Blue Blood – Chapter Nine As always, I own no rights to Firefly, and no copyright infringement is intended. I receive no pay for my labor, and write only for my own enjoyment. ------------------ The smaller Blue Hand had restrained Mal and Zoe, and shut off the paralyzing device that had placed them on the ground. He had then walked to the ramp to look outside. “You okay Zo’?” Mal asked, looking at his former first mate. “Seen better days, sir,” Zoe admitted. “What’d you think’s happening?” “I’d say Jayne got at least one of’em,” Mal smiled. “Other than that, your guess is as good as mine.” “Ain’t too good at guessing, right now,” Zoe told him. “Think I’m hurt inside.” “Me too,” Mal nodded. “I guess plan A wasn’t the way to go after all.” “It was worth a try, sir,” Zoe said gamely. “Your friends will be in custody, by now,” the Blue Hand said, walking back to them. “You should have simply given them to us. We could have avoided all this. . .” “Hey!” The Blue Hand looked up sharply just as a bullet entered his head. The man stood stock still for a moment, then collapsed on the floor as if every bone in his body had been removed. Liam Greggs ran down the steps into the bay, and released Mal and Zoe. “You two okay?” he asked. “Not really,” Mal told him. “But maybe we’ll live. You?” “Once he shut that. . .thing, off, I was,” Greggs nodded. “Sorry it took so long, boss. Took me a minute to clear my head.” “You’ll hear no complaints from me,” Mal assured him. “Check on Jayne and River, but be careful.” “Right,” Greggs nodded, and moved to the door. Before he reached the ramp, Jayne appeared, carrying River in his arms. “Jayne?” Mal asked. “Likely broke her arm,” Jayne told him. River was out, her arm cradled in her lap. “Let’s get all of you over to the hospital.” “You go on,” Greggs said. “I’ll see to them,” he nodded at Mal and Zoe. Jayne nodded, and set off. ------------------ Grippen had fired up his mule at the gunshot, but remained where he was. When he saw the merc walking away from the ships, carrying the girl, he knew that things had gone south. He pulled away from Guilford’s as fast as his mule would go, heading for town. He’d need a damn good story to survive this one. At least no one had seen him with the blue suits at Guilford’s. He could always claim that he just told them where to find someone they were looking for on a legal matter. ------------------- Simon worked on the injured crew members, running scans for injuries. Mal and Zoe had, indeed, suffered internal injuries, but thankfully their exposure had been brief. He was able to repair the damage with little or no difficulty. Both would need to stay overnight, but he assured them that, baring complications, they could likely be up and around the next day. River’s right arm was broken, and would require a cast. He used a bone mender, but the cast was a precaution. The break had been ugly, and would need time to completely heal. She huddled on the bed, had hardly spoken since she’d woken. Jayne had been hurt, but refused all but the most rudimentary care. Simon fussed over the big man, trying to convince him to allow treatment. The exchange between them brought River around, finally. “Sean,” she said softly, using his real name, which she only rarely did in front of the others. “Let him treat you. Please. I need to know you’re okay.” Jayne instantly gave in, falling into a chair near her bed. Simon gawked for a moment, then busied himself checking Jayne over. “Thank you,” River smiled faintly, and Jayne looked at her. 'You know I’d do anything for you', he pushed his mind at her, and the smile grew. 'Love you', she thought back, closing her eyes. “Thank you, Jayne,” Simon said quietly. “It seems like I’m always saying that to you these days.” “For what?” Jayne grunted, still looking at River. “Killing the Blue Hands,” Simon said flatly. “Protecting my sister. I’m beginning to lose my fear of them, thanks to you.” “Greggs killed one of them,” Jayne pointed out. Simon nodded. “My point. I’ve always thought of them as supermen. I see now they aren’t.” “Blue blood spills as easy as any other, Simon” Jayne told him. River stirred. “Not blue,” she said quietly, drawing both men’s attention. “Red, just like ours. My Jayne does not fear the Hands of