Chapter 10: Lost and Found

He had to find her. That was the only thought that ran through James's mind as he raced through the Hammond mansion. The only problem was that he had only been at the place once before and had no idea where everything was or even where River was. The place was large, even larger than Swann's mansion. The size of the place did not matter, all he cared about was finding her, comforting her and protecting her.

He still couldn't believe the words that fell out of Gabriel Tam's mouth about his own children. He just cut off ties because they disobeyed and because he blindly followed the Alliance, no matter what kind of evidence would be shown Gabriel Tam refused to believe. The part that made James the most ill was the fact that there was a time when James was exactly like Gabriel.

"River?" He called out as he continued to search for her. He glanced quickly at his hand. There was nothing broken and it felt great the lay the man out like that. "River, where are you?"

Lucky for him she hadn't gone far and was at the bottom steps of the stairs in the hallway that was next to the ballroom. She was crying so hard her body was shaking and the sound of her despair was enough to make his heartbreak. All he wanted to do was hold her and allow her to cry onto his shoulder.

"I want to go home," she choked out between tears. Her eyes were pink and her cheeks were streaked from crying. There was clear trails dribbling out of her nose and her whole face was flushed and still James thought she was the most beautiful woman in the entire building. "I want to be back there, back before they took me apart. I want my books and my toys and games. I want to play dress up and I want to listen to the music and dance and my bed it had awning and purple sheets and the blanket was fluffy. Send me back to before, send me home. I don't want this."

"You can't change the past," James said softly to her. "Trust me I am living proof of that fact."

"We took you away."

"And they took you away and ruined what you had." He sat down next to her. "I also know what if feels like to have your life shattered, to have everything you had lived for to be removed and it is nowhere as awful as what they did to you." He placed a hand on her back.

"I'm broken and I don't know why. I do know, but I can't fix. The glue is wrong and it won't work. Sometimes a thing gets broke, can't be fixed. Nobody wants shattered pieces."

"You are not a thing, or a shattered pieces." He rubbed his hand against her back. It was a bold gesture but she needed the comfort. "You are a wonderful and beautiful woman. A kind and dear friend and I'm sorry your evening was ruined because of that man. I-I can't wrap my head around it. I was a pirate cabin boy for four years before the navy. My father thought I was dead and when we met up for the first time in years he wept. He didn't care about my past. He was just glad to see that I was still alive. An old friend of mine, he was Weatherby Swann. He would do anything for his daughter and I met Kaylee's father and Mr. Hammond is a doting father and I just can't understand how anyone could treat their own children like that."

"I don't know and I don't want to know. It hurts and I want to keep it down, but it can't. I pushed so hard and I couldn't pull away. Simon pulled me away and he watched over me and took care of me, but now he has Kaylee and I have no one. I woke up from the hurt and no one but Simon and now-"

"You have the entire crew of Serenity," James told her. "They are your family and they love you and take care of you. Captain Reynolds is your father now and he might not be the most upstanding citizen but he is a thousand times better a father than the one who sired you. You have a sister a mother, a kind and strong aunt, your brother of course and a uncle who is not bright but cares about his crew and you have me."

"And you?" She stared into his eyes.

"I well, I thought I had lost everything in that hurricane and even when I was given my commission back I still felt empty and it wasn't until we met that I felt whole. River I didn't have anyone until your crew came back in time and…" his voice grew softer and he leaned closer. "I had you." He brought his lips against hers and pulled back. "Forgive my boldness but I ha-" He felt her hand behind his head and was pulled back in for another kiss. The second lasted longer than the first.

"I want to be with you, James. I want to be with you forever and I thought you didn't want and I never read you because I loved you it hurt but I kept from reading."

"I feel the same," James said as he continued to stroke her hair. "I never thought I would fall in love again, but you appeared in my life. I love you, River Tam. You are my angel."

"You are my prince in shining armor." She smiled. "Mal almost told but he fell over his words."

"He did," James said with a sigh. The constricting pain and flutters in his stomach were gone and now he felt like he was going to fly away. "The best thing that had ever happened in my life was meeting you and your crew and coming here. I feel like I truly am a man of the 26th century now."

"The next step?" River asked. "Slow or fast do we date of should we marry?"

"Well I—I are you proposing?" He blinked and watched as she shrugged. "I didn't really go on any dates with Elizabeth. We attended a few events, not always together before I proposed but now in this day and age people take a longer time to court and I know in my heart I want to ask you to become Mrs. River Norrington but after a few dates, to ease your brother's mind at first."

"His brain is going to explode." She laughed and held his hand. Without another warning she pounced on him, her lips landing on his.

