BLUE SUN ROOM FAN FICTION - GENERAL

CBSTEVE

The Dr. Tam Journals - Part 1 - Serenity - Repost
Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Kaylee finds Simon's journal and can't help reading just a little.


CATEGORY: FICTION    TIMES READ: 2891    RATING: 0    SERIES: FIREFLY

The Dr. Tam Journals – Part 1 - Serenity

Shortly after their marriage and while they were still living on Serenity, Kaylee found Simon’s journal. It wasn’t like she was looking for it and in fact she didn’t even know he kept a journal but there it was still the same. That he did keep a journal was not a big surprise to her because she knew her man was the intellectual and analytical type. Despite his less than perfect skills at wooing the female of the species, which Kaylee had suffered through for many months until he finally expressed his desire for her, Simon was acknowledge as an extremely bright doctor and was quite knowledgeable in many other areas, such as science, history, literature, and philosophy. Keeping a diary seemed normal for him.

She had awoken in the passenger dorm room they shared and reached out for him but he wasn’t there. She opened a sleepy eye and saw him at the desk they had set up, slumped over an open notebook bound in red leather. He was dressed in just a t-shirt and his pajama pants, no socks or shoes. His soft snoring made her smile. He had refused to believe he snored until she recorded him one night and then played it in front of everyone at breakfast, much to his chagrin and everyone else’s amusement. Simon was still the butt of many jokes on the ship, despite his almost universal acceptance as one of the crew members. He was just too darn straight laced and was always such an easy mark.

Kaylee slipped out of the narrow bed, clad only in her purple Oriental pattern silk night dress, and quietly approached him. The desk was covered in his notes, charts, and computer scans of River’s brain activity. Despite her improvement since the events on Miranda and at Mr. Universe’s complex, River was still a troubled teen. Sometimes, Simon despaired that he would ever find a way to help his sister and that she would need medication all her life to prevent her from having psychotic episodes. Kaylee and River had grown much closer in recent months, with River acting as apprentice to Kaylee as they repaired the ship and then serving as one of her maids of honor at their wedding.

An ink pen was in his right hand, his face covering the notebook. She gently removed the pen, trying not to disturb him. She loved his hands, so gentle, hands of a skilled doctor, skilled in the art of making her thrill to his touch, finding all her secret spots. He may not have been an expert at understanding women but he knew female anatomy, that’s for sure! Simon awoke at that moment, turned a sleepy face to her, lines on his face from where he had lay on the notebook.

“Hi,” he said.

She suppressed a laugh at his state. “Time for bed, dear.”

Kaylee helped him up as he half walked to and half fell into the bed. She covered him up and gave a gentle kiss to his forehead as he drifted off to slumber land again. She turned to the desk and thought about straightening it up but knew he would be lost in the morning if everything wasn’t exactly where he had left it. She sat in the chair and looked at the book that was left open. It was a thick notebook, covered in red leather and had creamy white paper. It looked very expensive and Kaylee wondered why she had never noticed it before. She knew she shouldn’t pry into Simon’s work but she was his wife after all and River was one of her best friends in the ‘verse. She worried about her constantly and wanted to help in anyway she could.

The open page was filled with medical notes and things Kaylee didn’t even half understand. She slowly flipped back the pages, with lots of notes and diagrams until she saw her name on one page. It was dated the day of their wedding. She felt a twinge of guilt, knowing this might be something private but pressed on, curiosity overcoming her guilty feelings. His script was neat and easy to read, years of penmanship a requirement in Core schools despite the advanced computer technology in use.

“Kaylee was so lovely, she was perfect. I had never imagined I could be so happy.”

She felt her heart beat faster and was glad she had read that sentence. She pressed on as he described their wedding day, the party, and the honeymoon. There was nothing graphic, just his observations on things, and she was the center of it all. Kaylee wanted to read more about herself, so she flipped back more pages until she got to the very beginning and got a shock.

