A/N: This chapter is a bit shorter, but trust me, you're going to need the breather!

Enjoy the ensuing angst - and be sure to comment about it!

Thanks to Leiasky for the beta.

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A NEW DAY, ch. 15: Retribution

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Gabriel saw the lights of Capitol City as the craft descended through the atmosphere and he breathed a slight sigh of relief. Truthfully, he was glad to be returning home. He knew that as soon as they landed, his granddaughter would be hauled off the Academy and he would be set free to his own devices, able to once again access his accounts, spend his money and resume his life.

The past four years on Londinium had been a study in patience for him and it was not a trait he’d ever possessed with any real talent. The Alliance had provided for him, of course, but his lack of freedom had been devastating, especially for a man like Gabriel Tam, used to moving within all the social circles, schmoozing and influencing the rich and powerful. His disappearance from that high society life had damaged his calm, made him more easily agitated and not in the least sympathetic.

That was why he could really care less about the torture his granddaughter was suffering. He had made a deal with the devil, he knew that, and he had done it unflinchingly. He had first struck an agreement with them years ago, when he had turned River over. He had known then that whatever she would learn at that Academy would not be pleasant or particularly useful. He had known when he’d shipped her off that she would never again be a true member of society and he had been fine with that.

Gabriel had only sent her away so that Simon could stop focusing all his time on his baby sister and start really working towards his future. His mind could not be split between his love of medicine and his love for River and so Gabriel had simply chosen to take one away. Of course, he should have known that his son would never let it go that easily. Gabriel should have known the first time Simon brought home an injured bird and nursed it back to health at the age of five, that he would never possess the killer instinct he himself had been forced to quell.

Gabriel had truly hoped that Simon would grow into the cold, calculating man he had always striven to be. His own life had not lent itself to that type of menace: his parents had come from nothing and so Gabriel had been forced to make his own way in the world, and it was true – when amassing a fortune and building a power base, it was very important to not step on too many people on the way up. There was always the chance that one would meet them again on the way down.

And so, it was with prodding and pushing that Gabriel had tried to force Simon to realize his true potential – to become the greatest trauma surgeon in the ‘verse and crush all those who had ridiculed Gabriel as he’d struggled and scraped to lead a life of wealth and prestige. But like a fool, Simon had thrown it all away for his damaged and crazy little sister.

Of course, he did take some glee in knowing that Simon’s life was effectively over. His bleeding heart would not suffer well the loss of his own child and he knew that River and her brother had not parted well. His assurances to Simon that it was her snooping that had brought this all raining down on them had done their job – they had made Simon distrustful and hateful towards River and if Gabriel could get nothing else, he would take that knowledge with satisfaction.

He felt the transport land with barely a thud and sighing, collected a few of his personal belongings. He was about to step from his office, when the door whispered open and looking up, he froze. Standing before him was his ex-wife, a particularly menacing looking man with a gun trained on him behind her.

“Hello dear,” Regan greeted him coldly. Stepping inside with the man at her back, the door shut behind them.

***

River had made it to the room that held her niece with very little resistance. She had sent Jayne and her mother off after father, knowing that keeping him incapacitated would aid in getting the girl off the ship safely.

Pausing for a moment, River again stretched out her senses, trying to feel past Rylee’s incredible pain and map the layout and make-up of the room. When she thought she had it determined, she keyed open the door and was greeted with a hard fist to her gut.

Reeling backwards, she hit the opposite wall with a force that knocked the wind from her. Looking up with a feral gleam in her eyes, she saw two blue-handed agents standing over her, their hands already holding the thin, tube-like devices that would end her life if she didn’t do something to stop it.

Panting heavily as she tried to regain her senses quickly, River kicked out with one leg, capturing the agent closest her around the knee and bringing him to the floor with a hard thud. The gun she’d relieved the guard of had been thrown out of her grasp the minute she’d hit the wall and she scrambled for it now, even as the other agent grabbed her forcibly by the back of the head and wrenched her neck back, causing her to cry out with pain.

