Chapter three: Growing closer
"So we didn't need you to be capturing his words," Mal said as the five of them boarded Serenity. They had received their payment from Chapel and even scored a few free tickets for his museum. Don't know when they would ever visit if they would ever visit so he wasn't exactly certain what he was going to do with the tickets. He really had no plans on making a visit. He was not a big fan of visual art as he once told Inara. He preferred reading about historical facts, or stories with historical content, or movies or shows, heck he would rather get dressed up so he could attend a play than visit a museum
"I still recorded everything," Zoe explained as she followed behind her captain. "Gave that to the feds. Always good to have backup." She had her hands in her pockets and a bit of a spring in her step. She always had walked with a bit of an upbeat gait after a successful job.
The original plan was for Zoe to indeed sneak up behind the guy responsible but stay silent while she recorded him confessing and then take him out. None of them had expected Zane the mech would also be there, listening and figuring out what went down as well, but now they had three witnesses, plus a recording although the courts were only going to listen to Zane and the message.
Chapel was a completely different man when they had returned and explained what went down. The sweaty man looked like would collapse after having a large sigh of relief and his calm relaxed manner switched to a cold anger when he was informed it was one of his pilots that had been working with the bandits and tipping them off.
"Zane will tell all," River said as they walked up the gangplank. Her boots made a loud echo against the metal floor. Her smile faded when Simon ran up to them with medical bag in one arm and worry painted across his face. "Everything right as rain."
"Are you all right?" Simon asked as he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Were you afraid? Are you hurt?"
"Not porcelain you boob," River said as rolled her eyes
"I just worry," Simon said in a slight hurt tone as he looked River over. "At least let me check everything."
"Why don't you check the others first? Because little mouse has grown? Think cat away and she can play but you won't because you don't think." She stepped back away from him.
"It's just be-
"I'm with my crew. They protect me and I protect them. I'm not a child Tuo diao wo de pigu." She shrugged him off and stormed to the direction of the cockpit.
"River," Simon gasped and just stared at the direction his sister went off to and only turned to the other's when Kaylee took his hand. "I just want her to be safe." He stared at the ground until Kaylee pulled him close and he rested his head on her shoulder.
"She came back in one piece," Mal assured. He was a bit shocked to see River speak to Simon like that but he could understand where she was coming from. "Don't need to get your panties knotted up there, Doc. We kept her safe this long."
"Just never acted this way," Simon said and blinked. "I'd comfort her and she'd allow it, ever since we went back in time she been more independent, more defiant. She is trying to act like she doesn't need me." He paused to sigh. "Almost like she doesn't want anything to do with me."
"That is not true," Kaylee told him. "She still loves you. She is just growing up."
"She doesn't need you all the time," Zoe told him and shrugged. "She has been impressing me a lot recently."
"But to say those words?" Simon raised his eyebrows and didn't seem to noticed that Kaylee was stroking the side of his head
"Maybe she's bleeding downstairs," Jayne said as he cracked his knuckles. He didn't notice or seem to care that everyone was staring at him in disgust.
"Exin Ni Tiaowu," James said and glared at the hired gun.
"Uh Commodore?" Mal raised his hand. He was certain James was trying to insult Jayne but calling him a disgusting dancer in Chinese was probably not what he was going for.
"Dancer?" Jayne said and blinked. "I don't dance." He marched up to Norrington. And jabbed his finger into James's chest. "Better watch your mouth."
"I meant dirt bag," James groaned and closed his eyes. "I was trying to call you a disgusting dirtbag." He covered his face in embarrassment. "Blast it. I was trying to insult you and your crude words."
"Oh." Jayne relaxed his shoulders. "Well that's different then." He walked off towards the direction of the common room. "Whats wit all dem bags?" He pointed to the plastic bags and colorful paper bags with handles that took up residence of the couches.
"Costume supplies," Inara explained and faced Mal. Her expression was hard to figure out and Mal wasn't certain if it was a happy one since she got to shop for several people or an "You owe me one" type of face. Maybe it was a mix of both. "I got everyone everything they had requested and ordered what I couldn't find today. I also kept your "components" separate, Malcom. I figured you were trying to surprise everyone at the end."