“This journal is a record of my attempts to free my sister, River Tam, from the people who are imprisoning her on Athenian Island at a scientific research center for human behavior modification. I am committing it to paper and ink to insure there is only one copy that cannot be breached as an electronic one can. If anyone finds this journal please send it to Gabriel and Regan Tam of 11 Chungjin Street, Sungsoo Suburb, Capital City, Osiris. You will be well paid for your efforts. My name is Dr. Simon Tam, River’s brother, and I have begun this journey in an attempt to free my sister and save her from whatever it is the Alliance government is doing to her.”

Kaylee’s eyes flew down the pages reading as fast as she could as Simon described how River had gone to the Academy and then the silence and strange letters, his parent’s disbelief and then how he had made contact with an underground group. At no time did he leave any names or places where they had met, not wishing to betray anyone if he was caught and his journal discovered. Finally, after many pages, she learned that it was – Simon! – who had infiltrated the complex and rescued River! Kaylee sat back and tried to recall the day she had first met him, the day she had been shot, and the events came back clear as a bell. She hadn’t heard his story first hand or seen the cyro-chamber being open, and knew only in the secondary telling from Inara. She hadn’t heard or seen anything because she was stretched out on the infirmary examining table, drifting in and out of consciousness, a dull throb in her belly from the wound caused by the lawman’s bullet. She had awoken to see a beautiful young girl lying on the counter, wrapped in one of Inara’s robes. Inara explained she was Simon’s sister and had been in a cyro-chamber. But she never heard all the details until later and the crew seemed to believe Simon had hired someone to break River out of the complex.

Now, here it was in black and white, Simon confessing to being the one who had infiltrated and rescued her. She read on, learning how a ship had whisked them away from the complex, taken them to a countryside house, where Simon prepared River and placed her in the cyro-chamber. He had then shipped her cyro-chamber to Persephone and then had followed on a separate ship, to avoid any connection to the chamber until he picked it up from his contact on Persephone. Simon complained about the amounts he had had to pay these people and about his money running out, his accounts blocked by the Alliance, his parents disowning him, having no contact with him these many months. And then…it was about her and Serenity and the events that followed.

“I haven’t written for several days because of the extraordinary events that have recently taken place. I’ve fallen in with a group of rogue pirates it seems and while this may not be my idea of a safe place it seems to be better than I had hoped. They travel in an old rundown Firefly…”

Kaylee stopped reading, thought “Always with the insults to my lady. Why can’t anyone see her as she is, a fine piece of lovely machinery.” She put aside the thoughts and kept reading.

“…called Serenity which goes from place to place doing odd jobs, some legal, some not. But they keep moving and that is important for now. I need to throw the Alliance off the trail River and I left and this is the best way. Unfortunately, we are not alone and already there has been trouble, more than I’ve ever experience in such a short time in all my life. The first day was good. I meet the crew and other passengers and most seemed nice, especially the mechanic, a young girl named Kaylee. She is very cute, bright and sunny and seems to have an unlimited reservoir of good will.”

Cute! Oh, I knew he liked me the moment he saw me, she thought. Kaylee smiled as she remembered her first meeting with him.

“In fact, I booked my passage with her, originally planning to go to Boros, hoping to hide there, perhaps get work, maybe in some backwater town where there was no Alliance and no one cared where you come from as long as you could do your job. Boros had no special meaning except that was where this ship was heading and it seemed to be no better or worse than any other rim colony. There were two other passengers, a Shepherd named Book and a man called Dobson, who turned out to be a lawman tracking me and River. So much for my great plan of escape.”

“The rest of the crew includes the Captain, Malcolm Reynolds and a tough lady who appears to be his second in command, Zoe, who is married to the pilot Wash. I think his real name is Hoban, but everyone calls him Wash. Why, hasn’t been explained to me yet, if it ever will. Reynolds and Zoe were soldiers fighting for the Independents during the war. Reynolds has taken an instant dislike to me, has already struck me twice, which is two times more than I can ever remember being struck in my life, and has threatened my life. Strangely, it was he who suggested River and stay on board, claiming he needs my services as a doctor for the various medical emergencies he and his people sometimes encounter during one of their ‘jobs’. ”

She felt a rush of sadness as she read about Book and Wash, no longer with them. Some days she felt so happy and then it all came back, how they had lost two of their nine, especially when she saw Zoe sad or when River was piloting the ship. Maybe the hurting would never stop. She returned to story as Simon went on to describe the others.

