Onwards to Sihnon
"River," Simon whispered, shaking his sleeping sister. Tears stained her face and she was moaning and muttering indiscernible words which Simon was glad he couldn't understand.
"River, wake up," he said, shaking her harder.
His oddly blonde haired sister snapped her panic-stricken eyes open, rolled out of her bed and backed into one corner of the room.
"Simon!" she gasped. "They're coming, they're coming!"
"Hush, River," he said softly, hurrying to her. He tried to wrap his arms around her but she flinched and shielded herself.
"River just calm down, you're safe," he said soothingly. "There's no one here. It's just you and me. You're safe," he repeated.
Her head jerked around the room and slowly her breathing came back to normal. "It was horrible Simon," she said tearfully. "They were… they were, there were so many white coats and blue hands, forcing me to do things and… and." She trailed off sobbing.
"You're safe River," Simon said, feeling his heart ache. "They won't harm you; they're never going to touch you again."
River just hugged her brother tight and continued to soak his shirt with tears.
It was a while before River finally calmed down and her sobbing and turned to sniffing. She looked at Simon with red rimmed eyes and muttered, "Thanks."
"Oh mei mei," he said affectionately. "You know I'll always be there for you."
River nodded, "I know," she said and then lifted the hem of his shirt and blew her nose into it.
"River!" Simon gasped, outraged.
River just grinned sheepishly, "Sorry," she said sniffing.
"You did that on purpose you little brat!" he exclaimed. He looked at his now snot filled shirt and muttered, "Gross."
"You might want to change Simon," River said giggling.
"Oh just you wait," Simon growled playfully. "I'm going to get you for this." He then stood up, smiled at her reassuringly and went back to his room to change.
By the time he got back, River was already in her bed and she was fast asleep. He was glad to see she had a smile on her face.
"How are you going to manage all alone River," he whispered.
Steeling his resolve he headed back to his room deciding that he was not going to let River go without a fight. He knew he just knew that this was a bad idea and absolutely nothing good could come of it.
-x-x-x-x-
"Hey where did you get all that!?" Harry exclaimed.
"What do you mean?" Mal asked innocently. "These have always been here."
"Don't lie! I recognize these bottles, they're from my house!"
Inara grinned sheepishly, "They were simply calling out to us, and surely you can't blame us for that."
Kaylee nodded, her eyes twinkling merrily, "Yea, they were saying, take us, take us, over and over so we just gave into the pressure."
"Bullshit," Harry snorted, his initial shock fading into amusement. "When did you take them? I didn't even realize."
Mal shook his reproachfully, "Harry we're thieves!" he said earnestly. "If you caught wind of what we were doing then we wouldn't be good thieves now would we?"
"I should have known," Harry said in mock sadness and betrayal. "I should have known better than to trust Captain Mal, scourge of the rich and well off!"
"Oh stop calling yourself that!" Simon scoffed. "You're just well off and not rich. And you wouldn't have even known if we hadn't told you."
"So?" Harry said childishly, "I have more than you don't I?"
Simon just mumbled something inaudible under his breath. He was still directing all his anger at Harry.
"Enough talking, let's drink already!" Jayne said eagerly.
"Eager to have this very fine whisky trickle down your throat 'eh?" Mal said smiling. "Let's do it."
"You sure this is wise?" Harry said. "We reach Ariel tomorrow and sporting a hangover is not what I had in mind."
"In two days you're going to be off to the one of the most dangerous planets in the verse," he replied and then paused looking thoughtful. "Well, dangerous for folk like us anyway, you included."
"Glenlivet," Zoe read aloud. "Sounds good," she announced and proceeded to crack the seal.
"Does anyone know if that's any good?" Harry asked hesitantly. Even if he had all these weird branded bottles, he had no idea what was what and how good or bad they were. He had just bought them off the twins after an incredible night of business.
Simon was the only one staring at them in disbelief.
