Disclaimer: No infringement of copy right was intended. Everything firefly comes from the mind of Josh Whedon

Rated: PG13

Comment: I have always been a terrible speller. But I use spell check….What do you want!:) Enjoy as best you can.

Title: Leaving- Part 3

She had opened her eyes for only a second before she closed them. He had pleaded for her to open them again. But she wasn’t listening. Mal hadn’t let her out of his arms the entire way back to the ship, not in till he was laying her on to Simon’s examining table. He could hear Kaylee crying and Book praying.

“They pulled out her feathers, she’ll never fly now”, River would only poke her head out from the door way, the room was so heavy with feelings. She hated this room.

Simon tired to be patient with his sister, but she was not helping anyone with her poetic observations. “I’d liked every one to wait out side while I examine her. Zoe, could you assist me please?”

Zoe nodded her head as an answer. They had ripped her pretty dress, it was roeuend. Blood stains don’t come out. Zoe could see she had been tortured; there were rope burns on her wrists. The violence was all over her body.

Every one followed the doctor’s orders, including Mal. While he paced back and forth Kaylee continued to cried, Book held his bible, Wash said nothing, and River played jacks in the corner by herself. Jayne was on his way back with Inara’s shuttle.

Once everyone was out side Simon began to asses the extent of the damage done, none of the wounds were meant to kill her only cause her great pain. Her face was scraped and bruised, nothing that wouldn’t heal. Bruises would fade away, the fingers could be reset, her ribs were only minor fractures and with a steady hand no one will see the scares. All of these things Simon could fix, he was a good doctor. But he wasn’t arrogant, he couldn’t fix everything. Rape was the worst consequence of the human condition, he had seen it many times working in the hospital. Physically Simon could fix her, but emotionally she was out of his hands.

* * * *

Inara willed her eye’s to open, everything ached, and felt swollen. It wasn’t until the room came in to focus that she realized she was on Serenity. She didn’t cry from the pain, she cried out of pure relief. She was home, and alive, she blinked heavily to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. She turned her head to the left to see Kaylee asleep on the cot next to her. Drying her eyes quickly, she attempted to sit up, before a gentle hand stopped her.

“That might not be the best idea in your condition”, the doctor was looking at her differently, and she could see the worry on his face.

“How long have I been here?” She sat up anyway, masking the pain as best she could; it was like being stabbed in the lungs with red hot needles. She didn’t want to wake Kaylee.

“What do you remember?”

“Nothing pleasant” her mended hands began to shake, she could still feel there knife cutting into her skin, the other ones hot breath on her face. Thadius didn’t participate in that; he was in the corner watching, yelling questions at her. She could sense the cold sweat forming on her forehead, the tears in her eyes, so she swallowed hard and forced the thoughts into the back of her mind, there was no time for it now.

Simon wasn’t surprised by her strength. Inara was one of the bravest people he had ever met. “It’s been two days since we found you, Jaynes trying to track the men who did this but, so far….”

“I need to talk to Mal right now!” She took both legs off the bed and Simon almost went into cardiac arrest.

“Inara! Your body is in no condition to leave this bed, you’ll pull your stitches and end up doing more damages to your ribs, and I won’t allow it.” Kaylee awoke with a jolt.

“I’m sorry Simon. But, I’m getting out of this bed!”

* * * *

Every one was congregated in the mess hall, trying to put together a puzzle that was missing pieces.

“I’m tell’n ya they were in a short rang ship, there was only three planets in range and we’ve been to them. There ain’t a record of any in-space pick-ups or ship exchanges.” Jayne was getting damn tired of having to repeat him self.

“So what are you saying Jayne? Are you telling me they just vanished into THIN AIR?!” Mal was irate, “CHECK AGAIN!” Everyone dropped there eye’s to the ground, in fear that the Capt’n would burn a whole clear through’um.

Jayne did what he was told. Hell, he wasn’t afraid of him or nothing! But, the man was out for blood and Jayne wanted to keep most of his. He cussed to himself quietly as he was making his way out of the room.

“Sir, when was the last time you took some shut eye?” Zoe hadn’t seen Mal this strung out in years, almost eight years in fact.

