SANCTUARY

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Author’s Note: There are spelling mistakes and tense mistakes, I Know. This has not been seen by a beta. Sarah forgive me. I used semicolons and ellipsis's. Tell me what y'all think about the story, not the grammar.

Disclaimer: Not mine, of course.

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“And his folks come by to fetch him, and it turns out he's, like, fourteen years old,” Kaylee’s voice echoed across Serenity’s cargo bay.

Book and Jayne thundered down the stairs, moving to the weight bench preparing to begin their usual routine of weight lifting starting with the bench press. Jayne sat down to begin his set of lifting repetitions as Book moved to spot for him. They conversed with one another and neither acknowledged the girls a few feet away.

Kaylee and River were sitting on the cargo bay floor, playing jacks. Laughing Kaylee continued her story, “I mean, he must've been some kind of genetic experiment, 'cause, I swear this guy was, uh...” She emphasized her point by waggling her eyebrows, “Oh, my daddy whipped me so hard.”

Kaylee bounced the ball and absently picked up her spoils of jacks as she challenged River, “Oh... I'm at fours. Let's see you match that.”

River took the ball in her hand and surveys hard at the scattered jacks on the floor.

“I can win this,” River studied the position of the jacks. Mathematically calculating the necessary position and force required to-be asserted for victory.

“Oh, I'm hearin' a lot of talk there, genius. Come on -- show me what you got,” Kaylee quips.

River only looked for a moment to reflect on the context of the quip before her attention was drawn back to the situation. Holding the little rubber ball in her fingertips, River studied the texture, marking the imperfections that would cause an unpredictable bounce if dropped on. Course chosen, she thrust the ball down. It followed its predetermined mathematical course.

River’s mind seemed to follow that rubbe