The airlock door hadn’t been closed five seconds when Jayne began blubbering. “Can’t lose my little drinkin’ buddy,” he moaned. “Please, don’t die, Kid.” After a moment’s pause, River smiled. “I told him what you said,” she informed. “His response was that he can’t die, or he can’t get you back to your daughter.” The response didn’t help Jayne much. River watched through the window as Serenity floated by. She tallied everything in her head from the distance between vessels and speed of each to the appropriate angle of attack in order to hit the opposite hatch and the amount of thrust necessary from the med ship airlock at that particular angle. “Are you with me, Gabriel?” River called, both speaking aloud and projecting her thought so that the others in the room with her could hear her directions. *Barely,* the slow response finally came. *Blackin’ out...* “No, Gabriel, don’t black out. The airlock is nearly depressurized. Listen to me very carefully.” River took a breath and tried to relax, although the intensity of the situation and her deep fear and worry for Gabriel had her shaking like a leaf. “Gabriel, I want you to plant your hands on the door in front of you and your feet on the door back toward us. Can you do that?” *Workin’ on,* came the clipped answer. “I’ll try to send you visual images as well,” River called, “so that you’ll know where to put your feet. You need to push hard, but not as hard as you can, or you’ll just bounce right off of Serenity.” “Unto thee, O Lord,” Jayne began suddenly, “do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in thee; let me not be ashamed, but let not mine enemies triumph over me.” River tried to push Jayne’s solemn words back into her mind with everything else in the room. Her one focus was getting Gabriel back into the nearest atmosphere. “Almost there. Just hold on.” *Hold on to what?* “Remember not the sins of my youth,” River heard Jayne continuing as she chuckled inwardly at Gabriel’s smart-alecky reply, “nor my transgressions; according to thy mercy, remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord.” “Where in the ‘Verse did you learn that?” Zoe inquired of Jayne, shocked. Without stopping the prayer, Jayne reached into a side pocket of his pants and withdrew a tattered, black bible. It was the bible that used to belong to Derrial Book. How and where he got it was a mystery. It could have been given to him, or he could have taken it from the burning ruins of Haven. It didn’t matter; he had it, and he definitely treasured it. Inara began to pray, as well, only quietly and not to God. River felt a cold shudder rattle her bones. “Gabriel! Stay focused!” *************************************************************************

There were brief seconds, for now, where Gabriel would forget where he was or what he was doing. His skin felt numb, not from the vacuum that consumed him, but from the lack of oxygen reaching his brain. Were it not for the alterations in his blood oxygen content, he may likely have passed out already by this point. *The doors are open!!* River shouted in his brain. *Launch!* Focusing on the speck of light that River had planted in his mind, Gabriel pushed off the door behind him with both feet, stretching his arms as best he could in front of him. The speck drew nearer. It felt as if thousands of tiny hands were tugging in different directions at once. A cold shiver shot down Gabriel’s spine, weaving its way through and between each vertebrae. Through the numbness, a tremendous headache throbbed instantly to life. Perhaps the creepiest part of it all was when one of the thermal packs caused a drop of sweat to exit his skin, running down the back of his scalp. It froze almost instantly. *Gabriel!!!* River screamed. *Gabriel, stay with me!!!* *************************************************************************

“He’s blacking out!!” River screamed, slamming the palms of her hands futilely against the window. “I’m *with* you, I’m *always* with you, just *stay with me!!!*” “Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord,” Jayne spoke still, “for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.” River continued beating against the window, tears rolling in torrents. “Gabriel, you’re *right there!!* You’re *right there!!!*” Unable to continue choking words through her sobbing, she abandoned narrating for the others and focused merely on thought projection. *You’re right there...* *************************************************************************

Something bumped into Gabriel, drawing him partially out of the inky blackness from which his mind had sank. An image of handholds sprang to mind, and he groped blindly toward where he thought they would be. *A little to your left,* came from River. *A little more... Good boy.* Three of the thermal pads on his body failed, and iciness began seeping through the padding and gear to freeze Gabriel’s skin. He tried to shake his head to clear it, but the padding wouldn’t allow much of that movement. *...tons.* Gabriel frowned. *I’m sorry. Once more.* *The buttons!* River repeated. *Reach to your right with your right hand. Your right hand, Gabriel.* Gabriel complied, clinging for dear life with his left. He stretched his arm out as much as his suit would permit. *Up,* River directed. *Up, up... Too far, now inch down... There.* Somehow, Gabriel could see the keypad. He followed River’s direction, finally hitting the required buttons. The metal upon which he was clinging slid apart, and Gabriel groped for the edges to pull himself inside. *************************************************************************