River, who had just come in, took a look at the bottle and launched into an explanation "That is a rare and vintage whiskey which was produced back on Earth. A section of Merrie has been terraformed to be capable of reproducing the same kind of environment as it was on Earth. There are many such distilleries on Merrie which are dedicated to continuing the legacy of certain kinds of liquor. Of course, the atmosphere around these distilleries is artificial so it can't compare to the way it was back on Earth. But they're supposedly good nevertheless."
Simon had been nodding as River spoke but the rest were now staring at the bottle in wide-eyed fascination.
"I feel kinda bad now," Zoe said, staring at the broken seal in her hand. It was like holding a piece of history.
"Booze from Earth?" Jayne asked, wanting clarification.
"Ancient booze from Earth which is now centuries old," Mal corrected reverently. "I can imagine how much we could get if we sold this on the black market."
River and Simon nodded in agreement.
"Let's drink already!" Jayne burst out. Having an open bottle in front of him and being unable to drink it was making him cranky. "If little miss brainy hadn't given us a history lesson we would be halfway to the bottom now!"
River huffed, "Well I'm sorry if there were too many words for you to comprehend," she sniped, taking a seat next to her brother.
"Exactly," Jayne agreed, "Wait what?"
Everyone just laughed and Jayne also joined in even though he didn't get why they were laughing.
Zoe filled up everyone's glasses and then looked at River questioningly. "River?" she asked.
River just shook her head.
"It's just one glass," Inara said mildly, "You sure?"
"She's sure," Harry said quickly, remembering the lecture she'd given him a few days back.
"Let your better half speak for herself Harry," Kaylee reprimanded.
"You don't want her to explain, trust me!"
"Can we please just…." Jayne began. "Alright, alright!" Zoe interrupted.
"To the success of this job," Mal toasted.
"And to Harry," Inara added, "Hope you find whatever it is you're looking for."
Seven glasses clinked together and seven empty glasses were slammed back on the table.
"Wow!" Harry gasped.
"Yea," Simon said, agreeing with Harry's simple assessment . "That was gorram smooth!"
Jayne grinned in delight, "Next round!"
"River, this stuff is awesome!" Kaylee said exuberantly, "You sure you don't want any?"
"She doesn't," Harry said hurriedly, seeing River ready to go into one of her tangents.
Kaylee and River gave Harry annoyed looks.
"You better be careful, River," said Zoe. "This one seems like the controlling type."
Harry reddened and River snorted.
"Are you ever going to let your wife speak for herself?" Inara scolded.
"Stop picking on him," Simon said, coming to Harry's rescue. Truthfully he couldn't handle his little sister being referred to as a married woman. She was just a little girl for god's sake.
"Anyone for round two?" Jayne asked again. He had already filled the glasses.
An hour later
"Anyone for round….?" Jayne slurred. He tried his best to remember which round it was but it just wasn't coming. He knew the number was there in his mind but there seemed to be some static between him and the numbers. Static which was making him all sorts of funny all over. "Anyone for the next round?" he said finally. Thinking was too much of an effort.
He looked around to see who else was still remaining with them. Inara had long retired to her shuttle citing reasons of being sound of mind for her appointment when they reached Ariel. Kaylee was drooling on Simon's shoulder and the doctor himself had passed out on his chair leaning back.
His head was rolling from side to side comically but that was only because River was standing behind him and pushing it from side to side. She looked awfully pleased with herself for some reason.
It was just Mal, Zoe and Harry remaining and Jayne was very surprised that Harry still had his eyes open.
"Pour, pour," Harry said chuckling. "You know if I had my wand with me, I could turn water into wine?"
"Yea right," Mal scoffed. "What next? Brooms that can fly?"
"It's magic ssir," Zoe said. She kept trying to grab her glass but for some strange reason her hand kept missing it. "Anything is possible right Harry?"
Harry nodded vigorously. "Oh yeah and I still don't know all that is there to know about magic. My headmaster used to tell me the true power of magic lies in love."
Jayne choked on his drink. "Love!?"
River stopped doodling on Simon and Kaylee's face and looked up in interest.
"Exx-actly the reaction I had," he said snorting.
"Honestly, love?"
"Love can make people do all sorts of crazy things," Zoe said quietly.
