FF/SPN: Xinwuwei Docks, 2
Blessings against the Thunder
Xinwuwei Docks, 2
by Vanzetti
John/Zoe, ensembles
PG
Many thanks to musesfool and rez_lo for beta-reading.
Previous parts:
Eurydice Settlement
Caieta Port
Xú Landing, 1
Xú Landing, 2
Xinwuwei Docks, 1
It all goes better than it might have done, Dean figures. Better than looked likely at first, Dad marching up the ramp trailing him and Sam like baggage and the captain of Serenity not looking all that friendly and even a man up on the gangway with a rifle. And this Mal Reynolds doesn't seem to know how lucky he is to have John Winchester come and explain what he has in mind 'stead of just turning up on another man's ship and shouting orders. They're crowded into the Firefly's galley, the three of them, Reynolds, the Tams and that woman who was with his dad the night before. Dean settles next to Simon, lets the conversation wash over him while he keeps his eyes on the people. The woman -- Zoe Washburne, fine looking woman, though Dean tries not to remember too much detail there -- stays near her captain. His dad may not notice: seems to think he's here for work, not play, and keeps his attention on River Tam and what she can tell them. And that ain't promising, especially when she upends a bottle of oyster sauce and starts tracing sigils on the dining table.
Gets worse when Sam interrupts an argument between Dad and Reynolds about whether this is a threat right now. "You know," Sam says, "there was that guy back on New Melbourne."
Dean sits up. "What guy back on New Melbourne? You never said anything about any guy."
"I didn't think it was anything to worry about."
"You let me be the judge of that, Sammy. What guy?" He's not gonna look at their dad, doesn't want to see whatever's on his face.
"I met him on a supply run; he said he remembered me from the university, and he did look familiar. I knew I'd seen him before that day, but now I'm not sure where. Anyway, he asked whether I was planning to finish my degree and do the law program. So I told him no, and that even if I'd wanted to, the money wasn't there, but he thought that something could be worked out and gave me a card. A contact name and number, in case I changed my mind. But you remember, right after we had that thing with the poltergeist at Three Hills, and I kind of forgot all about it."
"You still have that card?" John asks.
"No, sir," Sam answers. He looks straight at Dean. "Threw it out before we broke port." And Dean spends the rest of the conversation wondering if he ought to be proud of Sam or to yell at him for losing their best lead on this thing. Not that there's much meeting left: they can all see there's a problem, but no one's got a plan yet, which means, as far as Dean's concerned, that he doesn't need to worry about protecting Sam from anyone's crack-brained schemes. Yet. He waits for the meeting to break up, figures that he'll get Sam alone before he starts asking what else Sam's forgotten all about over the past couple months. Before he can get them out, though, River slips a hand in his.
"We have to wait here," she says. "The body can't walk off without the heart."
He's still trying to parse that when another girl hurries into the hold. "Hey there," she says, "You're not gone yet. You two are the ones flying that 67-model KAZ-class I saw in port this morning, right? You sure don't see one of those every day, do you, 'specially not in such good shape -- I don't suppose you'd let me get a look at her engines?" She looks from Dean to Sam and back again before adding a wistful, "Only, I never have seen the insides of one before."
Dean starts grinning; she's cute, that's for sure, and she likes engines. And judging from the jumpsuit and the little smudges of grease on her hands and her cheeks, she might even know a thing or two about them. His day has just got a lot better. "Sure thing, sweetheart," he says.
"Shiny!" She holds out a hand to shake. "I'm Kaylee Frye -- you're Dean, right? -- John talks about you all the time. I can't believe Simon and River came to see you and never got a look at her engines but," she lowers her voice a little as they head out into the sunlight, "you know, he's still pretty ignorant about that kind of thing. Just don't see the point of knowing his way around an engine."
Dean tucks her arm into his. "I never met an engine I didn't want to learn my way around," he assures her, and grins even more when she turns pink and looks back to check on Simon and Sam, trailing behind with River.
* * *
Mal's been keeping his mouth shut about this, not meddling in Zoe's business. It's not that he don't approve, or anyway, he's not sure whether he approves of John Winchester or not. He's not sorry to see a little less grief in Zoe these days, and a man who can make Jayne shut up just by staring at him can't be all bad. But this is his crew, damn it, and a captain has to draw the line somewhere.
