Disclaimer: You know just as well as I do that I own nothing

Disclaimer: You know just as well as I do that I own nothing. Do I wish I owned it…hell yeah! But as it doesn’t appear that I will obtain ownership rights of anything anytime soon, I’ll just have to stick to fanfic. (Dies a little on the inside).

AN: Thanks again to those who read and review…I appreciate it all very much. And it makes me feel good about my writing. So thanks again. Sorry this has been so long in coming…you see, I got a bit of writer’s block with one of my Moonlight fics, so it’s taken me a while to be able to get back to this one. Thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Three Months and One Week Earlier

When Dannie awoke she was vaguely aware of the absence of the warm body that had accompanied her every night for the last few weeks. Opening her eyes, she sat up and stretched before surveying the room around her. As she had suspected, Dom was no longer in her bunk with her.

With a huge yawn, Dannie got up out of her bed, crossed to the dresser, and began rummaging around in it for clothes.

FFFFFFFF

Dannie arrived at the table to find Zoe, Mal, and Inara sitting there, chatting animatedly amongst themselves. As Dannie entered the room, they all stopped talking to look at her.

“Mornin’ Dannie.” Mal greeted with a smile.

“Nice to see you finally decided to join the living.” Inara added. A chuckle broke out amongst those at the table.

“I see you even decided to wear your own clothes this morning.” Zoe added with a laugh. Inara went from chuckling to full-out laughing at this, while Mal’s expression went suddenly sour, soliciting even more laughter from Zoe and Inara.

Dannie just rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she turned to a cupboard and began pulling out dishes and food for her breakfast. It had been two weeks since Mal had caught her with Dom, two weeks since she’d come running into the room dressed in nothing but underwear and Dom’s t-shirt, but everyone, Zoe in particular, seemed to be determined in the belief that they should never let her live it down. The sole exception to this was, of course, Mal, who was still in denial over the whole situation.

As Dannie stood with her back to Mal, Zoe, and Inara, she felt a pair of strong, familiar arms lace themselves around her waist. A body pressed itself against her, and she leaned happily into the embrace.

“Morning, bao bei.” Dom whispered in her ear, gently rocking her from side to side.

“Morning, Dom.” Dannie replied, turning around in her boyfriend’s embrace and capturing his lips in a soft, sensual kiss.

“HEY!” Dom and Dannie broke apart, startled, and turned around to face the source of the outburst: Mal. “What in the good gorram do you think you’re doing? What have I told you about public displays of affection on my boat?”

Dom looked at Mal, a slightly fearful look on his face. Apparently, he hadn’t quite forgotten what the barrel of Mal’s gun looked like close-up. Dannie, however, smirked at Mal.

“Since when does anyone on this ship actually listen to you anyway?” She shrugged, before resuming her passionate and very public kissing of Dom.

Simon and Kaylee walked into the room just as Mal let out an infuriated groan. A glance in the direction of Dom and Dannie immediately told them why, and Kaylee burst out into a fit of giggles while Simon just smirked, revelling in the knowledge that at that moment, Dannie and Dom were making Mal positively furious. Simon liked Mal well enough, and they had definitely been friendlier to each other since Miranda, but Simon still believed that Mal could stand to be put in his place once in a while, and Dannie knew just how to do that. And, it was more than mildly entertaining to see Mal frustrated.

At the table, Inara was also trying very hard not to giggle, while Zoe was laughing openly. She definitely respected Dannie, even if the little spitfire was rather blatantly insubordinate from time to time. In fact, if she was honest with herself, Zoe saw a lot of herself in Dannie. Before the war, that is.

Mal was the only person in the room not even remotely amused by the whole situation. What he didn’t know, however, was that the situation was so funny because he wasn’t amused. He sat at the table glaring at Dom and Dannie for a moment before finally sighing and turning miserably back to Zoe and Inara.

“You know, I do believe that girl is gonna be the death of me.”

Zoe smiled and nodded. “You know, Sir, I do believe you’re right about that.”

He turned to Inara, a grimace on his face. “If this is what bein’ a father’s like, remind me never to have kids.”

Inara’s demeanour changed immediately. For a split-second she went completely still, her face taking on a blank yet serious expression. Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the look was gone. She plastered a smile to her face and excused herself quickly from the table.

As Inara left the room, Zoe, Dannie, and Kaylee shot Mal dirty looks and followed her out, leaving Mal, Dom and Simon completely alone. As Simon took a seat at the now nearly deserted table, Mal gave him a confused look.

“What, did I say something wrong?”

FFFFFFFF

As Inara reached her shuttle, she was almost in tears. She had been fighting them back up until this point, but she was reaching a point where she couldn’t contain them any longer.

She threw open the door and, not even bothering to shut it behind her, hurled herself onto the bed and began to sob.

Gently knocking on the doorframe before entering, Zoe, Kaylee, and Dannie all entered the shuttle.

“Please go away.” Inara sobbed.

“We can’t just leave you here like this, ‘Nara.” Kaylee said. She approached the bed and sat down gingerly on it, gently stroking Inara’s hair. After a moment, Kaylee gently pulled Inara up into a sitting position and hugged her while she continued to sob. Zoe and Dannie made themselves comfortable on the couch while Inara continued to sob into Kaylee’s shoulder.

