The shadows beneath the door stopped moving, the dark light indicating someone’s presence, stood immobile on the other side. River wasn’t rocking back and forth any more her full attention was on the door and what lay behind it. She heard the shuffling of feet and the rummaging through pockets; perhaps someone was looking for a key…

MEANWHILE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR….

“Do not touch that door.” a deep voice bellowed.

“I…I…just wanted to see who was in there. I wanted to look into the eyes of the person who is so important we all had to risk our lives for.”

“You will do no such thing. River Tam is off limits, especially to the likes of space trash like you. You did your part, for that I’m grateful. We wouldn’t have been able to capture the Tams without you and your men or have the extra bonus of having Malcolm Reynolds and his crew under lock and key. Truly I am beyond grateful but if your hand touches that door, I will kill you myself.”

“She must be something special if you’d kill for her. We all know how you hate to get your hands filthy, you hire the big strong men to do all of your dirty work; she must be something special indeed.”

“You’ve been paid, it’d be best now if you took your money and left.”

With that being said, the man who desperately wanted to see River took his leave. The other man, the one obviously in charge, turned to a shorter man at his side and said. “Kill him!”

MEANWHILE BACK ON RIVER’S SIDE OF THE DOOR…

River heard voices, people having a conversation, although she couldn’t make out all the words; just bits and pieces. The minutes passed by and soon the voices began to cease, causing River to let out a breath that she seemed to be holding onto forever. Although River couldn’t exactly hear what was being said the tone of the voices, the deeper one especially, seemed to spell trouble. And River could have sworn to all the stars in the ‘verse she heard the words. ‘Kill ‘em…

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Simon woke up slowly and brought his hand to his head to rub the ache that now throbbed there. “Where am I, ugh?”

The events that had landed Simon in this now dreadful situation came rushing back to him all at once causing him to wince at the searing pain now forming in his head. “Mei mei.”

Where was River, he needed to find her. There was no telling what these people where capable of. Something about them was familiar, not to Simon, but to River. He had noticed how their presence caused her to lapse into a fit of screams and her eyes flashed with a rage he had never seen in her before.

River kicked and screamed lashing out at everything she came into contact with. It pained Simon greatly to see his sister being manhandled and frightened, so when the moment was right, he threw a clumsy punch at Rivers assailant. In return he got a kick to the head that knocked him unconscious. That’s all he could remember.

Now he was trapped in some stink-hole, and an insurmountable number of questions and possible outcomes for this scenario where playing out in his head; all paths lead to danger. He was too young to die, wasn’t there some saying like ‘God wouldn’t let beautiful people die’, Simon was sure he had heard the Captain say this.

Simon knew he wasn’t blessed with the good looks of a king but he wasn’t bad looking either, I mean he had two eyes, a nose, a mouth, and all the rest of his anatomical parts; didn’t that at least count for something. Who was judging this beauty contest anyway? Whoever it was, Simon could tell they had a sick sense of humor because ever since he stepped foot on Serenity his life had been in jeopardy almost on a weekly basis; what, were they trying to say he wasn’t handsome enough…a sick sense of humor indeed.

After a while when the little voice inside Simon’s head stopped obsessing over his ‘I am a-young-smooth-clean shaven-doctor-so death-can’t take me’ potentially good looks and focused on the situation at hand it came to this conclusion that he needed a way out…he needed a way to River.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

“I thought you said they where comin’ Wash.” Kaylee said yawning, all this being captured was making her tried. In truth it was the waiting until whatever happened next, happened, that was making Kaylee tried.

“No, no, not yet. We have to be moments away from certain death, then that’s when they’ll come. Mal is not a punctual man and besides it wouldn’t be as much fun if they rescued us now, I’m mean with all this exciting waiting at the edge of your seat to die thing, it’s absolutely thrillin’. Dontcha think. We wouldn’t want them to mess that up by rescuing us before any of the action starts.”

“What action, it’s just you and me, and we’re trapped!”

“Exactly my point, is there a knife to your throat?”

“No.”

“Is there an explosive device strapped to your side?”

“No.”

“Is there a gun pointed at your head?”

“No.”

“See, we can’t be rescued yet, we’re not in danger; it’s in the ‘getting rescued guide for idiots’ I picked up. Page 42 clearly states one cannot be rescued if there is no danger to be rescue from.”

“Are you serious, Wash?”

“No, of course I’m not serious, I just wanted to point out the fact that we’re not in any danger. So there’s nothing to worry ‘bout, they’ll come.”

“Wash, what’s that?”

“What?”

“That!” Kaylee said referring to the tell-tale sound of a key being inserted into the door and the handle being turned. The door to the cell sprang open revealing a rather large man holding an even larger gun aimed at both Kaylee and Wash.

“Get up!” The large man ordered.

“Now you can worry Kaylee!” Wash said uneasily as he was escorted forcibly and at gun-point out of the room.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Jayne’s cell was dark, damp and quiet; a deadly chill hung the air, yet there was no sign of the mercenary. Jayne not the type to sit around and wait, always the one for taking matters into his own hands, did just that.

A loud clang rang out as Jayne easily removed the vent from the ceiling; he was never one for quiet escapes, he usually fought his way out of these types of situations. But now he was crawling in and out of the narrow ventilation shafts struggling to find a way out of this damn rat maze.

Jayne didn’t know what he was going to do next. He was 35% sure that Mal and Zoë had both discovered the ventilation shaft and were at this very moment doing exactly like he was…getting the hell out of here.

If not, well he wasn’t going to sit around and wait for those morons to eventually show up, and risk getting caught again. Uh ah, no way.

Catch Jayne once and live to tell the tale; consider yourself lucky. Catch Jayne twice and he’d probably cut out your tongue, so there would be no tell to tale.