“There is also a thug, called Jayne, whose job seems to be all about muscle and guns. He is crude and not very bright. He insulted Kaylee at dinner the first night. She seemed to be flirting with me and he made a crude joke about it. She was clearly ashamed and the Captain ordered Jayne to leave the table. Reynolds is very protective of his crew and Kaylee appears to be almost like a baby sister to the others. As for Kaylee’s flirting with me, it was perhaps just the newness of meeting someone new and the fact that she discovered I was a doctor. It’s happened before.”

Kaylee gave a little grunt of disgust, and thought “Happened before! God, he was so stupid! Of course I was flirting with him.” She read on.

“Inara Serra, a high class Companion, rounds out the crew, although I wouldn’t say she is a crew member as she lives in one of the shuttles and keeps much to herself. She is very striking and seems to be out of place with this ragtag band of rogues from the rim. They call her the Ambassador because sometimes she helps open certain doors for Reynolds’ gang that might otherwise be closed to them. Why she is on this ship instead of a high class cruiser is beyond me.”

A twinge of jealousy crept up from Kaylee’s belly as she took in these words. She knew it was silly, because Simon was her man, but she always thought he was overly friendly with Inara. I wonder if she ever…but no that was also silly, because Simon was too straight to pay for it…but he does come from the Core, where sleeping with a Companion might be acceptable practice…she shook her head, no, he didn’t because Inara was one of her dearest friends and she knew Inara wouldn’t do that since Inara knew Kaylee had a crush on Simon since almost the day he step foot on the boat. Besides, Inara had a strict no relationship rule with the crew.

“The trouble began shortly after our evening meal the first day. I was checking on River’s cyro-chamber in the cargo bay when Reynolds struck me for the first time and accused me of being a federal agent. As if anything could be farther from the truth! He soon learned his mistake as Dobson pulled a pistol on me and attempted to arrest me. In the ensuing argument Kaylee entered the cargo bay, Dobson panicked and shot her. Shepherd Book disarmed Dobson very efficiently for a Shepherd. At that moment I had to face one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had to make and hope I never have to again. I had to choose between a patient’s life and my and my sister’s preservation.”

“An Alliance cruiser tried to stop us and I forced the Captain to run by threatening not to help Kaylee. We ran, and I treated her wounds and she seems to be recovering nicely. I need to find a moment to apologize to her for that.”

Kaylee held back a sniffle as she remembered his apology, about a week later, as he was changing her bandage. He was a so sweet, felt so bad about what he had done. She had forgiven him of course. After all, he had saved her life.

“The bullet, .25 caliber, had pierced her lower left qua…”

Kaylee skipped this part, a long description of her wound and treatment. She had the scar on her belly and that was enough reminder for the rest of her life.

“Reynolds opened the cyro-chamber and River emerged. She is in a very disturbed state now, and I gave some sedatives to calm her until she recovers from the aftereffects of the cyro-sleep. Then I had to explain my story to them and received my second punch from Reynolds as I accused him of helping the Alliance. Perhaps I should have known better, but after he threatened to throw me out of the airlock if Kaylee died I disregarded my own safety for a moment, which was selfish since I have River to consider also. At that point I had not realized that he or Zoe had been for the Independents or had fought in Serenity Valley, one of the more horrific battles of the war.”

“The crew had already made plans to land on Whitefall and do a deal with someone there. I was not privy to those plans. It appears they are smugglers of a sort and ship goods clandestinely anywhere the money is. It was also at this point I discovered that Reavers are not a myth as we had a near brush with one of their ships. It followed us to Whitefall and only through Wash’s superb piloting skills and Kaylee’s ingenuity were we able to escape.”

