Title: Pirate Children Rating: PG (a little bit of Firefly swearing) Setting: approximately 15 years post-BDM, AU Pairings: mostly M/I, references to Z/W, S/K, Jayne/Vera Summary: The crew’s coming over for lunch. Is Mrs. Serra ready? Author's Note: Translations are in parentheses and all mistakes are my own. This is the final chapter before the epilogue. There are also other stories in this ‘verse in the works, which will be coming soon. This installment is mostly a fluff-fest, but some later stories aren’t so pretty. I’m more than a mite nervous about the lunch scene and Wash’s voice. Be gentle, but tell me how I did! Part 4 “I didn’t know Noor had a child,” Dr. George Patel comments as he pours some coffee for Fahmy and passes it to him. His eyes are on the pre-adolescent boy studying the plants on the edge of his patio. George Patel and Fahmy Serra grew up together and have stayed close friends; he is surprised that this is the first he’s heard about a nephew. “He’s not Noor’s,” Fahmy says after taking a sip of the bitter drink. “No! Not Inara. I didn’t think Companions were allowed… The Serra heir isn’t the bastard son of some lusty Alliance general, is he?” Fahmy looks up sharply. “No. She retired from active duty fifteen years ago, from the Guild completely thirteen. She lives on a cargo ship, wife of the captain.” “Little Inara’s married?” George asks, still remembering the young girl dancing through the halls of the Serra household whenever he was over. “Happily, it seems. It’s all rather domestic. He’s from the Rim, but decent enough for such humble origins. The boy’s her eldest. She has a little girl, too.” “I would never have guessed…” “Abram, come here, please,” Fahmy calls to his nephew. The boy looks up from his study of the greenery and joins the two older men. “Those are aloe plants. Healing properties,” he identifies, sending a questioning look at his host. “Right you are, young man.” “Abram wants to be a doctor, someday,” Fahmy informs his friend. “Abram, this is a very good friend of mine, Dr. George Patel. He’s the chief of surgery at the largest hospital on Sihnon.” “It’s nice to meet you, sir,” Abe smiles politely and extends a hand. “And you. Where have you seen aloe plants before?” “My great aunt grows them on Shadow, to heal the ranch hands’ cuts.” “You have ranching in your blood? You don’t find many ranchers here on Sihnon. Do you drink coffee, son?” “No, sir, thank you. I’m more of a tea drinker.” “Well, run on into the kitchen and the cook will give you some. She always has a pot on the stove for my wife. Just through those doors and to the right.” “Thank you, sir.” Abram follows the doctor’s directions to the kitchen. “He only needs a little work to fit into the high society here. A rancher’s son, the Serra heir. This is crazy, Fahmy.” “He’s extremely bright, always reading. I think he would do well in medacad.” “No doubt. What kind of education is he getting out on the Rim?” Fahmy grins at his old friend at this. “Actually, the children have their own Caramia tutor.” “Hoo-tsuh,” (Get out.) George laughs. “I didn’t know any of those stuffy old academics rode around in spaceships playing school teacher.” “Actually, not old. She’s young; Ebenezer Caramia’s only child.” “Right… Quite the scandal. She flew off to the Rim after she graduated from the University of Sihnon, stomping on five hundred years of great Caramia tradition.” “And five hundred years of very methodical breeding; the Caramias treat their marriages like one giant genetic experiment.” “Weren’t you being courted by Ebenezer’s uncle, to marry his daughter?” Fahmy laughs. “Yes, I had the name and the intelligence, apparently, but not the right temperament to create the kind of child they were looking for. I wasn’t much of a teacher.” “All a little sick, if you ask me. But everyone with the Caramia name is extremely intelligent, and a natural teacher, so the boy’s getting a good education, it seems. Won’t get a better, more individual one here on Sihnon. Perhaps you should leave the boy where he is.” “Oh, I don’t want to take him away. George, he’s