After about ten minutes, Inara finally calmed down and stopped crying. There was silence in the shuttle as Inara took the tissue Kaylee offered her and gently wiped away the last of her tears. The silence dragged on for a few moments before Dannie finally spoke.

“So…how far along are you?”

Inara looked at her, a shocked, somewhat fearful expression in her eyes.

“What are you talking about? What makes you think-“

Zoe put up a hand to silence her.

“Look,” She began, looking pointedly at Inara, “The Captain may be oblivious and a complete moron-“ The room was suddenly full of chuckles, “-but we sure as hell aren’t. Did you honestly think we wouldn’t make the connection? ‘Specially after such an obvious reaction.”

Inara just looked sullenly at her feet for a moment. Kaylee gave her a smile and a reassuring squeeze.

“About two months.”

Excited chatter filled the enclosed space for a moment as congratulations and the odd squeal from Kaylee filled the shuttle. After the chaotic din of voices had finally quieted, Kaylee spoke.

“Aw, ‘Nara, this is such amazin’ news! You’re gonna be a mommy! You should be ecstatic about this.”

“I was, until…” Inara broke off, “Well you heard Mal. He doesn’t want any children. I was going to tell him today, but now…now I just can’t.”

“Aw, ‘Nara, I’m sure the Cap’n didn’t mean it that way. You know Mal…he’s a moron. He never thinks before he says things.”

There was laughter once more in the shuttle. Even Inara managed to chuckle weakly.

“I just…” Inara began, “I just don’t know how to tell him. What if he reacts badly? What if he’s angry? What if he really doesn’t want this baby and resents me for it?”

“Shh…” Kaylee soothed, sensing that Inara was becoming upset again.

“He won’t.” Dannie said reassuringly. “He might be a little shocked at first, but it’ll be fine. You’ll see.”

“I suppose.” Inara said, not sounding at all sure.

FFFFFFFF

It had been several days since Inara had confessed to Zoe, Dannie, and Kaylee about the baby. Inara hadn’t told Mal yet, as she was still unsure of what his reaction would be to the news. The other women on the ship had a pretty good idea that River also knew, having picked up on it with her psychic abilities. To Inara’s immense relief, however, River had decided not to say anything to the Captain.

“Well,” Mal said, standing up at the head of the table, presumably to make an announcement. “I got good news for all of you. Got word just this mornin’ from Fanty and Mingo, and seems we got ourselves a job lined up. We’re pullin’ a heist on an armoured transport ship gonna be stoppin’ over on a moon called Midas.”

“Golden touch.” River said with a small smile.

“Come again?” Mal asked, a confused expression on his face.

“The story of King Midas was an old Earth-That-Was fairytale.” Dannie explained.

“King Midas was greedy. Wished for whatever he touched to turn to gold.” River said, “When his wish was granted, everything he touched became gold. Even people. He finally starved to death, alone and surrounded by his gold, unable to eat because his food became gold when it reached his mouth.”

There was silence for a moment.

“Well,” Mal said with a half-grin. “If the name ‘Midas’ is any indication of how this heist is gonna turn out, then I conjure it’s a mighty appropriate name. The ‘gold’ part sounds nice. The whole creepifyin’ ‘guy-starvin’-to-death’ part is slightly less encouraging, however.”

The table burst into laughter. Even River was giggling. Mal looked over at Inara and grinned even wider at her hearty laughter. She’d been…different the last few days. Not nearly as happy as she usually was, and definitely very withdrawn. Mal couldn’t for the life of him figure out what was wrong with her. He’d tried everything he could think of to snap her out of it, but nothing seemed to work. She was unbearably distant, and he could tell that something was really bothering her. He hated seeing her like that, wanting nothing more than to shoot whatever was bothering her right between the eyes. So seeing her laugh, really laugh, for the first time in days warmed him to the core and made his world suddenly seem right.

“So here’s what’s gonna happen…” Mal continued. He spent the rest of the morning going over the plan with Serenity’s crew. He had a gut feeling that, for once, things might just go his way.

FFFFFFFF

After several days of meticulous planning and preparations for the heist, Mal and his team finally left for the heist on the moon known as Midas. Kaylee, Simon, Inara, and Dom stayed behind on the ship, while Mal, Zoe, River, and Jayne took the mule, followed by Dannie on a considerably smaller craft they’d managed to procure a few months back.

Dom wasn’t particularly thrilled about this situation for several reasons. Firstly, he wouldn’t be there to ensure Dannie’s safety amidst the utter chaos that was sure to ensue. Secondly, he was missing out on all of the action. Unfortunately, though, he had to admit to himself that there was a definite method behind Mal’s madness. Although Dom was a fair fighter and some much-needed muscle, he was also a very talented pilot. Nearly as good as River, in point of fact. And seeing as Mal had more use for a reader on this particular job than he did for Dom, it was only logical that Dom stayed behind on the ship in case they needed to make a quick getaway.

