The Passenger Book 2
Jul. 26th, 2006 10:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serafina20There was a reason I was avoiding watching either "Firefly" or "Serenity". It was because I'm in the middle of other fic I need to write. I don't need to go back to my firefly fic.
However. After I got off the phone with J., I flipped around to find somethign to watch until "The Daily Show" and there was "Serenity"
So, here's the fic.
Chapters 1-17
The tea kettle had just come to a boil when the door to Garrison's room opened. Inara, kettle in hand, looked up to see Garrison standing just inside, hand still on the door knob. She smiled, lowered her eyelids, and poured the water into the cups before her.
"Care to join me?" she asked. She looked up at him through her lashes as she set the kettle back town.
The door closed. Garrison crossed the room. "This was the last thing I expected to find in my room," he said. He sank into the seat across from her, slowly, every muscle tensed as if expecting attack.
Inara inclined her head in acknowledgement. Carefully, eyes still lowered demurely, she picked up a long, round container and withdrew a match.
"You in particular seemed quite angry with me this morning," he continued.
"I found your statement to be in quite poor taste, all things considering," she replied. The match lit with a sharp snap and the bright smell of sulfur. Inara touched the flame to the wick of the candle set on the low table in front of her. Candle lit, she extinguished the match and set it aside. "However, I've time to think since then." She raised her eyes and met Garrison's full on.
"And your thoughts led you here."
"They did." She picked up the tea cups and held out one to him.
Garrison hesitated. "Ms. Serra..."
"Inara," she corrected. "Please."
"I don't know if this is appropriate."
"Perhaps more than sleeping with those you've rescued?" she suggested. She set the cups back on the table.
"I love Camille. I never intended to hurt her. And I only began..."
"Let me rephrase that, Garrison. I'm afraid you misunderstood." Inara rose and walked around the table until she was directly in front of him. "One of your doctors had a bit of a meltdown today over River."
"It happens. We all reach our limits. We try to keep that from happening, to detox and relax before..." He stopped talking. A look of understanding entered his eyes.
Inara sat on the table. She placed her hand on his knee. "When was the last time you really, truly relaxed? Just left everything about this school behind and trusted it to struggle through at least a few hours without you?" She reached behind her and picked up the cups again. "When," she asked, holding out one to him, "was the last time you did anything just for yourself?"
Once again, he hesitated, but, this time, he took the offered cup.
Inara smiled and touched hers to his delicately. They both drank.
"I think I've lived solely for others since opening this school. It's hard not to. Even when I'm in these walls, completely shielded from everything, my mind is with them." He touched his cup to hers this time. They drank again.
"Don't you think that's dangerous? What if there's a crisis and that's your breaking point? There's so many people relying on your. You owe it to them, not just yourself, to be as centered and relaxed as you can."
He smiled a lopsided smile. "And tell me, Inara, how to I achieve relaxation in a school full of people who view me as their savior?"
Moving together, they touched their cups together a final time and drank.
Inara took the cup from him and set them both on the table. Then, she took one of his hands. "You employ trained companions." Wrapping her hand around his, she pressed her thumb into the center of his. "Why not go to them?"
Garrison's eyes fluttered shut as Inara massaged his palms, starting with small circles and working outwards towards his fingers. "They're not here for me. They're here to help the kids adjust. Not just sexually, but for everything. They counsel the kids, teach them how to move, how to dress, how to seduce. Anything they might need while they're out in the 'verse."
"No one but the kids ever go to them?"
"Well. No." He opened his eyes. "I find it hard. I'm in charge. They all look to me for guidance and leadership."
"And you don't find any of this, in any way, hypocritical?"
"Camille needed me. The others I've been with needed me." He sighed. "Although, I needed Camille, too."
"Then why did you end it?" She took his other hand.
Garrison shrugged. "If you had seen her a year ago, you'd understand. She was so young. And she didn't want to grow up. To try anything new. When she was with me, she was safe. Sheltered. If I'd let her stay that way, I'd be no better than the Alliance."
"I don't understand."
