Into the Blue Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Joss, Fox, Universal Own em’. I’m just playing. No money being made.

This fic takes place just over two years after Serenity (BDM) and has the established couples of Simon/Kaylee, Mal/Inara, Zoë/OC and Jayne/River.

A/N:

Thanks again Chris for the beta…

Into the Blue

Chapter Four – Reconciliation’s

Gabriel Tam thought he must be going mad. Either that or God or Buddha himself must be conspiring against him. In the last twenty four hours he and his wife had nearly been kidnapped or killed by agent’s of the Blue Sun corporation, watched as his long lost daughter had shot and killed the two blue handed agents in cold blood, been virtually kidnapped by her daughters supposed friends, and then shanghaied off Persephone with nothing but the clothes on his back. Later he found out his long lost Son was engaged to some rim born girl mechanic. To top it all off, he walked in on some back birth oaf proposing marriage to his little girl. And she had accepted. The shock of that caused him to faint.

Now he lay on an exam chair in a small infirmary on the rickety old Firefly his Son and Daughter called home. The indignity of it all.

“Dad, you really need to relax,” Simon said quietly, “Your blood pressure is much too high for my liking”

“You? You’re worried about my blood pressure? Simon you are half the cause of my blood pressure!”

“Feel better now that you got that off your chest?” Simon said smugly.

Gabriel sighed. Looking his son in the eye he said, “You are enjoying this aren’t you?”

“A bit,” Simon admitted.

“Are you going to gloat and say I told you so about River?”

“Only if you think it would help.”

Gabriel huffed and looked away from his son for a moment. Coming to some sort of conclusion, he turned back.

“I’m sorry Son, I should have believed you when you showed me the letters from River. I… I thought it was just a game she was playing. I was angry when they caught you in the blackout zone. I thought you were going to bring shame on the family name. Now I realize that I was the one to shame our name, not you.”

“I’m glad to see that you admit it now. When did you change your mind?”

“Six months after you disappeared and took River from that… that place. Two of those… Blue-handed men came to the house. They told me if I wanted your mother and I to live, we had to cooperate. If we heard from you they were to be contacted immediately. That’s when I realized that something was so very wrong. I started some discreet inquiries. I found that no one had ever heard of the Academy. I suddenly realized that you were right. But by then I couldn’t help you.”

I kept your Mother out of the loop, trying to protect her. Then a little over two years ago, a man approached her in a store and asked if she had seen her daughter recently. This man frightened your Mother terribly.”

“Was he a smooth talking black man with a Londonium accent?” Simon asked.

“Yes, that’s how your mother described him.”

“That man was an Operative of Parliament. He killed over a hundred people trying to find River. Women and children… friends of ours were killed by the Alliance just because they knew us.”

“Good lord,” Gabriel exclaimed, “Why did they want River so badly? She wasn’t very forthcoming in her letter to me.”

“Miranda,” Simon said simply.

“That claptrap?” Gabriel said, “It was some propaganda broadcast by disgruntled Browncoats.”

Simon’s eyes flashed with anger, “It’s not propaganda Dad, I saw Miranda with my own eyes. We were there. We sent the Miranda wave. The cost was high. Zoë lost her husband to Reavers, The operative killed Mr. Universe, Shepherd Book and all the settlers on Haven. He nearly killed the Captain as well. Serenity was wrecked. I was shot, Jayne was shot, Kaylee was paralyzed by Reaver darts. Zoë was nearly cut in half by a Reaver’s blade. The only ones who got through relatively unscathed were Inara and River. If not for River… If not for what the Academy had done to her, we would have all died.”

“My god,” Reagan Tam exclaimed from the doorway. She walked to her husband’s side, taking his hand in hers.

“What did River do?” Reagan asked.

“I killed them,” River’s quiet voice answered from the doorway, “Killed them all. Forty-seven Reavers with my hands, my feet and with a sword and axe taken from the Reavers themselves.”

Reagan was sobbing, Gabriel just looked at the ceiling, “What have I done?”

River walked up and took her fathers hand, “Shepherd Book used to say, everything happens for a reason. If not for you sending me to the Academy, Simon would never have met Kaylee and I would never have met Jayne… As hard and painful as it was, and despite the losses we suffered I doubt that anyone would change anything.”

River hugged her Father, “I missed you Daddy,” She said tears in her eyes.

“I missed you too my little ballerina,” Gabriel said, tears in his own eyes.

Outside the infirmary, Allan and Zoë stood in silence, Allan’s arm around Zoë’s waist and her head leaning on his shoulder. Leaning over Allan kissed Zoë’s head, breathing in the scent of her hair.

“Would you have changed anything?” he asked quietly, referring to River’s statement.