The mood immediately turned dark.
"Zoe," Mal began hesitantly.
"Don't sir," Zoe said sharply. "Jayne, pour us another."
Jayne happily refilled the four glasses and poured the table a fair share too.
"Aww, Jayne!"
"Got any interesting stories to share, Harry?" Mal asked. "Growing up in a magic school must have been pretty thrilling."
"Did they teach you how to pull rabbits out of hats?" Zoe asked interestedly.
Harry knocked back his drink and looked at them with half closed blood-shot eyes. "My school days huh?" he said sullenly.
Harry stared at his glass as he recalled his past. Mal, Jayne and Zoe held their breaths, waiting for Harry to say something. They could sense this was going to be quite the story and River was now sitting cross-legged on the table patiently waiting for Harry to begin.
The young wizard flicked his glass away from him and began to chuckle.
"Err, Harry?"
"Well you could say it was interesting," he said at last.
"Go on," encouraged River.
"I didn't know I was a wizard until I was eleven years old," he said, a fond smile gracing his lips as he remembered Hagrid, the gentlest half giant he had the fortune of meeting.
"I used to live with my aunt and uncle and they abhorred anything that was not part of their prim and proper pathetic lifestyle." He glanced up and smiled ruefully, "Suffice to say I wasn't much of an ordinary boy and I most certainly didn't fit into their definition of normal."
Nobody dared interrupt Harry, they didn't want him to change his mind and stop.
"When the letter first came, inviting me to Hogwarts, my relatives burned the letter without letting me read it. The next day, three letters showed up inside milk bottles and eggs."
"Inside eggs!?" Jayne said incredulously. "How is that even possible?"
"Jayne," Mal hissed, frantically gesturing at him to shut up and let Harry talk.
"Anyway," Harry continued. "They freaked out; well freaked out is kind of an understatement. Anyway they boarded up every inch of the house until it felt like we might even have a problem getting oxygen into the house!" Harry started chuckling again and his eyelids began to droop but he straightened up and stared at the crew with a silly grin.
"Now the next day was even better!" Harry said, moving his hands animatedly. "Hundreds of letters began to pour down the chimney and started to pelt my relatives. Honestly," he said laughing, "I've never seen anyone look so scared of paper before!"
"Didn't you try to read them?" Zoe asked curiously.
Mal glared at Zoe.
"I did, but uncle just held me by the collar and made sure I didn't get to read a single one." Harry started laughing again. "It was really funny now that I think about it. Anyway, uncle Vernon decided to leave the house and bundled all of us into the car and just began to drive aimlessly. All he wanted to do was get as far away from the freaks as possible."
"After a day of traveling with a raving mad uncle and my cousin who had been throwing tantrums all day long about missing all his favorite TV shows, we finally stopped at some remote port side village and Vernon took us out to this rundown shack built on a rock sticking out of the sea and to make matters worse, there was a storm coming."
River laughed at the absurdity of it all.
"Yeah," agreed Harry. "I honestly thought that I'd die that night. I half expected that shack to be blown away at any moment but it was stronger than I expected."
Harry sighed and his head began to drop to the table.
"Harry?" Mal called and said boy's head snapped up, "Huh?"
"You were saying?" Mal said pointedly. This was too great an opportunity to pass up.
"Oh yeah, yeah, umm where was I?" Harry muttered disoriented. Somewhere far in the recesses of his mind a voice was shouting at him to shut up but it was too far away to pay any attention to.
"The shack, in the middle of nowhere amidst a raging storm," River supplied helpfully.
"Right, right, anyway so a few minutes before midnight I began to count down as it was my birthday and this sense of foreboding began to fill me and just at the stroke of midnight there was this hugebang and the front door was blasted off its hinges."
Zoe gasped and River scooted closer not wanting to miss a single word.
"He was huge," Harry said grinning. He could picture the great half giant towering in front of him with his kind eyes glittering down at him. "And I was terrified because I couldn't see his head, for a moment I thought a headless monster had come to eat me but then Hagrid ducked and squeezed into the hut and looked at me with the kindest eyes I've ever seen. My uncle then came skidding into the room armed with a rifle but Hagrid just rolled his eyes and bent the weapon upwards!"
