A/N: Thanks to all who continue to read and respond. I love getting feedback!

Many thanks to Leiasky for her constant support, feedback and all things angsty! My stuff would not be half as good without your guiding hand!

***

Inara pulled her shuttle up and away from Serenity, trying very hard to swallow past the lump in her throat. Mal had said goodbye, just as she’d known he’d would. He’d found her in the cockpit as she prepped the ship and kissed her hard and deep and then left just as quickly. She was still flushed from the contact and now she was even more scared than before. She didn’t want anything to happen to him or her; she wanted a million more of those kisses and then some.

“Shuttle one clear,” she reported, checking all her scopes again as she laid in the course that would take them back to Simon’s childhood home.

“'Nara, be careful.” Mal’s voice came through the comm at her side and Inara’s eyes almost spilled the tears they were valiantly holding in.

“We will,” was the only answer she could manage before she had to flip the radio off and concentrate.

In the hold of the ship, Jayne sat cradling one of his guns while Simon took a quick rest on Inara’s overly plush bed. Jayne didn’t like the idea of being stuck out here with just the doc and ‘Nara, but he’d had no other choice. That was the last time he ever left a meeting regarding crazy plans – always ended up with the shit jobs that way.

The truth was, the doc didn’t look good – still. Jayne had seen plenty o’ men beaten pretty bad, even his own self on occasion, but Simon was not healing well. Whether that was due to the physical injuries or the stress of his crazy, moonbrain sister being gone, Jayne couldn’t quite puzzle out.

“It occurs to me that maybe we need to get a few things straight.”

Jayne jumped involuntarily at the sound of the prissy boy’s smooth voice. He hadn’t known the kid was awake.

Quickly regaining his macho cool, Jayne harrumphed, “Yeah, ‘bout what?”

“About what happened the last time I trusted you with me life.” Simon did not open his eyes to meet the mercenary’s glare. He knew it all too well.

“Whatcha talkin’ ‘bout,” Jayne asked, quickly growing irritated at this entire turn of events.

“I know my sister and I are still not your favorite people,” Simon continued in that eerily calm voice. “And I know you think this rescue attempt is tantamount to suicide.”

“Ya got that right,” Jayne muttered, wondering whether the boy was ever going to reach a point.

“However, I fully expect River and I to both make it back to Serenity alive and I fully expect that you will do whatever you can to ensure that happens.”

There was no room for argument in Simon’s tone, no weakness, no need for an explanation, nothing. There was just the sheer, unequivocal fact that if Jayne decided to screw up, the doc would kill him or his moonbrained sister would.

“You don’t gotta worry none, doc,” Jayne grumbled, deciding to fiddle with his gun so as to rid himself of the uncomfortableness this discussion was causing him. “I ain’t showing back up on that ship without ya or River. Kaylee’d kill me.”

***

“River this is not a good idea.”

River turned to give her a father a patient look, even though on the inside she was shaking with anxiety. She knew full well what could happen if this did not go as she planned and she certainly did not need her father making it worse.

Crossing the distance between them in the headmaster’s antechamber, River placed a hand on his cheek and said quietly, “Daddy, you’ve got to let me do this. For Simon and for me.”

Her father’s eyes still held fear, but his expression set into one of determination and River knew he would see his way through this. It had not been easy to get him here; River had spent a better part of the day outlining her plan, explaining ad nauseam how it would work and why. She was fairly certain her father would have refused her, but after seeing the conviction in her eyes and the strength in her stance, he’d known that saying no now would simply mean she’d find a way without him.

So he had made the call. He had waved the headmaster of the Academy and told the older man that his daughter was back on Osiris and they wanted her to be re-enrolled. It’d taken a little convincing, seeing as the last time they had re-admitted River the entire situation had ended pretty badly, but with a few well-placed and generous donations set aside, her father had gotten the man to acquiesce. And that in was all she needed.

River breathed deep as she again surveyed the room around her and stretched out her senses to encompass the entire building as well. He was here, the man she had to see, the one she needed to destroy. She had been almost positive he would be, but feeling his dark, sinister presence now only reaffirmed her hunch. She tried to withhold the shiver that coursed through her skin at the mental touch of him, but it was inevitable. One could not stand out in the snow and not be cold.

Glancing back to her father, she gave him a wide grin and said, “Daddy, it’s time for you to go.”

His eyes widened in shock as he came to her and took her by the shoulders. “No, River. That isn’t what we agreed.”

