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

This story is set fifteen years into the future from my current storyline “Big Blue”.

AN: Now I'm all caught up with posting the chapters I have written for both Heritage and Big Blue. I'll try to alternate story lines in my next posts. Reviews would be kinda nice too.

Cast of characters:

Parents: Malcolm Reynolds 51 Inara Serra-Reynolds 44 Allan Bryant 68 Zoë Bryant 48 Simon Tam 43 Kaylee Tam 40 Jayne Cobb 52 River Cobb 36 Kids: Jefferson (Jeff) Reynolds 15 Emma Reynolds 10 Sara Bryant 14 Rebecca Tam 15 John (Jack) Tam 11 Rachel Cobb 8 Jesse Cobb 6

Heritage-Chapter Five

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The week leading up to the formal went without incident. The gunmen who shot Eddie Buford seemed to have vanished from the 'verse. The car they rented with the fake ID turned up in the parking lot of a Mag-Lev station two hundred miles away from New Edmonton.

Eddie recovered a bit more every day. He was awake enough to give a rough description to Jayne a few days after he was shot.

So far, it looked like the families of Serenity Acres were safe. On Friday, Allan was scheduled to deliver his lecture to Sara's history class. The school planed to capture it to be used for subsequent classes. Also, updated texts had been sent to the school from the Alliance Education Ministry. A quick wave from Allan had rectified that little problem. While Allan tried not to abuse the power inherit of his position. When the CEO of Blue Sun calls the Alliance Minister of Education complaining about the inaccuracy of the history texts his daughter is using in class... the education minister listened.

That morning, Allan was torn about what he was going to wear. He could go for the severe businessman look with a suit. He could do the dressy casual look of a teacher or, he finally decided, his normal dad clothes consisting of jeans, polo shirt and baseball cap. Sara approved of her fathers wardrobe.

“Glad you picked that outfit daddy,” She said at breakfast that morning, “If you came in a suit, the kids would tease me more about being a rich kid.”

“That's what I figured princess,” He replied.

Pulling up to the school on his motorcycle, Allan waved to the police officer sitting in his car at the entrance to the parking lot.

Parking his bike, Allan entered the lobby. To his surprise, Allan wasn't led to Sara's classroom but one of the small lecture auditoriums. Several other classes besides Sara's would be attending that day. Allan looked around the large room with it's raised seats surrounding the sunken podium.

“Will this be suitable?” Dr. Garland, the schools principal asked as she entered the room.

“It's a bit bigger than I expected.”

“I felt a greater number of student's needed to hear your story Dr. Bryant.”

“Please, call me Allan.”

“Lavern.”

Allan smiled at the principal, “I'm sorry for the disturbance my security team has caused this week.”

“I understand. If it were my children in danger, I would do whatever was in my power to protect them.”

“I'm glad we have an agreement.”

“I must say doctor... I mean Allan, you certainly do not come off as the cutthroat businessman or academic that you appear to be from your company bio.”

“Read that have you?”

“I have.”

Allan chuckled, “All true... to a point. I do my best to separate my personal life from my work. While I am very wealthy, I mow my own grass and drive my own cars. Comes from my upbringing I guess.”

“What was Earth like?”

“You'll get the gist of it from my lecture. But suffice to say, if you took every environment on every world terriformed in the verse and then put them all on a single planet about the size of Boros and dropped twelve billion people on it, you might get a hint.”

“Crowded?”

“The cities... yes. However, the biggest push for the exodus was the lack of resources and environmental damage. My forefathers had treated the planet like they could just go out and get another one.”

“Don't get me wrong, Earth was still a beautiful planet. Sometimes I wonder what it's like right now. Is anyone still alive? Is it habitable still? Before I left, things were on the brink of war again. I have a feeling that if it happened, it went nuclear and probably wiped out everyone left behind.” Allan finished sadly.

“It's too bad we can't go back and find out,” Lavern commented.

“Might be possible someday. I have my R&D division working on several new propulsion systems. River is consulting on that from time to time.”

“River? River Cobb, our art and dance teacher?”

Allan smiled at the woman, “River Cobb is much more than she seems. If not for what the Alliance and unfortunately my company did to her, I feel River would have been... Should have been, one of the greatest minds of this age.”

“I don't understand.”

