PART 3

The party was in full swing by five o’clock and Michael was pretty sure the police would come eventually and shut them down for noise violations if nothing else. Not wanting to leave his crew to be mauled by the masses, Michael was taking them around, introducing them to what guests he did recognize – which wasn’t many. He’d never made friends with the neighbors when he lived here. Michael wasn’t a fan of crowds, but given that most everyone here was jovial and half-drunk, he was managing okay. He wouldn’t be able to talk at all if Courtney weren’t standing next to him.

Courtney had sparkly brown eyes and soft, curly hair that fell to her shoulders. Although she never wore makeup around the ship, she did tonight. Her outfit was simple, but classy, and the modesty of the cut only made her look sexier. Even Cole did a double take when he saw her and gave Michael a nod of approval.

Michael smiled and waved, steering his crew over to meet his siblings, not even sure why he was nervous – except for their great tendencies to embarrass him in public. Cole and Zoë were standing by the fire pit, arguing over whether it was too early to start the bonfire and roast marshmallows. When they asked, Michael rendered the judgment that until the crowd thinned, they could not in good conscious start a fire of any respectable size. Michael made a quick round of introductions, then bounced on his feet, looking for an excuse to move on, but with Cole and Courtney both standing near him, the soother effect compounded, and everything felt quiet and peaceful.

“This can’t be your sister,” Berke said graciously, taking Zoë’s hand and kissing her fingers by way of greeting.

“Wait until he introduces you to the Aunts and Uncles,” Cole quipped. “We’ve redefined the term ‘blended family.’”

“How do you do?” Zoë said politely.

Michael looked quizzically at Zoë, surprised by her formal tone. She and Berke were staring at each other, neither quite sure if they’d encountered a former friend or foe.

“I know you from –”

“That restaurant on Perth,” Zoë finished quickly. She touched the scars on her neck and shifted uncomfortably. “It was crowded and they sat us at the same table.”

It was a lie, but a practiced one and Berke did not contest.

“Of course,” he said stiffly. “That must be it.”

Zoë tapped her neck again and Cole shot her a look.

“Zo –”

“Excuse me, I have to … sit,” she said. Cole excused them courteously, and he guided Zoë away, holding her steady with a hand on her elbow. Michael watched the whole thing unfold speechlessly, feeling powerless.

“She’s been ill,” Michael finally said and Courtney touched his arm.

*~*

Cole took Zoë in the house and led her to the dining room to sit down. She’d been getting tenser over the last half hour, but he’d assumed it was because they were arguing over building a fire. Zoë kept twitching and pressing her fingers against her neck, like the old injury was flaring up and Cole hadn’t been around long enough to know if this was normal. He knew she’d been dialing back the meds so she could drink tonight, but given the way she’d reacted to Berke, Cole worried.

“He knew you, and don’t feed me that crap about Perth,” Cole said sharply. The hardest part about catching up on Zoë’s campaign was the fact that she kept all her contact information in her head.

She nodded, shivered, and closed her eyes, not making a sound. Her face was smudged with dirt and soot from the fire pit, and he started to think that she’d been arguing in favor of the fire because she was cold. He got a blanket from the basket by the door (Mama always kept them there for when she was sitting on the swing at night) and then he wet a wash rag and dabbed at Zoë’s face. She looked a little pale, which only accentuated the red scars on her skin.

“Can I get you anything?” Cole offered gently.

Zoë shook her head again and hugged the blanket more tightly across her shoulders. Cole paced around the dining table and looked out the back door, trying to see where Uncle Simon had got off to. He saw Michael, still taking the crew around.

“Is Berke connected to the men that hurt you?” Cole asked quietly.

When Zoë shook her head, no, Cole breathed a prayer of gratitude. It seemed her current state was a medical one, not an emotional one.

“No,” Zoë whispered hoarsely. “Just surprised to see him here.”

