Chapter 16
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"How do you know?" Mal asks River.
"A couple of days ok Alexis was telling Kaylee and I a case you worked on where the kidnaped kid told you where his was by something he slipped in during the kidnaps video, we said that the kid was smart and that everyone should have a system like that, then we made one up not thinking that we would ever need it." River explains.
Everyone in surprised at the kind of conversations the three have but are very glad that they do.
"That sentence she said that made no sense 'the three of us always survive even if were in the centre of a dark storm' That was a code?" Shepard Book asks.
"Yes, it means that there all ok, but are hurt a little but will survive, and that there being held in a building that starts with the letter S, that in the centre of town in its basement." River explains.
"The Special services building it's in the middle of the city." Simon realises.
"And it has a basement." Shepard Book adds.
"Yes, using Lexis' clues I'm going to go in get them and bring them out." River tells everyone in a determine voice which is like she is saying nothing is going to stop me.
"River.." Simon says surprising not sure what to say.
"There my friends Simon, I'm not going to leave them in there getting hurt because of me." River says.
"It's not your fault River your as innocent as them in this, but you're not going in alone I'm going with you that's my daughter, my best friend and my little sister in there I'm not going to leave them either." Mal says and no one is surprised by that.
"If you're going then I am to Sir." Zoe says and everyone else nods in agreement.
"We need to be smart about this have a plan, Alexis's clues and your abilities River should help a lot but we still need to know what we are going to do." Shepard Book points out to everyone.
"Your right Shepard." Mal says takes a few minutes to think before saying "Zoe, Jayne, Esposito you will come with River and I to the building, Kate, Ryan you protect Serenity and everyone else because they may come here, Shepard I know you don't like to but you help there two if your willin, Lanie, Doc, Jenny you prepare the infirmary for causality's we don't know how bad there going to be or how bad we're all going to be when we finish, Wash have us ready to go in a minute if needed, Mother, Jim, I want you two armed as a procuration but what I'm going to need you two to do is to help out in any way that is needed. " Mal explains.
"Zoe, Jayne, Esposito get armed and down in the bay in 5 minutes, little Albatross do you need a weapon?" He asks River.
"It would be good." River tells him.
"Jayne get take River to the weapon storage and give her some." Mal tells Jayne.
"Come on." Jayne tells River who follows him out closely followed by Simon and Esposito.
"We'll keep in contact thorough, Wash your in charge of everyone who is left on Serenity." Mal says before turning and leaving himself leaving just Zoe and Wash in the bridge.
"Rick." Kate says running after him. "Be careful." She says giving him a kiss.
"I will be, protect Serenity." Mal says once they break apart. "Trust Wash and the Shepard if it comes to that they know how to handle themselves."
"I will." Kate tells him.
"Place yourselves on the platform above the cargo bay it will give you the best vantage point to everything or everyone who is going to enter the ship." Mal tells Kate. "And remember I love you."
"I love you two Rick." Kate tells him.
"Zoe, come on." Mal yells.
"Right behind you Sir." Zoe says running down to join him.
"Let's go." Mal says as they head down to the cargo bay.
"How are we getting there I'm guessing we can't just walk through town especially when we come back with people who are going to be at least a little hurt?" Esposito asks interested.
"We'll take shuttle 2, there is a docking station attached to the building, it will be simple to dock and get in without being noticed." Mal explains. "Ryan, Kate, Shepard protect Serenity." Mal tells them before leaving.
"Ok let's go." Zoe says as they all head into the shuttle.
"River you going to fly her?" Mal asks.
"Yes." River says going to the controls and taking off.
5 minutes later they are arriving at the building and land in the docking station.
"How do we get to the basement from here?" Esposito asks.
"Follow me." River says.
Mal, Zoe, Esposito and Jayne follow River down a side stair well trussing that she can get them in.
"Someone's coming." River says as they begin to walk through a hallway.
"How long?" Mal asks her.
"30 seconds." She answers.