Dannie had been chosen to go on the heist for several reasons. Firstly, she was a genius when it came to anything computerized, which would come in handy on this particular heist because she would need to help them override the power-locks on the armoured shuttle. Secondly, she was a master of combat, both armed and unarmed, being the daughter of a former soldier, so she would definitely come in handy if any type of fighting were to break out. Which was extremely likely, given the fact that Mal’s plans had a pretty extensive history of horribly backfiring. Although, when Dannie and Dom went with him on jobs, Mal’s Karmically bad luck seemed to improve greatly.

It was, however, the first time Mal had gone on a job without having both Dannie and Dom with him. So he had no way of knowing that the secret to his thus-far successful jobs had been the combination of Dannie and Dom, even if there had been tension between the two of them on those previous jobs. And Mal also had no way of knowing that this little slip-up would ultimately lead to catastrophe…

FFFFFFFF

Mal and the others were preparing to leave. They had everything they needed, guns, ammunition, tools, etc., and were all getting settled into the mule. Mal stood beside the mule, Zoe and Jayne already sitting in it. Mal reached over and had just grabbed River around the waist to lift her into the mule when she grabbed his arms frantically, demanding his attention.

Mal was startled for a moment. Just a moment age she’d been the cute, happy, if somewhat slightly off River. Now she looked like she was terrified. Mal was more that a little disturbed by her sudden change in attitude, and froze, searching her face.

“River? Lil’ one, what’s wrong?” He asked, concerned. He didn’t like where this was headed.

“We shouldn’t do the job.” River answered, a somewhat distant look in her eyes, almost as though she were looking right through him. Mal began to panic.

“Why, River? What’s gonna happen?” Mal pressed, grabbing her arms in an attempt to make her focus on him. It seemed to work. He watched as River’s eyes focused on his own and a frown crossed her face.

“I don’t know.” She answered finally. “But there’s metal in the air. The copper makes it hard to breathe.”

“Oh…” Mal said, a silent sigh of relief escaping his body. “Is that all?”

Mal knew for a fact that Midas was a mining planet, specializing in precious metals. There would no doubt be metallic residue in the air and it could have an affect on them.

“Thanks for the heads-up River, but I already knew about the metal. Don’t worry, everything’s gonna be fine. The Doc’ll take care of us, anyone gets sick.”

River nodded, but still looked wary. She was almost sure that that wasn’t what she’d meant, but it did sort of make sense. She released her grip on Mal’s arms and allowed him to lift her up onto the mule. Looking around him, he found Zoe, Jayne, Kaylee (who was currently in the cargo bay with them) and Dannie all staring at him.

“Well, come on people, let’s get a move on! We’ve got an armoured shuttle to rob, and we ain’t got all day to do it.”

Everyone looked away and continued with their preparations. Fifteen minutes later, Zoe, Mal, Jayne, and River set off in the mule, followed closely by Dannie in the other craft.

FFFFFFFF

“Well, ain’t this a rather interestin’ turn of events.” Mal commented with a smirk.

“That it is, sir.” Zoe replied, casting him a sidelong glance.

They both stood with their guns pointed at the pilots of the shuttle, who had their guns pointed at Mal, Zoe, and the rest of the Serenity crew that had come along on the heist. They had just completed the robbery and had loaded the payload onto the Mule when the reinforcements showed up. Nine feds had shown up unexpectedly, answering a silent alarm signal emitted by the Pilots of the armoured shuttle just before they’d been bound and knocked unconscious. The two shuttle pilots were now standing amid the feds, looking slightly bruised and dazed, but otherwise unconscious. Each of the nine feds had a gun in each hand. Six guns were currently trained on Mal, five on Zoe, three on Jayne, and two each on River and Dannie.

In turn, Mal, Zoe, Jayne, River, and Dannie all had their guns pointed at the feds. It was obvious, however, that there was no way they could win in a fight against so many armed feds, being outnumbered in both guns and men, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t try.

While Mal, Zoe, and Jayne all had their attention fixed on the feds standing before them, Dannie shot River a sidelong glance. She went over a plan of attack in her mind, knowing that River would no doubt pick up on her thoughts. She was planning on an ambush attack, opening fire on the feds suddenly and without warning. River turned and caught her gaze, shaking her head almost indiscernibly. River was calm on the exterior, but there were untold amounts of fear in her eyes. Seeing that look, Dannie felt an involuntary shiver run down her spine. She knew that, for River to be so obviously shaken, something bad was about to happen.

Then it did.

It happened so fast that Dannie wasn’t entirely sure which side started it. All she knew was that one moment she, Mal, Zoe, Jayne, and River were all being ordered by the feds to stand down, and the next minute all hell had broken loose, and she was in the middle of a raging gunfight.

Jayne immediately sprang into action, barrelling toward one of the feds. As he took out the one he’d targeted, another attacked him from behind. The fed knocked him to the ground, knocking his gun several feet away from him. And suddenly, Jayne Cobb found himself face-to-face with the barrel of the Fed’s gun, unarmed and unable to defend himself. He swallowed hard. This was the end. He just knew it.

