A/N: All right, because I'm as impatient as the next, here is the start to the sequel to my A NEW LIFE series.

I certainly hope everyone enjoys! And just because I'm not always good with the disclaimers, none of these characters (except the OCs) belong to me. It's all a creation of Joss' brilliant mind.

And much thanks again goes to Leiasky for reminding me that it can be angsty, plot-driven and fun, with a bit of smut thrown in for good measure - and still be a hell of a read!

AND LEAVE COMMENTS - or the fan fic gods will get angry!

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A NEW BEGINNING, ch. 1: Family Ties

***

“Daddy!”

Simon looked up at the sound of his daughter’s cry and was just able to glance the top of her dark-haired head as she came barreling into the room. Barely breaking stride, she had crawled her way into his lap and against his side in a matter of moments and Simon immediately cradled her against him.

“Daddy,” she whined again, burying her face against his chest. “Aunt River’s bein’ mean.” She turned a pout up at him and Simon smiled at the light in her brown eyes, even as she huffed, her lower lip jutting out farther than seemed necessary.

Rubbing light circles along her back, Simon asked quietly, “What did aunt River do?”

Letting out another exasperated huff, Rylee turned her eyes towards the door and threw a scathing look at her aunt. Simon followed her gaze and saw his sister, standing there, her arms crossed over her ever-expanding belly, with a definite bratty smirk on her face. She had indeed said something to upset his little girl, but Simon guessed by his sister’s expression whatever it had been was meant to effect him more than his little one.

“She said you love Daniel more than me,” Rylee whined, turning big eyes back to him, tears beginning to pool in them.

Simon simply grinned wider at his little girl and hugged her tightly to him. Pressing a kiss into her hair, he rocked her lightly as he said, “Well, then your aunt isn’t as smart as we think she is, because she’s very, very wrong.” Pulling back to again look at her, Simon was amazed how one child could be the perfect blend of a husband and wife. She had his dark hair that hung loosely to her shoulders, but Kaylee’s wide, expressive eyes. Her nose and mouth were all his, while her cheekbones and forehead were again from the Frye side of the family. “I love both of my beautiful children exactly the same,” Simon told her, placing light kisses on her cheeks and nose and eliciting a giggle from her.

“Daniel ain’t bootiful,” she told him, still laughing.

“Isn’t,” Simon corrected easily. Gazing down at her he said, “But you’re right, Daniel’s a boy and so he’s handsome and you are beautiful. But I still love you both with all my heart.” Wrapping her back into an embrace, Simon finally shot his own disapproving look to his sister who had remained silent during the entire exchange. Smirking still, she simply shrugged at him, but made no move to either leave or enter the room.

“Wait a minute,” Rylee said after a moment. Looking back to her father with a skeptical expression, she told him, “You can’t love us both with all your heart.” Placing a tiny hand over the center of his chest, she explained, “You only got one.”

It was Simon’s turn to chuckle. Scooping her up in a big embrace, he swung her around the room, getting more giggles. “Trust me, sweetheart, it’s big enough to love you both.” He swung her around for a few more minutes, before again holding her tiny three-year-old body in his arms. Looking back at her aunt, Rylee shot out her tongue and said, “I told you.”

River walked forward now and ruffled the young girl’s hair. Placing a light kiss on her cheek, River said, “Yes, you did. I should never have doubted you. And I shouldn’t have said what I did. It wasn’t nice.”

Grinning from ear to ear at hearing an adult apologize to her, Rylee twisted in Simon’s arms to fling her arms around her aunt’s neck and hug her tightly. River closed her eyes and hugged her niece back. After a moment, Simon said, “All right, little girl. I think it’s time for some lunch.”

Turning back to him, Rylee had again stuck her lip out to twice its normal size. “I don’t want yucky protein again.”

Simon pressed a kiss into her hair as he gently set her on her feet. “Yes, but I heard a rumor that good little girls who eat all their protein might get a treat.” Leaning in close, he whispered, “Like strawberries.”

Squealing in delight, Rylee clapped her hands together and tore out of the room just as fast as she’d entered, taking the metal stairs up to the kitchen as fast as she could.