"They wanted to control her. To build the perfect solider. And, with me, she wanted to be controlled. Whether she realized it or not, that's what she was allowing me to do. First, I tried to do what I could simply to make her start taking control of her own life. When that didn't work...." He trailed off and shrugged.
"But it's not easy."
"I love her still. I love the woman she's becoming." He sighed. "I suppose I wish that the woman she's becoming was still my woman."
"She's not."
"I know." He looked at her. "Malcolm Reynolds?"
Inara smiled sadly. "He's a good man. A noble man, and that's hard to find these days. Especially in the black."
"I want to be happy for her."
"What would make you happy for her?"
Garrison sighed and pulled his hand away. He rubbed his eyes, shoulders slumping. "Perspective."
Inara slid off the table, knelt at his feet. "Perspective?" She slid her hands up his thighs.
He moistened his lips. His hands, large, scarred, gentle, cupped Inara's face. He ran his fingers over her cheekbones, eyebrows, jaw, tracing her. Memorizing her.
Inara closed her eyes and leaned into the touch.
"I'm so tired," he whispered. He traced the shell of her ear, caressed down her neck.
"I know." She took his hands, stopping their exploration. "Come." She stood and pulled him with her to the bed. "Let give you rest."
* * *
"But, she's gonna be all right, right?" Kaylee said, clutching Zoe's arm. She felt dizzy.
Dr. Douglas nodded. "All her tests came back normal. For an Academy student, that is. We have the monitor in. We've analyzed her blood chemistry and it's started normalizing her endocrine system."
"What does that mean?" Zoe asked.
"That means that, soon, she'll start functioning normally again. Her menstrual cycle will regulate, her genitals will have sensation, and her sex drive will turn on."
"When?" asked Kaylee.
"I can't say. It could be within the hour, it could be a month from now. We can't predict it, especially since we don't know what they replaced her ovaries with. But, yes, Kaylee, River will be all right."
"Except that they took out her uterus," said Zoe. "Did those bastards happen to do anything else why they were down there?"
"Like what?"
"I'm sure she's fine, Kaylee," Wash said, slipping his arm around Kalyee. He shook his head at Zoe. "Zoe's just being a little pessimistic. River's fine."
"How do you know, Wash? How do you know they didn't cut her up? It ain't unheard of, men cutting up their women so they don't feel anything."
"They cut her up?" Kaylee felt like she was going to throw up.
"No, they didn't cut her up," Dr. Douglas assured them. "Blocking the production of androgen made anything as extreme as circumcision moot. She can't feel anything in that region anyway."
Kaylee pulled away from Zoe and Wash. Grief like she'd never known was pushing at her, making her feel like she was drowning. All she wanted to do was cry, but it wouldn't come. It was just pressing inside her so she couldn't breathe and couldn't hear and couldn't talk. She felt like she was going to die.
"Kaylee," Zoe said behind her.
She shook her head. Didn't want to talk. She was at the wall now. She pressed her head against it.
Zoe's hand was on her shoulder. "Honey, it's going to be okay. River's going to be okay."
"Why did they do this?" The words were torn from her. Painfully. Her throat her. "I don't understand."
"I don't know." She squeezed Kaylee's shoulder.
"Would you two mind giving me a moment alone with Kaylee?"
"Kaylee? Wash and me will be just outside you need us, okay?"
She nodded, forehead scraping against the wall. She didn't hear them leave.
"Come here, honey. Sit with me." Hands again, pulling her away from the wall, propelling her across the room to a couch. She was pulled down to a couch, into a body. Warm body smell, shampoo, soap, and that stingy smell like a hospital. "All right, baby girl. You listen to me and you listen good. Those Alliance bastards are bastards. Doesn't matter why they did what they did. The fact is, they did it. And we've got to live with the consequences. Now, in some ways, you're lucky. You're a girl. If you were a boy, wouldn't matter how much you told River it was okay. A part of her would always feel a little guilty about not being able to give you a baby." She stroked Kaylee's hair. "But you're both girls. She doesn't have to feel guilty because, if you do want kids, you could have been the birth mother anyway.
Kaylee pulled away. Tears were falling down her face. "How can you be talkin' 'bout babies right now?"
