Remember Me

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As days turned into a week, and a week bled into two, River still laid unmoving and unconscious in the infirmary. Even with the lack of noticeable change, Kaylee remained beside River, talking to the comatose teenager for hours on end every single day without fail.

At least in her own mind, Kaylee’s actions were meant to keep River caught up on things going on in the ship and with the crew, as if she were still with them and not unable to respond. It startled the once-chipper mechanic to think about how important those haunted eyes were to her, along with how she yearned for just one more moment to observe the younger girl’s massive doe-eyed expression when joined with either one of River’s crooked smiles…or one of River’s silly little comments that both confused and amazed Kaylee at the same time.

“Come on sweetie…ya gotta wake up now...no one else plays jacks with me well as you do…and you still gots ta tell me all those secrets ‘bout Simon, ya promised me.”

Kaylee’s softly whispered pleas floated gently into River’s ear, followed closely by one more quietly uttered sigh, adding to a whole slew of sighs already uttered over the past several days. Even when sitting vigil, the young woman couldn’t remain still, shifting faintly in her seat to lay her head down on the diagnostic bed beside River’s tangled mane of chocolate tresses only moments after taking her friend’s hand gently in her own to stroke the wounded psychic’s knuckles with her grease-stained thumb. Kaylee’s neck soon became sore, though her eyes never strayed from watching the faint rise and fall of River’s chest…or the strips of gauze taped over the teen’s ribs to protect the still-healing wound.

“…Any change, Doc?”

Outside the infirmary, the two young women are observed themselves by Mal and Simon, the ship captain solemnly watching his usually cheerful mechanic hover over her friend before turning his focus to the doctor beside as the man sighed and sadly shook his head.

“Nothing. Yes, her physical injuries are healing cleanly…but I have no way to access or properly diagnose what sort of damage was done to her brain when she got injured. My initial examination showed no signs of bone fractures to the skull or internal hemorrhaging in the brain, so I thought it wasn’t serious. I don’t know why she hasn’t woken up yet…and I’m afraid she might not wake up. Not if she stays comatose like this for much longer.”

Simon punctuated his final point with a small squeal, as the distressed surgeon wrung his latex-wrapped hands unconsciously. Mal nodded faintly at the young man’s words, rubbing his jaw as he carefully reviewed the options available to them at that moment.

“Right…well, we don’t got any jobs right now, so I figure we can make a stop if you need us to. ‘Sides, we’ll have ourselves one mighty upset mechanic if your sister don’t wake up again, Doc. Can’t have that now, can we?”

Simon blinked suddenly as he looked over at Mal with surprise, before nodding slowly.

“Yes, well…River would stand a better chance if we could land somewhere with proper medical facilities. However, that means Core planets. We can’t risk that!”

“You can’t…but I can. I can get you and your sister into the proper medical facilities...but it will not be any Core-based medical center. We will have to travel all the way out to the outer-most border planets to find the location I have in mind. I sadly cannot promise you access to the newest and most advanced pieces of equipment, Simon…but what is there will be more than adequate compared to this ship’s medical stores.”

Simon looked up in surprised at Book, as the mysterious Shepherd stood at the foot of the stairs heading down from the crew deck to almost right in front of the infirmary, his ever-present copy of the Bible comfortably gripped in his hand in preparation to once again pray over River in hopes of assisting her recovery. Book had been quietly gazing at Mal and Simon for the past few minutes as the men had watched over the youngest members of Serenity’s crew, allowing him to overhear the doctor’s response to Mal’s query about stopping for medical aid and respond with his own advice concerning River’s continued treatment; the Shepherd now watched as Simon slowly recovered from his shock and nodded, while Mal took up a watchful gaze aimed at the older man before speaking.

“And what, pray tell, is this miraculous place? ‘Cuz I am rather interested in how a Shepherd would know about a place like that.”

Mal crossed his arms over his chest, watching as Book took a deep breath before looking at them evenly.

“It’s my home.”

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Compared to the Shepherd’s description of the trip they needed to take, the journey out to Book’s home planet wasn’t as long as he made it sound….though the eventual destination was small. The small and rural-looking unnamed planet seemed to be uninhabited, as Serenity’s sensors couldn’t pick up any traces of communications or mechanical transient anywhere on the surface. Book stood behind Wash on the bridge, giving the pilot coordinates for a landing in the middle of a stretch of apparently open desert.

“Wash, set down here. We’re as close as I want to risk. I’m not sure if the old family defenses are still up or not.”