living the life we always dreamed of as boys, crewing a spaceship at age twelve, flying from one end of the ‘verse to the other, seeing how everyone else lives. Think of the stories he’ll have to tell at medacad, the things he’ll see, has seen. Can’t say I’m not more than a little jealous of him. When he’s older, maybe, he’ll come on his own will, take over the Serra family.” “He’ll have to be introduced into society soon, though.” “His next visit,” Fahmy looks up, smiling to see his nephew walking down the hall. “And maybe by then his sister, too. She’s a pretty little girl, full of life.” George laughs. “You seem quite taken with them.” Abram enters the room, steaming cup of tea in hand. “So Abram,” George smiles, inviting Fahmy and Abe to sit down on the patio chairs, “Tell me, why do you want to be a doctor?” *** “Serra?” Inara calls, louder than she likes, having lost her daughter in the sprawling rooms of the house. On Serenity, all it takes is a push of a button to carry her voice to all corners of the ship in search of the children. Here she has to shout. Serra picks up the sound immediately from five rooms away and calls back at the top of her lungs, “Ma’am?” as she sticks her head into the hall. Inara, standing in the middle of the hall with brush in hand, sighs and gestures for her to come. “The rest of the crew will be here soon, Mei-Mei. Can I at least brush your hair?” The girl has left her hair wild and curly today, instead of the customary braids, and agrees with an exasperated sigh to allow her mother to brush its tangled curls. She runs down the hall and follows her mother into her room. “Where’s Abe?” she asks, plopping onto the bed. Inara sits beside her and begins working the brush through the snarls. “Still out with Uncle Fahmy. They’ll be home any minute.” “Where’s Daddy?” “With your grandmother. What were you doing in that room?” “Looking at pictures. There’s lots of little-you. When you finish brushing my hair, I’ll show ‘em to you.” “How do you know it’s me?” Inara smiles. “’Cause they look just like me. There’s one with you, and Uncle Fahmy, and another girl. Big like Uncle Fahmy. Who’s she?” “That’s your Aunt Noor. She lives on Londinium.” “Well, that’s shiny. When do I meet her?” “I don’t know, Mei-Mei,” Inara answers honestly, dropping a kiss on the top of her head and gently pushing her off of the bed. “Did you and Sue Ling have fun last night and this morning?” “Yep. She’s nice. When are we gonna see her again?” the little one asks, taking her mama’s hand and leading her to the picture room. “I don’t know that, either, baby. But you can wave her when you want.” “Alright,” Mei-Mei sighs, pulling Inara into the room where she’d just been. “See. Look. I didn’t know you were a dancer, Mama.” Inara smiles, looking at the capture Serra is pointing to. She was around Serra’s age in it, with two of her playmates in childhood, Becky and Zayra, hair all done in buns and tiny bodies clad in soft pink leotards and white tights. They weren’t looking at the camera, heads bent together as they sat on a bench and whispered secrets, probably about Tommy Woo. “I took ballet when I was your age. Aunt River has said she’d teach you like she’s teaching Leila Lee, if you want.” Mei-Mei studies the picture for a moment longer. “I don’t know, Mama. I don’t think I’d be very good at ballet. ‘Sides, you’re already teaching me and Bubba to dance. Like fancy parties.” “But those aren’t your favorite lessons,” Inara teases. “Nope. Those would be the fencing.” “You just like it because you’re good at it.” “It’s fun! I bet I’ll beat Bubba soon; I’m getting stronger.” “I should hope so: you practice all the time.” “Daddy’s not so good at the whole fencing thing.” Inara laughs. “No, no he’s not.” “Too much shoulder.” “Hey, I can still whip you any day o’ the week, baby-mine,” Mal’s voice interrupts their conversation. “You’re like, twelve times heavier than me, daddy-mine. It’s not a fair fight.” “Are you callin’ me fat?” Mei-Mei just giggles. “Well, fine. I was gonna tell ya your hair looked mighty pretty today, but I won’t