She was a year and a half older than him, and right now he didn’t exactly know what to do. He patted her arm ineffectually.

“It’s okay, Bethie. They’ll come for us.”

“I know,” she sniffed, wiping the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand.

He swallowed, hard. He knew it was totally the wrong thing to be thinking, but in the last few months she’d really blossomed, and since her seventeenth birthday she’d become a really pretty girl. He corrected himself. Young woman.

She leaned against him, and he felt his muscles tense.

“I’m cold, Ethan,” she said, trying to snuggle down like she had when she was a child.

“Oh … okay.” With infinite care he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“Thanks.”

For a long time they sat quietly, just staring at the tiny cell, at the dirty straw on the floor and the functional, if disgusting, toilet in the corner.

“You know, they’re going to think it’s our fault,” she eventually whispered.

“I know.”

“I mean, if I hadn’t wanted to go back to that shop, and you hadn’t insisted on coming with me, we neither of us would be in this position.”

“Yeah.”

“Uncle Mal is going to be so cross.”

“Yeah.”

“And Daddy’s going to be mad, Mom is going to shout, and Auntie Frey -”

“Hey, my Ma is gonna understand.”

She looked up at him. “You think?”

“I know.” And he did. His mother certainly would understand. She’d known how he felt about Bethie since before he did.

“You should’ve knocked me out and dragged me back screaming.”

“If’n I’d knocked you out, you wouldn’t be able to scream,” he pointed out.

“Oh, yeah.” She chuckled, and it warmed his heart.

She snuggled closer, and other things began to warm.

Cold space. Think of the black. And freezing showers. Uncle Simon’s face.

“Where do you think they’re taking us?” she asked, unaware of his thoughts. Luckily, they’d agreed not to read each other when they hit puberty, more than uncomfortable about the random thoughts and feelings going through the other’s mind.

“Don’t know.” He shrugged. “Slavers tend to use the temporary markets, and I ain’t got an idea where the closest is.” They’d been on Calliope, just having a few hours relaxation while their parents made a delivery, when they were taken off the street. “But they’re coming.”

“I know.” She sniffed again. “It’s just … embarrassing.”

He had to smile. “Yeah.”

“Still cold,” she said softly.

Wondering where this gentlemanly streak had come from, he took off his shirt and wrapped it around them both, and he felt her cold hands on his chest.

Snow. Glaciers. The airlock. The … oh, merciful Buddha.

She’d moved around him, until she was sitting between his thighs, her body pressed against his, and he had to close his eyes not to see her honey-coloured hair under his chin. She snaked her arms around him, pressing as close as she could.

Bathfuls of ice. Dad. Cao.

Her eyes had widened. For a girl brought up on a transport ship with a crew possessing some of the highest libidos in the ‘verse, and being a natural Reader to boot, she was surprisingly innocent about the effect she could have on men, even those as young as him.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

She didn’t move. “Is that …”

“Yes. Sorry.”

“You know it’s only natural. A normal, hormonal response to mental, physical and psychological stimuli that -”

“Bethie, that ain’t helping.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“And I think you’ve been spending way too much time with Auntie River.” He groaned as she shifted slightly.

“Sorry.” She went to move away, but suddenly found his arms around her.

“Don’t,” he said quickly before his brain could interfere with his mouth. “Just … don’t.” He pulled her close.

For a second she resisted, then melted against him. “Oh.”

“I won’t do anything,” he promised.

“And if I want you to?”

He stared at her, wondering if she had gone as feng luh as her aunt. “What?”

She smiled slowly. “Not now. And certainly not here. But …”

He swallowed again. “Are you saying you …” Now his throat was so dry he could hardly speak. “You have … feelings for me?”

“Ethan, we’ve been friends forever. Of course I do.”

“Oh.” He felt disappointed.

“But maybe in other ways too.”

“Oh?”

In response she lifted her head enough so that their faces were on a level and gently placed her lips on his. He could feel the delicate pressure, and for just a moment their tongues met, then they were separate again.

