11) Little Talks
Captain Reynolds generally showed up on the bridge a quarter of an hour before his shift began. He split the duties equitably enough, though sense did dominate how he allocated chores. He wasn't one to assign the hold to River unless she could use the mule and lift to move the cargo around. And he didn't give the Doctor dinner duty too often.
Since he had his own duties to attend Carolyn didn't expect to see him much earlier than that quarter hour. A full hour early… either he was unsettled, or he had a bone to pick with her.
Hard to tell which straight off. He and Inara circled each other like they were caught in each other's orbit, twin stars that didn't know how to break away. Carolyn couldn't even tell if they were sleeping together or not. The attraction was obvious to everyone on the ship. As was the lack of compatibility.
Well, maybe that last part was only obvious to her. Reynolds was a die-hard Independent. Stubborn as the Black was dark. Inara came from the Alliance, civilized through and through. She had her own mule stubborn streak. But she concealed her emotions while Reynolds wore his on his sleeve. They seemed to have nothing in common. Kaylee (from what Carolyn had gathered) thought the Captain and Inara made for a grand romance. But the mechanic also seemed terminally optimistic about people. No doubt Riddick would find that phrasing both apt and amusing.
"You're early," Carolyn commented to jump start the conversation.
"Wanted to have a little talk," Reynolds nodded after a moment. "Seems of the three of you, you're the one most likely to take me serious and not get too worked up about the topic of conversation."
"Sounds like…there's an issue," She clicked a few buttons to engage the autopilot, watched it to make sure the cortex wouldn't change the course according to the 'approved safety measures' and leaned back when everything stayed as it should. "What's on your mind?"
"It's come to my attention that Rick has been bending his eye towards River," Those blue eyes stared straight at her and while they weren't angry they weren't altogether pleased either.
"Captain, if you think that I've got some way of controlling Rick—" Oh she'd better disabuse him of that notion damn quick.
"No, no, that ain't what I'm sayin'," He held up a hand to forestall any other protest. "I'm sayin' that the man, big and dangerous as he obviously is, gives your opinion consideration."
"As much as he gives anyone's besides his own," Carolyn conceded that. "He knows I've got experience in areas he doesn't."
"And this isn't so much a 'don't look, don't touch, don't even think it' kind of talk," The tall man continued as if she hadn't spoken. "It's more a…romances cause trouble and romantic triangles and squares and other entanglements cause even more."
"Uh huh," Carolyn tilted her head. "For example?" Maybe he'd pontificate some and that would buy her time to figure out how to respond to what would surely be a mess. And worse, a mess she couldn't clean up on her lonesome.
He rubbed his chin, "For instance the Doc and Kaylee… there was a time they weren't all sweet and lovey dovey. Took the better part of a year before the Doc made much of a move and Kaylee by turns was all upset or sighin' or pantin' after him." The Captain shook his head, "His sister weren't well at the time and he was more concerned with her than he was sportin' with anyone let alone Kaylee. And he's not exactly a silver-tongued devil with the ladies."
"He just looks pretty," Carolyn half smiled.
"Not you too," Those dark blue eyes rolled heavenward as if praying for patience. "I swear that's all I heard for nigh unto a year, 'Simon's so shuài. His eyes are so purty. When he looks at me, I could swoon. He talks so nice. His manners are so fēngdù.' Until I was ready to stuff protein in my ears."
Carolyn half laughed, shaking her head, "No, he's…not my type." He seemed relieved to hear that assurance, "No, I like my men bigger than me for one."
"Yeah, I got that impression when I saw Rick's hand on your pì gu a day or so ago," His mouth quirked upwards humorously. "But that does bring me to the crux of the issue."
Now she got it. It hadn't slipped past her notice that Riddick had engaged in a mild version (for him anyway) of flirting with River Tam. "Rick and I are…friendly," She said slowly. "But we're not serious."
"That part of it ain't my business," He held up his hands as if to stave off any details. "The concerns I got have more to do with the upheaval, emotional and elsewise, that comes along with romantic entanglements."
Carolyn half smiled, "You don't want any histrionics."
He sighed, "I could do without 'em, I'll admit." Generously long fingers rubbed the back of his neck, "And there's the fact that I'm next to useless when a female's upset."
She grinned at him, "Well, I can't stop Rick from flirting with River. And I can't stop River looking at Rick. I'm not in love with him, he's not mine. And he isn't in love with me."
"Gorram," The Captain shook his head. "I'd half hoped the two of you were just bein' discreet and there was more to ya'll than it looked."
"Sorry to disappoint," She shrugged, still half smiling. "If it relieves your mind any, I'll talk to him if it looks likely to develop into more than flirting. Mention that it's not strictly…couth…to jump from bed to bed, especially when you're living in close quarters."
"I'd take it as a kindness," He gave her a half smile. "I can't keep the two of them from flirting. And my last gunhand I had to have more than a word or two with about the women of my crew being off limits unless they gave him some encouragement."