now, ‘cause you’ve hurt my feelings.” His girls look at each other and roll their eyes. “What’s with all this womanly ‘tude? Where’s my son when I need ‘im?” *** Fahmy returns with Abe just a few minutes before the crew is set to arrive, but Mal knows his crew won’t be on time. He smiles and shakes Fahmy’s hand to say goodbye, before letting the rest of his family properly bid him farewell in the foyer. “’Bye, Uncle Fahmy. Thanks for taking me to meet your friend. He was nice, very smart.” “Goodbye, Abram. Take care of my mei-mei and yours, dong ma?” “Yes, sir, as long as you look after my grandma and cousin.” “Of course,” Fahmy smiles, and then the boy gives him an awkward hug. “Be sure to wave me when you’ve finished the Koran. I want to know what you think.” Abe nods and then goes to join his dad and grandma in the dining room making awkward conversation. Mei-Mei steps up next. “Bye-Bye, Uncle Fahmy,” she grins, throwing her arms around him in a hug and kissing his cheek as he lifts her off the ground. “Love you.” “I love you, too, Serra,” Fahmy says softly, warmly, kissing the top of her head. “Stay out of trouble.” “Yes, sir,” she says as he sets her on the ground. She waves one last time and skips off to join the rest of the family. Only Fahmy and Inara are left. “Keep in touch this time?” It is meant to be an order, but comes out a plea. “I… of course, Fahmy. I doubt the children would let me do otherwise. If you ever need a ride anywhere… Serenity has passenger dorms.” “Maybe someday I’ll take you up on that, Inara. Join you on your adventure. Be careful out there, and wave me for anything. Even if you just want to tell me what a hen BOO-TEE-TYEH NAN-shung you think I am.” (Inconsiderate schoolboy) “You wave, too. Keep me updated about your wife and daughter.” “Yes, ma’am,” he smiles, still getting used to this woman version of his baby sister. He pulls her into his arms, much like he did on her last day in the Serra household. There are no tears this time, for now he is sure he will see her again, and like what he sees. Pressing a kiss into her temple, he pulls away. “Wo ai ni, Inara.” (I love you) She kisses his cheek and whispers, “You, too.” They pull apart, and Fahmy smiles one last time before heading to the door. He hadn’t really realized the hole in his heart her absence left until he had her again. He leaves feeling more complete. *** “You know, Mizzus Serra, ‘Nara’s technically the captain’s second wife…” “Kay-lee…” Mal protests. “We don’t need to be tellin’ that story to the mother-in-law, dong ma?” “Oh, but I think it’s a funny story, Uncle Mal,” Kacey grins, “Go on, Aunt Kaylee.” “You wanna be on septic vac for the next month, little Washburn?” Mal asks. This is all manner of embarrassing. Mei-Mei and Lolly are giggling into their lunch, not meeting the captain’s gaze, and Kaylee is just grinning at him impishly. Inara is rolling her eyes. He looks around the table, searching for some support, but his son merely shrugs and grins and River just smiles sweetly at him. “Oh, I’ll tell this one,” Zoe volunteers, earning a glare from her captain. “We were pullin’ a job on Triumph, ‘bout a year after ‘Nara first came aboard…” “Wo de ma,” (dear god) Mal groans, becoming engrossed in his lunch. Despite the embarrassment, though, he can’t help but think that this is nice. His whole crew together, no one getting shot at, eating real food. Hell, Inara’s mama has even warmed up to him a tiny bit. Now that the crew’s here and his wife has made a little peace with her mama, everyone’s relaxed and enjoying the meal. Zoe tells the story as painlessly as possible, and after the guffaws (loudest from Jayne, even all these years later) die down, Mal quickly changes the subject. “So how about an embarrassin’ Mei-Mei story? Always plenty of those.” Across the table, said little girl sticks her tongue out at him. Ally sighs, playfully put upon, and admonishes her quickly, jokingly in Spanish. “No. She has no manners,” Abe shoots back to whatever Ally said, grinning at his sister. “An absolute heathen.” “I have plenty of manners, thank you