Part Three

Simon had been nearly invisible since the encounter he and Tala had had her first night on the ship. She hadn’t seen him very much, and when she did, he made a funny face and disappeared off somewhere with a weak excuse. She had decided that when he was ready to get to know her, he’d come to her. Until then, she’d just relax. She sat on the bridge, watching the stars fly by. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Wash asked her, seeing the whistful expression on her face. She smiled. “Yes, it is. There are so many stars…” “And from up here you can see them all.” He sighed, content. He thought to the anniversary he and Zoë were supposed to celebrate soon, and how much trouble he’d be in. “Did you ever just sit there and try to count them all?” Tala asked him glancing his way. He snapped from his thoughts. “Uh, no. Too much work.” He laughed, and Tala smiled. “What’s too much work?” Mal appeared on the bridge, looking from one person to the other. Wash, distracted, was steadying the course, and Tala decided the moment had been ruined. “Putting up with you.” She said simply, and with a little grin, as she made her exit. She could hear him talking to Wash as she left. “Am I the only one who’s real confused here?” “Ah, women!” Wash said with a sigh. “Gotta’ love ‘em.” “No.” The captain said flatly, “I don’t.” Laughing quietly, Tala walked down toward the engine room, to find Kaylee. She wasn’t around, and so Tala figured she was playing with River in the cargo hold. Next, Tala walked to her bunk, singing to herself and picking up a sweater on the way to block out the cold of the Black. “Cold?” She jumped but tried vainly to hide it. Simon was sitting on the sofa, leaning back tiredly. It had been a long day. Someone, he couldn’t remember who, had said she’d gotten hurt too. He glanced for sign of an injury and his eyes came to rest on her hand. She followed his gaze and hid her hand in the sleeve of the sweater. He wondered why she hadn’t come to get it treated. Tala nodded. She just felt like hiding out in her room, feeling overwhelmed by everything, but she didn’t want to drive away any other crew members. The only one she’d really clicked with was Kaylee, and even then, was the girl just being nice? Mal she kept butting heads with, but part of her loved his bullheaded nature. Zoë she hadn’t interacted with much, and her husband, Wash, was sweet enough, but taken. That left Jayne, Inara, Simon, and River. River she still had a couple rough edges with. Simon was cute-REALLY cute- but seemingly taken by Kaylee. Inara kept to herself mostly, occasionally emerging from her shuttle in a rush of intense personality and intimidating manner. Jayne… “Need a blanket or something?” Her thoughts were interrupted by his question. “Oh, no, thank you. I have some in my bunk.” “Something wrong?” He asked. She knew he was trying for conversation, and so she walked over and boldly sat next to him on the sofa. He turned to face her. “No, just…thinking.” He nodded this time. “About what?” She looked to him, unsure what to say. “Nevermind. I…That was rude of me.” She put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, Simon.” She told him. She laughed shortly and returned her hand to her lap. “I’m not sure what I’m thinking.” “That’s a good start.” Simon said sarcastically. “I know.” Tala muttered, playing with her fingers. “What about you?” She looked up. He looked nervous. “Um…I don’t think…” He looked down. “You don’t want to know.” Kaylee’s smiling face flashed into Tala’s mind and Tala startled slightly. Her heart pounded. She looked to Simon and she felt drawn to him, but memory of Kaylee haunted her. This wasn’t right. She couldn’t do this. Could she? Kaylee and Simon weren’t doing anything, as far as Tala had learned…did that mean Simon wasn’t interested? If he wasn’t interested in Kaylee, then didn’t that mean he was open territory? “I do.” She told him, trying to quiet the thoughts in her head. “Tell me, please?” She put her hand on his for confidence. “Well-“ “Simon? Simon have you seen-?” Kaylee’s face flashed in Tala’s mind again, only it wasn’t just an image, and it wasn’t smiling. Kaylee was directly in front of them. Tala felt cold suddenly, like she was doing something forbidden. Guilt filled her. What was she doing? “Oh.” Kaylee’s eyes were wide, and shame flashed across her face, mixed