“When you spend your days handling secrets, it’s strange to encounter someone in their real life,” Cole empathized. It was one of the most frustrating parts of his work for the Guild – sharing delicate secrets with a person and then pretending he didn’t know them twenty minutes later. “What’s his secret?”

“It’s his,” she answered curtly. He hated when she did that, but even though they were working together, she refused to share half her knowledge.

“Is Michael safe with him?” Cole checked. With the kinds of secrets Zoë kept, Michael was always their first concern.

“I have no doubt,” she said, then winced, biting her knuckle to keep in a cry.

“Are your pain meds down here or in my –your –our room?” Cole asked her, wondering if he should bypass the meds and go straight for the doctor. Zoë had never lived in this house, but when she’d moved back here to recuperate, Cole’s room had essentially been converted into her recovery ward, and he wasn’t sure if there was a medicinal refrigerator was among the equipment.

“Kitchen. Uncle Simon said I couldn’t have any more until after six,” Zoë said weakly, rocking herself and swallowing the pain.

“It’s 5:58. He’ll understand.”

*~*

Michael took Courtney’s hand off his arm, and kept walking. He felt stronger when she touched him, but if he found strength to speak his mind at the moment, he’d be demanding that Berke explain what had just happened, and he didn’t think that would be appropriate in this setting. Both Berke and Zoë had seemed more surprised than anything else. Shaking off the cold sense and moving on, Michael continued his tour of the yard and found Uncle Jayne handing out kabobs.

“This is my Uncle Jayne,” he told the others. “He’s the source of at least half my guns.”

“Hey, runt,” Jayne greeted, punching Michael hard on the shoulder. “I want my cannon back.”

“What are you going to use it for?” Michael complained and Uncle Jayne gave him a playfully devious look. Michael hadn’t pulled out the cannon yet, but just the fact that he possessed it had earned him quite a rep.

“That is seven feet of truly remarkable firepower,” Jarvis commented. It was the first thing he’d said to anyone besides hello. “They don’t even manufacture them anymore, they’ve been banned on so many worlds.”

Jayne grinned evilly and Michael knew it was a threat that he’d be royally embarrassed in the next five minutes if he didn’t return the thing. The rescue op for Vera had left him hog-tied, and while it was hilarious to tell the story, it was not something he wanted to relive – ever.

“I’ll pay you,” Michael said quickly and pleadingly. “Just …” He took a breath and started again. “Uncle Jayne, this is Berke, Jarvis, and Courtney.”

“That cannon was yours?” Jarvis asked and Uncle Jayne nodded. “Can I ask you something …”

Michael was glad when the two of them went off to talk more about guns and less about hog-tying him. Though, knowing Jarvis, Michael would sleep with one eye open for awhile.

*~*

River’s baby girl was five months old and squirming like a mad child in Inara’s arms. Baby Serry wanted to sit up on her own, and as long as Inara kept a firm hand on her back, she’d stay upright. The little girl was incredibly amused by the way Inara’s beaded blouse felt and the way her jewelry captured the light of the setting sun. She had chocolate brown eyes, mocha-colored skin, and the same nappy curls that Inara had spent most of Little Zoë’s childhood learning how to care for. Zoë had taken a shot at styling it earlier, but most of her personal hair products weren’t suited for babies. At this age, it didn’t matter too much. They’d put a bright red headband on her and declared her adorable, and after two hours, she’d finally stopped pulling the bow off and trying to eat it.

Inara couldn’t believe how big Serry had gotten in such a short time. She was only two pounds when she was born, and had spent her first two months in an incubator. The fact that she even attempted to sit up on her own at this stage was remarkable. Inara was starting to wish she’d picked a different top, though, because if Serry succeeded in her mission to rip the beads from the fabric, she’d choke on them for sure. She lifted the baby over her head, kissed her nose, and then turned her facing out instead. Taking the change in stride, Serry immediately started yanking at her own boots.