"Wow," Jayne said, impressed. "That's some strength."
Harry nodded, "He was part giant and had a fascination with creatures. He used to bring the most dangerous creatures to school and then try to convince us that they were harmless," Harry said smiling. "Hagrid had a very warped view of what was dangerous and what was not."
"What sort of creatures?" River asked eagerly. Harry winced as River's probing became stronger and in his current state he wasn't able to keep his shields up. He gave her a look and she eased up on the pressure with something akin to chagrin on her face.
"Sorry," apologized Harry and River just muttered, asking him to proceed.
Harry's head began to drop again.
"Harry!" called Zoe loudly and his head snapped up and he looked around blearily.
"Huh?"
"You were saying?" she pressed.
"Oh yeah. Anyway, he introduced me to the magic world, told me about my parents, took me to Diagon Alley and he also brought me a birthday cake and gave me a gift."
Harry's face lit up in happiness. "It was the first cake and proper gift I had ever got," he said emotionally. "Everything about the wizarding world was magical, I saw goblins, funnily dressed people, brooms that could fly, the grotesque ingredients for potions, books that talked and insulted your intelligence, mirrors that had a superiority complex, owls that delivered post, magic wands and it was simply amazing."
The rest of the conscious people looked pretty amazed too.
"And it was such a change from my spiteful relatives. I loved every bit of it, not because of the magic but because of the freedom I felt when I boarded the train."
"Train?" Jayne asked confused, "Where did a train come from?"
"Oh that's the Hogwarts express, it's the train wizards and witches take to get to the school," Harry elaborated. "It's where I met my best friends for the first time."
"Where was your school?" Mal asked and held his breath. This might just give them a clue about where Harry was from.
"Oh somewhere up in the mountains," Harry said vaguely. "We tried to plot it on the map once but we couldn't find a proper fit for it anywhere. It was like there were acres of land where nothing was supposed to be there."
"That's …. Huh."
"The castle was something else," Harry said wistfully and his mind wandered off again. "Who's up for another shot," he asked suddenly and stood up to grab the bottle.
It was a bad idea.
His felt his head spin alarmingly and his legs suddenly felt boneless. He tried to grab on to something but he just flayed his arms around wildly and stumbled back. Unfortunately his leg got tangled up with the legs of the chair and with a tremendous bang both him and the chair fell over.
Mal and Jayne burst out laughing at the comical scene.
"Harry! Are you alright!" Zoe gasped, moving to help him but she too quickly grabbed on to the table feeling queasy. "Take note not to stand up," she said wincing and slowly sank back into her chair leaving a groaning Harry to untangle himself.
Jayne and Mal were still laughing hard and they laughed harder when Harry tried to stand again only to fall over again.
"Come on Harry, you can do it!" Jayne cheered.
"Oh god," Harry moaned. "What was in that whisky?"
"Whatever it had, I didn't even realize when it started affecting me," Mal said chuckling.
"As smooth as a whore's ass," Jayne said, reaching for the bottle again.
"Jayne, please keep those comments to yourself," Zoe muttered looking disgusted.
"What'd I say?"
"Jayne, I'm drunk and I have no qualms about shooting you if you continue talking!"
"I'll help you," River chimed in. "A few bullets in him might make him a better person," she said.
Jayne looked at her horrified. "Mal, I think she's becoming psycho Tam again," he said fearfully. He hadn't forgotten River's threat about killing him with her brain. It gave him nightmares every now and then.
"Relax you big ox," Mal mocked, "She's just kidding! Aren't you River?"
River just looked at Jayne in the eye, not blinking.
"Mal? She's freaking me out, Mal."
"Harry, why don't you go on with your story?" Zoe said quickly. "Harry?"
Four pairs of eyes looked down and found Harry fast asleep on the floor, snoring away to glory.
"Damn," River grumbled, "And it had started to become interesting."