"What entrance? How many?" Mal asks.
"One person that way" River tells Mal pointing to the door that they were about to head through.
Mal nods and stands right next to the door as the others stand a bit further down in an area that has a shadow so they can't be seen, he stands where he does so the second the person walks through he knocks them out by hitting them over the head with his gun.
"How much further?" Mal asks River as they enter another corridor.
"One more corridor, there are 4 people in the room with them." River tells them.
"Ok River you and I enter first start to take care of the guards then Esposito, Jayne, Zoe you three enter after about a minute." Mal tells the three who nod.
"Let's go." Mal says as they enter the last corridor before the place that Inara, Alexis and Kaylee are being kept.
The stop just before the door River is holding her hand up saying wait, after a few seconds she says "Now."
As soon as she says that her and Mal burst into the room, an engage in fighting with the guards River is able to take care of the first one within a few seconds then the next one, Mal takes care of another and they both attended to the last. Once they are sure that the room is clear they look for Alexis, Kaylee and Inara when they do they see them off to the side together, Alexis has a cut on the side of her face, Kaylee seems to be holding her left wrist with her other hand and Inara is on the floor in front of them unconscious. Seeing them everyone runs over to then them.
"You ok?" Mal asks Alexis and Kaylee while checking for Inara's pulse.
"Were fine Dad, Inara tried to protect us they could tell that was what she was doing so they hurt her." Alexis says almost crying giving her Dad a hug, Mal holds the hug for a few minutes so glad that his little girl is safe and in his arms again.
"It's going to be ok Pumpkin, let's get out of here." Mal says breaking the hug and picking up Inara as he did feel a pulse but it was a little faint.
"Little Kaylee are you ok?" Mal asks her.
"I'm Shinny Captain, my wrist hurts a little but it's fine." Kaylee who is currently being hugged by River tells Mal.
Mal nods knowing that he'll talk to them more when they are back safely on Serenity, but right now they need to move as time in of the essences "River you stay in the front lead the way, then I'll go Zoe you and Alexis be right behind me, Kaylee you and Jayne go behind them and Esposito, you take the back." Mal tells everyone.
"Yes Captain/Sir/Mal/Castle/Dad." Everyone says.
"Little Albatross we good to go?" Mal asks River.
"Yes, we have a five minute window starting…. Now." River says and leaves the room, Mal and the others closely behind her.
Everyone follows River though the same corridor that they entered through but she leads them a different way from the second to last corridor.
"Why we goin a different way?" Mal asks River.
"No one goes through it they won't realises were gone to the guard change at 8pm tonight." River tells Mal as she leads everyone up a different flight of stair and through to the docking bay. Everyone follows them in, Mal looks around making sure that everyone is in before saying to River "GO."
"Wash come in Wash." Mal says over the communicator.
"Mal, did you get them?" He asks.
"Yeah, have the doctors meet us upon arrival, Inara's unconscious, Kaylee's hurt her wrist and Alexis has a deep gash on the side of her face." Mal tell him.
"Can do how far away are you all?" Wash asks.
"About 4 minutes." Mal tells him.
The next for minutes go by in silence no one wanting to talk, Mal is still holding Inara wanting to give her to the doctors as soon as they get back on Serenity, while Alexis and Kaylee are either side of him both looking sad, scared and worried.
"Shuttle two requesting permission for docking." They finally hear River says.
Everyone lets out a sigh of relief knowing that they are home and safe.
Mal is the first one out of the shuttle where Simon, Jenny and Lanie are waiting. "She was unconscious when we found them she has a pulse but it is week." Mal tells Simon, Lanie and Jenny.
"What happened?" Simon ask Kaylee and Alexis as they make their way over to infirmary.
"She was doing whatever she could to make sure they wouldn't hurt us, she was succeeding then they realised what she is doing so they hit her over the head with something hard, I couldn't tell what it was." Kaylee explains as they enter the infirmary.
"I couldn't either." Alexis adds.
