A NEW DAY, ch. 20: Burnt Bridges
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Set three months after A NEW BEGINNING. Rylee is home again, but is still haunted by her kidnapping. Simon and Kaylee make an announcement while River explains Jayne why she is so driven to have a child. Jayne tries to reason with Simon with dastardly results. S/K, R/J, M/I
CATEGORY: FICTION TIMES READ: 3273 RATING: 9.0 (G) SERIES: FIREFLY
A/N: I wouldn't say there's a lot of fluff in this chapter either, although not quite the heart-wrenching angst of previous ones either. Remember, we've got 33 chapters in this little saga - so there are still miles to go before we sleep.
Thanks to Leiasky for the great beta - and please keep those comments coming - you know how much I crave feedback!
***
A NEW DAY, ch. 20: Burnt Bridges
***
In the early morning light, Danny watched his sister from across the table as she dug into her cereal with a vengeance. She had been home now for about a week and as he continued to stare at her, he had the vaguest sense that they had been here before, in this exact same spot, doing this exact same thing.
Raising her eyes to him, she said around a mouthful of food, “We did. About three months ago, ‘member?”
Startled at her interjection, Daniel blinked quickly and frowning at her, whined, “Hey! I thought we agreed? No reading my mind.”
Grinning sheepishly at him, Rylee again dropped her eyes to her bowl and said quietly, “Oh yeah, oops, sorry.”
Having no choice but to laugh at her unapologetic apology, the two siblings were giggling furiously by the time their mother and father appeared, carrying one baby each. Looking up to them with happy eyes, Daniel said brightly, “Morning!”
Sharing a parental grin, Kaylee and Simon both moved towards the table, greeting each of their oldest children with kisses and “Good mornings,” before moving to feed the twins. While Kaylee would have preferred to breast feed, the stress surrounding the babies’ first few weeks had made that nearly impossible, so as Simon moved to heat their formula, Kaylee sat down at the table, balancing both of the tiny bundles and looked to Rylee.
“Do you wanna hold one of ‘em, baby?” Kaylee asked her, eyes shining with hope that maybe today Rylee would show some affection towards her new siblings.
With a grimace and a wrinkled nose, Rylee shook her head and said quietly, “No. They smell.”
Leaning
You can't take the sky from me
Simon's got so much residual stuff going on it hurts to watch him try and muddle through it all! Kaylee's outburst in part 2 about him caring more about his sister than his family is still hanging on and after all that's happened, he's having a difficult time sorting out how best to deal with everything. I think taking Kaylee and the kids away and starting anew might be just what he needs to try and forgive his sister. Plus, no one will know where they are, no Alliance or blue handed men will be able to locate them. If they stayed on Harvest, it would be easier, yes, but sometimes people just need to break free and start over.
I loved the fight between Simon and Jayne, and Simon's brief discussion with River. He didn't say he'd never forgive her, but he needs to get away and put his family first before he can even try. Poor guy has gotten it from every side imagineable and is just trying to do what he feels is best to protect his family.
I loved the conversation between Cadie/River and Jayne though. Very touching.
River is reminding me somewhat of a battered wife going back her husband. She has a specific goal in mind, but she's still going back to search for the people who hurt her. There is the potential that they will be able to immobilize her against her will (safe word, etc.). If things go badly for her, how will she get out? Has she made any preparations for backup, or is she relying solely on herself and Jayne here? She cannot and should not rely on Simon to get her out again. Mal has his own family to look after, and Regan seems to have little influence in this area.
River's willingness to continue to risk her safety makes me wonder if she isn't doing this to get an antidote, but because she cannot terminate the relationship between herself and her abusers.
Can't wait to read Kaylee and Simon's response to River going back to the Core - it ought to be a doozy.
Definatly Simon's (not that I ever doubted Kaylee)
'No, she's not pregnant'
LMAO
I agree with SuzFromOz, I figured they would stay on Harvest.
During their agument, I actually thought River was going to hit Simon, that got the heart racin'.
I don't no exactly how River plans to get that antidote, but I know it will be exciting and full of angst. Look forward to it.
Wow, this is possibly my longest comment ever.
It's a fresh start for all of them and a way to distance themselves from all the bad.
Thanks again for all the great comments - you guys rock!
Forgive me if his was addressed in an earlier part of the story, Tamsibling, but would it have been feasible for River to ask Simon before the abduction, before things got so bad -) to create or recreate the antidote for her? He did something similar in the series; baded on his information about wha had been done to River, Simon synthesized medicaions that might help her.Couldn't he have done the same with the antidote?
That's the question. :-)
On to the comment: I think it is a mistake for Simon and Kaylee to ignore Rylee's hostile feelings toward Emma and Ethan. Ry has never been happy about the twins, from the moment she became aware of them, and now she is traumatized in addition to having some (possibly) normal jealousy.
When she says, "I hate them" and refuses to hold them, or look at them... I'd be inclined to take that VERY seriously. Kids that age probably don't lie about their feelings.
I wonder why s/K didn't take the opportunity, while Rylee was in treatment with Alicia, to get some advice on how to handle Rylee's hostility towards the twins.
Rylee's feelings in this regard matter a lot, and they won't just go away by telling her "oh, don't feel that way" or by ignoring what she says.
I'm afraid she might harm the babies later, if her feelings are not addressed now, and if she is not helped in dealing with them. A wave to Alicia might be in order. :-)
Amazing work yet again, TamSibling! Definitely fascinated by how you're keeping things cracking with Rylee's emotional hostility, River's continued drive towards finding the antidote, and Simon's rigid but crumbling stance on River's affect on his family:D
Gotta agree with Tresta though...got mighty bad feelings about Rylee's serious hostility towards Emma and Ethan. Especially when I get the feeling that you're gonna make Rylee's pain concerning her new siblings something a lot more serious than a young child's issues over her siblings making her mom sick and prevent her dad from helping to rescue her;)
Not sure how I really feal about River's continued drive to find a cure for her infertility. On the one hand, she's essentially playing into the clutches of the Hands of Blue, via her risky search for something that we have no solid proof actually exists or properly works. On the other hand, the Alliance and the Academy took away something massively important to River: the choice to have offspring. I can see her point about having children is the only thing where being normal or not really doesn't matter...but I got to wonder if she's gonna have a uber-Greek tragedy moment on her hands by the end:(
BEB
Raising her eyes to him, she said around a mouthful of food, “We did. About three months ago, ‘member?”
~ BWAHAHAHA !!!
Yay for a bit of Zoe, I have missed reading about her in recent chapters.
As soon as she turned that annoyed gaze to him though, he knew he’d guessed right. Shaking his head slowly, he muttered, “Ai ya, River, if you ain’t as stubborn as a constipated mule.”
~ BWAHAHAHA #2 !!!
“I mean, what happened to me, all those years ago, it’s never going to go away. It will always be with me, in some form or another.”
~ IMHO, it's what made her a Reader, so of course it is something she can never forget
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Talkin’,” Jayne murmured
~ Well, he is the PR guy for Serenity
I liked the Cadie/River scene at the end.
Post Your Comments
You must log in to post comments.