Chapter 19
"Thank you for all your help." Simon said as he shook Joe's hand.
"I just wish I could have done more for River at the Academy. If it wasn't for her I never would have had the courage to go against the Alliance." Joe replied and returned the hand shake warmly.
Joe walked from the infirmary and to the cargo bay where River and Mal stood arm in arm waiting to bid the doctor farewell. They were docked on Athens, Mal had figured it was a planet far enough away from Alliance control that they could safely let the doctor disembark, but civilized enough that he would easily be able to find passage back to the Core.
"I am truly sorry about all of this Captain." Joe said as he prepared to leave Serenity.
"Can't say it's been the best week we've ever had, but it weren't yer fault. Thank you for everything ya did for River, I'm in yer debt." Mal replied.
Joe hugged River tightly before leaving Serenity. They didn't say anything to each other, there wasn't a need. He turned to walk from the ship and then turned once to give River a smile and wink.
"You've got yourself an amazing woman Captain. Take care of her." He advised and then walked away before Mal could respond.
Once Joe was out of sight Mal turned and pulled River into his arms for a long and deep kiss.
"I know I ain't no reader like you, but I'd say that man is sweet on you." Mal said and nodded in the direction Joe had walked.
"Yes he is, but there is too much in the past for us to have ever been anything besides friends. Besides why would I want an Alliance doctor when I have my own space pirate?" River giggled flirtatiously.
Mal returned her smile and kissed her again. He was relieved that her fears and episodes from the past week had all but disappeared and she'd returned to the generally happy River she'd been before the Blue Hands had come back into her life.
"Ya know I think my bunk is gettin awful jealous. Every time we've been together has been in your bunk and the bridge that one time. My bed is feelin all kinds a left out." Mal said as he trailed kisses down her neck and shoulders.
"Well we certainly wouldn't want your bunk to develop and inferiority complex." River agreed and pulled him towards his bunk.
They took their time making love, enjoying the feeling of giving and taking pleasure from the other. They had been together a few times during the past week but it had been rushed and more of a stress reliever than an expression of love. This time however they both made it last as long as possible and reveled in the passion they created together. Afterwards they lay wrapped in each other's arms enjoying the comfortable silence that only those in love can create.
Reluctantly Mal rose from the bunk an hour later and began to get dressed.
"Sorry bao-bei but I gotta go talk to Zoe about getting a job." Mal said regretfully wanting nothing more than to return to the warm nest of blankets and River's even warmer skin.
"No need for an apology, I have things I need to do as well." River assured him as she began to pull her own clothes on as well.
Mal and Zoe spent a good hour running through possible contacts they had for a job on or near Athens. Zoe had a few contacts that she was going to speak with the next day and hopefully find them a transport job of some sort.
After leaving Zoe on the bridge Mal walked the halls of Serenity. He stopped outside the infirmary and glanced in the window to see Simon bent over a microscope.
"Hey Doc. You really think you should be up and about already?" Mal asked.
"Normally I'd say no, but with what I've found out I'm sure it won't hurt me to be out of bed." Simon replied without looking up from the microscope.
"So you been through the medical files then?" Mal asked the back of Simon's head since he still hadn't looked up from his work.
"Yes. Although I should probably go through everything again before I make any real conclusions."
"What about the videos of River? You watched them yet?" Mal asked.
For the first time since Mal had entered the infirmary Simon looked up and met his eyes.
"Not yet, part of me really wants to see them and a part of me wants to pretend they don't exist." Simon admitted.
"I can understand that. So what did you find out going through all the other files?" Mal asked.
Simon was silent for so long that Mal thought he wasn't going to answer him. Finally Simon let out a ragged breath and turned to look at Mal.
"It's true about River and I being experiments. They hid it very well, nothing shows up on a regular blood scan. I had to run a DNA scan to find anything abnormal. They changed the very base of our genome structure." Simon explained.
"Wish that made even one lick a sense to me." Mal replied.
"Well you know what DNA is right?" Simon asked.
"Yeah the basics of it." Mal answered.
"Well the human genome is the small part of a DNA molecule which carries our genetic information. It basically is what makes us who we are individually. Well in DNA there are genomes that are coded and genomes that are non-coded. Coded genomes are functioning sequences of DNA and non-coded are pieces of DNA that don't have a function. Of all the genomes in the human body only 1.5 of genomes are coded."