But suddenly, out of nowhere, River appeared behind the Fed and made short work of him. Kicking him in the middle of his back, she stepped back as the Fed fell to the ground, dropping his gun. She wasted no time in killing him, quickly reaching down and snapping his neck.

Time seemed to stop for a moment. River looked Jayne in the eye, and Jayne found himself staring back into hers. Little Crazy had just saved him. After all he’d done to her, after all the grief he’d caused her…she’d just saved his life. His. Jayne Cobb’s. Knowingly and with intent.

The moment of silent respect and mutual understanding was ended abruptly as another Fed came charging at River out of nowhere, and River turned away to fight back. Coming to his senses, Jayne quickly grabbed his gun, jumped to his feet, and charged back into the fight.

Dannie was looking at the scene of chaos around her and nearly jumped out of her skin as she heard a shot fly right past her ear, lodging itself into the neck of one of the feds preparing to fire at her. As the fed fell bleeding and flailing violently to the ground, she turned to see Zoe standing behind her, favourite gun still raised and smoking. Dannie gave her a nod of thanks before turning back to the fed approaching her. This fed had apparently lost his guns and, unarmed, charged at Dannie. Dannie whirled around quickly just as the fed was about to attack her from behind. As he threw a punch, Dannie grabbed his fist mid-swing, twisting his arm painfully behind his back and tossing him to the side. She glanced sideways over at River, who was fighting off two at once and was very easily holding her own. Dannie watched her for a moment in awe. Though Dannie was gifted when it came to combat skills, and indeed a master of combat in all forms, River was definitely better. And Dannie knew it. She secretly wished she possessed such prowess when it came to fighting…although she knew better than to be completely envious. River’s talents in combat had come at an extremely high price.

The fight lasted only a few moments. Dannie took out three of the feds in total, firing a shot here and delivering a roundhouse kick to the face there. As Dannie tossed a fourth fed to the ground, she paused to look around her at how the others were doing. In doing so, she had forgotten the most important rule of fighting: never turn you back on your opponent.

Mal saw it before Dannie had time to even turn around. He was fighting another fed a few feet away from her, and she was so engrossed in what was happening with him that she didn’t see the fed she’d tossed to the ground moments before reach for a pistol he found discarded beside him. But Mal did.

Giving the fed he was currently fighting a final punch, Mal launched himself toward Dannie.

“DANNIE! NO! WATCH OUT!” he shouted, causing her to turn around. A look of horror crossed her face as she turned around, finding herself looking down at the barrel of a gun. She knew it was too late. She didn’t have time to do anything. She didn’t even have time to get out of the way.

Shots rang out. A shocked, horrified expression crossed her face as she fell to her knees…

…In front of Mal. Who had jumped in front of her and intercepted the bullets just as they had been fired.

The fed cocked the pistol and aimed at Dannie again, pulling the trigger. Only to realize that the gun was out of ammunition.

Dannie kneeled in front of Mal for only a split second, shocked and horrified, before the anger struck her. She heard the click of the pistol as the fed tried to fire the empty gun at her. He looked up at her, horrified, as she picked up her own pistol from off the ground and aimed it at the forehead of the fed. She stare was full of cold fury, her eyes hollow, as she pulled the trigger and exacted her revenge. She pumped bullets into the corpse long after the fed was dead.

Once she was sure the fed was dead, she turned back to look down at Mal. Shock and terror once again coursed through her as she stared down at his thrashing body. Each breath he took made a nauseating shallow rasping noise. Time seemed to slow down as she stood there. Suddenly, she realized that this was what River had warned them about. It all made sense now. Metal in the air… That was the bullets. And the copper…she realized with a jolt that the copper had been blood. Blood was now seeping into Mal’s chest cavity. Making it hard for him to breathe. With blood quickly filling his chest, there was no room for his lungs to expand.

As soon as that realization hit her, Aydan was hit by something else entirely. Something that lodged itself in her shoulder painfully. Something that made a sickening crack as it hit bone and sent another spasm of pain through her arm.

Fuck.

Standing there, lost in her own thoughts, she had forgotten that, all around her, a battle was raging.

Clutching at her shoulder, Aydan watched as Jayne shot and killed the fed that had shot her. The last fed standing, as a matter of fact.

After everything went quiet, Dannie suddenly realized what it was she had to do. The skills her father had taught her, having been a field medic as well as a soldier in the war, kicked into gear. She bent down over Mal as the others rushed forward. It had only been a few seconds since he’d been shot. He was still alive, although for how long was anybody’s guess.

Zoe looked down helplessly at her Captain, concern seeping into her stoic features. She wasn’t prepared for this. Injuries weren’t normally this serious. This never happened, not even to Mal. She didn’t know what to do. They needed a doctor.

“Jayne, I need the emergency kit from the mule.” Dannie said quickly, silently thanking God that Simon had insisted on equipping the vehicles with First Aid kits. Jayne nodded and ran over to the mule, returning a moment later with a huge metal box. As he set it down in front of her, she motioned with her left hand (the one that she could still move, as it was attached to her uninjured arm) for Zoe to open it. Zoe followed her lead, and as Dannie gave her instructions, she followed them quickly and carefully.

