A/N: Well, here's what you've been waiting for - I think! Simon and River meet again ...

Thanks to all who continue to read and respond, even when you're not totally digging it, I appreciate your feedback and comments.

And thanks again to Leiasky for the beta, who, no matter how much I send her, just keeps plugging through it until it's done!

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A NEW DAY, ch. 24: Usual Suspects

***

“Ai ya!”

River heard Jayne’s pained cry a minute before she stepped into the room. Frowning at his stubbornness, she rushed to him as he tried to work his injured shoulder into a shirt.

“And you call me stubborn,” she muttered, standing in front of him and pushing him into a sitting position on the edge of the bed. Giving him a hard glare, she said, “I told you I would help you in just a bit. You should still be resting.”

Shrugging which only served to pain him more, Jayne gritted his teeth and told her, “I got tired o’ waitin’.”

Sighing heavily, River crossed her arms over her chest and did not relent on her harsh gaze until Jayne finally dropped his eyes to the floor and murmured, “Sorry.”

Moving to help him dress, climbing onto the bed behind him and manipulating his arm very gently, River told him, “We’re not going to land on Aberdeen for another four hours at least.”

Nodding, Jayne gritted his teeth as another shot of pain coursed through his arm. “Yeah, I know, I jus’ don’t wanna be all groggy from sleepin’ when we see ‘em.” Glancing over his shoulder to her, he teased, “I may have to hit Simon again.”

Frowning at him, River ran her hands to the front of his shirt and started to button it. “There will be no hitting, dong ma?”

Reaching up with his uninjured arm, Jayne placed his hand over hers and whispered, “Whatever you say, darlin’.”

Turning her own playful gaze to him, as she came back around to kneel before him and finish her buttoning, she said, “Okay, I know that’s the medicine talking. You’ve never given up on the chance to fight that readily.” Cocking an amused eyebrow to him, she added, “Especially Simon.”

Chuckling softly, Jayne reached down and cupped her chin in his hand, lifting her face up to meet his gaze. “You ready for this?”

Her eyes watering slightly at the implication of his statement, she told him, “I have to be. You need to see Simon, you need his help.”

“And?” Jayne questioned, knowing there was more to their little visit than just his injury.

Lowering her eyes she added quietly, “And, I really need my brother.”

They sat in silence for a moment, until finally River voiced her greatest fear. “What if he still won’t forgive me, Jayne?”

Taking her hand, he pulled her up to him and told her, “Then I’ll hit ‘em.”

Smiling at him, River kissed him lightly, hoping that despite her reservations Simon’s invitation for them to visit was a sign that things were really on the mend.

***

They had to land their craft a good thirty minute ride away and after asking in town where to find the local doctor, they had been given directions to the Tams’ place. With anxiety churning mercilessly in her gut, Jayne and River made it out towards her brother’s new homestead, bringing the mule up to the fence that surrounded the yard.

Hopping down easily, River moved to help Jayne, her eyes never leaving the sight of the house. Closing her eyes, she could feel the happiness and love that seeped out of it and she knew that her brother and his family were settled here, that things were all right and she suddenly felt very selfish for intruding.

Looking back to Jayne with wide eyes, she told him, “This was a bad idea. Let’s just go.”

Puzzled, Jayne stared down at her and asked, “Shenme? River, what’re you talkin’ about?” As her eyes continued their silent plea, Jayne pressed a light kiss to her lips and told her, “It’s gonna be okay.”

She nodded once and then the decision was taken away from her as she heard Rylee’s voice call out, “Aun’ River!”

Turning at the joyful sound, River watched as her niece charged down the steps and towards them, Daniel at her heels, Simon and Kaylee following behind them at a slow pace, hand in hand. Kneeling, River met Rylee’s enthusiastic hug with one of her own, squeezing the girl tight.

With her arms wrapped around her aunt’s neck, Rylee pressed a few kisses to her cheek and said, “I missed you, Aun’ River. I’m so glad you’re here.”

Blinking away rapidly forming tears, River buried her face in her soft hair and whispered, “Me too, baby. Me too.”

“What about me?” Daniel asked, edging forward and trying to push his sister out of the way. Holding her ground, River instead pulled one arm from Rylee and wrapped it around Daniel hugging him just as tightly. As the little boy buried his face in her neck, he murmured, “I’m really glad you’re here.”