Rolling over and onto her back, she managed to dislodge his grip, but with a quicker recovery time than she had given him credit for, the man pounced on her, pinning her arms to her sides and holding the blue-ended device over her face. River felt the pressure in her head increase immediately. Struggling not to black out, she used all the strength she possessed and rolled hard to the side knocking the agent off of her.

Reaching again for her discarded gun, her fingers closed around the cold metal grip and whirling around with it, she fired, catching the agent squarely in the chest. He fell, hard, and River moved to his side, grabbing for the rod-like device and switching it off. Her body immediately sagged as the pressure was released and with a determined grimace, she stepped over the man’s lifeless form and entered the room they had been trying so hard to keep her from.

The sight before her was exactly as she had suspected, but that didn’t make it any easier to see. Rylee was strapped to a cold metal table, her arms and legs held down by metal cuffs that had already chafed her pale skin. Needles and instruments were still sticking out of her and River could see her body twitching slightly as the drug-induced sleep they had put her in, more than likely for transport, caused her mind and body to convulse in pain. She was murmuring slightly, and as River approached determined to free her, she noticed that trails of tears had permanently stained her cheeks, running from the corners of her eyes and into her mussed and unkempt hair. She was covered in one of the Alliance’s sterile medical gowns, and the garment was too big for her, causing her niece to look even smaller than her four years.

Removing the first of the needles gingerly, River placed her hands to Rylee’s cheeks and stilled her head as it moved back and forth. Blinking back tears, River called to the girl, “Rylee, baby, can you hear me?”

When the girl did not wake, but only moaned more intently, River decided getting her out was more imperative than waking her up. Removing the other instruments with as much care as she could, River was about to free her from the cuffs at her ankles and wrists, when a thin piece of wire wound its way around her neck and strong hands started to pull, cutting off her air supply. Watching as Rylee continued to suffer in front of her, River felt her eyes bulge a bit as she lost her supply of oxygen and clawed relentlessly at the metal digging into her throat.

***

“Regan, I must say this is a surprise,” Gabriel told her, trying desperately to hide his discomfort at seeing his ex-wife on his ship. Glancing over her shoulder, he raised a skeptical eyebrow and asked, “New husband?”

Fixing him with a small grin, Regan did not answer the question and Gabriel decided that maybe taunting the large man with the big gun was not his best course of action. Sitting back down in his chair, he did his best to affect a nonchalant attitude and asked her, “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Give us Rylee,” Regan told him evenly, her tone betraying none of the anger or disgust she felt for the man before her.

Shaking his head slowly, Gabriel snorted and asked, “What is it about that brat?” He watched as the man with the gun tensed behind his ex and had to wonder just how exactly he was connected to all of this. “I’m sorry, dear, but you can’t have her back. The Alliance has her now and they find her quite interesting.”

“You bastard,” Regan bit out, her calm tone gone in the blink of an eye and replaced with a vehemence Gabriel was sure he’d never witnessed before. “Isn’t it enough that you once turned your own child over to them? How could you do that to your granddaughter? To Simon?”

“Simon made his bed,” Gabriel answered, his own tone losing any vestiges of good humor. “He chose to bring disgrace to this family. He chose to live the life of a criminal. He chose to throw away a brilliant future. He chose to breed with an insignificant prairie harpy.” The man behind Regan tensed again, his hands gripping his gun so tight, that his knuckles whitened. Unable to dismiss his curiosity, Gabriel stopped his tirade and asked the man, “I’m sorry, and exactly who are you?”

Jayne opened his mouth to answer, but Regan’s hand to his arm stopped him. Looking to Gabriel with clear eyes, she told him, “This is River’s husband.”

