No one had come back with clothes yet. River was getting worried. She was still naked, too afraid to put on the clothes (if you could call them that) the boy had left for her. She was puzzled though. How could he have gotten them off of her while she was SLEEPING! And the there was the question of his dream last night. She had only caught a glimpse of it, as his guard was down, but what se saw was spine chilling. “River?” It was Kaylee. Maybe she could borrow some of her clothes. Without knocking Kaylee walked into the room, stopped, looked at River briefly, and continued her conversation. “River, do you have any pictures of Simon?” River instantly knew why she wanted them. She also saw other thoughts, including Kaylee asking for a picture of River now too... “Kaylee. If you can’t tell right now, I am out of clothes. I am also very much not wearing clothes, but Mal should be coming back-” “River, I guess you found some then. I can come in now, right?” Mal slid the divider open, and instantly learned he had to start knocking more often. Once again, he stared. “Capn? Do you have any smaller pictures of Simon?” Kaylee asked, seemingly unaware that River was almost to the point of tears. “No, Kayleefry, I cannot say I do...” Mal fell off, still starring blankly at River’s body. Kaylee waved her hand infront of his face, and he snapped up quickly and walked off mumbling something about special hell. “Kaylee, would you please ask me your question later. I am in search of proper apparel right now...” Kaylee looked at River like she was mad, and pointed to the thong and bra. River shook her head. “I really don’t want to wear that in public.” Kaylee looked confused. “Aw River,” she said, “Yer not in public. Yer here in the black. We’re all friends out here!” She spanked River and walked out of the room, laughing under her breath. Something told River Kaylee either drunk, or... Simon’s drug. He couldn’t had given it all to River. There must have been some left. Another cleverly planned move by the boy. Kaylee would have never (well, not usually) done something like that. Man, he was good. River was just getting back to her bratty standards she had been at when she was a kid, but he was something else. He was a relative of Wash, though, so this went without saying. Then he was there. Just there. “Boo!” he said in a bright voice. River jumped, and tried to cover herself up. “Seen it already, remember?” he reminded her, but this still didn’t make her drop her arms. “Why did you do that!?” River screeched. She was afraid. She had NEVER met anyone who could best her before. He had now done it twice. Well, three times if you counted the whole gun thing last week. “’Cause I’m me!” he said, keeping cool. She smiled. For some reason, she felt this was not a fight to be won. Instead she turned around slowly and deliberately, bent over, and picked up the skimpy bra. She was satisfied when she heard the familiar gulp of the boy. She put on the bra, still with her back turned to him, and then bent down again to put on the panties. She could feel his shield starting to slip out of focus, but was still miles away from being penetrated. She made a mental note of this. After she finished putting on her ‘clothes’, she turned back to face him. “Tease...” He looked stunned. She smiled. “Not so big and tough now, huh?” she smiled. She knew something he didn’t know. “Well, I still think you’re a tease!” he came back, blushing. Wait- Blushing! Wow, that’s a first, River thought. And now another. 3... 2... 1... “River? Is it safe now?” Mal was there a 3rd time for the morning. The boy instantly disappeared, but not before River managed to get a full body hold of him. “You may enter now.” Mal walked in, saw River in one of the most astoundingly attractive poses so far, and went to walk out. “Wait!” River cried, and he forced himself to turn around again. River seemed to be fidgeting, trying to keep the ball of air in her arms still. “Sir, could you go get Kaylee?” Mal did not question her order for him to go away. He flinched when she added for him to come back with her. Once Kaylee had come back, Mal wished he had just not woken up this morning. “Kaylee... Spank me again,” River said bluntly. Mal almost fainted, but Kaylee clapped with delight. She not only spanked her, but she also kissed River on the mouth! “MGNNAFCKNKLLLUUUU!!!!” River heard the boy mumble, but she had slapped her hand over his mouth. Mal had turned the other direction, Kaylee was having the time of her life, and River could feel the boy’s shield weakening. She waited till the last minute, the licked the boy’s neck. His shield immeadiently gave up, and he whimpered in his defeat. “You can turn around now.” Mal turned, now saw River holding a boy with her hand held over his mouth, the boy’s eyes wide with terror, and Kaylee still leaving marks on River’s neck. Too much... “What in aye-yas sake is going on on my boat!” he stated, starring at the scene infront of him. River, who was now getting very annoyed with Kaylee, thought that she should just have Mal, herself and the boy here now. “Kaylee. Copy of a