Title: Departures

By Duskwing

Fandom: Firefly

Pairing: Mal/Simon

Rating: R

Summary: River overheard

Archive: If your want it, just let me know.

Disclaimer: Not mine

Feedback: Would love it

Spoilers: Minor ones for first ep

Warning: Written quickly, wanted to get it out before this last ep and failed. Not beta'ed. Would love to see a sequel, but I know I won't write it.

Departures
By Duskwing

"You're wrong." Simon stood rigid, his back firmly to his sister. Never since he'd recovered River from the Alliance had he so wished he'd left her behind as he did right now.

"Heard them talking. Heard him say it." River sat curled against the headboard of the only treatment bed. Dark hair cloaked her face, but it wasn't that which kept her from seeing the effect her words had on her brother.

"What exactly did he say?" Simon's head drooped, unconsciously mirroring his sister's pose.

"He'll give me to..." River's voiced faded as visions of times not so long past filled her mind and choked off speech.

He couldn't comfort her, couldn't move beyond his own pain, his own confusion, and a deepening sense of betrayal. Still, he struggled to defend the man who'd given Simon the first sanctuary since River's first disappearance. "He wouldn't." He pushed away from the counter to face the bed. Once again he found himself trying to argue logic with a girl whose mind was nearly always in chaos. "Why would he? The ship needs a doctor. Why take us in simply to turn us over to the Alliance? He hates them as much as you or I." Simon gentled towards his sister as his own emotions calmed. "You must have misheard, River. The Captain wouldn't do that."

"He said he was biding his time. Waiting for the right moment." She pinned her brother with an uncannily sharp look. "Perhaps they're waiting until they know exactly the worth of their cargo before approaching a buyer."

He dropped onto the bed beside her, searching his sister's eyes for something to explain this betrayal. "Why would he?"

River covered his hand with her own, finding herself in the unaccustomed role of comforter. "Oh, Simon. For profit." And then she began tracing the pattern of the squares formed by the blanket's weave.

At her side, time passed silently as Simon moved from disbelief to acceptance and began planning how once more he and River would disappear. Once he felt his legs would hold him, Simon rose from his sister's side. "Well, then. We'll just have to disappoint the Captain, won't we."

***************

"I've poisoned them."

Wash looked up from where he crouched over the still form of his wife when Simon spoke. He'd lowered Zoe from her chair when she'd become lightheaded during dinner and stayed with her even as Shepherd, Jayne, Kaylee, Amara and finally Mal also succumbed to what was apparently the doctor's treachery.

"Excuse me?" Wash couldn't quite grasp what Simon was telling him. The doctor gently lowered Mal's head to the deck. The captain of Serenity had struggled to his feet when the effects of what the doctor has slipped into their meals hit him. Mal had instinctively reached for the ship's doctor, and Simon had moved quickly to his side to slowly lower the captain to the deck.

Simon trailed a gentle finger across Mal's brow before repeating himself. "I've poisoned them."

"You what?!" In a few quick steps, Wash was around the table and had pulled Simon to his feet by his collar. Simon's back impacted the bulkhead as the pilot shook him once before asking, "Why?"

"I need you to do something for me, Wash." Simon was strangely calm, as though he held all the cards. And as far as Wash knew, Simon did.

"You could have just asked."

"I doubt that very much, Wash." Simon pushed the other man back, freeing himself.

"River overheard the Captain's plans for her." Simon glanced over to where River stood cringing in the corner by the mess door, where she's been since Kaylee had passed out onto the table. "I'm going to make sure he doesn't get the chance to enact them."

Wash stood dumbfounded. During the time the doc had been with them, the pilot had had no hint that Simon was capable of this kind of deception. Oh, he'd taken Jayne down easily enough during that train robbery fiasco, but that had been...well, convenient, not to mention amusing. Never had Wash considered that the doc might act against them all. And his wife and friends were dying for their lack of caution. Wash stepped back, closer to his friends and farther from this stranger.

"What do you mean? What plans?"

"Your plans to turn my sister over to the Alliance. Now, I need you to listen carefully, Wash, because they don't have much time."

"Simon, what-"

Simon cut the pilot off. "You really don't have time for questions, not if you want your friends to live."

Wash advanced on the doctor again. "God damn it, you-"

Simon stopped him with a raised hand. "You need to listen to me." The pilot froze, quivering with the conflicting desire to kill this man and to tend to his wife.

"What do you want, Simon?"

"I need you to turn this ship around, Wash. You'll dock at the nearest station. Once my sister and I have disembarked, I'll contact you to let you know what the antidote is. I promise, it will be easy for you to administer it-"

"You piece of shit!" Unable to contain his anger any longer, Wash shoved the doctor against the bulkhead once more. "You tell me right now, or so help me, I'll shove you out the nearest airlock."

Simon merely grinned at Wash. It was an expression the pilot had never seen on the doctor's face before, a combination of anger, desperation, and perhaps a great deal of sorrow.

"I've got nothing to lose here, Wash. If we don't get off this ship, my sister's dead or worse. You, however, have everything in the world to lose." And then there was nothing is the doctor's eyes but rage. "You all brought this on yourselves."

"The Captain saved your lives, you mother fucker!"

"Only to sell them to the highest bidder!" Simon flung the other man back. "River heard him talking to-"

"No."

The quiet voice from near the door captured the attention of both men. Simon approached his sister slowly, aware that any more noise and abrupt movement might force her further into her Alliance-induced solitude. "No what, River?"

"Didn't hear Captain."

"What's that, sweetie?" Simon drew nearer.

"Not Captain. Heard him," and River pointed to where Jayne sat slumped in his chair. "He said it."

Simon stared at her, his mind racing at this revelation.

"Jayne? You did this because of something Jayne said?" Wash advanced on the siblings. "Jayne's always shooting his fucking mouth off. Mal wouldn't have hurt River, Doc. Even in the short time you've been here, you must have seen that."

Simon turned to the pilot, stunned comprehension in his eyes. "I didn't...I just..River...." His eyes sought the collapsed forms of his shipmates. "Dear Lord."

"You fix this, Simon, right now." Wash growled. His command was met with silence. "Simon..."

"No."

"No?" Wash grasped the other man's shoulder and spun him around. "You did this. You fix it, damn it. I want the antidote."

"He'd never-" Simon brushed Wash's hand away. "They'll never forgive me. I couldn't..." He took a shaky step towards the table. It looked as though his feet might not carry him that far, but eventually he reached the chair nearest Mal. For a moment he gazed down at the fallen man, and then he knelt at his side. "I never..." Simon's voice faltered. He leaned down and, to Wash's astonishment, brushed a soft kiss across Mal's lips. It looked as if he wanted to again, but instead Simon straightened and, emotionless, met Wash's eyes.

"No."

***********

Wash punched the comm button. "Alright, Simon, I want the antidote.""

The doctor's voice came across the speaker as the pilot fidgeted anxiously in his chair. "Wash, I'm truly sorry. I wish-"

Wash cut him off before he could finish. Glaring at the station framed by the bridge's main window as if it was Simon, he snarled, "Simon, I don't give a shit. Tell me how to help them."

The comm carried the other man's sigh. "They'll be fine, Wash. It was just a sedative. Kaylee might take a little longer to come out of it, but it should wear off for all of them in about three hours." Wash couldn't think of a response.

Simon spoke again. "I am sorry, Wash. Tell them...Never mind, it doesn't matter."

"Doc?"" But there was no answer. Wash wondered briefly about what would happen to Simon and River without Serenity's protection. But his concern for his wife overrode all others and he ran back to watch over her until she, and the others, awoke.

END