No. it's not technically new, I'm just breaking up the first chapter a bit because I personally think all of this can be a second chapter in itself....

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Everyone else was supposedly sleeping.

Ru gasped as Gambit had her pinned on her bunk and they finished their moment with a physical bang.

He pressed his palms on the mattress and pushed himself up and off once it was over. Dipping his head he pressed his mouth to her collarbone and made a low, guttural noise in his throat before sitting up. As bare as the day he came into the world, his body riddled with new cuts from Simon’s surgery, aqua eyes watching her as they were two slits. Predator gaze observing the pale chest heave as she caught her breath, noting the thin film of sweat on her soft hide that outlined her lean muscles with the soft glow of her lamp light, the way her chocolate eyes still were readjusting as they had dilated towards the end.

So helpless, so lovely.

A part of him wanted to lie next to her, but as always, his desires for something deeper than just what they were doing were quickly killed when she opened her mouth.

“Thanks, I needed that.”

The golden head nodded as he reached down the side of the bed and picked up a strip of leather, gathering his hair up and tying it back with it before getting up and retrieving his pants. “So did I.” It was the truth, when he tended to get riled up and in a killing mood, he had two non-violent ways of decompressing. Either to go away by himself and just brood for a few hours, or this alternative. As he tied the laced up front of his buckskins and slid on his shirt, he watched her get up and dress herself to sleep like it was nothing. It was ritualistic that they were so quiet afterwards, they always were. Tense, not wanting to talk about what had happened, not wanting to address it and make it an actual event. Gambit simply buttoned and tucked in his shirt, buckled his belt, gave a head nod and left.

There was to be nothing more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wash kissed Zoe’s bare shoulder.

He listened to her sound a throaty chuckle as she rolled over towards him and captured his mouth with a kiss. The pilot’s fingers wound themselves in her springy hair, and their bodies pressed together in bliss that marriage brought. When he pulled back to surface for air, he was ready for what he knew she was thinking of as her foot hooked his ankle and pulled him flush against her.

“Good flyin’ today.” Zoe breathed onto his fair skinned neck with her darker, more luscious lips that tickled the skin and made his spine prickle.

“Gonna reward me?” Fingers releasing her hair, sliding down and cupping her backside as he gave her a hopeful grin as his heart raced. “Cause you know, a little positive reinforcement goes a long way.” His lips found hers, and he gave his Amazon of a wife a kiss that made her back arch and her mouth moan.

“Well, I was thinkin’.” She began in a husky voice.

“We all know that’s dangerous.”

Zoe let out a laugh and pressed the side of her head against his. “We’re outta danger now…”

“Uh huh…”

“And we’ve got ourselves some good money saved…”

“Mmm Hmmm.” He rolled over onto his back and opened his blue eyes to watch her straddle his waist. A smile curled his lips in the anticipation of their upcoming tryst. Feeling the warmth of her palm as it touched his bare chest, just the touch made his toes curl.

“Let’s make a baby.”

Every intimate expression on his face dissolved.

Zoe frowned.

“Baby… a baby?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*FLASHBACK THREE WEEKS AGO*

“But that’s not possible.”

Simon’s face was in denial as he sat on a stool in his infirmary as Gambit stood, rather relaxed after explaining something very twisted to the good doctor.

“It’s the truth.” The blonde responded. “We were in different programs, part of different experiments, but the objective when it came to creating a killer was still the same. They just used different techniques.” He rolled his shoulders and laxed his pose as he leaned against the exam table. “I was supposed to be an attack dog. Killing machine, take it off the leash, give it the scent, let it kill the target and then call it back and chain it back up. River’s trained to be more calculated though, she’s a reader, she’s supposed to take down with less mess, blend in…”

“She’s mentally unstable.” Simon snorted, folding his arms against his chest in a defensive posture as his tone was sarcastic. "Do you see her as calculated? Yes, she kills after having a conversation with her peanut butter sandwich."

“Most of their techniques failed. Half in the program I was in were lobotomized, all that left the researchers with were five highly trained killers drooling and stumbling along like drunks.” He explained. “She’s trained to kill though, she’s a better killer than me at that.”

“Have you seen here?!” The brother raised his voice as he stood to his feet. “She cowers and cries! I have to hold her like a child! I have to medicate her! She doesn’t fight…”

“Trust me, when the trigger’s there, she’ll fight.”

Simon pursed his lips and glared with a reluctance to believe.

“You know your history, you know what the Spartans were. It makes sense why they call it the Spartan Project.” Gambit told the other young male, standing up he went over and locked eyes in a stare off of aqua against blue. “I’m telling the truth.”

Simone tilted his chin up. “If you were in different programs, how do you know her so well?”

“Our cells were right next to one another’s, I’ve been in and out of the project since I was ten,” His voice was sober as he loathed the memories. “I’m the oldest living survivor of that program, they liked to use me to break in the prodigies and use them as warm up for assignments. Throw us in a big room, see who came up on top and who was fit for deployment. I usually won, they would drag the loser out and stitch them back together while they chained me and hauled me out to some planet where they needed a massacre to catch news waves and take the attention off of whatever the government was tangled in.” Gambit watched Simon’s eyes grow rounded as his mouth opened slightly. “Got to know River through the plexiglass walls of our cells, she was scared but nice… but guess who was in the room one day?”

“No…”

“By the time she finished, I was in a coma for a week, in the infirmary for a month, they had pin my leg in three places….”

*END FLASHBACK*

Simon was staring blankly at the last piece.

It was the last piece he had pulled out of Gambit, this little egg-shaped hollow ball of stainless steel no bigger than an aspirin. He had done tests on it, and had found a cocktail of synthetic testosterone, epinephrine, and a hallucinogen inside. It was used to give small, precise dosages into Gambit’s bloodstream, but it had broken on the inside as a piece of rubber had disintegrated and allowed the drugs to flow freely.

