Title: Thank You. You're Welcome.
Author: LadyyLuna (Note, not my LJ name)
Word Count: 2619 (According to MW)
Disclaimer: Joss is Boss! Bow down you lowly creature!
Rating: R (Angst, violence, the works)
Genre: A LOT of angst, some fluffiness, a bit of action and I could say suspense (somewhat)
Pairing: Mal/River
Characters: Mal and River mainly. But there is slight mention of all the other characters, they're there, but don't do much...
Timeline: Post-Serenity
Summary: River knows what Mal chooses to ignore. She's a weapon, a puppet and if They ever find her, They'll make her hurt her family. She tries to make Mal promise to do something he would never agree to and would never do, but in the end, he'll be left with no choice.
Author's Note: This is actually 3 of five gifts I wrote for a very good friend of mine, but this piece stands alone. As in, it’s not a series, and it is actually based on a drabble (a fic of 100 words) I wrote some time ago. I was too lazy to create a new idea so I just chose to elaborate the drabble.

Thank You. You're Welcome.

Mal had a good notion of what he was getting himself into when they released the Miranda video. To be honest, he didn't think it'd cause that much of a problem for the Alliance since they had a talent of covering things up. He did suspect it would stick a thorn in their backside and that thorn would last them a long while, if he was lucky. The problem was that the Alliance knew of the Firefly Transport that sheltered the fugitives they were trying so hard to find. The black was a vast 'verse so the search would take time, but then there were times when it could be the smallest of places, like the time they met the Operative again. He had been wrong to say they'd never meet again and when they did, they were both running from the Alliance. Mal had taken the habit of taking River with them on jobs due to the fact that the girl was particularly useful in situations such as these. Granted, she hadn't told them the Alliance was there in time to avoid them, but they did avoid a few incoming bullets.

They managed to escape safely, including the Operative, and Mal was willing to part ways with the man without shooting him, that is, until he opened his mouth, "There will be a world without sin one day, Mal. We do not belong there, but it is up to us to make it. In a world without sin, men like us cannot exist. We do not belong, but it is up to us to see that the sin is destroyed. Only evil can destroy evil. She is evil, Mal. She is sin. Do what must be done and kill her, before she kills you."

Mal looked up. On top of the ramp stood River, blue dress clinging to her slender figure and her blank face staring at the Operative. Mal was about to open his mouth to make his own reply when bullets proved to be quicker than him. River ran to Mal, pulling him in, as the Operative was shot down. That's when Mal realized River hadn't been looking at the Operative, but at a big rock, a perfect hiding place. Mal closed the ramp without hesitation and River had already sprinted towards the bridge before he could even turn to look for her.

It was another speed chase and Mal swore River was getting mighty good at them too. With help from Kaylee in the engine room, they left their problem behind. The job's cargo was intact, but Mal could still see the Operative's words on River's face. She had not looked at him since. They were in the bridge now, she was sitting in the co-pilot's seat while he sat in the other. Although he had given her the title of his pilot, she would always cease that chair to him when he entered the bridge. Silence was something they often shared, but Mal knew that this time would be different, so the words that came from her lips didn't surprise him.

"He was right. I am sin, not born that way, but made," her words were soft, not a sign of emotion in them as she made her confession of truth. She still wouldn't look at him.

"That's got some truth to it, but you're lookin' at it all wrong, lil' one. Don't much matter the way you're made, what matters' who you choose to be," he stated plainly.

She looked up at the stars in the black, a soft sigh causing a rise of her chest before she spoke, "Don't have a choice. They'll take it away when they come. They'll say the words and make a puppet out of me. It's what I was meant to be."

Mal knew what she was talking about. That night in the Maidenhead where everything first started. He crossed his arms, "Way I remember it, you did have a choice. You didn't shoot me."

River smirked lightly, "I would've shot you, but Simon put me to sleep."

Mal knew that to be the truth, but he wanted to play the game for a bit, hoping to take away the Operative's words from her mind, "No, no, I saw a definite point of hesitation there. An Alliance puppet coulda shot me without as much of a blink, but you, lil' one, hesitated."

"I beat up Jayne."