Mal turned his chair around and poked Harry with his foot. He didn't want to get up after seeing the way Harry and Zoe had reacted.
"Harry!" he called aloud but the wizard didn't respond. He was lying flat, eagle spread on the metal floor. Mal kicked him a little harder hoping for some sort of reaction.
"No good," he announced and turned his chair back to the table. "Magic boy is down and out for the count."
Jayne gathered the three glasses and filled them again. "I bet I'll be the last man standing," he challenged looking at his crew mates.
"Ha, you wish you're going to be the last one standing," Zoe scoffed.
"Well let's find out shall we," Mal said, his eyes gleaming and they drowned their glasses. Mal reached for the bottle to pour some more but it was empty. "Huh, when did that happen?" he asked, confused.
Zoe looked around but unfortunately the other bottles were on the kitchen counter which was quite far away.
All of them turned to River with pleading eyes. "River, honey, do you mind passing us that bottle of scotch?"
River rolled her eyes and slid off the table, "I'm off to bed," she announced. She considered dragging her brother to his room but Kaylee was too entangled in his arms to even try. Instead she just grabbed Harry's arms and with surprising strength she hauled him to his room and left him on the floor.
"River please!" Mal yelled desperately.
River walked back to the table looking at them sternly. "Alcohol is bad for you," she said severely and walked back to her room and slammed the door shut.
"Damn," Jayne mumbled. "I guess I have to be the hero," he said and tried standing up which he did so successfully much to Mal and Zoe's shock.
"Ha!" he said triumphantly and took a step forward before falling flat on his face.
He didn't get up.
"Gorramit," Mal cursed.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Oh god," Harry groaned as he stumbled to the bathroom. The door felt much further away than it looked but that was because he was moving sideways not frontways. He didn't remember how he wound up in his bedroom and he didn't want to count the number of times he woke up to go and puke his guts out. His stomach burned like someone had dropped a concentrated dose of acid in there.
He tried to remember what had happened last night and he did remember laughing a lot, Mal and Jayne goofing around, Kaylee messing around with Simon and a LOT of drinking and then it was blank. He tried harder but there was nothing. It was a very disconcerting feeling.
Twenty minutes later Harry walked out of his room still feeling very woozy and he realized that the ship wasn't moving. The engines had been turned off.
He found no one in the galley and went up to the bridge where he found Mal snoozing in the chair.
"Captain?" he called hoarsely.
Mal jerked in his seat and looked around wildly. "Huh, oh, it's just you," he said in relief.
"Expecting someone else?"
"The last time we were here, we robbed a hospital, so yeah, I'm a little jittery," he said dryly.
"Where's everybody else?"
"Inara has gone to conduct business," he said, the distaste obvious in his voice. "The last time I saw River, she was busy re-wiring the mule."
"Why was she doing that?" Harry asked bemused.
Mal shrugged, "Don't ask me what goes on in little Tam's head. You and the doc are the experts now."
"Just the doc," Harry corrected. "What about the rest?"
Mal yawned, "Jayne made it to his bunk a few hours back and Zoe and Simon have gone out shopping with Kaylee."
"Oh, okay, I'm going to go and look for River," Harry said. "Need to discuss some things with her."
"Don't bother," replied Mal. "I went looking for her about fifteen minutes back and she had disappeared. I swear that girl knows more hidey-holes on my boat than I could ever know."
Harry grinned, "I'll find her."
"I'm right here."
"Holy!" Harry cried, leaping away from her and Mal started violently at the sudden appearance of the girl.
"Merlin, I almost had a heart attack, River!" Harry complained.
River tucked her blonde hair behind her ear and frowned. "It's not my fault you didn't hear me follow you," she said.
"Follow me? You've been following me?" Harry asked, confused. "Since when have you been following me?"
"Since you left your room," she said and her wide eyes narrowed slightly. "And because you passed out, your shields disappeared and I wasn't able to sleep."
"Were you reading my mind again?" Harry hotly asked River.
"I was reading everyone," River said blankly. "I couldn't sleep properly at all."
"Then how were you managing before Mr. Wizard descended on us?" Mal asked.
