Chapter Six

River's mind was reeling. She kept seeing a line of young people walking out onto a battlefield. There were a dozen or so kids again an army of Alliance troops. In River's vision, they calmly walked up to the enemy and attacked, laying waste to them in a wave of destruction the leaders of the Browncoat Underground in Khonsu City couldn't quite imagine properly. They imagined explosions out of the Academy students' minds, speed of light martial arts, and panic from the other side. Victory for the Browncoats. The end of the war.

That's what the imagined. A line of secret weapons they could aim and fire on their unsuspecting enemy. And the key to their dreams, the key to that line of secret weapons was the original weapon. River Tam.

"Somehow, can't say I'm entirely surprised," Mal said from his seat at the head of the table. Jayne had told them all for her. She couldn't quite grasp normal speech patterns yet. "You sure they ain't gonna ask them nicely to smite their enemies?"

River shook her head. "They've seen the tape of me. In the bar. They want an army of River Tams. Chaos. Using enemy technology against them. Not likely they'll stop to ask permission."

"This is insane!" Inara said. "Mal, you can't let them do this! Liberating an Academy is one thing. Using the students for their own gain is another."

Inara was noble and good. And right, of course.

But River could see Mal was also considering the perfection of this plan. He'd seen River in action. He couldn't deny she was good at destruction. And who was to say how far these kids had gone. Maybe they weren't even kids anymore. Maybe they really were just weapons now. Maybe all humanity had left them, and unlike River, they wouldn't be able to be brought back.

He wasn't happy about it. He just had no way of knowing.

"Except to try," River offered in a whisper. Mal looked at her. For the first time in days, he wasn't angry with her. For a moment River saw herself through the Captain's eyes, and she was embarrassed how small and young she looked.

A little girl in a box. The little girl Mal had to save. In the bar, a weapon he had to stop. Tied to a post. Jumping down from Jubal Early's ship. Dancing with Jayne. Arguing with Mal. A real girl. Not a weapon.

The Alliance couldn't take people and turn them into weapons. There had to be a way to save those kids.

"So what's the plan? We just gonna get the hell off this rock, right?" Jayne offered.

"Usually don't you have some pretty negative remarks about running away from a fight?" Mal asked.

"No River, no liberating an Alliance Academy. Browncoat asses thwarted," Jayne explained.

He didn't really want to run. He wanted to stay and shoot him some Browncoats. But he also felt that he had to protect River.

"They'd have to try it eventually, Jayne," Zoe said calmly. "they can't move forward with their master plan with an Alliance Academy in operation just down the street. They'd be slaughtered."

"I say we leave them to it, then," Jayne muttered.

"Wait a minute! They're not all bad. You really think they deserve that?" Kaylee asked, thinking of Kuan-yin. And she was right about the Browncoats. Most of them didn't even have a clue about the Academy.

"Wouldn't they just abandon the project?" Simon offered. "With no chance of success - "

"But there is a chance, Doc. You're proof of that. No, they've spent too much time here to just give up. They'll try, and they might just pull it off without us."

"What do you want us to do, Sir?"

"I want to liberate us an Academy."

"Ain't that exactly what they want us to do?" Jayne asked.

"Yes, but we're gonna run off with the students before the Browncoats can turn them into weapons again."

A little girl in a box who he had to save and couldn't leave behind.

"How exactly you planning to pull this off, Captain?" Kaylee asked.

"We could play along with the Underground. Let them think we're all aboard with their plan until we get the kids out," Zoe said.

Mal nodded. "Then we burn atom. Get as far from here as fast as possible. Probably Haven. Good and far from any fighting whatsoever."

"With a shipload of Alliance trained assassins and both the Alliance and the Browncoat Underground coming after us to get the kids back?" Jayne asked. He didn't wait for an answer before concluding, "Suicide."

"You want us to leave the kids in there?" Mal asked.

"Hell, we didn't send 'em to an Alliance Academy for Prodigies. They ain't our responsibility. Can't save the whole 'verse, Mal."

"Good thing not everyone thinks like you, Jayne," Inara said, angry and disappointed in the mercenary.

"River?" Mal asked. "What've you got to say about this?"

She looked at him. So many opinions running through her head. Which one was hers again?

She chanced a glance at Simon. He was so worried for her, but he was also thinking of the Academy students and what the Alliance had put River through. They're hurting us. He would have gotten them all out if he could've.

She knows what's right and she does it. Zoe's voice. Mal's head. He trusted her after all.

The more River listened to everyone else's thoughts, the more she realized the decision really would be hers. If she said run, like Jayne wanted, they'd run. If she said fight, they'd fight.

"We can't leave them there. We've got to try."

Suicide. To Jayne's credit, he didn't say it out loud.

Mal nodded. "All right then. We'll tell them we're willing and ready to help first thing tomorrow." He was worried about River. Apparently she looked tired. She'd never admit it, but she really was.

