Archangel – Chapter Twenty-Two Author owns no rights to Firefly, and no copyright infringement is intended. Fanfic only. -------------------------- Kaylee hadn’t quite gotten back to sleep when she heard someone pounding on the hatch to Jayne’s bunk. Again. Muttering she slipped from the warm bed, and pulled on one of Jayne’s t-shirts. She’d taken the time, while he was in the infirmary, to wash his clothes, and clean his bunk. She’d been surprised how neat and orderly his bunk had been, but in hindsight she shouldn’t have been. Jayne rarely left anything undone, for all his complaining. Opening the hatch, she was surprised to see Zoe standing there. “Zoe?” “Need you on the bridge, mei mei,” Zoe said softly. The woman was still limping to get around, and held her right arm to her side stiffly. But she was stubborn. “What’s wrong?” Kaylee asked, looking for the dress she’d worn to the party. “Wahng bao dahn Operative is on the wave, and Jayne’s like to erupt over it,” Zoe told her. “Maybe you can help.” Kaylee abandoned her search for the dress, and pulled on a pair of Jayne’s sweat pants. They were ridiculously large on her, but she pulled the drawstring tight, and tied it. Then she was up the ladder, and out the hatch, following Zoe to the bridge. “. . . .blindly following the Alliance,” she heard the Operative’s voice. Jayne was almost shaking in fury. Kaylee walked to his side, and laid a gentle hand on his arm. Jayne’s head snapped around, and his fury instantly burned away. “Easy, ai ren,” she said softly, then hugged his arm to her. He nodded, and turned back to the screen. “Your father?” Mal almost screeched. The Operative nodded, and Kaylee bit back a gasp. Zoe didn’t bother, snarling a string of Chinese curses under her breath. “You killed your own father, and ‘spect us to help you?” Mal was incredulous. “As I said, Captain, I wasn’t aware he was on the planet. If I had been, I would have certainly. . . .” “You knew he was our friend, though, didn’t you?” Mal demanded. “And still hunted us like rats, and tried to kill River and her brother. Did kill a bunch of other people, you. . . .” “I cannot undo that, Captain,” the Operative cut him off. “I would gladly give my life if I could erase the stain that my service to the Alliance has left. I have no way to do that.” “Truth,” River whispered, having slipped onto the bridge unseen. She hid herself behind Jayne’s formidable bulk, her small hands holding his t-shirt tightly. Kaylee slipped her arm around her, holding her tight, but did not relinquish her hold on Jayne’s arm. “And I did not ask for your help, Captain,” the Operative continued. “You would not be of any help in this. It is only his help, that I seek.” “We don’t come individually,” Mal snarled. “We’re a crew. Family. You want one of us, you take all of us.” Jayne was startled by that. Mal had never once taken up for him. Or referred to him as family. He had only in the last week referred to him as crew. “I understand your concern, Captain,” the Operative nodded. “But as I said, there is nothing you can do in this. Only Michael can help us.” “Don’t call me that,” Jayne’s voice grated across the bridge. “You ain’t earned the right to call me that. Don’t let it fall from your lips again.” The Operative nodded. “I apologize.” His voice was sincere. “Means it,” River whispered into Jayne’s back, and he nodded. “This needs thinkin’ on,” Mal declared suddenly. “I don’t see no way to trust you. Period.” “I understand,” the Operative replied. “You can reach me here for twenty-fours hours. After that I must move.” “Don’t call us, we’ll call you,” Mal snorted, and broke the wave. He looked around at the people on the bridge. “What’s going on?” Simon asked, following the voices. He started at Kaylee dressed in Jayne’s clothes, but hid it well. Kaylee didn’t see it anyway. River eased away from Kaylee’s arm, safe to come out from hiding with the Operative gone. She smiled at Kaylee for her understanding, and Kaylee grinned back at her. “Jayne?” Mal asked, looking at the big man. Jayne looked to him. “Cap’n?” “You aim to. . .what do you aim to do?” Mal asked. “Whatever you tell me to do,” Jayne replied calmly. “You’re the Captain.” Mal smothered the look of surprise that threatened to bloom on his face at that. “You ain’t thinkin’ on goin’ and helpin’ him?” Mal asked, curious. “No, I ain’t,” Jayne shook his head. “I got plenty to see after, right here. If reavers hit where you are, and I ain’t with you, might lose some o’ you. His kind,” Jayne pointed to the screen, “they started this. Let them deal with it. Far as I’m concerned anyway.” “As for all of us going?” Jayne continued. “That’s up to you. But, for my part, I