Dr. Douglas smiled softly. "Seems relevant. I'm just trying to highlight the good, because there's a whole lotta bad in this place."
"I've noticed." She wiped her eyes.
"River loves you. Don't ever doubt that for a moment." She squeezed her arm. "But you need to prepare yourself for what may happen."
"Everyone's been telling me since I got here. Her system's gonna go into an overload and she's gonna want sex. A lot of it. Maybe more than I can give." She wiped at the tears again.
Dr. Douglas nodded. "Right. But now there's more."
"More?"
"Our kids here are very angry. Not at first, when they're still confused, but after we get the monitor in, their heads start to clear. It becomes easier to think. To process what happened to them. Then the anger sets in. And, with anger comes the need to lash out."
Kaylee sniffed. "You think River's gonna hurt me?"
"I think that, given the fact River's been sterilized, there's a good chance her anger at the Alliance will send her into the bed mainly of men."
"Cause she can't get pregnant," she said slowly. "And it's like... rubbing it in their faces or somethin'."
Dr. Douglas nodded. "The Alliance didn't want her to have sex. They didn't want her to have children. Now that she's free, she can at least have sex."
"But I understand. I mean, I know that River might... want sex. With people not me. It won't hurt. It can't, not really, not if I'm ready. Right?"
"I don't know if anyone can ever really prepare themselves for their lover to go to into someone else's bed. You might still be hurt, Kaylee, and that's fine. Feel whatever you feel in the coming weeks and months. However." She took both Kaylee's hands in her. Squeezed. Leaned in. "It's possible that River might try to hurt you on purpose. She might brag to you about who she is sleeping with. Use your bed. Make jokes. Be crass. Do any number of things to get a reaction from you. To make you cry."
Tears continued to flood from her eyes. Kaylee couldn't keep up. When Dr. Douglas handed her a tissue, it was soaked within seconds. "What can I do?"
"I don't know. Just be prepared for it. As much as you can." Then, she leaned forward and ran her fingers through Kaylee's hair. "Now listen to me, sweetheart. Because you need to hear this. Are you listening?"
Kaylee nodded. It was impossible to stop crying now, the tears just kept flooding out.
"No one will think any less of you if you had to break up with River."
"Never."
"Kaylee, listen to me. You have feelings, just like her. You deserve to be happy. You shouldn't be in a toxic relationship where your partner is doing her best to make you miserable. If it gets bad, leave. When she calms down, then you can work things. But don't stay if it's bad."
She sniffed and wiped her nose. "Can I see her now?"
The doctor sighed and sat back. "Of course. She's in the room, resting."
"Thank you."
Kaylee wiped her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair. When she felt calm enough, she pushed the door opened and stepped into the room.
River was lying on the bed, awake. She was wearing on of the school's strange medical gowns, the ones that somehow looked pretty and flattered the wearer's figure, rather than look all business-like.
And River looked pretty. Even lying on the bed, chalk pale, tear stains on her cheeks, she was the most beautiful person Kaylee had ever known.
"Hey, you," she said softly, hesitating.
River turned her head and met her eyes. "Hey." She licked her lips. "You afraid of me?"
"Don't know. Don't think I should be. You're my girl, right?" Kaylee took a step closer to the bed.
"Am I?"
"I want you to be. The doc out there is messin' with my head. Scarin' me. And I've seen, you know. The anger. Not from you. Camille, though. Prophet. Not you."
"Not angry." She frowned. Tugged on her hair. "No. I am. Angry." She sat up. "Why did they do this?"
"I only wish I knew." Kaylee slid onto the bed next to her and tentatively put her hand on River's leg. "If I could get my hands on them that done it..."
"Get in line." River's mouth was pressed thin. Her cheeks had bright red spots on them and she trembled all over.
"Well." Kaylee smiled, embarrassed. "Yeah, I guess you should go first. You've got all that courage and stuff, right?"
River's eyebrow twitched. "Only because they trained me." She scratched her nails down her arms. "Not even my body. Took it all over. Played with my brains. My insides. Took me apart. Put together different and I'm.... I'm tired of this!" River's hands threaded through her hair and she tugged at it, looking like she was trying to claw her brain.