"I thought we all were going to surprise everyone," Mal said as he walked around. He grabbed one of the bags and peeked inside.
"Not yours," Inara scolded before she pulled the bag away. She set it down and shoved a couple bags into his arms. "These are."
"My pilot has the right idea. Everyone get your supplies put away and we will work on them when we can. Kaylee I need you in the engine room. We are about to take off."
"But the party," Kaylee said as she pointed at the bags and then outside.
"Not for another week and we still need to work."
"And so do I," Inara said and placed her hands on her hips. "I already have appointments with three clients and I refuse to cancel."
"Then keep your shuttle down here," Mal said as he took a step on the cat walk. "We'll be back within a week." Why did she try to create an argument and pick a fight with him
"You are just giving me the permission to stay here with your shuttle?" Inara asked in surprise.
"I thought it was "your" shuttle," Mal said. "Don't need to be makin stuff difficult. You just keep it parked on the dirt and do your business."
"Emphasis on the do," Jayne said with a chuckle causing Mal to roll his eyes and James to sigh in irritation.
"Wow," Simon gasped as he continued to examine the rest of the crew. He pulled out a small vial of antiseptic and applied it to Jayne's cuts. "I did not know you knew the definition of emphasis."
"There is a lot about me you don't know," Jayne said while Simon placed a bandage on the wound.
"And we would like to keep it that way," James told him before he allowed his arms to go lax and have Simon look him over
"When we finish business we'll come back, get all disguised up and hit this soiree," Mal said
"Does anyone besides Jayne need any healing?" Simon asked as he stepped away from James. "I just gave him some antiseptic spray and a bandage."
"Just a few scrapes," Mal explained. "Just hand us the spray and bandages and we'll slap them on ourselves."
"You can remove the splinter from my hand," Zoe said and held up her hand when she noticed how dejected the doctor appeared. "I know you want to feel useful."
"Yes, yes I do," Simon said softly. "And I want to know what is wrong with my sister."
"I thought we knew what was wrong with her," Jayne said. "Broke into that hospital on Ariel and found out they cut into her skull."
"Not that. The way she is behaving recently and the way she is talking back."
Mal blinked as he stared at his doctor. How could that man claim to be a genius when he was so stupid about this type of thing?
"She is annoyed you keep treating her like an invalid," James explained before Mal could get a chance to open his mouth. "I greatly respect you Doctor Tam and the fact that you looked out for her, kept her safe but she is no longer a child. She is a beautiful and intelligent woman with many talents. You need to accept the fact she has grown up."
"I need…to…to clean my infirmary," Simon said and walked off. He didn't even get a chance to heal Zoe's finger.
"Jayne I know you have chores to do," Mal ordered after the minute of complete silence. "Zoe I want you with me to discuss finances and the job, Norrington work on your Chinese."
Zoe did not mind cleaning or organizing. She didn't mind the chores of dishes, cleaning the toilets or laundry, but the one chore she did dislike the most was cooking and it wasn't because she was bad at it. She just hated to wait in front of the stove or zapper waiting for the food to cook. She did not receive any joy from mixing the packages of dry instant powder with water, or sculpting the packs of protein they had. She found the chore to be dull, but when it was her turn to cook she did it without protest.
"Noodles again?" Jane asked as he grabbed at one of the protein packs. He stared at it and rubbed his finger over the back.
"What are you doing here?" Zoe asked as she placed the batch of dry instant noodles into the pot of boiling water. "Don't you got stuff to do?" She was certain the captain gave him a large list of things to do, mostly to keep him out of everyone else's way.
"Done with my chores," Jayne said as he took out a few pieces of protein out of the package and squished it together with his hands. "You always do noodles when you cook and the protein always looks like chicken or scrambled eggs and tastes like them too."
"Miss having fresh eggs," Zoe said as she remembered approaching the make shift yard and coop with a basket and leaving with between three to four eggs. "Best we sold those chickens though."
