Disclaimers: Everything belongs to Joss, except for one character of my creation.

**Mousing over the Chinese should reveal the English translations on most browsers. If not, translations follow the story. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The pain was excruciating, unbearable, and the only thing he could do was scream. His hands were tied, his feet were lashed, and there was no way to get free. So he screamed, and screamed, and screamed some more— because not screaming wasn’t an option. Then, through the screams, he heard another voice. A soft voice, a woman’s voice, saying his name, again and again. There had never been a woman’s voice before. Then, just as inexplicably, hands on him—gentle hands, not the hands inflicting the pain. The pain was there, but it was fading, and the gentle touches were becoming more prominent. Then his screams were fading, too, and the female voice saying his name became louder, until it was the only voice he heard. “Mal! Captain! Mal!” When he began to come around, he was sitting up in bed, and he could feel her beside him, one arm around his shoulders, the other stroking his cheek. She was saying his name again and again. “Huh?” He fumbled on the wall beside him to turn on the light. The familiar surroundings of his quarters came into view. He was on Serenity, where he belonged, and he was all right. But what was she doing in his bunk? “Why are you...? How did you...?” he stammered in his confusion. “You were screaming,” she said. “I heard you from the galley.” He rubbed his sweaty face and pushed damp hair away from his eyes, bringing her into focus. “Sorry about letting myself down here, but—” she continued; but before she could finish he slumped against her, letting her support him while he finished gathering himself. “Was it the same dream?” she asked. He nodded, not quite truthfully. “The torture?” He nodded again. That much was true. He sat up straight and shook off the last vestiges of it. She went to the sink and came back with a cup of water for him, and a wet cloth that she used to wipe his sweaty face and neck. He drank the water gratefully and closed his eyes, letting her tend to him. “I wish I could make the dreams go away,” she said. “I’ll be fine,” he told her. “They’ll go in time.” “If they don’t, Mal, please, please don’t be afraid to talk to someone. Don’t let it get worse. Find someone you trust, and let them help.” Her eyes implored him. He didn’t respond to that, but he was troubled; and not for himself. First River’s hysterical outburst and now this dream...he looked at her, rumpled and sleepy in her nightclothes, and had a disquieting sense that they were about to deliver this passenger into a disastrous situation. “Alex, I need you to promise me something.” He fumbled on the night table for paper and pen. He wrote some numbers down and held the paper out to her. “Okay,” she said curiously, taking it from him. “I’m serious, Alex.” She nodded. “I see that.” “Keep this somewhere safe,” he said. “Better yet, commit it to memory.” He took her by the shoulders, just as he had the day of the cargo drop, when he had commanded her to stay on the ship. “If anything happens at that prison, Alex, I want you to ‘wave us.” He stared into her eyes, his own dark and serious. “I’ll be fine.” “No, Alex.” His fingers tightened down on her shoulders enough to make her wince. “I mean this. Anything happens there—anything at all you can’t handle, you ‘wave us. Dong le ma? ” “Mal, I—“ “Alex, do you understand me?” He held her gaze for a long moment as he strove to convey the earnestness of his demand. She finally nodded her acquiescence, still looking mystified and a little unsettled at his intensity. “All right,” he finally said, letting up on her shoulders. He looked at the marks his fingers left. “I’m sorry if I hurt you.” “I’m fine.” She stood, pocketing the paper he’d given her. “Think you can get back to sleep?” “I ain’t sure I got any sleep left in me,” he confessed. She grunted. “Then that makes two of us. I haven’t slept a wink yet tonight.” He impulsively grasped her hand then and pulled her back down beside him. “Then why don’t you stay here and we’ll get no sleep together?” he suggested. He wrapped the blanket around both of them before she had a chance to respond and reclined back, pulling her down so her head rested on his chest. They didn’t talk any more then, just lay together and enjoyed the warmth that would come to an end far too soon. Mal knew sleep would not come again to him this night, once again because of the dream. But this time it was different, although that he did not share with Alex. In his dream this time the torture took place inside a cold, brutal prison on a distant, snow-covered moon. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHINESE: Dong le ma? = Do we have an understanding? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go to Chapter 23.

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