“Okay, so here’s what I need you to do.” Dannie began, after Zoe had removed all of the necessary items. She’d been keeping a close eye on Mal, and had realized that they needed to act fast if they were going to have any chance of saving him. Suddenly, his breathing stopped. “First of all, I need you to take that scalpel,” she said, motioning to a sterile cutting instrument in the box, “and make an incision there. Between the fourth and fifth ribs.”

Zoe gave her an unsure look, panic only evident in her eyes, but did as she said nonetheless. Blood immediately began to pour out, and Zoe quickly wiped it away with some gauze.

“Good.” Dannie commented, “Now take that surgical tubing and insert it into the incision. We need to drain out that chest cavity.”

Zoe did as she was told, and within moments the ground before her was covered in blood. She secured the tubing with some medical tape, and as she removed the bullets in his chest, the group waited in silence with bated breath. There was a sudden sharp intake of breath from Mal as he began breathing again, and the group let out a collective breath they hadn’t even realized they’d been holding.

A relieved look crossed Zoe’s face in particular. Mal was her closest friend and had become like family since the war. Not to mention the fact that he was her fearless, though sometimes moronic, leader. He’d carried her not only through the war, but ever since, and especially through Wash’s death. She wasn’t sure she could stand to lose another person so important in her life. She knew he wasn’t out of the woods yet, not nearly, but thanks to Dannie’s quick thinking, Mal still had a fighting chance.

“Just like your dad.” Zoe whispered, giving Dannie a sidelong glance. Dannie didn’t reply. Her parents were still a sore spot for her…not that Zoe or any of the others would know. Save for Dom and River, that is.

It was then that Zoe was able to turn her attention to Dannie’s injuries. It was obvious that the bullet had been stopped by the bone, shattering her arm. At least Zoe knew she could effectively treat this wound.

Taking out a sterile set of instruments, Zoe turned to Dannie while Jayne went to the mule and called for Serenity to come quickly.

“This is gonna hurt more’n a little bit, but it’s gotta be done. We need to get that bullet out of your arm and stop the bleedin’ ‘fore you bleed to death.”

Aydan knew Zoe was right. She’d lost quite a bit of blood already; any more and she ran the risk of passing out and eventually death by blood loss. Dannie took a deep breath and closed her eyes tightly.

“Alright.” She said, “Do it.”

Zoe dug into the wound with the forceps in her hand. Dannie cried out in pain. It was possibly the worst pain she’d ever felt. Nonetheless, she tried her best not to move. It needed to be done, and movement would not only make the task even more difficult than it already was, but it could also cause more damage. Zoe was finally able to locate the bullet, and with a quick tug and a sharp shooting agony through Dannie’s arm, it was out. The wound began bleeding even more profusely than it had been a moment ago, and Dannie was gritting her teeth to keep from crying out. Without skipping a beat, Zoe grabbed the small blowtorch used for cauterizing wounds.

Dannie protested. “No way! There’s no way in the good gorram hell that you’re going to use that on me!”

Zoe gave her a look that clearly said there was no room for argument.

“Look, I need to stop this bleeding. The quickest and easiest way for me to do so is to burn the wound shut. You count to three, and I’ll do it on the count of three, okay?”

Aydan looked terrified, but nodded.

“Okay.” She took a deep, deliberate breath and began to count. “One…” She took a long pause. “Two…”

Zoe caught her off guard as she quickly and without warning turned the torch on Dannie’s wound. Dannie cried out, more in shock than in pain, and within seconds the wound was closed and the bleeding had stopped.

Aydan glared at Zoe, her eyes filled with unshed tears, no doubt due to the pain.

“I hadn’t gotten to three yet.” She whimpered.

“You were taking too long. You would have bled out by the time you got to three.” Zoe responded in her usual cool, stoic manner. “Besides, it was a lot less painful when you weren’t expectin’ it. Trust me.”

Just then, Serenity arrived.

The airlock opened to reveal Dom, Dannie, Simon, and Inara, all of whom rushed out immediately as soon as the door was opened. While Kaylee, Simon, and Inara rushed over to where Mal lay unconscious, Dom instead rushed over to Dannie’s side.

“Dannie! Oh, God, Dannie! Are you okay?” He asked frantically, taking her face in his hands and searching it. He was horrified by the fact that she was covered in blood, and he grimaced as he found the newly cauterized wound on her shoulder. “Oh, God, bao bei.” He whispered.

“Dom, look, it’s okay, I’m fine, see? Zoe took good care of me.” Dannie tried to reassure him. Her arguments were made null and void, however, when Dom helped her to her feet and she yelped in pain. Meanwhile, Inara’s frantic voice could be heard in the background.

“MAL! MAL! OH, MAL!” She cried, tears flowing freely down her face as she stared down at the unmoving form of their Captain.

“He’s still alive, but only just.” Simon revealed as Zoe, Dom, and Dannie made their way over to the group surrounding Mal. “He’s lost a lot of blood, that’s for sure, and this chest tube is the only thing that’s kept the blood from collecting in his chest cavity.”