He finds Winchester where he figures he'd be, out by his ship, no sign of his sons. Good, he thinks; Simon and Kaylee must be doing their job. Mal takes a good look at the scene: ship's got more engine than he'd expect for the size, and Winchester's mounted a couple guns on her. Pretty well concealed, but there if you know what you're looking for. Same with the man, if he stops to think about it: stronger and quicker than you'd guess from his age and tired look and the careful way he has of talking. But if you know the signs, you can see that he's a soldier, and he's got a look that tells Mal that he's killed before and he'll do it again if he has to. So Mal comes up slow and careful, just like Winchester didn't know he was there the minute he showed on the horizon, and Winchester waits to acknowledge him until he's near enough that they don't need to raise their voices to talk.
Mal figures it's going to be his job to get the conversation started, but Winchester gets to his feet when he gets near. "We gonna do this now?" he asks.
"You planning on dragging my crew with you?" Mal asks. He's keeping his hands down and relaxed.
"I ain't forcing this on anyone. But it seems to me, you'd want the help of someone who knows what they're up against."
"We know what we're up against," Mal says. "Faced it down while you were off chasing nightmares somewhere. Went up against Reavers and the whole gorram Alliance, and won."
"Well," Winchester says, "maybe you're not up for a second round, but I can't hang back if my sons are at risk. And maybe when we're done with this, it won't come back for you again next year."
"I can take care of my crew," Mal says. "Don't doubt that."
It's pretty clear from Winchester's face that he's doing just that. "Can't fly under the radar forever."
"I ain't the one dragging us all back up into Blue Sun's line of sight," Mal says. "And you got a good line about those boys of yours, but what about Zoe? You even thinking of what you're putting her through?" That must not have been what Winchester expected, because his face goes blank with surprise, just for a second. It might be comical, but Mal isn't inclined to be amused. He's so far from amused, in fact, that before he knows what he's doing he's raised his fist and punched Winchester straight in the jaw.
It don't take more than a moment for Mal to realize that he's slightly outclassed here, but he's thinking he still has a few tricks to play when John's fist catches him under the chin and sends him sprawling down on his back. Son of a bitch. "We done here?" Winchester asks. Least he's breathing heavy.
Mal gets to his feet. "No, we ain't."
Next round goes a little better, and Mal manages a couple good blows before Winchester gets an arm around his neck. "When you're ready to give up, just say the word."
Mal don't have enough air to talk, but he shakes his head and Winchester lets him drop. Third round, and a punch sends Winchester head-first into his own ship. That's got to hurt, and the man comes up wiping blood away from his forehead, but he does come up. "If you're getting tired," Mal says, "we can stop." He's braced for the rush, but it still sends him back and he hits his shoulder as he falls.
"I'll say this for you," Winchester says, "You don't give up easy."
"I don't give up at all," Mal says. Winchester just wipes a little more blood from his eyes; he's favoring his right leg. Next round Mal drops him, but Winchester kicks out and knocks his legs out from underneath him. He falls awkwardly and Winchester's right there with a hold on his arm, and all at once his vision blurs and his right shoulder's nothing but white pain. He grits his teeth too late to keep from crying out.
Winchester's lying there in the dust next to him, doesn't look too good either. He looks over to Mal. "Think I dislocated your shoulder, there. Want me to pop it back in?"
"Yeah," Mal says. So Winchester gets to his knees and damn if it doesn't hurt even more going back in, even though he's braced for it.
"Might want Simon to take a look at that," Winchester says. He's quiet a little, then adds, "I don't intend to cause Zoe any sorrow."
"She ain't unbreakable, is all I'm saying." He watches blood drip down the side of Winchester's face. "Not like us."
Winchester's laughter is a little rueful. "We'll be plenty breakable if she finds out about this."
"I won't tell if you won't," Mal says.
Winchester's giving him a critical look; if they're equally battered, Zoe's not gonna help but notice. "Sure," he says.
"Well," Mal says as he gets to his feet. "I sent her and Jayne out to Eight Crossings to finish up our business here. Best get back to Serenity before she does."
Winchester rises, as well. "You can't hide from what's out there; you know that as well as I do."
"I've been hoping for a quiet life." And since he's been wondering a while, he gestures at the ship and asks, "Why's she named Adelaide, anyway?"
Winchester shrugs. "Don't know. She had that name when I got her."
"And you never thought of renaming her?"
Winchester's looking at him like he's crazy, which Mal feels is a little unjust, considering. "Why should I?"