“No!” River shouted again, bursting through the clog of tears and mucus that had constricted her air passage. “You need to close the door!!”’ Gabriel wasn’t thinking anything at all anymore. He was on autopilot. “O keep my soul and deliver me; let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in thee.” River collapsed to the deck, utterly exhausted and entirely cried out. “*He...*” she rasped. “*He’s repressurizing.*” “Thank God,” Zoe breathed, falling back against the wall in relief. “I just hope he knows to tear that hood off when he’s got air, or he’s dead, anyway.” “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,” Jayne finished, “for I wait on thee.” River began convulsing violently on the floor, as if she were in the throes of hypothermia. “He’s in!” she exclaimed excitedly. “He’s in!!! But...” she trailed off, suddenly looking confused. “I don’t feel him anymore. He’s in...” River fell to the deck, limp and completely unconscious. Simon rushed forward to grasp his sister. “River!” he cried. “River!!” *************************************************************************

Something hit Gabriel in the face. He was instantly angry. Who would have the audacity to hit him when he wasn’t looking? As the sharp pain finally made its way through the numbness, he realized that it was the deck of Serenity with which he had collided. He also noticed that his legs were tangled in the ladder, and he was hanging upside down beneath one of the top hatches. Gabriel jerked violently to tear a glove off, then reached up and ripped away the hood, the dead or dying thermal pads, and the extreme cold weather hat with the ear flaps. Frost sprayed into the air where condensation and sweat had frozen to the material and to his head and hair. Gabriel rasped in a deep, painful breath of air. When he finally regained partial consciousness again, Gabriel was able to move his legs enough to allow him the rest of his fall to the deck. How long he lay there, gasping tiny, painful, gurgling huffs of air, he wasn’t certain. It could have been two minutes, or it could have been two hours. All he knew was that he had enough sense about him that he remembered how to pull himself, inch by inch, across the deck and down the corridor. At the T-intersection, he paused, attempting to remember which direction to follow. He finally remembered that to the right was the cockpit after he was nearly to the common room. Gabriel knew that there was no way he was moving Serenity anywhere. Inching through the common room helped him discover that chairs and tables can be a hazard, as furniture rained down around him with thunderous peals from being bumped into or groped. It seemed like hours later that the man, fading in and out of consciousness all the while, finally found himself tumbling painfully down the stairs. He rolled away and slammed into the lounge area’s flooring suddenly and shockingly enough to drop him right back into unconsciousness. *Where is River?* There was no River, no voice to urge him ahead and guide him. Gabriel was completely alone. A thought occurred to him suddenly, as Gabriel lay face-down in Serenity’s lounge. Gripping the floor and anything he could with as much strength as he could muster, Gabriel began dragging himself in the opposite direction of the infirmary. *************************************************************************

“Physically,” Simon reported as he examined his sister, “River is fine. She’s just unconscious.” “They call that ‘fainting’ in some circles, Bao bei,” Kaylee prodded, nudging her fiancee in the ribs. “We have no idea if Gabriel is alive or not,” Inara reminded, “and we only have thirty minutes of air left. I suggest we think of a contingency plan.” Zoe shook her head. “There ain’t one. No shuttle, no distress beacon, no communications, no suits...” “Even Gab admitted he couldn’t bust down them doors to other decks,” Jayne added. “Ain’t no ruttin’ way we could do it ourselves.” “Fine,” Inara replied curtly. “I’ll just go back to praying again.” Simon began looking around at other machinery in the laboratory. “The only thing I could think-” “Hope you’re ready to run,” River suddenly spoke, sitting straight up on the table with eyes open. “*Warning,*” the intercom suddenly began again, “*Warning. Unauthorized docking procedure commencing. Proximity alert is engaged.*” Of course, the message repeated itself in Chinese, then began again in English. “Someone’s docking!” Park exclaimed, eyes wide. As a unit, everyone rushed for the airlock, not knowing what to expect. They waited in uncontainable anticipation as Serenity neared through the port in the door. Moments later, the ships were linked. The door slid open, and a giant grin split Jayne’s face. “Are you ready to go yet?” Helen Hayze inquired. “Or do you have some things you’d like to bring along?” *************************************************************************

