Chapter 11

"Ms. Wu?" the deep professional voice sounded from the mysterious woman's handset.

"Report," the woman ordered into the unit as she boarded her luxury shuttle.

"The Doctor and the crew have safely boarded the Firefly Class Transport believed to be Serenity. The vessel took on a few containers of foodstuffs, broke atmo, and laid in a course for Londinum."

"It is highly unlikely those foodstuffs will even pay for the fuel required to travel to Londinum. They must be going there for another reason," Ms. Wu spoke into the handset. "Have they taken on any passengers?" She asked.

"Yes ma'am, a registered companion by the name of Inara Serra and one Galen Sushruta who are scheduled to attend the Sapphire Ball on Lundinum."

"Galen and Sushruta were famous surgeons in the ancient world of Earth-that-was. This is likely Dr. Tam's alias, but why would a wanted fugitive risk exposure by attending 'the social event of the season'?"

"Very impressive Lien Wu, it took my team hours to discover that ID was a very clever forgery. Of course, we did not have your expert knowledge concerning ancient doctors at our disposal. As for why he would risk this appearance, perhaps he misses his former life and longs to experience it once more?"

"I suspect he does, though I doubt that is his reasoning," Lien Wu responded. Simple Simon rarely did anything without solid reasoning. "Set up a mobile command center on Londinum. I will attend the Ball and see to this personally."

"Yes ma'am."

Lien sighed as she took her seat and allow her mind to wander back to a simpler time, almost two decades ago.

"Why do we have to go? It's going to be boring," a young Lien whined to her father.

The older man laughed, "Because Daddy has important business with the Tams, and it won't be boring this time. They have a little boy about your age so you'll have a playmate."

"He's six years old! He's practically a baby!"

"Have you forgotten, you're only two years older?"

"And he's a boy," little Lien pouted, "boy's are gross."

The man laughed again and said, "We're here. Promise to behave and we'll pick up your favorite treat before we go back and see your mother."

Suddenly excited, Lien eagerly agreed, "I promise!"

When she met the Tam's for the first time, she thought they looked kind of like vampires. She had met people of anglo ancestry before, but the Tam's skin were especially fair and everything about them just seemed too straight and perfect. Well, everything but their boy, who was nervously half-hiding behind his mother's dress.

After their parents made their introductions the boy tentatively approached Lien and offered his hand, saying, "I'm Simon, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Huh," Lien chuckled, almost haughtily. The little boy's head and shoulders drooped and Lien's father gave her a warning nudge. Lien took Simon's hand, curtsied, and said, almost monotone, "I'm Lien, and the pleasure is all mine."Simon's features instantly brightened and Lien thought to herself, 'boys are so stupid'.

Over the course of a year the families would visit each other several times, despite the fact that young Simon had apparently 'failed' some kind of assessment related to her father's program. Simon had quickly become Lien's favorite playmate. He would play whatever games she wanted and would believe everything she said without a second thought. She found his latter quality an endless source of amusement as she enjoyed getting prim and proper 'Simple Simon' into trouble.

That is, until River was born…

Even as an infant, River Tam was constantly interrupting Lien and Simon's time together. Simon would leave every couple of minutes to check on his little sister. Suggesting they play near the baby only ensured little River was the only thing Simon noticed.

Lien had her nanny fix her long black hair to be 'extra pretty' one day before she went with her father to see Simon and the boy didn't even notice! Lien didn't understand why this hurt her so much, but that did not stop her from taking her frustrations out on the poor boy. She punched Simon right in the eye and River started crying. When Simon's mother entered the room, Simon told her he tripped and bumped his head on River's crib. Mrs. Tam told them they should leave the baby alone and go play outside.

Lien couldn't bring herself to apologize, but she did let Simon choose everything they did for the rest of the day and hoped he understood she was sorry.

Over the next couple of years Lien found her feelings towards boys in general, and Simon in specific, changing. She became busier and busier with school and extracurricular activities, but always found an excuse to see Simon, usually by roping him into helping her study or practice her fencing. This became much more difficult when River started dancing and he became the little brat's go to dance partner.

Lien had complained about this during one of her fencing sessions with Simon. Simon insinuated that, being an only child, Lien had trouble with the concept of sharing. Lien utilized the fencing practice to aggressively correct his assumption. However, once it was over, she could not convince Simon to join her again for another practice for almost two weeks. Rather the fight for his time and affection, Lien's cunning little mind raced to take advantage of the situation. She figured, 'if he would rather dance, than Lien would make him take her to a dance.' The thought of making his bratty little sister jealous only made the plan sweeter.

Lien was interrupted from her pleasant musings as her pilot informed her that they were two minutes away from docking her luxury liner, which she had been using as her base of operations. Thinking about her childhood friend, Lien laughed at the irony of their current situations. River Tam was the beginning of the all their problems and her capture would soon be the end of them. The Wu and Tam family names would be restored, Lien thought contentedly, and we can finally go back to where we belong.