Mal stared straight and true down the barrel of his gun at Simon. His eyes were dead calm and held no misgivings about his actions. “Last time I have to repeat myself on my boat.” Mal tilted his head up just slightly, “Doc, you start here.” For the first time since Simon had stepped onto Serenity, he felt fear. It was a complicated fear. Simon had his arguments with Mal, and without fooling himself he knew that Mal had a problem with Simon and River. But Simon had always had that gut instinct about people, and he had never really, deep down inside worried about his decision to board Serenity. But now, after all of the war stories that Simon had heard from Zoe about Mal, he knew. He knew what it was that made Zoe so loyal to Mal, and with that understanding Simon felt fear. But buried beneath those feelings was the pure undeniable hatred that he had for anything military in the Alliance. After what River had gone through and was going through Simon discovered new levels to himself that he hadn’t realized that he was capable of. He had always been the polite, quiet person, but the hate that welled up inside of him when he thought on his sister was something he never thought he could feel. But the thought of River brought him to the present again. He quickly looked at the larger man holding the other gun pointed in his direction, and Simon snapped the med kit closed and quickly moved over to Asha. Mal calmly put the gun back in his holster and turned to watch what Simon was doing. But as he turned he noticed, and quickly pushed aside the fact that Zoe had been standing at attention, and her gun was slightly out of its holster. What she would have done, Mal didn’t really want to think about. Simon made short work of the dark military jacket and pulled back the black shirt that was underneath. He was momentarily shocked at how many scars she carried, but forced his mind to the task at hand. Her wound didn’t seem to have bled as profusely as Jayne’s, and Simon was able to quickly stabilize her. He stood up, grabbing his med kit once again and headed back to Jayne. Mal stepped in front of him. “Doc.” He didn’t even look at Simon, just said the one simple word. Simon though did look at Mal, squarely in the face. “She should be fine. Take her to the infirmary and I will treat her. I have to deal with Jayne, now.” Simon’s words rang out just as hard as Mal’s. His time spent on Serenity had bent and shaped him in many ways. Mal nodded and the two men quickly and gently scooped up Asha with Mal leading the way to the infirmary. River stared after Mal and shook her head. “Won’t make no difference anyhow.” “What do you mean River?” Sheppard Book sharply asked the young girl. “Will she live?” “Yes, but nothing will make a difference now. Everything is dried and stuck in place. Won’t come apart.” She lazily moved over to where Simon was kneeling and fixed her attention on his work. “River, sweetie what are you talking about?” Inara stepped up to lay a comforting arm across the young girl’s shoulder. Inara had been attempting to screen some respectable clients when she had gotten frustrated at the lack of candidates and had gone to the dining room to try and find some comfort albeit human or food. River and Kaylee definitely held spots in Inara’s heart. She wanted to reach out to them and help give them the tools to make their way in the world as strong confident women. Inara knew Kaylee had a confidence that Inara could never understand, but after all of her Companion training she still wished the woman would take a more interested account in her appearance. River though was a whole other set of emotions for Inara. She felt so sorry for the girl and ached when she watched Simon desperately want his sister to function normally. Inara wished there was something that she could do to help River, but she knew that River’s only fighting chance was the inseparable bond between her and her brother. From the moment that Mal and Zoe had stepped into the dining room, to the realization of what had just taken place, Inara had wanted to do something; to act somehow. And right now, reaching out to River was the only thing that Inara felt she could do without getting in the way. It was also a convenient excuse to not allow her mind to dwell on Mal’s alarming behavior. River didn’t move to refuse Inara’s arm, but didn’t move to welcome it either. Inara moved a little closer and wrapped part of her shawl around River. “River what is it that you are talking about? What is dried and stuck in place?” River just shook her head and gave one of her funny crooked, knowing smiles. “Stuck and dried. Torn and ripped. Pieces won’t stick together. Too many sunrises and sunsets to replace. Tick toc, the clock drags on.” River’s face brightened, almost taking Inara by surprise. A huge grin spread across her face and her eyes began to dance. “Tears replace atrophy. Mayhaps the sponge will grow,” but just as quick as the smile had been there, a serious expression replaced it. And Inara was struck by the fact that there were many times when River did not look like a child at all. “But if not, sponge will break, crumble to dust. Then lost, lost forever.” Inara didn’t know how to respond to River’s seeming babble. She glanced around to see if anyone else had heard and could help deduce what she had been talking about. But the others were clustered around Jayne and Simon with blank looks on their faces. Inara involuntarily hugged River closer. River looked up at Inara with big, round, innocent eyes. “I’m hungry. What’s for dinner?”