When she was gone, Simon turned a questioning look on his sister, who simply shrugged. “What was that for?” Simon asked, wanting an answer.

Placing her hands on her hips in a pure sign of defiance, she told him sternly, “You told Jayne the sex of the baby.”

Sighing, Simon turned and retrieved the data card he’d been reading and headed towards the infirmary to put it away before he went to join his family for lunch. River followed him.

“Look, mei mei, Jayne and I may be family now and that may be his baby you’re carrying, but he’s still somewhat imposing.” Turning back to face her, Simon finished, “If he wants to know something, I’m gonna tell him.”

River laughed at his joke and Simon smiled in return. Going to her, he placed a light hand on her growing stomach. Always in doctor mode he pressed his hand gently around her belly, feeling for the baby’s positioning. Placing her own hand over her brother’s, River gently removed it and said, “I’m fine, Simon. We’re fine.”

Smiling again, he hugged her lightly as he said, “I know, mei mei. But you’re still my baby sister.” Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, Simon led her towards the stairs to the galley. “Let’s go have some lunch. I’m sure Kaylee made plenty.”

River grinned at him and was just about to accept when a swift pain blossomed in her abdomen, right where the baby was. She doubled over instantly, gasping as the pain intensified for a moment and then just as quickly subsided.

Simon was by her in a second, placing a light hand on her back, steadying her. “River, are you all right?”

Troubled by the suddenness and intensity of the pain, River straightened slowly and tried to reassure him. “I’m fine, Simon. I think she’s going to be a dancer. She loves to kick.”

Simon smiled half-heartedly, still not convinced that something wasn’t wrong. Trying to steer her back to the infirmary, he said, “Still, I should check you both out, just to be sure.”

Stopping him with a firm hand on his arm, River smiled and this time the expression reached her eyes. “Don’t worry about me, Simon. It’s fine.” Placing a light hand against his cheek, she held his gaze as she said, “I think I would know better than anyone if something was wrong.”

Simon seemed to consider that for a moment, before leaning in to place a light kiss against her cheek. “All right,” he conceded. “But if it happens again, you have to come and see me. Doctor’s orders.”

“Yes sir,” she told him, affecting a deeper, more serious tone and getting a chuckle out of him. “For now though, I think I’m going to go lay down. Get some rest.”

“Do you want help?” Simon was ready, willing and able to provide any kind of support she needed and it warmed her heart.

But the sound of laughter from the kitchen pulled his attention away from her – just as it should be. Pushing him gently towards the stairs, she smiled at him and said, “No, go have lunch with them. I’ll be fine on my own.”

Simon squeezed her hand one last time, before hurrying up the stairs. “Save me some strawberries,” River called after him, getting a quick grin from her brother in return.

As he left, River turned to go herself and felt another wave of sharp pain course through her. Steadying herself against the door jamb, River took a deep breath and counted backwards from ten, trying to see her way through the pain. At five and a half months, things like this should not be happening. She had had a normal pregnancy to this point, even enduring the occasional morning sickness. But this pain was new and River didn’t like it.

She tried to concentrate on the little life inside of her, tried to feel for any danger, any sign of distress, but as her hormone levels had been on the rise, her psychic abilities had been spotty at best. Sighing heavily and feeling more tired than before, River slowly made the way to her and Jayne’s bunk, glad that she was able to get there without any additional twinges of discomfort.

Slowly settling on the bed, River rolled onto her side, her hands instinctively cradling the little bump that told her she was part of something so much bigger than herself. She and Jayne had created this little one together, from their love for each other. And that love would get them through this, whatever it was.

***

By the time they got back from the job, Jayne was beat. It should have been a simple snatch and grab, but as with most things in Mal’s life, simple had never entered into it. So now, with an achy shoulder and a few extra cuts and bruises he had not owned that morning, Jayne trudged through the cargo bay, storing the goods as Mal stowed the mule with Kaylee’s assistance.