"I wasn't."
"Oh," Mal said, looking a tad uncomfortable. "Are you managing now?"
"He helps," she said, pointing a finger at Harry.
"Good to know," Mal said laughing at Harry's expression.
"I'm not helping," he argued. "You can't keep relying on keeping your focus on me all the time. Look what happened last night."
"If someone could do more than tell me to focus on his gorram mind then I wouldn't have to rely on him."
Mal was sensing the same old argument and immediately nipped it in the bud. "You can take your lovers spat outside," he said idly and was instantly the focus of two angry pairs of eyes.
River just sneered at them and stormed out.
"Did she just sneer at me!?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Oh yea," Mal said chuckling, "First time I've seen her do that."
"What happened to the loving wife I wonder," Harry sighed.
"Get used to it," Mal said wisely, "Wash used to suffer Zoe's wrath all the time." Mal felt a wave of regret and sadness saying his old pilot's name but he buried it deep within him just like he did with every other emotion he didn't like.
"And just out of curiosity, how exactly are you helping her?" Mal asked. "I mean, Simon said that the Alliance had removed a part of her limbic system."
"What the hell a limphic system?" Harry asked, confused.
"Doc said it's a part of your brain that regulates emotions and feelings and all that stuff, and it's limbic, not limphic," Mal corrected.
"They removed part of her brain!?" Harry said in shock. "How is that even possible?"
Mal shrugged, "Hell if I know, half of Simon's explanation flew over my head."
"Wow," Harry said. "That's just unreal."
"Well?"
"Oh, I don't know how I'm helping her but I think it has more to do with how River's power works."
"And how does it work?"
"I don't know, but from what I've seen she can read minds and she can read the minds of inanimate objects too."
"What?"
"That's the only way I can put it," Harry said, "I mean, she can tell if some piece of equipment is about to fail or go critical and she can read into a situation further than possible when it comes to mind reading."
"Meaning what?"
"Kaylee was telling me about the time when your engine got busted and you had to abandon the ship?"
Mal nodded and patted the bridge console affectionately, "One of our most harrowing experiences."
"Well apparently River said fire just before the fire broke out and on Miranda she somehow knew that everyone was dead." he said. "Now that does not have anything to do with mind reading."
"She's psychic, so she can look into the future and read minds," Mal said.
Harry frowned, "You mean she's a seer too?"
"Seer?"
"A witch who can see the future, they're known for making prophecies about the future," explained Harry. "I seriously doubt River is a seer."
"Why?" Mal asked.
"Well," Harry said and then paused. Was it possible that River was a seer too? Harry dismissed that thought as soon as it came. The chances of River, who was technically a muggle, being a seer and a mind reader was next to impossible. "Seers do not remember their predictions of the future. This is a fact that has been confirmed after centuries of research."
"Well maybe you can find some answers on Sihnon."
"I hope so," Harry said.
Mal noticed that Harry seemed to have a lot on his mind and felt like he needed to lighten up a little. "Come on," he said, getting up from his seat.
"Come on where?"
"Let's play a game. Maybe we can get River to join in too," he said smiling.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
When Inara returned the first thing she noticed was the volume of noise that was coming from the cargo bay. Curious, she made her way there and found the entire crew involved in some sort of game. There was a net in the center and it seemed like there were two teams, she was never sure about that considering all the cheating and team switching that usually took place.
She saw Harry kicking the ball but Jayne caught hold of it and tried to hurl it into the net but River kicked him at the back of his knees dropping him and taking the ball herself.
"Foul!" Zoe screamed furiously.
"No foul," Harry shouted back, tackling Kaylee to the ground just as she reached River. "Score already! He yelled at River but unfortunately Mal and Simon caught hold of her and stole the ball from her and scored.
"Hell yea!" Mal shouted, "We win!"
"No you don't," argued Harry, "Simon is on our team."
"No he's not, he's on our team!"
"Is anyone going to penalize River for her unsporting foul!" Jayne yelled, his ego taking another hit after he was dropped so easily by a girl that was not even half his size.