Jayne stood up quickly and stomped from the kitchen.

Mal sighed, looked at River, and said, "Better go after your man before he decides to go kill someone."

River nodded, "He takes so much looking after." She gave the Captain a smile as she followed Jayne. She had a feeling Mal wouldn't be giving them any more trouble. At least, not for a while.

She found Jayne in his bunk. He'd come down here to calm down so she wouldn't hear everything going through his head. Anger. Fear. Frustration. Love.

"It's crazy. The most Moonbrained thing we've ever even thought about doing!" Jayne yelled as she slid down into the room.

"Incorrect conclusion," River stated. "By far the most Moonbrained plan was disguising ourselves as Reavers."

"The second, then."

"Incorrect again. I believe it is universally acknowledged that the second craziest thing we've ever done was attack Niska's complex and live," River said. "But, third, maybe. We'll give it third."

Jayne shook his head. "Girl, this ain't no time to be playin' 'round. Can't you think this through? Ain't you supposed to be the genius? We'll have the whole gorram 'verse after us! That's if we even get out of the Academy!"

"Never knew you had such a mind for the future, Jayne."

He glared and stomped away from her. It was a small room, so he really couldn't stomp very far. Which made him all the more frustrated.

"You aren't angry, Jayne," River stated.

"Oh, ain't I? I think I'm pretty gorram pissed off!"

"You're scared."

"Scared? Jayne Cobb ain't scared of nothing."

"Wrong. Jayne is scared of a lot of things. Of losing things. Of being weak. Of caring too much."

Jayne looked at her.

"You're scared I'm going to leave you. And you're scared of what that means." River took a step closer.

"Really? And what does it mean?" Jayne asked. Even though he knew. He knew it meant he loved her. Would do anything to keep her out of danger. Couldn't stand to lose her. Not ever. He loved her that much.

Not that he'd admit it. He'd rather make her say it for him. She knew, after all. Wasn't that what mattered? That she knew exactly how he felt about her?

"It isn't real unless you say it, Jayne," River said softly.

His angry façade melted away, and he kissed her, putting his arms around her. He was opting to show her instead. This was an agreeable compromise for the moment. River rather liked being shown things.

It was impossible for River to distinguish one feeling from another. One passion from the other. They were one now. Rayne. His needs were hers, too. He wanted her so much she could barely stand it. He made love to her like she had always been his woman. He wanted her over the edge with him, to feel how powerful they were together. He wanted them to stay like this forever.

There was no war, just their bodies. No one else could intrude on their world. No power in the 'verse could stop them.

River lay in Jayne's bed, head still reeling from their shared ecstasy. Jayne caressed her face, looking deep in her eyes. River imagined drowning in Jayne's eyes. It was a plausible scenario. And not an entirely unpleasant one.

For a few moments, River thought he would actually say it now. Make it real. It was real, of course, but River wasn't going to be the first one to say it out loud. It was his turn to make the first step.

He didn't say it, though, which made River a little sad. Jayne was still afraid.

"I still don't want to go liberate an Academy," he said.

It sounded like Jayne being a selfish man-ape gone wrong thing. But, hell, he didn't even want River in the war at all anymore. She was his woman now, and he had to protect her.

"Less talk, more Rayne."

"Rain?" Jayne asked.

"No," River shook her head, wrapped her arms and legs around Jayne's strong body and said, "Rayne."

Later, River watched him as he fell asleep beside her. Wrapped in his strong, protective arms, she wondered what their future would be like.

She imagined the Captain marrying them. Mal wouldn't want to do it, but River would ask him very sweetly. And if she caught him on a good day, he'd say yes.

Simon would give her away. Kaylee would be, hopefully, matron of honor. Maybe one of Jayne's brothers would be best man.

They'd get married on Achilles if they could. It would be nice at least to stop by. Quick wedding. Maybe bribe the new Sheriff not to arrest Jayne. Be like ordinary folk for a while, with a real family and no baggage.

Then they'd go to Haven. Just for a week or so. Then they'd all start flying again. Maybe Inara would give up her shuttle, and they could have more privacy on the ship.

What would their children be like? Clever. Beautiful. She imagined Jayne chasing a gang of children around the ship, and she almost started laughing. He'd be a little tough, maybe, but he'd be a good father. If they had a girl, she'd have him wrapped around her finger before she could even talk. And he'd take good care of them. Protect them.

River snapped back to reality. Before any of that could happen, they had to break into an Alliance Academy, kidnap all the students, who may or may not be entirely stable, and get away from the Alliance Operatives they would send as well as the Browncoat Underground who would be more than a little annoyed at their sudden, but as River saw it, inevitable, betrayal. And if they got clear of all that trouble, there was still a war going on that could change the destiny of the human race.

Suddenly, Jayne wasn't the only one who was scared. And just in case she didn't get another chance to say it out loud, River whispered in the dark, "I love you, Jayne."