Turning to grab another crate and grimacing against the pain in his arm, he moved to place it in his pile, when Daniel’s big, blue eyes suddenly appeared before him. Starting slightly at the sudden intrusion, Jayne smiled at the boy, even as he sidestepped him to go back to work. Daniel had taken to dangling off the catwalks and rails in the cargo bay, like now, so he regarded his uncle Jayne from an upside down position as the big man lumbered over and dropped off another crate. Silently, he grabbed the sides of the railing, swinging his legs up and over his head and executing a perfect back flip to land on the deck. By the time Jayne turned around again, the kid was at his feet.

“What’re you doing?” He asked it so innocently that Jayne could not help but smile at the boy.

But he couldn’t let the kid completely destroy his gruff exterior. “I’m workin’, what’s it look like I’m doin’.”

Daniel followed at his heels, about to ask another question, when Kaylee caught sight of him and sent him scurrying. “Daniel Tam I done told you to clean your bunk. Now scoot!”

His eyes widening at getting called out by his ma, he gave his uncle a quick wave and then quickly sprinted from the room. Jayne smirked slightly and then went back to work, as Simon entered, Rylee in his arms.

Walking to his wife, he kissed her on the cheek and asked, “Have you seen Daniel?”

With an eye roll, Kaylee hit the lock switch on the winch to keep the mule secure and turned to her husband. “He’s cleanin’ his bunk and if you interrupt him again, you’ll be sleepin’ on the couch.”

Smiling slightly at his wife’s annoyance, Simon kept himself from being hit by presenting Rylee to her, who turned out to be a pretty good block. He did seem to have a propensity for always finding their son when he was busy with some chore and then taking the boy back to the infirmary to teach him about medicine. Daniel had shown a strong aptitude for science and math by the time he was three, which of course made Simon’s heart soar, but it made Kaylee all the more determined to treat him as a normal child and not a genius.

Noticing Jayne, Simon approached the bigger man and saw as he again winced from the pain in his shoulder. “Jayne, are you all right?”

“Just fine, doc,” Jayne grunted, trying to mask his pain and failing miserably. “Why?”

Studying him for a moment, Simon knew the man-ape was simply being stubborn. “Why don’t you stop by the infirmary when you’re finished. I’ll see what I can do about that shoulder.”

Grinning his thanks, Jayne nodded once and Simon was about to leave, when Mal clapped him on the shoulder. “Where’s my pilot?”

Simon smiled at the older man and said, “Sleeping. She was feeling a bit tired earlier. I’d say than unless you really need her, she could use the rest.”

Jayne heard this and dropped the last crate at his feet. Whirling Simon around to face him, the doctor noted the fear that played across his features even as he tried to hide it. “She all right?” he asked quickly, his heart beating wildly at the thought of River and their unborn baby girl.

Simon smiled at his concern and carefully removed the man’s big paw from his shoulder. “Yes, Jayne she’s fine. She’s just pregnant. It tends to make a woman tired.”

“I’ll say,” Kaylee snorted from across the way, nuzzling her nose into Rylee’s face and getting giggles from the girl. “When you men are done, dinner’ll be ready,” Kaylee told them and taking her daughter, she left the bay.

All three of them watched her go, Simon most of all, smiling just a bit at her fading backside. Mal recovered first, Jayne’s mind still consumed with just a bit of fear for River’s health. She had been doing all right for most of the pregnancy, but at any sign of distress his mind immediately started working overtime, conjuring all sorts of dire scenarios that he would be powerless to stop.

“All right then, we can stay put for a bit longer,” Mal said, leaving both men to their musings and heading up the nearest stairs for his and Inara’s shuttle. “Jayne, you can leave the rest of that. Go check on your wife.”

Nodding his thanks to the man, he left hurriedly and Simon forgot to mention he really should come to the infirmary. Now alone in the cavernous bay, he headed for the galley, wondering if Kaylee wouldn’t mind a little help with supper.

***

As Mal entered the shuttle, he heard the light sound of humming and paused. He loved that sound, that sound of Inara’s low voice singing sweetly to their little one. With a smile on his lips, he entered the room quietly and saw that Inara was sitting with her back to the door, a sleeping Mimi in her arms.