"I have an imaging device that should be able to tell me how much damage has been done I'll use that on Inara, Jenny, Lanie you guys cheek out Alexis and Kaylee." Simon tells them as he digs around in one of his cupboards looking for what he is looking for as Mal puts Inara down on the gurney.
"Wash get us out of here." Mal tells him.
"Just got a wave a minute before you got back saying that Thomas's men should be drooping of the cargo in the next 10 minutes." Wash informs Mal.
"Zoe, you deal with it, and as soon as there cargo is on we're gone." Mal tells her.
"What about supplies?" Zoe asks knowing that they need some.
" We'll stop at Liann Jiun, its only three days away and it's not a place we stop very often so no one will be looking for us plus it's a core planet so it will have most the supply's we need." Mal explains after a few minutes of thought.
"Yes Sir." Zoe says before leaving.
"I'll give her a hand with that." Kate says giving Rick a smile as she leaves.
Everyone else sees that Simon, Lanie and Jenny need to work so they leave them Mal, the doctors and nurse, and the three patients.
"The cuts not bad I'll be fine." Alexis says wanting to be with her Dad when Simon finds out what's wrong with Inara.
"Alexis, you and Kaylee will both let Lanie and Jenny check you out then you can do whatever you want." Mal tells his daughter and Kaylee.
The pair don't look happy but reluctantly go over to Jenny and Lanie so they can check them out.
"Doc how bad is she?" Mal asks worried now that he is sure that Alexis and Kaylee are getting cheeked out.
"Give me a minute." Simon says waving something that looks like a 21st century ultrasound machine around and along her head but is actually a portable CT scan that is stranded on all boats.
"Just what I thought." Simon says frowning.
"What? What's wrong?" Mal asks worried.
"She has a very small hemorrhage in her brain." Simon explains.
"Use dumb captain speak Simon, what does that mean?" Mal asks worried and confused at the same time.
"Her brain Is bleeding at the moment it is only minor that there is nothing to be done, I will have to cheek it ever few hours make sure it doesn't increase the amount of blood and if it does then that is bad." Simon explains.
"Will she wake up?" Mal asks completely terrified that he is going to lose his best friend.
"If the bleed doesn't increase the with some time she should wake up." Simon explains.
"How much time?" Mal asks.
"I honestly don't know Mal." Simon says as they feel the familiar feeling of Serenity taking off.
Mal pulls a chair over and sits next to Inara. "Lanie how are those two?" Mal asks also worried about his daughter and Sister.
"There fine, Alexis's cut on her face has been cleaned and properly dressed but she's fine and Kaylee has to where a bandage on her wrist for a couple of days but's she fine two." Lanie tells Mal.
"Good." Mal says smiling at them.
Seeing as they have gotten the all clear from the doctor, Alexis, Kaylee and River pull up chairs and sit will Mal, Alexis right next to him then Kaylee then River.
Lanie smiles at that then leaves the infirmary to where she sees Kate standing.
"Hey." Lanie says to her friend.
"Hay." Kate responds "How are they?" she asks curios.
"Alexis has a cut that is kind of deep but will be ok, Kaylee has a sprained wrist and Inara's brain is bleeding." Lanie tells her friend.
"How bad?" Kate asks.
"At the moment not to bad but that could change." Lanie tells her then asks "You're not jealous that he's sitting there waiting for her to wake up, that they all are?" Lanie ask curious.
"No, there a family I have no right to be jealous about that, and if I am I'm just going to end up hurting them all, maybe losing Rick." Kate explains.
"You think that?" Lanie asks surprised.
"I do. I love Rick that means I have to accept that Inara is his best friend that he cares about her that Alexis does two and that Kaylee and River are his little sisters." Kate explains to Lanie.
"When did that happen?" Lanie asks confused that things have changed since there last conversation.
"Let just say I've seen the how wrong I was with how I was acting." Kate tells Lanie before having one last look at them before leaving as she hates that it took her hurting Alexis for her to realises but her jealousy over Inara was doing no good what so ever.