Kaylee handed Serry a cloth napkin to fiddle with instead, then sighed and folded one arm to pillow her head as she lay down. They were sitting at a long picnic table, which no one had used for eating, but everyone had used to set down spent dishes. Kaylee looked ready to fall asleep on the narrow bench, and she snuggled close to Inara’s thigh. River was dancing around the yard with Emily, but she kept checking in every ten minutes to make sure Serry was okay.

“She looks well,” Inara said, smiling as River laughed at one of Emily’s jokes.

Kaylee opened her eyes briefly. “I’m just glad she’s on meds again.”

River had stopped all her medication for the term of her pregnancy. It was difficult for Kaylee and Simon both, and had she not been caring after Zoë, Inara would’ve been there helping.

Kaylee chuckled to herself. “You shoulda seen her pregnant, though. When the baby started kicking, she waved her arms in the air and started screaming, “I’m under attack!” Scared Simon to death, but she was just playing.”

Inara laughed too. Serry dropped the napkin she was playing with and reached for Kaylee’s hair, nearly tipping over. Kaylee shifted so she was lying on her back, and then took Serry from Inara and laid her on her chest. Serry made a few sounds, but in the end, she snuggled up to Kaylee’s neck and closed her eyes, ready to sleep.

“I hope she didn’t mess with you too much,” Inara said sympathetically, stroking Kaylee’s hair.

“Once she got through detox, she kept her wits pretty well,” Kaylee said reflectively. “We hoped she’d keep stable enough to try breast feeding when the baby came out, but things went straight to hell within day and we had to start the meds again. It’s sad. She wanted it so much. I’m glad she got to do it at least once, though – hold her baby to her breast.”

Inara nodded wistfully. She’d been in the hospital so long after Cole’s birth, that she hadn’t been able to breast feed, and she’d felt robbed. She was glad to get a second chance with Michael.

“Is she safe with the baby?” Inara asked, pulling the hood up on Serry’s parka so her head wouldn’t get cold.

“Always,” Kaylee assured. “If she even gets a notion that something ain’t right, she’ll hand off the baby or put her down some place safe. She’s real careful. Simon’s had to make a few adjustments for the change in hormones or something, but what she’s on is the same stuff she was on before the pregnancy, which really never stopped working for her. Honestly, I think that’s the miracle cocktail that’s gonna carry her through the rest of her life. She still has nightmares on occasion, but the hallucinations and blackouts have all but stopped.”

Inara fingered her necklace absently, thinking more of her own condition than River’s. “Do you think that miracle drug is what restored her enough to conceive in the first place?”

Kaylee sat up slowly with the baby and looked Inara squarely in the eye, sensing the uncertainty behind the words. “If you want to talk miracle medicines, you’ll have to talk to Jamie.”

Inara ducked her head, found a sociable mask, and changed the subject. “It’s a shame he couldn’t be here.”

“He couldn’t get away. He’s just starting to get results on all those clinical trials and he’s working like crazy,” Kaylee said, her voice carrying a mixture of pride and disappointment. “He’s on his third paper this month. I swear, he’s brought in so much grant money he’s practically running that lab. If they don’t give him a degree soon, I think I’ll just die.”

Zoë’s cancer and the impromptu reunion on Ariel last year had been such a turning point for Jamie. Since he’d finally stopped trying to undo Sky’s death, Jamie had taken on a new mission to create a foundation for revealing all the research about diagnostic medicine and drug interactions Simon had gained from treating River all these years.

“He publishes under the name S. J. Tam,” Kaylee said with a secretive smile. “That’s his quiet way of given his dad first credit. Simon actually shed a tear when he saw it in the journal, but you didn’t hear that from me.”

Jamie certainly had his mother’s heart, and in cheered Inara to know that he was finding peace again.

“Has he talked to Jayne since Ariel?”

