mhalachai | FIC: Different Eyes 6/6

Different Eyes part 6/6
by Mhalachai
Rating: PG
Spoilers: All of Firefly, same for Anita Blake.
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy own all things Firefly. Laurell K. Hamilton owns all things Anita Blake. I am but borrowing the characters for a brief time and shall return them intact at the end.
Note: This story is SPOILER FREE for the movie. That said, is anyone going to believe me when I say that I wrote this chapter before I saw the movie? Honest.
Summary: Serenity gets four new passengers and, as usual, things are not as they seem.

~~. Part One .~~ ~~. Part Two .~~ ~~. Part Three .~~ ~~. Part Four .~~ ~~. Part Five .~~ ~~. Part Six .~~

~~*~~

River crept along the metal floor on silent feet. Zoe knew she was there, but then, Zoe always knew who was about. She was like River-the-child had been, always seeing, always thinking.

Now, River-the-girl knelt before Captain Mal, who rested his head against the wall in sleep. Everyone was asleep but Wash and Zoe. The Shepherd slept in the empty crew bunk, dreaming of belief. Simon slept there too, his dreams dancing with thoughts of Kaylee and touch and smiles in the twilight.

Jayne slept, dreaming of the things Jayne dreamed about. River didn't like to listen to Jayne's dreams.

Kaylee slept, listening to Serenity's lullaby. She didn't hear as River had crept from the bunk on bare feet, silent feet.

Captain Malcolm Reynolds, the one who kept her on his ship, watched for danger with Zoe. River wanted to tell them there was no danger, but they would not listen. They felt safer sitting in the hallway with guns, while the vampire and the cat and the wolf and the death-maker were below.

Those weren't sleeping. River heard them talking in ghostly whispers in their heads, over the sleeping boy. Their thoughts danced over the edge of space and it hurt to listen, but she wanted to be closer to hear more. She had never touched thoughts like theirs, all jumbled up and together. They lived together, they loved together, they grieved together. They were like her, hearing thoughts not their own. River wanted to know how they heard what they did, and remained who they were.

They thought other things, too, about her. Words hung in the air, hard diamonds in the sky.

River traced the air over Mal's arm. He had been shot there once. The skin had memory too, still felt the slice and burn of the bullet.

"What?" Mal said suddenly, coming awake. Zoe laughed inside, warm and sunny, and it made River smile. "What are you doing?" Mal asked, blinking hard. "Something wrong?"

Mal only ever asked her if she heard bad things when he was half-asleep. "Nothing's wrong," River said, because it was what Mal wanted to hear, and because it was true. "You're supposed to be on watch, soldier."

He sat up, glaring at River. She slunk off to the far side of the corridor to give him space to handle his gun. It always made him feel better, and River knew enough not to get between a man and his gun. "Why aren't you sleeping?" Mal demanded.

"They're going to offer to take me with them," River said. Mal started forward at that, and even Zoe put her gun to the side.

"You..." Mal looked down toward the passenger bunk. "You heard that."

It wasn't even a question. He knew something that made him believe in her, just a little bit more than he had before. She listened to what he was thinking, and shivered inside. Was that why the Alliance wanted to kill her? Because she knew about Earth-that-was and the left-behind monsters?

No, that wasn't it. She hadn't always known that. They couldn't want to kill her for something she hadn't learned yet. They couldn't read minds; that's why they needed her.

"There aren't supposed to be any of me out here," River told him, echoing the words from Anita's head. "She doesn't know how they made me, but they shouldn't have. I am Caesar's, and am thus bound for Rome."

Mal ran his hand down his gun in a caress, the way he did when he was thinking too hard. "Are you going with them?"

The question tasted like bitter tea. "I'm not their kind of apple," River said. The fruit never fell far from the tree, and her orchard was from a different world than Anita. River would never be able to read minds like Erin, or like all of Erin's children. Those apples were everywhere at Anita's home, but they were bright and shiny and whole. River was rotten, would spoil the whole bunch.

And there was no Simon in Rome. River could not leave Simon, when Simon would not leave her.

"Was that a no?" Zoe asked.

