PART 7

Daquan was slower in regaining consciousness than Mal had expected, but given that he didn’t have a long criminal history, he was probably less accustomed to being knocked out in the course of his work. As a ship’s cook, he was used to folks buddying up to him. Mal tried to be polite. He untied the man, offered him a hard drink, apologized for Genny pistol-whipping him, and asked for his side of the story.

“I didn’t know what was going on with River,” Daquan explained. “One day she snapped. She went from being perfectly fine (in her own wild and free way) to thrashing manically. She tried to kill me a couple different ways. I knew she had meds, but she’d stopped taking them. She told me once that if something ever happened to her, I should get her to her brother, so that’s what I did.”

The stairs creaked and they all turned to see whether it was Simon or River. Jamie came down, holding Serry in his arms.

“Serry’s hungry,” he said simply.

“Jamie, please go out back with the others,” Mal said, motioning for Kaylee to take charge of the feeding the baby. They two of them went – Jamie to the back door and Kaylee to the kitchen.

“Wait!” Daquan cried, jumping to his feet and chasing them. Jayne blocked him easily and Daquan turned angrily to Mal.

“You can’t keep me from my child.”

“I’m keeping you from my children,” Mal said simply.

“You don’t want your children to watch you kill me,” he growled accusingly.

“There’s where you’re misunderstanding,” Mal said, putting a patronizing arm around Daquan’s shoulder and leading him back to the main room. “See, I don’t want my children to kill you. As much as I dislike you, I’m not paying to get blood stains out of this carpet.”

“There’s hard wood underneath,” Jayne said helpfully, making a motion of pulling up the carpet and wrapping Daquan’s body in it.

Daquan threw off Mal’s arm disgustedly. “You never were funny.”

“Were you ever good?” Mal returned.

Craning his neck, Daquan tried to get a glimpse as Kaylee took the baby outside as well. “I didn’t know about the baby until … I didn’t know. River always said she couldn’t have kids.”

Mal nodded. Nothing the man had said so far betrayed any ill-intentions, so he motioned Inara to give him the envelope, and he handed the paper to Daquan.

“What’s this?”

“If you want a part in raising this baby, you can start by paying your half of the medical bills,” Mal said simply.

To his credit, Daquan didn’t even bat an eye at the six figures circled on the paper. “It cost you this much?”

“So far,” Mal said evenly.

Daquan looked up arrogantly. “Who holds this debt? I’ll cover it all.”

Mal’s jaw dropped. He hadn’t expected any such response, and it gave him hope for Serry’s future relationship with her father.

With a sigh, Daquan looked around Jayne toward the back door again. “What did you call her?”

“Serry,” Inara said. “Serenity Sky.”

“That’s a silly name for a baby, but she’s had it picked out for years,” Daquan commented, then rubbed his face reminiscently. “Is she alright? River was shaking her … Is River alright?”

*~*

Simon didn’t have anything to do in River’s room. His sister was fighting the sedative he’d given her, but she was losing. He’d sat by her pillow long enough to soothe her to sleep, and then he started surveying the medical equipment in the room. They’d requisitioned it to care for Zoë, but his Infirmary on the new ship already had several comparable machines, so they conceivably had some inventory to sell. He leaned against the wall and sighed restfully. For the last several months, it had been just him, Kaylee, River, and Serry in their tiny little place on the beach. It seemed almost restful here, despite the events of the evening. There was space to spread out and get away from people. He’d had a short chat with Jamie about the sedative he’d given River, and now Serry was downstairs in the hands of her caring cousin, not forced on his exhausted wife. It was nice to share the responsibility and not have to think of everything himself.

He tensed as Daquan invaded his quiet refuge with River. Simon knew him by his smell. The man wore too much aftershave, and he was never clean-shaven. Simon busied himself, arranging the equipment in the room and fiddling with dials on a machine that wasn’t plugged in.

“We got off on the wrong foot,” Daquan opened diplomatically, and Simon shivered in revulsion.

“You tried to kidnap my niece,” Simon said icily. “How would you put a positive spin on that?”