don’t like the idea o’ Kaylee, River, nor Simon either, bein’ anywhere near that hundan for any reason. Nor Inara, comes to that. Ain’t safe.” “I agree,” Zoe nodded. “Like Jayne said. That bunch did this. Let them deal. We can head away from it.” “Head away to where?” Jasmine asked quietly. “Is anywhere safe from them?” “Plenty o’ places on the far side o’ the core,” Jayne nodded. “But the Alliance can’t keep lettin’ this go on. Denials or not, they’re gonna have to do something.” “But what?” Mal asked, thoughtful. “That’s a whole lotta reavers, Jayne.” “It might be worse than that,” Simon said suddenly, and all eyes turned to him. “I was thinking,” Simon told them. “If they could modify that virus, mutate it something like. . .,” he stopped suddenly, about to reveal too much. “Like other’s have been, over the years,” he recovered, “then they might well, whoever ‘they’ is, be able to create reavers on demand by simply injecting the virus into the blood stream.” “Leaving them an unlimited supply of soldiers,” Mal breathed out slowly. “My God,” Jasmine shuddered. “A wave of reavers. If you don’t do what the Alliance says, we’ll send the reavers after you.” “Exactly,” Simon nodded. “Tyen shiao duh,” Zoe whispered. “Nothing sacred,” River whispered in her ‘away’ voice. “Meddling. Control it all, or destroy it. No compromise. No mercy.” “I think this needs sleep,” Mal announced at once. “We all need sleep. Bright and early in the morning, we’ll see what things look like. Dong ma?” The others nodded, and everyone started to their bunks. “Jayne, stay a minute?” Mal asked. Jayne nodded. “Don’t be too long,” Kaylee whispered, and kissed him before leaving. Jayne turned to Mal. “Jayne, I don’t rightly know about all this,” Mal admitted. “If we do nothin’, then what if they make it? Reavers’ll be the rod they beat us with.” “Think we can make the difference?” Jayne asked. “That it?” “I don’t know what to think,” Mal shrugged. “But it. . .this whole thing rattles me, Jayne. Bad.” Jayne wondered at Mal feeling like he could admit that to him. Wasn’t so long ago that he and Mal had nearly been at each other’s throats. “It don’t help my calm much, either, Mal,” Jayne told him. “I just don’t see what we can do about it. He wants me to help him, he says. But what if it’s just a ploy to get River? Or Simon? Or both? Great way to get back on the boss’ good side,” Jayne pointed out. Mal pondered that. “Why couldn’t you be like this before?” Mal asked suddenly. “Why couldn’t you o’ been this great, lumbering, reaver killin’, thinking merc before?” “I wasn’t ready,” Jayne shrugged. “And no one want’s an intelligent merc workin’ for’em, Mal. Not even you.” Mal met Jayne’s eyes. “Spose there’s somethin’ to that,” he nodded finally. “Well, I don’t mind havin’ a thinkin’ gunhand as a part o’ my crew, Jayne,” he told him firmly. “I ain’t got no merc’s on this boat. No room for’em,” he smiled. Jayne looked at him for a long moment, then nodded. “Thanks, Mal.” “Get to bed,” Mal ordered, clapping the big man on the back. “And sleep,” he added with a smirk. “Like as not be interestin’ times ahead.” “Like as not,” Jayne nodded, and headed for his bunk. ------------------- “What was all the noise about?” Inara asked, as Mal entered the shuttle. He hadn’t meant to wake her. As he undressed, he told her the situation. “Oh my,” Inara breathed when he was finished. “What are we going to do? What is Jayne going to do?” “Jayne’s already said he ain’t goin’,” Mal shrugged. “Said if I wanted us all to go and help, then he’d go. In fact, he said he’d do whatever I told him to, that I was the Captain.” “Oh, Mal,” Inara almost smiled. “That’s wonderful! I knew he would be like that, if you gave him the chance!” She hugged him tightly. Mal nodded. “Considerin’ the state o’ things at the moment, I’m glad you talked to me, and I’m glad he’s here,” Mal nodded in the dark. “We’re like to need him.” With that, the two of them lay back, and tried to sleep. ------------------------------- “Jayne, what was all that about?” Kaylee asked, once they were back in bed. She was lying on top of him again, snuggled into the warmth of his large bulk. “He wanted me to help him fight reavers,” Jayne told her honestly. Kaylee started at that, her head coming off his chest in a swirl of chestnut hair. “What?” she almost screeched. “I already told him I wasn’t gonna,” he assured her, pulling her back to him, and kissing her gently. “Ain’t leavin’ you to go fight no reavers, girl,” he promised. “Nor no one else, neither,” he added. “Good,” Kaylee said firmly. “That way I won’t hafta hurt ya,” she grinned. “Right,” he nodded seriously. “You know there ain’t no way I’d leave you, Kaylee,” he said