Serenity: Deception

Chapter Three: Part 2

"Don't touch those," River said.

"Why?"

"They're not yours," River told him. "They're Wash's."

Nate leaned toward River and spoke so only she could hear, "You probably think this is your ship, huh? Everyone accommodatin' you, even the Captain, but look here princess, you're in for one hell of a change. You understand? It's Nate's time now," He took one of the dinosaurs from the pilot station and tossed it onto the floor.

"Whoa there," Mal said, stepping onto the bridge. "We don't touch those Nate," Mal bent down and picked up the stegosaurus off the floor.

River glanced over Mal's back and smirked at Nate. He looked at River, snarling; his face transformed into that of a disfigured monster. His expression returned back to normal again as Mal stood up and placed the dinosaur back on the pilot station.

"Sort of our way of rememberin' the best damn pilot I ever knew," Mal said, "No offence," He added.

"My apologies. I didn't realize," Nate replied.

"How could you have known?"

"I just-" River began to say.

"River, your brother was lookin' for you," Mal said. "In the infirmary."

"Fine," River said. She stormed off the bridge, her combat boots pounding heavy against the metal stairs. She met Jayne in the hall as he came out of his cabin.

"Why are you up in a huff?" He asked.

River put her hand up in his face and kept walking without saying a word. Jayne stood, dumbfounded as River turned the corner and went down the stairs to the lower level. His head slightly tilted and his calloused fingers scratching the back of his head, as though carefully considering what happened, Jayne turned toward the bridge.

"I'm beginning to like her," he said to himself.

"A bit moody ain't she?" Nate asked.

"She's a might unpredictable," Mal replied.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe she just doesn't like you much," Jayne said as he made his way onto the bridge. "Can't say I blame her."

Simon was waiting for River in the infirmary. He sorted his tools and did an inventory of all his supplies. In the time he had been on Serenity with River, he had treated several knife wounds, just as many bullet holes, and an array of injuries like laser burns and head injuries. Life on Serenity with a crew of smugglers led by a browncoat Captain with a chip on his shoulder certainly wasn't lacking in its susceptibility to violence, but even so, for River it was the safest place in the 'verse.

River walked through the infirmary door; it was her least favourite room on Serenity. She had spent too much time here. Over the ten months they had been aboard the ship, Simon had poked and prodded her with needles. River climbed gracefully onto the examination and operation table.

"Simon?" asked River in two simple innocuously inquisitive syllables that implied, why am I here?

"Heard you up last night," Simon said.

"Couldn't sleep," River replied.

"Why were you screaming?" Simon asked in a sombre tone.

"I wasn't..." Had she been screaming? She couldn't remember.

"River," Simon began, "is everything all right? Are you feeling like yourself?" he asked, carefully choosing his words.

"I'm fine," River said. "Simon, really."