“Might not have lost Wash, but I’m not sure we would have survived without Simon and River along anyway. So I guess not. Besides, without them, I wouldn’t have you.”

“I wouldn’t have changed anything either,” Allan replied, “Love you my brown eyed girl.”

“Love you too Baby.”

“What say we leave the Tam family alone for a while and adjourn to your bunk before I have to go on watch?”

“An excellent notion,” Zoë replied.

“Lets be off then,” Allan said with a smile.

XXXXXXXX

Two hours later, a slightly disheveled Allan emerged from Zoë’s bunk and made his way to the bridge. He found Mal in the pilots seat, staring into the black.

“You ruttin my First Mate?” Mal said, a serious tone in his voice. Not turning from the view.

“I…” Allan started.

“Bout damn time,” Mal said with a sudden grin.

Allan relaxed. Mal’s unusual sense of humor was rearing its head again. Allan slid into the co-pilots seat, “I’m glad you approve.”

“Was a time on this boat I didn’t approve o’ shipboard romances. Times sure have changed.”

“What do you think about Jayne’s proposal?” Allan asked.

Mal looked to be in though for a moment. Shaking his head Mal replied, “Not rightly sure on that. A year ago and Jayne would a been breathin' vacuum had he done that. Now… Hell, if her daddy ain’t around when they get hitched, I hope River lets me give the bride away,” Mal finished with a grin.

Allan smiled, “Maybe she’ll ask you both to do it.”

“That just might work Allan,” Mal said, “Speakin o’ which, how’s Mr. Tam?”

“Better than a couple of hours ago. The Tam family reunion was going well. I think Simon finally got to say I told you so.”

“I reckon he’s been wantin to say that for a while.”

“I agree with that… Well Cap, its 15:00, my watch.”

“See ya at dinner Allan. Who’s cookin by the way?”

“I am. Figured I’d whip up something special for the newly engaged couple.”

“Okay Allan, I’ll relieve you at 18:00 so you can start cookin.”

“Good enough, Mal,” Allan said as the Captain left the bridge.

XXXXXXXXXX

An hour later, Allan was surfing the cortex while he stood watch. Serenity was on autopilot and coasting through space. There really wasn’t all that much to do this deep in the black. Absently, Allan pulled up the news reports from Persephone. They were still close enough to get an almost live feed. The delay was only about thirty seconds at this distance.

As Allan flipped through the various articles, a report about a double murder in Uptown Eavesdown caught his eye. Two men had been found in a dumpster, shot in the head. “Shit,” Allan whispered as he read further. The images of Gabriel and Reagan Tam stared back at Allan. The report listed them as persons of interest, and wanted for questioning in the slaying.

Calming himself, Allan hit the ship wide com, “Captain, Zoë, can you both come to the bridge please?”

A few moments later Zoë entered the bridge, Mal a few steps behind, “What is it Baby?” Zoë asked as she stood beside Allan.

Allan looked first at Zoë and then Mal, “Take a look at this,” he said, indicating the news report.

“Son of a bitch,” Mal said quietly. Looking to Zoë he said, “Blue Sun?”

“Blue Sun,” Zoë agreed.

“What are we going to do?” Allan asked.

“Not rightly sure at this juncture. But I think we need to tell Simon and River’s folks that they’re wanted fugitives now.”

“That’s not going to go over well Sir”, Zoë commented dryly.

“Tell me about it.”

XXXXXXXX

It didn’t go over well. Gabriel Tam was nearly apoplectic with anger. Reagan was genuinely frightened. She sobbed quietly while River held her.

“What’s the Plan Capn’?” Jayne asked, more for River’s sake than anything.

“Not quite sure yet. Not like we haven’t had fugitive Tam’s on the ship before,” he said trying to lighten the mood a bit.

“I’m not quite sure that levity is warranted Captain,” Gabriel fumed.

“I’m not making light of the situation, but at the moment I’m not sure what we can do other than keep you folks hid. Best place is here on the ship. I reckon that Blue Sun is usin this to try and flush Simon and River outta hiding. The advantage in this case is that you’re already together.”

“I agree Captain,” Simon spoke up, “This is obviously a ploy to capture our parents and then force River’s and my hands to mount some kind of rescue.”

“Best we keep flyin then,” Mal said, “When we get to Beaumonde, Mr. And Mrs. Tam will stay on the ship. We’ll go and pick up anything they need on planet.”

“Do you think that will work, Captain?” Gabriel asked, “I really need to contact my attorney.”

“Best we not do that just yet. That’s probably the first thing they’d expect ya to do. We wait. Maybe send yer lawyer a text only wave from a public terminal on Beaumonde. Let him know what’s up. That is if you can trust him.”

“Trust her Captain, and yes, Clair can be trusted with this. She was most helpful when we started looking for our children.”