Thus the mystery of the blonde going berserk that one time was solved.

The drug mixture caused extreme aggression, which meant that it probably broke the day he had been captured by them, and was the reason why he had been wild nearly the entire night while chained to the stairs. Simon kept fixated on the piece as his mind whirled with everything Gambit had told him in detail about the Spartan Project. These people had put tracking buttons in him, and drugs to increase his aggressor response.

Could they have turned River into a weapon as well?

He just didn’t see it, not his River, the broken, fragile little shell of a human being that was left from the torture she had experienced. Not the River who he had tucked in a few hours ago and gave her some medication so she would rest well.

“Simon?”

The voice made the tired blue eyes blink a few times as he lifted his head and saw Kaylee leaning against the door in pink flannel pajama pants and a purple tank top that had an orange floral design on it. She padded over, barefoot, and yawned as he put everything away. “Sweetie what are ya doin’ up so late?” Kaylee saw the dark circles under his eyes and her tone came out worried.

“I could say the same thing about you.” Leaning in he gave her a kiss on the forehead, letting out a tired sigh.

“Couldn’t sleep, kept on thinkin’ about what happened today. I was walkin’ ‘round Serenity to see if that would help me feel less restless ‘n I saw you here.” She reached up and lay her palm flat against his cheek. “You look exhausted.”

Simon nodded his head.

“Why ain’t you in bed then?” She asked with a furrowed brow.

“I can’t sleep either.” He sighed, brushing some hair out of her face, giving a slight smile. “Too much on my mind with River and Gambit I guess.”

“C’mon.” the mechanic took his wrist and made him follow her out of the infirmary.

“Where are we going?”

“To sleep in your bunk.” Kaylee stopped at his quarters and slid the door open.

“Oh… um… alright.” Simon was too tired to protest as he went in and found some cotton pants and a shirt. Taking his shoes, socks and slacks off, folding them up and putting them on a chair as Kaylee pulled the covers back and caught glimpses of him in his unmentionables and learned he was a boxers man. Slipping into the pants, he took off his vest, dress shirt and under shirt, folded them and reached for his nightshirt.

Kaylee wrapped her arms around his back and gave his shoulder blade a kiss. It was her first time she had gotten a good look of him without his shirt off, liked what she saw, and new that one of those nights they’d have to do a bit more than just sleep. However Kaylee told herself baby steps, they had come pretty far in their relationship and she knew Simon didn’t want to rush. That was one of the cons of dating a gentleman. “You don’t need it.”

Turning around, unfazed by the shoulder kiss due to his exhaustion, he exhaled deeply. “Kaylee, I hate to say this but I highly doubt I’ll be able to sleep.”

“Jus’ humor me.” She motioned him to get in bed, and as soon as he was under the covers, she followed suit and lay with her back against his chest. Feeling his arm drape over her side, hand pull her just a little bit closer to his body so they were snug as he let out a yawn and relaxed. Kaylee patted his arm and gave his jaw a kiss. “G’night.”

Simon was already out like a light.

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you can't sleep.” She let out a sigh and tugged the blankets up a bit higher before closing her eyes.

Apparently he just needed her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Malcolm couldn’t sleep.

He tossed and turned as he tried in vain to get some rest, but the anxiety of the day was still in his head as well as the fact that Badger had waved him ten times in two weeks for a job was something he was still pondering. From the sounds of things, the job sounded good, and even though they had a hefty sum of money, thieves always could use a little more. He couldn’t help but feel a might wary of the deal, and he knew he had pissed off that little accented rodent because he was going on leave and refused work, however, good coin was hard to stop thinking about. Finally tired of losing the battle with sleep, he got up, dressed and left his bunk.

Wash was sleeping on the bridge.

Malcolm crept over to see his pilot sleeping in his chair, with a blanket. Arching a brow, he then swore as he knew it meant Wash and Zoe weren’t on good terms. And Zoe not on good terms with anyone wasn’t a good thing. Leaving poor Wash to sleep on the bridge, he moseyed to the kitchen where he found Inara. She was in a silk robe, seated at the table with a mug of something hot in her delicate hands.

“Don’t you need your beauty sleep for work?” He asked as he pulled back a chair and sank in.

“Couldn’t sleep.” She confessed, glancing up at him. “I’ve uh, been packing afew of my things and I just….” Inara pressed her lips together as she knew Mal’s face was one of slight frustration towards her leaving. “Guess I’m having a hard, time thinking about leaving this ship.”

“When you gonna tell the crew?” Mal replied forcefully as he denied himself a sadness that came with the thought of her leaving.

“I have yet to make arrangements, but I have some clients when we reach Sierra. After that I’ll make contact with a few establishments that gave me offers, see where I would like to go.” She watched him, his set jaw, firm eyes, that mask that covered up his real feelings. "I'll probably leave as soon as your vacation is over, if not sooner."

“Thought you wanted ta go back to Sihnon.” He pressed.

“I do, but I would like to explore other options before finding my way back there.”

He laced his hands together on the table and tried to come up with something to say that was a reason for her to not leave. “Kaylee’s gonna miss you somethin’ fierce.”

“Kaylee has Ru and Simon,” Inara answered quickly. “I also seem to remember Gambit tends to look out for her as well…”

“That’s his nature… predator and protector…”

“Yes well, back on the subject, she’ll be fine without me.” Her eyes silently asked him if he would be alright without her.

Mal looked away, stood up and left the table. “I don’t think she will be.” He referred more or less to himself.

“Well if she isn’t, she should tell me.”

He walked away from the conversation.