“Wait…old family defenses?!? Are there bombs? Are we going to get blown up?”

Wash looked quickly over at the chuckling preacher, a wave of fear crossing the younger man’s face at the thought of explosives being present near his lambie-toes…or the rest of the crew.

“No, no…I got rid of the land mines a long while back. Bad for when one has to make unannounced or sudden appearances.”

Wash swallowed, wondering why that statement did nothing to relax him even as he carefully landed Serenity down on the empty stretch of land indicated by Book. Once the ship had settled on her landing gear – and hadn’t triggered any explosive devices, much to Wash’s joy – Mal nodded and looked over to Book.

“Alright Shepherd…we’re here. Now what do we do?”

“Now, we take a short walk. Though, of course, we’ll carry River in the Mule. Now, only Simon, River, Kaylee, Mal and I will be going…and before you say anything, Captain, the new Mule will carry 5 people easily. Besides, I don’t foresee a need to get out of anywhere in a hurry, so the ATV being weighed down won’t be an issue. The rest of the crew can stay with Serenity for the moment, since the ship will need to be brought closer once I get the defenses shut down.”

Mal nodded at the Shepherd, before heading out of the cockpit and down to the infirmary to let Simon know the plan and help get River loaded up properly. Book, seeing Mal move off to assist Simon with securing River, set off to the cargo bay to prepare the Mule for use.

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As Mal, Simon and Kaylee sat in the back of the Mule, the three of them bracing River’s stretcher to prevent any kind of unsteady movement, Book drove the ATV across the open country towards their destination. Book pushed the vehicle as fast as he dared, knowing the young doctor behind him was in a hurry to get his sister out of the day’s heat since the sun was practically beating down on them. Kaylee sat by River’s head, softly humming to the unconscious girl and stroking her hair. Mal watched his mechanic closely, noting that Simon was showing no sign of even being aware of the attention Kaylee was showing his sister.

“We’re almost there. The house should be visible soon and when we get there, I’ll park and get out. You all stay here until I’ve gotten inside and checked things out.”

Book glanced back at the group quickly as he spoke, turning back around at the nods of agreement and focusing on the small house that had come into view. Book stopped the Mule at the fence that encircled the property, shutting the vehicle down and hopping off to follow the walkway up to the door. Once the Shepherd had reached the building’s front entrance, he uncovered a small number pad by the door and punched in a code before pressing his finger to a biometric scanner mounted above the keypad; a soft clicking noise came from the door, signaling Book’s success at disabling the lock. The door was pushed open, allowing Book to quickly disappear inside with barely a trace of his previous presence outside. Simon, shifting slightly in his seat as he watched the newly closed doorway, was eager to get his sister inside the house and to examine the promised diagnostic equipment. The doctor’s thoughts shifted guiltily from his sister’s well-being to the kind of equipment that Book had available that could help him find out if there was any further – and lasting – damage had been done to his River’s brain. Simon was disturbed from his daydream by Book’s return outside to signal it was safe for them to enter, his movements mirroring Mal’s as they carefully lifted River’s stretcher up and out of the Mule. Kaylee watched as the young girl was lifted from across the backseat and slowly maneuvered into the house; the mechanic quickly shelved her concerns for her friend, contacting Wash via the Mule’s radio to tell him it was safe to bring in Serenity and informing him of the new landing coordinates several feet from the house, before hopping off the ATV and following the three men inside.

Book led Mal and Simon through the house, allowing the two men to observe it was a rather small building…or at least it was built to seem that way. The three men eventually arrived at another locked door – metal, this time – protected by another keypad lock, but one requiring the use of an ID card on top of the previous lock’s code and fingerprints. The obvious level of security caused Mal to raise his brow slightly before turning to the Shepherd.

“Mighty strange things for a Shepherd to have in his home…”

“This may come as a shock to you Mal, but I was not always a Shepherd. Also, my family possessed some very powerful connections…connections I gave up when I chose to follow the path I currently tread. Members of my family have long since died or moved away from here, but it seems that everything is still in good condition.” As Book spoke to Mal and Simon, he opened the newly unlocked door and flipped on the lights as he stepped into the room beyond and headed towards a set of heavy metal doors.

“Come in, gentlemen. This elevator will take us down to the infirmary. I’ll show Simon down, Mal, while you wait up here for the others. I’ll leave the doors unlocked so I don’t have to come up here every time someone needs to get in. When Kaylee gets in here, please send her down.”