“You sure?” Mal asked.

“Yes Captain,” Regan said, having regained some of her composure, “Clair, our attorney is my Sister.”

Mal nodded, “Good, best to be keeping it in the family. The other problem is that they’re probably watching your accounts lookin for activity, if not outright crashing em’.”

“We have secure accounts that I set up some time ago Captain. They in no way lead back to my wife or me. I set them up for an emergency such as this although I admit I never intended to use them. My original plan was to let River and Simon access the money if we ever found them.” Gabriel said quietly, “The accounts have been unused for nearly two years. No one should be able to tie their use back to us.”

“Sounds like a good plan till we come up with something better, in the meantime, Allan why don’t you start dinner. Gettin on that time anyway. I’ll head on up to the bridge. Got some thinking to do,” Mal said as he stood.

“Okay Mal,” Allan replied.

“I’ll give ya a hand Hon,” Zoë said with a smile.

XXXXXXXXX

The atmosphere at dinner that night was subdued. Gabriel Tam’s eyes kept wandering between Kaylee and Jayne. All he could figure out was that when given no other choice to meet people, his children had drifted to the only members of the opposite sex available to them. He would have been surprised to find that while partially true, he didn’t know the whole story.

Reagan Tam was actually happy to see her children in relationships. Gabriel was fairly blind to affairs of the heart. It had taken him nearly two years to finally ask Reagan to marry him. She didn’t know it took longer than that for Simon to ask Kaylee.

What Reagan could see was the almost palpable love visible between Simon and Kaylee. River and Jayne weren’t as open about it but Reagan knew that their relationship was much newer but no less intense than Simon and Kaylee.

Simon and his Father, while not completely trusting of each other yet. At least were speaking. While not much, it was a start. Now the only thing clouding what should have been a happy time was the sudden fugitive status of the elder Tam’s.

Allan had outdone himself in honor of the newly engaged couple. He had prepared London Broil with all the trimmings. The crew disparaged the day Allan’s stash of frozen food ran out and they would have to go back to eating protein all the time.

After dinner the crew began to break up and head off for various parts of the ship. Kaylee and Simon headed for the dorms while Zoë took her watch on the bridge. Gabriel retired to the shuttle he and Reagan were currently staying in. Inara had loaned him several books to help pass the time. Reagan had insisted on helping River do the dishes. Desperately needing some mother-daughter time.

Allan, Mal and Jayne sat around the table for a while, finishing their coffee. Mal excused himself and went to join Inara in her shuttle. River and her mother were giggling at the sink as they worked on the dishes. Jayne smiled. Now he knew where most of River’s personality came from. She got it from her mother.

Allan looked at Jayne, he saw the big man grin whenever River laughed. Then Jayne would look down and seem to be lost in thought.

Allan decided Jayne needed a distraction, “Hey Jayne…”

“Yeah Gramps?”

“We ain’t jammed in over a month, go get your guitar. We can show River’s Mom how we pass the time around here.”

A smile crept across Jayne’s face,” Whaddya wanna play tonight?”

“I think we need some good old fashioned southern rock tonight.”

“An excellent choice Allan, as soon as we are finished here, Mom and I will join you,” River said.

XXXXXXXX

Twenty minutes later, Allan and Jayne had set up for the impromptu jam session, Allan’s laptop computer ready to go in karaoke mode. His electric guitars set up with their amplifiers and everything tuned.

Reagan and River entered the bay. River led her Mother over to sit on a small crate while she slung Allan’s Les Paul over her shoulder.

Jayne sat on the end of his weight bench acoustic guitar in hand.

“Whaddya want ta play first?” Jayne asked.

“Something you can sing to River, How about Caught Up In You?”

“That’s the .38 Special one right? Lets do it.”

By the second song, the rest of the crew had come out of hiding. Mal and Inara sat on the catwalk tapping their fingers in time with the music while Simon swung Kaylee around the bay in a pretty good imitation of a two-step. Zoë had turned on the internal com so she could listen from the bridge. Her feet tapping on the console as she reclined in the pilots seat a small smile on her face. River and Allan alternated the lead parts during the songs while Jayne filled in the rhythm with his acoustic.

Even Gabriel Tam had come out of the shuttle and slowly descended the stairs. Taking a seat next to his wife. As he watched his Son dance with Kaylee and River and Jayne Interact while they played it struck him how happy his children were. Living here on the edge of civilization they were actually, truly happy. River had become a beautiful young woman, full of life, engaged to a man she clearly adored. While he still couldn’t bring himself to like the man, Gabriel would respect his daughters wishes.

Looking to his Son, Gabriel realized the impulsive boy that had defied him and rescued his Sister had indeed become a man. A good strong man. For the first time in days, Gabriel Tam smiled.

TBC