“Has River ever told you her IQ? Probably not since I'm pretty sure she doesn't know herself. The current system used can't calculate it that high. I would guess it's somewhere north of 250 at the very, very least.”

“My god...”

“I've seen River calculate the fastest course between any four worlds to the nearest second in her head in less than a minute,” Allan said like a proud uncle.

“Now I'm pretty smart. My IQ is around 185. River blows me out of the water. She had a bachelor of science in astrophysics by thirteen. Now, to look at her you'd never know it. Some of that is the ordeal she went through at the so called academy.”

“That was her then? I remember the news reports just after the sacking of Parliament.”

“It's all true,” River said with a sad smile as she entered the room.

“Hey kiddo,” Alan said.

“Hello da-shu,” River replied.

“Come to watch me make a fool of myself?”

“Yes,” River giggled. She turned to the principal, “Now you know why I advise the science club.”

“Indeed I do, River,” Lavern replied, “And if you ever feel the need to teach any science classes I think I can accommodate you.”

“I'm happy with dance and art. Science has lost most of it's allure.”

The trio were interrupted by the end of period bell. “Showtime,” River grinned at Allan, “Break a leg.”

“Already done that a couple of times kiddo.”

XXXXXXXXXX

As students began to filter into the room, Allan was having trouble connecting his laptop to the auditoriums audio visual system. When Allan saw his daughter enter, accompanied by Becca and of course Marion and Olivia, he waved them over.

“Hi daddy,” Sara said as she moved to her father's side.

Allan looked at his daughter and then at his old laptop computer, “Help?”

“Gonna cost you.”

“How about not grounding you and telling Kaylee that you two troublemakers are the one's who blew the engine on the old mule trying to soup it up.”

The two girls shared a quick look and quickly nodded. Setting to work, they had the interface working properly in seconds. From the back of the room River shot Allan a discrete grin. As a parent, having a reader available was real handy from time to time.

Soon, all the students had arrived. Not only the history classes but economics and physics were in attendance. In the back of the room a tech had set up a capture to record the lecture. Marion and Olivia stationed themselves near the doorways. Becca and Sara took seats in the front row. Allan noticed several other teachers besides River were attending the lecture.

Clearing his throat, Allan addressed the assembled group.

“Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Allan Bryant. I am President and CEO of the Blue Sun Corporation. However my most important job is being Sara's dad,” Allan said with a grin.

Sara thumped her head on the table in front of her. “Now that I have completely embarrassed her... I'll continue. My story is a bit long. Four hundred and sixty eight years long to be exact. I'll try to boil it down to an hour or so though.”

The murmur of amusement that flowed through the crowd let Allan know he had them.

Forty five minutes later, Allan had progressed to the question and answer segment that he was secretly dreading.

“Did you dream in cryo?” asked a girl in the fourth row.

“No. There was no sensation of time. To me, one moment I was getting sleepy just before I entered cryosleep and the next I was face down on the deck of my ship while Becca Tam's mother screamed,” Allan said with a smile. Becca rolled her eyes.

“Why did she scream?” The girl in the fourth row asked.

“What would you do if you were exploring a derelict space ship and a naked man fell out of a cryochamber at your feet?”

“I get your point,” the girl giggled.

Allan saw a hand go up in the second row, “Yes?”

“Did you have anything to do with Miranda?”

“I only had a hand in getting it publicly acknowledged by the government.”

“But it was perpetrated by Blue Sun,” The boy shot back.

“It was,” Allan replied as he pulled up a map of the 'verse on the display behind him. Allan pointed at a spot outside the rim. “When Miranda happened I was a popsicle about here.” He said indicating the map.

Another murmur of laughter went through the room. “However I know the people responsible for releasing the original Miranda wave.”

“I heard a rumor that Browncoats did it.”

“In a manner of speaking,” Allan replied, “Two of the people who released the wave were former independent soldiers.”

The end of day bell interrupted any other questions the students had. Allan thanked his audience as they all began to filter out.

“Not bad daddy,” Sara commented as she and Becca walked up to Allan.

“Yeah, specially the part where momma saw you naked and screamed,” Becca giggled.

Allan groaned, “I knew that would come back to haunt me someday.”

“That was very... informative,” Soo Park said as she approached Allan.

“Thank you Mrs. Park.”

“To satisfy my own curiosity, who did release the Miranda wave?”

