BLUE SUN ROOM FAN FICTION - GENERAL

WHOSTHATGIRL

Prototype – Ch. 9: A Stitch in Time -- PG13
Friday, December 5, 2008

A stitch in time saves eight.
Belongs to somebody not me. Blah blah blah, yackety schmackety.
Please to leave feedback. Good. Bad. Whatever.
Timeline: Set between end of series and movie, after Book and Inara have left.
AN: Yes, I FINALLY went back to this after a year. Earlier chapters here This whispered in my ear after seeing the third X-Men movie. Not a cross-over as such, but it was certainly inspired by. My first attempt at a really LONG multi-part fic, so this may or may not actually get anywhere, depending on if I have the patience to see it through.


CATEGORY: FICTION    TIMES READ: 1611    RATING: 0    SERIES: FIREFLY

With the rest of the patients easily settled and stable in the cargo bay under Zoe and Wash’s watchful eyes, Simon and Jes were free to focus on River. As Mal and Jayne were prepping their suits, Simon was questioning the plan to remove the small explosive bullet currently lodged somewhere inside River’s abdomen.

“So you do all the work and I just hold her hand, is that it?”

Jes tossed him a look that he’d thought only River had perfected. “No, Osirus. You work the scope. I work on getting the charge out of her. Trust me, you don’t want me doing both at the same time.”

“Why? What might happen.” In his most sardonic voice.

Jes leaned down to tug on her left boot. “Spinning head. Pea-soup vomit. Deep gravelly voice cursing a blue streak. Not pretty.”

Jayne couldn’t hold back the derisive snort. Jes craned her neck to look up at him.

“You ever puke in zero G? It’ll teach ya not to repeat the experience. Personally, I like bodily fluid to be at grav-norm. Much less messy.”

It was Mal’s turn to laugh. Besides, he was starting to think she liked him. Or at least didn’t dislike him as much as the rest of the crew, save for River and possibly Kaylee.

At that point, Jes straightened up, pulled on her gloves and grabbed her helmet, sealing it on over her head.

“Right, then. Let’s do this thing.”

Once she and Simon were inside the infirmary, Mal radio’d for Kaylee to cut the gravity. All he and Jayne could do now was stare in through the window at the pale, prone figure of River strapped onto the examining table, with Simon and Jes standing over her. Mal hoped Jes was half as good a sawbones as she made herself out to be. Barring that, he hoped to hell that damned jujube lodged somewhere in River’s innards was a dud.

Jes, meanwhile, had her right hand hovering somewhere over River’s right ribcage.

“Come out, come out, where ever you are…”

“Does that help? Talking to bullets?” Simon asked sarcastically.

“Wouldn’t you talk nicely to an explosive device? And it’s just one bullet. Two would be overkill, if you’ll forgive the pun.”

Then her hand stopped right in the vicinity of River’s bellybutton.

“There. Run the scanner right there.”

“What if you’re wrong?”

“Then little bird is done for, with the rest of us not far behind. Dear Sweet Buddha, Osirius, don’t you have an ounce of self-preservation in your body? Run the gorram scanner over her bellybutton unless you want to be blown into a million pieces!”

Shaking his head, Simon did as he was told. Sure enough, there was the bullet, right below her stomach.

“There it is,” he breathed in relief.

“Not been wrong yet, Osirus. Though may Buddha have mercy on my soul the day I am.” The last bit murmered almost to herself.

With that, the faint glow from below Jes’s gloved hand made River’s stomach slightly translucent. Slowly, the bullet started to dislodge itself and move.

“It’s working!”

“Grab a scalpel, Osirus. It’s coming to the surface.”

Simon grabbed one of the scalpels out of his suit pocket and made a small incision just above Jes’ hand. As the bullet started to show itself, Jes unscrewed a small capsule, neatly nabbed the bullet with a pair of foreceps and then dropped it into the capsule before screwing the cap tightly shut.

“OK, you can kill the zero-G. We got the little bugger!”

Simon had never been more glad to be able to pop the helmet off his suit. He noticed that River was no longer deathly pale. He glanced at Jes, who was busy getting out of her own suit.

“Thank you. I…we…appreciate everything.”

Jes indicated toward the surgical instruments still tucked away inside Simon’s suit, lest they go flying around in zero-G.

“Still got work to do, Osirus. Close her up. I’ve got my other patients to tend to.”

At that moment, Mal came to the infirmary door to relieve Jes of the capsule containing the jujube. He glanced at it.

“Such a small thing to be so troublesome.”

Jes peered a bit closer at the capsule.

“Not meaning to be a downer, but it’s glowing green. You…uhhmm…know what that means?”

Simon looked up, alarmed, having finished stitching up River’s incision.

“What?”

Mal looked grim.

“Means we get this thing the hell offboard as soon as gorram possible. Thing’s about to blow.”

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