They had received three chickens as part of payment for informing a rim planet town on the fact that some of their slaves were colonists that were taken captive by a small group of Independents who couldn't shake off the war, couldn't accept that they lost. The chickens were given a homemade coop in the cargo bay and they were fed and had their area cleaned daily and there were plenty of fresh eggs. Kaylee loved them and wanted to name them…and Jayne wanted to eat them.
Mal thought it would be better for everyone to have chickens sold to an egg farm, especially for the benefit of the chickens, and they did receive a good amount. Kaylee and River were a bit upset the birds had to be sold, but their captain assured them the chickens would be happier when they were on solid ground and amongst their kind and taken care of by people who knew how to raise chickens.
"I wonder what the next job will be," Jayne said as he continued to roll the protein around like clay. "Is it gonna be another protection job, gonna act as middlemen and buy fer peanuts and sell fer gold, or we gunna do salvage, or are going to do some crime? Haven't done some crime in while." He mixed in shrimp flavor powder and sculpted the protein to resemble large deveined shrimp tails.
"Sounding too eager for a heist," Zoe said as she continued her focus on the pot. "Honest jobs not good enough for you?"
"They aint bad, especially the part where we get paid, but they too clean. I want to get down and dirty, sides I thought ya liked doing that kind of work, give the Alliance the big screw you type jobs."
"Don't mind the crime or the crimeless jobs, but the honest ones have been coming along more recently, they pay a bit better and I think the rest of the crew likes em." She opened up a can of mixed vegetables and added it to the pot.
"Never belly ached about it before, unless they want to keep Jimbo all honest and innocent, but I think he is ready for a good heist. He's stronger than he looks and he pretty darn good with our guns and I heard he used to be a pirate before he dressed in lace and frills."
"Not sure if he wants to remember that." She placed Jayne's 'shrimp' into the pot. " Still a lot for him to learn and I'm not sure if I want him to be a bit more or a scoundrel."
"Zoe," captain's voice reached her. "Got the next job lined up. Going to New Melbourne."
"What we doing?" Jayne shouted. "Gonna protect another wealthy ship from pirates again…or are we getting paid to be the pirates?" He grinned at the thought.
"Deep sea salvage it seems," Malcolm answered. "Something happened to this guy, Corwin is his name. Well something happened to his shipment and his cargo got dropped miles away over the open water. He's got a sea boat for us to borrow."
"Aw man," Jayne grumbled and shook his head.
"Am I hearing complaining about a job?"
"Sounds good sir," Zoe called back and turned to Jayne. "At least the pay would be good. Now help me set the table for dinner."
Dinner had been consumed and once the dishes were put away River took to the helm and set a course for New Melbourne. It would only take them a day and a half to reach the location and they might even be able to do another job before head back to the costume party and still have time to work on their costumes.
River had the socks: white in color that had a lacy fold over the ankle, the cute black blouse with pink buttons and pink skirt and the poodle patch. She had the pink and black scarf and the accessories. All she really needed was the shoes and Inara assured her she will have the shoes by the time of the ball. River knew that nearly everyone wanted to surprise the others when it was time to step out of their bunks and she did not pry into their minds but was pretty sure she was able to guess what everyone was going to be based on what they bought, even the captain's, and she was a bit annoyed at his choice. She was going to match Inara and James based on the decade their costumes were from.
"New Melbourne," James said as he stood next to River. "I was informed it was a large fishing industry. This planet is mostly water, like Earth."
"Many at sea, you will be at home. The town we will be landing in is named Port Royal." She looked back to see his reaction.
"A wonderful coincidence," James said and smiled at the memory. "The ocean wasn't home. My ships and the original Port Royal was home and I do miss it, part of me wishes I could return, but I know I can't. I just wish I fit in more here. I still can't quite get a grasp on the Mandarin tongue, the technology still surprises me and I still want to be an honorable man."
"You are adapting. It will not be instant. You only been here for months, but you can adapt and still be you. Please don't be different, be the James that I fel—friended." She almost slipped. "Don't be like Jayne."
