…and then, just as he was about to fall completely through the floor, a hand grabbed him. "I've got you," said a voice Simon didn't recognize.
The doctor allowed himself to be hauled up through the hole that his weight had created through the rotten boards, only to find that his "savior" was an old man. "Not from these parts, are you, son?" the man asked, dusting his hands off onto a pair of worn overalls.
Simon decided to play this one safe. "No, not really." He turned to see Mal racing for him and he put his hand out to stop him. "Careful," he cautioned loudly. "The floor's unstable."
The old man chuckled. "Yeah, pretty much. Hasn't been right in some years. Not since the old doctor went crazy in the brainpan, anyway." He then motioned the two men to follow him, and, through a series of carefully-placed footsteps, managed to get both Simon and the captain back on the ground floor in one piece. "I kinda thought you weren't from around here," he said casually to Simon. "You have just a trace of the accent, but it's muddled up now. Rim-worlder?"
Simon decided to play along. "Yeah." He then motioned towards the ruined remains of his childhood home. "What happened here?"
"Well now, that's a story everyone knows," chided the old man. "But, seeing as you're not from here, I'll tell you."
He took the crew, who had reassembled near the stairs, out into what once had been a courtyard. Trees of all kinds lay broken and scattered like trash. Hedges that were once well-kept grew rampant. Various weeds sprouted where elegant flower beds once stood. At the edge of the grounds lay a small headstone, and it was here that the man began to tell his story.
"Family that lived here was the Tams—richest people on this end of the world, if you believe the tales. Old man was a doctor, and his son was too; even better than his father. The lady of the house was a beautiful woman, and had a kindness about her that radiated. There was a daughter, too—real smart, from what I hear. Got sent off to a special school and everything." The man paused. "'Bout then is when things got interesting.
"See, from what I understand, the boy went crazy. Ran off, snatched his sister out of that fancy school of hers. Broke some set of laws or some such, 'cause the both of 'em got prices on their heads that'd feed a poor man the rest of his life." The man shook his head. "Was a real tragedy. Y'see, I was the gardener here, and every so often I'd see the kids out in the yard, playing or reading or whatnot." "Thick as thieves, those two. Always made me wish I'd had kids of my own, seeing them."
Mal slipped Simon a barely noticeable look of concern, but kept silent.
The gardener continued. "Oh, things went bad fast after that. The lady of the house was heartbroken, losing her kids like that. She thought the boy was crazy, at first—'course, that's what everyone believes—but there was something about her that didn't quite believe it. The old doctor, he was furious 'bout the whole affair. Cold man, that one. Was so concerned about how things looked that he never questioned what had happened. Wrote both kids off, just like that."
"How do you know he disowned them?" asked Inara.
"Well, miss, people talk, and this was one of the better pieces of gossip back then. "'Course, no one spoke of it in his presence—not even the lady; fact is, he completely forbade anyone from mentioning the kids. Broke her heart, it did. She used to spend hours out on these grounds, crying her eyes out over what she'd lost."
Simon had to try and stop from crying himself at that mention. He'd always believed his mother to be a kind woman, if a little distant, but he thought of her grieving over his and River's absence made him feel just a tinge of shame. He never regretted what he'd done, not for an instant—but he wished wholeheartedly that he could have spared his mother that kind of heartbreak.
His thoughts wandered back to Kaylee, and the baby, and he realized that time was not working in their favor. "The man who lived here—the old doctor—we think he's kidnapped a girl and her baby. Do you have any idea where he might be?"
Just then the old man pulled a leather-bound journal out of his overalls. Simon recognized it as one of his father's journals. "This might be of some help to you, then," he said, handing it to Simon. "Can't read much, myself, but I know it has something to do with what he planned to do with his kids. The lady of the house, she found it one day, and was furious after she read it. She gave it to me, told me to keep it safe. That night, she confronted the old doctor with whatever was inside of it. The shouting match could be heard all the way out here."
