Life Onboard Serenity: #42 - Of Jobs, Vaults and Things Gone Wrong
POSTED BY: EnglishIvy
UPDATED: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 22:19
VIEWED: 30582
PAGE 12 of 14
John left his room in a huff. Dealing with his brother was always stressful. Even though he was three years older, Knives had always needed John more than vice versa. As he was walking, he saw Doc, just as angry as he was.
"What's wrong with you?" he said to her.
"I want off this gorram ship." she said turning to face him.
"Well when we get to a planet that you want to depart at, you can go."
"The planet doesn't matter. I want off this ship. Just drop me wherever you're headed next."
"I don't think you want that. See..."
"I don't care if you're dropping me on gorram Miranda. Let me off!"
"It's where my brother lives."
"I hate you." She stalked off.
Fantastic, someone just as angry about their next stop as he was. The ship needed work though, and, hopefully, Knives would pay.
johnttf
It is always darkest just before the dawn, unless the sun decides to quit, and then there will be no dawn, just darkest dark.
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Common Area outside the Infirmary
Quote:
Originally posted by GraysonCornwell:
"What exactly were you all doing?" Grayson asked.
"A job." Pain replied, looking across the way at Ivy sleeping in the infirmary. He listened to the monitors beep and watched her chest rise up and down before continuing, "One that we weren't the only one's on."
"Care to explain?" asked Grayson.
He didn't. At least not in great detail that would incriminate the crew. Pain thought it over in his mind on how he'd spin the tale of what happened and how Ivy got shot, without getting into too much detail about the cargo or where it happened.
"We weren't the only one's lookin' for the same thing." Pain replied, shifting his focus onto Grayson. "There was a shootout with the other crew there. They had gotten to what we were plannin' on gettin' first. Once they saw us, they started started shootin'. After most of them were taken care of, Ivy came down from the control room after havin' put the other ship on a land lock so it wouldn't get away. We were about to leave when some stragglers came about and opened fire. Ivy froze up behind the crates we were usin' for cover. Tommy came around after some cajolin' just as two of the stragglers came from where the control room was located. She managed to take one of the down, but not before she was wounded, which I didn't know about until later when I received no response from her. I too was shot, but you knew that. By the time I saw her layin' on the ground, she had lost a lot of blood."
He took a breath and finished, "It was 13 and I who took her back to the ship. Well I was the one who wanted to take her back and have the doc fix her. 13 wanted to leave her there, but I was havin' none of that. That's pretty much how it happened. After she was somewhat stabilized, I called you and I had it out with the captain because of that."
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Lost in thought, Mal walked back to his bunk. Once inside, he closed and locked the door then sat down. Pulling out Ivy's CorPad he had taken from Pain, he took a deep breath and watched the entire newsfeed.
"Today, a location that used human slavery was found on Greenleaf. The compound is believed to be a base for blackmarket drugs. A large building that may have been used to house the slaves was found burned to the ground. Three bodies were found in the rubble.
The rest of the compound was found vacant, apparently evacuated. Only one woman was found on site alive, we do not have her identity yet, but sources say that she had been a slave at this location for four months. She had been physically abused, including large scars on her back from a whip. Her psychological state is tenuous... Wait! Here they come..."
"Miss! Miss! What's your name? What was your role there? Do you know who kept you captive? Where did the scars come from?"
Throughout the shouts of questions, Grayson Cromwell could seen carrying her broken form past the reporters towards a law enforcement ship located on the dock.
"Leave her alone!" he was growling as the look on his face showed deep concern for her well being while at the same time the hatred of this new group who were assaulting Ivy. "Don't you think she's been through enough?"
Grayson fought through the crowd until her reached the ship and got himself and Ivy inside.
Mal was moved by two things. He could hear Ivy sobbing on the feed and he could see the look on Grayson's face as he carried her away from the press.
"You can't fake that," Mal whispered.
He played the feed in its entirety two more times before putting it down. Then he came to a decision. Pain was right the entire time. Ivy is exactly who she said she was; a plant and seed salesman. Grayson was exactly who he seemed; a concerned family friend.
Mal groaned.
"And here I was causing her more grief," he whispered.
Grief was not something a person who had gone through things like she did needed. A person like that deserved some peace and some happiness. And if you looked at the way Pain and her were when they were together, she was indeed happy.
Mal made a decision right there and then. He wasn't going to stand in the way. He hoped that Grayson would come to the realization that Ivy and Pain were happy too.
"Four months," Mal whispered. "A lot can happen in four months. and by the tell of it, it wasn't a picnic."