“That was Dannie’s quick thinking.” Zoe revealed as Simon and Jayne carefully loaded Mal onto the stretcher Simon had brought out with him and wheeled it quickly into Serenity and to the infirmary. Meanwhile, Dom had left Dannie’s side to hold a hysteric Inara back while the others worked to save Mal. Despite the fact that Dom was considerably larger than Inara, he was having an extremely difficult time holding onto her. She finally managed to break free of his grip and went tearing after the stretcher.

FFFFFFFF

When Simon had gotten Mal onto the infirmary bed, he wasted no time in getting to work. Reaching into a drawer, he pulled out a syringe full of adrenaline and injected it into Mal’s heart.

Mal was just beginning to stir as the rest of the crew gathered in the door of the infirmary and around the infirmary windows. Everyone was silent, except for Inara, who was crying hysterically and trying to push her way through the door. This time Jayne had been the one to take hold of her, being even larger and stronger than Dom was.

Mal began to stir as the adrenaline began pumping through his system. Simon knew this consciousness was only temporary, but it was a good sign.

“Doc?” Mal asked uncertainly, looking up at Simon. Mal’s voice was hoarse and breathy. Hearing Mal’s voice, Inara once again fought viciously against the person holding her, finally managing to break free of Jayne’s grasp.

“Mal! Oh, Mal!” Inara sobbed, rushing to his side and taking his hand. Simon had begun making preparations for the surgery he would need to perform on Mal.

“’Nara?” Mal asked weakly. She smiled and nodded, tears slipping down her face. He gave a half-hearted smile and tried to weakly raise a hand to her face. She took his hand and pressed it to her face, closing her eyes and leaning into it. “’Nara…I’m so sorry ‘Nara. I never planned on this happenin’. I…” He took a deep breath and grimaced, a sharp pain shooting through his chest. “I never planned on leavin’ you like this.”

“No, Mal, don’t say that! You can’t say that! You will not die on me! Not now.” She said forcefully. Then, after a moment’s pause. “You can’t leave your first child without a father.”

Mal’s eyes suddenly widened. “You mean…” He whispered hoarsely. Inara nodded, a tear slipping down her face. Mal just looked shocked. Then his expression began to slip as he began losing consciousness once again.

“Mal? MAL!” Inara cried, once again becoming hysterical. “Mal, no! Mal, you have to wake up! You can’t leave me, Mal!”

“You need to get her out of here so I can operate.” Simon said quickly, to nobody in particular. Jayne and Dom both nodded, then each gently but firmly took one of her arms and escorted her out, screaming and thrashing the whole way. Simon doped Mal and began working. He called out quickly as the others turned to leave, telling Zoe that he needed her help. She nodded and suited up.

They quickly found the source of Mal’s extensive bleeding, a damaged artery, and quickly repaired it. Then they patched up the other wounds, which were considerably less severe.

Then, without warning, the machine Mal was hooked up to began to make a loud, continuous noise, indicating that his heart had stopped.

“Fuck, he’s flat lining!” Simon exclaimed, finding his emergency defibrillator and applying it to Mal’s chest. “Clear!”

He sent a jolt of electricity through Mal’s body. There was no response. He repeated the process. Still nothing. A look of terror filled Zoe’s eyes. Simon tried once more. This time, Mal’s heart started beating again. He immediately injected Mal with a shot of adrenaline, and after a tense moment of erratic beating, Mal’s heart finally established a rhythm and slowed down. Simon and Zoe both gave a sigh of relief.

After removing the emergency chest tube from Mal and closing the hole in his chest, Simon wearily removed his surgical gear and sent Zoe to find Dominick. It had been an intense two hours, and Simon was exhausted. Mal was finally in stable condition, and there really wasn’t anymore Simon could do for him at this point. All anyone could really do was wait and hope for the best.

After a moment, Zoe returned with Dom. Simon motioned for him to take a seat.

“So, Dom…I know that you have O positive type blood. You’re what’s known as the Universal Donor.” He paused, glancing over to where Mal lay, unconscious but stable. “The Captain is badly in need of a transfusion, and I was wondering if you’d be willing-“

“Of course. Anything I can do to help.” Dom said with a curt nod. He rolled up his sleeve and allowed Simon to hook him up to an IV that would collect his blood into a bag and drip it into an IV hooked up to Mal. Zoe watched the procedure, reminded of a time once before when Mal had been seriously injured and in need of blood. She could almost see Wash sitting in front of her, his gorgeous smile plastered to his face as he sat hooked up to the same type of apparatus. As she smiled fondly at the memory, she fought back a wave of tears.

“So how is he?” Dom asked, bringing Zoe out of her reverie. “Is he going to be okay?”

“We aren’t sure yet.” Simon replied grimly. “He’s stable, at least. The surgery was difficult, though, and he died once on the operating table. All we can do now is wait and see if he pulls through.”

Dom nodded silently, the seriousness of the situation not lost on him.

