Three weeks to Leonore:Part One

"River? River!" Simon had checked practically the entire ship for her. She wasn't in her room or the infirmary, kitchen, bridge, Inara's shuttle, the other shuttle, engine room or the other crewmember's quarters. He'd even knocked on Jayne's door in search of River. He was now in the passenger dorms as well as in a flat panic. 'RIVER!!" 'Shh." Simon skidded to a halt and peered into the dimly lit room. Cassandra was sitting up in bed with a book propped open on her knees. And curled up next to her was River. Simon let out a raggedy breath. "Wha?' "She snuck in an hour ago," whispered Cassandra. "I'm so sorry. I hope she hasn't disturbed you?" "Nah. I heard you calling. I would've come and told you but I'm wedge in here pretty good." Cassandra shifted uneasily. "I could move her..." suggested Simon, moving towards River. "Don't worry about it. She seems content. It would be sad to wake her. It's no problem for me, I don't sleep for the first two days in a new bunk, anyway." "Oh. Okay. I'll be in my room, if she needs me." "Goodnight, Doc." Simon looked at his sister then disappeared down the hall. Cass looked at the girl and smiled. Strange little thing, she thought. She'd wandered in without a word, looking as wild as anything and just curled up on the bed and promptly gone to sleep. Cass had met some unusual characters in her life, so what's one more? She turned her attention back to her book. It was true what she had said, she could never sleep in a new bunk right away. The situation wasn't made any better by the actual bunk concerned. It felt like it couldn't quite decide between lumpy and flat, which had resulted in a unexpected unevenness. Three weeks of this bunk. She had no idea why she'd picked this boat to get to Leonore. There were two other ships heading that way, why had she picked the Firefly? Maybe she had been hooked by the little mechanic? Really, who could ignore such unadulterated cheerfulness? Cass had wanted to ask what there was to be so damn happy about? She'd entered the ship with a smile on her face and she didn't know why. She suspected that Kaylee was a bit contagious when it comes to cavity-causing sweetness. Maybe that's why the Captain had Kaylee out front, she was the happy little bait that hooked the fish. Passengers were all too happy to hand over their money to kaylee. Cass closed the book and pinched the bridge of her nose. She arranged the blankets over River's snoozing form, leant over and switched off the lamp. She wiggled down and tried to arrange herself in the limited space between River and the wall. The ship hummed. Three weeks.

"Wake up." "Nnnh..." Wakey wakey. The sun's up and the cows need milking." Fnmm...What?!" Cass sat bolt upright. River jumped back then laughed. "Ohmigod." mumbled Cass and she exhaled. "Breakfast." said River. "What time is it?" asked Cass, scrabbling for her watch. "Breakfast." insisted River. Cass glanced at her. She looked as wild now as she did last night, in fact maybe a little more. "Breakfast?' asked cass, rubbing her eyes and yawning expansively. River nodded. She had a huge grin on her face. " Breakfast is waiting? Or do you want breakfast?" River nodded. Cassandra began searching for her dressing gown. 'So you want breakfast?' Nod. "Okay. Specifically?" River took a deep breath," Eggs, bacon, milk, orange juice, biscuits, muesli, toast, coffee etc," said River. "Etc?" repeated Cass. She knew the kind of fare in the way of food a ship like Serenity carried. She doubted anything on River's list was onboard. Cass yawned," How about pancakes?' River's eyes widened," Pancakes?" "Yip. Pancakes." River grabbed Cass's hand and pulled her out of the room. Cass hurried after River through the quiet ship. Everybody else was probably still asleep. They reached the kitchen. River spun round with a look of expectancy on her face. "Right." said Cass as she clapped her hands," Pancakes."