with something else. Tala knew it was jealousy. She yanked her hand away from Simon’s. “I…I’m sorry I didn’t know you were…I…what River? I’m coming!” Kaylee turned and fled up the stairway, and the moment had been extinguished. Tala looked at Simon, who was watching the stairway. He looked to Tala, then back to the stairs, then to Tala again. She knew he was deciding. “Go. She’ll be here longer anyway.” She told him. He didn’t move. Instead he leaned over awkwardly and kissed her gently. She barely had enough time to register what exactly she was feeling before he backed away, taking a deep breath. “I shouldn’t have done that.” He scratched the back of his head. “That made things considerably more difficult.” “I could have told you it would.” Tala told him. He laughed quietly, and inched toward the stairs. She flapped her hands at him. “Go! Go!” He seemed indecisive, but he went up the stairs quickly. Tala sighed. She hadn’t been expecting that. It was nice, very nice, but she knew deep down that he’d be much better off with Kaylee. She hoped Kaylee appreciated this. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* The entire crew was in the galley when Tala arrived for dinner later on. Simon sat beside Kaylee, who looked up to Tala from the end of the table with a smile, as if all had been forgiven. River sat on Simon’s left, and Jayne next to her. Next to Jayne was Wash, then Zoë on the end, and Mal next to her. Book sat on Mal’s right, and there was an empty seat between Book and where Inara was just sitting down next to Kaylee. Tala sat and listened as River was explaining something that had happened in her and Simon’s childhood. She was already mostly through the story, so Tala only got the end part. The part where everyone laughed at the joke she didn’t get. “Did you really say that Simon?” Kaylee asked him. He blushed. “Yes…” He looked to River. “I can’t believe you remembered that…I didn’t even remember that.” River smiled, pleased at the table’s reaction to her memory. “Now you do.” The table snickered again, at Simon’s expense. Tala reached for a roll and Jayne held up the basket, offering it to her. She took a roll as he took one himself, and their hands brushed. She almost pulled her hand away too quickly. What was that? Tala, you can’t possibly be attracted to every man on this ship! She snapped at herself. She looked at Mal and her emotions righted themselves. That was helpful. She looked to Kaylee and their eyes met. Tala wasn’t sure what she saw in the younger girl’s eyes, whether it was dislike or curiosity in why Tala didn’t run off with Simon when she probably could have. Tala couldn’t explain it herself, so she knew she would never be able to explain it to Kaylee. She gave the girl a small smile, and the uneasy smile was returned. Simon looked at them both, a slightly nervous expression on his face, as if he were afraid a fist fight between the two women would break out across the table right then and there. Tala knew there wouldn’t be one, and she was sure Kaylee was too, so she broke the eye contact with them both and tried to catch the conversation from Inara. “So Blackwell didn’t like the price and he sent his goons after you?” She was saying. Mal, catching a dribble of soup from his mouth with the back of his hand, nodded. Or was that a shrug? The man was so hard to read sometimes. Inara felt annoyed at the lack of details. She wanted to at least know why she was forced to send her client away prematurely. It had been rude, and not enough apologies in the world could get her the money she’d lost there. It would mess with her reputation as well, and that she couldn’t afford. “More or less.” He finally told her. She sent an involuntary glare his way. He simply grinned in return. This frustrated her more, and Tala nearly laughed at the ruffled feathers Inara sent across the table when she passed the bowl of veggies. That was a relationship. Tala wondered if they had ever gone out. Wash had noticed Inara’s silent reaction, and he and Tala shared a laughing glance. She looked beside him. Jayne was silent. Tala wondered if this was normal. It didn’t seem it. She tilted her head to see his face, without letting anyone know what she was doing, only flicking her eyes occasionally his way to look. He was playing with the food. He looked up and, for a brief moment, almost met his gaze. She looked