A/N: Firefly bits here are from "Serenity" Part one, the initial pilot episode for the TV show, not the BDM. Any remaining scenes recycled from "Rose" still belong to the BBC, even if I completely change them around. Thanks to Kia Dion for the 'favorite story' / 'favorite author'/ 'story alert' listing.
Kia Dion, Thank you for the kind words and the review. I'm happy you like. Obsessive is good, yeah? Feel free to review as the mood strikes you.
OtherMeWriter, Yeah, this is not an M rated fic so I'm trying to be tactful. Plus I wanted to focus on the emotional experience they were having alongside enough physical stuff to kinda give enough of the picture to spark the imagination.
mirth513, Hey I read that crossover! It was wonderful. Yeah, everyone go Read "Man With No Name" and leave fireflye a review. Yep, the Doctor's been err—chosen? Well, he had to live, and there were just too much of the 'Verse relyin' on his being there for Romana to leave it to chance. She might have been thinking that it was a way to pay him back for his saving them all against Faction Paradox. Or she might have known about the Red Guardian. Or she just might have loved him enough to give up everything else for him.
Huggabledog, to be revealed in this one – or the next. A Good Video of this ship is: Doctor Who - All About Us (Two/Jamie) by Clarrisani (I'll post the link in the forum.) Actually watching the interaction between the 2nd Doctor and Jamie it's very easy for me to see a relationship there. Jamie loved the funny old coot, and it showed. He might not have understood everything the odd fellow said, but he'd lay his life on the line for him. If the Doctor told him that things would work out for the best then in most cases he believed it. They did a great deal of bantering and jested off of each other's personalities. They were very playful with each other. In the end, I think it hurt the Doctor more that Jamie had his memories wiped than the fact that he was forced to regenerate. They very much could have been quite close. Was it physical? Who really knows. I believe that it could have been, even if it might have confused those around them. An attraction of opposites, really. Jamie was the only companion to be with an incarnation of the Doctor from practically start to finish, non-stop, with the exception of Rose/9.
Here are the Jelly Babies.

Summary: The Doctor, reeling from the effects of the TimeWar as the last surviving TimeLord, stumbled into a situation he could not ignore when the TARDIS landed him inside a ship that was clearly in trouble. After the rescue, he's left with eight survivors that he must somehow get to safety. But the situation is not as cut and dry as he might like. His people may be gone, but the stamp he's made on the universe is still there, and he finds himself caught in a web spun of the choices he's made in his past…

Something in history has prompted humanity to explode out from their home world. Could the events of 2164 be responsible? Was Earth a myth or was it real? In fleeing Earth-that-Was, humanity scattered to the stars across the galactic arm. Initial survey teams targeted likely planets and systems for habitation and not all of them ended up on the same side of the sector. Blue Sun exists on one side, separated by a patch of 'wild space' filled with exotic binary and triple star systems, from the rest of civilized space. Few ships brave the route. But luck had it that one ship did. Risking a ghost run, the only contact that the two sides have, the Hunter-Gratzner crashed midway through the journey. Original Port of Departure: Eavesdown Docks, Persephone. Mixed Sino-Anglo culture. Original Port of Call: Tangiers-5. Darkside. Mixed Islamic-Anglo culture. Crew complement: Four. Passengers: Forty. Living 'Cargo': Two. Survivors: Eight plus One

So what happens in 2517 to Dr. Simon Tam, his brilliant but damaged sister, a convicted murder by the name of Richard B. Riddick, and Jack B. Badd now that they are on their way home? They end up slightly out of their own Time, on a ship filled with living sculptures and then a 'quiet' trip to 2005 London brings them face to face with living sculptures of another kind… And just how is this related to the TimeWar?

A Doctor Who / Firefly / Riddick crossover.

Features Doctor 9, companion Rose Tyler; The cast of Firefly; 'Jack B. Badd' and Richard B. Riddick…

Doctor Who and the Ties that Bind.

Part Thirty

Serenity

River guided the TARDIS to a perfect spot, near where folks would expect cargo to be sitting, and they grabbed their respective bits of luggage. She thought back to the morning, as the door opened to reveal the early bustle of activity in the Bazaar around them. Saritha was sure that she and Simeon would not be connected with River and Simon Tam now. Not with the way they looked and the family that surrounded them. They were Smythe now, along with their little brother Jacob, and their 'parents' Jon and Richard. Her best mate, Rose, looked like she might have been adopted in, accepted as one of the family, although not officially made a Smythe. And that was ok.

