Fighting The Hollows... Part 4: ~ THE UNIVERSE ~

After laying down for around a half hour in a light nap while Kaylee had started the cleanup process, River startled awake and sat up, bolt straight, blinking her eyes in confusion a little.

Kaylee, who'd sat down by the window to take a break and steady her mind, noticed right away and got up to go over to her. "You alright?" She asked in an almost shy sort of voice.

River looked over to her, blinking a few times, then fell back onto the bed and sighed. "My head makes too much noise sometimes."

Kaylee considered that for a moment, and, though she did feel kind of nervous around River again all of the sudden for some reason, she nonetheless went over on the bed and got down lying next to her, tilted River's head to the side, and kissed her. Once, then more often. Not really seriously, but very intently nonetheless. Soon, River seemed to get completely absorbed in the activity, which is what Kaylee had been aiming for. "Better?" She asked softly after a while.

River blinked in confusion. "Better than what?" She asked absently, moving to start kissing her again.

Kaylee started to giggle a little at that. "Better than too much noise, I mean." She explained, finding it endearing that them kissing had made River lose her train of thought so completely.

River seemed to understand then, but nevertheless pushed her over onto her back and started kissing her again. "Better than anything..." River spoke just softly between kisses.

Kaylee let the make out session continue for a while, because, honestly, she felt like she needed it right then too, but before long, better sense and the realization that they were in fact making out in a room full of dead bodies, made her make a sort of whining noise and reluctantly push River away.

"Why are we stopping?" River asked, clearly disappointed.

"We're in a room full of dead bodies, and you need a bath. Me also, but you first." She told her with a sort of fond smile.

"Oh..." River replied. "That makes sense then, I guess." She admitted, reluctantly sitting up and looking out at the room.

Kaylee got up to sitting too and moved over beside her girlfriend. "Are you all right...? You know, after... all of that?"

"...My right elbow hurts." She said softly. "I used it to hit one of the hollow men in the head. It was... necessary."

"...That's not what I meant, and I think you know that." Kaylee replied, taking River's hand in hers.

River was silent a moment. "It was necessary..." She finally repeated. "And I helped them, to escape."

"Escape?" Kaylee asked softly.

"From life." River replied, looking over, a little unsure, to Kaylee. "To some people, it's a prison... even if they never meant it to be."

Kaylee was silent and River got up, walking towards the mass of bodies at the hatch.

"I'll take this part. Some of the traps might still be dangerous..." River explained softly, Kaylee very deliberately watching as her girlfriend stepped over and around the corpses her traps had killed, making her way down to where the hatch met the ground and picking one of the corpses up in her arms. "I think we should bury them, in proper graves, don't you?" She asked, not turning to meet Kaylee's eyes.

Kaylee had gotten up off the bed too, so as to keep River in sight still. "It'll take us a long time..." Kaylee offered, even though she agreed and was in fact glad that River would think of that. It was another comforting thing, after having seen River do... what she'd done, to save them.

"I know. I still want to, though." River replied, carrying the body she'd picked up down off of the hatch and setting it away from the ship, then coming back to retrieve another.

Kaylee turned and went to start dragging bodies over closer to the hatch. "See if you can make a path through, then I can help more, okay?"

"Okay." River agreed, meeting Kaylee's eyes again.

"And... don't worry, we'll give them proper burials River, I promise." Kaylee offered.

River smiled a little falteringly before she knelt down and picked another body up in her arms. "His name was... Jeffery Thomas Eagan. He had two sons, but his wife left him, because she didn't want to be a mother anymore..." River spoke as she picked him up and carried him off.

Kaylee swallowed and felt like she might cry. This was all just so wrong. Someone like River, she had no business doing things like this. Course, Kaylee considered, neither of them did, really. Nor most anyone else, she imagined. Even the Reavers maybe, whatever had happened to make them like they were.

The universe, she reckoned, if it were alive somehow like some people thought, named God or whatever else, really must not believe much in fairness. Unless you counted it as fair to let people pay for sins what they had no part in whatsoever.

The cleanup effort lasted well on past sunset. They were working by just the lights from inside the shuttle now, carrying the bodies out, then cleaning up inside enough so that at least the place wouldn't stink unbearably come morning.

By the end of it, they were both, fair to say, just running on fumes. It'd had to be done though, no two ways about it.

River had fallen silent at some point, and Kaylee hadn't felt the need to break that silence. They just sort of worked at what they were doing together without either of them having to tell the other anything besides maybe a look or a gesture here or there. It was plain and obvious what had to be done after all, not lotta guess work involved.

At least Kaylee's stomach had calmed down to just a dull aching by then and she wasn't so worried about throwing up anymore. That was something, right?

When at last it looked like they were done enough, Kaylee sat back against a wall and looked over at River who was sitting on the floor looking around the room as if in search of something to do next. Her eyes met Kaylee's. "Done now?" She asked, with a little tired hopefulness in her voice.

Kaylee wiped some sweat from her forehead and lay her head back against the wall. "Better be." Was all she said.

She heard River do something and brought her head back up to see that River had just laid herself out on her back spread-eagle on the still blood-stained floor. She couldn't help it, she laughed a little. It was comical was what it was. It was also kind of amazing, how what River did seemed to speak so much more clearly than what her words sometimes said.

Her body already starting to ache too much for her tastes from all the heavy lifting she'd done, Kaylee hauled herself up to her feet and went over to River. She knelt down beside her and took her hand in hers. "Can't sleep on the floor like this, yaknow." She told her reasonably.

River rolled her head to the side so their eyes met. "Are you sure about that?" She asked skeptically. "I think it might be a good idea to do tests..."

Kaylee smiled fondly. "Nothing doing. Gotta get you up and out a those clothes. Into bed." She said, tugging on River's arm a little.

River groaned cutely a little. "No sex until after a bath, a lady's gotta have standards." She grumbled tiredly, yawning and closing her eyes again.

Kaylee felt her cheeks burn a little hot at that. "I'm not getting fresh, you. Now come on, up! Otherwise I'm liable to pass out here on top ah you, then we're both in trouble." She complained stubbornly.

"Fine..." River mumbled, opening her eyes and letting Kaylee help her up to her feet. "But I'm only doing this because I'm in love with you, it's important you should know that." She explained tiredly. Kaylee guided them over to the bed then and River sort of fell down onto it, face first.

Kaylee was too tired to laugh, and simply climbed up on to the bed too and started to tug River's clothes off. River protested a little, but, after a moment, tried to help not hinder at least. Even helped her when Kaylee was trying to get her own clothes off. She tossed all the garments into an empty corner and got under the covers with River at last. It wasn't a shower, but at least with their clothes off it wouldn't be too gross or uncomfortable for them to get to sleep.

Kaylee thought to maybe say something nice or girlfriend-like to River before falling off, but as soon as River's head hit the pillow, she was out like a light, snuggled into Kaylee's arms happy as you please, apparently, from the look of peace that seemed to wash over her face. She looked... really beautiful... sleeping like this. Not that she always didn't, but... Kaylee sighed and yawned, holding her girlfriend to her and finding it very easy to fall off to sleep (pass out really) right after her.

Her last thought, was that River had said... she was in love with her.

Despite that this, what she'd seen and all the bodies she'd carried, probably made this one of the most horrible days of her life thus far, that fact seemed to somehow make up for it... Well, at least as far as anything rightly could make up for something like that, which, she had to admit, maybe wasn't really all that far when you got down to it.

Still, it made her feel a good deal better, more hopeful, which was something she was dearly grateful for right about then.

to be continued

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