FFFFFFFF

Mal was groggy. There was a bright light on his eyes even through his eyelids. He vaguely wondered if he was dead. At least, he did until the pain struck. Then he knew he wasn’t dead. After all, you didn’t feel pain if you were dead, right? Unless…he was in the Special Hell Book had warned him about. Silently hoping that wasn’t the case, he gingerly opened his eyes. It took a surprising amount of strength to pry open his eyes, and he regretted it almost instantly when he did. The bright light burned into his sensitive retinas and made his head throb painfully.

Hearing a loud groan coming from Mal, Simon hurried over to check on him. The others, who had been waiting outside for the last several hours, looked up at Simon’s movement.

“Mal…Can you hear me, Mal?” Simon asked, shining a painfully bright penlight into Mal’s eyes.

Mal groaned in response.

“Welcome back to the world of the living.” Simon said. Despite the ease in his tone, it was easy to see that Simon was suddenly very relieved after having spent the last however long Mal had been out worrying.

“Is living s’posed to be this painful?” Mal asked. Simon chuckled and walked away, returning a moment later with a painkiller, which he promptly injected into Mal’s arm.

“Welcome back, sir.” Came a voice from the doorway. Mal somehow found the energy to lift his head and found the entire crew standing in the doorway. Zoe smiled and continued, “That was a pretty close call, there. For a while, we weren’t sure you were gonna pull through.”

“Simon brought you back from the dead.” Dom commented.

“You died on the table.” Kaylee commented. She looked as though she’d recently been crying, although her usual perpetual cheeriness was beginning to shine through now that she was sure Mal was going to be okay.

Mal’s eyes drifted over to Dannie, whose arm bore a cast and propped up in a sling. It was obvious from her red, puffy eyes that she’d also been crying. Though the look she fixed Mal with right now wasn’t one of relief or happiness. She was pissed. And it was downright scary.

“If you ever,” Dannie began, her every syllable infused with a tone meant to express to Mal just how much of a moron he really was, “say that I’m going to be the death of you before you go out on a job again, so help me God I will murder you myself! And this time, we won’t bring you back!”

Mal let out a laugh, realizing just how ironic it was that Dannie had, quite literally, been the death of him; or so he’d gathered from the various comments that had been made. He immediately regretted it as his chest once again felt like it had split open at the seams.

Once Mal found himself able to breathe again, his eyes began to search for the one person he most wanted to see at the moment. His eyes met Inara’s, and suddenly it seemed as though everyone else had melted away.

Fresh tears made their way down Inara’s face as she witnessed the miracle before her. She’d had her doubts that Mal would pull through, considering the extent of his injuries, and she’d been terrified and devastated.

As Inara stood staring at Mal, she suddenly found herself frozen, unsure of what she should do. Did Mal remember what she’d told him before he’d slipped into unconsciousness? If he did, what would he say? She was suddenly very glad for the fact that there were other people in the room. She didn’t want to have to face Mal right now.

Mal could see that Inara was troubled about something. And he was sure he had a fairly good idea what it was. He couldn’t wait for the others to leave. He was glad they were there now that he was awake, but he needed to talk to Inara. Alone.

Simon caught the way Mal and Inara were staring at each other and cleared his throat.

“Ahem…uh…Well, everyone, now that we’ve all welcomed Mal back to the Land of the Living, I think it’s time we let our Captain get some rest.”

There was some protest for the most part, but everyone left the room. For her part, Inara was surprisingly compliant.

“Uh, Inara…could you come back here a second?” Simon called out before she could make a clean getaway. She considered just walking on, but she knew somewhere in the pit of her stomach that she just couldn’t. Heaving a sigh, she turned back and re-entered the infirmary.

“Yes, Simon?” She asked.

“I was wondering if…perhaps…you might stay with Mal…you know, keep an eye on him, while I go lay down for a bit.”

Inara’s heart sank. She knew that Simon had the best of intentions, clearly under the impression that she would want some alone time with Mal at the moment, but right now nothing was further from the truth.

“Of course.” Inara answered, flashing her well-practised former-Companion fake grin.

Simon gave her a smile and gave Mal a nod before exiting the infirmary.

Mal found himself completely alone with Inara now. He made a mental note to himself that he would have to give the good Doctor a raise and a thank-you later on. But right now, he had things to discuss with his fiancée.

Inara was awfully quiet as she drew a seat up beside Mal’s bed and sat.

“Inara?” Mal asked gently, “Are you okay?”

Inara looked up at him and plastered on her fake smile. “Of course I am…why wouldn’t I be? You’re alive, aren’t you?”

Mal nodded. “I kinda suspect it has somethin’ to do with what you told me earlier.”

Inara felt a sinking feeling, followed promptly by her insides tying themselves in knots. She looked down at her hands, which had suddenly become very interesting.

“Oh…you remember that, do you?”

“How long?” Mal asked in response. Inara was silent. “How long, Inara?”

Inara sighed. “About two months.”

“And you couldn’t find a spare moment to maybe tell me?” Mal asked, feeling indignant.

“Mal, you made very it clear to me that you didn’t want children!” Inara protested, her blood beginning to boil as she fought back fresh tears.

The question was on the tip of Mal’s tongue. He couldn’t ever remember saying anything about not wanting children. And then it hit him like a ton of bricks. The comment he’d made a few mornings earlier…the comment he’d meant to be offhanded. He wanted to smack himself. He probably would have, if he wasn’t sure it would cause him excruciating agony.