In an effort to blend in Simon was forced to dress in layered shirts, cargo pants, and combat boots. Rose found the look to be funky and fun, and eagerly adopted it herself with the addition of a hoodie. While River preferred a skirt, Rose convinced her that cargo pants, makeup, and a multi-colored hairpiece would make her look older and different from what people might be expecting, and to prove it she made herself up in a similar fashion. They could pass for sisters. The upswept hair with dangling beaded braids they wore certainly was enough to draw attention away from their faces. And to make them look even more different from the expected images River drew a series of Chinese symbols down both her own and Rose's left cheek, as was the fashion here. Rose thought it looked rather cool.

Meanwhile, Simon was given a choice, messy like Jack or shaved. He chose messy. It made him look younger, but seeing as that was the idea, to pass himself off as River's twin, he supposed it worked. Jack, of course, loved this, because the older trio was adopting variations of his 'style' and really there's nothing more flattering than having one's entire family dressing like you. To prove that point, even Richard and the Doctor wore similar, although the Time Lord wasn't overly sure about the cargo style twill slacks at first. After a bit of dickering it was decided that loose jeans were fine, only for the Doctor to try on the cargo pants anyhow and pronounce them suitable. His normal jumpers and leather was good enough with the addition of a collared shirt and the use of the heavier boots. Richard chose to flatter Jack by copying his style in a darker palette of colors, because it gave him plenty of areas to store his knives.

Then they found the Time Lord giving them each a wallet, a thin fold over deal, with decent amounts of colorful bills, (but seeing as the wallets were like his pockets the bills were far more than they looked to be), new Alliance ID cards, and scattered coins / tokens / assorted bits just to make them look used. "Now, I know I'm supposed to be the one in charge here, which is why I have the credit card," the Doctor showed them the very official looking, snazzy piece of plastic. "Richard's got one too. Each of you has enough cash to get yourselves into or out of trouble, so don't go showin' it off." He looked at the universal chrono he was wearing, a square silver thing; "It's early still, so we have some time. I'm not sure what we're looking for here."

"Where is 'here'?" Rose asked.

"Eavesdown Docks, Persephone, Mid-'march' universal time. Closer to early summer, local time. Blue Sun colonies, human habitation. Controlled by a powerful authoritarian government, called the "Union of Allied Planets", or various slang terms using the word purple, because of their uniforms. We have no outright quarrel with them, aside from what they've done to Saritha, but it is best to avoid them as much as possible," The Doctor informs her.

"No – aliens – then?"

"Nope. Figured you'd had enough of them with the Nestene, I think, Verity did. Besides, this time and place is rather easier to get lost in, and to blend in with."

"This is good." Rose actually is relieved to not deal with any alien threats, thank you.

"Um," Richard mumbled, "Tempted to put you all on a leash to keep you from wandering off."

"We won't, honest." Jack said with a grin that promised trouble.

"Watches?" The Doctor hands them out, "A bit more than the normal watch. Universal chrono, keeps track of time, date, all that jazz, and local too. Plus you can use it to keep in contact with each other, like Rose's phone, which is worthless here as a phone but priceless as a 'Earth-that-was' artifact. Don't go flashing it around."

"I promised my mum to call her, every day," Rose frowned.

"Oh, well. Give it here." After a moment of fiddling with it with the sonic screwdriver he handed it back, "There, all hooked up to let you contact your mother across time and space. Tell her I'm paying for the new phone plan, will you?" Rose looked at the phone which indicated London time in the upper corner and smiled. It was way too early to call yet. "All right there?" She nodded and smiled at him. "Try to use the names on the ID cards?"

"Does this mean we call you 'dad'?" Jack says looking up from his wallet that proclaims him to be 'Jacob Smythe', "And are – does it include both of you? I mean, are you both – 'dad?'"

"Sure, if you're comfortable with that," The Doctor leaned back against the pillar closest to him.

Richard looked up from his card with a raised eyebrow and pulled down his solars to stare at the pale man with surprise. He doesn't notice Rose's gasp at the sheen that flashes in the pits of his eyes, "What?"

"Will you be my dad, Riddick?" Jack asks him, "I mean, is that ok?"

"This include the twins?"

"Simeon and Saritha? Oh, I suppose."

At that Simon looks up at them. "Wait – what?"