Allan looked at River who was descending the stairs and she gave Allan a quick nod.

“You know Jeff Reynolds?”

“Yes.”

“His parents, my wife, River here and her husband along with Becca's folks.”

“My goodness.”

“Zoë's first husband Wash, as well as Shepherd Book and many of our friends were killed and murdered by the Alliance or Reavers in the fight to get the information out.” River replied.

“It was a long time ago, but these kids need to know it. That way something like it won't ever happen again,” Allan stated.

XXXXXXXXXX

As soon as the girls got home, they made a beeline for Simon and Kaylee's. Sara had already made sure her dress was in Becca's room along with everything she would need. Inara had come home early to help get the girls ready.

Becca and Jeff's dates were being delivered to Serenity Acres by their parents a little after six. Inara and Kaylee went to work as soon as the girls entered the house. While the two women worked their magic. Allan fired up the grill in his backyard. Despite the dance, it was still his turn to cook Friday night dinner. Without Sara's help, Allan decided on Steaks for the adults and hamburgers for the kids to keep things simple.

“Still doing the Friday night dinner thing?” Marion asked as she stepped onto the back porch.

“Yep,” Allan replied. Aren't you getting ready to escort my daughter?”

“In a bit.” Marion replied, “Do you know when we're heading back to Londonium?”

“Thursday next week. School lets out on Wednesday. Then we're heading out with Serenity on Saturday.”

“The stockholders meeting?”

“Yeah.”

“Fun fun, boss,”

“Tell me about it.”

XXXXXXXXXX

After hair and makeup were done, the two girls went upstairs to put on their dresses. Becca wore a pale yellow dress with an angled hem just below the knees. The top had thin straps and a plunging neckline. Her light brown hair pulled into a tight bun, Inara declared that the young mechanic looked as pretty as any socialite from the core.

The true belle of the ball in Inara's opinion was Sara. Her strapless deep copper gown fell fully to the floor. Inara had put the toffee skinned girl's long curl's in a tight wrap on the top of her head, a few wisps of hair hung down on either side of her face for accent.

Feeling very much the princess her father called her, Sara stepped out onto the Tam's front porch, Becca a step behind. The two girls immediately blushed when their uncle Jayne greeted them with a wolf whistle.

“Ain't you two a sight,” Jayne grinned.

“I'll say,” Simon agreed. It seemed everyone was outside waiting for the two girls.

“Is that our daughter?” Zoë commented to Allan, “Looks like a princess ta' me.”

“I agree,” Allan said, “Truly a princess.”

As the praise was laid on the two girls, A dapperly dressed Jeff Reynolds stepped up onto the porch, “Wow! If you two weren't practically my sisters...”

“Ain't so bad yourself there Jeff,” Becca replied.

“This ole' thing?” the teen chuckled, mimicking his fathers suspenders routine.

“You look very handsome Jefferson,” Inara said to her son.

“Gotta agree with yer ma there Jeff,” Mal said.

“Okay, all o' you line up, I gotta get a capture o' this, Kaylee ordered.

After a bit of maneuvering, Jeff stood in the middle with Sara on his left and Becca on the right.

A few minutes later, one of the security team member's escorted two ground car's onto the courtyard. From the first stepped Yasmine Harshman, Jeff's on and off again girlfriend, followed by Clayton Cook, Becca's date. Once again Kaylee lined the teens up for captures. This time joined in the photography by Clayton and Yasmine's parents.

Soon it was time to go. The kids were ushered into Simon's ground car and the communal hover truck, each driven by a member of the security detail. Olivia, Marion and Israel would follow in another ground car.

During all the photo taking, Allan couldn't help but notice that Jeff kept shooting glances at Sara. 'Could do worse than Jeff Reynolds,' Allan thought to himself. 'Maybe Inara was right.'

As soon as the kids left followed by Yasmine and Clayton's parents, the rest of the extended Serenity family settled down to their traditional Friday night dinner under the darkening twilight of a wonderful spring night.

After dinner was over and Allan and Zoë had put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, they dropped side by side on the sofa.

“Sara's not going to be home until at least midnight,” Allan commented.

Zoë looked at her husband, “Hot tub?”

“Hot tub.”

XXXXXXXXXX

After entering the dance, Jeff and his date as well as Becca and hers, separated from Sara,. She had been expecting this. Slowly she wandered around the perimeter of the gymnasium transformed into a ballroom.