He thought for a couple more minutes, then grabbed the CorPad and left his bunk. He made his way to Inara's shuttle, actually knocked first then entered.
"Inara," he asked. "I wonder if you might give me your opinion on something..."
He turned on the news feed and handed it to Inara.
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Quote:
Originally posted by DRPAIN:
"It was 13 and I who took her back to the ship. Well I was the one who wanted to take her back and have the doc fix her. 13 wanted to leave her there, but I was havin' none of that. That's pretty much how it happened. After she was somewhat stabilized, I called you and I had it out with the captain because of that."
Again, Grayson noticed that Pain had mentioned "having it out" with the Captain.
"Do you "have it out" a lot with the Captain?" he asked.
Pain smiled a bit.
"Not usually."
"But it's been more often lately?"
Pain shrugged.
"Just a couple of times," Pain revealed. "But don't you worry none. Mal's a good man. He'd never want to see any harm come to her. Hell, he even gave her a blood transfusion."
Grayson thought about it. However abrasive the Captain had been when he first came on board, he was certainly loyal to his crew. Grayson shook his head a little, before his thoughts came back to 13. Pain had said 13 wanted to leave her there where she had gotten shot.
"But 13 didn't care that harm came to her?"
"13 wouldn't... He weren't gonna leave her there. He just..." Pain started. The fact is that he didn't know what to think about 13's behavior lately. "He's not usually like this. I don't understand why he's been acting the way he is. I guess he just figured bringing her back would've been pointless."
"Pointless? Why?"
Pain froze for a second. He took a deep breath.
"She was dead. Heart wasn't beating at all. And there was so much blood," Pain whispered as his head fell in his hands, remembering how close he had been to losing her. "But I wouldn't take no for an answer."
She was dead. Those words reverberated through Grayson's head. He looked at the distress written on Pain's face and for the first time since he arrived on Serenity, he began to believe the man. Pain really did love Ivy. 3 points to the positive for Pain's account with him.
"Even if she would've passed..." Pain said as he choked a little on the words. "I wouldn't've left her. I would've found a way to get her back to you. For a decent burial and all...
"But we don't have to think on that anymore. She's gonna be OK. She's gonna be just fine."
Pain said he would have made sure Ivy was returned to him if things had gone badly. Pain had a sense of what was right. A sense of following things to the very end to make sure everything was as it should be. 13 would have left her there and she would've died in obscurity without him ever knowing what happened. Pain said he would've made sure she got home. 5 points in the positive column for Pain.
"When I thought I lost her earlier, I just kept thinking about how I would have to spend more time at her family's grave site. I'm glad I don't have to," Grayson admitted. "It just seems like yesterday that I was burying her father."
Pain looked up at Grayson.
"She wouldn't say, but what happened to her father?" Pain asked.
Grayson sighed.
"The town they lived in was a small agricultural area. Slavers came and decimated everything," Grayson told him. "I was nearby, so I was one of the first responders. When I got there, dozens of bodies littered the town. They killed every male over the age of sixteen or anyone who armed themselves. Apparently went house to house and killed who they didn't want or who would take too much care. Elderly women, a handicapped man, anyone who was sick, even two pregnant..."
Grayson set his jaw and paused a moment.
"Even two pregnant ladies. One was due in a week. All in all
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John entered the infirmary hoping Mal would still be there. Unfortunately, he saw only Ivy and Simon. He was about to leave when he realized he needed to talk to Ivy, clear the air a little bit.
"Simon," he called entering the room, "can I have a moment with Ivy?"
"She not in much condition to have it out with anyone, she needs rest..."
"I won't be long, and I'll be civil."
"Ok. Be quick. I need to go get some things from my bunk anyway."
John moved further into the room and sat on a chair near the operating table, where Ivy was in and out of sleep. He waited for a moment until she was awake.
"Ivy, I have something I need to say to you. We got off on the wrong foot. As much as I'd like to be able to just wave a magic wand and have it all disappear I can't just dismiss my problem here. Ivy, you've been through trauma, and as I said before, that doesn't make you special. You were a slave, and that's awful. But half the people..." John stopped suddenly as he felt Tommy emerge.
"Tommy," he said forcefully, but not loudly, "go away. I need to talk to her. I don't care how much you feel the need to protect her, it's her life and she has to live it." John waited to see if she would back off.
johnttf
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Quote:
Originally posted by johnthetheatrefreak:
"Tommy," he said forcefully, but not loudly, "go away. I need to talk to her. I don't care how much you feel the need to protect her, it's her life and she has to live it." John waited to see if she would back off.