A look of disgust crossed Mal’s face, and for a moment Inara was afraid he was angry with her. She looked down once again at her hands.

“Look, Mal, if you don’t want the baby we can always-“

She was stopped mid-sentence by Mal’s hand on her stomach. Inara looked up into his face and saw that his disgusted look was replaced with a loving one.

“What do you think of Malcolm for a boy?” He asked, a small smile on his lips. Inara stared at him, surprised, a question in her eyes.

“I never meant it like that.” He said softly. “I’m so sorry if I ever gave you the impression that I didn’t want to have a family with you.”

Inara found that she was crying again, only this time she was crying tears of joy and relief.

“I love you Inara.” Mal murmured quietly.

“I love you too, Mal.” Inara replied, tenderly kissing him.

FFFFFFFF

Jayne Cobb had never been one to say thank you. In point of fact, he couldn’t even remember exactly the last time he’d said it. If ever.

So why he suddenly felt compelled to do just that was beyond his comprehension. It just wasn’t his way. He’d never in his life had any manners whatsoever, so why on earth would he now?

He’d been pacing his bunk for the last half-hour going over in his head what exactly it was he was going to say. He’d never been good with words…even worse at expressing himself…so he’d practised over and over what he planned on saying, trying to get it to sound just right. It had occurred to him that it was simply just too much hassle for one little thank you…so why was he doing it? Jayne Cobb had a preference for the simple and easy things in life. This was complicated. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to put it out of his mind and move on with his life until he’d done it.

He’d spent ten minutes searching the ship, and was just about to give up when he finally found her. She was barefoot, as usual, and was sitting silently in the cockpit. She had her knees hugged to her chest, her long brown hair draped down her back. She seemed to be just…staring. Staring out into the black.

“Ahem…” Jayne cleared his throat to get her attention.

“Hello Jayne.” She responded, not bothering to tear her eyes away from the starry sky. Jayne found it slightly creepy.

“I been lookin’ for ya…” Jayne began, standing stiffly in his place by the door.

“I know.” River responded simply.

Jayne was a little irritated by this. If the ruttin’ girl had known he was tryin’ to find her, why in the gorram hell couldn’t she have come to him.

“Would have defeated the purpose.” River said, reading his thoughts, which he found even more creepifyin’. “The prey does not simply come to the predator…it must use its skills to stalk and catch it on its own.”

“Uhuh…” Jayne said.

“You should sit down.” River said, finally tearing her eyes away from the Black to look at him.

“Oh, uh…yeah…right.” Jayne muttered, venturing awkwardly into the cockpit and dropping unceremoniously into the co-pilot’s chair. “Listen, Cr-“ he stopped himself with a rueful chuckle, “River. I mean River. Anyway, I just wanted to…ya know…thank you for what you did. Savin’ my life an’ all, I mean.” Jayne couldn’t help but note how awkward those words had sounded coming out of his mouth. Still, he had to say his piece, no matter how awkward it sounded…or felt, for that matter. “Anyway…I know I ain’t exactly been the nicest person to ya since you came on board the ship…matter ‘o’ fact, I been a ruttin’ pi-gu more’n a little ‘o’ the time, so…I’m sorry. I’ll try an’ be a little less of a hun dahn.”

River smiled at him. Jayne could feel himself going red. He wasn’t used to apologizing to anyone, nor admitting when he was wrong. And still, he found himself wondering why he had felt so compelled to do it.

“Jayne is Jayne,” River responded, “I expected no less.”

“Well, still…it’s wrong.” Jayne said gruffly, “So from now on, I’ll be respectful.”

With that, he got up and hurried out of the room, embarrassed by everything he’d just said…and still wondering why he’d decided to do it in the first place. He decided that it was because he felt guilty, and rightly so, for the fact that he’d caused her so much trouble and she’d still found the decency to save his life. That was it. It was just guilt. Nothing more.

Translations:

Cao ni zu-zong shi-ba dai – Fuck your ancestors to the eighteenth generation (heh…my personal favorite)

Pi-gu – Ass

Swai – Cute

Shuh muh – What?/Pardon me?

Hun-dahn – Son of a Bitch

Ni ta ma de. Tian-xia suo-you-de ren. Dou gai-si - Everyone under the heavens ought to die

Bao Bei - Sweetheart

AN: Well…I must admit, this is the longest piece of work I’ve written so far. Forgive its monstrous length. I considered cutting it up and posting it as different chapters, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. There was no proper place to split it up, so…you get one long, monstrous chapter. Filled with actiony-goodness, though, which is an added bonus. Forgive me if my action scenes suck. Anyway, forgive the fact that this has been a long time coming, and I hope you enjoy it. I plan on playing with Zoe, Simon, and Kaylee’s characters very soon though, so forgive their absence thus far. I hope I’m getting better with the characterization in the story as each chapter progresses. Bear in mind, this is my first Firefly fanfic, so bear with me. Thanks for sticking with it and please review! I welcome constructive criticism.

Lots of love, Cat.