"Anyone would beat up Jayne, that don't make you a puppet. That makes you a genius woman," Mal hadn't noticed the certain word he had used until he saw her eyes set on him accompanied by the widest smile he had ever seen.

"You didn't call her a girl," she said, tilting her head ever so sweetly. Mal felt incredibly stupid, but he knew he couldn't take back the words. It was the truth. She wasn't a little girl anymore. The years had seen to that and he'd have to admit, the years had been very good to her. The more he looked at her, the more he started to dangerously feel things that would give him an early pass to Book's Special Hell and he tried his best to keep the little reader from finding that out.

Mal was startled when River suddenly stood up, walked towards him, and then bent down slightly to put her arms around his neck. It was a simple hug, one that had come out of nowhere and made Book's sermon ring inside his head. She cemented his position there when she kissed his cheek, "Thank you," she whispered, and then left the bridge as quickly as she could.

Mal blinked, unmoving, his fingers touching the space she had kissed and cursing his own existence. He couldn't help the smile that blossomed on his face though as he replied to her gratitude with two words, 'You're Welcome.'

A couple of months later Mal had decided they had been avoiding the Alliance long enough and deserved planetside time. In truth, he was particularly worried about River and a promise she forced him to make nearly a week ago.

He had been sleeping in his bunk when he awoke to those small fingers poking at his chest.

"Huh? Wha? What the- River? What-"

"Promise me. Need you to promise." Mal looked at her, his eyes officially awake once he noticed the palms of her hands. They were bleeding through tiny cuts, light wounds, but bleeding all the same. He seized her hands, ignoring her crazy remark about a promise.

"River, what in the gorram hell did you do?"

"Tried to cut the strings. Can't let them use me. You have to promise, Malcolm," it was the use of his name that made him look away from her hands and into her eyes, "if they get me. You'll kill me."

"Let's get the doc down here," he said. He was about to stand and reach for the comm in his bunk when River pushed him onto the bed, her bloodied palms marking themselves on his bare chest.

"No! He won't stop me if it happens. You have to. They'll make me hurt you, hurt all of you. I won't want to, but I'll do it. Can't cut the strings, tried," she cried, showing him the cuts he had already seen, "can't find them. Can't see the strings, but they're there. I know they are and so do they. You have to promise me. Promise, please."

Mal didn't know what to say, but one thought occupied his mind. This was not his field of expertise. Once he noticed her eyes swell up, he stood up, taking her in his arms and letting her tears greet his skin, "Just a nightmare, bao bei. All it is, a nightmare. Let me get Simon-"

She buried her face in his chest, giving Mal a feeling he didn't feel like welcoming at the moment, "I just want you to promise. Just promise. Is it so difficult?"

Mal sighed, "Don't see how promising to kill my own pilot could be easy, hon."

River sniffed, using her hand to keep her nose from doing a mess on his chest and that's when she noticed what she had done to her hands, her eyes reacting as if seeing them for the first time. She dismissed them with a sigh, "Won't be your pilot if they find me. I'll be their weapon... a toy soldier. They'll make me shoot you, all of you, that's why you have to promise you'll shoot me first. Kill me before I can kill you," she whispered, lifting her head to meet his eyes.

Mal knew he shouldn't have looked down at her because once he did, he felt too much, like he'd agree to anything and everything she wanted.

"I promise," he whispered, finally bringing a smile to her tear stained face, "now let's get those hands cleaned up."

Mal was stopped again before he could head to the comm, but this time it wasn't a push that stopped him, but her hand wrapped softly around his wrist. She looked at him with a sudden serenity in her eyes. "Thank you," she whispered softly before lying down on his bunk.

Mal watched her close her eyes as his fingers hovered over the comm. He sighed, allowing his mind to answer her again, 'You're welcome.'

Now that they were planetside Mal was looking forward to Kaylee's attempt at a picnic and making an actual meal out of the protein pi shi they had. Everyone watched closely over River now, especially after what she had done to her hands. Kaylee had taken the job of taking care of her, alongside Simon, who was very grateful for it.

River was wearing a spring dress Kaylee had given her and had fixed so it would fit her properly. The colors were bright and alive. It was light green, blue, yellow and orange. Mal swore it made her look like a garden his mom used to tell him about, something about an eden, but he wasn't quite sure.