Kaylee felt some pride at these words, words of praise from him to her long before he even knew her at all.

“Before that, however, the lawman Dobson had escaped from where they had held him. He took River from the infirmary and attempted to leave the ship while we were on Whitefall. I tried to save her and managed to get his gun away from him and had a chance to kill him but…I’m not a killer.”

Kaylee knew how tough he could be when it came to protecting River but he couldn’t kill even in those circumstances.

“Reynolds killed him to my great surprise and they threw his body off the ship. After these incidents I once again had to patch up the crew. Shepherd Book had received a contusion to his forehead from Dobson; Zoe had severe chest bruising from a shotgun blast to her body armor, and the Captain had a bullet graze to his left upper triceps, although he refused to let me look at it. I slowly pieced together their story and it appears they were ambushed while making a deal and barely escaped. Or maybe it was they who did the ambushing. That point is not yet clear”

“Now we are on this ship, my sister and I. For how long I do not know. In a way, I am grateful to the crew of Serenity. Another captain might have already checked the Cortex and learned there is a substantial reward for us and turned us in. I still cannot trust them, with perhaps the exception of Book, Inara, and Kaylee. The others are a bit too mistrusting around strangers and leading the life they lead, I am not too surprised. I believe Jayne would turn us in in an instance. Reynolds, Zoe and Wash are a different matter. She calls Reynolds “sir” like they are back in the war. Wash seems to be totally smithen with her. I wonder why a pilot of his skills is here and she must be the answer. For that matter, Kaylee seems competent enough to also be on a better ship….”

She almost threw the journal at him but restrained herself, knowing that he had wrote this a year ago and he had come a long way since then. Kaylee never wanted to admit it but she knew Serenity did not look like much at first glance. It’s only when you got to know her did you fall in love with her.

Her tummy rumbled a bit and she knew she should have eaten more for dinner. But it had been Simon’s turn to cook and he was, well, kind of helpless in the kitchen. A cup of tea and a few biscuits would be nice. She wanted to read more and this might be her only chance. All feelings of guilt were gone as she desperately wanted to know more, especially about his feelings toward her as they started their rocky road to romance. She took the book and slowly left the room, headed upstairs, making sure no one was awake. Kaylee fixed herself some tea, grabbed a few biscuits and headed back down to the passenger lounge where she curled up on a sofa, sipped her tea, nibbled on a biscuit and prepared to read a lot more.

COMMENTS



POST YOUR COMMENTS

You must log in to post comments.

YOUR OPTIONS

OTHER FANFICS BY AUTHOR

River's Run - Part 19
Things come to a head on Londinium as the plan to win Mal's freedom begins to unravel.

River's Run - Part 18
Mal’s heading for a hangman’s noose. Will a rescue party come in the nick of time?

River's Run - Part 17
As the crew rests and heals, Shin and his confederates take a step closer to power, and Mal faces a new, deadly dilemma.

River's Run - Part 16
As Simon patches up the crew, Mal and his lawyer make plans, and Badger and his cousin have some unexpected visitors.

River's Run - Part 15
Mal finds a new friend on Londinium, his crew makes contact with River and Zoe, and events come to head on Whitefall.

River's Run - Part 14
Battle rages through Serenity as the crew tangles with an Alliance boarding party.

River's Run - Part 13
Shock and a sense of tragedy fill Serenity as the crew struggles to deal with Derek's betrayal. Meanwhile, the Operative comes a step closer to finding Serenity.

River's Run - Part 12
Mal strikes back at the Alliance, a little trip to the bank doesn't go as planned, and the Operative reaches out to River and Derek.

River's Run - Part 11
The Operative makes a plan to trap Serenity, escape plans are made, and those long separated are together once again.

River's Run - Part 10
Inara makes a date with Paulo Chase, Mal gets back his first love, and Shin plans the next move in the galactic chess match.