more softly. “I won’t never leave you, I can help it.” He kissed the top of her head as she once more snuggled against him. “I don’t want you too,” she said softly. “Jayne, the way you make me feel. . .I ain’t never felt like that, Jayne. And I don’t ever wanna lose it, neither. I don’t ever want us to be apart, ai ren. Not if there’s any way to prevent it.” “Well, I ain’t got any plans to go anywhere ‘thout you,” Jayne promised. “And you best not make any, neither!” Kaylee warned, grinning up at him. “Else I’ll have River kick your pi gu.” “She’d do it, too,” Jayne chuckled. “It don’t bother you that me and River is friends, does it?” he asked, turning serious. Kaylee looked at him, resting her chin on her hands, which were propped on his chest. “Why should it?” she asked in reply. “It shouldn’t,” Jayne assured her. “Just wanted to make sure.” “I think it’s nice that you two get along,” she smiled. “It’s more than get along, anymore, Kaylee,” Jayne told her. “She’s. . .well, I call her mei mei, and that’s what it feels like. She. . .” Jayne broke off, unsure of how to continue. Kaylee looked at him. “She what?” “When I was out,” Jayne said slowly, “in the infirmary. River. . .she, visited me somehow, xin gan. She was in my mind. Talkin’ to me.” Kaylee’s eyes widened at that. “What?” “I was trapped in my own mind, Kaylee,” Jayne told her softly. “I. . .I thought I was living on the surface, somewhere. That I was out on a planet or a moon. That I had left the ship, and took on somewhere.” “Only it wasn’t so,” he continued. “And I was gonna lay there, bao bei, and die, thinkin’ I was somewhere else.” “But River came to me, in my mind. Kicked me,” he chuckled softly. “Three or four times, in fact. Told me I was bein’ selfish, and didn’t have no right to be there.” “Selfish?” Kaylee frowned. “By staying there, where I was at peace, ‘stead o’ fightin’ to get back to you,” Jayne smiled slowly. “I was being selfish by not trying to get back here, and be with you.” “Aw, Jayne,” Kaylee’s eyes started to tear at that. He gently wiped a tear away. “Don’t cry,” he soothed. “I just. . .I wanted you to know why River an me are so close, Kaylee. Why I think on her the way I do. See, I can’t never repay her for what she done, baby doll. She brung me back to you.” “Oh, Jayne, I can’t. . .I can’t even imagine what I’d done if you’d died,” Kaylee sobbed. “Not after you was so close to tellin’ me. . .” “That I wouldn’t never leave ya?” Jayne smiled. Kaylee nodded, tears running freely. He hugged her close, and she sobbed into his chest. Great, wracking sobs that seemed too great to come from such a small person. “It’s all right, baby girl,” he soothed. “I won’t, you know,” he added. “I won’t leave. Not o’ my own free will. Have to kill me, first.” “I don’t w-want that, neither!” Kaylee bawled anew. “Well, neither do I!” he laughed softly. “It ain’t funny, Jayne!” Kaylee slammed her small fist against his chest. “I can’t. . .I can’t lose you, Jayne. Not after it took all this time just to find you. Just to see what was right under me the whole time. . . .” Her voice was strained from crying. “Kaylee, you can’t think on that,” Jayne whispered. “We gotta think on today, cause it’s all we got, for sure. Tomorrow ain’t a promise, and yesterday’s gone forever. So let’s us make the most outta now, and save tomorrow’s worries for tomorrow. Okay?” Kaylee smiled a little at that, raising a hand to his face. “When’d you get so smart, Jayne Cobb?” she almost giggled. “‘Bout the time you came down here and kissed me,” Jayne told her with a smile. “Musta did somethin’ to me, girl.” “I’m glad I did,” she murmured, kissing him softly. She slowly made her way down to his neck, kissing as she went. “So’m I,” Jayne told her. “So’m I.” ---------------------- River, Simon, and Jasmine sat around the table in the galley. Simon had coffee, as did Jasmine. River sat drinking tea, something she’d picked up from Inara. River smothered a small smile at how close the reporter sat to Simon. Fast worker, the little reader mused. She also fought off a sigh. Everyone had someone, except her. True, she had them all, at times. But it wasn’t the same. “This is all a bit much for me,” Jasmine was saying. “I mean, I knew reavers weren’t just camp fire tales, of course, but. . .the idea that someone made them. And now might be actually guiding them. . .” she shuddered. “What is Cobb’s deal?” she asked suddenly. “And why did that man on the wave, who was he, anyway, call him, what, Michael?” Simon carefully examined his cup. River answered her. “Jayne is very special,” she said neutrally. “Other than that, you should ask him. If he wants you to know anything, he will tell you. If