Kaylee took River's hands. Wrapped her own around them. And kissed her. Soft. Gentle. Deep.
River's mouth opened and met her kiss. Deepened it. Moved closer to Kaylee, sensing her intent. Probably read her mind, although Kaylee didn't rightly know if she were thinking. Just acting on instinct, what she were good at.
Hands came down, two sets of them. Unwrapped River's robe and dropped it over the side. Kaylee lay River down on the bed and kept kissing. Kissing her mouth, her face, the skin on her neck. Every bit, not leaving on inch not touched by lips and tongue. Tasting the salt from her sweat. A slight metallic taste. Touch of bitter. All River.
Down the long swan neck. Over collar bone to the soft skin that dipped beneath. Kaylee kissed.
Something there made River shift suddenly, eyes flying open. Moan and a flush to her cheek. Sweat breaking out all at once. Breath caught. Hands tangled in Kaylee's hair, gripping her now, pushing and tugging.
Kaylee kept going. Over soft fleshy swells. Rosy buds of nipples that pearled and puckered. Taut belly, sharp hips. The juncture of her thighs and then between 'em.
"Oh!" River bolt up real fast, hands falling away.
"You can feel?"
She didn't answer, just nodded, all wide eyes and open mouth.
Kaylee laughed, delighted. "Then something went right today, didn't it? Your body now. Not theirs."
"Not yet." River smiled and cupped Kaylee's face in her hands. "Finish what you started?"
"Every day." Kaylee raised herself up to River's face. Kissed her. "Every night." Kissed again. "For the rest of our lives." Longer kiss this time. And, for the first time, there was passion coming from River. In her arms, the way her fingers dug into Kaylee's back.
"Too many clothes." She tugged at Kaylee's clothes while wrapping those long, dancer legs around her body. "Too far away."
"Don't worry," Kaylee whispered as she pulled her clothes off, all the while kissing her girlfriend. "Soon we'll be close as two people can be. We'll be like one person."
River gripped at Kaylee's naked shoulders and looked at her. "You gonna keep talking? Or will you make love to me?"
Kaylee smiled, kissed River, then bent back to her task.
However. After I got off the phone with J., I flipped around to find somethign to watch until "The Daily Show" and there was "Serenity"
So, here's the fic.
Chapters 1-17
The tea kettle had just come to a boil when the door to Garrison's room opened. Inara, kettle in hand, looked up to see Garrison standing just inside, hand still on the door knob. She smiled, lowered her eyelids, and poured the water into the cups before her.
"Care to join me?" she asked. She looked up at him through her lashes as she set the kettle back town.
The door closed. Garrison crossed the room. "This was the last thing I expected to find in my room," he said. He sank into the seat across from her, slowly, every muscle tensed as if expecting attack.
Inara inclined her head in acknowledgement. Carefully, eyes still lowered demurely, she picked up a long, round container and withdrew a match.
"You in particular seemed quite angry with me this morning," he continued.
"I found your statement to be in quite poor taste, all things considering," she replied. The match lit with a sharp snap and the bright smell of sulfur. Inara touched the flame to the wick of the candle set on the low table in front of her. Candle lit, she extinguished the match and set it aside. "However, I've time to think since then." She raised her eyes and met Garrison's full on.
"And your thoughts led you here."
"They did." She picked up the tea cups and held out one to him.
Garrison hesitated. "Ms. Serra..."
"Inara," she corrected. "Please."
"I don't know if this is appropriate."
"Perhaps more than sleeping with those you've rescued?" she suggested. She set the cups back on the table.
"I love Camille. I never intended to hurt her. And I only began..."
"Let me rephrase that, Garrison. I'm afraid you misunderstood." Inara rose and walked around the table until she was directly in front of him. "One of your doctors had a bit of a meltdown today over River."
"It happens. We all reach our limits. We try to keep that from happening, to detox and relax before..." He stopped talking. A look of understanding entered his eyes.
Inara sat on the table. She placed her hand on his knee. "When was the last time you really, truly relaxed? Just left everything about this school behind and trusted it to struggle through at least a few hours without you?" She reached behind her and picked up the cups again. "When," she asked, holding out one to him, "was the last time you did anything just for yourself?"
