Mal. Confusion, fear... uh-oh...

River was looking out towards the approaching mule, trying to get a feel for what was going to come next. From Simon, she got worry and concern. From Zoë, it was mostly the thought of her face on a gravestone, and Mal had more anger than anything. Jayne... well, she never really got much from him.

The mule zoomed up into the cargo bay, and Mal was out of the seat before it stopped moving. This wasn’t wise on his part, as while if he would have completed this stunt, it would have looked suave and attractive. Unfortunately, he tripped over a hammer and fell flat on his face. River almost could feel waves from his anger and annoyance. He tried to get up, but fell right back down. Now she felt a lot of pain too... like she hadn’t gotten enough of that in the last ten minutes. Mal started to talk into the grating of the floor.

“RIVER! I want to know WHY you toppled a poor old man off his shiny hover chair and started going at a speed even Serenity would envy!” River tried desperately to keep a straight face. This gave off her usual face that looked like she was going nuts. Simon got mad at Mal, went over to River, and started comforting her. River decided to give up the charade of being messed up for now. She broke out laughing, the first time she had in a while. It felt good. Felt like a long wind of events spilling through the cracks of Serenity’s walls. Mal did not find it so pleasant. “I want to know WHY you are laughing! Where’s Kaylee?” At the mention of Kaylee, River’s short-lived holiday came to an end, remembering the disturbing events that had just taken place.

“Ok,” she informed him. “Just sleeping. Will wake up soon. Thoughts are coming back.”

“Good!” Mal said, then did a double-take. “What do you mean sleeping?” Now was the part River had dreaded. She wanted to keep the boy’s existence secret- for now. But how was she going to explain all this?

“Kaylee. When I came here, the man was torturing her. Doing horrible things. She was sleeping.” The same question