Blue. And I will fear them no longer.” Simon almost choked. Ever since he’d freed her from the Academy, the one thing that had always reduced River to a huddled mass was the presence of the Blue Hands. “Mei mei?” he said questioningly, and River rewarded him with a bright smile, despite her pain. “Jayne has freed me of my fear, Simon,” she told him. “I fought the Blue Hands.” “Sure did,” Jayne nodded, looking at Simon. “One of’em used some kinda stunner on me,” Jayne raised his shirt, showing him the wounds. “River hadn’t kicked him, he’da had us both.” “I’m so proud of you, River,” Simon told her, his voice calm but firm. “And happy for you.” “I will not fear them any longer,” River repeated. “Thanks to my Jayne.” “You don’t have to fear them anyway,” Jayne told her, smiling. “The big one let it slip while you were on the floor. He said others would ‘find’ us. That means the rest don’t know where we are.” River blinked hard at that. “That’s. . .that’s wonderful!” Simon almost shouted. “I was so afraid. . .” “So was I,” Jayne nodded. He looked at River again. “We’re safe, again,” he assured her. River’s eyes grew bright with unshed tears, and Jayne frowned. “Don’t cry, baby girl,” he soothed, and she laughed lightly. “Not all tears are of pain, Sean, my love,” she told him. “I am so happy we can stay.” “Me too, baby,” Jayne smiled. But in his mind, in the small little area he made sure she couldn’t see into, he knew there was one more string to deal with before they were really safe. And he would cut it himself. ------------------ Zoe was placed in Goldie’s room, as there was a shortage of space after the fight. Inara would be staying with Mal, of course, and Jayne with River, so there wasn’t much in the way of options. Goldie was sitting up in bed when Zoe was brought in. “You okay?” he asked, after the attendant had left. Zoe nodded. “Will be,” she told him, not looking directly at him. “Well, this is fortuitous,” he smiled, leaning back, arms behind his head. “I think me and you, we need to talk. And now, here on the ground, there ain’t none of that ‘Me Captain, You Crew’, stuff, either.” Zoe’s eyes met his, and for a moment clouded. She took in his defiant set, and it struck her that he meant every word. “Okay,” she finally said. “Since I didn’t do so well the last time, why don’t you do the talking.” “I was gonna, anyway,” he smirked, and Zoe couldn’t help but grin. “You’re worried about the job,” Goldie said, turning serious. “I get that. I do. We need to make sure the line is drawn between me and you, and the Captain and the Engineer.” Zoe looked at him, startled, but nodded. “Not a bad idea,” Goldie told her. “I hadn’t thought about it, but it’s a good idea. And one I can get behind. I know that your post as Captain is important to you. Not because you’re a captain, but because you’re the captain on Mal’s ship. You don’t want to let him down.” Again, Zoe looked startled, but nodded. “I get that, too,” he smiled. “But we ain’t always in the black, Zoe. And you won’t likely always be a ship captain, nor me an engineer. Gotta think about the future once in a while, or it’ll slip up on you.” “I ain’t got much experience thinking on the future,” Zoe told him. “We’ve lived hand to mouth for so long, lost so much, there never seemed a point.” “I been there,” Goldie nodded. “But now, things are different. Okay,” he raised a hand at her snort. “Maybe not today. Today was on par, I guess. But this ain’t gonna be happening every day. At least I sure hope not.” “And I had a lotta time to think, laying here, Zoe,” he went on. “I’m pretty sure I love you.” Zoe’s eyes widened at that. “I ain’t trying to put pressure on you,” he assured her, “but I needed to tell you that. Thing is, I can’t keep being your engineer, if there ain’t some hope that you and I will at least try to work things out between us. I know you feel kinda the same way as I do.” Zoe looked at him hard for a long minute, then nodded. She’d been doing that a lot during this conversation, she realized. “I do,” she said softly. “I ain’t. . .I don’t want to call it love, mind,” she told him, and Goldie smiled. “That’s okay,” he told her. “I wasn’t expecting that. And, like I said, I’m pretty sure. That ain’t the same as I know I do. But it’s a strong