The numbness crept gently from its embalming grip on his mind, and Gabriel slowly became aware of his own existence once again. Harsh reality suddenly struck him as he slitted his eyes. The blinding shaft of light stabbed downward, through his eyeballs and into his brain, and he gave a little gasp. Muffled voices spoke from somewhere, but what they were saying and where they were had yet to come within Gabriel’s grasp. “Mmmogh,” he uttered. “What was that?” a familiar voice inquired. “He said, ‘Mmmogh,’ Doc,” another replied. “Light,” Gabriel managed. “Too much.” “Oh,” Simon realized. “Sorry.” He dimmed the lighting in the room, and Gabriel could finally open his eyes. Simon stood to his left, hovering with his hand light in anticipation of checking his patient’s pupils. River, as was to be expected, held Gabriel’s hand on the right. “You shine that light in my eye, Doc,” Gabriel murmured, “I’m gonna put it somewhere so’s ya won’t walk right for a month.” Behind Simon, Kaylee giggled. “Now *that* would be a fun sight.” “How ya doin’, Honey?” Gabriel inquired, rubbing his free hand, the left hand, across his face. “Keepin’ yer word to me?” “I feel a lot better, now that yer awake,” Kaylee replied. “You’ve been unconscious for a few days,” Simon explained. “After everything that happened to you in a short couple of weeks, your system just became overloaded, and you crashed.” “He’s about to get another overload,” Mal spoke from the wall cot, surprising Gabriel with his presence. Gabriel turned his head to look at the captain, who sat, arm in a sling, watching him in mock menace. “How *dare* you do such a grand, selfless thing to save my crew’s life? That’s *my* job!” Gabriel grinned. “Tell ya what, Sarge. Next time someone needs to run ‘round in freezin’ vacuum, I’ll let it be yer turn.” “I still can’t believe y’all actually pulled that gou tsao de plan off without no hitch,” Mal professed. “Kinda wish I’d been there to see it.” “If you’d been there,” Inara teased, “then it wouldn’t have worked.” “Ha ha, Miss Knee-slapper.” “Good call gettin’ Helen freed,” Jayne complimented, “‘steada tryin’ ta get Gimp over here dragged off his table an’ upstairs.” “Yeah, well...” Gabriel turned his head to watch River. “Weren’t really higher thinkin’ involved with that one. Instinct, mostly.” He reached over to brush back some stray wanderers of River’s hair. “Where’d the cop go?” “We dropped Nanaka off at the nearest settlement yesterday,” Zoe informed. “He told us he’d give us forty eight hours before he called the Feds.” “Nice of him,” Mal commented. “Really, it was.” “Helen’s back in her room,” Jayne added. “She ain’t locked up no more, though. I fig... we figured she’d earned at least a little more trust.” “Although *Jayne* will be keeping a *very* close eye on her,” Zoe warned, eyeing the man severely. The banter of the room had died into the background of Gabriel’s mind. “*How ya doin’, Woman?*” he whispered softly, tracing River’s mouth with his fingers. River closed her eyes at the touch. “Magical,” she replied. “That’s how I am doing, Young Man.” Gabriel smiled a bit. “Thought ya didn’t believe in magic.” River pressed her forehead to his. “That was before I fell in love with you.” “And speaking of wasting time,” Simon barged into a three-way rant between Jayne, Kaylee, and Mal. He leaned over the patient table to touch Gabriel on the shoulder. “If your eyes are doing any better...” Gabriel rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue, and River giggled. Gabriel rolled over onto his back. “Let’s just get this torture over with so ya can throw me back in my dungeon.” As Simon shone the light in each eye, Gabriel threw himself back into the silly back-and-forth in which the group had engaged. “Well,” he began jokingly, blinking incessantly as Simon finally withdrew the pen light, “looks like everyone kept their word on my final requests ‘cept fer Jayne an’ Inara.” He frowned at the two accusingly. “I did like ya said, Kid,” Jayne assured. “Wow, did he *ever,*” Kaylee agreed. “Never knew the big, dumb ox could talk like that.” “What was it?” Gabriel inquired. Jayne sighed. “Psalm 25.” “Ahh,” Gabriel responded knowingly. “Good one.” He turned his attention to Inara. “And you?” Inara looked flustered. Her gaze flitted, just for an instant, in Mal’s direction. “Well, I-” “One simple thing!” Gabriel protested. “How hard is it to find purple drapes? Honestly??” The eyes of everyone in the room but Mal widened in confusion. “Um,” Mal spoke, “um... What?” “This room just looks so...” Gabriel shuddered. “I dunno. *Sterile.*” “I would *hope* it's sterile,” Simon grunted. “It’s my operating theater.” “Purple drapes,” Mal muttered, looking about the room. He was the only one who didn’t catch Gabriel’s cover-up for Inara, as he was not present for the goodbye’s on the medical ship. However, he must have known that something amiss had just happened. “Definitely *no* purple drapes.” “Wait, wait!” Jayne called, holding both hands up for silence. “Mal an’ the Kid here ain’t heard this one yet, so I gotta share it.” “No, you don’t,” River decided, her face turning red. “So we all get on the ship, an’ me an’ the doc an’ River are all lookin’ fer Gab. Find him in the room we kept Helen. He still had the snow suit an’ the giant condom on, an’ when we got it all off him, Simon stripped ‘im nekked ta look fer damaged tissue.” Jayne choked. “So *then...*” He began laughing, and couldn’t finish. Simon set his jaw, finally deciding to finish the story for the man. “My sister, being the little brat that she is, becomes flustered.” He grinned at River, who was glaring evilly at her brother. “Much as she is now.” “Simon Tam, I will *kill* you,” River threatened. Simon’s grin widened even further. “So she immediately swears that, indeed, it *would* have been very cold in space. She adamantly sticks to that story in Gabriel’s defense.” Zoe buried her face in her hands. Mal looked thoughtful for a moment before understanding finally hit him, and he soon was in much pain from uncontrollable laughter. “It *was* very cold out there,” Gabriel growled, his face quickly becoming as red as River’s. “It’s *space,* people!”