A/N: This part of the story and the rest will reference events that happened in another series of mine: "Family Dynamics." It's archived on the site if you're interested in reading it, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary for you to read to follow what will happen next.

***

River awoke in a cold sweat, her mind in turmoil. That man, who was he? She had recognized the specter who had invaded her mind, the man who had come to wreak havoc on her psyche yet again. She knew him, but she could not remember him.

It didn’t matter now. He knew she was coming and so she would have to be prepared for whatever he had planned. His malevolence stayed with her far into the night as she again tried to fall back to sleep. But the peace she had known for the past few months refused to come and she knew she would be hard pressed to find it again. Not until he was gone.

Her mind retreating to a comforting place, her brother’s image sprang before her eyes and she smiled even as a few tears fell down her cheeks. Simon, I wish you were here.

***

Jerking involuntarily, Simon jostled himself and Kaylee awake, his sister’s image fleeing from his mind as he became fully alert. Instantly up, looking for any signs of distress, Kaylee asked hurriedly, “What is it, sweetie? You okay?”

Glancing down, Simon couldn’t help the tears that clouded his vision. Taking her hands in his, he whispered, “I know where River is.”

***

“Come again?”

Mal, Zoe, Jayne and Inara had all managed to wedge themselves in Kaylee and Simon’s bunk and it was more than a tight fit. The merc was actually standing outside the doorway, leaning his big, tall frame against it, Zoe standing right inside the room in front of him. Mal and Inara were closest to Simon, Inara sitting next to Kaylee on the bed, who sat next to Simon her hand in his. She refused to leave him and secretly Simon was glad. His blood chilled to think of what this latest turn of events could mean for them all.

Simon regarded Mal with a look of pure annoyance and repeated himself. “River is going to Osiris. She’s going back to the Academy.”

Running a hand through his hair, Mal chuckled softly as he said, “Yeah, that’s what I thought you said.”

“Mal,” Inara whispered harshly, giving him a swift kick in the shin for good measure.

“Ow, gorramit woman,” he yelped, grabbing his shin. “Those cunning shoes of yours are sharper than they look.” The two of them exchanged an exasperated glance which passed for a loving gaze between them, and Mal turned back to face Simon. “What do you want us to do?”

Glancing between Mal and Zoe, Simon had thought the next step was fairly obvious. “We need to follow her. She can’t go back there. They will capture her this time and possibly kill her.”

Kaylee’s hand flew to her mouth at this last statement and Inara placed a steadying hand on her shoulder. Jayne’s derisive snort broke the tension. “Aw hell, Mal, we can’t go stormin’ in to no ‘liance facility. Especially not knowing what kind of shape moon brain’s in. That’s just suicide.”

“Jayne, you’re mouth is talking,” Mal bit out, not bothering to turn and glare at the merc.

Zoe finished the statement for him, her voice low and deadly, “You might want to look to that.”

Jayne studied all of them for a moment more and then threw up his hands in defeat. “All right, fine. Plan your own murder, but don’t ‘spect me to help.”

With that he stalked off, no doubt retreating to his bunk and his guns.

Mal waited until he heard the big oaf’s footsteps fade before addressing the room again. But it was Zoe who beat him to it. “He’s not wrong, sir.”

“Yeah, I know, I’m still marveling at that coincidence myself,” Mal muttered back, trying to work a plan through in his head that did not involve all of them dying slow painful deaths. Unfortunately, nothing was coming to him.

“Look, I don’t think River’s gotten there yet,” Simon interjected, drawing all the eyes back to him. “I just don’t. I don’t know how I know, but I do. And I think there’s another reason she’s going back to Osiris.”

He exchanged a knowing look with Kaylee that Inara was also privy to. In an instant it dawned on her. “Your parents,” she breathed, hardly believing that any of them could have missed the connection.

Nodding, Simon said, “They know more about the Academy than just about anybody. My father even had contact with the headmaster. There’s a chance she’ll go to them for information.”

“You sure about that,” Mal asked, his voice conveying his skepticism. “Lil’ albatross ain’t stupid and she surely remembers what happened the last time you all got together for a family reunion.”

Simon swallowed down the bile and anger that rose in his throat at the memory. Yes, he remembered with unabashed clarity what had happened the last time he’d seen his mother and father. River had been taken from him again and forced to undergo more pain. It was not something he would ever forget.