photo album in my bag. Go nuts.” Kaylee immeadiently stopped and rushed over to River’s bag and pulled out a book that was full of color stills of Simon and River at all ages. “OOH goody!” Kaylee squealed, and rushed off to the engine room. Mal was still starring. “I believe we have a lot to talk about...” River said. Mal nodded. *** The boy couldn’t believe it. After two weeks of going unnoticed, he had finally gone too far with River. She had outsmarted him, and he now had to tell everything- including everything. River took her hands off the boy. “Clothes?” she asked him. He smiled. It couldn’t hurt. “Gone.” he said. He was planning on revealing himself after this stunt, so he had stuck them out into the black. He had a very sick sense of revenge sometimes. He did, of course, save the ones he knew River liked, but she didn’t know that. River instantly knew he was telling the truth though. She went to punch him, but... wait, no, no. She really did punch him. Quite hard to. “I deserved that,” he mumbled, head spinning. “Can we get back to the part about, uh, the whole mysterious boy stealing River’s clothes here?” Mal broke in. River nodded, then turned to the boy. “Don’t make me tell it again...” he looked down. River looked like she was going to sympathize. I will tell what I know, but apparently I don’t know it all...” The boy swore under his breath. He hadn’t actually meditated in a while, so his sleep shield would be lacking. He nodded. River told about how the boy was able to remember everything from the Academy, and about how he was related to Wash. She also told about Susan, but only lightly touched on the subject. She ended with him helping her defeat the black handed man. She left out all the sex stuff and pranks they had been pulling on each other. He nodded. “That is all true, for the most part,” he finished. Mal was listening intently. “Now for the part you do not know. I still carry information on the Alliance. Something even worse than what River had. It has been slowly opening me up, and tearing me apart inside, but nevertheless, I know it is there. I was forced to take a medication that the agency Susan had hired had come up with. It worked for a long while. Then i guess my body started getting used to it. I had to change medications and that's when it happened. They kept giving me drop-off points to go to. I picked up the new meds, and went on my cheery way. It worked that way for about three months. Then it happened... It was my last hope. God...” The boy started crying and River soothed him. Jayne had just quite literally walked in. He saw the boy start crying, sniffed his armpit, shrugged, and walked back out. “Let me tell,” River suggested. He looked at her thankfully, then let the shield drop. She was instantly in a trance at what she was seeing. “You got to the base,” she explained. “They fed you, caught you everything you needed to know. You were almost at ease of your sister’s death. Then they came.” She droned off in shock. Mal looked to his sides uncomfortably. Then River started back up again. “Ten of them. Black hands. They came swarming in, killed the guards. The kids tried to fight, but the sound. It ground at them. Killed them. But not you, you were different. Nothing happened to you. You killed three of them, but were overwhelmed. That sound was still buzzing in your ears. Oh God...” She droned off, and started screaming. Mal heard Jayne yell up. “I took a shower on Saturday, swear!” Refusing the urge to go after Jayne, Mal stroked River’s hair. She was breathing herd, and the boy was just starring off into nowhere. “I’m Ok.” River said. “I saw it... I saw what you are hiding.” The boy paled. “I’m sorry...” he whimpered, and started tearing again. River took a deep breath, then continued, leaving Mal looking at her like he missed something. “You ran. Back to your ship. You got as far away as you could get, but then something happened. You were going to the backup site. You radioed ahead to make sure everything was ok. It was, until you sent the message. They tracked it. You were talking to the same voice you had always talked to- the last contact of your sister. Then just white, and screams. Then just static. The video was then intercepted, and... oh God... Oh my dear God-” River fainted. The boy broke out a third time, and Mal was confused. He was definitely missing something. Then through the sobs the boy spoke up. “I was so upset, I crashed the ship into the closest planet, hoping for a quick death. I survived though. My programming took over and ejected out at the last minute. I landed less that 50 feet from the port. I decided to try and get on the first ship that docked. Guess who was the first...” “Us...” Mal amazed at his timing. The boy grinned for the first time. “Nope,” he breathed. Mal blinked. “Oh... um.” “It was the Alliance ship. They were the ones that killed off the real store clerk and put the replacement in. They were the ones that thought I had gotten away. They were the ones that made the deal with you to pick up the funeral goods.” Mal stared blankly. He was getting his practice in today.