Fic: Keeping Her in the Air (Serenity/Firefly; Mal, River, Spoilers)

[butterfly]

Possibly part of a series. Still undecided about that at this particular moment.

Story Title: Keeping Her in the Air
Author: Diana Michelle (butterfly)
Timeline: Post-Serenity (movie spoilers).
Rating: PG
Summary: River and Mal chat about Simon, Serenity, and travel plans.
Disclaimer: Created by Joss, fucked over by Fox, resurrected over at Universal. Not a jot of it owned by me.

Keeping Her in the Air

Mal wasn't surprised to see River sitting up in the cockpit again. This time, though, the girl had herself planted in the main pilot's seat and not co-pilot's, which was where she'd been attaching herself the past couple of months. Seemed that, once again, she knew what he was going to say afore he said it.

"You feel up to a solo flight, xiao niao?" Mal asked, placing his hand on the back of the chair, an inch or so away from River's back. She turned her head towards him and smiled softly, with that new little smile he hadn't seen her giving anyone else, and Mal felt that twinge of guilty warmth that she'd been inspiring recently. She didn't say anything, but that weren't so unusual anymore.

She started to reach forward to flip a switch, and then she sighed and pulled her hand back, nothing flipped.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Mal asked, moving around to lean against the console, get a better look at River's face. There was a sadness in her eyes, one that hadn't been there just a moment ago. But she wasn't leaping into action, and she hadn't asked him to do anything, so it wasn't anything that could be helped by that sort of thing, he was guessing. "What's happening?"

"Simon made a mistake," River said. And Mal was more than ready to agree with that, only he suspected that River wasn't talking about Simon moving himself into Kaylee's bunk last month. "He wishes... he does wish that he could love her."

"You sayin' your brother don't love Kaylee, that he's using her?" Now, that hadn't been something that had occurred to Mal before... and by River's light shake of the head, and then the derisive quirk of her lips as she gave him a sideways glance, it was a wrong guess, anyhow. "All right, then, how's about you tell me who Simon doesn't love?"

River reached forward again, ran her hand delicately over the console in front of her, slender fingers skipping around the buttons and switches, turning all the right ones on. Her expression had grown distant, like she was looking at something inside her own head. The left corner of her mouth had turned down slightly, and he gathered she didn't quite like what she was seeing.

"Serenity," River said, the word almost a sigh, all of the girl's own love for the boat wrapped up into it. "He's gotten used to her, but he's not ever going to love her."

Mal nodded, feeling his throat tighten a little. He'd already known that about Simon, saw the way that Simon looked at Serenity, so this wasn't anything new. It was something that Kaylee should have been well-aware of, her own self. But Simon had a way of makin' Kaylee get all wistful and dreamy. And, hell, truth be told, part of Mal had been hoping that Simon would make that leap, that he'd make Serenity home. But Mal had known it was just a hope. And a hope wasn't worth spit, out here in the black.

"He loves you," Mal said, brushing the tips of his fingers against River's shoulder. She was wearing a dress today, one of the ones she had with filmy sleeves, and he could feel the heat of her skin through the thin material. "Long as you still love her, that's good enough."

Sure as sin, Simon wouldn't go anywhere without his sister. And that sister did love this boat, loved it maybe near as much as Mal did. So, no, the Tams weren't going anywhere anytime soon, and his ship was the better for it, though Mal had no plans on saying that aloud.

"Not for Kaylee," River said, lifting Serenity off the ground with a practiced hand. He reminded himself that his plan was to let her take them out of the world, and that he wasn't gonna be taking over for her before they left atmo. "She can't understand how Simon still looks at Serenity and-"

"Sees a piece of le se?" Mal finished for her, wryly, moving to hover behind the pilot's chair to watch River's technique. He almost forgot, sometimes, that Kaylee had come on board after Zoe had already fallen in love with Wash and decided that Serenity wasn't so bad, after all. Then again, some days, he nearly forgot that Simon hadn't always belonged down in their infirmary, that River hadn't always been...

Mal glanced at the top of the console, at the tiny plastic dinosaurs carefully arranged where he'd remembered seeing them most. Three months, and Zoe still avoided the cockpit whenever she could, and when she did have to be up here, she never looked towards the pilot's seat.

Some things, Mal couldn't hope to ever forget.

"It's driving her crazy," River said, still talking about Kaylee, Mal decided.

"Well, you'd know," Mal said, and River just shrugged, unconcerned. If Simon had been here, he'd have been all tetchy with Mal for making light of River's condition, maybe even leveled a punch at him. Well, more likely a glare. Still, one of these days, Mal really needed to point out that it wasn't ever River who cared what Mal said. "She'll get over it, or she won't. Only thing that concerns me is if it has an effect on her work."

"Liar," River said, cheerfully. Mal decided that it was pointless to take offense.

"S'pose so," he said instead, and then he brushed his hand over River's hair, straightening it out a touch. River and Kaylee were alike in this, ignoring the need to brush the tangles out until their hair got near to unmanageable and had to be tamed by an outside party. Though sometimes, he wondered if there was an excuse wrapped up in that. Because when Inara'd been gone, Kaylee'd brushed her hair out more often on her own. If River didn't have a Simon to care so for her, she'd probably make do, as well.

River had lapsed into silent concentration as Serenity broke atmo, then she reached out to switch the engines over to interplanetary. Mal took a moment to take in the black, freedom glittering in the shards of starlight. His ship was humming quietly around him, his crew was safe and sound. World still intact, if a bit smaller than he'd like.

"You remember the way to Iago?" Mal asked, looking down at River, who was fiddling with navigation. She shot him a quick, bright smile.

"Can't trust the fallen soldier," she said in response. Mal gave her a suspicious glance, but she still looked near enough to sane.

"Gonna elaborate on that one?" Mal asked.

"There's still time," she said, locking their course in.

That was true enough -- it was over two days 'til Iago, and they weren't running hot. Not much call for it, lately. Though Mal had a feeling that that would change real soon. The Alliance was starting to bounce back from the damage done by the Miranda recording, and they'd realize at some point that River Tam had to own more of their secrets than that.

By then, though, Mal planned on having another surprise all arranged for them.

~fade to black~