49) Wraps Itself Around My Tongue As It Softly Speaks

It wasn't often these days that River came up to the bridge while he was there. Since they'd taken on Rick and Carolyn and Jack things had settled into a semi-comfortable rhythm. Zoë was confined to bed for the most part these days and getting damn close to the baby's due date.

He didn't mind admitting that he was more than some unnerved by the prospect of a newborn, despite one of the most competent and reliable women in the 'verse being the child's mother.

There were several things that could become a problem… most of them due to the various personal relationships developing aboard Serenity. Him and Carolyn, Rick and River, Kaylee and Simon, though at least those two were fairly settled. Jack… well Jack being a teenager and a teenager girl to boot was as mysterious and confounding a creature as Mal had ever met.

Rick seemed pretty taken with River and she with him. Enough so that Carolyn had seen them in the cargo bay after Riddick's shift on the bridge, learning some dance that looked like the two of them would start having sex right in the bay. She'd described it to him, and Mal had dredged up the depths of his memory and done a cortex search. The Tango. And yep, once Carolyn saw the screen, she confirmed it. That's what River was teaching Rick. It boggled the mind. It truly did. But if a big dangerous man (who'd spent enough time in a prison that he referred to knives as shivs) was willing to spend his free time learning to dance just because the girl he liked enjoyed it… Well, it was, as Carolyn had said, sweet. And it boded well for Rick's intentions towards River. And hers towards him that River was willing to teach him.

Carolyn (after the two of them had done a little talking and a little more kissing and damn he was getting attached to that woman) had taken herself off to bed. She'd given him a lingering kiss. And he had taken a few long deep breaths to cool his blood down after that. Of course, picturing Rick being taught to dance (and the man's reaction should he see Mal's amusement at the thought) did help in that regard.

"Shouldn't laugh," River. Damn the girl was quieter than any mouse that ever was. The only one to rival her was Rick. "He learned at his mother's knee. Rick had no one to teach him any gentle ways. Learned on his own or didn't learn. No one cared if he did or did not." She tilted her head as she sat in the co-pilot's chair, "Very intelligent and has excellent muscle control. Learns at a prodigious rate. Superb partner."

"Don't get your back up," Mal shook his head at her. "I ain't laughed at him, have I? If I find the thought some amusin' that's my business. Same as I find Simon learnin' to throw horseshoes funny. Rick an' ballroom dancin' seems…incongruous is all." A lot more incongruous than Simon throwing horseshoes actually. Rick was just so gorram big and damn fast too. The voice that sounded like a cross between coffee, thunder and an avalanche did nothing to dispel the idea that he was dangerous. Nor did his silent step. Or amusement whenever he startled someone. (Someone that wasn't Kaylee anyway.)

"Improves with each practice," She shrugged at him, and he wasn't sure if she referred to her brother or her beau. He supposed it didn't really matter. The point was the same either way.

"Oughtn't you be in bed?" Mal tilted his head right back at her.

"Should," River shrugged again, turning her chair so she could look out at the Black. Her eyes stared out at the stars, light from the console reflecting in their depths. "Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today, I wish, I wish he'd go away... When I came home last night at three the man was waiting there for me but when I looked around the hall, I couldn't see him there at all…"

"Little Albatross, it concerns me some when you start talkin' like that," The Captain had that not good feeling in his gut again. The nagging sensation of cold fingertips trailing up his spine, like someone had brushed over the skin with the tip of a knife.

"Storm's getting worse," She turned to look at him.

"Well since we're out in the midst of the Black I'm guessin' you're speakin' in metaphorical terms," He rubbed the back of his neck uneasily. "Any idea of the nature of the storm in question?"

"We are hunted," Soft. Almost a whisper, those three words. And nothing of the good contained therein.

"By who?" He hated to push her like this, but he needed some direction. Wind blows northerly I go north… it was true in a way. He'd go where the wind blew until it blew in a direction surely meant trouble or worse for him and his.

