Sign of a Good Day ------------------------------------- Based on the world of Firefly by Joss Whedon

"You could have been killed." Cat scolded as Mal shrugged his shoulders innocently.

"Came lookin' for you. Ain't my fault I ran into trouble." He smiled a bit as they wiped blood and entrails from their persons. "Took a wrong turn, that's all."

"Wrong turn. Seems like I heard a lot of that in the war. Oh, that's the bar that's Alliance friendly. Must have taken a wrong turn. You realize one day it's gonna get you killed." She shredded what was left of her tank top, glad for the long sleeve shirt 'Ski had found on one of the guard causalities. It had lost its arms to bandage Mal's side where her claws had made their mark and now her tank was patching the cuts to his arm. "Best be glad it wasn't a bullet."

"Bullet's a sign of a good day, Babe." Her partner spoke on her left as she sneered at him.

"You're not helping."

"Werzbowski's right. Scars make a man." Mal grinned through the throbbing pain that the monster's blade had caused.

"Of all the men I could have aligned myself to, I get the only two that think gettin' shot's a good thing." She pulled the makeshift bandage tight and then checked the rest of his body.

"Still love me?" he whispered low enough to escape her partner's ever alert ears.

"Let you know after this is all over. Might want to rethink this whole man with a death wish thing."

"You?! With some ninny. Now, that's enough to make anyone want to take a bullet."

"I could manage it." She smiled, wiping blood and dirt from his face. "No more guns pointed at me. No more monsters knocking at my back door."

"My love, but you are a monster and as much as we might want to live normal lives, there comes a time when we must face a reality. You and I aren't meant for fanciful things. Besides, could you imagine your husband and I in monkey suits drinking wine with our pinkies high in the air."

"Pants would be tight." She smiled casting a glance toward her partner. "You called him my husband?"

"He is, isn't he? I may not like why you did it, but I understand."

"Took you long enough." Ski chimed in."Besides, only reason God gave us pinkies is to pull the pin on a grenade while still holding on to a gun."

"Well, I'm a bit of a jealous soul, but not completely unreasonable and at least, she married someone with a lick of common sense to them. Might be a bigger problem had she married someone like Jayne or Simon."

"You saying I'm a good thing, Reynolds."

"Call it the lesser of two evils. I'd rather it be me." Mal caught 'Ski's eyes with his last comment.

"Well, it ain't." Her partner growled showing again the possessiveness he had over Cat. "You two ready to go?" "You hurt?" Cat asked him.

'If I am, would it have mattered?' his voice in her head made her realize every word had been heard,

'Yes.'

'Not the way I see it, Babe, but to answer your question, I'll be fine. Better when we're out of here.'

Cat nodded, looking from her husband to her lover and back again. It was time to get this psychotic ride over with. "It's time to end this."

* * * * *

"You truly are a beautiful girl." River could feel his hands on her as well as his mind, its dark shadow filling her head with images that would make even the Devil cringe. "I can see why they wanted you to be my mate, but child, I need someone who understands what I am."

"That ain't hard. Way I see it, you're a psychopath with an inferiority complex, and suffers from the twisted delusion that you're perfect." From the shadows emerged Ski and Mal, guns trained on Falcon as he turned to them smiling .

"Oh, the hero captain and the reluctant monster." There was no surprise on his face as he walked around the table River was strapped to, an ugly set of knives next to her. "But, where is my blushing bride? Oh, Cat!! I know you're here. I can feel you and oh, my, are you scared?"

"What're you doing to River?" Mal asked, moving to free her, but Falcon wiggled a finger his way, not once showing any fear toward the guns pointed at his head.

"I'm making her the perfect bride." He smiled and moved back to run a hand over River, her scared eyes flinching underneath the light or was it his touch."You see, Captain Reynolds, your Cat is no longer of any use to me alive. You two have thoroughly ruined the primal part of her."

"What do you mean? She almost killed all of us."

"But, she didn't and that's a problem. She's flawed."

"Funny to hear you say that." Ski finally spoke, knowing full well the guns didn't threaten this man because he was like Cat, and would kill River before succumbing to death.