feeling, Zoe, and I’d like the chance to see where it leads me. I ain’t asking you for anything you can’t, or don’t want, to give. Just the honest attempt to see how things develop between us, without all that we went through a few days ago.” Zoe lay back, wondering. How had he worked all that out? It was like he had reached into her mind, somehow, and saw not only what she’d meant to say the first time around, but why. River was right. There was more to Butler Tarrant than met the eyes. “I’d like that,” she said finally, with a smile that warmed Goldie clear to his feet. “I’d like it very much, in fact.” “Well, what say we take this wonderful togetherness,” he smiled as she snorted in amusement, “to start getting to know each other a little better. I know how shy you are, so why don’t I go first. Me, I like. . .’ Simon walked by half-an-hour later, and stood just outside the door, listening to Zoe laugh as Goldie related a tale from his past. The look on her face was one he’d not seen since Wash died, and it warmed Simon’s heart. Not wanting to disturb the moment, he slipped away, unnoticed. They were both getting better medicine than he could provide them anyway, at the moment. --------------- “The Blue Hands were after you.” Jayne looked up at River with a start, having thought she was sleeping. “Yes,” he nodded. “Why?” “They were after Shade,” he said quietly. “Book warned me that people were hunting me. He must have had access to a lot of intel, being who he was. Who he had been,” Jayne corrected. “I didn’t know it was them. Just that someone wanted me.” “He. . .you were willing to die rather than give up,” River said quietly. “Rather than let them take me.” He looked into her eyes, nodding in reply. She struggled to sit up slightly, taking care not to bang her arm. “It was fear of that, of you dying, that enabled me to overcome my own fear of the Blue Hands,” she told him, her voice soft, yet firm. “It was that fear that drove me to try and fight them.” “I’m sorry you had to hear that,” Jayne said quietly, taking her uninjured hand in his. “I’m not,” River smiled. “I fought for you.” “You sure did,” he smiled. “Got the cast to show for it, too.” “Like your scars,” she told him, grinning. “Shows I’ve ‘been there’.” He leaned forward and kissed her lightly. “I don’t want you to have ‘been there’ because of me,” Jayne told her. “I want you to be safe, Angel. Always.” “I will be,” she reached up and stroked his face. “So long as I’m with you, I will be.” ---------------- When River woke the next morning, the first thing she realized was that Jayne was gone. She looked about, frantically, but there was no sign of him. Just as she was about to get out of bed, Simon looked in on her. “Oh, no, you don’t,” he scolded, pushing her gently back onto the bed. “Just where do you think you’re going?” “Where’s Jayne?” River asked. Simon smiled. “He said you’d ask,” he told her. “He said to tell you he had a few things he needed to see to, but that he’d be back in a bit.” “What things?” River demanded, a sinking feeling hitting her stomach. “He didn’t say, specifically,” Simon frowned. “Just. . .” he trailed off as he realized why she was concerned. “How long has he been gone?” River asked, once again trying to rise. “Two hours or so,” Simon told her, again stopping her from getting up. “You’re not going anywhere, River. Jayne told me to sedate you, if I had to. I know why, now, but you’re still not going. You aren’t well enough to be up.” “I have to stop him!” she cried, and Simon shook his head. “No,” he said quietly. “Not this time. This time, I’m on his side, River. What he’s doing, if it’s what I think it is, needs to be done. Not just for you, but for all of us.” “I need to be with him!” River wailed, and Simon again shook his head. “No, River. You know by now he doesn’t need any help. Not with this.” “Simon!” “No,” he brother was unyielding. “He’s trying to protect you, River. And the rest of us.” “But. . .” “No buts, ‘tross,’ Mal said from the doorway. He was on his feet, but looked weak. “I promised him. He’s got it to do, and I promised him I’d not stop him.” River sighed in defeat and lay back. “He’ll be fine,” Simon soothed. “You know he will.” River nodded. Yes, he would be fine. Shade was always fine.