back to her food and ate in silence. He cleared his throat and she looked up, seemingly nonchalant. “Uh,” He thought for a second, “Tala?” She nodded. “You, uh gots a job or somthin’, uh, you know, where you come from?” The table went awkwardly silent. Tala couldn’t tell if it was because they were curious themselves, or because Jayne had made a move toward conversation. She looked down and put her spoon beside her bowl, and her hands in her lap. “No, I don’t. Never had a job.” She said truthfully. “So, where doya’ get, you know, money?” Kaylee asked quietly. Tala felt relieved the girl was speaking to her, but she had a feeling Kaylee couldn’t stay mad at anyone for long. “I…I don’t.” Tala told her. Kaylee’s eyes widened, and she looked up to the captain with a pleading look. “Oh no. Kaylee we barely got ‘nough money to feed our mouths, let alone-“ “I don’t want your charity.” Tala said flatly. “No one can ever really afford it anyway, can they?” She didn’t look at the captain, but his breathing had changed. “Kaylee, I trade things, instead of paying for them.” Jayne perked up at Tala’s words. She raised a bored eyebrow at him, knowing already what he thought. She continued to explain herself to a curious crew. “I find parts worth things, and trade them to mechanics for food, or for something to trade to someone else, until I get a little money, or what I need. It’s difficult and annoying sometimes, but it works.” Kaylee nodded, seemingly slightly horrified at such a way of life. Tala knew she wouldn’t understand, because she didn’t know enough about Tala to pass a true judgement. “What about when there’s nothing to trade?” Inara asked, genuinely curious. “What then?” Tala shrugged. “Then I go hungry.” “That’s horrible.” Wash told her, looking at his food with an appreciation he hadn’t before. “I get by.” She told the table. They were all lost in their own thoughts for a little while, and River broke the silence first. She had stopped eating, and her eyes were wide and unfocused. She stared at nothing on the table, but appeared to be looking deep inside herself for the answer to some unasked question. “They’re coming.” “Who?” “They know we invited her on board. They know she resides with us. They will stop at nothing to get their…abomination to the Alliance.” She looked up to Tala, and made eye contact. Her heart was pounding in her ears, and sounds and images passed through her mind. Tala visibly shivered. The crew stopped eating. “Wash, go check it out, will ya’? The more we learn about this girl, the more I begin to trust her.” Mal looked somewhat affectionately at River. “Yessir.” Wash wiped his mouth with a napkin and jogged to the bridge to scout for Alliance activity. Tala was on edge. “Time for you to explain some things.” Mal said flatly to Tala. She looked at the ground at first, then raised her gaze to meet his. “Why are they after you?” There were a couple moments of silence while Tala decided what to tell him. The less he knew the better, really. “My father betrayed the Alliance a long time ago. I’m a decendant. They want me dead, like the rest of my family. They want to eliminate his blood from the ‘verse.” The silence deepend. “How did he-?” “Captain!” Wash was jogging back to the galley. “We got Alliance. I don’t think they’ve spotted us yet. Want me to change course?” Mal looked from Wash to Tala. “Give me a reason why I shouldn’t turn you in.” Inara gasped sharply. “Mal!” He didn’t aknowledge Inara in the least. “You can’t possibly just hand her to them!” “Watch me.” His tone was threatening, and Tala knew he was a man of his word. Tala searched his face for a clue as to what appeal she should take. She decided honesty would work best. “Captain, sir, I’ve been running all my life. You all’s the closest I have to friends anywhere, and I have no family anymore.” She studied his reactions to her words. His expression was flat, and solid. “I worked with Blackwell so I could get away from the Alliance. All I want to do is find a nice border planet and disappear. Haven’t you ever just wanted to be free? To get away?” The solid expression he had been holding twitched a bit. She went on. “You have Serenity because you’re running too, aren’t you?” The entire table was staring at the two. Wash watched from the doorway. “I know you understand what it’s like to be just out of the reach of the Alliance. It’s