Lanie is confused but follows Kate away as well.
Firefly/Castle Firefly/Castle Firefly/Castle Firefly/Castle
At dinner time everyone notices that Mal, River, Kaylee and Alexis aren't there.
"Do you think they're going to come for dinner?" Jenny asks curious.
"No." Kate, Zoe, Simon and Martha answer.
"I'll take them all some food once we finish." Simon tells everyone.
"Is Inara going to be ok?" Martha asks Simon as she really cares about Inara.
"At the moment she's stable it just depends on how she goes and if the bleed gets any bigger." Simon explains.
"Well lets pry that doesn't happen." Shepard Book says.
"Is Inara religious?" Ryan asks curios.
"Yeah, she's buddhist." Zoe tells him.
Everyone sits and talks a little and eats the rest of the dinner. Once everyone is finished Simon with the help of Kate puts what is leftover on the tray to take into them.
"Are you going to come?" Simon asks Kate curios.
"No." Kate says and Simon goes to open his mouth to say something "It's just better if I don't, but let me know if any of them need anything." Kate tells him before going to do the dishes as it is her turn.
"I will, thanks Kate." Simon says as he takes the food down the infirmary. When he enters he sees that all four of them are still in the same place as they were when he left. "I bought food." Simon says putting the food on the side he notices that they all nod as if to say that they herd him but they don't make any movement to go have any.
"I understand that you are worried about Inara but you need to eat I bought you the food here so you won't have to leave her to eat, so please eat." Simon tells them.
"He's right you three have something to eat." Mal tells Alexis, Kaylee and River who all realises that they have no choice so they get up and walk over to food and grab some, Alexis who realises that he Dad isn't making any movement towards the food himself grabs one of the plates that Simon bought in puts some food on it and walks over and gives it to him, "You need to eat to dad."
"Your right pumpkin, thanks." Mal tells his daughter. "Is there any change doc?" Mal asks Simon as he sees that he is looking at Inara's vitals and other things.
"Her vitals are still stable and give me a minute and I will cheek and see if the bleed has increased." Simon says picking up the machine after a few minutes he addresses everyone "The bleed looks about the same size which is good." Simon tells them.
After they eat Mal, Alexis, River and Kaylee go back and sit back in their seats. But now Simon joins them as he pulls a chair over and sits on her other side cheeking her vitals every half an hour. At 11:30 he notices that Alexis, Kaylee and River are showing no sign of waking.
"You three need to get some sleep." Simon tells them as all three of them must be exhausted after they day they have had.
"I'm not tied." River says.
"I'm good here." Kaylee tells her boyfriend.
"I'm not leaving Inara." Alexis tells him as Inara didn't leave her when she was in that bed so she is not going to leave her.
"Alexis you have had a long day you need your sleep y'all do and you know Inara would be telling you all the same thing." Mal tells Alexis, Kaylee and River.
The three sigh and admit that he is right, so after each of them give, Inara, Mal and Simon a hug and say goodnight the leave.
Simon stays for a few more minutes before saying to Mal "I'm going to go make sure they are actually going to bed."
"Thanks." Mal tells him.
"No need to thank me, I care about all three of them and I don't want them to be so worried that they don't look after themselves." Simon explains before leaving.
Mal moves his chair so that he isn't to far away from Inara and has a really good view of her vital sings and prepares himself for a long night.
Every few hours Simon cheeks in, observes Inara's vitals for a little while and cheeks to see if the bleed has increased or not at about 7am Kate enters the infirmary with a coffee.
"Here thought you would need this." She tells Mal handing over the coffee.
"Thanks." Mal tells her taking a sip.
"How is she?" Kate asks curious.
"The same I've been watching her vitals all night and they haven't changed and Simon says the bleed hasn't increased." Mal explains.
"That's good isn't it?" Kate asks.
