Title: Complements

Author: Ana Sedai

Rating: PG

Character(s): River

Prompt: 046 – Need

Word Count: 470

Summary: There are no sure things in life, but there is always a chance.

A/N: 8/100 for Joss100. Sorry about the slow updates. I’ll be on vacation for the next two weeks, but I’ll try to have a few ready to post when I get back.

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There are times when River wonders if she is what the Captain really needs. If he is what she needs. Does she love him? Complicated question. What is love? Even more complicated. She has seen and felt it, but more from others than herself. It’s so hard to separate them sometimes.

Wash and Zoë had been warm and steady and comfortable, like being wrapped in a blanket in front of a fire on a cold night. She’d basked in them when they were close. She doesn’t like being close to Zoë anymore. She feels battered by the depth of her need. The love Zoë has was tethered to Wash. Now he is gone and that love has been left flapping and twisting in the shrieking wind of her grief.

Kaylee and Simon are different. She is sunlight and singing birds and a gentle breeze, while he is green trees and dark, rich earth. She shines on him and gives him life. He gives her a place to nest and feel safe. Well, when he isn’t acting like a boob, of course, which he still does on occasion. Then he gives her something to squawk at.

She has watched the Captain and Inara, listened to them. Whenever River sees the Captain and Inara together, she is reminded of the story of the Sirens, those mythical sea creatures whose songs were so hypnotic that they lured any sailor who heard them into the sea to drown.

Inara is the Captain’s Siren. She does not want to be, but she is, and she knows it. But she cannot make herself leave for good. Because the Captain is also Inara’s Siren. They thrash at each other and at themselves, torn between who they are and what they think they want. If they break free, they will drown