very much,” Mei-Mei humphs. “Right, Uncle Simon?” Simon sputters, caught off guard by the sudden turn to him. “Manners are mere social construct, variable from person to place,” River supplies. Mei-Mei smiles smugly. “Awright, no embarrassin’ Mei-Mei story. You happy, baby-mine?” “Always, Daddy.” “So, Mei-Mei, do you know how your parents got married?” Zuri asks her youngest grandchild a question she’s been pondering for a while, thinking she’s most likely to get an answer from the girl. Jayne chuckles, “Well, hey now, Mal, I’m guessin’ you never ‘spected to have this conversation wit’ your mother-in-law.” Mal looks up sharply, but it is Inara who warns Jayne to keep that mouth of his shut. “Yes, ma’am,” Mei-Mei answers, “But Bubba tells it better.” “Uncle Wash tells it best,” Abe deflects the attention. He’s heard the story often: Mei-Mei likes it when their mama tells it as a bedtime story. But his dad’s looking a little uncomfortable, for reasons Abe’s unsure of, so the boy knows enough to let Uncle Wash field this one. He can make any story funny. “Well, it all started when Inara rented the shuttle…” “Wash, speed it up a little, huh? We don’t need have all afternoon…” Zuri smiles as the pale man starts into story-mode, watching her granddaughter whisper with the older girl and her daughter lay a gentle hand on the captain’s arm and smile at him. “Then where should we start, hmm? Abe, you play a nice central role in this, where should I start?” “How about Uncle Simon?” Wash breaks into a grin, remembering. “An excellent place to start. So, Inara paid a little visit to our resident doctor, and he gave her the wonderful news…” “Thank you,” Abe interrupts with a smirk. “That Baby #3 would soon be crying and pooping all over Serenity.” “Okay, that part was not so nice.” Kacey snickers and gently cuffs his “cousin” on the shoulder. “From what little I remember, Abe, that’s all you did. Even in the bathtub.” “Whoa! No bathtub stories!” Lolly giggles this time, “But you were such a cute widdle Baby Abey, even if you were disturbing our bathtub routine.” “Cool it,” Ally interrupts calmly. “Let Wash tell the story.” “Thank you, Miss Ally. As I was saying, Simon told Inara that Abram here was on the way. Now, I wasn’t there for the original discussion, but I’m going to venture a guess that it was a very amusing scene.” “Doctor-patient confidentiality,” Simon claims, meeting Inara’s eyes with a smile. “But I will say, less amusing than when we found out she was pregnant with Serra.” “The table was slippery,” Inara says with more dignity than Zuri thought possible. Kaylee and the two girls burst into laughter, and Mal grins sideways at his wife. “Back to the original story,” Wash smirks. “A few hours after that, I was minding my own business, doing my highly exciting job of watching the stars go by while everyone else does absolutely nothing…” Zoe elbows him. “Any-hoo, I’m piloting the ship, alone on the bridge, when I hear the all-too-familiar sounds of the captain and Inara arguing. I look up… okay, wake up, and notice that the voices are getting closer. I can’t make out what they’re saying, but we all are very good at tuning them out. I can tell that Mal is trying to retreat to the bridge, because their voices are getting closer. Mal reaches me, but Inara is right behind him. And here comes the good part…” Mei-Mei giggles in anticipation. “Mal’s turned his back and seems about to ask me a question, to avoid the lovely woman he’s arguing with. But Inara beats him to it, and says, I quote: ‘Wo de ma, Mal, I’m pregnant!’” Zoe and Jayne join Kaylee, Ally, and the children in their laughter at that, Simon and River grinning widely. “At this point, the captain swings around so violently that he trips and falls down the stairs.” The whole crew is laughing by now, and Zuri is extremely close to joining them. It may not be the story she was expecting or that she completely approves of, but after a few days with Inara and her husband, it seems appropriate. “And, this is my favorite part, Mal calls up from the bottom of the stairs, ‘So, ya gonna marry