"Unclear," She sighed and shook her head. "Whispers in the dark. Ghosts speaking their secrets in half words. Like the breath of a dragon smells of sulphur." She glanced at him, "They say the past always catches up with you, sooner or later. I prefer sooner, because by the time later rolls around, the past has picked up a lot of speed."

"That…is an uncomfortable thought," Mal frowned at the console. He had a lot of past. But was it his coming to call or someone else's on the boat? He had no doubt that no matter who's it was, it meant trouble. "Might be we can avoid whatever trouble coming our way?"

"Hidin' ain't a plan?" River turned his old words back on him and he sighed.

"Maybe we just go farther out, so we can get a clear view of what's behind us," He suggested.

"Couldn't hurt," His little genius (reader/witch/assassin) nodded. "Bank job out on Brisingamen?"

"That was my thought," Mal nodded. "You wanna look into that little chore?"

"She will," River stood. "Rest first. When she is on the bridge later, will check on the particulars."

It was a good job. The bank on Brisingamen was one of the very few on the moon and the haul would be considerable. Thankfully Kaylee had done enough work on the mule that it would actually carry five now, or three of them and a huge payload. Even more thankfully, Rick and River's diverse amounts of mass averaged out to two normal size folk, or they'd have problems.

The particulars of the job were such that it required near perfect timing, a certain amount of luck, and more than a little skill. Sad to say, they had all of those things but one.

"If we did not have bad luck, we would have none at all," River quipped as she fired at the assembly of vigilante types that had pursued them from the bank.

"That ain't comfortin' River," Rick retorted as he took his shot.

Mal, as he drove, wondered why the hell he was always the one in the driver's seat and cursed as a stray bullet caught him in the shoulder. "We're almost there," He didn't know why he was telling them what River likely already knew. Another bullet had buried itself in the controls, killing the comm system so Carolyn wouldn't know to close up the ship and lift off until they were inside. Kaylee was going to kill him. (Well, she'd pout and be unhappy at him for getting 'her mule' hurt and he'd wish she'd kill him to put him out of her misery.) The only kind of good luck they'd had was the mule would still run at least.

Into the cargo bay and they skidded to a halt, damn this felt familiar. Boots on the deck behind him, River and Rick most likely out of the mule and towards the cargo bay doors to keep their pursuers from coming onto the ship. Jack, up on the catwalk, thank the stars for small favors, "Get to the bridge, tell Carolyn to take off."

The girl darted off at a run, and Mal began to heave himself out of the mule, a task more difficult than usual for some reason. A glance down, oh. Well, that would do it. He'd been shot in the hip and hadn't noticed until just now. "Nǐ tā mā de tiān xià suǒ yǒu de rén dōu gāi sǐ," He cursed as he fell out of the mule.

River at the edge of the ramp, two more steps, likely getting a better line of fire, stepping down from the ramp. He could feel Serenity, the vibrations of the deck that meant the ship was on the move. The ramp began to go up, River still on the ground. Rick's huge form blocking the light…

Simon, kneeling next to him, helping him up, where was River, why was everything blurry? What was going on? He couldn't hear Simon.

Author's Note: Sorry, this is a little shorter than normal. Cringes away from readers...Don't kill me… It was just the perfect ending to the chapter. But we've got more hints that trouble is coming. Any guesses?

Chinese Translations:

Nǐ tā mā de tiān xià suǒ yǒu de rén dōu gāi sǐ. (Fuck everyone in the universe to death.)

Quote Sources:

Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today, I wish, I wish he'd go away... When I came home last night at three the man was waiting there for me but when I looked around the hall, I couldn't see him there at all – Antigonish - William Hughes Mearns

They say the past always catches up with you, sooner or later. I prefer sooner, because by the time later rolls around, the past has picked up a lot of speed. - Ships Of My Fathers – Dan Thompson