"Yeah it is, but she still hasn't woken up and Simon isn't sure when that will be." Mal explains putting his head into his hand. Kate sighs and puts her hand on his shoulder wising there was more that she could do to ease his pain. Kate stands there for a little while with her hand on his shoulder trying to give him as much comfort as she possible because despite her feelings for Inara she is Mal's best friend and this must be killing him, she knows it would kill her if it was Lanie or one of the boys on the bed and she was sitting there.
"It's my turn to make breakfast." Kate says after a few minutes realising that she has to go.
"Go, it's not a good idea to leave a boat full of people waiting for food trust me." Mal tells Kate.
Kate smiles gives Mal a kiss on the cheek before leaving.
Kate has just finishing putting food on the table when everyone starts to arrive, the all serve themselves and take their seat.
"You three going to eat?" Martha asks when she sees Kaylee, Alexis and River look like they are just going to walk through the dining area and not grab anything.
"We're fine." Alexis says looking at Kaylee and River.
"No you three will sit down and have at least a little bit to eat." Zoe tells the three as she walks in.
"Fine." They says sitting down as it's not that they don't want to eat it's that they are too worried about Inara to.
After they finish eating they head back to the infirmary.
"Has Malcolm been there all night?" Martha asks.
"Every time I went to cheek during the night he was so I'm assuming so." Simon tells her.
"How bad is she?" Zoe asks worried about her friend.
"She's stable the bleed is the same size which is good and bad and all her other vitals are good." Simon explains to everyone.
"What do you mean it's good and bad?" Esposito asks confused.
"It's good that the bleed hasn't gotten any larger but it is bad that it hasn't gotten any smaller, by now I would have hoped that it would have gotten a little smaller." Lanie explains.
"Do you know if she will wake up?" Wash asks not sure if he wants the answer or not.
"Impossible to tell." Simon tells him.
Firefly/Castle Firefly/Castle Firefly/Castle Firefly/Castle
Alexis, Mal, Kaylee, and River spend the day sitting by Inara's bedside not really talking just all watching her heat rate monitor; the others come in every now and then to bring them food, coffee and to see how Inara is doing, sometimes spending a bit of time sitting as well. She goes through the day being in the safe condition, being stable and no change in her bleed.
At midnight Simon comes in to do his next cheek on Inara he see that Alexis, Kaylee and River still there though they look like they are about to fall asleep.
"That's it you three are either going to go get some sleep on your own or I'm going to sedate you." Simon tells them as he could tell that they are exhausted and as Mal has been up for nearly 48 hours he is tempted to sedate him to but he knows that he would never get away with it.
"You wouldn't." Kaylee tells her boyfriend.
"He would." River tells her.
"Dad, tell him he can't." Alexis says doing what she can to try and stop Simon.
"He's right you three need some sleep." Mal tells his daughter Kaylee, and River.
"What about you Captain you have been awake for almost 2 days." Kaylee points out.
"I'm the Captain I am used to staying awake for long periods of time, you three on the other hand a young woman who are still growing and require sleep." Mal tells them "So either you go and get some sleep or I will allow Simon to sedate you." Mal tells the three.
The three frown say goodbye to everyone in the room before leaving.
"You know their right about you needing sleep." Simon tells Mal.
"Don't you even attempt it Doc." Mal says realising where Simon is going with it.
"I'm going to go see if they did head to bed." Simon tells Mal before leaving realising that he has no luck of doing what he wants to do.
Once he is sure that Simon has left Mal pulls his chair right up to Inara's side and says "Nara, please wake up, you know me I don't ask for things much but I'm asking, begging please wake up, coz I just got you back in my life I don't want to lose you again, I'd be lost if I did, not to mention what would happen to Kaylee, Alexis and River they need you two, we all care so much Nara, please wake up." Mal tells her and he would deny it if anyone saw but he does get tears coming to his eyes.
Just like the previous night Mal spends the night watching her vital signs at about 5 am he hears a voice say
"You look horrible." He can't believe it at first then he turns and sees that Inara is awake
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