Crying unabashedly now, River still could not open her eyes to face her brother and sister-in-law, even after several minutes. Her face still buried in her niece’s soft hair, River pulled back from both children and kept her eyes locked on their faces. “Have you been behaving?” she asked, brushing Rylee’s hair back from her shoulder, and wiping at a few of the girl’s tears.

Nodding eagerly, Daniel said, “I got an ‘A’ on my spelling test last week.”

Smiling at him, River said, “Well, that’s because you’re really smart like your daddy.”

“And your aunt.” Simon’s voice startled her, although she didn’t know why. Taking a deep breath, she finally raised her eyes to meet his gaze and felt more tears come. Rising slowly, she stepped around both children and it was Kaylee who moved forward to greet her first. Hugging her, Kaylee whispered into her hair, “It’s good you came. He wanted to see you. He does wanna try, but you gotta be patient.”

Trying to stop her tears, but knowing it was impossible, River nodded once and whispered back, “Thank you for all you did to convince him. I owe you.”

Stepping back from her, Kaylee grinned wide and muttered, “Ain’t that the truth. I got some very dirty diapers with your name written all over ‘em.”

Having no choice but to laugh at her comment, River felt a bit of lightness grace her heart and she was so grateful to Kaylee for giving her that release. As Kaylee moved to greet Jayne, there was now nothing standing between River or Simon but their own pride and as the minutes ticked by and they stood resolutely facing one another, it seemed that pride might be as impenetrable as a stone wall.

With a heavy sigh, Rylee moved to her father’s side and tugged on his hand. Looking down to his daughter’s demanding face, he listened as she said, “Come on, dad.” Then she pulled him towards River, reaching for River’s hand once she was close enough and pulling her towards her brother.

Now closer, River could see the hesitation in Simon’s eyes and it made her own fear increase tenfold. Swallowing past it as hard as she could, River finally managed to get out, “It’s good to see you.”

Simon nodded once unable to trust his voice. Reaching for her, he embraced her awkwardly for no more than a few seconds and the strain in the gesture only made River’s tears fall harder.

Pulling back quickly as it became apparent the physical contact was too much, too soon, Simon held her teary gaze for an indeterminate amount of time, and then finally asked roughly, “How have you been?”

River tried to collect herself, swallowing hard to hide her emotions, to hide her grief at the detachment of his manner, his questions. Casting her eyes to the ground, she told him softly, “Fine.” Looking back to the house behind him, she asked, “Where are the twins?”

Moving back to her husband’s side, Kaylee took his hand in hers and told her sister, “Oh, they’re sleeping inside. You can see ‘em as soon as they’re up.”

With a slight smile to Kaylee, River again fell silent. The tension was killing her. Glancing again to her brother’s taunt face, River tried to determine just how upset he truly was; she couldn’t read much from him, her own feelings screaming through her mind with such intensity it was hard to filter through anything else. But she could read his body language as plain as day and it told her that their road was still a long and difficult one.

Looking again to Kaylee, River smiled through a few more tears and told her, “It’s a beautiful home.”

Giving the homestead her own appraising eye, Kaylee looked back and shrugged lightly, “Yeah, it is. We been happy here.”

River felt her despair and sadness over the estrangement with her brother threatening to overwhelm her again and as she tried so hard not to meet his gaze, she couldn’t help but be angry with herself for getting her hopes up. She had known, in her mind at least, that Simon would not take her in his arms and tell her that everything was okay – not right away, and maybe not ever. But that hadn’t stopped her heart from wanting and hoping and wishing that he would. And the disappointment she felt at his continued rejection only served to sadden her further.

Finally it was Rylee who broke the uncomfortable silence that had descended upon them. “Well, if daddy and Aun’ River aren’t going to make up, we might as well get ready for dinner,” she told them all firmly and then turned to head back into the house, her annoyance at the stubbornness of adults clearly evident.

Offering them a small smile in way of apology for their daughter’s precociousness, both Kaylee and Simon turned to follow, while Daniel ran up to Jayne, tugging hard on his right arm to get his attention and causing the big man to cry out with pain. Dropping the hand quickly and backing into his mother’s side with suddenly fearful eyes, the boy whispered, “What did I do?”

Hearing her husband’s pained cry, River rushed to his side, feeling gingerly around his bandage to determine if any of the stitches had been reopened. Through clenched teeth, Jayne told her, “I’m fine, it can wait.”