Once again, he hesitated, but, this time, he took the offered cup.
Inara smiled and touched hers to his delicately. They both drank.
"I think I've lived solely for others since opening this school. It's hard not to. Even when I'm in these walls, completely shielded from everything, my mind is with them." He touched his cup to hers this time. They drank again.
"Don't you think that's dangerous? What if there's a crisis and that's your breaking point? There's so many people relying on your. You owe it to them, not just yourself, to be as centered and relaxed as you can."
He smiled a lopsided smile. "And tell me, Inara, how to I achieve relaxation in a school full of people who view me as their savior?"
Moving together, they touched their cups together a final time and drank.
Inara took the cup from him and set them both on the table. Then, she took one of his hands. "You employ trained companions." Wrapping her hand around his, she pressed her thumb into the center of his. "Why not go to them?"
Garrison's eyes fluttered shut as Inara massaged his palms, starting with small circles and working outwards towards his fingers. "They're not here for me. They're here to help the kids adjust. Not just sexually, but for everything. They counsel the kids, teach them how to move, how to dress, how to seduce. Anything they might need while they're out in the 'verse."
"No one but the kids ever go to them?"
"Well. No." He opened his eyes. "I find it hard. I'm in charge. They all look to me for guidance and leadership."
"And you don't find any of this, in any way, hypocritical?"
"Camille needed me. The others I've been with needed me." He sighed. "Although, I needed Camille, too."
"Then why did you end it?" She took his other hand.
Garrison shrugged. "If you had seen her a year ago, you'd understand. She was so young. And she didn't want to grow up. To try anything new. When she was with me, she was safe. Sheltered. If I'd let her stay that way, I'd be no better than the Alliance."
"I don't understand."
"They wanted to control her. To build the perfect solider. And, with me, she wanted to be controlled. Whether she realized it or not, that's what she was allowing me to do. First, I tried to do what I could simply to make her start taking control of her own life. When that didn't work...." He trailed off and shrugged.
"But it's not easy."
"I love her still. I love the woman she's becoming." He sighed. "I suppose I wish that the woman she's becoming was still my woman."
"She's not."
"I know." He looked at her. "Malcolm Reynolds?"
Inara smiled sadly. "He's a good man. A noble man, and that's hard to find these days. Especially in the black."
"I want to be happy for her."
"What would make you happy for her?"
Garrison sighed and pulled his hand away. He rubbed his eyes, shoulders slumping. "Perspective."
Inara slid off the table, knelt at his feet. "Perspective?" She slid her hands up his thighs.
He moistened his lips. His hands, large, scarred, gentle, cupped Inara's face. He ran his fingers over her cheekbones, eyebrows, jaw, tracing her. Memorizing her.
Inara closed her eyes and leaned into the touch.
"I'm so tired," he whispered. He traced the shell of her ear, caressed down her neck.
"I know." She took his hands, stopping their exploration. "Come." She stood and pulled him with her to the bed. "Let give you rest."
* * *
"But, she's gonna be all right, right?" Kaylee said, clutching Zoe's arm. She felt dizzy.
Dr. Douglas nodded. "All her tests came back normal. For an Academy student, that is. We have the monitor in. We've analyzed her blood chemistry and it's started normalizing her endocrine system."
"What does that mean?" Zoe asked.
"That means that, soon, she'll start functioning normally again. Her menstrual cycle will regulate, her genitals will have sensation, and her sex drive will turn on."
"When?" asked Kaylee.
"I can't say. It could be within the hour, it could be a month from now. We can't predict it, especially since we don't know what they replaced her ovaries with. But, yes, Kaylee, River will be all right."
"Except that they took out her uterus," said Zoe. "Did those bastards happen to do anything else why they were down there?"
"Like what?"
"I'm sure she's fine, Kaylee," Wash said, slipping his arm around Kalyee. He shook his head at Zoe. "Zoe's just being a little pessimistic. River's fine."
"How do you know, Wash? How do you know they didn't cut her up? It ain't unheard of, men cutting up their women so they don't feel anything."