They were all enjoying their fourth day of rest when it happened. Mal should have known better. Four days on a planet was too much, especially if you had done work there once upon a time and had the Alliance lingering behind you, but he hadn't thought of any of this. He had gotten careless and allowed himself a moment of weakness. River had gotten weak too because she didn't even feel them coming. They had found them.

River was the first to jump to defend them. They had no weapons, only a fallen tree trunk to hide behind and River took the risk of launching herself at them. She knocked down those she could. She didn't care about killing them. Her only interest was to give the crew much needed weapons. They would need it once the Others came, the Puppeteers.

With every lawman River knocked down, she threw whatever weapon they had owned towards the crew, granting them some sort of defense. River knew they had created the perfect weapon. She had barely used any of the guns that she had seized from them and could still defeat them, one by one. It didn't matter anymore, what she was or what she could do. They had arrived which meant she was merely a puppet now. She turned around, seeing Mal looking at her through a leaf covered branch, "You promised."

Mal didn't understand the words she mouthed until he saw men wearing blue gloves and the lawmen drawing back. It was then that everything started falling into place. He grabbed Simon, yelling at him to say the safeword. Simon thought Mal was psychotic, the way he was acting, but once his eyes found River he realized what was wrong. River was looking at them, but the eyes through which she saw them were not her own. Simon knew that wasn't River. He screamed the safeword, more than once, but it wouldn't work.

River picked a gun from the ground and began running towards them. Jayne was the first to try to shoot her, not really in the mind of letting her shoot him first, but he missed by an inch and all he did get was a curse from Simon. Kaylee was horrified, Zoë looked at Mal, waiting for his instructions and Mal had a firm grip around his gun. He needed to fulfill that promise, but something was making him stall. Simon was the first to run to her, trying to take the gun from her, but he only ended up meeting her elbow with his nose.

She pulled him from behind her, throwing him on his back, her foot pressing hard on his neck before she picked her gun from the floor and before she could pull the trigger she heard various bullets piercing the air. Only one hit her, the others were aimed to the Hands of Blue. Mal had been the one to shoot her, the one to rush to her side, accompanied by Simon, to make sure she was okay.

She didn't know what broke the spell. The fact that they had killed the puppeteers or the fact that he had fulfilled his promise. She just didn't know, but before she dozed of, she made sure to tell him again the words she had become accustomed to telling him, "Thank You."

River awoke in the infirmary, her back on the cold metal table and a horrible pain in her stomach. She turned her face to see Mal sitting on the counter with bandages over his chest. He was touching them, poking about and it made her smile how curious he could be sometimes, "Don't touch. Won't heal if you keep poking at it."

Her voice startled him at first, but he got off the counter soon after she spoke and walked towards her.

"How're you feeling," he asked, placing his hand on the top of her head.

River sighed, enjoying his touch and his caring gaze. She tried not to stare at his chest at this particular moment. For some reason it looked different to her now and it wasn't because of the bandages.

"Warm," she replied softly.

"Gave us quite a scare lil' one," he whispered.

River closed her eyes, trying to keep the tears inside as her lips began to quiver. He was right. She had almost become something very scary, even for her.

"Thank you. For doing what needed to be done," she whispered, looking at him now.

Mal cleaned away a falling tear with his thumb before speaking, "Not something I wanted done."

River smiled at his kindness, something she knew he didn't show easily. She moved her face so that his hand would cover her cheek. She sighed softly, "But you did it. Helped me save them. Kept me from hurting them. You cut the strings."

This caught Mal by surprise. He smiled lightly, "I did? Now how'd I do that?"

River smiled before closing her eyes, "Thought the strings were in my hands. The hands that kill, but I was wrong. The strings were here," she said placing her hand over her heart, "Didn't make sense at first. Still doesn't make sense, but there's truth to it... I feel it. You cut them. You stopped me from being their puppet... Thank you."

Mal looked at her lovingly. To him, everything she said made sense, which gave further proof that maybe he was losing his mind, but he didn't mind it at the moment. He cupped her cheek with his hand and even though he didn't say it out loud, River heard his answer, "You're welcome."

The End