for some sturdy cuffs and followed Jayne into the house with the go se, where she directed him into a kitchen chair to which she firmly bound him, pressing a gag into his mouth. She headed out the door, and then turned when her crewmate didn't follow.
"Jayne?"
He was standing with his fist flexing around his gun. Yarborough, with an inkling that he wasn't yet out of danger, was shaking his head pleadingly.
"I wanta hurt him real bad, Zoë."
Zoë crossed her arms. "I understand, Jayne," she said quietly. "But we just don't have time for anything extended here. We gotta go."
Jayne nodded back, holstered his gun, and let go an uppercut that snapped the man's head back and overset the chair. Leaving Yarborough lying there unconscious on the floor, he followed Zoë out the door and into the mule that was idling there with Mal in the driver's seat.
Darwhen was seated in the mule crowded into Inara's seat with the woman's arm about her. When she saw Jayne and Zoe exit the house, though, she stood and turned to clamber over into the back. So before Jayne planted his butt in the seat, he had to scoop her up. And then there was no place for her to sit, except in his lap. Where she curled silently while Mal threw the mule into reverse and they pulled into the street. Darwhen slid sideways as they turned to move forward and Jayne tightened his arms around her to keep her from falling off him. He saw her wince, even though she didn't say anything. Rib fractures, that agency woman had said. He ground his teeth and wished he'd stayed and finished off that Liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze fuh ur-tze like he'd wanted to. Slow and painful. Woulda been more than worth the jailtime if he'd gotten caught, and Serenity's crew would've broken him out after a bit, anyway.
Mal rounded a corner and Jayne had to brace Darwhen again. He was careful to avoid squeezing her ribs, this time.
"We gonna be transporting a kid, we need to get some seatbelts back here," he hollered at front. He saw Mal and Inara exchange one of their secret 'couple' glances, the kind that here lately made him all kinds of jealous.
Darwhen said not a word the entire ride back to Serenity, and Simon pulled her into the infirmary the minute she set foot on the ramp. They had got back on Serenity without getting followed; Jayne was a bit surprised.
River lifted them into the black before Mal called the children's agency. Apparently by that point Yarborough had come to and somehow managed to attract attention; their wave was answered swiftly by the woman who'd previously spoken to them, a Ms. Jackson. Crowded unto the bridge with the rest of the crew, Jayne thanked Buddha for the lack of Alliance forces in the area as he saw a uniformed, but local, officer in the background. He added a tag-on for the fact that the planet had lacked the facility to ground-lock Serenity.
The agency woman was irate. She got even stiffer when she saw Malcolm Reynold's face again.
"Mr. Reynolds, this is kidnap-," she began, but he cut her off.
"It's Captain. This" – he shifted out of the way, so that she could see behind him – "is a board-certified physician with a background in trauma and pediatrics. And this is Darwhen. Shut it and listen."
Ms. Jackson glared urbanely and gestured the police officer over while Simon stepped up, his hands on Darwhen's shoulders.
"You're recording?" He asked Kaylee. She nodded. He faced forward again.
"Ms. Jackson, and Cooperative for Children at large; it is my professional judgment that Darwhen LaCroix, a minor aged 6 years 2 months, has experienced physical abuse and neglect in the six months since her last physician's examination. This abuse is reported by the patient as having occurred during the time period that she was in the care of Mr. Jeremy Yarborough, who was approved as an adoptive parent by Cooperative for Children. Records of my official findings are on their way to you now. Please be aware that we will be contracting legal assistance at our next port of call, and that contact information will be sent to you as well. We've already notified your planetary-level authorities, registering a complaint and requesting a full investigation into your practices. Darwhen LaCroix has been removed from an unsatisfactory situation and is currently in a supportive environment." He nodded over to Kaylee and she killed the feed. Jayne chortled to himself at the look all that high-falutin', competent-soundin' language put on the bitch's face, just before she was cut off.
Simon was swamped for a moment in feminine adoration from his wife and his sister, although River soon dropped to the floor to grasp Darwhen's shoulders. She didn't hug her – Simon's swift exam had indeed found two healing rib fractures and assorted bruises, all to areas that were normally covered by clothing. Instead River cupped the small face between unsteady palms and tried to smile through the wet coming from her eyes.
"You came and got me," Darwhen murmured, staring at her.
"We came and got you. We could never have left you with him." River leaned in, feeling awkward, to press a kiss to a wrinkled forehead. "I'm sorry, Darwhen, I'm so sorry, we didn't know."
Jayne grunted in the background but didn't clarify his meaning. Darwhen just sighed.
"You came and got me," she repeated, and relaxed into River's shoulder. River circled her arms around, carefully, and sat back until Darwhen was in her lap.
With River and Darwhen taking up floor space like that, it was crowded in the cockpit, and Mal swung himself into the pilot's seat she'd vacated, shooing everyone else out. There was quiet, the black, a few shuddery sighs, and a quirk of a smile on the captain's face when he glanced sideways towards the pair on the floor. Jayne knew, because he was hanging around watching through the window.
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dog shit