"So out of our DNA less than 2 is functioning?" Mal asked.
"Exactly. It's been a mystery for hundreds of years why so much of our DNA is not used, it's known as junk DNA." Simon continued.
"Junk DNA? Seems kinda feng-le that we got so much inside us that we don't use. So as interesting as this science stuff is what's it got to do with you and River?" Mal asked.
"Well once I ran the DNA sequencing on River I found out that nearly half of her genomes are coded. Roughly 47 of her DNA is functioning. I haven't even wrapped my mind around all that this could mean, but as a doctor this is the most exciting discovery of my career. The fact that it's my sister and I is honestly freaking me the fuck out." Simon said and gave Mal a wry smile.
"So what does it mean that she's got all this working DNA?" Mal asked fascinated despite his usual resistance to medical conversations.
"I'm not exactly sure without running more tests, but what Inara gathered from her friend is true. More working DNA means the organism will be faster, stronger, and smarter. I would also be willing to bet that things like recovering from injuries and illness are much faster in River as well." Simon said actually sounding excited and enthusiastic for the first time in days.
Mal took time to think everything through, his mind was again running through a multitude of memories, but one thing kept returning to the front of his mind.
"Ya know Doc when she and I were out in them woods, after that bastard raped her, they left her outside. I have no idea how long I was out, but I do know it took me a least two hours ta track her down. She was naked, outside, at night, and the temp had to be below freezing. If she didn't have that super DNA she'd a died wouldn't she?" Mal asked.
"I can't say for sure, but yes she probably would have. When you told me the story before I just thought that maybe you'd thought it took you longer to find her than it really did. She never talked to me about it and with you being as sick as you were I just figured you were confused. But if it was really that long then yes I'd say she would have died if she was normal."
"Then I guess I gotta be kinda thankful for what the Alliance did to her." Mal commented thoughtfully.
"So you've been talkin about River's DNA, what about yers? You run tests on you too?" Mal asked.
Simon swallowed thickly and gave Mal a wide eyed look that reminded him very much of River.
"Yes I ran the DNA scan on my blood as well." He replied uncomfortably.
"Well did they mess with yer DNA too?"
"They did, even more than they did to River's. If my scans are correct 68 of my genomes are coded."
Mal still wasn't completely sure what exactly this meant for the Tam siblings or the crew in general, but the look on Simon's face said it was probably something big.
"So are you and her in danger from this DNA stuff? I mean if humans only have a little of their DNA coded maybe there's a reason for it." Mal asked, his concern for River always at the front of his mind.
"Well messing with DNA like that can cause severe mutations which could result in physical and mental deformations and likely death. But that's all stuff that would be apparent at birth. If something was wrong with either of us it would have presented itself by now. Its really sad thinking about what the Alliance must have done to make River and I."
"How so?" Mal asked.
"I would say River and I were the successes of their experiments or else they wouldn't want her back so badly. Think of how many failures they must have had. How many innocent children were created and then died because of complications in their DNA."
Mal felt the familiar rush of anger he usually got when confronted with the depth of the Alliance's evil. The fact that they would be so willing to create and destroy lives for their own benefit was just one more example of how far the Alliance was willing to go to achieve their goals.
"How come the Alliance ain't after you? I mean how come they didn't do the experiments on you that they did on her?" Mal asked.
"They are after me remember I'm a wanted fugitive." Simon pointed out.
"Yeah but ain't that cause you broke her outta the Academy?" Mal asked.
"Maybe that's what they want people to think."
"Good point, but still how come they didn't experiment on you like they did on her?" Mal asked again.
"It's one of the basic ways of running an experiment. You perform the tests on one subject and leave the other alone to let it develop naturally. If the Academy program wasn't ready by the time I was old enough to go there then it makes sense that they would leave me alone and send River." Simon explained sadly.
"But wasn't River always smarter than you? If you got a lot more a this workin DNA than she does, shouldn't you be smarter." Mal asked bluntly.
"Theoretically yes, but like I said I'm going to need to run a lot more tests before I can even begin to understand what all of this means." Simon said and turned back to his microscope.
"Hey you feel like takin a break from this and gettin' drunk with me?" Mal asked suddenly.
Simon looked at Mal and gave him a surprised smile. While they were getting along better now, Simon still hadn't thought they were close enough to be drinking buddies.