"That was a no," Mal said, looking directly at River. He was nervous and tense, and he didn't need to be. Jean-Claude wouldn't go wild again. Blood fountains never ran dry when they had wolves and death-makers to tend to them. "River, why don't you go back to bed?" Mal said.

"Bad people come in sleep," River muttered, but she climbed to her feet anyway. She didn't feel like a cat anymore. She felt like an old sack of bones and blood, too delicate to suffer as she did. Even as she turned from the promise of a world with magic, River wondered if she would ever find a place that was all hers.

~~*~~

After Inara's shuttle separated from Serenity, the Companion heading for her next job, Wash touched Serenity down perfectly in Gunnerole. Night landings were always a little easier than day landings. The wind was usually less, the landing lights were easy to land on.

It had been a long day. Wash wasn't willing to leave the bridge unmanned, after the Reaver scare, and Zoe and Mal sat up all night, waiting for trouble that never came. If anything, the passengers were as polite as could be. If it had only been Inara, Wash would have doubted the crazy story of that had happened the previous day in the hold, but Zoe backed Inara up.

Space made people see crazy things, like men turning into wolves, but Zoe wasn't crazy. It made Wash wonder what Mal was trying to cover up, when he denied their story.

After he flicked the last switches on the control panel, Wash reached up for the intercom. "We're good to go," he said.

There was a burst of static, then Mal said, "Sure thing."

"I don't get any respect," Wash muttered mockingly to himself. He made sure the landing gear was set, then hopped up. He needed a breath of air in the world.

By the time Wash got to the cargo hold, everyone was already assembled. The passengers seemed ready to depart, standing over their duffle and the remains of the black box, packed carefully into a mesh bag. The box man didn't look nearly as disreputable as he had the previous day. His hair was combed, and even though the clothes he wore looked to be Richard's and ill-fitting, he wore them with class. Now, Jean-Claude spoke to Richard in a murmur. They stood together easily, making Wash wonder. Oh well. Kaylee would probably get enough out of watching this for a month of gossip.

Anita glanced up as Wash came down the stairs. Her son sat on the duffle, looking as bored as only a five-year-old could be. Wash hoped that Zoe's worries that the child would be traumatized wouldn't come to bear.

Speaking of his wife, she leaned against the mule, stoic and annoyed, but she looked so good. She always looked good to Wash. Why she'd fallen in love with a guy like him, he would never figure out.

"We're on the ground," Wash murmured in her ear as he sidled up to her.

"Mmm hmm."

Mal strode past them, yelling for Jayne. Zoe didn't even turn her head. "How's Book doing?" Wash asked Zoe, trying to get a response.

It worked. "Doctor said he'd be up and around by the morning," Zoe said. "He's had some previous concussions, so the damage was a bit worse than Simon first thought."

"More concussions?" Wash repeated. "See? Being a man of God really is hazardous to your health."

Zoe's lips twitched just a little, but it made Wash feel infinitely better. He could always get her to laugh.

"So what do you think Book will say when he wakes up and hears all he missed?" Wash asked.

"He'll probably have some sort of homily about the evils of gossip," Zoe said.

"Yeah, to hide how annoyed he is at having missed the action," Wash retorted.

"He is only human, dear," Zoe said absently as the ramp began to open.

Across the hold, Anita picked up the mesh bag and slung it over her shoulder, while Richard took the duffle, dumping Ashley to his feet.

Wash watched Zoe as she looked at the protesting boy. He knew how worried she was about the child. Every conversation they'd had in the last few days about the passengers always wrapped back around to Ashley.

The fact that Zoe wanted a baby, now, was the only real point of contention between them. Wash wanted a baby with Zoe too, just not now. They barely made enough money to feed themselves, and the dangers of living in open space... there wasn't a place in their lives for a baby. But one day, Wash knew, it would be time. One day, he'd hold that little baby that was part him and part Zoe and all new.

Anita turned around as Mal approached the passengers. "Well," he said. "This is it."

"Yes, it is," Anita said. She hesitated, then continued, "Look, about River--"

"She's staying with us." Mal said flatly.

"Oh." Anita looked around at Richard, then back to Mal. "That's that, then."

"Mightily is." Mal glanced out of the open ramp into the dark night. "You folks set to be getting to Black Canyon safe?"

"It's only a few miles," Anita said. "We'll be fine."