“Have you ever watched someone have a mental breakdown?” Daquan asked.

Simon looked at River, and forgave Daquan just a little. He managed to shoot Daquan a condescending look.

“I suppose you have,” Daquan said evenly, circling the bed and getting closer to River. “But was she holding your child when it happened?”

Simon kept silent and started rooting through his medical bag. There was only so much he could do to busy himself. He noticed Jayne standing guard just outside the door.

“Will you excuse me, I’m trying to work,” Simon said dismissively. River would have been fine if he hadn’t shown up.

“The reason we never stayed together always came down to trust,” Daquan confessed. He touched River’s face endearingly and Simon’s stomach churned. “She takes all these meds and she says she needs ‘em, but she won’t say why and I’m not supposed to ask.”

Daquan looked into Simon’s medical bag, but Simon snatched it away quickly. Nonplussed, Daquan continued. “You seem like a decent enough man. And you’re a doctor. I can’t imagine you’d facilitate this if it were a simple addiction. But then, I walk into this place and she’s out there having the crazies, trying to keep hold of a baby, while all you drunkards are in the back eating bar-b-q.”

His tone turned accusatory and Simon bristled. He’d beaten himself enough about leaving River alone, but truth be told, she would’ve been fine if Daquan hadn’t picked up the baby. River was always safe with Serry. She’d laid the baby in her cradle and gone for help. Having the baby get kidnapped was not part of any scenario they’d prepared for. River could fight if she needed to, but when she couldn’t trust her eyes, the best way for her to protect her child was to find someone whose eyes she did trust.

Simon hadn’t realized how little River had told Daquan about her medical conditions, and since it made a difference in their past, present, and future relations, he figured there were certain things Daquan should know. “My sister has paranoid schizophrenia. It can be well-controlled with the proper medication.”

“Is it c-contagious?” Daquan stammered. “To the baby, I mean.”

“No,” Simon said. “She has no genetic predisposition. River was held hostage by the Alliance for three years and they performed illegal and inhumane experiments on her. That is what caused the condition.”

“Wo de ma,” Daquan breathed, sitting heavily on the bed and pressing a hand to his heart. He looked at River, hopefully understanding something more of what he’d witnessed.

“I thought they were just stories she made up,” he said.

Simon twitched jealously. He’d been trying for years to get River to talk about what they’d done to her at the Academy. “She spoke to you about what happened to her?”

“In her art – in the stories behind her paintings,” Daquan explained. “I always found it horrific, but the more horrific the story, the more money she’d make on the painting. People feel that pain in her work. And they endure it, because she can weave in such a thread of hope. I dare say she’s one of the most powerful artists of our generation.”

Simon really had lost touch with River over the years since they’d left Serenity. Her medication had allowed her to be self-sufficient and live on her own. He knew she’d draw in her spare time, but he never realized she sold anything.

“You rescued her, didn’t you?” Daquan said.

“I did.”

River woke briefly, whispered Serry’s name, and then fell asleep again. Daquan looked from River to Simon and stood up from the bed.

“There’s this one painting that she never wanted to let go of – and you could buy moons for what people have offered. I brought it as a kind of peace offering.” He handed the rolled canvas to Simon. It was abstract, but Simon felt a stirring in his heart just from looking at it. “I think it’s her vision of you.”

Simon smiled, but he knew it was more than him. There were hardly any recognizable shapes – just swirls of color and meaning. It was all of Serenity – the crew, the ones who lived there, who had been born there, and the ones who had died. Everyone had a thread of color in the painting. Since Daquan had left her, River had been saying there was something she needed to go back for, and Simon knew this was it.

Daquan smiled triumphantly at the emotion his gift was stirring, and Simon shut down. He could not be wooed or bought, because the man’s actions spoke volumes. Placing the canvas safely on one of the tables, Simon turned toward Daquan, and clasped his hands behind his back.

“Flattery and bribery will not make me forgive you,” Simon said coldly. “You abandoned her on my doorstep, disappeared for ten months, and now you have the gall to show up unannounced, frighten my sister half to death, and run out the front door with her baby. You can’t buy her back, no matter what Mal has led you to believe.”