River laughs, "Please, Richard? Say yes." Simon looks at her, blinking. He's just been 'de-aged' back into a sixteen-year-old. Or River's been aged up a few more years. He looks at the card again and notices that it's giving a birth date that is more between. Richard shrugs and puts the shades back up where they go. Jack gives him a huge grin and darts over to hug him.

"An' me?" Rose said, recovering from the reason of why she hadn't seen Richard's eyes before this. They were extremely unusual. And she wanted to know why they flashed like cat eyes but can't figure out a polite way to ask him. So she forces herself to not stare even as Richard gives an amused expression at her about her inability to actually look away.

The Time Lord moved over to her and looked at the card, "You, Miss Tyler, are whichever you want to be. Friend, employee, take your pick. I'm not going to force you into a relationship line you might not be comfortable with." He drapes an arm over her shoulders, "In any case, you belong with us, and we'll treat you like family." She can't help but to smile at that, matching his goofy grin. They can work out the details as they go just as long as she belongs here.

Simon gets a devious look, "So – dad, are we set then?" Both 'Jon' and Richard look at him. "Or should one of you be 'Father', or papa, or something. I'm not using 'daddy'."

Richard cocks his head; "Papa is fine. Father's a bit formal. More the Doctor's style. If I get angered at you you'll know, because I tell you to see your father."

"Me, formal?" The Doctor said. Everyone ignored him.

"This is good," Simon figures, "We call the Doctor 'Dad' because that gives us cover if we slip, and you, Rich, are 'Papa'. Just remember when we get cuddly that we don't expect a knife to the ribs." The bronze man chucked. Jack beamed up at him. Rich motioned for them all to head out. Saritha reached over and took Rose's hand and tugged her out from under the Doctor's arm. They bounce away like two excited teens, which, really, they are.

"I'm not formal," the Time Lord groused as Simeon, Jacob, and Richard picked up their luggage and headed out to the control room with the ex-ranger pausing to flirt with him on the way out. Seeing that they were leaving, he picked up his own case, caressed his ship, and followed them. Verity laughed in his head at the objection.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

They are away from Badger's and about halfway back to the ship before Jayne gets up enough nerve to question Mal about the happenings behind them, "I don't understand why we didn't leave that sumbitch in a pool of his own blood."

Zoë looks at him then at the captain as he bothers to respond, "We'd be dead. Can't get paid if you're dead." The comment is directed more toward the ground than toward the towering gun-for-hire behind them.

"Can't get paid if you crawl away like a bitty little bug, neither. We gotta share this job. Ten percent of nothing is – let me do the math here – nothing into nothing, carry the—"

She moved to cut Jayne off before his rambling made Mal even madder, "So we'll find a buyer on Boros. There's gotta be a—"

Shaking his head, Mal stops that train of thought before it can get far from the station, "Boros is too big. It's crawling with Alliance; they could just be waiting for us."

Which brings up another worry, "You really think Badger'll sell us out to the Feds?"

"If he hasn't already." She follows Mal's glance to the right and spots the purplebellies standing in the crowd. They go silent until well past and out of earshot.

She says low, "Alliance catches us with government goods, we'll lose the ship."

Mal gives her a wounded expression, "That's never gonna happen."

Zoë wishes she were so sure, "Sir, we could just dump the cargo." It's just an option, one that Mal needs to be made aware of still existing.

"No ruttin' way. We ain't had a job in weeks," Jayne protests, "I didn't sign on with this crew to take in the sights. We need coin." In fact he owes his mother a double payment and if he doesn't get it for her soon he'll have to look for work elsewhere. And he rather likes Serenity. He's got his own room, for starters.

Mal looks back at the taller brawny man, and rolls his eyes, "Jayne, your mouth is talking. You might wanna look to that."

Jayne's itching for a fight and ready to move on, should Mal give him the excuse, "Oh, I'm ready to stop talkin' –"

A hand comes up, as the captain turns to face them both, stopping, "You're right, though. The last two jobs we had were weak tea. We got nothing saved, takin' on passengers won't help near enough," This deflates Jayne's fight. Mal turns to Zoë, "We don't get paid for this cargo, we won't have enough money to fuel the ship, let alone keep her in repair. She'll be dead in the water."

She scruffs her toe in the dirt for a tick. Sighing, she looks at him, "So we do like Badger said? The border planets?"

"I'm thinkin' -- Whitefall, maybe talk to Patience..."

