Yay, update! :D It's a little bit slow, but I have to sort of allow Beckett to absorb all of the information.
Thank you for your reviews: TMPaladin and qtgirl :)

Okay, any ideas or improvements - I'm all ears. Enjoy, and review ^_^ (btw, this storyline is sort of in between Firefly and Serenity)

Edited

Kate groaned in pain as she opened her eyes - they were met with a bright, disarming light. The room was small, she could only make out small shapes behind the windows. The light seemed to reflect off every item in the room. The bed she was lay on seemed to be similar to a hospital bed. She felt herself sit up in an attempt to alleviate the dizziness she was feeling. But, a hand suddenly pushed her back down, forcefully.

She looked up and saw Rick. Or rather, it wasn't Rick. She could see it more clearly now - previously she had assumed Castle was wearing that ridiculous Space-Cowboy Halloween costume, but this man wasn't wearing it like a costume - it fitted him, molded into him like armour. And his face...it was filled with lines, but not the lines Castle had procured from laughing too much. No, this man looked broody and moody, his dark eyes burning holes into hers - devoid of any kindness or love that Castle had for her.

Love...she could still remember that day she was shot by the sniper - the day Castle had confessed to loving her. She was so close... so close to catching up with him, until he had decided that he couldn't wait any longer for her. At least, that's what Beckett assumed, judging from the blonde bimbo he was dating now.

She was pulled out of her torrent of thoughts by a cool voice:

"Excuse me? Miss.. Do you know what your name is?" the well-mannered voice came from a young man wearing some form of a waistcoat with a fine-pressed shirt.

She blinked a few times, noticing the sharp instrument in his hand - she realised he was the doctor.

"Beckett. Kate Beckett," she answered, swallowing from the discomfort of talking with a dry throat.

He nodded, smiling whilst passing her a small cup of water - Kate took it gratefully, gulping it down straight away.

"Well how do we know she ain't just gorram lying?" a rough voice questioned. It belonged to a huge ape of a man, looming over her in a threatening manner.

Beckett glared at the man, not being accustomed to allowing people to step all over her and accuse her of lying.

"Why would I lie about my name?" she asked, staring at the few people stood in front of her.

The doppelganger stared her down, leaning against the frame of the door. Beckett only then noticed, that the walls were made of an odd metallic material. Before she could question them about it, she was interrupted:

"Cos you're probably an Alliance spy, that's why," the Rick-lookalike answered.

"Wait, what's the Alliance? Who are you and where the hell am I?" she demanded, trying to stand up to appear more intimidating.

"Like you don't already know," the ape answered, sneering at her menacingly.

"Jayne," a woman warned - she looked like an amazon warrior, tall and dangerous. Her hair and skin were both dark yet beautiful, Beckett could tell that she had seen her fair share of fighting.

'Jayne' merely shook his head, cursing in what seemed to be Chinese.

She glanced up at him again, her mind deciding that it was all a hallucination and that the man was actually Rick playing a trick on her.

"Castle." she stated, staring at him - not paying attention to every other person in the room who seemed to look at her in confusion.

"Look lady, I already told you - I ain't this Castle guy. I'm Malcolm Reynolds, and you're on my gorram boat," he hissed, glaring down at her.

"A -a boat?" she murmured, still trying to wrap her head around the fact that this man wasn't called Rick.

"Yeah, a space ship, a boat - whatever you wanna gorram call it," he stated, his dark blue eyes boring into hers.

Beckett suddenly knew what coma patients felt like; coming back into a world that wasn't the one you used to live in. She slowed her breathing down, gazing at the floors in an attempt to make sense of the situation like she was taught at the academy. She shouldn't panic, there was obviously a logical explanation for it all.

"River, you shouldn't be in here," the doctor murmured in concern, to the dark haired girl that had stepped into the room.

She was bare foot, pale and wearing a dark blue dress that stopped below the knee. Beckett somehow felt like she knew the girl, her curious face seemed so familiar.

"Don't belong here," she whispered, her dark eyes gazing into Kate's.

"But you could. The He that was is not like the He that is, and the You that was is not like the You that could be," she reasoned, her finger pointing towards Beckett's head.

Castle, no. Reynolds stared in disbelief, his eyes looking upwards as though asking the gods what he had done to deserve this.

"Okay little albatross, what in the gorram 'verse are you talkin' about, huh?" he questioned, grabbing the girl's arm "Is she a Fed or what?"

River turned to face Malcolm, "Not for you to know," she spoke mysteriously "and she isn't,"

"Then why's she got that gun?" Jayne questioned, holding up Beckett's gun, dangling it on his huge little finger.

"Needed protection on the Earth-that-was," River stated.

All eyes turned to stare at her questioningly, Beckett swallowed nervously, suddenly wishing that Castle was beside her right now. Only, he was in a way.

"I'm a cop - I, uh. I catch criminals and murderers," she answered, staring at Reynolds.

Jayne snorted loudly, "Great, what's she gonna do with us then?" he asked, sizing up to Reynolds.

Unlike Castle, Reynolds was an intimidating man. He squared up to Jayne, "If River says she's safe, then she's safe. For now," he replied, glancing momentarily at Kate "So if you've got a problem Jayne...keep it to yourself."

Jayne scowled and marched out of the door, obviously barging into someone judging by the loud curse of 'Go tsao de (Dog fucking) idiot, watch where you're going,"

Reynolds stared at the others "Zoe, tell Wash we're not stayin' in Persephone, we're goin' straight to Beaumonde."

'Zoe' nodded, not even pausing to question him.

Reynolds approached Beckett, his tall presence making her shudder in fear slightly.

"Now, i'll let you stay on my boat 'til you find your feet. But until then, you keep your mouth shut and you follow my orders. You do not harm my crew or I harm you. You do not steal from me, or I'll drop you off at the nearest backwater planet we find." As he spoke, his eyes never broke contact with hers - they seemed darker than Rick's, more dangerous. His voice was full of power and authority - he was used to being listened to.

Her mouth opened, and then closed. She didn't know what to say to this man, this stranger. She couldn't find any familar ground, only the fact that both of them knew how to handle a gun - a fact she was reminded of by the gun hanging on his holster.

The dark woman slowly entered back into the room, quietly and carefully.

"Cap'n, we have some company," Zoe spoke, staring her 'Captain' down in an alert of danger.

"What is it?" he questioned, staring at her in confusion "We shouldn't be near no ships yet."

"It's reavers sir," she replied uneasily.

Dun dun DUN! Lol, failed attempt at a cliffhanger. I will try to update soon though :) Reviews make my day - I literally grin when I read them ^_^