Circling around the bed, Inara caught his gaze and looked a bit sad, which immediately made Mal nervous. Sitting at her side, he placed a gentle arm around his wife’s shoulders, even as he reached up and gently brushed some of Mimi’s dark curls away from her forehead. Once he had, he realized why Inara was concerned: there was a large, red welt on his daughter’s forehead that was quickly bruising.

Throwing her a look, Inara placed a finger to her lips, and then gently, with care that only a mother could show, laid the sleeping girl down, not waking her. Taking him by the arm, she led him into the cockpit and closed the curtain between the two rooms.

“What happened,” Mal asked quickly as Inara turned to face him, a weary expression on her face.

“She fell, Mal, that’s all.” Inara rubbed a hand over her face, feeling the tightness from her worry earlier in the day. Despite knowing that her daughter would be fine and despite trying to convince her husband of that fact, Inara felt the residual effects of fear leaking down her spine. She had never been so scared as she had been that day, watching Mimi and Daniel and Rylee play as she’d talked with Kaylee and then heard the loud clang followed by the louder wail that told the two mothers one of their children was hurt. And when Inara had seen it was her daughter, with those big tears running down her cheeks, that fear had become all too real.

Placing his hands on her shoulders, Inara looked up into his eyes and saw his concern there. And she loved him for it, as always. “What ain’t you tellin’ me?” Mal was still petrified, not at all convinced that Mimi was indeed going to bounce back from this bump on the head.

Sighing heavily, Inara placed a hand to his cheek and said softly, “Nothing, Mal, I promise. You can even talk to Simon. He checked her out and said by tomorrow she’ll be fine.” Still giving her a skeptical gaze, Inara finally gave in and admitted softly, “It just scared me, that’s all.”

Pulling her to him, Mal wrapped her in a tight embrace. “I can imagine,” he said softly, pressing a kiss to her temple.

After a few moments of silence and with Inara still in his arms, she asked, “How was your day?”

Sighing, Mal thought about the hun dan they’d been forced to do business with and how much he’d really wanted to hurt the guy for screwing them on their cut. At the time, it had seemed like the most important thing in the ‘verse, that three percent he would not relent on, but now, knowing the fear Inara had lived through today and the pain his little three year old had felt, Mal didn’t find it important in the least.

“It was fine, darlin’,” he said instead, pressing another kiss to her temple, before gently steering her back into the shuttle. “It was fine.”

***

Jayne hurried down into his bunk, trying to squelch the fear that was clenching his heart in an iron grip. As he closed the hatch behind him and turned to see River’s sleeping form curled up on their bed, he immediately felt his body relax. Letting out a sigh of relief, Jayne kicked off his boots, careful not to make too much noise and then silently edged towards his wife’s sleeping form.

Sitting gingerly next to her, Jayne gently took one of her hands in his and placed his other hand against her belly. Just feeling the swell of her under his hand, knowing that it was his little girl growing inside this beautiful creature before him, brought a tightness to Jayne’s throat that he had convinced himself was allergies.

Bringing the hand he held to his lips, he kissed it gently and then cursed silently as River stirred, her brown eyes fluttering open to regard him sleepily.

“Hey,” he said softly, reaching out to place a hand against her cheek. She sighed at his touch and Jayne again felt his heart swell with love for her – who would have ever thought?

“You’re back,” she murmured, reaching up to kiss the hand he’d placed to her face and then hold it. Squinting at him a bit, she saw a particularly long red mark running along his forearm and said, “You’re hurt.”

“Nah,” he shrugged, waving off her concern. “Just a couple bumps and bruises. Nothin’ I ain’t seen ‘fore.”

River kissed his hand again and squeezed it, murmuring, “Poor Jayne.”

He smiled at her, that devilish grin he always gave her that made her knees weak. Tugging on his hand, she whispered, “Lie with me.”

Not needing to be asked twice, Jayne crawled in beside her, spooning up against her and bringing both of his hands down to rest against her belly. She brought her own hands there and then yawned a bit. “Sleepy,” she muttered, already feeling the pull of a dreamless trance.

