A NEW DAY, ch. 24: Usual Suspects
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Sequel to A NEW BEGINNING. River and Simon are reunited with less than positive results. S/K, R/J, M/I
CATEGORY: FICTION TIMES READ: 3326 RATING: 9.0 (G) SERIES: FIREFLY
A/N: Well, here's what you've been waiting for - I think! Simon and River meet again ...
Thanks to all who continue to read and respond, even when you're not totally digging it, I appreciate your feedback and comments.
And thanks again to Leiasky for the beta, who, no matter how much I send her, just keeps plugging through it until it's done!
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A NEW DAY, ch. 24: Usual Suspects
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“Ai ya!”
River heard Jayne’s pained cry a minute before she stepped into the room. Frowning at his stubbornness, she rushed to him as he tried to work his injured shoulder into a shirt.
“And you call me stubborn,” she muttered, standing in front of him and pushing him into a sitting position on the edge of the bed. Giving him a hard glare, she said, “I told you I would help you in just a bit. You should still be resting.”
Shrugging which only served to pain him more, Jayne gritted his teeth and told her, “I got tired o’ waitin’.”
Sighing heavily, River crossed her arms over her chest and did not relent on her harsh gaze until Jayne finally dropped his eyes to the floor and murmured, “Sorry.”
Moving to help him dress, climbing onto the bed behind him and manipulating his arm very gently, River told him, “We’re not going to land on Aberdeen for another four hours at least.”
Nodding, Jayne gritted his teeth as another shot of pain coursed through his arm. “Yeah, I know, I jus’ don’t wanna be all groggy from sleepin’ when we see ‘em.” Glancing over his shoulder to her, he teased, “I may have to hit Simon again.”
Frowning at him, River ran her hands to the front of his shirt and started to button it. “There will be no hitting, dong ma?”
Reaching up with his uninjured arm, Jayne placed his hand over hers and whispered, “Whatever you say, darlin’.”
Turning her own playful gaze to him, as she came back around to kneel before him and finish her buttoning, she said, “Okay, I know that’s the medicine talking. You’ve never given up on the chance to fight that readily.”
Good. As far as I recall, River has not once admitted that she did something she shouldn't have done. She has excuses and explanations, but hasn't taken responsibility for her screw up.
No matter how many tears River and Kaylee squeeze out, I'm still firmly on Simon's side here. Make River suffer so she truly realizes what she did.
On the up side, that's probably all Simon really needs - to know that she realizes her mistake and that she won't do it again. Then he can start to trust her.
And she's compounding old mistakes by the minute: she didn't tell those who needed to know that she was going back to the Core, and she still won't be honest with her brother. Instead of coming clean and regaining some trust with Simon, she still, still decides to hide what she's been up to, forcing him to force another confrontation with her. Add in Jayne Cobb and his knee-jerk defense of his wife, and it's going to get pretty hairy in that living room.
And I can't tell you how appalled I am with Kaylee still - if Simon had up and slapped her instead of it being the other way around, Mal would have shot Simon outright. Kaylee seems to think the words she spoke that night were worse than her actions; she certainly doesn't reference her slap at all. And her belief that she immediately regretted her words is merely Kaylee creatively editing her memory.
I still think Simon should kick both his sister and his wife to the curb. It's not an issue of making the other parties suffer, it's more about Simon realizing he doesn't have to suffer abuse from those who claim to love him.
You can't take the sky from me
Taking her hand, he pulled her up to him and told her, “Then I’ll hit ‘em.”
~ Very nice, typical Jayne response
“Did I break him?”
~ I like the visual image here of little Daniel being able to break Jayne in some way
“Go on now. Me an’ Simon gotta catch up anyways.”
~ He must be delirious from the pain, yeah, that's it
I really liked the entire Simon/Jayne scene.
I seriously disagree that this messed-up situation is River's fault - or, at least, as Alicia implied earlier (don't think I said how much I appreciated her reappearance, Tamsibling), if Simon is to argue that it is her fault, he also has to ascribe his relationship with Kaylee and the fact that he has children by her at all entirely and exclusively to River, as he wouldn't have blundered onto Serenity in the first place if not for her. The whole thing is two-way.
In addition, I genuinely don't believe it is so, and to be honest I don't think, TS, that you're making the situation... ambiguous enough, I suppose. I'm finding it too easy to see Simon as completely obstreporous and River as just as much the helplessly struggling victim as she always has been. From the other responses it seems to be just my reading angle to blame, but though I see a lot of one-way *emotional appeal* in Simon's pleas, I don't see any logic or rational justification.
And I don't see this going well at all.
As much as I can see Simon's side - though I believe he's simply being pig-headed, stubborn, and short sighted with a severe case of tunnel vision - I am firmly on River's side. Ultimately, as I said in one comment before, Gabriel and the Blue Hands located Serenity because Mal and crew took that job into the core, can't remember which planet. Even if River hadn't been looking around on the Cortex - and it was never expressed in the story that she was doing anything illegal, like hacking, to cause undue attention - they STILL would have located Serenity because they were keeping an eye out (Gabriel was actively seeking revenge), found a way to get some kind of tracking device on the ship, interecepted the waves, and learned about Simon's kids.
No one single action taken by one single character can create a direct causal link to Rylee being kidnapped. I understand Simon's need to be angry and blame someone, but for Christ's sake, blame the people who actually took her and tortured her!!
As for River's latest secret, the fact that the antidote was never made and she has no hope of getting it and thus having her own kid(s), that really isn't anyone's business other than River and Jayne's. I can understand River not wanting other people to know, make a big deal about it, and have it colour their perceptions of her. She needs to move past it and not have another thing that was done to her/taken from her define who she is as a person.
As for admitting mistakes. Yes, I'll agree that River probably should say to Simon that it was a bad idea for her to go poking around after the antitode and accept some degree of responsibility. Not all the responsibilty, cause see above. Should she admit she was wrong? I still say no. River had every right to try and chase down something that was important to her, an antidote that would fix one of the many evil, cruel, and vile things done to her. Could she have done it at a better time, in a better way? Yes. I'm actually surprised she and Jayne didn't take off on their own after the antidote a lot sooner. It would have kept the others safe, and I'm shocked it didn't happen earlier because I was totally expecting it. River's always demonstrated an awareness of what others, esp Simon, have sacrificed for her, and a desire to keep her family, blood and adoptive, safe.
“Did I break him?”
I adore these kids.
Still...you do unbelieably amazing work, TamSibling. The quality of angst and pain and anger and sadness and crushed hope and...all the tiny emotions that play in these scenarios was so extensive, I actually wanted to referee the Simon/Jayne clinic cage match:D
BEB
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