"That's it?" said Jayne, in a tone that said he didn't believe that was the end of the story. "A shouting match, then this?" He kept switching his gaze from the headstone to the remains of the house. "That stone…"
"Afraid so, son," the gardener replied. "Most people don't catch that one right off. You're smarter than you look." He nodded in grim approval at Jayne's discovery.
"Catch what?" asked Mal, a look of recognition beginning to spread over his features.
"He locked her in, made her stay," River said, holding a vacant look on her face. "Lit the match, walked away." She knelt down and brushed her hand over the little stone. Simon could just make out the name that was crudely carved on it: Reagan Tam.
"Man killed the lady for finding out what he was up to," said Mal softly.
"Exactly right," the old man confirmed. "There wasn't much left of the poor woman, but I took her out here and gave her a proper burial. Was the only one left, by that point. All the other help had long since gone." He shook his head sadly.
Simon stood in utter silence. He knew his father was a controlling, calculating bastard, but killing his own wife? It took a moment for the thought to settle in. He then thought of Kaylee. "Thank you for the story, sir," he said. "But I think it's time we got on our way."
"Of course," replied the gardener, walking the party up towards the entrance.
As the old man turned to leave them, he said, "You know, a better story is the one about the people who have disappeared trying to bring in the Tam children." Simon froze for a moment, thinking to himself please, God, not now, please don't do this to us. However, he found himself asking about that particular tale.
"Well, way I hear it, many's the man who's tried to catch those kids. Few federal fellows a couple worlds over tried—got themselves a nice case of dead for their trouble. Couple of bounty hunters tried—it's been said no one's heard from them since. Even heard tell of some top Alliance brass trying to lay their hands on them, but failed. Seems those kids have a streak of luck on 'em that can't be beat."
The gardener then turned and looked Simon square in the eye. "Half a million square is a lot of money, son—more money than most folk see in a lifetime." Simon blanched, his ears looking to hear the sounds of Alliance federals at any minute.
The gardener continued. "Me, though—I say, money like that can't be real. Plus, with all those folk gone dead or missing…makes a smart man wonder about it, really." He patted the younger man on the shoulder and said, "You find that girl, young doctor. Chances are if that old man Tam has her, she won't be long for the world—no matter which one she's on."
The crew wasted no time in getting Serenity off the ground and out of atmo, hoping the journal Simon clutched in his hands would give them a clue as to their missing mechanic's location.
***
It had been weeks since Kaylee had spoken. She'd given up screaming and fighting—all it did was spend her energy and nothing came of it anyway, except a few sharp slaps around her head. She'd tried not eating, but after a day of that Kaylee found herself being force-fed through an IV that was streamed towards her womb—thus ensuring the baby was nourished, even if she wasn't.
Every time the mechanic tried a new way to resist her captor, he'd come back with a punishment that was worse. When she refused to cooperate, she was beaten. When she refused food, she had it shoved down her throat or forced through tubes straight to her stomach. When Kaylee tried to speak to her guards in hopes of conversation, her food was pushed through the holo-door and left on the floor. She had to endure being watched as she went to the bathroom, and when she pleaded for privacy Kaylee was told that she couldn't be trusted by herself out of her room.
She curled up on her bed, rubbing her arms against her skin in an attempt to generate heat. The elder Tam had ordered her blankets taken away when Kaylee had tried to ask for something warmer, and the thin gauzy shift was just not enough to keep her from shivering. Her teeth chattered so hard she worried her teeth would break.
"Are you ready to eat now, Kaylee?" came a voice from the foot of the bed—it was his voice, and she cringed.
"Please—it's so cold," she pleaded. She coughed. "Please, can't I have something to keep warm?"
He set the tray on the small table. "Apparently, you haven't learned your lesson," he said flatly. Turning to face her, he leaned over her shivering form. "Take off your dress."
"Wh-wh-what?" Kaylee squeaked, forcing the word out between her rapidly chattering teeth.
"The dress. Take it off."
"You're insane," she said, trying her best to resist.