Hell, a part of him hoped they didn’t escape; then he’d take Serenity and get the hell out of dodge. Captain Jayne Cobb it had a nice ring to it….

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Jayne had been right Zoë found the ventilation shaft and was also navigating the confusing metal maze for a way out. First she would try to locate the others and Jayne too, if she wasn’t too tired, shot at, or hurt; yeah, she’d definitely come back for Jayne if none of the above happened, oh and if she had enough time. Mentally Zoë told herself ‘make sure to come back for Jayne.’

‘Luck’ was a fussy traveler who refused to find lodgings on Serenity; she always arrived late and past the point of necessity. ‘Luck’ was a foreign outlaw who stumbled hastily through quiet corners of nonexistence and placed ghostly footprints on the souls of each of Serenity’s crewmembers. Even though ‘Luck’ refused to stay on Serenity she found a home in each of the crew and buried deep down inside of them, until they beckoned her forth to guide them safely out of harms way. This was what Zoë was doing now, calling on her luck to direct her to the others and to get to them before anyone or anything else did.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Mal sat with his hands behind his head, letting the cool air from the ventilation shaft blow down on him, putting him into a state of calm. He could have swore it sounded like someone was crawling around up there, but he put the thought out of his mind and continued to let the cool air beat down on him.

“C’mon on Book and ‘Nara, a grand entrance would not go amiss, right about now.” They’ll be here he thought.

IF ONLY HE KNEW…

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

EARLIER THAT MORNING ON CLAXTON… The sun rose high, its brilliant orange glow radiating fiercely, as it took its place in the sky towering above the planet Claxton. Inara stirred in her sleep as the soft light of the sun shone in through an open window, urging her to wake up and meet the new day that was folding open around her. But it wasn’t the warm sun against her skin that released Inara from her sleep; it was the soft lips that caressed her cheek that made her open her eyes.

“You are absolutely beautiful.”

“Thank you, Thomas.”

“Inara last night was so amazing. I was afraid I would wake up and all this would be a dream. That you would disappear once my eyes opened, I was afraid that you would leave me.”

“I would never leave you Thomas. At least not until our time together is up, then I must leave.”

“But you don’t have to. You can stay here and be my wife.”

“I’m sure that one day you will make some women the luckiest person in the ‘verse by making her your wife, but I’m not that woman. This is not my life, it is not my home.”

“Then where is your home…we can move there. I don’t care were I go as long as I’m with you.”

Here Inara paused before continuing with “A home is not a place you go to wed women you have just met, it is a place that binds people eternally then sets them free. A home is not a place of stained metal, with windows overlooking vast landscapes, it is a place that houses loves and pauses for the briefest of moments to let you see how truly blessed you are because of the people around you. Its is a place that no matter where you are in this ‘verse you can always return to, regardless of the condition in which you return because a home is a place were you can be excepted as nobody but yourself. My home is on Serenity. I would invite you to come and visit, but we must all find Serenity on our own.”

“But, Inara I think I love…” Inara cut in before Thomas could finish his sentence.

“My time with you has been most pleasurable, lets not waste what precious little we have left together talking…I could rub your feet.”

As Inara set about rubbing Thomas’s feet, she closed her eyes and dreamed of home. ‘I can’t wait until I see Serenity and she welcomes me back with open arms.’ Inara thought.

IF ONLY SHE KNEW…

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

BACK AT THE LITTLE HOPE ABBEY ON CLAXTON…

Sweat poured from Book’s forehead, ran down the length of his face and fell in tiny droplets off the tip of his chin, until the beads of sweat found refugee on the ground. The sun was at its highest point in the sky, its rays baking Claxton to her core, but Book continued his back-breaking work of rebuilding the south wing of the Little Hope Abbey.

A roaring blazing flame so fierce and vibrant, it was liked to burn a whole into the atmosphere, licked happily at the Little Hope Abbey ‘nigh on 2 or so weeks. It spread quickly, but was put out soon before it could take its claim on the whole edifice. The greatest damage was done to the south wing of the abbey, the only evidence that the south wing even existed was the cross that still stood affixed the door that led to its holy entrance; a symbol of God’s presence.

In its wake the fire left a tattered structure, the north wing of the abbey stood gleaming in the sun, just like the first day it had been erected but the south wing was gutted and fragile pieces of timber and nails lay strewn across the graveled courtyard; a token of despair.

The destruction wroth down upon this saintly community took with it a single soul; heaven bound. He was a young preacher by the name of Kincaid; he’d been at the abbey 2 months shy of a year. Not long enough to become a veteran of a born-again soul; not long enough to wash away his sins and cleanse his spirit.

The rebuilding of the Abbey is what brought Book to Claxton but he also hoped to rebuild the shattered souls of those affected by the fire as well. He knew they where in need of assistance both laborious and spiritual and decided to lend a hand; it was the Shepardly thing to do, it was the right thing to do.

Book would be glad when the rebuilding was finished; these good people needed a solid sanctuary to continue God’s work in. They needed a place to morn for the losses they suffered. It would be nice to know that when he left this place he’d given optimism back to the folks at the Little Hope Abbey. He’d given them a reason to walk straight again, and he’d given them further strength to solidify their faith in God because where there is faith there is always hope.

Book placed his hammer on the ground to take a sip of water from the jug being offered to him. He took a long gulp from the jug, never taking his lips off the rim until he had satisfied his thirst. He then returned the jug of water back to the kind preacher who had given it to him.

“Thank you.”

“It’s the least I could do after all the hard work you’ve done for us.”

“It was my pleasure.”

With that being said Book picked up his hammer again and set back to his laborious work, after all he only had a little over a day to finish before Serenity came to pick him up. Then it was back to the Black.

IF ONLY HE KNEW…