AN oUt oF SYNc mINd - Broken Promises

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October 22nd, 2007

12:20 pm

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Broken Promises
Title: Broken Promises (2/?)
Author: gwenfrewi72
Rating: A or R
Fandom: Firefly
Spoilers: None
Summary: Post BDM. River discovers she's pregnant.
Length: 1,092 according to Word.
Disclaimer: The great, almighty and powerful Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc. own the universe and characters. I'm just playing with them.
Author's Note: Thanks to

alsuwunderland for beta’ing this story for me.
Feedback: is shiny and always encouraged, both the good and the bad.
Copyright (c) October 2007 Patricia Flynn

Scroll over Chinese with mouse to get translation.

Broken Promises -Chapter 1
* * * * *

Mal had been avoiding River for the most part since that morning in his bunk a month ago. Luckily for him, she was aiding him in this endeavor by keeping herself scarce when she wasn’t flying the ship.

Mal noticed that every time he saw her, she seemed pale and withdrawn but brushed it off as being uncomfortable around him since he was pretty gorram sure he was sending out some panicked thoughts anytime they met.

They were coming up on Persephone and River hadn’t come up to the bridge as of yet. Which was a mite unusual for her, so now he was looking for her.

As Mal reached the passenger dorms, he heard the sound of retching coming from River’s room. Worried, he opened the door to spy River vomiting into the toilet.

“River?”

Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she flushed, flipped the toilet back into the wall and then pulled out the sink. She washed her hands and rinsed her mouth out before turning to look at the Captain.

“You okay?” He inquired.

“I’m fine.”

“That didn’t look like fine. How long have you been losing your food?”

River grimaced before replying, “Just yesterday and today.”

“Why don’t you go see your brother then. I’ll land us on the Eavesdown Docks.”

River rolled her eyes at this. “I can go see him after landing Serenity, Captain.”

Mal shot her a dark look. “You sayin’ somethin’ about my landings?”

“No, sir.” The twinkle in River’s eyes belied her comment but Mal thought it prudent to let it go this time. ‘Sides it was the first fairly comfortable conversation they’d had in weeks.

* * * * *
As Mal, Zoë, and Jayne were making their way to Badger’s den about their next job, River made her way down to the infirmary.

Reading that Simon and Kaylee were together and having lustful thoughts, she called out from the cargo bay, “Simon, you in the infirmary?”

There was a momentary pause before he replied, “Yes, mei-mei.”

Satisfied she wouldn’t stumble upon them in a state of undress, she walked in.

Simon had developed this code so River could warn them that she was coming into the room after she’d repeatedly walked in on them in various states of undress. It was determined that although she always knew that they were thinking lustful thoughts, and they usually were, she could not tell what the state of their clothing was and so she had to ask first before entering a room. A response of no meant that she needed to wait a few minutes for them to put their clothes back on.

“Hey, River.” Kaylee smiled happily at her friend.

“Hey.”

“I’m off to the market and then junkyard to look for some parts. Wanna come?” Kaylee’s enthusiasm was infectious, and River longed to get off the ship, but this was an Alliance friendly planet and she had to stay on board.

“No, thank you. I need to see Simon about somethin’.”

Kaylee’s face fell a little. “Oh well, I’ll be seein’ ya then,” she said as she walked out of the room.

Simon looked closely at his sister and noticed her pallid complexion. “You okay, River?”

“I’m fine, but the Captain insisted I see you.”

“Oh, why’s that?” He inquired amused.

“I was throwing up when he came looking for me earlier.”

Simon’s eyes sharpened at this and he guided her over to the exam table.

Knowing that her brother would poke and prod at her, River went willingly.

“Have you taken anything that could have interacted with your drugs?”

“No.”

“Hmm.” Simon’s face had taken on his doctor mien.

“I’ll draw some blood and run some tests to see if we can figure out what it is.”

River nodded and waited patiently as he gathered the necessary paraphernalia for the task.

When he was finished, he pulled off the gloves.

“Why don’t you go lay down for a bit? The Captain and them won’t be back for a while and I should have the results by then.”

River nodded and hastily escaped the room for her bunk.

Lying down, she stared at the ceiling wondering why she was doing it. She felt great.

* * * * *
“River.” Simon’s voice woke her.

Sitting up, she realized that Simon had come into room and shut the door. “Simon.”

“River, have you been sexually active recently?” Simon was uncomfortable but he needed to know.

Squirming with embarrassment, River could only nod her head.

Having his sister confirm what he already suspected, Simon ran an agitated hand through his hair to the back of his neck.

“Mei-mei, you’re pregnant.”

“What?! No, I can’t be! I’m on birth control.” River’s expression was the picture of shock and denial.

“I know, but the blood test results came back positive for pregnancy.”

River was dazed.

“River, do you know who the father is?”

River nodded her head distractedly.

“You need to contact him. Or if you want, I could do that for you.”

“No. I’ll do it.” She replied airily.

“We need to talk about your options.”

Realizing that her brother wanted to question her fully, River turned and looked at him with sad eyes.

“Simon, can we do this later? The crew will be back momentarily and we need to lift off.”

“Uh, sure. Just come find me when you’re ready.” Simon said as turned to exit the room.

“Simon, could you not tell anyone about this.”

“Sure.”

“If the captain asks, just tell him it’s a reaction to my meds.”

Simon replies with a bemused, "Okay."

* * * * *
Later after the crew was back on board, they had lifted off and she’d plotted a course to the next job, River retreated to the privacy of her room.

Mal had just come onto bridge and had asked her if she’d seen the Doc. She’d lied to him and told him it was a reaction to the drugs and he accepted it. Even suggested that maybe her brother needed to find something that didn’t make her so sick.

River had managed to smile at this before relinquishing the helm to him for the night.

Now with the door closed and locked, she opened the grating of the vent over her bunk. River’s hands searched blindly for a few seconds before grasping the item she was looking for.

Collapsing boneless on the bed, River stared at the object resting in her hands as tears began to fall from her eyes.

Broken Promises -Chapter 3

Current Mood: sad
Tags: broken promises 2

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Comments

From:	just_slummin
Date:	October 22nd, 2007 08:54 pm (UTC)

(Link)

This looks to possibly be all manner of unpleasant. Please update soon!

(Reply) (Thread)

From:	(Anonymous)
Date:	October 22nd, 2007 09:03 pm (UTC)

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It's gonna get worse before it gets better.

You can't just leave it at that!!!

Re: You can't just leave it at that!!!

Re: You can't just leave it at that!!!

Re: You can't just leave it at that!!!

Re: You can't just leave it at that!!!

Re: You can't just leave it at that!!!

Re: You can't just leave it at that!!!

Re: You can't just leave it at that!!!

Re: You can't just leave it at that!!!

Re: You can't just leave it at that!!!

No need to say it was good...

Re: No need to say it was good...

But it is good!

Re: But it is good!

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