"I will never be like Cobb," James assured her. "Just because I get a little excited about modern day pistols or want to work out does not mean I will be like him. I do not wish to bulk up. I didn't know my own strength. I just want to be physically fit for the jobs we do."
"You need proper clothes for that," River explained. "Work out shirt and shorts, spandex and lycra, clothes that breathe and stretch. Bands across the brow that sops up sweat and don't forget to powder your hands."
"I'll try to hold off until I get a pair of proper clothes for that task. I certainly will not do as Cobb suggested and wear only my boxers."
"No." River paused to cough at the image of James completely topless and wearing only his undergarments. The helm grew warmer and she rubbed her throat. "That wouldn't be proper and why would he want to see you like that?"
"Maybe he is sly for me," James said before he shook his head and laughed.
"That's a good one," River laughed. "I like it when you are here with me."
"I do too," James said as he stared at the sky. "I will never tire of staring at the stars."
"Always beautiful and amazing."
"Like you." He stepped closer until he was almost right next to her.
River felt her heartbeat increase and glanced up at him but he wasn't looking at her, just at the glass and stars. Did he not realize what he had just said? She reached out with one hand and brushed her fingers against his. Her smile grew when he grabbed back.
"There you are, Commodore," Mal's voice caused River to jump and their hand's to separate. "Doc is looking for you."
"What does he want?" River said acidly. They were close, so damn close. He felt the same way about her and he might have even said it and there would have been the possibility of a kiss.
"Still mad at him?" Mal asked. He was thinking of Simon. "Thought you made up at dinner. It's time for a booster shot."
"Ah," James said and scratched his head. "I'll go and receive my inoculation and then do some reading before bed. Good night, River. I hope your dreams will be as beautiful as the stars."
"Sleep well," River said and wished she could tell him how much she loved him.
"Sounds good," Mal told him as James left the helm. "Plan on catching up on a novel I've been neglecting myself before bed." His smile faded once James had left when he noticed how River was glaring at him. "Now what has gotten you ruffled up?"
"Won't understand." River said as she continued her focus on where they were heading.
"Oh really?" Her captain asked as he sat down in the co-pilot seat. "Why not?"
"You never understand. If you were you would be with her."
"Are you getting in my private life?" His tone was stern and cold, not quite angry but almost.
"No you are getting into mine."
"Oh." Mal blinked and sat back. "Did he profess his love to you or close to?"
"Almost."
"Are you sure he feels the same way?"
"Two hands were one. His words compared me to the stars, 'beautiful and amazing,' and you walked in."
"I wasn't trying to roadblock ya, honest. I had no idea he was thinking of kissing you."
"Not lips just hands."
"Okay I can understand your frustration, but you are paid to be my pilot and I need you to keep her in the air. You fall in love and court him on your time and trust me I will not interfere on purpose. I might interfere when it comes to your brother cause we all know he won't let you grow up and become a blushing bride someday."
"He was my knight in shining armor. He rescued me. He was there for me, always watching over and protecting me. I needed it then and there are times when I do need it, but not all the time. You help protect me. You are my captain, my Baba, my hero in brown armor. Inara is my Muqin, Kaylee my Jie jie, Zoe my guma, and Jayne my Baichi Shu Shu."
"And James?"
"My prince charming in blue armor." She paused to sigh. "I think it is stupid and wrong to have these thoughts and he wouldn't see me cause I'm broken, but he sees past it. He understands me and hurts to wait, but I have to. He lost everything and I want to make it right, let him feel right."
"Not stupid to fall in love and heck if I leaned the other way I'd be the one seducing him, and there is a smile right here. So enough of that talk. Yes he is more tightly wound than your brother and it is good you are giving it time, that is the best. I'm pretty sure he wants to make you his princess but gotta give him time. I think his brain hasn't caught up to his heart yet and when it does I know you will be there waiting for him."
"You know what to say."
"Gotta say the right things for my little pilot. Now make sure it is smooth, slow her down a bit and put the auto on. We are all going to need to get some sleep soon."