“And it’s perfectly normal,” she went on in a reasonable tone of voice as she settled back against him. “Your father was fourteen, so perhaps it runs in the family.”

He could still taste her. “And I’ll be sixteen in a few weeks. But I haven’t …” He stopped, knowing a deep red tide had spread up his chest and coloured his cheeks.

“You’re still a virgin,” she supplied.

Coughing a little, he managed to say, “Yes.”

“So am I.” She sighed. “Not much opportunity to be anything else with the men of Serenity around.”

He looked down sharply at her. “So I’m just the only one available?”

Her tawny eyes fixed on his. “No, silly. I picked you. I don’t know why, but … I like you.”

“Oh.” His brain short-circuited.

“Perhaps we could go on a date. Somewhere off ship.”

Quickly he mentally counted through the small amount of cash at his disposal from the one job he‘d been allowed to go on. “Um, sure.”

“Somewhere cheap.”

“Are you reading me?”

“No. Of course not. But I understand.”

Dammit, she probably did. There was nothing happened on board their home that everyone didn’t know about.

“You know, Uncle Jayne offered to take you and Ben to one of his favourite houses. You know, the ones he used to visit before getting squicky with Auntie River,” she said idly, tracing her finger through the tiny number of hairs on his chest and up the almost invisible scar from his heart operation. “Only Uncle Mal offered to put him out the airlock.” She giggled, sounding like the girl she used to be and not the young woman she’d become.

“I wouldn’t want my first time to be with a whore,” he said firmly. “Or any time, for that matter.”

“Like father, like son.”

“I guess.”

“But I’m not ready yet.”

He ran his hand up her back. “I know. And I ain’t gonna push. Not now or ever.”

“Like father, like son,” she repeated, a smile on her face. Her eyes closed. “Auntie River’s angry.”

His eyebrows raised. “They’re coming?”

“Nearly here.”

“Good.” He settled back, feeling her weight on his chest. “Good.”

---

The slavers didn’t know what hit them when an angry and well-armed selection of family members boarded their vessel, wiping most of them out before they could even blink.

“Where are they?” Mal asked, holding up the captain by his collar.

The man coughed, blood running down his chin. “In the hold,” he managed to croak. “Cells.”

“Door code.”

“Six seven eight three.”

“Shiny.” He looked at his first mate. “Zoe, I’m gonna leave these sha gua chun zi in your capable hands.”

“Yes, sir.”

The man on the floor looked terrified.

River and Jayne were already waiting when the others arrived, and River quickly input the release code. All the doors opened, and frightened faces peered out.

“See to ‘em,” Mal ordered. “We’ll take ‘em back to Calliope, let the Feds sort out who’s who.”

“Sure, Mal,” the big man said.

“Where’s Bethie?” Simon asked, his gun in his hand.

“Here,” Freya responded, leaning in a doorway.

They crowded behind her.

“What on earth …”

“Hmmn.”

“They’re young.”

“That’s no excuse.” Simon went to walk into the cell to wake them up, but Freya put her hand on his arm.

“You let Kaylee know they’re safe. We’ll bring them along.”

The doctor’s eyes narrowed, and he was about to argue, then realised this was one he wasn’t going to win. He backed away, heading for the com.

Mal leaned on the wall, staring into the cell. “There’s gonna be ructions about this, ain’t there?”

“I think there might,” Freya agreed.

“Think I can reintroduce my ‘no shipboard romances’ rule?”

“No.”

“Pity.”

“They’re just sleeping, Mal.”

“Yeah, and my son’s bare-chested.”

“He’s a gentleman.” She smiled and wound her arm through his. “Like his father.”

“I ain’t a gentleman.”

“Of course you are.” She raised her head and kissed him briefly. “Now, come on. We need to wake these two sleeping beauties and get them home.”

“Are you gonna have words with ‘em?”

“Oh, yes.”

“And about running off on Calliope?”

“Definitely.”

Mal grinned. “Good. Can I watch?”