"They cut her up?" Kaylee felt like she was going to throw up.
"No, they didn't cut her up," Dr. Douglas assured them. "Blocking the production of androgen made anything as extreme as circumcision moot. She can't feel anything in that region anyway."
Kaylee pulled away from Zoe and Wash. Grief like she'd never known was pushing at her, making her feel like she was drowning. All she wanted to do was cry, but it wouldn't come. It was just pressing inside her so she couldn't breathe and couldn't hear and couldn't talk. She felt like she was going to die.
"Kaylee," Zoe said behind her.
She shook her head. Didn't want to talk. She was at the wall now. She pressed her head against it.
Zoe's hand was on her shoulder. "Honey, it's going to be okay. River's going to be okay."
"Why did they do this?" The words were torn from her. Painfully. Her throat her. "I don't understand."
"I don't know." She squeezed Kaylee's shoulder.
"Would you two mind giving me a moment alone with Kaylee?"
"Kaylee? Wash and me will be just outside you need us, okay?"
She nodded, forehead scraping against the wall. She didn't hear them leave.
"Come here, honey. Sit with me." Hands again, pulling her away from the wall, propelling her across the room to a couch. She was pulled down to a couch, into a body. Warm body smell, shampoo, soap, and that stingy smell like a hospital. "All right, baby girl. You listen to me and you listen good. Those Alliance bastards are bastards. Doesn't matter why they did what they did. The fact is, they did it. And we've got to live with the consequences. Now, in some ways, you're lucky. You're a girl. If you were a boy, wouldn't matter how much you told River it was okay. A part of her would always feel a little guilty about not being able to give you a baby." She stroked Kaylee's hair. "But you're both girls. She doesn't have to feel guilty because, if you do want kids, you could have been the birth mother anyway.
Kaylee pulled away. Tears were falling down her face. "How can you be talkin' 'bout babies right now?"
Dr. Douglas smiled softly. "Seems relevant. I'm just trying to highlight the good, because there's a whole lotta bad in this place."
"I've noticed." She wiped her eyes.
"River loves you. Don't ever doubt that for a moment." She squeezed her arm. "But you need to prepare yourself for what may happen."
"Everyone's been telling me since I got here. Her system's gonna go into an overload and she's gonna want sex. A lot of it. Maybe more than I can give." She wiped at the tears again.
Dr. Douglas nodded. "Right. But now there's more."
"More?"
"Our kids here are very angry. Not at first, when they're still confused, but after we get the monitor in, their heads start to clear. It becomes easier to think. To process what happened to them. Then the anger sets in. And, with anger comes the need to lash out."
Kaylee sniffed. "You think River's gonna hurt me?"
"I think that, given the fact River's been sterilized, there's a good chance her anger at the Alliance will send her into the bed mainly of men."
"Cause she can't get pregnant," she said slowly. "And it's like... rubbing it in their faces or somethin'."
Dr. Douglas nodded. "The Alliance didn't want her to have sex. They didn't want her to have children. Now that she's free, she can at least have sex."
"But I understand. I mean, I know that River might... want sex. With people not me. It won't hurt. It can't, not really, not if I'm ready. Right?"
"I don't know if anyone can ever really prepare themselves for their lover to go to into someone else's bed. You might still be hurt, Kaylee, and that's fine. Feel whatever you feel in the coming weeks and months. However." She took both Kaylee's hands in her. Squeezed. Leaned in. "It's possible that River might try to hurt you on purpose. She might brag to you about who she is sleeping with. Use your bed. Make jokes. Be crass. Do any number of things to get a reaction from you. To make you cry."
Tears continued to flood from her eyes. Kaylee couldn't keep up. When Dr. Douglas handed her a tissue, it was soaked within seconds. "What can I do?"
"I don't know. Just be prepared for it. As much as you can." Then, she leaned forward and ran her fingers through Kaylee's hair. "Now listen to me, sweetheart. Because you need to hear this. Are you listening?"
Kaylee nodded. It was impossible to stop crying now, the tears just kept flooding out.