"She have those gun ports when you got her, too?" he asks.
"Those have a use," Winchester says, like it's the most obvious thing in the 'verse. No point talking to a crazy person, Mal figures; he never has understood Zoe's taste.
* * *
Dean could spend all day and most of the night showing off Impala's engine room, especially to an enthusiastic girl like Kaylee Frye. Left to his own devices, he'd suggest that they go for a little ride, so he could show off what his baby could do, then maybe see about something else after that. But that don't seem to be on the cards, not with Sam looming over them every few minutes and the way Kaylee looks at Simon whenever he sticks his head in the door, and especially not with River sitting there staring at his hands each time he moves. He has no clue what it is she thinks he's about to do, but whatever, it's putting him off, and he spares a curse for the cockblocking ways of younger siblings everywhere. So with flirting off the cards he doesn't object in the least when they end up in a saloon, dusty and threadbare in the daylight, and empty but for them, one card game and four serious drinkers. He casts an eye over the game (one man asleep, three players left and it looks like they've been going all night), sizes up the drinkers and heads for the pool table.
Simon takes him up on the offer of a game. Dean lets him win the first one, even though they aren't playing for money; it may not be sensible to cheat someone who might end up watching your back, but that doesn't mean he's going to let his skills get rusty.
"You were some kind of hot-shot surgeon?" he asks while Simon lines up his next shot. He makes it.
"On Osiris. Yes."
"Hunh." Simon looks up at him for a second. "How'd you get into that?"
Simon shoots again and misses. "I was good at it," he says. "Once I found that out, it seemed like a foregone conclusion. I was very good at it," he adds, as Dean makes his next shot. "I would have been the youngest consultant in Capital City, if I'd stayed. Trauma surgery," he adds. "It's... it's like nothing else -- we'd get busy summer nights, my first year of residency, with patients piling up in the corridors. No one had slept in the last thirty hours, and there was no time to think: your hands had to know what to do before you'd finished examining the patient." He goes quiet, while Dean shoots again. "And, of course, it was moderately lucrative."
Dean looks up; there's a twist to Simon's lips he thinks might be self-mockery. "You miss it?"
Simon glances over at the table, serious now. "I'd miss River more."
Something Sam says makes Kaylee laugh out loud, and Dean watches Simon smile. Yeah, he thinks, things don't always turn out the way you expect. Doesn't stop him from wiping the floor with Simon in the next two games, just as a point of principle. "Guess I got lucky," he says.
"Not luck," someone says, just behind him: he nearly jumps, because he didn't hear River coming up. "The application of a fixed amount of force to an object of known mass will have a predictable result."
"This your game, River?" he asks. She shakes her head. "How 'bout I show you the basics?"
Simon looks a little worried, but she smiles and says, "The angular momentum of the initial state of the system must be equal to its final state," which Dean takes as a yes.
So Simon hands her his cue, and Dean racks the balls. He breaks, sinks a couple just to show her how, and takes a step back. "Now you try." She stares at the table before picking up the cue stick; he has to lean over and correct her stance. "That way." She's frowning at the balls; then she leans down shoots, and sinks one ball. "Nice work," he says. By then she's sunk the next ball, and then another, and another. She's not even looking at the table as she lines up her shots, another and then another. What the hell is this girl?
She finishes hers, and starts on his; he thinks about pointing that out, but he's too caught up watching her work. It's like a dance, is what it is: River stepping around the table and the balls dancing at her command.
When she's done, she grins a little. "Not luck."
Dean looks from River to Simon. "I think I've just been had."
"No," Simon says. He's not as smug as Dean thinks a man with a pool shark for a little sister ought to be. "I don't think she has played before."
Dean starts to smile. "Well, sweetheart," he says to River. "You've shown me you can sink 'em. Let me show you how to miss 'em."
Her forehead wrinkles; it's kind of cute. "Why?"
"Money," Dean says. "You and I could make a killing out there. With my looks and your talent, we'd be unstoppable."
"Simon doesn't think I should embark on a life of crime," she says. Then a smile breaks over her face. "Would you grow a twirly moustache?"
"River, how did you-- Never mind," Simon says.
"That was a joke, right?" Dean asks. "Because the money won't be that good."
River's still grinning.
* * *
It's near dark by the time Zoe comes by. "How's your head?" she asks.