"No," Tommy calmly, but groggily told him. "Don't give me that 'you were a slave, it's awful but it doesn't make you special' crap. You don't know what it was like for her or what it was like to do what she..."
Tommy's eyes drooped, but she fought to keep conscious.
"Let's just say that it was infinitely worse than any mere worker slave experience. That would be a cake walk compared to what she went through," Tommy continued. "And I agree that it is her life and she should live it. But that's why I am here. To isolate the horrific memories and take her out of danger so she can live it. Else she'd still be in that hospital curled up in a corner wishing that someone would put her out of her misery.
"She's living now," Tommy said as her eyes drooped again. "I'm just helping her do that. Don't. Mess. With. Her."
The last part was definitely a thinly veiled warning. She faded back into unconsciousness only to come out a minute later, this time as Ivy.
"I'm sorry, John," she whispered. "I must have dropped off. What were you saying?"
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John was tempted to yell at Tommy before she faded back. Tommy had absolutely no idea of what he had gone through not to mention the others on the ship.
"Ivy, I was trying to say that what happens to us isn't important, it's how we deal with what happens. Right now, you aren't doing to well in that regard. You can't stand on your own. You lean on Grayson or Pain, and when they're not available, you lean on Tommy. If you can't face what's happened to you, you haven't moved on, you aren't living. You're hiding. I can't tell you how to live your life, I'm no expert in that regard, but I can tell you as someone who hid from their tragedy, hiding doesn't work."
johnttf
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"Hiding?" Ivy asked a little confused. "I'm not hiding from..."
Her voice trailed off as she got a far away look on her face. Her lips quivered and a tear slipped down her face.
"I don't want to..." she whispered, eyes pleading with John. "John, it was... it was... Something bad happened..."
A gunshot resounded in her head. Her eyes grew as big as saucers as a strangled sob escaped her lips. A single gunshot resounded in her head again. And again.
"NOOOOOOOOOO..." she screamed, but in her weakened state, it sounding more like a wail.
Tommy tried sliding forward, but she was weakened and couldn't get a firm foothold and slid back. Ivy screamed out again as she tried to get up.
"I can't... I can't..." she whispered, her eyes darting every which way as her arms tried to support her escape. "Don't... Don't... I..."
Ivy managed to knock off one of the cardiac leads and the monitors went wild.
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On the Common Area Couch
Grayson and Pain sat there for a spell. The lawman and the mercenary, both a hair's breadth away from the other. They each had one thing in common. Their love for Ivy and need to keep her safe. Grayson's love for her was more of the fatherly type, while Pain's was more intimate like a lover's. Pain had gathered a great deal of information about her past from the lawman, and he was deeply grateful for that.
Both of them perked up when they heard the scream coming from the infirmary, they both looked at each other with a concerned look in their eyes as a wail of frantic beeping sounded. Only one thing on both of their minds at that time.
Ivy.
Pain was the first to get off the couch. Grayson was close enough at his heels that Pain could smell his aftershave. Their hearts were pounding and their blood racing as they rounded the corner in what seemed like slow motion. As Pain saw her in the exam chair thrashing about and John the room with her, he immediately knew what was happening. She was having another meltdown.
"She's having another episode! Someone get the doctor! She needs to be drugged!" demanded Grayson as he looked at Ivy from inside the doorway.
Pain, shot the lawman a look and told him, "We don't need him or the drugs. I can handle this." Turning to Ivy, he wrapped his arms gently around her, careful not to touch any of the bandaged areas, and calmy said to her, "It's alright, baobei, I'm here. Don't look, sweetie, just don't look. You got that, darlin'? Don't look."
He wasn't going to get into a fight with John over this, yell, or get angry at the man and fellow crew mate. Too much of that had already happened over Ivy and they didn't need anymore. The only thing Pain wanted to do was get Ivy calmed back down and that's what he intended on doing.
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John was amazed. Ivy couldn't handle what had happened to her even a little bit. As she started having and attack, he stood in disbelief. When Pain and Grayson walked in and began calming her, John couldn't take it anymore. Maybe it was the influence of the tense emotion in the room, but John couldn't hold it in.
"See! This is exactly what I mean! At the slightest mention of your past you freak out and they come running. Do you realize how lucky you are? Scream once and you have not one, but two people who drop whatever they're doing and come straight to your side. Most people don't have that luxury. Despite what happened before, you are so blessed to have what you have now. So get over the past. This endless cycle of freaking out and needing saving is pathetic. Stand on your own feet for a change."
With that he turned and began to walk out.
johnttf
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