“I know, but you’ve seen her message,” Simon answered, his gaze wandering the room to take in each of them. He knew they had all watched it and that they had all formed their own opinions as to River’s motives. “She thinks she’s doing what needs to be done to protect us, all of us. She’ll risk anything to keep her family safe, even if it means being captured again.”

Simon let that statement sink in and tried not to dwell on the fact that she could already be back in the hands of those monsters, she could already be suffering. The thought was almost too much for him to bear.

“That could be what she wants.” Zoe’s quiet voice startled them all and Mal turned to look at her a puzzled expression on his face. Keeping her own features stoic, she elaborated. “Look, if she wants to strike at the heart of the Academy, the best way to do that is from the inside. It could be she’s going back to mom and dad because she knows they’ll turn her over. Or that she’ll be found. Either way, this could all be a part of her plan.”

Ai ya, Mal thought, could this get any more complicated? Wait, he thought just as quickly, getting a brief glimpse of one of the Shepherd’s knowing smiles. Don’t answer that. “What’s your plan, Zo?”

“Me,” she asked him, standing up straighter and pointing to herself. When she realized he was serious, she answered, “Don’t have a plan, sir. That’s your job.”

Smiling tightly at her, she returned the grin a slight twinkle in his eye that told him she was enjoying his discomfort. Good old Zoe, always knowing exactly when and how to make him suffer.

“All right then, doc,” Mal said, turning his gaze back to Simon. “What’s your plan?”

Simon hadn’t really worked through an entire plan, not yet. As soon as he’d realized where River was going he’d awoken the entire ship and gotten them down here. Now as they talked it over, he realized that this was more than complicated; as much as he hated to admit it, Jayne was right, it could very easily be suicide.

But there was one thing he could think to do that might keep the rest of them safe. “I go,” he said softly, avoiding the fearful look in Kaylee’s eyes. Focusing instead on Mal, he added, “Alone.”

The room erupted as the three females all gave their objections to that particular scenario. Mal and Simon kept their gazes locked on each other and Mal found himself in awe of the younger man. When he had met Simon almost two years ago, he would have never guessed this core-bred doctor would possess so much strength or courage. He had never expected to one day respect the kid. But he did and he had to admire his conviction.

Even if he knew it could get him killed. “Bi zui,” Mal stated, immediately silencing them all. “Well, Simon as noble as that is, it ain’t gonna happen.”

“Mal,” he said, his voice hard, but the other man cut him off.

Stepping forward he poked Simon, hard in the ribs. Almost doubling over at the pain, Simon coughed against the hurt, even as Kaylee reached forward to steady him. Shooting Mal a deadly gaze, the captain simply shrugged and said, “See? Ain’t gonna happen.”

“I can do this,” Simon choked out, trying to swallow past the fire that had erupted in his gut. “They’re my parents and she’s my sister.”

“And she’s my pilot,” Mal said, matching the kid’s tone. Damn if these Tams weren’t noble to a fault. “That means she’s as much my responsibility as yours and seeing as I ain’t the one still recovering from some fairly thorough torture, I think maybe I make the plans. Okay?”

When the only answer he got was an even harder glare from Simon, Mal gave him one of his famous shit-eating grins and turned to leave. “Zoe, come on. We got some misbehavin’ to do.”

***

River found getting to Osiris to be easy – almost pathetically so. She had imagined a full complement of Alliance soldiers to greet her at the docking bay, flanking the small transport ship and waiting for her to emerge. But either the Alliance didn’t know when she was coming or they didn’t want her yet.

Either way, River was fine to wait. She would need as much time as she could get to prepare. And she still needed information.

Sneaking her way back into her neighborhood wasn’t hard either. She had done it plenty of times as a child, sometimes with Simon, sometimes alone. She had learned how to escape her house at the age of five and had spent many nights wandering the area, going where her parents would have never permitted a girl of her standing to go during the day. Those nights, out with the stars, had often been the most freeing of her childhood and River suspected it was why she often felt such comfort staring into the black.

Circling the woods that backed up into the fence around her family’s massive estate, River was lost in a tangle of memories. The sights, sounds and scents washed over and through her, bringing her back to a time and place far removed. She was young, a girl, and she was playing a game of tag with Simon. Then she was a bit older, playing war, with her brother, the Independents attacking and using dinosaurs to pick off the Alliance’s soldiers one by one – she had made Simon be the dinosaur and she swore she heard the lilt of a giggle as she remembered the pathetic roaring noise he had managed to make.