he does not, I wouldn’t push.” “The man on the wave is, or was, an Operative of the Parliament,” River continued. “He chased us to the far end of the ‘verse trying to kill Simon and myself to hide the secret of Miranda. He didn’t know about Miranda,” River clarified. “Only that I knew some secret that the Parliament deemed harmful to the Alliance.” “And he killed many people trying to reach us,” Simon nodded. “Many, many people. Including a shepherd named Derrial Book, who had traveled with us for a time.” “And this Book was his own father?” Jasmine asked in shock. “So he says,” Simon almost snarled. “But we’ve only his word for that.” “It’s true,” River intoned softly. “Eye contact and facial relaxation indicate an emotional wound which he was unable to hide. Likely indicating that he was truthful.” Simon nodded, pleased that River had hidden the fact that she was able to discern facts from more than expressions and voice characteristics. River smirked at him. “So what about Cobb?” Jasmine asked again. “Why does this Operative need his help?” “As I said,” River’s tone cooled considerably, “ask Jayne. If he wants you to know, he will tell you.” “It’s not like I’m asking for some state secret or something!” Carter huffed. “I’m just trying to understand what’s happening!” “Bad things are happening,” River said evenly. “Very bad things. And they will likely get worse. Much, much worse.” “Thousands of reavers?” Simon snorted. “I’d say ‘bad things’ is the height of understatement, mei mei.” “True,” River smiled slightly. “We are about to live in interesting times, I believe.” “The greatest of all curses,” Simon muttered. “I’ve had about all of the interesting times I need, thank you very much.” “As have I,” River giggled. “But there’s no help for it.” “You think we’ll go, then?” Simon looked up from his cup. “To help. . . him?” “No,” River shook her head. “Captain Daddy cannot trust him. But,” she warned, “that doesn’t mean that he won’t look at this as a problem that he must try and solve.” “Are you serious?” Carter goggled. “He’d go off looking for the source of this. . .abomination?” “Someone must,” River shrugged, rising to her feet. “He will feel obligated, since he knows what is happening. Good night, Simon,” she smiled. “And to you, Miss Carter.” Without waiting for a reply, River turned and headed for her own bunk. Simon watched her go. “Good night, mei mei,” he called after her. “What’s wrong with her?” Carter asked hesitantly. “Did I say something wrong?” “She’s a bit protective of Jayne,” Simon explained. “They’re very close.” “I thought he was ‘close’ to the mechanic,” Carter noted, eyebrows raised in question. “Jayne and River are more like brother and sister,” Simon clarified. “I don’t understand it, either,” he shrugged. “There’s just some kind of connection between them. Something that she and I don’t share, to be honest.” “Looks like Kaylee wouldn’t like that,” Carter mused, thinking back to the rather pointed looks she’d received from the feisty mechanic while talking to Cobb. “Kaylee and River are best friends,” Simon told her. “And River’s attraction to Jayne isn’t romantic. It’s something else. Almost like a sibling bond, in fact.” “So you’re jealous?” Carter teased. Simon smiled. “No, I’m not. I might have been, a year ago, perhaps. But Jayne is able to do for her what I can’t. Make her feel safe. Protected. And he can teach her things,” Simon added, “that I don’t know. You may have noted that River is quite able to take care of herself.” “Well, I know she’s always armed,” Carter nodded. “I thought it was just cute.” “Not in any way,” Simon grimaced. “If anything, she’s perhaps a better shot that Jayne, at least at close range. There’s very little that River has to fear. And for what she does fear, she has Jayne.” “I see,” Carter nodded. “And who do you have, Simon?” He looked up at her, startled by the question. “I have me,” he smiled finally. “And the rest of them. They all make sure I’m taken care of. And I take care of them, when they’re injured.” “Doesn’t seem fair,” Jasmine leaned on the table, her head propped on one fist. “Life isn’t fair, Miss Carter,” Simon shrugged. “It’s life.” “Oh, a philosopher and a physician,” Jasmine smiled brightly. Simon noted that without her glasses, she was rather attractive. “No, just a weary traveler,” Simon grinned, standing. “I’m going to bed, I think,” he stretched slightly. Carter stood as well. “Walk me to my room, then, Doctor Weary? We were on a date tonight, after all,” she teased. “Dancing, dinner, the whole shebang.” “I’d be glad to,” Simon smiled, offering her his arm. “So gallant,” Jasmine gushed a little, and Simon laughed. “Just well raised, that’s all.”