Gabriel’s eyes widened at the thought of his insane daughter married, and at the thought of her married to the man-ape before him, he actually leaned his head back and laughed, loud and long, making Jayne tense even more. Looking back to them after several moments, Gabriel was actually wiping away tears of laughter as he said breathlessly, “Wait, wait. You mean to tell me that Simon has married some prairie whore and started his own mini-civilization while River has married this Neanderthal?”

Regan and Jayne both stared him down with cold anger and Gabriel could only laugh a bit more, before muttering, “Unbelievable. I’m glad I’ve disowned them.”

“They’ve disowned you,” Jayne retorted, his voice gruff with undeniable anger for the man before him now. How River and Simon had ever made it out of their childhood home as halfway decent adults he could not even begin to understand.

“Yes, I’m sure that’s what they want to believe,” Gabriel answered, his tone again chilling. “But they know, better than anyone, that their mother and I dismissed them the minute Simon rescued his freak of a sister.” Noting the way Jayne’s stance tensed at the mention of River, Gabriel decided to taunt the man. “Oh, I’m sorry, that doesn’t offend you does it?”

Jayne refused to say anything, but only stared the man down. He would not let this hundan egg him into doing something stupid.

Rolling his eyes, Gabriel muttered, “She must be damn good in bed to instill that kind of loyalty in a man like you.”

Unable to hold back a moment longer, Jayne circled the desk in an instant and cracked the butt of his gun against the man’s face, drawing a gush of blood from the side of the head and sending him crashing to the floor. “I’d take it as a kindness if you wouldn’t talk about my wife that way,” he ground out, cocking his gun at the man’s now trembling form.

“You see, dear,” Regan said, rounding the desk and trapping him on the other side, a small gun having appeared in her hand. “This is what true love looks like.”

***

River was losing her battle with consciousness, she could feel it. Her vision was blacking at the edges and she was having a hard time staying upright. But one more look to Rylee and she knew she could not give up – she had not come all this way to free her niece, to heal her family, only to be stopped now.

Reaching her arms up and around her, she felt for the head of her attacker and gripping it firmly on the sides, began to squeeze, her lithe muscles holding more power in them than anyone could ever guess. As she felt her palms push further and further into the flesh of the man’s head, the choke hold on her throat started to relent and with that barest of releases, she knew she could win.

Bringing her legs up and using the table that held Rylee’s still writhing form, River pushed back with all her might and knocked herself and her attacker to the floor. Falling back on him hard, she felt the grip on her throat give way entirely and rolling off of him quickly, she saw the dazed expression of the other agent who had first attacked her. Delivering a swift kick to his head, River knocked him out for a good long while and then turned back to her niece.

It didn’t take long for her to remove the cuffs, and as River gently pushed them away, she saw the angry cuts and bruises that had assaulted Rylee’s skin. Having removed the IVs full of drugs from her system a few minutes prior, the girl was starting to come around and with tears in her eyes, River again brought her face over the girl’s.

“Rylee, sweetie, can you hear me?”

Her eyes fluttered open the coldness of them causing River to shiver. Looking to her aunt, she got out between parched lips, “Aun’ River, hurry.”

“I’m right here, baby,” she told her, pulling the girl up and hugging her tight to her chest. “I’m right here, you’re going to be okay now.”

With barely another thought, River picked up her niece’s still trembling form and headed for the shuttle’s exit and their escape.

***

She met her mother and Jayne at the mouth of the two corridors. Regan’s eyes filled with tears at the sight of her granddaughter and she reached out a gentle hand to stroke her hair. “River?” Her voice was rough with tears and all River could do was look to her with sad eyes and shake her head once.

Jayne reached for the girl, seeing the red marks along River’s face and neck and guessing that she was pretty beat, but River would not give her up. “We have to go,” she told them both. “Where’s father?”

“Don’t you worry about him, dear,” Regan said quickly, ushering the four of them from the ship.

Unable to press the issue further River hurried behind Jayne, holding Rylee to her and whispering to the girl as she continued to whimper. “I wanna go home,” she cried in her aunt’s ear, bringing fresh tears to River’s eyes.