Sara did have a few friends in the school outside of Becca and Jeff. She hung out with a few girls her own age but none were as close as Becca. As typical with most high schools since time immortal, various cliques formed. Sara didn't fit into any particular group.

More than wealthy enough to hang with the faux socialites, and smart enough to be considered a geek. Sara was athletic but not interested in sports. This left her out of the usual groups. Her few friends were the other kids who didn't fit in either.

Sara loved living on Boros. However, sometimes she craved the attention she garnered when she accompanied her parents to social functions when they were on Londonium.

Sara had been educated on how to behave in high society by her aunt Inara but would rather work on Serenity with Becca and aunt Kaylee, ride horses with uncle Mal or go shooting with uncle Jayne. Of course, flying, cooking or working in the shop with her father was fun too. As was riding along with her mother as she patrolled New Edmonton.

With a sigh, Sara found a chair in a quiet corner of the room and sulked.

“Hi Sara.” A boy said to her.

Looking up she saw the face of Rob Foxworth. Rob lived on a ranch near Serenity Acres. His parents raised cattle for a living. “Hi Rob.”

“You... you look very nice tonight.”

“Xie-xie.”

“Uh... want to dance?”

“Sure,” Sara smiled.

Stepping to the dance floor, the two teens, danced to the bass heavy music. Most of the popular music of the day was something her dad called, Asian-techno-hip-hop-rock, as it seemed to blend all of the styles together in an almost unrecognizable sound. Like most kids her age, she enjoyed the latest music but she had also developed a fondness for the music from earth that her father listened to and also played.

As soon as the song was over, Rob excused himself and moved across the room. Swearing under her breath, Sara headed for the refreshment table. Grabbing a cup of the unrecognizable concoction they called punch, Sara's eyes scanned the crowd. Off to the side, she saw Yasmine arguing with Jeff. After poking her date in the chest with her finger, Yasmine stormed off. Curiosity peaked, Sara strolled over to her almost brother.

“Trouble in paradise?” she asked. Jeff rolled his eyes.

“Might say that.”

“What's Yasmine's problem this time?”

“She had a list... bodyguards, not renting a limo, embarrassing her with Aunt Kaylee's taking captures...” Jeff trailed off with a sigh.

“Always thought she was a bit shallow,” Sara mused.

“Says great things about me then,” Jeff chuckled. Sara always did like his laugh.

“Come on Jeff, let's dance. Might as well be miserable together,” Sara stated as she dragged Jeff onto the dance floor.

In the corner, a scowling Israel Schneider handed Marion Vorrasi twenty credits. With a smile she pocketed the bet she made with her subordinate. Marion knew Sara very well.

Marion's grin grew as the evening wore on. Sara and Jeff danced together almost every song. When they weren't dancing, they stood together in the comfortable silence that only two people who knew each other as well as they did could achieve.

During the last slow dance the two teens danced close together. Sara felt strange. She and Jeff had grown up together, played in the sandbox, fought, argued and ignored each other over the years but right now, dancing close with Jeff felt like the most natural thing in her young life.

As the song came to a close, Sara came to a decision. Jeff's eyes shot open wide as Sara kissed him. As the shock wore off, the fifteen year old realized that he liked kissing Sara. Jeff had thought that kissing Sara would be like kissing his sister. To his surprise... it wasn't.

Pulling apart, both kids turned red and Sara giggled. In the corner, Israel handed Marion another twenty credits. Vowing to never bet against his boss ever again.

“I... uh.” Jeff stuttered.

“Yeah...” Sara said.

“That was...”

“Nice.” Sara finished.

“Might have to do that again...”

“I'd like that,” Sara replied. Suddenly realizing they were still in the middle of the rapidly emptying dance floor, the pair quickly moved off the floor. Becca and Clayton approached the two.

“And what were you two just doing?” Becca asked coyly.

“Nothin Bec,” Sara said quickly.

“Uh' huh... right.”

“Okay you lot... time to go,” Marion said as she and the other two bodyguards approached.

Gallantly Clayton offered his arm to Becca which she accepted. A moment later Jeff did the same for Sara. With their escorts, the two couples headed for the parking lot.

