BLUE SUN ROOM FAN FICTION - GENERAL

LADYKNIGHT

Funny Dreams - Part 1 - That night
Monday, May 29, 2006

There's something...different...on Serenity. Something that is going to make tonight very, very interesting.


CATEGORY: FICTION    TIMES READ: 2364    RATING: 9    SERIES: FIREFLY

Something was different on Serenity tonight. Not wrong, not dangerous, just different. A slight alteration in the processing of events by everyone's minds, even her own, River realized after a moment. As she climbed down, she realized there was a slight change in her own perceptions. For example, the third rung down on the ladder into her bunk was full three centimeters below the second then the second was to the first. She'd never noticed this before. River'd had this bunk for months and never noticed that before...

...Maybe it was the dried potatoes.

***

Kaylee was exhausted. Had been since dinner. She'd eaten a bit more then was normal and was tired from eating nearly too much. That, and staying up hours after running check after check on the engine wasn't doing much for her eyelids power to defy gravity...which also worked just fine.

Practically falling down the ladder into her bunk, Kaylee yawned and sat on her bed, looking briefly at the dress that still hung at the end of it. Made her feel like a princess, best she could remember. Then the night had been interrupted and the feeling was lost.

As Kaylee stretched out on her bed, she found herself wishing she could, just once, feel like a princess again.

***

Simon had screwed up. Again.

He'd been planning it for weeks. Leave a note in Kaylee's bunk asking her to meet him in the cargo bay...and to wear her dress. Music he'd downloaded off the cortex (illegally, not that it made any difference in the long run) set to play, his own best suit, and leftovers he'd scrounged up from various evenings to make a nice-looking little stew if he did say so himself.

Then he'd seen how much Shepherd had made for dinner that night. Kaylee had filled up, no need for the stew. In fact, it would just make things awkward. Best save it for another night. Stash it in the kitchen...

Sometimes, Jayne made him positively furious. It was seeing Jayne eating what he'd prepared so specifically, and complaining about it, that had triggered the panic he now regretted. He'd darted to her bunk, snagged the note he'd so carefully left there, and ran back out, out of breath and terrified she might have seen him.

Later, he wondered why he did that. He didn't need food for a nice date with Kaylee. Dancing usually came after dinner anyway. Why had he canceled like that? It was frustrating...and the worst part was he had nothing to distract himself with. River had been much more lucid the last several days. She was reacting very well to her latest medication and Simon considered keeping her on it. There had been no outbursts, no problems, in days. This left him free from distraction to ponder his own issues in establishing a relationship with Kaylee.

...maybe if someone would just play matchmaker...

*** Mal didn't feel so good. He was all manner of tired. Job that morning nearly went south...stress of keeping it diplomatic, then the relief when it went smooth nearly made his knees go out. As if knowing there'd been a problem, Shepherd had made an absolutely wonderful dinner. No clue how he'd pulled it off, but the abundance of good food was only something to be thankful for until after you'd eaten unnatural quantities of it. Then it was something to ether keep you up nights or put you right to sleep. Mal wasn't quite sure what.

Inara hadn't gotten in 'till later. They'd argued, as always. He couldn't even remember about what anymore. She made things foggy, and Mal wasn't liking it. Even still, he'd wished she'd been at dinner. May have been the most fun he'd had in months. Inara still hadn't put a date on leaving, and Mal was getting less and less sure she was going to. He was careful to keep her satisfied with current arrangements, getting jobs at worlds where she could work to. It was a mite painful, thinkin' of her with a different man, sometimes more'n one, each port. 'course, it kept her around, and it wasn't like he had call to be jealous.

Still...sometimes he just wished...

Well, that was just gorram silly of him, wasn't it?

*** Something was wrong. Or just plain weird. Jayne wasn't sure. He didn't wanna say anything, 'cause it would come out weirder then some things the moonbrain said. Jayne didn't wanna sound like no moonbrain. Still...somethin' was just a bit...off, tonight.

Sleep wouldn't come easy. Not after the look the girl'd given him over dinner. On anyone else that expression woulda been damn sexy. On her, it was just plain creepifying. She knew something was up...maybe that was when he'd noticed it too. Worst part was, he couldn't put his finger on what.

...maybe it was just those gorram dried potatoes.

***

Inara had trouble sleeping sometimes. She had medicine for it even...except she'd given it to Simon for his sister months ago. Her bed was cold sometimes, and it bothered her.

She wasn't thinking about Mal. She'd pushed their argument out of her mind, completely forgetting how he'd just barged in as usual and informed her, very annoyingly, that she'd just missed the best dinner they were like to have on ship for weeks to come. She'd forgotten the pained expression that had flashed across his face when she reminded him she wasn't going to be staying long anyway, and had pushed away the feeling as though she'd been stabbed when he accused her of just not having to guts to tell the rest of the crew. She'd ignored the feeling of being lost and alone that threatened to overwhelm her when he'd turned on his heal and left.

Now, exactly two hours and twenty-three minutes later, a single tear slipped down Inara's cheek, dampening her pillow as she tried to ignore that little voice in her head, the one that sounded just like Mal, the one that whispered soothingly "You're home bao bei, you're home."

***

Shepherd did his best to keep them a family. Dinner that night had been certainly one of his more successful attempts. Inara had been conspicuously absent, but otherwise things had gone remarkably well.

Sometimes, he missed his days at the Abby. Tonight was one of those nights that eased that longing some, but not nearly enough. This place had to many reminders of time before that. Time he'd once sworn was behind him. It had been almost a year since he'd come aboard...and every night, the dreams had come. He'd almost gotten use to them...but how does a man get use to...

Book pushed the thoughts from his mind. He was a Shepherd now, all that was behind him. Laying still, Book studied the ceiling as he'd done so many nights before...and waited.

...waited for the dreams to come again.

COMMENTS

Monday, May 29, 2006 8:37 AM

SOFI


ohhh! nice opening! can't wait to find out whats to come next!

Monday, May 29, 2006 8:37 AM

SOFI


ohhh! nice opening! can't wait to find out whats to come next!

Monday, May 29, 2006 8:37 AM

SOFI


ohhh! nice opening! can't wait to find out whats to come next!

Monday, May 29, 2006 8:37 AM

SOFI


ohhh! nice opening! can't wait to find out whats to come next!

Monday, May 29, 2006 8:37 AM

SOFI


ohhh! nice opening! can't wait to find out whats to come next!

Monday, May 29, 2006 8:37 AM

SOFI


ohhh! nice opening! can't wait to find out whats to come next!

Monday, May 29, 2006 10:42 AM

DRAKB


Were they psychedelic dried potatoes or something? Can't wait to read more.

Monday, May 29, 2006 1:10 PM

BLUEEYEDBRIGADIER


Uh...I think the Shepherd accidently used some mesquite or something instead of chives on the taters;)

Still...great stuff here, and I hope for more soon;)

BEB

Tuesday, May 30, 2006 11:40 PM

BOOKADDICT


I like all the different takes on the night and everyone's thoughts. Maybe it really was the potatoes!


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