What followed was about 15 minutes finding where everything was, another 15 minutes getting extrenely creative with what they had to work with ( which wasn't much) and a further 10 minutes wrestling the mixing bowl away from River who had gotten very into the whole "mix until smooth" process. Needless to say about a third of the mixture now decorated the counters as well as one of the walls. But Cass could see River was having the time of her life. She poured the batter while Cass tried to aim the frying pan in such away that most of the batter actually got in the pan. When cooked Cass would flip the pancake out where River proceeded to drown the poor thing in cinnamon. The kitchen, at least, wasn't lacking in spices and the like. "Time to eat," exclaimed River and ran back towards the quarters. " River, where you going?" called Cass, while she fought with a stubborn pancake. She looked up from the troublesome pancake to see Simon being dragged into the kitchen by River. "River, what's going on?" he mumbled between yawns. She just tugged and pulled him, then sat him down at the kitchen table where she presented him with a plate of perfectly rolled pancakes dripping in, albeit synthetic, honey. Simon looked at the pancakes then up at River then back down to the pancakes. "Did you make these?" he asked, gingerly prodding the nearest pancake with his fork. He glanced at Cass, she in turn pointed at River and smiled. "Eat, Simon, eat. Cold pancakes are no use. The bees will take back their honey," She pushed the plate closer to him. Cass could swear he was summoning the courage, and then he sliced off a piece, speared it with his fork and popped it into his mouth. Cass smiled to herself. Like pulling off a plaster, you had to do it quick. She wondered how many culinary disasters Simon had been subjected to by his sister. He chewed. And chewed. Hey,thought Cassandra, these pancakes are my babies too. They can't be that bad. Simon swallowed then smiled, " Wow, These are good." And to add substance to this he took another bite. River smiled and clapped her hands. Cass could see the brother's happiness was tied to the sister's. Cass yawned," Would you like some coffee, Doc?" She reached for the pot. River had disappeared again. "Yes, please." Cass poured with one hand and cradled a pancake in the other. She chewed industrially. Okay, so they were chewey pancakes. But really, they at least were edible, for pancakes without eggs, flour or real milk.She handed Simon his cup then returned to the frying pan. "I'm sorry." he said between mouthfuls. "For what?" asked Cass, weilding a spatula. He shrugged and gestured in the direction River had disappeared. Cass smiled and yawned. Which was a feat in itself. "Don't worry about it, Simon." Cass wanted to ask if River had always been...odd. But she had a feeling her questions would not be welcome. "Wha... what's going on?" Cass looked up. "Kaylee? Oh dear. River, are you going to wake everyone up?" Simon stood up and pulled out Kaylee's chair. She flopped into it and yawned. There seemed to be alot of that going around. River laughed and loaded up a plate for Kaylee. "Oooo...pancakes!" squealed Kaylee when they were placed in front of her. She took up a fork and dined right in. "Mmm... good! How?" she asked through a mouthful. Cass smiled," We got creative. Coffee?" "Mmmm" nodded Kaylee. River was gone again. "Who do you think she's going to bring back next?" asked Cass. "Zoe and Wash probably." said Simon. "Book." said Kaylee, chewing her pancakes and sipping coffee. Jayne, thought Cass. Five minutes later. " Crazy moonbrain girl! What you doing dragging me outta bed? You should be locked up, not roaming around at night. Gorramit, and I was havin' such a good dream too." Jayne appeared looking less than happy. "What the hell is going on?!" Cass stepped forward with a plate. He glared at it, grunted, grabbed the plate, sat down and began eating. "Coffee?" asked Cass. Grunt. I'll take that as a "Yes".

"OK. Kaylee you bet 2 pancakes that the Captain is next. Jayne has 3 on Zoe/Wash and I got 2 on Book." explained Simon. Cass was still working the frying pan. Geez, how many pancakes does this batch make? she thought, as she flipped her zillionith pancake. "Do you want to get in on the action, Cassandra?" asked Simon. Kaylee was slicing over-ripe bannanas over her pancakes. "2 on Inara." said Cass. "Please." scoffed Jayne, chugging down coffee." Easy pancakes." "Good morning, everyone. Is everything alright?" Damn!" yelled Jayne "How did you know?" asked Simon. Cass smiled,"Hand them over." Inara took a seat while Jayne, Kaylee and Simon dished pancakes onto Cass's plate. Inara in turn was presented with a plate of pancakes by River. "Pancakes?" asked Inara, glancing at Simon,"How?" "They're very good," said Simon in way of explanation. Inara picked up her knife and fork and began eating, nodding her approval to River.

Book was the next to be woken for the impromptu Pancake Breakfast. Soon followed by Wash and Zoe. Cass guessed correctly on both counts and soon her winnings were divided up amongst the ravenous newcomers. Cass watched the table. Her batter was finished and the last of the pancakes stood towering in the centre of the table. She sipped her upteenth cup of coffee and smiled at the rampant yawning that was the only thing that interrupted the eating and talking. "What about mal?" asked Inara, glancing at River. "Yeah." said Kaylee," He can't miss out on this." She was now dicing tinned peaches for Book's pancakes. Simon looked at River," Why don't you go get him, River?" She smiled and shook her head. "I'll go get him" said Zoe. Cass could see that the others thought this the best plan. "No." said River. "But..." began Zoe. "No, you mustn't call him." Simon stood up,"We can't leave him out, it would..." River turned to Cass. "You go get him." said River. Cass almost spat out her coffee. "Me! Why me? asked Cass," What did I do wrong?" " I went and I got everyone else, now you must go get him." Cassandra looked at River. Nothing but innocent dreaminess. "Fine.Fine. Where's his quarters?" she asked. "The door's by the bridge, thataway." directed Wash with a funny look on his face. Suddenly everyone was real quiet. Why do I feel like I'm back at school? And the kids have kicked the ball into the principle's yard and I've been 'voluteered' to retrieve it? thought Cassandra.