Coming up to the property’s invisible fencing, River’s smile vanished at the sight of the large brick and mortar mansion. It had never been a house, never been a home, it was a building, a structure meant to serve as shelter, nothing more. No, that wasn’t true, it was meant to serve as a status symbol, as were the people and things inside of it.

This close River could make out both her father’s and mother’s presences. They were both asleep, blissfully unaware that their missing daughter had returned to them – it was probably better that way.

River disabled the fence for the split second she needed to sneak her lithe frame through, another trick remembered from childhood. She was inside the house and hovering outside the door to her mother’s room in minutes. Her parents had never slept in the same room, even when River and Simon were children. She had often wondered how they’d managed to have two kids, but that was a thought for another day – or never again, actually as it was pretty disturbing to consider.

Placing a light hand on the ornate doorknob, River pushed open the heavy wooden door and entered the quiet room. As soon as she was inside she realized the fear she had been sensing since she’d landed had not all been her own. Some of it was her mother’s.

Approaching her bedside slowly, River concentrated harder trying to ascertain what the problem was. A glance to the small table at the head of the bed answered her question. Scattered across the tabletop were bottles and bottles of medicines. Pills in every shape, size and color and vials of liquid injections too. River swallowed past the sudden lump in her throat, realizing that her mother was afraid of death.

Sitting lightly on the edge of the bed, River reached out and placed a hand over her mother’s. The woman stirred at the light touch and River met her gaze, watching as her gray eyes focused and registered her small form in the dim light.

As recognition came, River heard her mother inhale sharply, her eyes widening slightly at the sight before her. Working her mouth, it took the woman a few moments before she could actually speak. “River,” she whispered, disbelief evident in her tone.

River blinked back sudden tears and leaning down, placed a light kiss on her mother’s cheek. “Yes, mom, it’s me.”

***

“You don’t have any idea what to do, do you?”

Mal smiled as Inara’s voice reached him and waited a full minute before turning to face her. She stood at the top of the few steps leading into the bow of the ship, her arms over her chest in a look of pure annoyance. But Mal knew, she wasn’t so much annoyed as scared; scared for him and his safety; scared for River and her sanity; scared for Kaylee and the doc.

Annoyance was simply Inara’s first line of defense in a situation like this, and he was used to that.

Reaching out a hand to her, she took it and he guided her down the stairs. When she reached the bottom, she kept her hand in his, standing right in front of him, her body pressed against his the tight space. Looking into his eyes, she had to smile slightly. “You find this all quite amusing, don’t you?”

Sighing heavily, Mal waited a moment before answering. “Well, I can’t say I find it completely unfortunate,” he told her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer. He moved into kiss her, but her hands against his chest, made him stop. Looking to her with a puzzled expression, Inara quickly explained.

“I’m talking about River and Osiris. You can’t let Simon go down there alone. They’ll kill him.” The fear in her eyes was genuine, Mal had seen it plenty of times before to recognize it.

“I ain’t gonna let the doc go down there by hisself, I ain’t stupid,” Mal told her, trying to keep his own frustration from his tone. The truth was, she’d been right the first time – he had no idea how to work this. Every scenario he’d managed to run through in the past few hours involved all of them dying quite painfully and that was not something he was ready to concede to.

“He can barely walk anyways,” Mal continued, pulling back from her and sitting heavily on the bench that ran the length of the cockpit’s lower window. “Besides, if I sent him down there I’m pretty sure Kaylee’d string me up by my thumbs and fly me into the black without a suit.”

Inara smiled slightly at his assessment as she moved to join him. “I can’t disagree with you there,” she agreed, trying to keep a light tone to her voice. “But that still leaves us without a plan.”

Raising a curious eyebrow, Mal gave her a sidelong glance and asked, “Us?”

Rolling her eyes at him, Inara said, “Don’t play innocent with me. The minute I came back on board you knew I was a part of this crew. I’m in this now too, whether you like it or not.”

Mal thought about that for a moment. No, he definitely did not like the prospect of Inara banging around the ‘verse with him in this rusty tin can, risking her life on each of their various capers. She deserved so much more than that, more that Mal could not give her. And yet, she had known that when she’d made her choice and she had still chosen him. It baffled the mind and he tried not to dwell on it. He had enough problems at the moment.