Shaking her head, River told him, “No, it can’t. Not according to Doctor Yang. The sooner it gets fixed the better.”

“Did I break him?” Daniel asked his mother fearfully. Reaching down, Kaylee picked up her son and told him, “No, baby, I think Uncle Jayne’s hurtin’, that’s all.”

Turning to regard his nephew, Jayne tried to smile, but the expression was more frightening than reassuring. “Yeah, buddy, it ain’t your fault. I just got a bit of-“

“Gunshot wound.” Rylee’s quiet voice piped up from behind them where she had stopped once she’d felt her uncle’s distress. Looking to her father with wide eyes, she told him, “Needs your help.”

Throwing a confused expression to his sister and brother-in-law, Simon asked, “Is that true?”

Nodding once, Jayne told him, “’Fraid it is, doc. Hope you won’t mind patchin’ me up.”

Shaking his head quickly, Simon said, “Of course not.” Looking to River as Jayne again struggled to control a new stab of pain, he asked her, “What happened?”

Having already told Jayne that Simon was not to know of their botched mission to Osiris, she told him, “We got mixed up in a bar fight on the way here. Jayne got shot by accident.”

It was the rehearsed story they had both agreed upon and Jayne dutifully followed through with his part. “Wasn’t my fault though, ruttin’ hundan was just a lousy shot.”

Nodding once, Simon did not see the look of disapproval that clouded Rylee’s features as she saw through their lie. Moving towards the bigger man, Simon said, “Well, let’s get you to the clinic, get that wound checked out.”

As they moved to go, River caught Rylee’s critical gaze and shook her head at her sharply. With a single nod, she let her aunt know she would not tell her secret – not yet anyway.

***

Simon, River and Jayne made their way to the clinic, Jayne leaning heavily against River’s side as his shoulder started to throb mercilessly. Simon watched the big man’s face contort with his discomfort, trying his best to hide his surprise at his level of grimacing – while Jayne had always been a consistent whiner when suffering from an injury, the look of hurt that passed across his features now ran deeper than that and Simon knew, it was bad.

Helping him onto the exam table, no one spoke as River helped Jayne remove his shirt and Simon uncovered the wound over his right shoulder blade. Kaylee had gone with Daniel and Rylee back to the house to check on the twins as it was time for them to wake. Daniel arrived while Simon was still examining the tender skin and looked to his aunt River.

“Mama wanted me to tell you the babies are up. She said you can help feed them if you want.” Daniel cast a few nervous glances over in his uncle’s direction, watching as the tough man, who Daniel could not remember ever crying out in pain, winced at regular intervals.

River’s eyes lit at the idea of seeing the twins, but one look back to Jayne told her she couldn’t go. Giving her nephew a sad smile, she told him, “That’s okay, baby. Tell your mom I’ll –“

“No, you’ll go now.”

River turned to regard Jayne with wide eyes as his words reached her. Standing before him, she placed a light hand to his cheek and said, “No, I’ll see them later. I need to stay with you.”

Shaking his head, Jayne held her gaze even as Simon continued to poke and prod at his already sensitive skin. “Aw, now that’s just silly. You been talkin’ ‘bout seein’ them babes the whole way here.” Pushing her gently towards the door, he added, “Go on now. Me an’ Simon gotta catch up anyways.”

As both siblings raised a skeptical eyebrow to him at that statement, River met her brother’s gaze and got the slightest of nods from him. Smiling to him a bit in return, she reached for Daniel’s hand and said, “Okay, let’s go.”

Smiling at his aunt, he began chattering away at her as they headed for the door and soon they were gone. Simon and Jayne maintained their somewhat stony silence for a while after they’d left. Finally, as the younger man continued to aggravate his wound, Jayne asked, “Hey, doc, maybe you can give me somethin’ for all this pain? Seein’ as how you’re just makin’ it worse?”

Rolling his eyes at the man’s intolerance for discomfort, Simon nevertheless moved to his cabinets and took out a painkiller. Administering the needle, he looked to Jayne and asked, “How exactly did you get that wound?”

“Bar fight,” Jayne told him realizing, a bit too late, that the medicine might make his brain wonky and cause him to forget his cover story. Hoping that wouldn’t be the case, he said, “Case o’ mistaken identity, or at least that’s what the sheriff said.”

“The sheriff?” Simon asked, discarding the syringe and stepping back behind Jayne to continue his examination. “Must have been a pretty serious fight then.”