"I guess I could use a break. We got anything but Kaylee's engine wine to drink?" Simon asked.
"Matter o' fact I got a nice big bottle of plain old fashioned whiskey I picked up last time we were planet side." Mal replied.
Simon gave him a broad smile. "Thank Buddha for that." He joked and grabbed his crutches to follow Mal to the galley.
River smiled as she watched her two favorite people walk to the galley together. It warmed her hear to think of her brother and her future husband becoming friends. Neither of them had any close male friends on board and River figured it was good for them to have some male bonding time.
Guessing that they would be busy for at least a few hours, River knew she had the perfect opportunity to do something she'd been planning on doing for days. She walked silently to Inara's shuttle, quickly disengaged the lock, and slipped inside. Inara was in the shower when River entered so she sat down on the bed to wait for the Companion to return.
When Inara walked out of her shower a few minutes later she startled slightly to see River sitting quietly on her bed. She'd remained in her shuttle for most of the past week in order to avoid the crew, especially River.
"River um what are you doing here? I mean is there something I can help you with?" Inara babbled.
"I thought that perhaps it was time for you and me to talk." River said quietly.
Inara gave River a scared uncertain look but nodded and sat down on the couch opposite the bed.
"I suppose we should talk." Inara agreed. "Would you like some tea?"
"No thank you. I don't plan on staying long." River said and then sat back and watched Inara without saying another word.
Inara busied herself making a cup of tea, feeling the need to have something to do with her hands.
"Look River I'm so sorry for what happened. I know it was stupid and thoughtless of me, but I was only trying to help." Inara said finally when she could stand the silence between them no longer.
"I forgive you for your actions Inara. You did something very brave which could have put you in grave danger by stealing that data stick. I appreciate the chance you were willing to take on my behalf." River responded.
Inara smiled gratefully as she sat down and began to sip her tea.
"Is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?" Inara asked when River showed no signs of leaving.
"Yes I want to talk to you about your feelings for Mal." River said bluntly.
"My feelings for Mal, I don't have, I mean we aren't, not anymore." Inara stammered.
"I know that the two of you are no longer contemplating being together, but I am a reader and I can sense your feelings for him as clearly as if you were screaming them out at the top of your lungs. You love him. You may not want to admit it to yourself, but you do love him. You try to deny the feelings, you even helped him to be with me to prove how much you didn't care for him. But the simple truth is this; you love him and you're very angry that he is with me and not you." River informed the startled Companion.
"River I don't love Mal. Not anymore and I'm certainly not angry that he is with you." Inara argued.
"You may not want to admit these feelings, but they are present. I'm sorry that my relationship with him has hurt you, I truly am. It's time for you to stop denying your feelings or the actions they've caused you to take. You stole that data stick in hopes that you would find something that would make Mal not want to be with me. You hoped that he would discover something so horrible that he would end our relationship. And you called my mother hoping that she would want me back and come take me home. You may not have realized that these motivations were driving your actions but they were present and because of them people we both care about were hurt and I was forced to kill many men." River said still sounding every bit as calm as when she'd begun.
"No I wouldn't do that! I would never hurt anyone just to make a man mine!" Inara yelled denying River's accusations.
River stood up, walked to the couch, and sat down so that she and Inara were only inches apart.
"It's time for you to let him go Inara. Move on with your life and forget about what could have been between you and Mal." River ordered softly.
"Quit telling me what to do! I'm so tired of you thinking you know everything about everyone just because you're a reader. Get the hell out of my head!" Inara yelled her normal calm grace having completely disappeared.
"Very well than I'll tell you what I think you should do as a woman, not as a reader." River replied, not the least bit fazed by Inara screaming in her face.
"Leave Mal alone. He is not yours, he never was, and he never will be. Get over the humiliation of knowing that you lost him to a crazy girl and let it go." River said coldly.
She stood and walked to the door of the shuttle, but turned around once before leaving. Inara still sat on the couch shocked into silence by River's harsh words.
"Inara I don't wish to hurt you, but we have to have some things straightened out if we're both going to remain on this ship. Mal doesn't know that you had hoped to get rid of me and I won't tell him, but if you ever try something like that again I will kill you." River warned and walked from the room, leaving Inara to stare after her with wide frightened eyes.
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A/N- My knowledge of DNA is coming from Biology 1010 that I took two semesters ago. It's probably not at all correct so just go with it and pretend I'm a genius ok?