Title: Refugee
Author: scy
Feedback: scynneh@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: Not mine
Fandom: Firefly/Heroes
Pairing: Adam/River implied
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: up through both series
Summary: The world tilts and River adjusts
Author's Notes: I've talked about these two with both the_grynne and fan_elune. They raised some excellent points.
August 2008

The man was blond, like sun against white sand, and his clothes clung to him, midnight cool and dark. He was talking to Captain Reynolds, Zoe standing close by, and after they finished, he moved into the ship and Mal glanced around as if he knew she was there.

When he saw River, he beckoned her closer. "Now mind yourself, girl, we've got a passenger aboard for a spell."

Kaylee hurried down the stairs. "Where is he?"

"He was going to get him settled into his quarters," Mal said. "Then he had some business to conclude before we leave."

"What's he like?" Kaylee asked.

"He's got money," Mal said, and frowned.

"Is something wrong?" Zoe asked

"Nothing I can put my finger on, our guest just seems a little peculiar."

"But he's nice," Kaylee said.

"Not going to cause trouble," River said. “None that he doesn't need to.”

Mal gave them both sharp looks. "No, and I don't want anything coming up, so steer clear of him. He's paying us for transportation, nothing else."

Kaylee rolled her eyes. "All right, we won't bother him, but if he wants a little conversation, I'm not going to be rude." She walked past Mal, and he sighed.

"River," Mal said, and she looked upwards.

Mal snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Pay attention, little one, I don't want you to do anything that will cause problems." Mal sighed. "Even though I expect problems anyway. Understand?"

River nodded and stepped closer to Mal as Jayne levered himself off the crate he'd been slouching on.

“Do we trust him,” Jayne asked.

Zoe gave him a placid look and Mal snorted.

“Since when have we trusted anybody?”

“You trust me, right?”

“Lately,” Mal said. “You haven't done anything particularly objectionable.” He stared at Jayne and repeated. “Lately.

“Could have just said so.”

“He's just another paying passenger,” Mal said. “Won't be here long enough to be anything else.

River watched Monroe stowing his luggage and frowned. “He has plans inside of each other and never still.”

“What does that mean?”

“Darlin'?”  Mal asked and River blinked.

“He'll stay longer than you expect.”

“That can't be good, the girl getting all psychic about him.”

“Thank you, Jayne, I'd thought as much already.”

“We sure he's worth the trouble?” Zoe asked.

“We can always space him later,” Jayne said.

“Keep an eye on him,” Mal said, and Zoe nodded.

“If he doesn't something we don't like, I'll take care of him.” Jayne was holding one of his knives up and looking a bit too eager for bloodshed in the cargo bay.

“With you, that could be anything,” Zoe said.

“I'll tell you if you can kill him,” Mal said, to be clear.

Jayne said something unhappily, and Mal and Zoe acted as though they hadn't heard him.

“So long as there aren't any surprises, sir.”

“Good, so we'll let our guest go about his business, and get on with the job. Monroe is going to disembark somewhere on the way to Xenon, not too close to the Core. Things will be a bit busy the next couple weeks, but things should go smoothly.”

“Really?” Zoe asked and Mal glanced at her.

“What?”

“Nothing, sir, I'm just going to plan for everything else that usually happens when you say it's going to go well. I'll take a walk while we're planet-side, see what Monroe is up to.”

Mal turned to River. “Tell Kaylee that if you girls want your outing, you'd better be ready when we're ready for takeoff, we're not lingering long, understand?”

River smiled and ran off.

“She's even freakier when she's all happy like that,” Jayne said and wandered back to his crate.

River stepped off Serenity, walking lightly on the ground. Other people stomped and shouted, while she glided through the crowd without pause.

Some of them stopped and pointed at her, but River didn't need to know them, and went on her way.

The captain had told her she could go exploring so long as she was mindful of trouble.

River had agreed to watch out, and even Simon had let Kaylee convince him that the women needed some time to themselves.

Zoe went her own way, following the girls and Monroe more slowly, and Kaylee stopped in front of a store that had so much gleaming metal inside that it hurt River's eyes.

“Do you want to come in with me, sweetheart?” Kaylee asked, already staring and deciding what they needed and could afford.

River's skin prickled, and she remembered being tied down and waiting for sharpness to come for her.

“No, I'd better not.” She couldn't always be sure that she was striking out at the right thing and Serenity needed new pieces, so River would stay away from those bright moving parts.

“If you're sure,” Kaylee said.

“I won't go far,” River said and waved her on.

She had seen other shops, but didn't stray far, Kaylee would worry and the captain yelled the most when she got up to foolishness that he thought she couldn't be rescued from.

The shopkeeper looked askance at her bare feet, but River smiled and the man forgot why he'd been about to show the dark haired young lady the door.

"May I show you something?”

“No, I can find my way,” River said, and the man subsided, returning to his expense records.