Shaking his head, Jayne muttered, “Nah, you know how folks can get. Weren’t nothin’.”

“Uh huh,” Simon murmured. As he continued to take a look at Jayne’s injury, he was less and less convinced of the man’s story. This wound was by far six weeks old and even with his sister and brother-in-law coming from Osiris, the trip to Aberdeen should have only taken them four. Jayne could not have gotten this wound on the way here, making Simon’s suspicions around the reasons for his sister’s visit grow tenfold and his anger at what kind of game she might be playing grow exponentially.

Moving around to stand in front of his brother-in-law, Simon snapped off his rubber gloves and held his gaze. “You didn’t get that wound in a bar fight.”

It was a statement, not a question and Jayne found his mouth suddenly very dry. “Sure, I did,” he told the doctor, wishing he hadn’t insisted River leave.

Shaking his head, Simon turned away from him and grabbed a fresh chart, ready to start making notes. “No, you didn’t. That wound is at least six weeks old and it was sewn up professionally. Maybe not well, but whoever gave you those stitches knew what they were doing, which I would say discounts most of the doctors you’d have crossed paths with on your way here.” Looking up from where he was still making notes, he added, “And those are dissolvable stitches, no doctor, clinic or even marginal hospital can afford that technology this far out. You got patched up in the Core, which means you got injured there.” Crossing his arms over his chest, he still held the man’s gaze as he challenged, “Tell me I’m wrong.”

Grumbling, Jayne dropped his eyes to the floor and muttered, “You ain’t wrong.”

Stepping forward with anger blazing in his eyes, Simon bit out, “Then tell me what game you and my sister are playing at. Tell me you did not allow her to endanger my family again.”

His eyes snapping back up to the younger man’s face, Jayne told him hotly, “We ain’t put you in any danger, Simon. Jeez, when’re you gonna stop holdin’ that against her?”

“When my daughter stops waking up screaming in the middle of the night,” Simon retorted, backing away from the man and trying to control his anger.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot – River’s to blame for all that’s happened to you. How stupid of me, here I was thinkin’ it was your pa who snatched little Rylee.” Jayne’s breathing was heavy as he fought to control his own annoyance.

“My father was only able to get to Rylee because of River, or do we need to go through that chain of events again?” Simon asked, whirling back to face him.

Shaking his head, Jayne told him, “No, Simon, we sure ‘nough don’t. I think you’ve dwelt on ‘em quite enough for one lifetime.”

Staring at one another, neither man said anything for several moments. Simon could not trust Jayne’s assertion that they were in no danger, he couldn’t. His sister had been reckless with his family’s safety before and he feared now that the safe haven he had managed to create for them in the past few months might come crashing down around them. Dropping his voice to a harsh whisper, Simon asked, “Jayne, tell me what’s going on. The truth this time.”

Jayne sighed heavily and cursed silently. He feared what his wife would do if she found out he had spilled her secret, the secret she was so desperate to keep. But as Jayne again met Simon’s eyes, he saw the man’s determination there and a bit of his fear. He was truly worried that River might again have endangered his family, and no man deserved to live through that – not twice.

Giving Simon a look of pure perturbance, Jayne told him, “All right, look, all I’m gonna tell you is this – we went back to Osiris lookin’ for that antidote an’ came up empty.”

Simon’s eyes widened imperceptibly and then narrowed, trying to understand. “What do you mean, you came up empty?” Simon asked him, still not at all convinced his family was safe. “Who did you see?”

Shaking his head resolutely, Jayne told him firmly, “Nope, that’s all you’re gettin’ outta me. If you wan’ more, than River’s gonna have to tell ya.” Reaching for Simon’s arm, Jayne pulled him closer and said, “But I’m tellin’ ya true, Simon, we did everythin’ we could to cover our tracks. We weren’t followed.”

Pulling out of the ape-man’s grasp, Simon shot him an angry look and bit out, “You have no idea how much I want to believe you, but I can’t so readily forget the past. Especially when it caused my family so much pain, so I’m sorry, Jayne, but your reassurances don’t hold much weight with me.” Angrily, Simon turned, heading for the exit.

Cursing again under his breath, Jayne tried to shrug his shirt back on and called after him, “Where are you goin’?”

“To get some answers,” he responded, not breaking stride, and making Jayne have to rush to keep up.

***

Up next: River finally has to admit her mistakes.