Chapter 8

The relief at setting down safely in the belly of Serenity was intermingled with numbness, pain and an acute sense of desperation that it wasn’t quick enough for River. Jayne hated feeling helpless but all he could do was sit there, holding River tight still, waiting for someone to help her. Zoë and Kaylee untangled the hoist from them, as Simon came running into the hold. Jayne didn’t think he’d ever feel relieved at seeing the doc, before he remembered how he was holding River. Simon didn’t even blink though, probably wouldn’t even have been able to say how they had been sitting, his only thoughts on River. He pressed two fingers to her cold neck, finding a slow thready pulse. ‘I need the stretcher.’ He said quietly to Zoë.

Zoë nodded and ran off towards the infirmary.

‘Kaylee, are they on?’ Mal’s voice rang through the hold.

‘Yes, cap’t, they’re on.’

‘Shiny- get to the engine room, gonna go hard burn in three.’

Kaylee looked over at Simon, who was still assessing River and Jayne, and ran for the engine room. Wasn’t like any of them wanted to stay on this go se moon.

‘Jayne, can you keep holding River steady? I don’t want to move her around too much.’

Jayne nodded even as his arms shook and his head throbbed and he just wanted to fall back in a heap on the warmish cargo hold floor and sleep forever.

Zoë ran back, Inara at her heels, holding the metal stretcher. Gently the three of them transferred River onto it. Jayne could only watch, and wonder why he felt the loss of the weight on his chest. He was surprised when Simon looked back at him once River was safely on the stretcher. ‘I’ll-’

‘Go, Doc. I’ll be fine.’ Jayne interrupted him. Simon didn’t need more urging.

Mal found him, flat out on the cargo hold floor a few minutes after he’d got them out of atmo. He heaved the big merc to his feet, walking him through to the mess, worried at the lack of response from Jayne when he told him to get out of his wet clothes and into dry ones.

Once he was dry, Mal pushed him onto the sofa, bundling him under a heap of blankets, and filled a glass with something that had to be close to pure alcohol and ordered him to drink it. Jayne was glad that he wasn’t trying to push him to talk about anything, and obediently tipped the glass back, feeling a slow burn all the way to his empty gut. He didn’t remember much after that. Mal pushed another glass at him, this time filled to the brim with water which Jayne also downed. He vaguely remembered tearing into some corn bread as well, but mostly he didn’t remember falling asleep, right there on the sofa in the mess, helped by the alcohol, mostly just feeling too numb to do anything else.

Simon’s face was a mask of professionalism, as Inara and Zoë helped strip River of her wet clothes, and he set up an IV, filling her with warmed fluid, instructing the women to bundle River in some dry clothes then under a ton of warmed blankets. He would have liked to have given her warm humidified O2 but didn’t have the facilities on the ship, and had to make do with pushing the temperature in the infirmary up instead. And then, all he could do was wait.

‘What now, doc?’ Zoë asked.

‘Nothing.’ Simon answered.

Zoë looked at him, stunned. ‘Nothing?’

‘Raising the core body temperature takes time’ Simon told them, ‘and till then, it’s best to be hands off.’ He moved over to the counter, starting the limited number of blood test he could do without the benefit of a fully functional lab. Simon knew the science, knew that rubbing skin, or forcing movement pushed cold peripheral blood to the warming core, but he hadn’t anticipated how hard it was to be hands off. Inara briefly laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, seeing his struggle.

‘Is she gonna be alright?’ Kaylee asked as she joined them from the engine room.

Simon looked at her, accepting a hug from her, nodding. ‘Yeah, she’ll be fine. Jayne really did save her.’ He said, reminded of what Kaylee had told him the night before.

‘What happened?’

Jayne barely paused in his demolishing of the bowl of noodles in front of him. The simple meal tasted as good as anything he’d ever eaten. He’d slept, crashed out on the sofa in the mess for a few hours. Simon has woken him up to check him over, finding similar cuts and bruises from the crash that he’d found on his sister, but nothing that wouldn’t heal in time. Jayne had wanted to go back to sleep, but the smell of something Inara was cooking in the kitchen had kick started his hunger instead, so there he was, sitting at the table, wrapped in a heap of clothes and blankets still, devouring anything that was put in front of him, much to the amusement of Kaylee and Zoë.

Mal cleared his throat, trying to get the man’s attention, but soon gave up with a sigh when he saw he couldn’t complete with the food.

‘Where’re we going cap’t?’ Kaylee asked as she ate her own food.

‘Persephone.’ Mal answered. ‘Badger’s got a job.’

Zoë lifted one eyebrow in question of the safety of going to Badger for a job but declined from commenting.

Mal caught the look, ignored it. He didn’t like Badger but they needed the jobs he could provide. And Persephone was a good seven day trip away, hopefully enough time for their pilot to be up and about again.

When it finally looked like Jayne had had his fill of food, Mal tried again. ‘So, what happened?’

Jayne looked hesitant, almost; about what, Mal wasn’t sure.