Mal nodded warily at Book’s orders, stopping to lean against the entrance’s doorframe after heading back outside to wait for both Kaylee and Serenity. Mal scanned the skies for the telltale form of his ship, smiling to himself as the strangely attractive shape of the Firefly-class transport approached her new landing spot.

“Never will get tired of that…”

He continued to smile as he shook his head while walking over to wait with Kaylee at the Mule. The young mechanic looked over at her captain as he approached the vehicle and smiled brightly at the sight.

“She’s somethin’ else, ain’t she Cap’n? Flyin’ down here like some sorta’…angel come down from Heaven. “

Mal could help but grin and chuckle at Kaylee’s romantic notions, partly agreeing with her description of Serenity’s grace while under the control of her pilot. Both figures watched as Wash smoothly maneuvered the ship onto the ground, the front loading ramp lowering to the dusty soil mere moments after the ship had come to rest. Zoë and Jayne walked down to where the captain and mechanic were waiting, with Zoë climbing aboard the temporarily abandoned vehicle to pilot it back into the cargo bay while Jayne headed over to Mal and Kaylee.

“Place all safe-like now? All traps...un-trapped and all that?”

“Yes Jayne, everything’s shiny, so head on inside. Take the elevator at the end of this hallway, it’ll take you down to where the Doc and Shepherd are. Oh...and Jayne? You and I are gonna have a talk later, dong ma?”

“Uh...yeah, Cap. ‘Course.”

Jayne nodded at Mal’s words and shifted faintly before sliding past Mal to take Kaylee to see Simon and River. Ever since the job where River got injured, the usually hostile gun hand had been acting meek as a mouse, seeming to go to extra lengths to avoid drawing the crew’s attention to himself…including remaining eerily silent when the topic of taking jobs the man once would have dismissed as “weak tea” when compared to their usual work in the past. Mal watched quietly as the large mercenary shadowed Kaylee back towards the elevator, hooking his thumbs behind his suspender straps slightly.

“Serenity’s shut down, sir. Should Wash and I stay with her while you and Kaylee head in?”

Zoë’s words float down out of the still-open cargo bay, her tall frame following her sudden query towards her friend, causing him to startle and cross his arms over his chest.

“Hmm? No…don’t expect trouble out here, since we seem to be the first people on this stretch of land in a long while, so you all might as well come in. Probably should get comfy, since I get the feeling Doc’s gonna be keeping us here for a while so he can get the most out of Shepherd’s shiny equipment. ‘Sides…a bit of a rest won’t hurt.”

A simple nod was the only response Zoë gave to Mal before turning around and heading back into the ship to inform her husband that they were going to be land-bound for a while. A movement caught Mal’s eye and made him turn towards Kaylee, who was looking at him with a rather obvious question in her eyes. Mal nodded back towards the elevator room, earning him a bright smile and nod of thanks before they young woman hurried off to follow the others down below.

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When the elevator doors opened after the short ride underground, Book calmly stepped off the elevator and began preparing the room for use. After a few moments, the Shepherd noticed wasn’t alone in the room and turned to see Simon staring at the medical facilities in front of him with a look one could only describe as stunned awe. To the young doctor, it was like being back in his old stomping grounds—the emergency rooms of Osiris General.

“I must admit that some things are probably a bit out of date, I’m afraid, but it should all work perfectly fine. That and the medicines have been replaced every year until this one, when I joined the crew on Persephone.”

Simon nodded faintly before taking a moment to compose himself, a mask of concentration appearing on his weary face as he made sure River was as comfortable as possible on the room’s diagnostic bed while he hooked up the equipment to monitor his sister’s vital signs and inserted a fresh IV line into the back of her hand. Throughout the entire process to get the room prepared for what was needing to be done, River remained completely motionless, not even stirring from her deep slumber when Simon and Book moved her from the stretcher to the bed and began attaching the variety of medical paraphernalia to the young woman.

It was during this complicated process that both Jayne and Kaylee arrived on scene, the mercenary having waited for the mechanic to arrive at the elevator doors upstairs before taking the trip down to where Simon and Book were working on River. Once the two men were satisfied River seemed to be in a comfortable position on the bed and properly hooked up to the monitoring machines, Kaylee approached the bed quietly and sat down near the younger woman’s feet to continue her earlier vigil over the Serenity’s “little witch” with gentle eyes. After a few moments, Kaylee turned to Simon and smiled softly, watching him for a bit as he worked on getting the various diagnostic machines ready to help him discover why his sister was stubbornly remaining in a coma. Simon blushed a bit after he noticed Kaylee’s attention was no longer on his sister but continued to work without stopping, silently still amazed at all the equipment Simon didn’t have access to in their ship’s infirmary. The amazement shifted to hope, as the former trauma surgeon began thinking on all the possible ways he might determine why River wasn’t waking up.

