Bits of Firefly

by Kass

Notes:

All of the following vignettes were written as part of the drabble tree that began at the non_txt community at livejournal, here. Some are gen, some are het, and some contain spoilers for the Big Damn Movie, so consider yourself forewarned.

Into the Black

He couldn't say Zoe returned to normal, exactly. In what world was this normal, spiralling into the black and leaving a grave behind? But she bore up under her grief.

At least he could slide the bottle of Blue Sun across the table, late in the second shift with River at the helm and neither of them able to get a lick of sleep, and she wouldn't even raise an eyebrow, just pour herself a slug to match his.

First time she told a Wash story he expected her voice to break. All he could do was raise his glass.

(100 words)

a name="cut">Cut

"You..." Inara's voice trails off. For once, she's out of words. Hùn dan, she thinks, breath caught in her chest. He can still surprise her, always in the way that hurts most.

Mal doesn't hang his head, but the impulse is there. He looks everywhere in the shuttle but at her.

The power of his shame, his need, overwhelms her. Not for the first time she wonders how River bears it.

"It wouldn't have worked," he says, finally, gesturing between them.

The acknowledgement cuts her. Maybe this cauterization will allow them closure? Still it aches when she admits, "I know."

(100 words)

Shiny

"Do y'think Simon thinks I'm pretty?"

Mal very nearly drops the gun he's been cleaning, but he hangs on though his fingers tremble. Must've been daydreaming; he didn't hear her come in.

"I'm no kind of expert, little Kaylee. You oughtta ask Inara."

"I'm asking you."

Mal's heart thumps when he looks up, sees the anxious hope in her eyes. "I can't imagine how he wouldn't," he says, finally.

"For real?"

"And for true."

"Shiny," she says. Her smile flares like a sun, stealing his breath, and for an instant he wonders whether they've been talking about Simon at all.

(100 words)

Foresight

"Try," he suggests. "Help me understand what bothers you about it."

River frowns. "Doesn't make sense."

"It's not supposed to, exactly," Book says, then stops short. Discussing theology can't hurt her, but he doesn't imagine her brother would favor it. Then again, it is keeping her calm, for now, and maybe that's the greatest good.

River rolls her eyes. "Even your historico-critical hypothesis is faulty," she says, as though to a child.

"It has meaning," he says, finally. "It teaches me how to love."

"What keeps the ship in the air," she murmurs, with a faraway look in her eye.

(100 words)

Heal

Though he'd assumed that River would heal -- that he would be able to heal her -- he's beginning to fear that he was wrong. The damage is too great, or his skills too paltry.

Sometimes when she collapses like a star folding in on itself, he injects her so she can sleep. Other times he just holds her. He knows it's selfish to prefer the latter.

The one time Serenity failed, Kaylee's eyes went hollow. It was a week before her smile looked genuine.

Simon envies her: most of the time, she can make what she loves run again.

(100 words)

The End