“I know,” she told him truthfully, her smile turning wistful. “But I knew I’d never convince you otherwise. I had to let you think you could stay. But you can’t.” Backing out his grasp, River placed her hands behind her back and gave him a firm stare. “You have to go now. Mom needs you.”

Puzzlement raced across her father’s features, followed closely by anger and then pain. He didn’t want to leave his baby girl again, not in the hands of these monsters. But Gabriel also knew that his baby girl was not so little anymore and if need be she could easily render him completely useless.

“I don’t want to hurt you, daddy,” she whispered, gazing her eyes to the floor, all traces of her smile gone. “Just go.”

Gabriel was fighting an internal battle he could not win. He had listened to River as she had recounted her story and her plan. He had not liked it, not one bit of it, but he’d known that the girl, the woman, before him, was not the frail creature he’d sent to school or even the injured daughter he’d seen under a year ago. She was strong and prepared and ready for whatever awaited in this hell of a place.

Going to her, her father gathered her into his arms and hugged her tightly. River hugged him back fighting to hold in her tears. “Tell mom I love her,” River whispered, knowing she would not get the chance again. When he had pulled away, he looked down at her with tears in his own eyes and she said, “And I love you too.”

Biting back a sob, Gabriel kissed his daughter gently on the cheek and then slowly, deliberately backed out of the room.

River watched him go and only allowed herself a small sob once the door had again shut behind him. Shaking her head, River tried to regain her equilibrium. She didn’t have time to be unbalanced, he would be here soon enough and she would need to be more than ready.

Blinking rapidly and taking a deep breath, River turned to face a door on the opposite wall as the handle started to turn. Show time.

***

Gabriel Tam was a shell of a man. He walked with measured step out of the Academy building and to his waiting shuttle. As he reached the craft and stepped one foot inside, his personal comlink beeped. Reaching for it, he thumbed it on and answered, “What?”

There was a pause and then, “Dad? Where’s River?”

At the sound of his son’s voice, Gabriel again found his strength. Hurtling himself into the cab, he ordered his driver, “Go.” Turning back to the comm he answered, “Stay where you are, son.”

He stored the comlink again and anxiously waited as the shuttle lumbered along. A tiny glimmer of hope lighted in his heart; maybe it wasn’t too late for his daughter after all.

***

Zoe entered the galley and was surprised to see Kaylee there. The young woman was hunched in front of a cabinet, rummaging none too quietly through the pots and pans, looking for something. Her expression was taunt and held the concentration she normally reserved for working on Serenity.

Slightly puzzled, Zoe leaned against the counter and crossed her arms over her chest. “You all right there, Kaylee-bird?”

Kaylee simply grunted as she found what she was seeking and rose. Turning back to the opposite counter, she started her mixing and measuring. Still uncertain as to her purpose, Zoe regarded her for another moment. Kaylee had been through a hell of a lot these past few months. Zoe could identify with that. She knew the girl tried to keep a happy face on for all of them, tried to be their sunshine out here in the black, but pretending could get real tirin’. Zoe could identify with that too.

“We heard from Simon and Inara a little bit ago,” she offered, watching as Kaylee’s hands froze in their movements for a moment before resuming their stirring. “They’ve made it to the neighborhood and are meetin’ Gabriel.”

Kaylee remembered Simon’s father and without a lot of fondness. Trying to keep her voice steady, she did not turn as she asked, “And River?”

“She wasn’t there,” Zoe said, her voice heavy with her own emotion. The girl’s absence did not bode well for her, Simon, or the mission. Despite Zoe’s earlier encouragement to Inara that the plan she had devised was a good one, she was starting to have reservations.

Kaylee had finally stopped her machinations. Placing her hands palms down on the counter top she leaned forward and took a deep breath. “What’s the captain say?”

“Not much,” Zoe answered, crossing the room and leaning against the same counter as Kaylee, facing the girl. “You know how he is, all nerves and cursing. The man doesn’t have a patient bone in his body.”

Kaylee smirked slightly at the remark, knowing it was true. She still would not meet Zoe’s gaze though. Glancing to the dishes and fixings around her, Zoe asked, “What’d are you up to here?”

Kaylee smiled sheepishly as she said, “Thought I’d bake ‘em a cake, for when they got back,” she swallowed hard to keep her tears down as she continued, “If I do any more tinkering on Serenity, we’ll never get her off the ground again. Figured cookin’ was the only other thing I could do to keep busy.”

Zoe smiled knowingly and placed a light hand on the girl’s shoulder. “’Spose that’s true,” she agreed. “Want some help?”

