TITLE: "REBORN"

AUTHOR: Alison M. DOBELL

FANDOM: "FIREFLY"

PAIRING: RIVER/MAL.

RATING: PG-13.

STATUS: New. SEQUEL to "RESURRECTION"

ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.

FEEDBACK: Welcomed.

EMAIL: AlisonMDobell@aol.com

WEBSITE: http://carlajane.50megs.com/Ali00.html

SUMMARY: "Rescued in the nick of time the Captain begins to recover while Serenity's crew ponder over what to do with the Alliance spies. Meanwhile everything is about to get a lot more complicated than any of them could possibly imagine."

The usual disclaimers apply. The characters and 'Firefly'

are the property and gift of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.

No infringement of copyright is intended.

"REBORN"

A "Firefly" story

Written by Alison M. DOBELL

* * * * *

It was odd how the words bouncing around inside his head seemed to ricochet off the walls of his heart. Each one leaving the imprint of everything he had lost behind it. Closing his eyes had only clarified his pain like an audial lens bringing into sharp focus the sound of her haunting words, so bright it was killing him. Yet he stretched his heart, mind and soul to listen. To absorb every rutting nuance. Drank in the pain like a bitter but addictive wine because as sick as it was it cleared his thoughts enough to return to her. It was all he had left to shore up the agony of a mind on the brink of shattering. It would be the last thing he clung to as he lay dying. Only death was a fickle mistress and she hadn't near finished with him as he supposed.

Voices warped around his befogged senses. Time was something that had neither rhyme nor reason. Something touched him in his cotton wool world, all sensation both closer to him and further removed than any reality he could imagine. The muffled rise and fall was like an ocean tide, the wax and wane of it tugging at his ears even as his senses were teased with illusive hints of recognition.

"Hush, he's comin' round."

A tiny hand brushed