The Captain's first impression of her hadn't gone well. It basically involved them yelling at each other over River. Apparently River had been confined to her quarters but she'd come out and run into Cassandra. So Cass had gotten talking to her when they were happened upon by the captain. Who proceeded to yell at River as well as Cassandra. River's response to this was to run away crying, Cassandra's response involved yelling back louder than the Captain. This is why she had been expelled from 3 schools, thought Cass on her way to the captain's quarters, She had one hell of a problem with authority, especially if the person in authority was wrong. She knocked. "Captain? Uh...Captain Reynolds?" La Dee DA, thought Cass. Well, at least the coffee's kicking in. "Capt. Reynolds, Breakfast. Wakey? Wakey?" She pushed the metal door back and looked down the ladder. Why do all the crew live down holes? Well, into the lion's den. Taley Ho! She clambered down. I feel really stupid. If the guy wants to sleep, how about we let him. Just because he's the only one not scarfing down protein based chewey pancakes in a sleep deprived fashion, doesn't mean... "WHAT THE HELL?!" And Cassandra screamed. There really wasn't another option besides wetting her pants which I'm sure everyone would agree is really no option at all. Cassandra leant against the wall gasping. "What are you doing down here?" yelled Mal. "Breakfast." "Come again?" "Upstairs. Breakfast." "It's 0600 in the morning. We don't have breakfast 'til bout 8.' Cass pinched the bridge of her nose. "Not today. There's pancakes and coffee... and Kaylee found some tinned fruit... but you'd better hurry, cause Jayne is really putting them away." "Pancakes?" "What's with you people? Have you never had pancakes before? You'd think I was asking you to eat rat's guts or something!" "They're not bad, actually.' "What?" "Rat's guts. Not bad on toast." Cass exhaled, then climbed back up the ladder.

Cass returned to the kitchen, shrugging her shoulders in answer to the looks of enquiry from the crew. She glared at the mess that still covered the counters, yawned then got to cleaning it up. "River." called Cass. The girl looked up from her seat next to her brother. She looked tired but content. "Come help clean up." said Cass. River grinned mischieviously and shook her head. "We made the mess, we clean it up," said Cass firmly," Our responsibility." Simon glanced between his sister and Cass. "I could..." he started. "No, Simon." said Cass, "This is River's mess, she has to clean it up." River didn't look that happy now. She stared at Cass and Cass stared back. The rest of the crew had gone quiet. Mal walked in,"I heard something about pancakes?" The crew's attention was now on their captain. "Hey, Cap. Do you want some fruit?" "Morning, Mal." The banter that followed masked River's quiet entry into the kitchen. Cass smiled and handed her a soapy sponge and they both got to work.