No, no. "Sir, we don't want to deal with Patience again."

"Why?"

"She shot you."

Mal looks at her and starts walking again, "Well, yeah, she did a bit... still—"

"So we find somebody else. Horowitz."

"He can't afford it."

"Holden boys."

Mal frowns, "They wouldn't touch it. Do you want me to go through the list? Capshaw's are brain-blown. Gruvick's dead—"

That's news to her, "He's dead?"

"Town got hit by Reavers. Burned it right down."

Just the term 'Reavers' is enough to light up Jayne's yellow streak, "I ain't goin' nowhere near Reaver territory. Them people ain't human."

Both Mal and Zoe glance at him, before the captain continues as if he hadn't been interrupted, "Whitefall is the safest and the closest. Been a long time since Patience shot me and that was due to a perfectly legitimate conflict of interest. I got no grudge. She owns half that damn moon now. She can afford what we got and she just might need it."

They've reached the ship and she looks up to see Wash loading a large blue crate, something like six foot square and ten foot tall, covered with a tan tarp, into the ship. Zoë tries to talk Mal out of this course of action, "I still don't think the old lady's the way." The blue wooden box is surrounded with smaller bits of luggage, cases, boxes and bags inside the trailer. She narrows her eyes at the sight as the mule passes her.

"I'm not sayin' it won't be tricky, but we got no kind of choice." He's watching too, not only the amount of luggage, but also the group waiting on the ramp. There are six of them. The two older men, with closely shaved cuts, are clearly together. A couple, definitely. He doesn't see rings on their fingers but that doesn't mean a thing. The body language gives them away. The darker complexioned man, although a knuckle shorter, is broadly shouldered and certainly seems protective of his brood. The taller fellow gives the impression of someone used to being listened to while not seemingly being the overbearing sort. Their kids consist of three teens, two of which are girls, and a younger boy about ten. And Mal's sure they're a family. He wonders how much the couple paid for their obviously genetic offspring. Then he pushes that aside and figures that the family should pay fairly well for passage. They probably get flack from the nicer transports because of their choices. He has to admit that they make rather easy-on-the-eye children.

The taller of the older men is handing Kaylee a high-level credit card, which means that he's legit and likely middle classed at the least. "Welcome aboard, Mr.— "

"Smythe. Jon Smythe. Doctor," He says with a smile.

Kaylee is instantly charmed; she giggles back and says, "Jon." She moves to check his credit and post a draft for passage, with a bit of a blush on her cheeks. Too bad the man is clearly sly. She returns the card, "All set for Boros, then." The mule rattles back out down the ramp.

Mal looks at Zoë, "We just gotta keep our heads down, do the job, pray there ain't no more surprises."

As they approach the ramp Wash clatters past again with another load. The crates of supplies block Mal's view for a moment and he doesn't see the other man approach, but he hears Kaylee, "Mr. Dobson! I've got your receipt."

The man says, "Thank you." The trailer moves the rest of the way revealing a funny looking fellow with a strange glint in his eye that Mal dislikes from the get go. Then he spots behind him the bronze complexioned Mr. Smythe herding the two teenaged girls, one blonde and one raven headed toward the luggage that was apparently theirs. Dobson says to the general chaos inside the bay, "Please be careful with that," over some or another bit of his luggage that is sitting in the middle of the isle.

"Mal, this is Jon. Jon, this is our captain." Kaylee says turning away from Dobson and toward the taller pale gent in his worn leather jacket.

Mal feels like the man's intense blue eyes are looking right into his shattered soul, "Captain Malcolm Reynolds?" He extends a large graceful hand and Mal surprises himself by shaking hands with the Doctor.

"Welcome aboard. Quite a gaggle you have with you."

"They'll settle down, it's just the novelty of being on an older boat with such charm I think. Serenity is a lovely ship."

Mal beams. Not an outright smile, but one of those shining happy moments that are all over happy in a quiet way. He likes this gent. Then again anyone that can see how wonderful his ship is must be a good soul. "Thank you. Doctor Smythe was it?"

"Yes, Jon is fine. That's Richard. And the children are Simeon, Saritha, Rose, and Jacob."

