Title: Blood Bonds Author: Ana Sedai Rating: PG Character(s): Mal, River Prompt: 033 - Blood Word Count: 475 Author’s Note: Second in my would-be Joss100 series.

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When River was small, she’d read a story from Earth-That-Was that talked about blood brothers. If two people shared a connection so deep that they refused to ever be separated, they would cut their hands. Then they would press them together until the blood mingled and was flowing in each other’s veins. That meant they were bonded for all time.

When she’d told Simon about it, he’d laughed a little and said that while it was a nice story, it didn’t really work. “Our bodies break down blood over time, mei-mei. Even if they shared a little blood for awhile, it would be gone in a few days.” It was his first year at school, and he’d been anxious to show off a bit.

She had just shrugged and said that he didn’t understand. It wasn’t that they shared blood in their bodies; it was that they shared blood together.

River thought about the moment when the blast doors opened on Mr. Universe’s planet. She’d been standing there, covered in blood, clutching dripping axes, surrounded by piles of Reaver corpses. The Captain had stood there, too, covered in blood as well, mostly his own, surrounded by their wounded crew. Their eyes met, held, and for a second, time froze. As clear as if he’d spoken it, River heard him say, “We are bound, you and I.” She knew that. She’d always known it. But it was good to hear him say it, even if only in his head.

The moment passed, of course. The Alliance came, the Operative didn’t order their deaths, and things went back to normal, or as normal as they could be with Wash and Shepherd Book gone.

The Captain went back to treating her like a girl, albeit a somewhat more formidable girl than he’d previously known. He trusted her with Serenity, though. That was nice. But he didn’t trust her with himself, and that was painful. They were bound by blood, weren’t they? He’d acknowledged it once, why not again? He mashed things around in his head until it made her head ache. She didn’t have to read his mind; the torrent of his thoughts caught her up whenever she was close, whenever he looked at her.

She’d thought touching his head would help it listen to his heart. She’d been wrong. All she’d been able to learn was that she scared him. Rather, she made him scared of himself. She made him scared of what he wanted. He still thought of her as fragile, in need of protection.

Changing his mind wasn’t going to be easy. She still had trouble putting her thoughts into her voice. The Captain used that to remind himself of where things stood. He’d forgotten that blood bonds were forever. Still, she would wait. She would remind him. Somehow.