The elder Tam produced a small scalpel, rolling it between his thumb and forefinger. "Take the dress off," he replied sharply, "or I will cut it off. It makes no difference to me how this goes."
Kaylee realized that to defy him would result in her getting hurt even more. She sat up on the mattress, turned around, and slowly pulled the thin garment over her head. She held the cloth next to her abdomen, hoping to warm her belly for a few seconds.
"Turn around and place it on the bed."
Kaylee never felt more ashamed than she did at that moment. Slowly, she turned around and placed the gown on the foot of the bed. She was completely naked, having had not other garments on since she woke up in this place.
"Eventually you will learn, Kaylee. It shouldn't have had to come to this." A smile played slightly on the hundan's lips as he took in the sight of the girl, naked and defenseless, her protruding belly a constant reminder of the prize she carried within her.
Kaylee coughed, a little harder this time.
"Lie down on the bed."
She stood at the foot of the bed, motionless. She was trying with every fiber of her being not to cry.
In an instant Kaylee felt a rough pair of hands push her backwards until she was lying flat on her back. She felt the unwanted tug of the silver bands around her wrists, and soon she found her arms being forced above her head. The bands were drawn to a point in the headboard, and she couldn't pull her arms down around her. A minute later, Kaylee felt something being pulled tight around her ankles, and she realized that the bastard had tied her feet together and strapped the cord to the bar underneath the bed. She had lost her only means of fighting the liaumang off.
The elder Tam pulled out a stethoscope and began listening to Kaylee's chest. The instrument was torture—freezing cold metal applied to her already chilled form, stealing any draught of heat from the spot it touched. "It sounds like you have a slight cough, nothing more. A shot should be able to fix that."
Kaylee's eyes never left the man's hands. She watched as he called for medicine of some sort, and she watched as he measured it out into a syringe and stuck her arm with the needle, forcing a cream-colored liquid into her veins. "That should do the trick," he said crisply.
If'n it wasn't so gorram cold, I wouldn't be sick, she thought angrily. Her face contorted with silent fury.
The bastard then sat down in the chair, which he'd pulled next to the bed. He placed his hand on her swollen belly, rubbing it gently. Kaylee's skin crawled as he did, wishing that there were some way to force his hands off. She wriggled under his touch, trying to get him to stop.
"If you don't stop that, I can see to it that the men outside have a turn with you," he said sharply. "It's been some while since they've seen a woman—any woman," he added as an afterthought.
Frightened at the thought, Kaylee stopped moving. She knew what the man was looking for—the flutter of the baby kicking. She'd noticed it herself only a few days ago. She'd smiled at the thought of her baby getting stronger, and had cried when she realized that Simon was missing all of this. Kaylee had imagined his face when he would feel his child kicking, all warmth and smiles, and contented herself with the thought that he would find her before the baby came. She wanted so much to have Simon deliver his own child, to have him experience that joy of bringing a new life into the world.
"There it is," the elder Tam said, satisfied. "It's coming to term on schedule. Ten more weeks, and it'll be here."
He then turned his attention to his captive. "As for you, you need to learn some appreciation. When you do, you can have this back," he snapped, taking the gown into his hands. "Eventually you'll realize that I control everything that happens here: what you wear, what you eat, when you sleep." He glared at her, a look of disgust forming across his face. "And any thoughts you have of those thieves you live with coming to save you, put them to rest. No one knows you're here. No one ever will. I've seen to it."
Kaylee refused to believe that, even for a second.
Soon after, her ankles were released, and after the elder Tam left the room, the silver bands stopped pulling at her wrists. She rubbed them, sitting up on the bed. She'd tried to pry them off, but they were so tight and seamless in their design that she only managed to dig huge scratches into her wrists, having made them bleed more than once. Shivering violently, Kaylee made her way towards the tray of food that had been left, and began picking at it. She wished, more than ever, that she were back home on Serenity, wearing Inara's thick fluffy robe and her own warm bunny slippers while bossing Simon and Jayne in her engine room.
She ate sadly, holding on to that thought.