"And then from there... back to home?"

Wash frowned. Mal was being chatty. Mal was never chatty. "What's he doing?" Wash whispered in Zoe's ear.

"Don't know," Zoe replied.

"Yeah, to home," Anita was saying. "But there's one thing I wanted to give you."

She went to Richard, and he put the duffle bag down. Anita rummaged in a side pocket and pulled out a small drawstring sack. She carried it over to Mal and tried to give it to him. Mal looked down at it, but wouldn't put out his hands. "You paid your fare, we got you here like we said we would," Mal said.

"This isn't money," Anita said, a faint hint of colour in her pale cheeks. "It's a small thank you, for all you've done for me. For us."

After a long moment, Mal took the sack, about the size of two fists, and nodded at Anita. "We're all just trying to get things done," he said.

Anita nodded. Just then, Ashley darted to the duffle, unzipped another pocket, and dug something out of the bag. Then the child ran across the hold and He held out his prize, a small tattered book, to Zoe. "This is for you," the child announced.

Zoe knelt down so she was on eye-level with Ashley. "What's this?"

"It's my Narnia book," Ashley explained earnestly. "It's so that you won't forget me."

Zoe took the small book carefully. "I won't forget you," she said. "But won't you miss your book?"

"I know the story," Ashley said, suddenly looking bashful. Nathaniel walked up behind him and lifted the child up.

"Is he sure?" Zoe asked Nathaniel as she stood, holding the gift.

Nathaniel nodded. "I didn't know he planned it, but it's his book." He looked fondly at the boy. "And thank you," Nathaniel said to Zoe. "Yesterday. You saved my son."

Zoe shook her head. "Anyone would have done it."

Nathaniel smiled wryly. "No, they wouldn't have. You kept my boy safe for me."

Zoe shifted the book to her other hand, and reached out to touch Ashley's cheek. "You take care, you hear?" she said to Ashley.

Ashley nodded solemnly, continuing to watch Zoe as his father smiled one last time before walking away.

Kaylee and River and Simon stood on the lower catwalk as the passengers, now numbering five, walked down the ramp. Anita turned around one last time and nodded at Mal, before they vanished into the dark of night.

The ship was silent for a moment before Mal cleared his throat. "Come on, folks, we got a job needs being done," he said.

"What's in the bag?" Wash asked as Mal strode to the mule.

"Good question," Mal said. He undid the drawstring and peered into the bag. He frowned, then reached into the bag and pulled out what looked like a small greyish-green bean. "Magical beans?"

Simon swore in Chinese, clattering down the stairs. He took the bean from Mal and sniffed at it. "This is coffee," the doctor said, awed. "Real coffee!"

Mal's jaw dropped. Looking back into the bag, he said weakly, "There has to be more than a pound in here."

"What's coffee?" Kaylee asked, trailing down the stairs.

"It's an old plant that used to grow in abundance on Earth-that-was," Simon said. "The first colonists to the Core planets brought some, but it was almost all wiped out by a fungus. Right now, it only grows in greenhouses in Ariel. It's one of the most expensive drinks in the galaxy. You could sell this ship and everyone on it, and still only be able to buy a handful of beans."

"And she gave us a whole pound," Mal said, sounding a little stunned.

"Can we sell it?" Wash asked. Visions of cold hard cash danced in his head.

"No, we can't," Simon said. "If we try and sell this, the Coffee Guild will be on us in a week, they've got the market locked down as tight as anything you'll ever see."

"Anita gave this to us," Mal said. He took the bean back from Simon, placed it back in the bag, and did up the drawstring. "As a thank-you." He shook his head. "All right, we'll consider the implications of this at a later time. Right now, we've got work to do."

"So we just do the job?" Zoe asked, her fingers tightening around Ashley's book.

"We always do the job," Mal said, stowing the coffee bag into a pocket of his jacket and looking around at his crew. "It's what we do. Sometimes we meet people, but they always got their own business to keep. As for us... well, we need to keep going forward."

--fin

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

cissasghost.livejournal.com

Coffee - that's great! Very fitting conclusion, and I loved Simon's reaction.

-Sonya

From:

mhalachai was here

FIC: Different Eyes 6/6

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