"Would that be the one River mentioned went off to be Captain of his own boat?" She'd wondered about that. It was a helluva jump from gunhand to Captain.
"Jayne always did have delusions of competence," The grin that spread his lips made him look twenty years younger. "Got no doubt he's on another boat, griping about someone else's rules."
"And if he wants to come back here?" She'd wondered about that before, if there'd still be a place for them if the man did return.
"It'll depend on the circumstances of him comin' back," The Captain's face sobered. "Jayne's not overly burdened with scruples. You an' Rick, you two are reliable, you don't shirk your chores and neither of you makes anyone else crazy. Well," He half smiled, "At least so far. Jayne wants to come back, it don't mean I'll throw you off the boat."
"That's…that makes me feel some better," Carolyn admitted. "I like this boat. I like the crew."
"Yeah, we all like the three of you pretty well too," Mal admitted with a slight quirk of his lips. "Even if Rick does have a fascination with Inara."
"He's never even seen a Companion before," She smiled. "He was telling Jack and I all about the stuff Companions have to learn. Saying it was more than a decade of training and he couldn't imagine studying anything that long." She shook her head recalling everything Riddick had said, "He said he learned more about the Core just watching and talking to her than any program on the cortex."
"Doc is a pretty good example of Core manners too," He was watching her thoughtfully. "Seems like you've got more than a passing acquaintance with the Core yourself."
She nodded slowly, "It's not something I talk about much." Carolyn hadn't thought of Sihnon in years, except for a fleeting memory now and then. "I was born on Sihnon." That got a shocked reaction, she guessed he wouldn't have expected her to come from the same planet as Inara. "Trust me, not as glamorous as it sounds."
"Thought Sihnon had cities full of light," He commented quietly.
"Oh, they do, if you're part of the select, the upper class," She shook her head remembering the tiny two room apartment she'd grown up in. "My family was very solidly peasant stock."
"Not so glamorous then," His hair flopped onto his forehead, he needed a cut, she noticed idly.
"No. My father worked as a cook for a company cafeteria. My mother was a waitress in a bar," Carolyn half smiled. "I was lucky, I had the brains to study and made it into flight school. Sponsored by a private firm of course."
"Sounds…interesting…"
A diplomatic reply that covered a lot of speculation and she shrugged, "It's hard to get ahead when you're under an educational contract. You don't make much in the first ten years because you're paying back the cost of your training. You can pay it off faster if you take the cryo ship routes." Her mouth twisted, "My parents got mugged after my mother's shift at the bar, my dad had gone to walk her home and they both got jumped. By the gangs the Feds swear up and down don't exist on civilized planets."
"Medical bills must've been expensive," Mal murmured.
"Yeah, that happened while I was still in school, before flight school even," She shook her head. "I had a parent living so I couldn't really be put in an orphanage or girl's home. That left foster care, group homes, that sort of thing. As a ward of the state over the age of fourteen I was expected to take care of myself. Group homes gave you a roof over your head and meals, a stipend for clothing, but nothing else. If education wasn't government funded overall I'd've had to drop out. My parents' medical expenses were mostly covered but the funeral for my mother wasn't. My father…the brain damage from the repeated blows to the skull…he's about nine years old mentally, I think? He's in an assisted living facility where he does dishes for his keep and he's learning how to cook all over again. We were both wards of the state for a while."
"So you started working the cryo routes to pay off the bills," He surmised.
"Yeah," Carolyn shrugged. "I've only been free of all that for the last three runs before I left." She frowned slightly. "I've been taking care of myself for a long time. Got so that was all I did."
"Seems to have changed some," The Captain's voice had gentled from his normal tone.
"Ever have someone stop you from doing something pretty horrifying?" She met his eyes and hoped he couldn't see what still haunted her. "Something you knew was wrong and if it weren't for that person, you would have done it anyway?"
"I've had…more than a moment or two like that," He nodded, shadows of his past darkening his eyes.
"Sometimes…it can change you," Carolyn looked out at the stars, distant and cold, indifferent to the little lives sailing between them. "But you have to live with what you might have done. Knowing you have that in you, despite whatever circumstances you were in."
"This ain't a boat where we've got the room to be throwin' stones about," Mal told her kindly. "Past is the past. All we can do is try to keep it there. Not do anything brings it back."
"Yeah," She could agree with that. "Sometimes though…the past just doesn't want to stay where it belongs."
"True enough." He leaned back in his chair and regarded her thoughtfully, "Serenity's got plenty of ghosts. We can make room for yours too."
She half smiled; the odd phrasing didn't make it any less a reaffirmed welcome.
Author's Note: So I had the idea that if anyone could sympathize with Carolyn it would be Mal. I saw an interview with Nathan Fillion and a couple of the cast members and some of the ideas he had for episodes were interesting. The moral weight he felt Mal would take on, to spare his crew.
Chinese Translations:
shuài (handsome / graceful / smart)
fēngdù (elegance (for men) / elegant demeanor / grace / poise).
pì gu (butt)