a thrill at first, knowing you can get away if you try. Then you realize that it’s more than you really want to risk, but as long as you’re free, you’re content. You have to understand that. If you don’t, you might as well throw me out the airlock now, because they’ll do worse things to me than kill me.” He studied her, and the others studied them. She didn’t break eye contact until his mouth opened. “Wash, change course. We’re runnin’ before they see us.” “Yes, Sir.” Wash jogged off to the bridge again, and the table was less uneasy. Tala knew that hitting whatever nerve she hit had worked. She had to figure out what nerve it was though. “Just ‘cause we’re runnin’ don’t mean I like you none, got it?” Tala nodded. “Jus’ means I like what you want from this ‘verse.” She broke eye contact first purposely, and he looked around the table. “What’re ya’ll lookin’ at? Eat.” The table started out silently eating, and gradually a conversation was started, and the crew and Tala relaxed. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* “Thank you, Little One.” Tala said to River as she headed back to her bunk. River smiled. “Glad to be of use. I didn’t think they’d believe me. They don’t know what to think of me…sometimes I don’t know what to think of them.” She was drifting into thought, and Tala gave the girl a hug and slid open her bunk door. She screamed immediately as movement in the dark caught her eyes. “Why the hell are you in my Gorram bunk?!” She yelled. The man dropped what he was holding and looked like an animal caught in a trap. Book appeared at Tala’s side, as did a curious River, and Kaylee. “Jayne?” Kaylee asked, disbelieving. The large man looked around frantically, as if looking for an excuse on the walls of the room. He found none, and stuttered a story. “I, uh, I was lookin’ fer somethin’.” He told them. Tala cocked her hip, and put her hands on her sides, glaring at him. Her things had been flung all over the place, and her pictures of her loved ones scattered the floor. He had been holding one a second ago. “Really? What were you looking for?” Tala demanded, enraged. River backed away, shaking her head, and hugging herself tightly. Tala figured that, if nothing else, River was hearing her angry thoughts that were running through her head. “Uh…” Jayne scratched the back of his head and looked around at the mess he’d made. He pulled an item at random from the pile nearest him, and held it up. Her mother’s coat. “Explain this!” He challenged her. She glared at him, and the others, curious themselves, looked to her. “It belonged to my mother. It’s all I have left of her and I’d appreciate it if you’d get out of my bunk!” Jayne dropped the coat and lifted a large boot to start out of the room. Tala switched on the lights in her room and ran forward, yelling for him to stop. She grabbed a photo from under his foot that he would have crushed. She held it close and shoved him from behind, pushing him out of her bunk and out into the hallway. “Get!” She shoved hard, “Out!” He didn’t seem the least bit ashamed of himself. Instead he only seemed to regret getting caught. Kaylee helped Tala clean her things up, and Book and River helped a bit too, eventually disappearing to prepare for bed. “I don’ think he’s ever done that before.” Kaylee was saying. “Dunno why he did it ta your bunk.” “’Cause he’s a nosy Fay-Fay duh pee-yen!” Tala snapped angrily, dusting off her clothing. She looked to Kaylee, who didn’t know how to react. “Sorry.” “No, it’s okay. Sometimes he can be. Sometimes he’s a nice person, though.” Tala looked at her disbelivingly. “I have yet to see him as a nice person.” She told the girl truthfully. Kaylee folded a shirt neatly. “Sometimes you have to really look, but it’s there. Past the guns an’ grenades….” She trailed off. She smiled a little smile. Tala stopped cleaning and looked back at her, sending a smile back. She shrugged. “Maybe someday I’ll see it. Right now I want to kill him.” Kaylee laughed. “Sometimes we all want to.” “I believe it!” They both laughed and finished up, Kaylee heading off to her hammock in the engine room, and Tala turning off the lights and curling into her bed under a warm blanket. She felt as if her entire being had been violated. He had gone through her things without her permission, and it disturbed her. She wondered what he now knew, and if he would tell.