Jayne pressed a kiss to her cheek and whispered, “You sleep then. You gotta take care o’ yerself and our lil’ one.”

“Mmm,” she murmured as she drifted off. “Our little one.”

Smiling at her and kissing her again, Jayne settled in to sleep, feeling more content than he’d ever thought possible, holding this extraordinary woman in his arms.

***

River liked to sleep next to her husband. She supposed that most wives did, but then again, she had known her parents to have two separate bedrooms for as long as she’d been alive, so assumptions were never something she liked to make. But still, sleeping in Jayne’s arms made her feel safe and comforted in a way that nothing else in the ‘verse could.

So when she started to thrash about in the throes of a horrific nightmare, her dream consciousness felt confusion, along with the fear and terror brought on by the frightening images dancing through her mind. There were faceless men, attacking, clawing, trying to harm her. There were sharp objects: knives, needles and saws cutting at her skin, biting into her arms, her legs, her chest. And worst of all there was a huge, heavy weight pressing against her stomach, pressing against her baby, hurting her so badly, she could not breathe.

It’s what the faceless men wanted, her child. They clawed at her to try and cut her baby away and River screamed and kicked at them with the strength of a dozen Jaynes. With a feral hunger and a thirst for blood, she protected her body and her baby, until she was overwhelmed – until she was bleeding, broken and empty, her child gone.

Screaming, loud and long, River came to in her bunk, Jayne’s warm form next to her. He was already awake, propped up onto one elbow beside her, trying to calm her. With a gentle hand he was stroking her hair back from her forehead, whispering to her in a way that had worked to soothe her before, but wasn’t working now.

Her wide, brown eyes were as big as planets and they darted about their small room, looking for those faceless men who wanted to take her child away. But there was no on there, no one to harm her and she let out a shaky breath as she felt some of her adrenaline recede.

Her hands had instinctively cradled her belly as she’d fought in her dream, and they were still there. She gently rubbed them over her swollen middle, feeling for her baby, wishing she would kick so River could breathe another sigh of relief and start to process what she was feeling. But there was no movement inside her and the absence brought tears to River’s eyes.

As Jayne watched her work through her panic, he saw the desperation cloud her features as she held her stomach protectively. Swallowing the rising lump in his own throat, he covered her hands with one of his and held them steady, trying to offer her comfort, wishing he knew what to do, wishing there was someone he could hit so River would not have to go through this.

It wasn’t the first time since she’d been pregnant, that she had awoken in a cold sweat, screaming and scared. The dreams had started around the eighth week of her pregnancy and Jayne was always amazed at the ferocity of her fight when these night terrors gripped her. He had awoken many a night to a swift kick to the leg or punch to the gut as his wife, his tiny wife, lashed out with a vengeance.

River slowly turned her head in his direction, small trails of tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes and down the side of her face, wetting her already sweaty hair. He gave her a small smile as her eyes focused on him, and that one gesture seemed to dissolve the rest of her fierceness, leaving only fear in its wake. Rolling over on her side, she burrowed into him, getting as close to his warm body as she could. Curling into the tiniest ball she could manage she started to sob, even as Jayne wrapped both of his strong arms around her.

***

When River was again asleep and Jayne felt relatively comfortable leaving her alone for a few minutes, he heaved himself up and out of his bunk, looking for the doc. He knew they had missed dinner and he would stop in the galley on the way back to River to get her some food. Regardless of how upset she was, she still needed to eat.

He found Simon in the infirmary, big surprise, and was also not surprised to find him with his son. Apparently the young doctor had gotten it into his head that because Daniel had been able to do multiplication at the age of three, he was a ruttin’ genius. So now, at every opportunity he got, Simon was grooming the boy for the MedAcad and beyond. Jayne would have found it annoying if he wasn’t secretly wishing that his baby girl upstaged her cousin in the brains department.