River was standing by a glass sided case, top open under her quick fingers, when she felt the world swing back on its orbit.

As she staggered, River heard the owner speaking, but she couldn't understand the words. It sounded a little like Chinese but was strange to her ears.

The presence moved past, brushing by so close that the space between them was filled to capacity with potential actions and their responses.

Turning slightly, River saw Monroe, standing at the counter, and she wondered how he had held all that back when he'd come aboard. She didn't more than breathe, and watched as he placed a small pouch on the counter, haggled with the owner briefly, was bowed deeply to, accepted a package and went out.

River stepped away from the display and sprinted after him like a shadow that had been left behind.

River didn't know what sort of person could feel like he had in her head, but she wanted to look inside and find out. She held back, walked far enough away from his footsteps that he shouldn't be able to notice, but when she turned a corner four seconds behind him, the man wasn't in sight. She turned corners and listened hard, but she couldn't find him again. Behind her, River heard Kaylee calling out her name, and she hurried to catch up again.

Back at the ship, the captain was waiting for them.

“Monroe's already aboard,” Mal said.

Zoe took his words as a light reprimand. “We lost him, sir.”

“Were we looking for somebody?" Kaylee asked, a crate of ship parts in her arms.

"Nothing to worry about, little Kaylee,” Mal said. “You go on, looks like you've got some new toys.”

“Who's the we?” Mal asked, turning to Zoe.

She motioned at River. “She was tracking him too.”

“What have we told you about going places without telling anyone?”

“Zoe was there,” River said. “And you wanted truth through deed, and I almost saw his.”

“Let's hope he doesn't take offense at this and ask for his money back,” Mal said. “It'd be a shame to lose that coin. So watch yourself,” he added to River.

Blinking off a swirl of color, River hummed along with Mal's lecture, and when he was finished, she tiptoed up and smiled at him and then spun away.

"Behave," Mal called after her.

River waved at him, and slipped out of the cargo bay and into the mess hall. She always looked in on the people that booked passage on Serenity, and if Mal didn't know as much, that made it much simpler. She kept out of the way, stayed up high, and was never where anyone expected. By doing all that, she learned things that they only dreamed of having done, or doing, none of them that they would ever tell. Those were the whispers that she passed on to the captain, knowing that even if he fussed, he'd see that it was taken care of. He protected Serenity, and River watched out for all of them.

This new one left no trace on the grating for River to follow, but she knew he was aboard. It was like Serenity had adjusted for some greater weight, and every so often, she groaned. Most people didn't notice or care whether they affected the worlds they visited, and almost none thought that ships had souls. But River heard Serenity and she went looking for the stranger for the sake of everyone.

She found Monroe sitting by a viewing portal, one knee drawn up, the other resting on the deck. A sheathed sword leaned next to him, easy to reach. It was a good position to move from, her evaluation of his defensive thinking concluded, and when she slid across one of the pipes, he laughed.

"If you're sneaking up on me again, you're no quieter than you were on the ground."

River dropped down, crouching and staring at him.

"Did you find what you were after?" Monroe asked.

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I've known enough telepaths to sense when one is trying to pry something out of my mind."

"You felt me?" River asked.

Turning his head, he nodded. "You walk heavily, my dear."

That was something she'd never been told, and his smile told her he'd noticed. "Have you never learned manners in such things, or how to be quick if you're stepping where you shouldn't?"

"No," River said. "Would you have heard me if I was faster?"

"Yes, but I know what to listen for." He eyed her. "Many wouldn't."

"You're not a Reader," River said, using the word others had chosen for some of what she could do.

"No."

"Not normal," River said.

"Is that a question or an insult?" Monroe asked.

River tried to think of what Captain Reynolds would ask a stranger when he got them alone and didn't have to be so nice. "Who are you?"

"I'm Adam."

He could have been easy to dismiss, simple clothing, nothing strange that she could see, but when this man's eyes fixed on her, River felt it like a burst of searing blue flame. There he couldn't hide, and she stared, unable to look away as his figure blurred into several images of the same man.

"I would advise against that," Adam said and River groaned, off balance, and staggered sideways. She'd only caught one word, and she wondered if he'd been teasing, letting her have just that much.

"Same face, but not the names, so many of them, and none true at once. What is Kensei?"

"It's someone I've been," Adam said.

River braced herself on the wall and met his eyes again.

"I warned you, seeing past what people want you to know has its hazards." He narrowed his eyes as he gave her a longer look and frowned. "But then, you can't help it, you're just damaged enough to do things and ignore the consequences.

River ducked back, feeling like her skin had been turned inside out and she was wearing all her scars where he could see.

Adam put a hand out, trying to calm her, and didn't move from his perch. "I wasn't trying to frighten you. I saw you in that shop, and wanted a second look. Whoever made you didn't care much for neatness, did they?"

"I didn't come out of a factory," River said. "Was born, just the same as you."