Every time Mal closed his eye’s he saw her lying there. Helpless, the tears still wet on her cheeks. “There’s more important things then sleep. Like, knowing there names, so I know who I’m killing.”

Kaylee ran in just then, “She’s awake!”

* * * *

She looked so much younger with out her make-up on, she looked her age. The swelling around her face had gone down but she was still as white as a sheet, aside from the bruises. Simon had somehow convinced her to stay in bed.

“His name is Markess Haymen”, just saying his name out loud pushed her heart into her throat.

“What was he after?” Zoe asked the first question and it had an uneasy answer. Inara was tired of keeping this in. It had been eating at her for to long.

“It’s was about money. Have any of you ever herd of something called, the Atari project?” She took there silence and side glances as a no. “The Alliance knew there would be a resistance to unification. Before the war they set up various “dummy” corporations as a government front to transport guns, supplies and money to strategic outposts throughout the habited territories, they called it the Atari project. The problem was that these corporations began to make money, lots of money. By the time the war was over there net profit was 300 million platinum.”

That suddenly caught Jayne’s attention; his eyes became as big as saucers. “So where’s this money now?!”

“Down boy!” Wash couldn’t resist. He was quickly made quiet by his wife’s elbow.

“Let me guess, the money magically disappeared?” Jayne could always leave it to Dr. Smartass to think negatively.

“No, it didn’t disappear. The full amount was placed in an Alliance bank account, were it sat, building interest, which was almost eight years ago.”

“So how much money is there now?” Kaylee still didn’t understand what any of this had to do with Inara.

“4 billion”, every one exhaled. That was more money then any of them could run their heads around.

“But how are you connected to this? What did this Markess Haymen want so badly? Why did he hurt you so badly?” Book broke the deafening silence. Mal had his arms crossed, his face made of stone. He was the only one who hadn’t said a word, only watched her. Seeing the look on his face, it would take every ounce of her companion training to stay in control. Her hands were shaking again so she put one on top of the other to make them stop.

“What I’m about to tell you all can never leave the ship; the Alliance and the Independence weren’t the only ones who had a large investment in the outcome of the war. The Guild Companion’s supported unification because of its financial benefits.” She paused to look up at Mal and his expression was the same. “I was 17 when they approached me and seven other girls from my academy. Under the support of both the Guild and the Alliance we became spies, we were told to use the training we had to gain as much information from our subjects as possible. I was assigned to Jonathan Hayman.”

“The main strategist for the Independence!” for a man of the cloth Book knew a lot about the war, things that only a man of war would know about, it was perplexing.

“We were paid secretly from the Atari project every month. The money would be electronically transferred to our hidden account and waiting for us when they decided our job was done.”

“Did you kill him?” Zoe did not like this story, Wash new her angry face and this was his wife’s angry face.

“No, after a year of lying I couldn’t do it any more. I contacted the Alliance and told them that my cover had been blown by an unknown source. They pulled me out, the next day Jonathan was found murdered, shot twice in the back. His younger brother Markess was the only family he had; he attacked my ship with his friend Thadius Rains. They want the money from the Atari project; he has the code key to my account now.”

“So he can get to the money?” Kaylee practically whispered.

“It’s not that simple, the account moves around. Every 24 hours it’s transferred into another account randomly, you would have to know exactly were it was and you would only have a 24 hour period to get to it”, she wanted Mal to speak, to ask something.“I didn’t tell them every thing, they have my code key, but they need more then that to find Atari. Markess wants another war, he going to bomb the former military base on Zeon 5.”

“But that hasn’t been a military installation since the war, that’s a civilian outpost now” This was just getting worse and worse. Wash was feeling a little queasy.

Simon saw that Inara was visibly shaking now, her skin was like tissue paper, and her eyes were blood shot “I think she needs her rest now”.

Mal was the last to leave; he shifted his weight from his left shoulder to his right foot, gave her one last unreadable glance and walked out of the room. Once the door was close Inara broke in to tears, and sobbed without control.

“It hurts the bird badly, should have flown away when she had the chance” River whispered to her self from the top of the stairs.

To be continued………