"This is perfect," James said before he kissed her again. "Hmm yes." They paused for a few seconds before another kiss. "I am enjoying this." He closed his eyes as the kiss grew deeper and opened when it suddenly stopped. "River?"

"Contaminated," River said as she stood up. "The spinach puffs are contaminated, poisoned. There are many and everyone is in danger."

"Are you certain?" James asked as he rose to his feet. "Of course you read that off someone."

"I wasn't trying to read anyone. They were broadcasting so loud I thought you could hear. We have to go."

"Time to save the world," James said and brought his communicator out of his pocket. "Captain we have a situation."

"What's wrong with the girl?"

"Everything is better but not for you. There is a type of food called a spinach puff that has been poisoned. River read it off. Does everyone hear me?"

"We heard," Simon's voice came through.

"We'll warn everyone," Zoe's voice was heard.

"Hey everyone stop eating!" Jayne had forgotten to turn off his.

Everybody had been warned and James and River had raced back to the ballroom. He wasn't certain what to look for, probably something green and well puffy.

"Over there," River pointed to a robot server that rolled past James.

"Got it," James said and lifted the plate containing round baked bite sized treats that did have something green poke out of the corners. He threw it on the floor and noticed the way the others were looking at him. "I have been informed these spinach puffs have been poisoned." He watched as two people threw down the pastries in question.

"Here it is," Brusque said as he picked up the largest tiered tray of spinach puffs from the buffet table. "Jayne try not to put the people in a panic."

"Maybe they should panic," Jayne said as he smacked a pastry out of the hands of a bewildered guest. "Sorry nobody is dying from food poisoning today." He saw someone was about to bite into another. "Hey stop that." He yanked it out of their mouth. "Nobody eat the spinach puffs! They are poisoned!"

"That wasn't exactly the way I would have done it," Brusque said with a sigh. "But it works. Keep at it."

"River where are they?" Zoe asked as she kept her communicator close to her ear. "Are they in here? Are they somewhere within the mansion?"

"Guy Fawkes right past the captain," River's voice came through loud and clear.

"I see him," Malcolm said as he ran after the man dressed in the familiar mask and hat. He didn't notice that part of his sash was hanging to low and he stepped on it as he ran and promptly fell flat on his face. "Gorram cloth."

"I see him," Zoe said as she chased after the man in the mask. She could see Melchior was trying to block the guy's path, along with a few other part guests. She caught up almost immediately and struck at the poisoner in the hamstring before she struck him out with a punch so fierce it knocked off his mask.

The man landed onto the floor and Melchior pounced on him. Zoe stood over the poisoner and looked him straight into the eye. "We might not have our weapons but I know over a hundred ways to kill you with what little we have in this ball room."

"Almost got away," the man said as several people crowded around.

"Obadiah," Melchior said after he got a good look at the man and shook his head. "Why?" He rolled off of him and muttered a string of astonished curses. "Seriously why? I thought we were friends and all that."

"I ain't talking," the man said and tried to get up only for Harrow to plant a foot on his back.

"Oh I think you are," Harrow said. "Unless you keep wanting to kiss the floor."

"I'm sure Jayne and Brusque will make him talk," Zoe said and turned to Mal who was still had his face planted on the ground. "This is why I prefer costume's with slink, sir."

"Duly noted," Mal said as he raised a hand and pointed up.

"Do you need a hand?" Zoe asked.

"I'm good," Mal said as he stood up. "How did that damn weirdo get around without tripping all the time?"

"I pretty sure he took extra care to buckle his swash, sir."

"Next time I'll be more careful." He noticed several people surrounding the man. "Caught the guy did we?" He picked up his fallen hat and placed it on his head.

"I caught the guy with Melchior and Sir Harrow," Zoe explained. "We'll let the big boys play with him."

"Sounds 'bout right," He turned around to face a dejected Hammond. "Sorry this all happening."

"I would love for one of my celebrations to go smoothly," Hammond said with a sigh. "Just once."

"This happened before?" Zoe asked.

"Not the poisoning, but this is the third time someone was struck in the face with a fist," Hammond explained. "Once it resulted in a duel and the second sparked a fist fight and Brusque had to rely on back up to break it up. Six months ago it was a ballroom dance and one of the upstairs bathrooms flooded and shorted out one of the chandeliers. The first gala I threw involved my cousin becoming so drunk he decided to streak through the room." He shook his head and chuckled at the memory. "Sometimes I think people just attend my gatherings just to see what would go wrong."

"Poisoning food is serious, though," Zoe told him. "I am certain you never expected that."

"Are you certain it was only the spinach puffs?"