“I don’t know,” Kaylee shrugged. “After the Osiris heist, Jayne called me to check up on him a couple times. Jamie hardly ever calls anymore. I haven’t heard from him at all this month, but I thought maybe the group of us could wave him and mail him some stale cake or something.”

“We could do that,” Inara agreed. “Maybe sooner rather than later. You look ready to fall asleep.”

“Oh, you know how newborns are,” Kaylee said, patting Serry lightly on the back. With her boys and Kaylee’s twins being so close in age, there was that period where Serenity was a nursery more than a cargo ship. No had one slept for a year and a half.

“I’m so glad she didn’t have twins.”

“At least you only had to go through one pregnancy,” Inara teased.

“Sure you had two, but you don’t have any stretch marks,” Kaylee complained. “How is that even possible? And look at you! I’ve borrowed all your face creams for twenty years, and I’ve still aged more than you.”

“I’ll grow old eventually,” Inara said, and immediately regretted it, for the emotion it stirred. With a charismatic smile she added, “But then I’ll start wearing a veil. Will you be joining Genny on her vessel now that the baby is born?”

“Not sure about Genny’s ship, but we’re leaving the beach,” Kaylee said. “The sand keeps mucking up the engine on my jumper.”

“Paradise has its flaws, I suppose,” Inara said, laughingly.

Kaylee sighed dreamily. “All those years on Serenity, I dreamed about lying on a beach under the warm sun, listening to ocean waves, and staring at the open sky. Now I dream about lying on my hammock next to a warm radiator, listening to the hum of the engine, and flying through that open sky I’ve been staring at.”

They both looked up, but the sky wasn’t yet dark enough to show the stars. The crescent moon was visible, and that was enough.

“I got a good lead on a job,” Kaylee continued. “Someone I know from way back.”

“Let me know if it pans out,” Inara said, glad for another venue by which she could live vicariously.

“You’ll be the first.”

*~*

Heaving a sigh, Michael surveyed the crowd. Things were getting loud, and his hearing aid was having trouble filtering. He vaguely heard Berke talking, but couldn’t make much sense of it.

“What?” he asked, turning to look at Berke so he could lip read.

“I got business here, Shorty,” Berke said patiently. He was accustomed to repeating things for Michael. “I said find me your Pop so I can finish my business and start to party.”

Michael froze a moment, and then turned his head, trying to sense what direction they should go. His father was near the house, but so were about fifty guests. They could get a better view standing on the porch.

“How come everyone in your family is taller than you?” Courtney teased as they wove through the crowd.

“I broke one too many bones as a child,” Michael said, not bothering to mention that most of them had broken in a single fall.

“Don’t worry,” Mal said, springing up behind him and leaning on Michael’s shoulder. “It’s still in his genes. I’m sure your children will turn out fine.”

Michael cringed and felt his skin go flush. He closed his eyes, trying to turn back time and prevent the awkward, embarrassing moment from occurring, but sadly, he didn’t have those kinds of powers. Courtney bit her lip and looked away, but Berke chuckled at the both of them.

“Have you seen Mama?” Baba asked, apparently ignorant of the humiliation he’d just caused.

“She’s talking to Aunt Kaylee,” Michael answered, rubbing his head. It took him a moment to realize that that was read knowledge and he hadn’t actually seen the ladies anywhere. He was starting to have trouble with words, but forced them anyway. “No. I haven’t seen them.”

“Good,” Mal grinned, rubbing his palms together roguishly. “Is this the man with my space ship?”

“That would be me,” Berke said, holding out his hand to shake with Baba.

“Oh, yeah. Berke, my father,” Michael said, squinting through the pressure, wanting to hand off Berke quickly so he could get away from the crowd.

“Let’s talk business and let these kids have fun,” Baba said. Before he left, he took Courtney’s hand and kissed it suavely. “Miss.”

Michael stood still for a moment longer, waiting for the embarrassment to clear the area, and when he came to his senses, her realized that Courtney was standing next to him, clinging to his arm.

*~*

Part 4