Mal nods and looks to Kaylee, "Any others?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Simon had been thrilled to discover that the ship the very nice strawberry blonde fellow worked for was the exact one he'd almost boarded this very morning, only nearly nine months later, personal time. The fact that the Hobbson or Robbson fellow was also there didn't bother he or his sister nearly as much this time as it had the first go. But then, neither of them looked quite like what the man might be looking for. He made a show of being a snotty older brother to Jack, teasing the boy like he had River when they were younger while 'dad' took care of the payment for passage. Jack played right back at him, fully game to keep up the ruse.

River; Saritha, he reminded himself; and Rose looked the part of sisters, and no one bothered to call them on it. It was brilliant, really, them dressing the same and putting their hair up the same and wearing the same makeup. It made River look like a different person, and she acted like a normal girl for a change. Not that Simon wasn't paying close attention to her, just in case the pressure of the docks caused her mental walls to fall. Once they were in space the danger of her backsliding would be much diminished. But for now, everything seemed to be ok with his sister and he knew he had Rose to thank for that.

Now that Simon could see auras he knew that the fellow that alarmed him so much had an aura that was as spiky and dark as Johns had been when the marshal had been at his worst. He supposed knowing why he felt the alarm he did made it easier to cope with. The man was not the bumbling businessman he was pretending to be.

The auras of the others were very soothing though.

The young woman, Kaylee, was earth, coppery and spring green bubbling with joy. The pilot, Wash, who had guided them back to ship, was more difficult to peg down, as his aura was pale, tones of white, and while it would be easy to assume that he was air, his aura had almost a diamond like quality to it. The woman that was clearly Wash's wife was totally air and full of life. Then there was the very tall fellow named Jayne, who was surprisingly water. He bubbled like rapids. Mal was of a sort that Simon had never seen before, though. He assumed at first that the captain had no aura at all which was impossible. A closer look revealed it was there, nearly invisible, close to his skin. Simon wondered what element that was, because he couldn't make it out.

He caught sight of another passenger and noticed that he was rather like fire, only banked into a slow ember that unlike Carolyn's aura seemed healthy. Simon turned his attention back to the Doctor and watched his aura foam a bit, looking nice and thick. This was good. Then Richard moved back over and the energy arced from pale to bronze from several feet away. That was new. They brushed hands; just barely catching each other's fingers. Simon smiled at that.

"So what's the story?"

Simeon startled and looked at the strange man with his spike filled aura. "Excuse me?"

"I'm Dobson. Heading to Boros with some rare freight. Why are you heading there?"

"I'm with my parents and siblings. Quite frankly, I don't care why you are going to Boros and I have no intention of saying any more to you. Jacob? Have you found your suitcase yet?"

The honey-haired boy turned away from listening to Wash tell a story and shook his head, "Just a moment, I'll be right there." Simeon pulled away from Dobson and walked to where Jack and the pilot were. Best to not be alone around Dobson. He warned River to stay with Rose.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Mal had taken up a location near the stairs leading up into the higher levels of the ship so he could watch the new passengers. No doubt about it, the Dr. and Mr. Smythe were a couple. Very much with eyes for only each other, much like Zoë and Wash. But unlike his best friend and pilot the former pair had learned to be discreet, not quite showing their affection for each other outright where folks might be offended by it. Shame really. His attention is drawn away from them by Zoë's approach. She leans up against the rail and says lightly, "Now we have a boatful of citizens right on top of our... stolen cargo," then she looks at him with a mocking expression, "That's a fun mix."

He rolls his eyes at her then lets himself be drawn back to the family as Jack scampers over to his dads and is greeted with open affection by both men. "Ain't no way in the 'Verse they could find that compartment, even—" he cuts himself off as Dobson walks past their location closer than Mal's comfortable with, "Even if they were lookin' for it."

Ever practical, Zoe follows his eyes and notices how tightly knit a couple the pair of older men seem to be, "Why not?" She's wondering now why not about more than one thing. Like why not have children on this boat, for example. It sure looks like this other couple have managed fine. And then there's the why not can they find that compartment, because they do have kids on this boat and kids can find the most unexpected things.

This makes Mal blink, " 'Cause... ?"

She looks at him, "Oh yeah, this is gonna go great."

Mal decides that perhaps staring at Dr. and Mr. Smythe might give folks the wrong idea and forces himself up the stairs, "If anyone gets nosy – just – you know... shoot 'em."

"Shoot 'em?" Zoë says, turning to look up at him.

"Politely." He shrugs and speeds up as he moves away.

Oh, yes. Just great. Zoë turns back to keep an eye on the passengers.