Kaylee turned one of her supernova smiles on the older woman and gorramit if it didn’t bring a grin to her features as well. “That’d be shiny, Zoe,” Kaylee answered, handing her a spoon and something to stir.

Zoe took the utensil and set to work, relieved when the girl started talking about absolutely everything as they cooked.

***

Gabriel was barely out the shuttle’s door before his son was in his face. “Where is she?” He bit out the question through clenched teeth, his anger rising swiftly.

Stepping back to get some distance from his son’s anger, Gabriel looked to Simon and his two companions. The woman he recognized, the lovely Companion who had distracted him last time, but the other was a new face, and not a very good-looking or good-natured one either.

Gathering his bearings, Gabriel straightened, not at all pleased by Simon’s tone. He had been prepared to ask the young man for help, to plead with his son to go and save his baby girl, but the ire he held toward his father, still after all these years, caused Gabriel to rethink his plan. “It’s good to see you too, son.”

“Where is she,” Simon asked again, in no mood to put on airs for his father.

“She’s doing what she came here to do.” Gabriel’s tone turned just as cold as the two men became locked in their familiar battle of wills. “She’s trying to save you and that pathetic crew of yours. Chances are she’ll die in the process.”

With little warning, Simon took a swing at his father who was unprepared for the blow. As he reeled from the intensity of the hit, Simon bit out, “You betrayed her, didn’t you? You took her back there.” He would have thrown another punch at his father if Jayne had not intervened.

Holding Simon back with his arms secured over the doc’s, Jayne said to Inara, “You want to figure out where Crazy is, before Simon kills his pa?”

Inara shot him a glare that could have chilled a glacier and stepped toward Gabriel with an apologetic smile on her face. All the while, Simon struggled against Jayne’s grasp, only serving to re-injure some of his still healing wounds from the months before.

“Mr. Tam, it is nice to see you again,” Inara intoned, extending a hand to the gentleman. As the older Tam took it, Inara added, “As you can see, Simon’s quite upset. We came here looking for River. And with her gone, we fear the worst.”

Gabriel smiled at the woman kindly, not at all unaware of the charming spell she was casting. He had to admit out of all the Companions he had met in his life, she was good.

“I can see that, Ms. Serra,” he told her, shooting an icy glare at his son that only incensed him further. Rubbing his now sore shoulder, he added, “And I can certainly feel it.”

“Mr. Tam, where is River,” Inara asked, trying to keep her tone even. She didn’t need this hun dan to know she would just as soon take a swing at him as well.

“She’s where she feels she needs to be,” he said, his ego still injured by his son’s obvious rage. “She asked me to help her and I did.”

“You’re lying,” Simon said, his voice barely more than a whisper. Gabriel raised his eyes to meet his son’s and for the first time in a long while felt utterly exhausted. He didn’t know if he could go another five rounds with Simon over the wrongs he had or had not perpetrated against his sister.

Crossing the distance between them, Gabriel told him, “I assure you, son that is not a lie. River asked me for my help. She’s trying to save you. I didn’t agree with it, not a bit, but what would you have had me do? Ignore her and watch as she put herself in even worse danger?”

Simon held his father’s hard gaze and knew with a certainty he could never explain that the man told the truth. River had done just what she’d set out to do; she had come back to the start of it all to take out the monsters who had first hurt her and then him. She had willingly turned herself back over to the blue hands. Simon had been too late to stop it.

Losing his will to fight, Simon stopped straining against Jayne’s grasp. Recognizing his relaxed state, Jayne eased his grip and watched as the doc tried to collect himself.

Processing this new twist, Simon tried to bite back the bile he felt rising in his throat. He would not let this be over, not yet. Glancing up to catch Inara’s gaze, he said, “We have to move forward with the plan.”

She had known that was the conclusion he would reach. She’d had a sneaking suspicion since they’d left Serenity it was the only conclusion to be reached. Nodding once, she re-entered the shuttle, again prepping it for launch. Jayne followed her hurriedly, only too happy to be away from the family drama playing out before him.

With an effort Simon took a few steps toward his father, silently cursing himself for being so foolish and actually trying to fight him – his body hadn’t been as ready as he’d hoped. "Where did you take her," he asked, his voice emotionless. Gabriel held his son’s cold gaze for a moment and wondered when the boy had become a man. All those months ago, when he’d found him on Ariel, Gabriel had noticed a change, but he had not noticed the profundity with which Simon now conducted his life. This was more than maturation or the sum of experiences, his son was now the creator, overseer and keeper of his own life, with his own family and his own concerns, and that responsibility brought about a level of loyalty and assuredness Gabriel had never thought to see in him. And he again wondered why he was so quick to underestimate his children.