"But it's the intervening time from birth to this moment that has formed who you are now, and I know of very few things but science that is so good at disrupting natural order and altering a person beyond repair," Adam said. "I used to know a number of people who thought they got the better of time and who tried to harvest the best of Earth for themselves."

"What happened to them?"

"They realized they had misjudged the breadth of their abilities," Adam said. "It was a fatal miscalculation." 

“What happened to them?”

Adam smiled. "Power is dangerous,and you must be wary that your enemies don't gain from even a momentary loss of control.”

River moved back and forth in front of Adam, but no matter which way she looked, he had his mask on and she couldn't see anyone else that he'd been.

"You came looking for me?" River asked.

"I had no designs of meeting you," Adam said. "It happens that I have business on a planet that your captain said was on his route." He smiled. "Such an exchange of coin for services can be concluded without complications."

"Complications remain," River said. "You talk in spirals and smile to blind everyone for your bite."

Adam shifted, turning further towards River, but moving slowly because he seemed to know she had forgotten how to run.

Despite his disguise, she knew him to be an ageless man, who somehow slid through time the way she did minds, and who had no fear of her or anyone else on Serenity.

“I can behave,” Adam said.

“Will you?”

“For the time being I have no reason not to.”

Even though he was something other than what he seemed, and didn't seem to need to move fast , River got the sense of speed from him. “Are you running?”

Adam stared at her. “Who made you like this, child?”

“Two by two, hands of blue,” River said softly.

“What did you say?” Adam had drawn up, eyes on her, like lasers, or frozen ice. He wasn't pretending not to be deadly anymore.

“They come for you and take you apart.”

“That's who you escaped?”

“Not them alone, but them too.”

Adam's face was closed off, and River didn't think she wanted to try and listen to him again yet.

“You know them.”

“Everyone in the Core has heard rumors of their work,” Adam said. He smiled. “But, this is the first I've heard of them going after little girls.”

“Not just a girl,” River said.

“No, you're certainly not. Still, I doubt that your captain, overprotective as he seems, would be pleased to find us alone here. Is dinner served soon?”

“Yes.” River led Adam into the dining area, and the rest of the crew looked up. Mal's face fixed itself into unhappy lines, and River crossed quickly to sit beside Simon and Kaylee.

“We were wondering where you were,” Mal said. “Seeing as how you're never late for a meal.”

“I don't cook,” River said to Adam.

“It's safer that way,” Kaylee said, rubbing her on the back gently. “No offense, honey.”

“I'm sure your absence from the kitchen is appreciated,” Adam said, taking a seat. “And that you contribute in other ways.”

“I do,” River said, and Zoe glanced up warningly.

"Eat your dinner," Mal said and River stuck her tongue out at him.

"Not the boss of everyone."

Mal shrugged at Simon. "She's your sister, you do something with her."

"Mei mei," Simon said, still cutting his protein square into smaller pieces. "Have something to eat."

River opened her mouth to object, and Simon stuck a forkfull of dinner into it.

"Chew."

Grumbling, River did as she was told, but kept staring at Adam until Kaylee patted her on the shoulder.

"He is sort of pretty, isn't he?"

"It's not that," River said, over the slightly choked noises of Mal and Jayne. "He has things to tell us, if we need them."

Adam sectioned off a bite and neatly put it in his mouth just as everyone looked at him and he smiled, unable to answer.

"What sort of things?" Mal asked.

"This is hardly dinner conversation," Adam said, and gave River a stern look. "Really, now."

"We don't keep things from one another," Mal said, and Zoe shook her head.

"Sir."

"No, let him go on."

Adam stared at River. "You watch your brother as though you think he might disappear. I've seen more than that, whole countries split apart and a planet abandoned because humanity could not control themselves." His elbows brushed against the table. "So tell me, little River, why this time I should yield anything at all."

"They made me," River said. "Took little pieces and big ones and then wanted me to dance for them. I won't take a single step on their say so." She paused. "And neither should you."

"Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?" Mal asked, holding his fork as though he wanted to let it fly and hit Adam in the shoulder with it.

"Nothing of consequence, unless you favor making things even more unpleasant for the Alliance," Adam said,

"What have you got to do with them?" Zoe asked, and River knew that she had a finger on her gun.

"At present, nothing, in the past, quite a lot," Adam said.

"And this came up just now?" Mal's face darkened as he gave River an unhappy look. "These aren't the things you leave until later, River."

"We had to be sure," River said.

"Of what?" Simon asked, he was worried, but hadn't put a hand out to stop her yet, Simon trusted that she would do the right thing, always, even if he didn't recognize her methods.

"That we were right, even if the the parts don't quite match, they'll work well together," River said.

"Better than."

Adam hadn't taken his eyes off River as he spoke, because outside of them, at this second, nothing else mattered. The searing focus that burned away everything polite and harmless showed on his face, and she smiled, knowing he was seeing the same in her.

-end