"Oh, you poor little reaver. Only reason she's with you is because she feels sorry for you. Losing your family and your dog...." Ski looked at him, hand tightening on the gun. "When I kill her, I'm taking those tags and making them a necklace for my new wife. I think she'll like them."

Ski moved to attack, but Mal caught his shoulder. "Don't let him get to you."

"And you, Malcolm Reynolds. You, she gave up her entire world for, her home and then, her freedom, yet, you yourself doubt that she indeed loves you. Why? Because of this monster beside you. You are as much a fool as he is."

"Alright, let's kill him." Mal replied, but Ski raised his hand.

"If you have River, why do you need Cat?" Still not really caring about the others, there was something they were missing."

"And the Reaver grows a brain." Falcon applauded. "I need her blood and that little part of her brain, which brings out the beast in her."

"So, you got to kill her?"

"Well, even if I could do the procedure without killing her, I can't let her live."

"And why the hell not?" Mal spoke, this creature getting on his nerves.

"Because no matter what he does to me, he still won't be better." Cat emerged from the shadows, body dripping in blood that wasn't hers. "I got all the crew out safely. Jayne and Zoe are waiting for us to come out. Kitty and Simon are bonding over the mess these so called scientists caused to River."

"And your cat friend?" Ski asked.

"Oh, well, she couldn't stand to see me have all the fun." Striding into view, the black panther, fur redden and wet, held a human foot in her mouth. "We ran into some old friends of yours, Falcon. Not to sure they enjoyed our introduction."

"Cat, we were just talking about you.” Falcon turned to her and she could see his eyes change when he looked at her. They were not just angered by her intrusion, no, he was happy to see her.

“Let River and my men go.” She growled.

“And you?”

“I'll stay here.” She could see Mal and Ski both looked at her. That wasn't the plan that they had been told, but then, neither of them knew just who they were dealing with.

“And be mine.” He prodded her with his words openly hoping she would agree and break the hearts of the men she claimed to love. “For as long as you can keep my fangs out of your neck.” She snarled at him and drew closer, his hand raising to stop her.

“Not acceptable, Cat. I want to hear you say you want me over these humans.” He moved toward River, pulling a knife from the small counter beside her.

“I agreed to stay here. That's enough.” She stepped away as her eyes focused on him acting like she was retreating. Inwardly, she sent a short message to Ski, enough for both River and him to hear, but not to give anything away to Falcon.

“Oh, but I want to see the pain in their eyes and yours when you tell them that I'm far better in every aspect than them.” He stroked the knife done River's soft face, Cat sending her visions of the fun they had shared in such a short time to keep her calm.

“Leave her alone.” It was then Cat struck, the speed in which she grabbed Falcon almost unseen. Two bullets rang out as the metal straps that held River snapped. Ski's gun still smoked.

Grabbing her in his arms, Ski threw River over his shoulder and then moved toward the exit, Mal following, but only for a moment. Cat was still in the thralls of a fight, her body struggling to keep Falcon from going after them.

“I'm not leaving you.” Mal yelled at her, standing in the door Ski had taken River out of.

Her eyes, for a moment still green and human held tears. “I love you, Malcolm Reynolds.” She, then released Falcon as he tore away from her and headed for the door. Slamming into it first, her hand hit the button that closed and locked it from the inside. “But, I can't give you that choice.”

“Cat, gorram it, don't do this.” He screamed through the door, but knew in his heart she couldn't hear him.

“She did what she thought was right.” River stood next to Ski, her eyes hollow. “She saved what was important.”

“Are you sayin' she's gonna die?”

“I've seen her come out of worse.” Ski smiled. “Hell, knew a man that stabbed her and a man that shot her, all in about six hour.” Joking kept him sane and from turning into the monster he feared to save her.

“We're getting in there.” Mal turned to use his gun as a hammer to open the door's wiring box. “I'm not going anywhere until that gorram crazy hun dan is chokin' on the barrel of my gun.” Looking back at Ski, he frowned. “Now, you with me or you gonna still pretend you don't give a damn about her?”

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