“It’s the government building on the edge of Sedona,” Gabriel said quietly, Simon turning to leave even before the words were out. He felt he needed to explain somehow, to make it right. Calling to his son’s retreating form, he said, “I didn’t want to leave her there.”

Simon could not turn to look at the man. “But you did,” he said quietly. “Again.”

With that, he walked into the shuttle and left his father behind, alone.

***

River watched him enter. He was non-descript really, in an Alliance sort of way. Not tall and lanky like Early or stocky and quiet like the Operative, no, this man was both and neither one at the same time. He was well-muscled and bony, tall while not being overbearing. And he was familiar.

The sight of him brought flashes of remembrances into River’s mind. Flashes of moments she wished she could forget. But it was not to be. She would go through the rest of her life harboring the memories, the nightmares, the aftereffects of what he, and others like him, had done.

She did notice the one difference in him though. She was surprised she had not sensed it before now – the red gloves. More deadly and definitely more dreaded then the hands of blue, red-gloved agents were considered the most sinister, because they had not only killed, but killed someone close to them – their partner. The one person they had been raised to live with in a symbiotic relationship. The act of murdering one so close took a coldness and a detachment that the Alliance treasured as much as it feared.

Taking one final deep breath, River felt brave enough to speak, “He didn’t see it coming. Even once you sank the knife into his side, he still trusted you.”

Jin allowed a slight smile to play across his features, not at all surprised by the girl’s tactic. “It won’t work, River,” he told her firmly, his eyes never leaving her face as they circled each other. “I don’t care.”

That was true enough, River could read it. The man didn’t care, not about anything – well, maybe one thing. Capturing her, and that gave River the advantage.

She shrugged slightly, still doing her best to gain the upper hand. “Maybe, but he still would have done anything for you. Too bad you considered his compassion a weakness.”

“Compassion is weakness,” Martin told her, reciting tenets he had learned before consciousness. “All emotion is weakness. Attachment is weakness. Devotion is weakness.” He stopped abruptly his motion forcing River to halt as well. “You are weakness.”

River’s own lips curled up at the accusation. “That’s where you’d be wrong,” she told him, her voice holding a firmness she didn’t quite feel. But she could fake it, she had faked strength plenty of times since she’d left the Academy. And even as she felt her mother’s presence leave this existence for somewhere better; even as she felt her brother’s anger and pain; even as she felt her father’s defeat, River could still be cocky. “You didn’t make me to be weak. You made me into a weapon.”

“Apparently a faulty weapon,” Jin corrected still regarding her coolly. His stance was easy, legs shoulder width apart, hands hanging loosely at his sides. River tried to mirror the posture as much as possible. If he wanted to play cat and mouse, she would play. “You were such a disappointment.”

“Now, see, that’s where I think you’re just not being truthful,” she sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. “Because if I were such a disappointment as you attest, you wouldn’t want me so bad. You wouldn’t have sent bounty hunters and operatives and agents after me. You wouldn’t have risked so many of your own people if you truly thought I was eventually going to overheat and explode.” She risked taking a step towards him and to his credit, he didn’t back away. “That would be highly illogical and I know you may be many things, but wasteful is not one of them.”

Jin had to smile at her assessment, a genuine grin. The girl had managed to puzzle it out, quite accurately. He had known that their movements, their desperation to regain control of her was fairly transparent. Even before the Miranda incident she had been a loose canon they could not afford. Now she was the most dangerous of liabilities: a coherent, lethal and fully integrated young woman. And that was why she could not be allowed to function in society. Not because of what she might know or what she might do, but because she had somehow managed to survive their training, their torture, their tests and lived to tell the tale.

“River, I have to say, even after all these years, your brain is still as sharp as ever,” Jin told her, bringing his hands up to applaud her. “But my dear, we still have one problem.”

River waited for him to answer his own question, knowing he would. When he recognized her silence, he said, “You should not be alive. And therefore it is my duty to ensure you cease to exist.”

River’s body immediately tensed as she sensed the change in his thoughts. He was getting ready to attack and that was fine with her. She preferred a straight fight to all this sneaking around. It could easily drive a girl crazy and she’d already taken that trip.

Gazing at him in the instant before he launched his first attack, River growled, “Try me,” and within a moment he was at her throat and she was back in her element.