"No one will think any less of you if you had to break up with River."
"Never."
"Kaylee, listen to me. You have feelings, just like her. You deserve to be happy. You shouldn't be in a toxic relationship where your partner is doing her best to make you miserable. If it gets bad, leave. When she calms down, then you can work things. But don't stay if it's bad."
She sniffed and wiped her nose. "Can I see her now?"
The doctor sighed and sat back. "Of course. She's in the room, resting."
"Thank you."
Kaylee wiped her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair. When she felt calm enough, she pushed the door opened and stepped into the room.
River was lying on the bed, awake. She was wearing on of the school's strange medical gowns, the ones that somehow looked pretty and flattered the wearer's figure, rather than look all business-like.
And River looked pretty. Even lying on the bed, chalk pale, tear stains on her cheeks, she was the most beautiful person Kaylee had ever known.
"Hey, you," she said softly, hesitating.
River turned her head and met her eyes. "Hey." She licked her lips. "You afraid of me?"
"Don't know. Don't think I should be. You're my girl, right?" Kaylee took a step closer to the bed.
"Am I?"
"I want you to be. The doc out there is messin' with my head. Scarin' me. And I've seen, you know. The anger. Not from you. Camille, though. Prophet. Not you."
"Not angry." She frowned. Tugged on her hair. "No. I am. Angry." She sat up. "Why did they do this?"
"I only wish I knew." Kaylee slid onto the bed next to her and tentatively put her hand on River's leg. "If I could get my hands on them that done it..."
"Get in line." River's mouth was pressed thin. Her cheeks had bright red spots on them and she trembled all over.
"Well." Kaylee smiled, embarrassed. "Yeah, I guess you should go first. You've got all that courage and stuff, right?"
River's eyebrow twitched. "Only because they trained me." She scratched her nails down her arms. "Not even my body. Took it all over. Played with my brains. My insides. Took me apart. Put together different and I'm.... I'm tired of this!" River's hands threaded through her hair and she tugged at it, looking like she was trying to claw her brain.
Kaylee took River's hands. Wrapped her own around them. And kissed her. Soft. Gentle. Deep.
River's mouth opened and met her kiss. Deepened it. Moved closer to Kaylee, sensing her intent. Probably read her mind, although Kaylee didn't rightly know if she were thinking. Just acting on instinct, what she were good at.
Hands came down, two sets of them. Unwrapped River's robe and dropped it over the side. Kaylee lay River down on the bed and kept kissing. Kissing her mouth, her face, the skin on her neck. Every bit, not leaving on inch not touched by lips and tongue. Tasting the salt from her sweat. A slight metallic taste. Touch of bitter. All River.
Down the long swan neck. Over collar bone to the soft skin that dipped beneath. Kaylee kissed.
Something there made River shift suddenly, eyes flying open. Moan and a flush to her cheek. Sweat breaking out all at once. Breath caught. Hands tangled in Kaylee's hair, gripping her now, pushing and tugging.
Kaylee kept going. Over soft fleshy swells. Rosy buds of nipples that pearled and puckered. Taut belly, sharp hips. The juncture of her thighs and then between 'em.
"Oh!" River bolt up real fast, hands falling away.
"You can feel?"
She didn't answer, just nodded, all wide eyes and open mouth.
Kaylee laughed, delighted. "Then something went right today, didn't it? Your body now. Not theirs."
"Not yet." River smiled and cupped Kaylee's face in her hands. "Finish what you started?"
"Every day." Kaylee raised herself up to River's face. Kissed her. "Every night." Kissed again. "For the rest of our lives." Longer kiss this time. And, for the first time, there was passion coming from River. In her arms, the way her fingers dug into Kaylee's back.
"Too many clothes." She tugged at Kaylee's clothes while wrapping those long, dancer legs around her body. "Too far away."
"Don't worry," Kaylee whispered as she pulled her clothes off, all the while kissing her girlfriend. "Soon we'll be close as two people can be. We'll be like one person."
River gripped at Kaylee's naked shoulders and looked at her. "You gonna keep talking? Or will you make love to me?"
Kaylee smiled, kissed River, then bent back to her task.