"That is what we have been told," Mal said. He noticed several members of the kitchen staff removing the dishes of food and the robots had been called in. "Good to take the extra precaution."

"Did anyone actually eat any of the puffs?" Simon called out at the top of his lungs. "Everyone who had the spinach puffs need to make their way to the bathroom." He lowered his voice and turned to his new friends. "Does anyone have any ipecac?"

"I have brought ipecac, epi-pens and antihistamines," Tatum said. "It was in case of people discovering a food allergy they didn't know they had."

"I have Nucoci and Sooditox," another doctor said, mentioning medicine that neutralized poisons.

"All right we all need to stay calm," Kaylee said. "Now follow the people in the medical profession to the restrooms and we will take care of you and I'll bring water and that might help."

"I'll assist you," Dennis offered.

Simon repeated the message and few other party guests passed it along, to his relief only five people had eaten any of the puffs and for all five it was just one bite.

"I was about to but it smelled funny," another person said.

"Do people really hate spinach or something?" Kaylee asked.

"According to Mrs. Hammond they were only just brought out," Inara's voice answered through the speaker.

"We still need to treat these people," Simon said as he led the group dressed as a caveman, a ballerina, a safari explorer, a clown, and a witch towards the bathroom with Kaylee, Dennis, Tatum and several more doctors following.

"Now the man is gonna be here," Jayne said from where he sat on the posterior of Obadiah. "You talkin now or talkin to them cause one way your lips are gonna spout the truth."

"Tā mā de," Obadiah spat out.

"Do you ever kiss your mother with that mouth?" Brusque asked.

"Maybe we outta wash your mouth out," Jayne said and-wait a second that sounded like a good idea to him. "Hell yeah if you don't talk we'll put soap in that mouth of yers and it won't be the fancy fruity sweet soap that folk like the Hammonds or Inara use. It will be the harsh kind that I like to use."

"I personally will use my own bar," Brusque said. "The one that touched my balls and my ass earlier today."

"Disgusting," Obadiah said. "He keeps pigs like you and creeps like Melchior employed but fires hard working individuals who have the finest of manners."

"What the hell are ya talking about?" Brusque asked. "You didn't get sacked. The only one who got the pink slip was Chandles and that was because he got caught pilfering some brandy."

"He was framed you buffoon. Chandles does not drink and was those two knuckleheads Hammond hired last month that framed him because they didn't like Chandles because of his orientation."

"Why do you care?" Jayne asked. "I mean nice that if he was a friend but I wouldn't do anything this stupid for someone unless we were bunking or some-Shénshèng de gǒu shǐ tā shì nǐ de tā mā de hǎoyǒu."

"We are in love you ignoramus," Obadiah said.

"Stop insulting me with words I don't know," Jayne told him as he grabbed him by the hair.

"He just called you an idiot," Brusque explained. "And you might wanna get up. Perpo is here." He pointed to the small group of officers as they made their way towards them. "This is the would be poisoner."

"Sir can you please get off him?" One of the officers asked as he grabbed Obediah's wrists.

"Waiting till you cuff him," Jayne explained. "Don't know if he was gonna run if I moved."

"We appreciate your help," the officer said as he secured the cuffs. " But he's in our hands now."

"Yeah I got it," Jayne said as he stood back up. "Let me know if you need more help."

"You're sposed to be a guest not security," Brusque told him. "But I'll let you know."

"Quite the night of excitement," Inara said once she caught up with both River and James. The two of them were holding hands and leaning against each other. "First with James defending your honor, River and now with the poisoning."

"We can all thank River," James said as he continued to look at River with a large grin on his face. "She is the hero."

"He was fool to shout," River said. "Lives were saved?"

"Thanks to the two of you," Inara said.

"Not a curse, not all the time."

"It can be a gift," James told her and leaned down to kiss her. "You are the greatest gift of all."

"You two are together?" Inara asked once their kiss ended. She felt giddy all over and wanted to jump with joy. She had felt the same when Simon and Kaylee became a couple. "You know each other's feelings?"

"Mommy is not herself," River said. "Acting as dumb as Jayne. Our two is now one." She kissed James again.

"You knew she had these feelings for me?" James asked. "And I confessed to you how I felt."

"You don't go in between and tell them," Inara said. "The best way is for it to happen the way it happened. When you tell each other."

"The magic wouldn't come true any other way," River said.

Inara continued to smile as she watched them before she decided to see if she could find the others. Her smile faded when she saw Melchior was setting up a glossy black machine and a screen.

"Oh no, he isn't."

A/N: Two more chapters to go and we will see what had horrified Inara in the next one.