Daquan pulled himself to his full height and looked down the bridge of his nose at Simon. “I will ask her to come with me.”

“And I will kill you if she asks me to,” Simon threatened. “Get. Out.”

*~*

Kaylee was glad to see the kids weren’t scheming on anything major when she came out. They’d stoked the fire, building the blaze enough to fight the chilly night air and seemed content enough to grill Courtney about the relative quantities of gunplay at her family’s gatherings. Not wanting to get the baby too close to the fire, Kaylee went to the picnic table in the middle of the yard, and sat on the table to give Serry her bottle. Simon often felt bad about leaving Kaylee to care for the baby when he was focused on River, but Kaylee adored her niece fiercely. She’d always wanted more kids of her own, and the only reason she’d never forced the issue was because there’d been plenty of kids on Serenity, and they didn’t have money to feed any more.

Looking toward the fire, Kaylee noticed her daughter turning from the crowd, and she caught Genny’s eye. Quietly, Genny broke away from the group and came to sit next to Kaylee on the table, leaning close, and making small talk about how it was colder here than by the fire. Serry finished her bottle and fell asleep, and Genny watched peacefully.

“Did you always want kids?” Genny asked softly, fingering the mittens on Serry’s little hands.

“Pretty much,” Kaylee said. “It took awhile to convince your dad. He had River to look after and … well, he still does.”

Genny swallowed, like her throat hurt. “But he did want us, right? It wasn’t a “surprise I’m pregnant” and he just went with it and didn’t say no?”

“No,” Kaylee said, feeling a twinge of guilt and concern that her daughter may have felt unwanted. Her concern may have been unfounded, but the maternal instinct was not known for reason. She chuckled to herself, wondering how she’d gone this long without telling Genny the story of her conception. “It took two years of very concentrated effort to get pregnant with you. We ended up with this home-made fertility treatment with Petri dishes and pipettes. After you were born, your dad made the Captain park the ship for three months so nothing would break that I’d have to fix.”

Genny’s eyes twinkled as she laughed, but then she got that conflicted look on her face again.

“Are you and Cole talking about kids?”

Genny took a deep breath and kept her eyes firmly on Serry. In the firelight, Kaylee could see the tears welling. “He wants to be a dad so much and I really want to give him that.”

“But not yet,” Kaylee finished. Genny blinked and tears rolled down her cheeks. She couldn’t lift her head, because she was too ashamed to appear weak, but she laid her head on Kaylee’s shoulder and cried quietly.

“Don’t let him push you,” Kaylee encouraged, adjusting Serry on her lap so she could put an arm around her daughter. “When you’re ready, you’ll know.”

“How?” Genny asked thickly.

“I don’t know,” Kaylee laughed. She felt so much of her daughter’s fear, she nearly started crying her own self. “For all our trying, when I found out I was pregnant with you, the first thing I did was run over to Inara and cry on her shoulder about not being ready. I think you have a better head on your shoulders than that, though.”

Genny laughed a little and sniffled, reining in the fear that had overwhelmed her.

“Look at your Uncle Jayne,” Kaylee said. “He waited so long to have kids, he’s old enough to be Emily’s grandpa, and do you remember how crazy he got, because he was so scared of what he’d gotten into. Everyone gets jitters. Whether you want ‘em or not, you’re never gonna be ‘ready’ for kids. The question is, do you want ‘em? If no, you take measures. But if even the tiniest part of you thinks yes, then you take ‘em as they come, and if they don’t come as fast as you want, then you wind up with pipettes and Petri dishes making them come.”

Genny wiped her face and inhaled. “You’re trying to sound wise, but you’re just making stuff up.”

“I stand by every word I just said,” Kaylee said confidently. “I don’t remember most of ‘em, but I stand by ‘em.”

Genny hugged her gratefully, and they both sat there for awhile. Every now and then, Kaylee would hear the splash of one of Genny’s tears on Serry’s parka. It worried her that Cole might push her so hard into something that she didn’t want.

