Author's Notes: First off, I want to thank everyone for the reviews! I'm glad people have liked the story so far, and it is turning out to be more than two parts, though I'm pretty sure it will be finished up within three. I'm still undecided on whether or not to keep it gen or end it with Mal/Simon--but if you have a preference and could let me know, it might make it easier to decide.

Part One

-----

"This it?" Tarlin Banks glared over at Captain Reynolds. "This don't look like much." He opened up the last case and sneered into it.

Zoe watched Banks, unblinkingly, a slight frown marring her pretty features. Beside her, Mal was smiling, but it was a far cry from friendly. He was missing two of his own, and if he wasn't waiting on his payment, he would have shot Banks straight through his forehead. "I'm just the cargo hauler, Banks, you gotta problem with the merchandise you take that up with Badger."

Banks eyes narrowed, and three armed men appeared behind him. Resignedly, Zoe and Mal both raised their hands. "Why don't you just head on off and leave this here with me, we'll call it even," Banks said.

Mal rolled his eyes. "I really don't have the time for this kind of complication."

Banks smirked. "I am real sorry to inconvenience you, Reynolds, but you know the way things go."

"I do actually," Mal said, giving a slight nod. "That's why I took a few precautions of my own."

He had barely finished speaking and three shots rang out. Banks' men dropped one after the other—but not before the last down fired a glancing shot off Mal's shoulder. He grabbed it with a wince, and a thin trickle of blood slipped through his fingers. When he looked up Banks men were all dead, and any other day, Mal might have wasted thirty seconds feeling guilty. "The money, Tarlin," he snapped.

Banks glared but threw him the small bag of coins and he caught it with his uninjured arm. Behind Tarlin, barely in sight, Jayne threw him a grin and holstered a smoking gun.

-----

River had placed the gun in one of the drawers, for which Simon was grateful, but she had also sat herself in front of the only door and was refusing to let him leave. "We're staying here," she explained. "Until the Captain comes. It isn't safe."

"River," Simon said tiredly. "We can't sleep here. Look, I know you're shaken up by what happened, but really, I can take care of myself and I won't be caught off guard again…"

River interrupted his assurances with a snort. "You're always getting into trouble, Simon."

He crossed his arms defensively and didn't meet her eyes. "You're hardly one to talk."

"We wait," River said, giving him a firm nod. "It is more dangerous here than I first thought. This was a mistake."

"You've said," Simon said drolly. "But I wasn't about to keep us where we weren't wanted."

"You're more wanted than you know, Simon," River said, her eyes meeting his with intensity that never failed to catch him off guard. "We should not have left."

Simon ran a hand through his hair. "We didn't have a choice, River. We have to keep running. You know that."

"We don't have to do it alone," River said, a pleading note in her voice. "You don't have to take everything on yourself, Simon, not anymore." River ran her thumb across the harsh metal of the floor. Something caught on it and tore a paper-thin slice in her skin. Before she had lifted her hand she had smeared a small trail of blood on the ground. "I know they wouldn't help you," she whispered. "Our parents didn't believe you, and you had to save me alone."

"They just…" Simon trailed off, not sure he wanted to be their advocate. "They have a picture of us, River, and we both broke the rules by becoming involved in something they hadn't planned for."

She brought her knees to her chest and kept her hands at her side. Somewhere on that ship someone was screaming, but River didn't know if it was now or then, and Simon didn't seem to hear it. "Will you return to Serenity when they come?" she demanded. "We can not do this alone."

"We don't need anyone," Simon said, quickly, in a fierce determined denial. "River, we never have."

"Never doesn't mean forever," River said, and planted her hands on the thin closed seam of either doorjamb, a slight painless throbbing catching her attention where blood seeped through the slice on her thumb. Her pulse was pounding in her ears, but she could hear Simon's, behind it, almost as clearly. "We're waiting."

-----

"It's just a scratch," Mal snapped when Zoe tried to pull his hand away. "Ain't nothin' to worry about."

She frowned anyway. "We need to get Simon back."

"I wouldn't let him touch it if he were here," Mal snapped. "It ain't nothin' but a scratch."

Zoe nodded, relenting only because she knew that was mostly the truth. "Yes, sir."

"Still," Mal said wryly, as Jayne jumped onto the ramp and he hit the door control to close it, "You're right about one thing. We need them back."

"How you plannin' on doin' that, anyhow?" Jayne asked when he came to stand beside him.

Mal hit the intercom to talk to Wash before responding to Jayne's question. "Wash, we're all aboard and we got the money."

"Went easy, huh?" Wash asked sounding pleased.