Pressing a light kiss to her temple, she whispered, “I know, baby, we’re going. Just hang in there.”

They were halfway across the platform when River heard it, the whine of an approaching craft. Guessing that one of the agents had been able to get off a distress signal, River turned her eyes upward and caught the metal glint of the ship as it rushed towards them. Turning to Jayne, she gave Rylee over to him and said hurriedly, “Get her and mother out of here, now.”

“No way, baby girl,” Jayne shouted back, adjusting his grip on his niece so he could grab for River’s hand. “We’re all gettin’ out of here.”

Pushing him away, River told him, “No, Jayne, go.”

“We’re all going,” Regan corrected, and motioned over to her side. Following her extended hand, they saw as Regan’s hovercraft approached the platform. While there was a very real chance the Alliance’s ship could blow them out of the sky, as River looked back to the ship approaching them from the opposite direction, she knew it was a troop transport, not a gun ship. They wanted Rylee alive and she suspected her as well.

Pushing them in the direction of their mother’s approaching ship, River squeezed off a few shots with Jayne’s gun as the transport lowered itself to the ground, a few of the soldiers hanging out of the open sides and returning her fire. Having hefted Regan and Rylee into the hovercraft, Jayne turned back to grab River when he saw it.

It moved almost as if in slow motion and Jayne struggled to reach his wife before the bullet struck. But if the projectile was moving slowly, he was slower and all he could do was watch as River took the shot to her gut, falling backwards. He managed to catch her in his arms, and she looked to him with glassy eyes. “Jayne,” she muttered, before her body passed out from the shock.

Carrying her hurriedly back to the ship, Jayne reached around on his belt and chucked the one grenade he always carried with him in the direction of the transport, before hopping into the hovercraft and urging the pilot to speed away.

Looking down to River’s motionless form, Jayne saw copious amounts of blood flowing from her wound. Fighting the very real urge to pass out, he looked to Regan helplessly, as she reached for and handed him the first aid kit she had on board. Knowing there wasn’t much in there that would help, Jayne opened the box with shaking hands and found some gauze pads and a shot of adrenaline. Having watched Simon administer the medication to him plenty of times before, Jayne injected River with it and watched as her eyes fluttered open. Taking the white bandages next, he pressed them to her wound, trying to staunch the flow of blood.

River gasped as he pressed down, the pain almost causing her to pass out again. “I’m sorry, baby,” he whispered to her, taking one hand from where he held it against her gut, and running it through her hair. “You gotta hang in there, okay?”

Her eyes again full of tears, she turned her head slowly to the side and saw her mother cradling Rylee’s still trembling form against her. “Tell Simon I’m sorry,” she murmured to her mother, knowing that there was no way she could survive long enough to tell him herself. “Tell him I love him.”

Regan shook her head against her own tears, and reached out a hand to her. “You’ll tell him yourself, sweetheart. Just rest, we’re going to get you help.”

“Jayne?” River was so groggy and she felt the pull of unconsciousness, but she had to look at him one more time. Turning her face back to his, she saw the tears he was trying to withhold and she lifted a hand towards his face.

Grabbing at it, Jayne held it tight and kissed her fingers. “Hang in there, baby girl. You’re gonna be okay.”

Smiling weakly at him, she murmured, “No, I’m not.” River cried out, as the hovercraft swerved, causing more pain to shoot through her.

Jayne brought his face close to hers and whispered, “You gotta be okay, River. You ain’t supposed to go first.”

“I love you,” she whispered to him, unable to form any other more profound statement as she felt her life draining away. “I love you with all I am and I will always love you.”

And with that her hand dropped from his as her eyes again rolled into the back of her head. Looking up to Regan with more anger than sadness, Jayne bit out, “We have to get her to a hospital. Now.” And then he again dropped his gaze to her, wishing he knew how to get his wife to reopen her beautiful eyes.

***

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