“Mom?” Genny said tentatively. Kaylee looked at her daughter and waited. Finally Genny shook her head, leaned on Kaylee’s shoulder again, and whispered softly, “Never mind.”

*~*

Simon closed the door behind Daquan as he left, but he wasn’t sighing with relief yet. The only conceivable reason Mal was letting the man stay was so River would have a chance to talk to him. He knew Mal would not let Daquan near Serry again. Mal had nearly lost Little Zoë once for lack of blood kinship, and he’d make sure Serry wasn’t threatened again. If Daquan really wanted a custody battle…

Simon’s jaw quivered as fear and uncertainty washed over him. He went to the table and looked at River’s picture of Serenity. It almost seemed as if the colors had been imbued with an emotional impression that transcended the medium of the art.

“Serry?” River murmured, opening her eyes and focusing on the empty cradle.

“Serry’s safe,” Simon told her. “She’s downstairs.”

River looked at him as he brushed the hair away from her face. It looked like the sedative has wearing off.

“I keep seeing things that can’t be real,” she said, clawing weakly at the roots of her hair. “I saw Daquan and then I saw Jamie.”

Simon chuckled softly. Jamie had said River seemed a little dazed, but he didn’t realize that River had processed Jamie’s presence and dismissed him as a hallucination. “I could hardly believe my own eyes, but what you saw was real.”

She cocked her head quizzically, checking to make sure he was serious, and then she pounded the pillow next to her face. “How can I distinguish a world that makes no sense?”

“What did Jamie tell you?” Simon asked.

“He said we could be a family.”

“You and Daquan?” Simon asked, feeling a bitter taste in his mouth as he said the man’s name. River nodded. Simon stiffened, trying to figure the best way to proceed. His sister needed the truth. “Daquan expressed a similar sentiment…”

“But you don’t believe him,” River said.

“I don’t like him,” Simon said honestly.

River looked at him sagely, weighing his opinion.

“He gave you something,” she said finally.

“Oh,” Simon said with a smile. He brought the painting over to the bed and showed River. “He said you did this.”

River touched the painting sadly, then nestled closer to Simon and closed her eyes.

“He sells my pain,” she confessed, her voice steady and smooth as though she were reporting the weather. “Draws it out of me like a leech sucking blood.”

“Does he keep all the profit?”

“He thinks he does,” River whispered, then grinned impishly at him. “I’m a very good thief.”

“Good for you,” Simon said, though he wasn’t reassured. He looked at the picture, feeling the mixture of desperation, hope, trust, and strength. “What do you want to do?”

“Fly like a bird,” she answered, and he smiled, knowing she meant it literally. He loved the way his sister saw the world, mixing fantasy and reality. It was something the Alliance could never take away from her.

“About Daquan, River?” Simon said, forcing the topic. “Do you want to talk to him or do you want me to send him away or …”

“He left us to die. He’s dead to us,” River said, almost mechanically. It was all she usually said to dismiss the topic, but now that Daquan was here, Simon needed a better answer.

“Do you want him in Serry’s life?” he choked out with some difficulty. River spoke calmly, like she always did when she was reading someone’s intentions. She never seemed to judge people for having ill intentions toward her. “He doesn’t want her in his. He wants me. If he hurts me, I draw the pain.” River stopped, as if she were hearing her words for the first time, and she looked at Simon in confusion. “He isn’t evil.”

“Did he hurt you?” Simon asked, his heart crying out for vengeance. Had Daquan abandoned River in the hopes that the horror would yield a new, priceless piece of art? Could a man be that shallow? And had he done anything before that?!

“He left us to die.”

“Before that, I mean,” Simon said. “River –”

“You’ve always taken care of me,” River said warmly, nuzzling her face against Simon.

“River –”

“Tell him to go,” she said finally. “He’s dead to us. We accept nothing that he offers.”

Simon nodded shakily, and held his sister. He finally had the answer he wanted, but he didn’t know if Daquan would accept River’s message if it came through him. “Do you want to tell him?”

River shook her head. “If I see him, I will kill him. And his blood isn’t worth it.”

*~*

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