"Yes, dear," Zoe agreed. "Captain was the only one to get shot this time, and that's just a scratch."

"You got shot?" Wash snapped, and Mal turned to glare at Zoe.

"Just take us off this rock, Wash. Set a course back to Persephone, and keep constant watch. Wave any ship you see, got that?"

"Sure thing, Mal."

Jayne watched him disbelievingly. "Don't tell me you're gonna just start stoppin' every ship we see, Mal. You ain't that crazy."

"What with River gone someone's got to be," Mal snapped, turning to start climbing the stairs. "Don't cause trouble for me, Jayne. I'm not in the mood."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Captain," Jayne called after him. Zoe gave a small smile and lowered her gaze to the ground.

-----

First ship they came across went okay. Mal had Wash wave them, and he tried to make himself look pitiful as he held onto his wound and asked if they had a doctor. He promised they would be reimbursed well.

The Captain of the ship told them all to live the rest of eternity in fiery hell, and cut the connection.

Second ship went a little better. Family transport, so the language was nicer, but they still claimed to have no doctor. Third ship said they had a doctor too quickly, and to send the money on over first. Mal had cut the connection that time. Jayne had started humming a drinking song behind him.

By the time they found a fourth ship Mal was getting weary and Jayne and Wash had gone to bed. A large gruff man answered his hail, and he was fully expecting to be told to go to hell again—but the moment Mal mentioned a doctor he froze, eyes narrowing with suspicion, and he knew he'd found them.

"Got shot up, you know," Mal said, trying to sound weak. "Think it's gettin' infected and the ship is having some troubles, don't know if we'll make it to Persephone any time soon, ya know, we'd pay ya good, if you knew someone could help…"

"Matter of fact," the man said slowly, reluctantly, "we picked ourselves up a doctor on Persephone just yesterday."

Mal held a grin at bay. "That so? Say, you let him take a look at me, and we'll give you 200 credits."

The man crossed his arms. "I'm not of the habit of lettin' folks on my boat, you see, certainly not for 200 credits."

Mal grinned wryly. "How about 500?"

"You come armed I'll put a bigger hole in ya than that," the Captain said, nodding towards his shoulder.

Mal nodded. "I'd expect nothing less, sir." He gave a wide grin, almost undoing his entire 'man-in-pain' act. "I think we can do business."

-----

"He's coming," River whispered, and before Simon could even glance up there was a pounding on the door.

"Hey, boy, you in there! Open up!"

Simon winced when he recognized Claine's voice. He backed up against the small counter. "Damn," he whispered.

"Don't cuss," River whispered firmly, getting to her feet. "It's not polite."

"So sorry, mei-mei," he said. He reached out to grab her wrist and pull her away from the door. "Stay back, okay? I'll deal with him."

"You want the gun?" she asked him politely.

He frowned over at her as he stepped up to the door. "No."

"Open the hell up!" Claine growled.

Simon sighed and hit the release on the door. Claine stood glaring at him the minute it opened, arms crossed and taking up all the space offered by the door. Simon wondered if Claine would even be able to fit through, and took a step back just in case. "Yes?" he asked.

Claine's eyes slipped past him and darkened when they landed on River. "You've got a patient comin'," he said.

Simon nodded and glanced at the slim supplies. "What's the injury? I'll do my best to--"

"You misunderstand," Claine said gruffly. "We want you to knock the guy out with somethin' not make him better." Claine grinned. "For his own good, 'course. Think you can handle it or are we gonna have ourselves a problem?"

"It seems straightforward enough," Simon said tightly. Claine nodded once and turned away. Simon closed the door again but didn't lock it, and then turned to glance at River. He couldn't hold her gaze long, so he turned away again, biting his lip.

"More complications," River said. "Mal will think of something."

Simon sighed, sitting down on the medical table to wait for his patient, and trying to decide how he was going to treat him without Claine finding out about it. "Mal isn't here, River."

River smiled, her eyes roaming towards the closed door. "Yes he is."

-----

"This is downright idiotic-ness," Jayne snapped, glaring at the airlock. "They ain't gonna let you come back if you get on that barge."

Mal glanced over at him. He knew that despite his orders Jayne was carrying at least three concealed weapons, probably, it was five. He knew even Zoe, on his other side, was carrying at least one. He wasn't, on the off chance they might search him, and he had to admit he wasn't happy with this idea any more than Jayne. It was also possible Simon and River weren't there at all, but he was trying not to think about that.

"I thank you for your concern, Jayne," Mal said. "But I can take care of myself."

Jayne snorted, and Zoe gave a sly grin. "Of course you can, sir," she said. "Just get them back."