‘Got the cash all right, lifted off, then there was some weird ass noise, and we were nose diving to the ground. Got out of the shuttle, got surrounded by men after money, got past them, got the cash out of the shuttle, then the shuttle exploded. Walked to town, some go se river bust its bank, and we ended up, up a tree. River made the radio. You know the rest.’

‘Whu de ma!’ Mal, Kaylee and Zoë were all staring at him, the words leaving Mal almost involuntarily. ‘Busy day.’ He added dryly.

Jayne looked down at the bowl in front of him, wondering if there was anymore food to be had. Zoë, as if reading his thoughts, got up and fetched the whole pot of noodles still on the counter and proceeded to fill his bowl up again. Jayne watched, one eyebrow lifted. So all he had to do to get waited on was crash, get shot at and then spend a long, freezing night up a tree. Showing wisdom he wasn’t known for, he didn’t comment out loud though.

Zoë settled on the hard stool, her back resting against the edge of the counter. The infirmary wasn’t her favourite place to spend any time, but it was somewhat soothing in the quiet. She’d insisted on Simon going to bed, knowing otherwise the doc would sit up all night with his sister. The rest of the crew, minus Jayne who had fallen asleep in the mess again, were going to take it in turns to sit with River.

Zoë didn’t think she’d seen anyone as pale as River, although she was grateful that the girl was no longer blue. She had been shivering, which had alarmed Zoë when she first arrived but Simon assured her it was actually a good sign- the body was made to shiver when it was cold, showing it was doing something right. The shivering had calmed down now, and the hand she held loosely in her own was not quite as cold as it had been. River brought out a protective feeling in her that she hadn’t felt for a long time. She knew the girl was tough, hell she’d beaten a load of Reavers, but something about how petite she was, how innocent she looked, and what she’d already had to live through in her short life made her want to bundle her away from all the dangers of the world.

‘Can’t do that.’ River’s voice was hoarse.

Zoë looked up to find brown eyes watching her. ‘Hey River, how are you feeling?’

‘Jayne?’ Was River’s only question back.

‘He’s fine, River, cold and wet but he’s good.’

‘He rescued me.’

‘I know.’ Zoë said with a nod.

‘I’m cold, Zoë.’ River told her, and Zoë noticed she’d started shivering again, even under the heap of blankets.

‘Ok hon, let me find some more blankets.’ Zoë walked over to a stack of them on the side, spreading two more over the small girl. ‘You want me to call Simon?’ She asked.

‘He in bed?’ River asked.

‘Yeah.’

River shook her head, eyes closed. ‘Leave him be. So tired.’

‘Then get some sleep.’ Zoë said, a hint of amusement in her tone.

River didn’t need to be told again.

Mal was thinking about Persephone, and what he wanted to say to Badger when his thoughts were interrupted.

‘That’s not very nice, captain.’

‘Hey li’ll witch. Stop reading my thoughts.’ Mal said, looking down at River from where he was leaning against the counter.

‘Can’t help it. They were strong, violent.’ River said with a small grin.

‘Well it was Badger. How you feeling? Still cold?’

River shook her head. ‘Not so much. Is Jayne ok?’

‘Yeah he’s good. Fell asleep in the mess.’

‘He kept me safe.’

‘Yeah, I know.’ Mal said, uncomfortable at the notion of his merc keeping anyone safe.

‘Captain?’

‘Umm?’

‘Are you mad about the shuttle?’

‘No, li’ll witch, not mad. There’s always spare shuttles to be had. Can’t replace crew. Don’t think this boat could cope.’

River seemed to accept this, shifting under the pile of blankets. ‘Is Simon mad?’

‘At you? No. Very worried is all.’

‘He doesn’t like it when a run goes wrong.’

‘Don’t I know it.’ Mal said with a grin. ‘But not even he can blame me for the weather.’

‘Did he try?’

‘Of course.’

Jayne filled the infirmary door, blocking the light from the hall beyond. Simon looked at him, then did a double take. Jayne looked smaller than he remembered, head bowed, slouching- Simon couldn’t remember ever seeing Jayne slouch. ‘Something I can help you with, Jayne?’ Simon eventually asked.

Jayne looked up at his voice, but his look went straight ahead, at the infirmary table. Simon watched curiously as Jayne shifted, an unreadable look on his face, clearing his throat before he talked. ‘How is she, doc?’

Jayne’s look stayed on River. Simon followed his gaze. River had lost the unnatural blue hue, even had a little colour back to her cheeks. She was sleeping now, peacefully under a stack of blankets. ‘She’s good, Jayne. She’s good.’

‘I…I tried to keep her talking. She wan’ed to sleep, but I kept her talking.’

‘You did good Jayne.’ For once there was no malice in Simon’s tone; it was gentle, almost. ‘You…you got her back here alive. You did good.’

Jayne just shook his head, muttering something under his breath as he turned and walked away. Simon watched him leave before walking back towards the bench where he had been sterilising equipment, missing River’s eyes opening, her look firmly where Jayne had stood, a slight blush visible to her cheeks. Had Jayne really just said that he wished he’d just let her kiss him?