Zoe stood in the background, she was concerned for Jayne, but she didn’t much feel like having the rest of the crew give her those looks that demanded answers. They had all endured much together, and though at times Mal was demanding and harsh, his orders were never really questioned. Mal was one of those men who had an unnerving knack for coming through the most impossible of situations. There were many reasons why Zoe stood by Mal with unwavering loyalty. And for Zoe even though the events of the day, even the past two weeks had been very unsettling, and didn’t fit into her way of viewing things, deep down she would not, could not question Mal. But just because she wouldn’t question his decisions, didn’t mean that she didn’t want an explanation as to why. Zoe was as much a leader as Mal, and she felt that at times he shut her out too much, and she was determined that this wasn’t going to be one of those times. “Simon, is Jayne goin’ be…?” Kaylee choked slightly and didn’t finish her question. Her eyes were red and puffy from her continued bought of tears. Jayne might not be the most likeable person in the ‘verse, but he was part of the crew. And for Kaylee that really meant he was family. Seeing Jayne all laid out and unresponsive really tore at her. Jayne was a steadfast figure in the crew, strong, arrogant, and unshakeable when it came to fights. Things weren’t supposed to happen like this. Simon didn’t look over at Kaylee but kept his attention focused on his instruments, continually monitoring Jayne’s vitals. He was sure that he had gotten the big man stable, but Simon was so shaken by the turn of events that he didn’t want to make a mistake. “Yes. He is reading stable, and everything appears to be working properly. I am most concerned about his lose of blood, but that should be easily fixed.” Kaylee gave a small sigh of relief. She trusted Simon and his doctoring skills. If he said everything would be fine, then Kaylee didn’t feel like she had reason to worry. She tried to smile briefly, and it was a relief to have Book smile encouragingly back at her. Zoe had heard enough. If Jayne was stable then she could pursue other matters that required her immediate attention. She set off with a determined step and went to the infirmary hoping to find Mal. He was there and yet he was not there. Sitting on the small couch across from the infirmary, Mal had his head buried in his hands. Zoe quietly walked over and leaned up against the infirmary door. She studied him for a few minutes, memories quickly flashing through her head. Finally she broke the silence, “Sir?” Mal’s head snapped up and his eyes immediately darted to the infirmary. Seeing Asha’s still body still there and her two men, unmoved since they brought her in there, he focused his eyes on his lieutenant. “Sir, I think you owe me some sort of explanation.” Zoe said in a matter of fact way. Mal bit back an angry remark. He sprang up and began to pace back and forth, running his hands through his hair, clearly agitated. “Gorramit Zoe, things just never happen they way their supposed to. None of this was supposed to happen. Was supposed ta be a right easy job. Easy credits, no hassles in the works.” “What exactly was the job supposed to be, sir?” Zoe asked quietly. Trying to keep her frustration down at the whole situation. Mal sighed and gave her a weary look. “All it were was an easy babysitting job. Take Asha and her men to their drop points, pick up the set of goods and takes them to the next drop site. Then collect our credits, and we fly clear of the whole mess. Nuttin’ to it.” Mal dropped back down into the worn couch, rubbing his forehead. “Nuttin’ ever seems to work out quite right accordin’ ta the plan, does it?” He leaned back, spreading his arms across the couch. Zoe relaxed slightly at the sight of Mal, sensing that he was beginning to unwind. “If’n that’s all it was then why things get so complicated?” Mal frowned slightly and shook his head. “I don’t rightly know. I’ve got no idea why she up and turned on us, and changed the whole deal.” “Anyway to salvage it and be able to get at least some credit out of it?” Zoe asked tentatively, not knowing all of the original bargaining. Mal had apparently put together the whole thing without informing anyone, and least of all consulting her. Which was something quite unusual for Mal to do. They usually discussed the layout of a plan, even it was a few quiet words here and there. He usually consulted her, just not on this plan. There was though one question that Zoe was itching to ask. “Sir, did you know they were Alliance folk when you agreed to this deal?” The air suddenly became quiet cold in the small little space on Serenity. Zoe stiffened as Mal looked up at her with a stone expression on his face. Any tension that had left the moment before was back again, and it made Zoe slightly uncomfortable. She had seen that tension only a few times before and that was during some of the worst moments of the war. Moments that made her find Wash and forget everything that had happened to them. “Yes.” Came the simply reply. “Did you know they was intelligence?” “Yes.” “And you agreed to this job? Sir, may I ask what you were thinking? Especially with…” Zoe stopped very conscious of the two men still standing in the infirmary just a few feet from them. “Sir, is there something else that I need to be aware of? Something you just might be forgetting to tell me?” Mal’s eyes darkened. “No. Plain and simple like. I knew what they are, and I knew that we would be running stuff for the Alliance.” Mal stood and made to move off, but Zoe quickly moved to stop him. “I need to know. We need to know what is going on.” This time Mal didn’t turn to look at her, but quickly moved out of her way. “If’n the crew asked, all you tell them is that a favor was called in, and we took the job.” Zoe’s head spun with all of the possibilities of what he had said. “Sir?” She didn’t like it one bit. If the Alliance had the ability to call a favor in on Mal, who hated them with all his being, then what in the sphincter hell could they have done that he would have accepted?