Deciding to turn the tables on her, Mal sat back and said, “All right then. You’re a part of this crew. What’s your plan?”

Gorramit if she didn’t have one. Her eyes lighting up in anticipation, she started excitedly, “Okay, here’s what I was thinking.”

Mal ran a hand over his features, listening as she recounted each step she had conceived. Yup, not only did the woman, his woman, have a plan, but it was a ruttin’ good one too.

Could she be more perfect?

***

River’s mother had soon drifted back to sleep. She was unable to stay awake for extended periods and was just recovering from a particularly painful bout with her treatments. Her body was weak and despite her joy at seeing her baby girl, she could not fight the rest that came.

River was content to stay with her through the night. She had curled herself up on a divan that rested in a corner of the room, pulling an old and familiar blanket over her. She watched through the moonlight as her mother’s frail form slept, keeping her eyes fixed on her. Being back here brought a flood of memories sweeping through her and River had a hard time focusing her mind. There were so many happy times to remember, they almost outnumbered the sad – almost.

The things River remembered most and with fondness were the times spent with her brother. Oh, she had annoyed him good as a small girl. Her lips curled slightly in a smile at the memory. He had loved her from the moment she was born, but as soon as she’d started talking, his patience and his love had been tested. It wasn’t easy on a young boy to have a sister who was psychic. It had been a definite shock to her parents for sure, but it was Simon who suffered the most from her unique abilities. Of course, she was not nearly as powerful then as now; her time with the blue hands had served to enhance her innate ability and now she was a full blown reader. But Simon had still been on the receiving end of quite a bit of unfairness.

When he was seven, she told on him for eating cookies between meals. When he was eight she told on him for using father’s relay without permission and when he was nine she told on him because he kissed Lucy Pendleton behind the school. That one had been the hardest for Simon to overcome. His embarrassment at being caught and by his little sister had flushed his cheeks a permanent shade of red for at least a month. River had known he wouldn’t want her to tell, but she had to say something – Lucy Pendleton was not a nice girl. River knew if she brought Simon’s activities to their parents’ attention, they would put an end to it. Of course, she’d been right.

But it wasn’t until she was older and Simon spent more and more time at school or the library or the hospital that River realized how much of a lifeline he was for her. With only her parents and their servants in this giant house, River had never felt so alone. She spent hours at a time in Simon’s room, going through his things, reading his books, sitting at his desk – anything to be closer to him, to not be so lonely. It was even worse when he was home, for Simon anyway. River refused to leave his side. Eventually, he accepted her constant presence and even put her to work, making her read through flash cards with him and help him study for tests. She didn’t mind, it made her useful, important to her big brother and River relished those moments.

When the time had come for River to choose a private school, Simon had just started his residency. He had been busy and distracted, working long hours that left him exhausted and not home a majority of the time. River often wondered, although she would never admit it to him, if his absence during that time was what had led her to the Academy. Maybe if he’d been here, had helped her make her decision, she would have had a clearer picture of what that place would turn out to be. Maybe she wouldn’t have listened so intently to her parents’ wishes … but it did no good to dwell on could-have-beens. The past was the past and River had managed to come to terms with her own horrifying time at the Academy.

The day before she had left home … it wasn’t something she liked to think about. It had been the last happy moment she’d been able to cling to even as the reality of that Academy had begun to sink in. As the testing had intensified and the pain increased, River had clung to the memory of that last day with her family, her mother, father and brother, all together, having a picnic, smiling and laughing. It had been the last beacon of light in River’s consciousness, the last moment of true happiness she could cling to. And she hung onto it fiercely. It took them three years to rip that memory away and the day they had was the day River had truly given up.

Three weeks later, Simon came and rescued her. And ever since then she had been trying to focus on their new life, their new family and the happy memories they would make. She had not thought much about their parents since she’d been taken away the first time and certainly not since the second time. But being here now, despite the events of the last time did not phase her. She was here for a totally different purpose and under completely different circumstances.

This time it was on her own terms. Simon was safe, she was healthy and she had a plan. Nothing else mattered now. Her parents were a means to an end as was her coming confrontation with the man who invaded her dreams. That was all she could focus on and that was enough.

Settling more snugly into the plush couch, River continued to watch her mother sleep as the night faded and the sun rose.