A NEW DAY, ch. 11: Tortured Minds
Monday, September 25, 2006
Set three months after A NEW BEGINNING. Simon makes a decision regarding Kaylee and the twins. Rylee begs for help and River and Jayne race towards the core to save their niece. S/K, R/J, M/I
CATEGORY: FICTION TIMES READ: 3166 RATING: 9.0 (G) SERIES: FIREFLY
A/N: See? All those shiny comments on chap. 10 means chap. 11 comes early! Please keep responding.
Quick warning: This chapter and the next are a bit dark in reference to Rylee and her kidnapping. Nothing overtly graphic, but if you don't like to read about kids in emotional pain, you might want to skim those sections.
Thanks again to Leiasky for the beta.
And please continue to read and respond - you guys have got me hooked now!
***
A NEW DAY, ch. 11: Tortured Minds
***
Hours later, Simon sat at Kaylee’s side, her small hand in his. He could not tear his eyes away from her and he had tried. He had tried to check on the newborns, tried to comfort his son, tried even just to take a quick walk outside if only to get a breath of fresh air, but each time, the minute he wandered from her, he was drawn back, like a magnet and he found he had no choice but to sit beside her and wait for those beautiful green eyes to open.
She was still paler than he’d like, even though the plasma transfusion had been a success. Her vital signs had stabilized a few hours ago and with a heavy sigh, Simon edged closer to her sleeping form and rested a gentle hand to her face. Stroking his thumb along her forehead absentmindedly, he began to talk to her.
“You have to wake up, Kaylee,” he whispered, his voice still breaking with the emotion he was trying so hard to deny. “I really need you to wake up. I need to see that smile of yours.” He tried to smile at her himself, but it was a weak and watery grin and he knew it. Sitting just a bit closer, he scooted the stool to her side and leaned his head down so his lips were at her ear. “I can’t go,” he murmured to her, wishing the guilt he felt at his admission was not so debilitating. “I can’t do it, bao bei, I won’t. I’m not going to leave you, ever. I love you, Kaylee.”
Squeezing his eyes shut against the tears he felt forming, he pressed a kiss to her cheek before nuzzling his face against hers. He was sitting there, like that, one arm aroun
Still...you write angst and pain so beautifully, TamSibling. It's never extreme in its nature or imagery...but carefully built upon so as soon as we deal with one point, you take it up a notch or two to get the sensations back to full force again. I can't wait to see where you take us (and the BDHs) next;)
BEB
You can't take the sky from me
I'd just love to see Mal and Zoe play cat and mouse with the Alliance only to vaporize them in the black. Bastards deserve to take a walk in space.
My only peeve is a really tiny, unimportant one. Her parents are A and AB (respectively) blood type... and both were told they couldn't be donors because they didn't match Kaylee (which would make Kaylee B on a Punnett square as long as her father was not homozygous for A blood type or she was adopted). In a plasma transfusion she would be able to receive plasma from her mother if she were B as her mother would not carry the corresponding anti-B antibody. Additionally, plasma is not indicated in hemorrhage unless it is to increase volume AFTER giving PRBC's (packed red blood cells). If she received whole blood then she wouldn't need plasma at all. While I absolutely love reading your story (and the previous two back stories), the CLT in me got a button pushed.
Ignoring that jargon this is another angsty chapter and I have to say that I was really uncomfortable reading about Rylee... but then I think it's a good mark of how well you write. Not to mention it'd take a pretty twisted individual to not be bothered with it. I wish there was some way for River to realize she just did something no one else could have possibly done, something that no one ever did for her: she reached out and gave comfort when no means of comfort could be rationally given. I guess my heart is just aching for River who I still maintain is getting royally shafted (and really, don't you think she has met the lifetime quota of crap in her life?)
I still maintain that Simon needs to blow a gasket and release some of this tension before he implodes.
I tried to comment before and it got eaten by the comment gremlin. But I'll try to reconstruct... and hope I don't sound too foolish. ;-)
I agree with Leiasky that Simon is going t be in trouble very soon if he doesn't get to talk to someone who can really grasp his frame of reference and empathize with what he is dealing with.
I'm not sure if he would have a spectacular, yelling and screaming break... or if he'd go quietly- a hiding in his room and writing on the walls kind of crazy.
It would nice to be see Mal reach out to Simon in coming chapters; to allow the doc to work thorugh his grief. I say Mal because even though he and Simon were not close in the series or the film - as others have pointed out, they are very much alike. And while husbands and wives are usually one another's support system, I don't know if Kaylee if capable of helping Simon right now. Even if she tries, even if they share their grief with eachother, i don't know if Kaylee really understands the part of Simon's character that makes him a Protector with a capital P - or the he holds himself personally responsible for other people.
Mal could do it.... I think.
Also, we've got some babies that need namin'! I'm eager to find out how the little ones will be called. And BTW - has Daniel seen the new babies yet?
Although i feel really bad for how angry everyone is at River, she wasn't manipulating or using anyone, the blue hands found and tracked her. I hope it all works out all right, and that everyone gets out OK....although i'm a bit scared it's going to be River to make the "ultamate sacrifice"...
really wonderful, keep them coming!!
~ I like that Inara instinctually tried to comfort when and where it is needed.
Yay for the Mal/Inara lovin'.
I do hope that Gabriel or the BlueHands or both get to be tortured at least a little before it is all over.
Post Your Comments
You must log in to post comments.