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It was a week after the Pancake Breakfast and Cass was back in the kitchen, clearing away the supper dishes. For some inexplicable reason, she'd suddenly become the resident cook on the ship. She didn't really mind, it gave her something to do, but still, she was a paying passenger.Cass squared away the last of the dishes and headed for the cargo bay. She passed the infirmary where Simon sat hunched over something on the counter. She carried on passed and stepped out onto the catwalks that overlooked the cargo bay. River sat on one of the crates that were packed into the cargo bay.She waved.Cass had this feeling that she had been adopted some how, along the way. She hurried down the metal steps. "Hey, River. What's it you wanted to talk to me about?" Cass flopped down next to her on the crate. River was picking at her nails. Her lips moved but Cass didn't hear anything. "Pardon. You're going to have to speak up." River leaned in close and whispered,"Monsters." Cass frowned,"What type of monsters?" "Night time monsters." "Nightmares, you mean?" River shook her head. "They scrabble at my door and whisper. They don't go away when I close my eyes." Cass could see her fear. "Does Simon know about the monsters?" River shook her head. Cass could also see River was a little embarrassed. Cass pinched the bridge of her nose. "Right." she said,"We can't have monsters wandering around keeping people awake." Cass hopped off the crate and began looking for her own luggage. River watched Cass as she shifted boxes about, concern on her face. "What do they look like?" asked Cass as she tugged a large overstuffed trunk from behind another crate. She looked at River who looked confused by the question. "No eyes, only ears." said River. Cass frowned and turned back to her trunk, fighting with the lock. Thinking hard. "Oh!" exclaimed Cass, slapping her forehead," You mean you don't see them, only hear them, right?" River nodded. "Right." said Cass. She plunged her hand into the contents of her trunk. "What are you looking for?" asked River. Cass jumped. River was right next to her. Geez, the girl could move stealthily, thought Cass. "I'm looking for my secret weapon." River looked sceptical. "You see," explained Cass," When I was little, I also had monsters." Okay, I make them sound like a case of headlice." I fell in a hole on my gran's ranch and it took the ranch hands forever to get me out. It was pitchblack down there. It was cold and wet and, boy, there were some weird sounds. Everything kind of echoed and seemed really big to little me."Cass leaned sideways into the trunk and fished around. She continued,"When they got me out, I was petrified and couldn't really sleep from then on. I kept hearing things in the dark. Monsters." Cass didn't want to trivialise River's fears. She could still remember how it felt to be alone down that hole with the strange noises. "AhA!" yelled Cass. River stepped back a little. Cass pulled and out popped a teddy bear. River was unimpressed. She was expecting at least a big bat or something. Off River's look,"Okay. So, Mr. Floppy doesn't look like much but he's lethal for monsters." "How does he work?" asked River. "Well, my grams said that when the noises ie.monsters showed up I should throw Mr. Floppy as hard as I could at them, close my eyes then wait. If nothing happened then the monsters had run away." Cass felt a twinge of pride,"Simple." "He's not very scary," observed River poking an extremely patchy leg. "Well, that's the point now, isn't it? Mr. Floppy isn't anything like a monster. He's not scary, is he?" Cass held Mr.Floppy up and he proceeded to lose some more stuffing. "No" said River, still uncertain. "And that's what works best on monsters. Things that aren't scary; that are cute and lovable. Things that you love work best on scary things." explained a triumphant Cass. River was quiet for a moment and then: "Like Simon." "Um..." said Cas. She couldn't quite put the rigid doctor in the 'cute and lovable' category. "I love Simon and he scares away the nightmares," exclaimed River, having a lightbulb moment. Cass nodded and handed Mr. Floppy over to River. "But how?" asked River. Oh dear,thought Cass, the principles regarding monster scaring are a very underdeveloped science. "Uh..um," faltered Cass then, "Love! Yes. Love. Love makes things whole and solid and... strong. Monsters aren't loved." Poor things. "So they are empty and hollow and fragile. Right. Yes. That's it." River seemed to take this in. "So... when you throw Mr. Floppy at them, they don't want to break so they go away and never come back." "Is Mr. Floppy strong enough though?" asked River, in all seriousness. "Yes, of course, he is. Because," Cass thought frantically," I love him and you love him so he's twice as strong." River held Mr. Floppy out in front of her and seemed to size him up as if they were going into battle. She hugged the toy to her chest and kissed his threadbare head. She took a breath and said," Goodnight, Cassie. Don't let the space bugs bite." Then she scampered up the stairs and out of sight. Cass let out a sigh of relief, smiled then then began the awesome battle to close her trunk again.

Later that night, Cass tiptoed to River's room and listened at the door. She could hear small wimpering sounds as Simon stepped out of his own room."What's wrong?" he asked. "Shh."Cass put her finger to her lips then pointed at the door. He leant forward and heard the winpering to. "I better go in ..." he whispered. "No. Wait a bit." "But she's scared." he objected. "Just wait."Cass insisted. He looked at Cass and waited.The wimpering got a little louder, something Cass couldn't make out was said and then there was a definite thump against the door. "What was that?!" asked Simon. Cass waited. The wimpering had stopped and nothing but velvety silence emanated from the room. "Mr. Floppy." answered Cass. "What?" "River's new champion, Mr. Floppy." she explained smiling at Simon," Sounds like he won his first battle. Goodnight, Simon." and she patted him on the shoulder and headed back to her own room. Leaving Simon looking very confused.

To be continued... <6A8700><6A8700><75AD0B><75AD0B><81DE3C><81DE3C><780C5F><780C5F><00E96F><00E96F><311A16><311A16><806B49><806B49>