me?’” “Oh how romantic, Uncle Mal,” Lolly groans through her laughter, rolling her eyes. “I thought it was charming!” Mal defends, eyes on his wife. “Hardly,” Inara responds, eyebrow arched. “At that point,” Wash continues, “I made myself scarce.” “To come tell me, of course,” Kaylee interjects. “I never thought of telling anyone else first, Kaylee. But apparently, they had some sort of meaningful conversation after I left, because the captain somehow convinced Inara to let him be her husband, and on the next planet we landed on, we all went to find a justice of the peace and watched these two get married. Good party.” “I was best man,” Kacey grins, which was the partial truth. His mom stood up next to the captain with Kacey on her hip, and everyone call the two-year-old the best man. “I was maid of honor,” Lolly adds. Again, the one-year-old was there in Kaylee’s arms. “I was the catalyst,” Abe offers, the smile on his face a replica of his mother’s. Mei-Mei snorts. “I came five-and-a-half years later…” “We know,” Ally smiles affectionately at the girl. “So, how did you convince her, Dad?” Abe asks. “I was charming.” Inara scoffs. “You have somethin’ to say, darlin’?” “No, not at all.” Zuri smiles at this interaction. She is sad that this energetic bunch will be leaving soon after lunch, especially since her daughter and grandchildren will be going with them. She knows she didn’t know Inara when she was young, floating through these hallways with her otherworldly grace and fiery eyes, climbing into her father’s lap while he worked and listening intently as he spoke of the worlds beyond Sihnon. She barely knows her now, this grown woman with husband and children, with an assuredness of spirit Zuri can only envy. But there is hope now, hope of somehow having a relationship with Inara, of watching Abram and Serra grow up into the amazing adults she knows they will be. Especially if Serra can learn how to not squirt milk through her nose at the table. “Oww…” the little girl continues to giggle, holding her napkin to her nose. “Mei-Mei…” Inara sighs, the hints of a grin quirking up the edges of her mouth. Mei-Mei makes a face. “Sorry, Mama.” *** “We’re leaving,” Inara says quietly, leaning on the doorframe looking into the kitchen. Umm Hafi looks up from the dishes and sees her, smiling warmly and a little sadly. Her eyes are wet. “You’ll come back?” “Eventually, yes. I don’t know when.” Her own voice is tight with her withheld emotion. “Then I’ll see you then, baby.” “If you ever want to get off world for a little bit…” “Someone has to run this house, Inara. What would they do without me?” Inara smiles sadly. “I don’t know. But still, if you want… There’s room on Serenity. The kids… I would love to see you.” “You know where to find me. My job’s done, baby. You’ve grown into one amazing woman, an amazing mother.” Inara smiles genuinely through her tears, hugging the older woman tightly. *** “We’ve got the bags,” Kacey announces as he and Abe bring the luggage out to the two beat-up hover-cars. “I’ve got the Mei-Mei,” Lolly adds, Serra on her back as she follows the boys out. The adults are already climbing into the cars as the children deposit their loads into them. The boys help Lolly in and then hop in themselves to the car River is piloting, Jayne grousing for them to hurry up. Zuri’s already had her goodbyes, kisses and endearments from Mei-Mei and Abe, a hug from Inara, a fairly warm handshake from Malcolm. Mei-Mei’s“Love you, lao lao” still echoes in her mind, bringing a smile to her face. The four children seem elated to be reunited and returning home, chattering on with each other, laughing and wrestling. “Calm down back there, small children,” River admonishes with a smile as she starts the vehicle. “You four ain’t good for Aunt River, you’ll be spendin’ some quality time scrubbin’ the cargo bay floor,” Captain Reynolds calls from the car behind them. “Yes, sir!” the four chorus as the car turns and begins to leave. Abe and Mei-Mei turn to watch the house fade away, waving to their grandmother and Umm Hafi.

TBC in the Epilogue