Clearing his throat, he got the attention of both boys and gave Daniel a wide grin. Entering the room, the kid bounced a bit on the exam table where he sat, and waited with anticipation as Jayne lumbered in and lifting him up, swung him around the room with abandon. Simon simply watched the two, leaning back against the counter with his arms over his chest, wondering if Jayne realized how much like an ape he looked like when he did that.

After a few minutes of riotous laughter from them both, Jayne set Daniel’s smiling form down on the ground, and pushed him towards the door. “All right now, ‘nough fun. I gotta talk with your pa, so get.”

“See ya, uncle Jayne,” Daniel said happily, not at all annoyed to be dismissed. Looking back to his father, he waved and said, “See ya, pop,” and skipped from the room.

Rolling his eyes, Simon gave Jayne his patented bothered look, and said dryly, “You know, he only calls me ‘pop’ in front of you.” Turning back to regard the charts he was organizing, he added, “I think you’re rubbing off on him.”

Jayne chuckled a bit, realizing how much the reality of that statement must irk his brother-in-law. “Well, there’s worse things,” he mumbled, not at all surprised when Simon turned back to him, this time a look of incredulity plastered on his features.

“Name one,” he asked, shooting the bigger man a look that Jayne could have sworn he’d learned from his sister.

Jayne shrugged then, ready to let the issue drop and Simon again turned to his work. Talking with Simon had never been one of Jayne’s favorite things. In fact, it actually fell towards the bottom of ways he’d like to pass the time, ranking right above torture at the hands of Adeli Niska and right below an ass-kickin’ from his wife. But, this wasn’t about him, it was about River and his baby girl and that meant he’d endure any discomfort to make sure they were both all right.

“Hey, doc?”

“Yes, Jayne,” Simon murmured, still giving his attention to the data card he held.

“When’s the last time you checked out River,” he asked, not at all sure of the terminology he should be using, but fairly certain that it was close enough.

Placing down his charts, Simon turned again to face his brother-in-law and leaned back against the counter, arms over his chest. With a curious expression, he asked, “Why?”

Swallowing hard, Jayne told him, “Because, she just had another one of them nightmares, an’ I think they’re gettin’ worse.”

Simon digested this new information, his built-in medical dictionary doing a quick scan of the symptoms plaguing his five and a half month pregnant sister. Couple increased dreaming with her pain from earlier in the day and Simon was fairly certain he didn’t like what that could mean.

Sighing, Simon rubbed a hand over his eyes, and asked, “Is she awake now?”

Shaking his head, Jayne looked back out the infirmary’s doors in the general direction of the crew bunks. “Nah, she done fell asleep again. Seemed real tired, like her energy’s just zapped.” Looking back to Simon, the younger man saw real fear in the mercenary’s eyes and knew that whatever Jayne may or may not be, he did care for his sister, and that meant Simon had to indulge his concerns. “I don’t like it.”

Smiling wryly, Simon admitted, “Neither do I.” Taking a step forward, Simon placed a light hand on the man’s shoulder and said, “Listen, I honestly think River and the baby are fine. Given everything she’s lived through up until now, the changes and effects of different chemicals and hormone levels during pregnancy were bound to have some serious side effects we could never have predicted. I think that easily explains these nightmares.” Just as Jayne opened his mouth to protest, Simon silenced him. “But, I agree that it’s worth checking out. In the morning, get her down here and I’ll do an ultrasound.” Simon glanced over into a corner of the infirmary where the machine, brand new just three years ago, before Rylee’s birth, sat waiting, always at the ready as Serenity’s crew seemed to be in a baby frenzy as of late. “I’ll make sure they’re both fine. All right?”

Jayne nodded, and patted the man’s hand that rested against his shoulder. “Thanks doc, that means a lot to me.”

“She is my sister, Jayne,” Simon reminded him, stepping back before their bonding moment got any creepier. “I love her too, you know.”

Smiling tightly at him, Jayne nodded once and then headed from the room to get some grub and then go back to bed. He knew that at one time Simon had loved River more than his own life, but Jayne knew that Kaylee and his little ones now filled a bigger space in the man’s heart than his sister, which was as it should be. But River was Jayne’s heart and he wasn’t about to let anything happen to her.

***

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