"That's the plan," Mal said with a nod, wincing when two very large men appeared in his airlock. He slowly hit the release on the door, hoping he wouldn't regret it.

The smaller of the two men stepped forward with a nod. "I'm Capt'n Grena, and this here's Claine. Where's my money?"

Mal nodded to Zoe, holding his shoulder. He'd smeared the blood around a bit for appearance's sake, but this time it wasn't too hard to pretend he was in pain. It was throbbing enough to distract him some for real. Zoe stepped forward and handed the men the credits.

He snorted. "This is o'ly 250!"

"That's right," Mal said. "I'll give you the rest, personally, when I'm back on my boat. It's this or no deal. We don't trust you any more'n you trust us."

Reluctantly, Grena nodded. "In that case, after you, Cap'n."

Mal took a breath and then stepped between the two men, and into their ship. Simon had better be the doctor they were taking him to, and he was going to have a lot to answer for once Mal had his hands on him.

-----

"I'll just…I'll have to, I mean, I can't just drug a man and then put him in Claine's hands…I couldn't possibly…but perhaps…"

River rolled her eyes at her brother's mutterings, and while he was distracted, took the gun from the drawer and slipped it in the waistband of her skirt. "You will not drug him," she said softly. "There's no reason to worry, Simon. Not yet."

He opened his mouth to respond, but stopped at the sound of the door. His eyes widened as Claine gave Mal a not so gentle shove inside, but quickly hid his surprise. He really had to start taking River more literally. "This here's your patient," Claine said. "Now remember what we talked about."

Simon reluctantly met Mal's eyes. Yep, he looked less than pleased. Simon wondered briefly if maybe he would be better off facing Claine. "Uh, right, yes, right away…" he said.

Claine seemed satisfied at his obedient behavior, but Simon wasn't doing it because of him. "I don't want you here for this," Mal snapped at Claine. "I don't trust you. Wait outside."

Claine growled a little, and threw Simon a significant glance, but he did leave the room. When the door closed behind him Mal took a step forward, and Simon took one back. "What are you doing here?" he demanded, trying to hold his ground. "You're going to get yourself killed."

"Looks to me you've got one up on me with the whole trying to get killed thing, doc. Nice crew you got here." Mal ran his gaze over Simon and River both, making sure they were still in one piece. River smiled at him brightly, and he couldn't help but smile back.

Simon frowned when he did his own survey of Mal. "What happened?" he asked.

Mal shrugged, and then winced at the action. He took a small inventory of the room and then turned back to meet Simon's eyes. "Got shot," he said. "But you can worry about that later, once we're back on Serenity."

Simon crossed his arms. "I don't know if we should go back to Serenity." He wouldn't meet Mal's eyes. "We have to keep moving," he added.

Mal gave a disbelieving laugh. "These guys are pirates, Simon! What, you think they're going to become your buddies? They'll kill you soon as look at you."

"They would do many horrible things for small reasons," River agreed, moving to stand beside her brother.

He glanced at her, before turning back to Mal. "We couldn't stay on Serenity indefinitely, Captain," he said. "You know that. If we hadn't left we would end up getting you all killed."

Mal glared at him. "No, by leaving you might very well get us all killed. Did you honestly believe we wouldn't look for you?"

"Honestly?" Simon asked coolly. "No, Captain, I didn't think you would."

"You 'bout done in there?" Claine asked roughly from the other side of the door.

"We don't have time for this," Mal snapped, pointing at him.

"No," River agreed. "We don't." She grabbed Simon's arm, ignoring his protests, and pulled back his sleeve, showing the ringed bruise around his wrist. "They hurt him," she explained simply, and when she saw Mal's eyes darken she smiled, because she knew they would not be left there now, whatever Simon said.

"Right," Mal said, throwing a quick glance around. "We're leaving. Now." He was trying to find something to use to take down Claine, which, honestly, did not look like it was going to be easy. There wasn't much in the way of weapons in the small infirmary.

That was, there wasn't until River pressed a pistol into the palm of his hand. He glanced at her, only half-surprised, and gave a quick nod. He turned to glare at Simon. "Are you going to help me or not?" he snapped. "'Cause I know you don't want River to have to stay here on this ship. You care too much for her."

Simon bit his lip. "You can't honestly expect to shoot your way off," he said.

Mal met his eyes fiercely. "I'm going to do whatever is necessary, Simon."

"Well it isn't necessary," Simon snapped back. "I'll go back with you, you're right that this ship isn't safe for River, and I…I admit it was a mistake." He took a step forward, and met Mal's gaze defiantly. "But if we're leaving, we're going to do it my way."

Part Three (final)