“Kaylee? Would you mind watching River for a moment while I go talk with Book?”

“Sure thing, Simon…and you know you don’t have to ask. River’s my friend…I like staying with her.”

Simon smiled at Kaylee’s response, nodding his thanks slightly before heading off with Book to talk and leaving Kaylee and River alone. Kaylee turned around after Simon moved off to talk with Book, sighing as she turned her attention back to her friend and began watching River quietly. As Kaylee began studying the bed-ridden teen again, the mechanic started stroking the halo of tangled brown hair while silently watching River’s face and running her fingers softly down River’s cheek.

“C’mon sweetie….we need you to wake up now. Never thought we’d miss yer quirky sayings and roamin’ all over Serenity. Or you comin’ into the engine room at night an’ keepin’ me company… especially after Early. Never got to thank you for that…don’t know how you forgave me so easy…told him where you was, betrayed you. I even told Cap you was dangerous.”

The young woman sighed before faintly biting her lower lip and tucking a stray hair behind River with a gentle movement of her hand that trailed softly down the edge of the psychic’s jaw once the hair was out of the way.

“…You’re my best friend River! Ain’t never felt like this before ‘bout anyone. I don’t wanna lose it…even though I ain’t done nothin’ to deserve it, but please, River, wake up! Wake up for me…don’t leave me alone!”

Kaylee’s voice caught in her throat as her eyes burned with unshed tears. Her fingers trailed down River’s cheek again, her sight becoming blurry from crying. It was probably due to her impaired vision that Kaylee failed to notice a hand sudden snap up and grasp her own hand in a way that was both weak and firm at the same time, causing the young woman to suffer for a moment or two in complete surprise before shifting herself enough to wipe her eyes with her free hand.

“River???”

Kaylee’s voice, shocked but full of hope, came out of the petite woman in a breathless rush. Her eyes quickly moved to scan River’s face, the girl remaining motionless for the period of several heartbeats before suddenly snapping her eyes open and strengthening her grip on the mechanic’s hand. Kaylee shifted on the bed to turn towards the door, calling for Book or Simon or anyone who could hear her, preventing Kaylee from properly seeing that River’s large brown eyes were unfocused and full of confusion at what was going on in front of her.

“Shhh…bao bei, you’re safe now...”

After altering the crew to River’s newly awoken status, Kaylee returned her focus back to the teen beside her and began gently cooing at her. River winced as she sat up on the bed, using a bit of force to push Kaylee away from her. With a wary gaze that never left her face, Kaylee blinked and began reaching for River again slightly.

“River…sweetie…it’s me, Kaylee. Don’t you remember?”

River’s brow furrowed deeply as confusion once again appeared in her eyes, even as pain lanced through her chest and skull as she climbed off the table and took a quick look around the room.

“Wh..where..??”

The young woman’s voice shook with emotion as the realization that she had no clue as to where she was and that such a revelation didn’t settle with her, though her reason for why still remained unclear; the bright walls of the infirmary added to the sense of unease, the flashes of medical equipment and readouts causing her heart to race. River’s obvious state of distress made Kaylee’s breath race as she began to move towards the teen, wishing Simon and the others would arrive soon.

“River…relax…we’re at Shepherd Book’s home. You’ve been...asleep for days and days…”

Even with Kaylee’s concerted effort to calm River down, the young psychic remained on her side of the bed in a state of wariness that was interrupted a few times as she seemed to blink rapidly to clear her vision. This nervous gesture caused Kaylee to frown faintly and began another attempt at moving towards the skittish figure, causing River to cringe back quickly as if shocked and her breath to pick up again.

“Shhh, River, it’s ok. Calm down.”

“Stop it! W-why do y-you keep calling me a body of water? I’m a girl…I think. She doesn’t know what to think!”

This outburst caused Kaylee to blink repeatedly, as her hand moved to cover her mouth faintly in shock.

“Oh sweetie…”

“I’m…who am I?”

River’s head rose back up again and looked back over towards Kaylee, the young woman watching as River viciously bit her lip and held her head weakly as she tried to remember her own name. Kaylee tried one more attempt to approach the emotional teen, but River cringed away from her outstretched hand as she watched the older girl with a slightly scared look in her eyes.

“…Who are you?” ----------------------------------------------