"Ahem." Inara cleared her throat loudly and was deeply offended when no one even responded.
"Ahem!" she called out, straining her vocal cords.
She gave up when she saw everyone join in on the debate on which team Simon was supposed to be on. She found it hilarious that Simon was the only one being ignored, well apart from her.
"Fine!" River said loudly, "Fine!"
"Fine what?" Zoe snapped.
"Whoever scores next wins," she announced dramatically and immediately pounced on the ball.
She was nearly crushed by the number of bodies that followed.
"Pass it to me!" Zoe screamed.
"No!"
"Get that ball!"
"No! Leave my balls!"
"Help!"
Suddenly the ball slipped out of the pile of bodies and rolled into the net.
"I scored!" seven exuberant voices yelled in triumph.
Dead silence and narrowed eyes followed that and Inara took that opportunity to have her voice heard. "Hey!" she yelled loudly.
"Inara!" Kaylee gasped happily. "So good to see you!"
"So are you all in your own teams or are there actually two teams?" Inara asked, sounding amused.
"Well there were two teams at the start," Jayne said, rubbing his arm where tooth marks were imprinted.
"Too much politics and infighting in the game caused many changes and instability," River said solemnly. "But if I remember correctly, it's Zoe, Jayne and I in one team and Mal, Harry and Kaylee in the other as of now."
"What about Simon?"
"Yea, what about me River?"
"Nobody wanted you in their team," River deadpanned.
"What! Why!?" he said, shocked.
"You weren't willing to rough it out, doc," Jayne said. "Tried to play by the rules!" he mocked.
"There is nothing wrong with trying to play a game by the rules," Simon argued. He gave up when he noticed no one but Kaylee was paying attention to him and she had that glint in her eye that he knew led to him being exhausted for hours.
"Kaylee?" he said cautiously.
"I just thought of something awesome," she said happily and then proceeded to drag him out of the cargo bay and towards the engine room.
"Anyone want to put a do not disturb sign board there?" Mal joked.
"I'll do it," Jayne volunteered.
"Oh no you don't," Inara snapped. "You're going to be in your bunk!"
"That works too," he said lecherously.
Harry noticed River slink away and wondered what she was up to.
"River!" Inara called and the reader froze, like she was caught doing something bad. Harry narrowed his eyes in suspicion. The last time she looked like that was when she snuck into his room and read his mind.
"What?"
"I got some dresses that are native to Sihnon," she said, holding up a big bag that seemed to be bursting.
"Oooo," River exclaimed excitedly.
"But you better put on those lenses, your blonde hair clashes horribly with your brown," said the companion. "And thanks for the credits Harry!" she added brightly.
"Anything left?" Harry asked hopefully.
"Uh, no. But I think you have to give me a couple hundred more, I might have overspent a little," she said sheepishly.
"Oh boy, you lent money to Inara!?" Mal said disbelievingly. "Have you forgotten that she's a woman?"
"She said it was important to keep up a proper disguise so I didn't argue. Of course, I didn't think she'd spend it all." Harry honestly didn't care about the money. He knew how to get it back and the investments in some of the twins legitimate businesses would ensure that he never ran out.
Mal and Jayne just shook their heads simultaneously mourning the depths of the wizard's naïvety.
"Bye," Inara said, wiggling her fingers and went to her shuttle, slinging the bags behind her back.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
The time had come. Harry, River, Mal and Simon were in an alley a few minutes away from the airbase and the atmosphere was tense. Getting past security was a test the two teens could not afford to fail.
"Act like you belong," Mal said seriously. "Don't look them in the eye but don't avoid it either."
"That's real helpful captain," Harry said sarcastically.
"River," Simon began. "Just… stay calm and don't do anything stupid."
River pursed her lips and frowned at Simon. "Those are disturbing thoughts Simon."
Simon reddened, "Well don't okay!"
River simply rolled her eyes.
Mal and Harry looked at Simon curiously, both wondering what the man was thinking.
"Don't ask," Simon said immediately.
