A/N: Sad to say, the angst is not really going to ease up anytime soon ... but did you really expect any less from me?

Thanks again to Leiasky for the beta!

I've been trying to think of a really, really good way to beg for comments and keep coming up empty. So here's a thought ... DON'T MAKE ME BEG!

http://www.fireflyfans.net/bluesun.aspx?bid=15760>Chapter 1

http://www.fireflyfans.net/bluesun.aspx?bid=15783>Chapter 2

http://www.fireflyfans.net/bluesun.aspx?bid=15892>Chapter 3

http://www.fireflyfans.net/bluesun.aspx?bid=15910>Chapter 4

Link to http://www.geocities.com/maegovannen/Firefly/Joss100Challenge.html>prompt table

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The Right To Love - Chapter 5 (Prompts 31-40)

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031. Parent

As Jayne blew the door off Mal’s cell using one of his precious grenades, River sprinted through the gaping hole, not even waiting until the smoke had cleared. She couldn’t wait – there wasn’t time; daddy was dying.

Despite the urgency with which she felt his life ebbing away she did freeze at the sight of him. Bloody, beaten; her throat constricted as giant sobs, too big to cry, welled and caught there.

“River, gorramit, girl! We gotta go!” Jayne was growling at her, his voice and eyes intense as he tried to hoist Mal’s limp form up and other his shoulder.

River watched for one more second as Captain Daddy’s head fell at a sickening angle against Jayne’s shoulder, before wiping her eyes and turning, gun in hand, ready to fight her way back out – back home.

032. Child

It had only been three days, right?

That was it, three days, seventy-two hours, and yet the woman Simon beheld before him now was barely recognizable. Bruised and broken, her limbs cocked at odd angles, her face – her beautiful face – torn by fists and weapons.

She was unconscious, and as Simon knelt before her, he thanked the Gods for that one kindness – that she was unconscious, that she couldn’t feel