XXXXXXXXXX

Allan and Zoë sat snuggled together in the spa Allan had installed a few months previously on the back deck of the house. Nearly asleep from the bubbling hot water, Zoë lay in Allan's lap, his hands wandering over her body.

“Mmmm,” Zoë groaned, “This was a damn fine idea.”

“Glad you approve,” Allan replied as he kissed her neck. Eliciting another groan. A small privacy fence separated the tub from the rest of the deck. The only light came from a few candles and the stars.

Zoë reached behind her and smiled, “You ready for another go-round?”

“You are going to put me in an early grave woman.”

“But what a way to go... damn.” The security system was blinking the deck lights. That meant the gate had just opened.

“Gorram kids have the worst timing...”

“Tell me about it,” Zoë agreed. Rising from the hot water, Allan and Zoë quickly donned robes over their rather naked bodies.

They had just made it to the kitchen when they heard the front door open and close. The couple tried to appear nonchalant as their daughter entered. Upon seeing her parents dressed in bathrobes and dripping water on the floor, Sara rolled her eyes.

“Were you guys doing it in the hot tub again? You know how gross that is when I want to use it?”

Trying not to laugh, Zoë managed a smile, “How was the dance?”

It was Sara's time to look embarrassed, “Fine.” she said nervously.

'Uh' huh,” Zoë said not convinced.

“I danced a bunch of times.”

“That's good,” Allan said, a slight grin on his lined face.

“I'm tired, I'll see you in the morning, Night momma, night daddy,” Sara said quickly before she ran up the stairs, her gown flowing behind her.

Allan and Zoë shared a look that said something was up. A moment later Marion entered the house after having put the hover truck away.

“Spill it girl,” Zoë ordered.

Marion laughed, “Nothing bad... well not really.”

“Marion...” Allan trailed off.

“Sara kissed a boy.”

Allan immediately turned red, “Who?”

“Easy dear,” Zoë cautioned, “No shootin... yet.”

“You guys are too funny,” Marion chuckled.

“May I remind you who pays your salary...”

“Fine,” the woman grumbled, “It was Jeff.”

Allan began to head upstairs, “Where are you going?” Zoë asked.

“To get dressed... and find my gun.”

“Marion, would you please excuse us?” Zoë asked as she chased after her husband.

After calming Allan down. Which was no small feat. Zoë went to her daughters room, softly she knocked on the door, “Sara? You still up?”

“Cheeng-jeen,” Came the reply.

Sara had changed out of her dress and into sweats and a t-shirt. Her hair was combed out and hung down her back like it usually did.

Leaning on the door frame, Zoë gazed at her daughter with a look of mild amusement on her face, “So there was kissin...”

Sara's toffee face darkened, “Just one.”

“With Jeff...”

Sara just nodded.

“And where was Yasmine?”

“She dumped him.”

“I see.”

“We just started dancing... Well I dragged Jeff onto the floor. Then we just kept dancing and well...”

“One thing led to another.”

“Shr-ah,” Sara replied, eyes downcast.

Zoë sat on the bed next to her daughter, lifting Sara's chin, she smiled, “Ain't nothin to be ashamed of. Did he kiss you or did you kiss him?”

“I kissed him.”

“Surprise him a bit?”

“Oh yeah,” Sara giggled.

“Just tween you and me. I did the same to your father. He hadn't been on Serenity hardly more'n a month and I walked into his room and planted one on him.”

“What did daddy do?”

“Not much. I think he was in shock,” Zoë giggled. Sara joined her.

“So what happened next?” Sara asked, intrigued.

“That story is for when you're older, little girl o' mine.”

“Don't tell me you and daddy had sex right off?”

“No... and it's time for bed girl.”

“Momma!”

“Bed,” Zoë ordered.

With a frown, Sara climbed under the covers. Sam hopped onto the bed from where he had been laying in the corner to assume his usual position at the foot of Sara's bed. With a smile, Zoë turned off the light and closed the door.

Walking to her own room, Zoë entered to find her husband in bed, reading a magazine. “Well?” he asked.

“Just a kiss, Sara started it.”

Allan groaned, “Just like her momma.”

“And what does that mean?”

“When she finds something she wants... she goes after it.”

“Good save.”

“I've been practicing.”

“I bet you have,” Zoë replied seductively, “And what else have you been practicing?” she finished as she dropped her robe to the floor.

“All kinds of stuff,” Alan replied.

TBC