When to Keep Silent
Friday, April 20, 2007
A few heart-felt moments in the continuing story of Mal and Little Zoë. Mal is desperate to hear his son speak; Mal and Little Zoë fight (the ‘my life sucks’ teen right of passage); Mal remembers his best friend. <a href="http://www.fireflyfans.net/bluesun.aspx?bid=16066"Namesake</a> series, part 9.
CATEGORY: FICTION TIMES READ: 3649 RATING: 9.0 (G) SERIES: FIREFLY
A.N. Tissue warning: I cried when I wrote the last bit (though maybe only because I know what comes next). If your heart is soft, read with tissues. To catch up, start with and read following the links till you get back here.
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PART 25: HE LISTENED
The ship was quiet, but finally felt whole again with Little Zoë back on board. As Mal made his final walkabout, he passed Jayne in the corridor and knew the man had been watching Zoë sleep. Knew because that’s what he intended to do as soon as his work was done. He came down the stairs to the passenger dorms – now the children’s quarters. At times, he wondered how much sleep they actually got, because they rarely awoke in the same rooms they were set down in.
He saw, more than heard, the door to Michael’s room slide open and the boy tip-toe down the hall. With his sandy brown hair and pale blue eyes, Sky had nicknamed him mini-Mal, and both of them hated her for it. Without a sound, Michael slid open the door to Zoë’s room and slipped stealthily inside. Mal was about to call him out, but it was Zoë’s first night back and he knew that Michael missed his big sister.
“Jie-jie,” Michael whispered. Where Zoë could be terse, Michael could be downright laconic. Mal rarely had a conversation with the boy that exceeded two sentences, and heaven knew he had tried.
Zoë yawned and stretched, lifting the covers to invite Michael into the bed. “I was wondering when you’d come, di di. I missed you.”
“So loud. Hard to hear sometimes,” Michael complained tiredly. Mal furrowed his brow, making a note to talk to Simon in the morning.
“Dinner was a bit rowdy,” Zoë agreed with a grin.
“Dinner and daytime.”
“So tell me what all I missed.”
A wide smile broke on Michael’s face immediately. “Baba taught me how to clean a gun!”
Mal chuckled silently, pleased to hear the boy so excited about a moment they’d shared nearly a month ago. But he nearly collapsed when Michael
You can't take the sky from me
>>Taking a few deep breaths, he closed his eyes and emptied his mind of every fear and worry that plagued him until all that was left was the gentle hum of Serenity’s engines. And then, carried like the sent of honey suckle on a summer wind, little Michael’s voice surfaced, and he began to speak.<<
I'm really feeling for Mal here - but where is Inara? When he's breaking down and Zoe's running off? Not that she can fix everything, but still ... she should be there. And I know lil' Zoe was mad, but she said some very awful things about her mama, and that should not go unnoticed.
Really hope that Zoe finds out just how much pain Mal's in and learns that he is doing his best in raising her when it should have been Zoe Senior. That or Zoe finds out that just because the law says something, doesn't mean it will be followed to the letter...
BEB
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