"I think it's time we made a move," Harry said. A bubble of excitement and nervousness was expanding inside him as he glanced out of the small alley, his eyes zooming in on the massive complex up ahead from where a transport ship took to the sky every few seconds.
"Best of luck," Mal said and shook Harry's hand while Simon gave his sister a bone crushing hug.
"Simon!" River complained.
"Be careful," he whispered and turned to Harry. Harry just nodded and exchanged a meaningful look with the doctor.
"24 hours?" Harry asked.
"24 hours," Mal confirmed and with that Harry dragged the large suitcase behind him and with River by his side they started the short walk to the Alliance departure terminal.
"This is it," River said, schooling her face into an image of nonchalance. Inara had picked out some of the finest for them to wear and it showed. River was wearing a short sleeve, full length blue Quipao split from knee down and its edges were strewn with beautiful gold patterns. Long earrings hung from her ear and a shiny silver ring with a modest sized emerald sitting on top was displaying itself proudly on her ring finger. Of course it was a fake but nobody needed to know that.
Beside her Harry sported a dark gray mandarin jacket with two silver dragons fighting over a pearl displayed boldly on the front coupled with black pants giving him the aura and impression of a well off business person and together Harry and River looked incredibly classy.
They reached the crowded terminal and stood in line behind the other passengers.
"Are you feeling okay?" Harry whispered in River's ear.
"Fine," River replied. "But if you stop breathing down my neck I'll be better."
"Just checking," Harry said and soon it was their turn.
"Identification and tickets," the guard asked in his baritone-like voice.
The not married couple silently produced their Id's and tickets. River smiled winningly at the guard.
The guard just swiped their cards in a slot and placed their tickets under a scanner. A couple of tense seconds later, their fake Ids were returned.
"Departure terminal 8 and submit your luggage for transport," he said and let them pass.
They passed through the security check and Harry looked around cluelessly wondering where to go next. Fortunately River knew exactly what to do and where to go having done this loads of times in her childhood. She linked her arm with his and subtlety steered him the right way.
It wasn't long before the pair finally got through their terminal and laid eyes upon the long oasis class ship right in front of them. The ground staff was loading the cargo on the ship and Harry spotted their suitcase among the dozens of bags being loaded. Right at the entrance of the ship were two very official looking officials holding a simple box type device and both Harry and River knew this was the test to beat.
River slipped her hands into Harry's and the pressure on Harry's occlumency shields began to grow stronger.
He squeezed her hands reassuringly. "You're going to be fine," he said to her.
The man just held his hand out and Harry handed him his Id while River did the same with the other.
Their cards were swiped and the men took a good look at the two as a stream of data kept popping up on their screens.
A few minutes later the men nodded and stepped aside. "Welcome aboard Mr and Mrs Williams. Do enjoy your stay on Sihnon."
Harry and River smiled politely and made their way to their seats and once they had taken a seat Harry heaved a great sigh of relief and grinned at River.
"That was easy wasn't it?"
"Speak for yourself," River said. "My heart was racing so fast that I came so close to snapping that man's neck."
Harry's relief turned to worry. "And now?"
River shrugged and smoothed out her dress. "You're the only one who has to fear for his neck," she said slyly.
"I'd like to see you try," Harry retorted.
River raised an eyebrow. "You think you could beat me one on one?"
"I don't think, I know," Harry said snorting. "And besides, you can't control crazy killer Tam yet can you?"
"It's a work in progress," she huffed.
Harry laughed and leaned back into his seat sighing at its comfort. "Well enjoy the ride for now and don't go psychotic on me. Now excuse me while I shut my eyes for a bit. The last few days have been accompanied by sleep deprivation."
River rolled her eyes and gestured to one of the stewardesses.
"Could you be a doll and bring me some magazines," she said cheerfully in a perfect imitation of Harry's accent.
"Of course ma'am. Is there anything else?"
"Sandwiches and chocolate milk."
"Of course ma'am," said the woman and left.
Harry stared at River in shock.
"What?" she said cheekily. "I am your wife aren't I?
Harry shut his eyes tight and prayed this marriage nightmare would be over before he began to get used to it.
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