He sighs; there was no way that fight was going to stay a secret. "Not bad. Simon came by to look at it, told me I didn't need stitches." Told him that Dean was teaching River to hustle pool, too, which John decided to take as a good sign. "You going to hit me, as well?"
She looks like she's giving it serious consideration. "Maybe not right this minute. Been yelling at Mal a while." Instead, she sits down on the ramp next to him, and they watch people straggling past, between the docks and the town.
After a while, he clears his throat and starts talking. "Sammy had a girl at that school of his. Jess. Never met her myself, but I used to go by and keep track of things from a distance. Nice girl. But the thing that killed Mary came back, and it got her too, just the same." A big group goes by, lighting the way to town with torches. Next to him, Zoe stays quiet. "You don't get over that. Took us two years to hunt it down and kill it, and at the end, Sam got hurt bad. Real bad. But if you ask him, he'll say it was worth it, to know that son of a bitch isn't coming back." No need to tell how it tore him up, watching Sam fight, watching him take on something John couldn't do himself, how Dean looked at him different after that, telling him to leave Sam in peace to heal. Dean didn't care about revenge, just wanted Sam safe and whole; John's not sure he knows even now that you can't have one without the other.
Or maybe he's just fooling himself.
"I ain't a coward." Zoe's voice comes as a surprise.
"Never occurred to me that you were."
"You can't fix this with a quick salt and burn."
"I can't hold back from the fight, either," he says. "Not if it turns out that Blue Sun is gonna come for Sammy, and not if River's right about those signs she recalls."
"Blue Sun and demons." She laughs, low and bitter. "We sure struck it rich this time. You got any idea of how to cope with that?"
"Recon, I figure. Get into their records, find some way to see what they're doing." She looks at him sideways. "What?" he said. "I didn't get to be this old by charging in, guns blazing."
"I've worked with you before, John," she says.
"Well," he says. "I've been lucky a few times, maybe."
end.
Next part: Blackout Zone 1
Xinwuwei Docks, 2
by Vanzetti
John/Zoe, ensembles
PG
Many thanks to musesfool and rez_lo for beta-reading.
Previous parts:
Eurydice Settlement
Caieta Port
Xú Landing, 1
Xú Landing, 2
Xinwuwei Docks, 1
It all goes better than it might have done, Dean figures. Better than looked likely at first, Dad marching up the ramp trailing him and Sam like baggage and the captain of Serenity not looking all that friendly and even a man up on the gangway with a rifle. And this Mal Reynolds doesn't seem to know how lucky he is to have John Winchester come and explain what he has in mind 'stead of just turning up on another man's ship and shouting orders. They're crowded into the Firefly's galley, the three of them, Reynolds, the Tams and that woman who was with his dad the night before. Dean settles next to Simon, lets the conversation wash over him while he keeps his eyes on the people. The woman -- Zoe Washburne, fine looking woman, though Dean tries not to remember too much detail there -- stays near her captain. His dad may not notice: seems to think he's here for work, not play, and keeps his attention on River Tam and what she can tell them. And that ain't promising, especially when she upends a bottle of oyster sauce and starts tracing sigils on the dining table.
Gets worse when Sam interrupts an argument between Dad and Reynolds about whether this is a threat right now. "You know," Sam says, "there was that guy back on New Melbourne."
Dean sits up. "What guy back on New Melbourne? You never said anything about any guy."
"I didn't think it was anything to worry about."
"You let me be the judge of that, Sammy. What guy?" He's not gonna look at their dad, doesn't want to see whatever's on his face.
"I met him on a supply run; he said he remembered me from the university, and he did look familiar. I knew I'd seen him before that day, but now I'm not sure where. Anyway, he asked whether I was planning to finish my degree and do the law program. So I told him no, and that even if I'd wanted to, the money wasn't there, but he thought that something could be worked out and gave me a card. A contact name and number, in case I changed my mind. But you remember, right after we had that thing with the poltergeist at Three Hills, and I kind of forgot all about it."
"You still have that card?" John asks.
"No, sir," Sam answers. He looks straight at Dean. "Threw it out before we broke port." And Dean spends the rest of the conversation wondering if he ought to be proud of Sam or to yell at him for losing their best lead on this thing. Not that there's much meeting left: they can all see there's a problem, but no one's got a plan yet, which means, as far as Dean's concerned, that he doesn't need to worry about protecting Sam from anyone's crack-brained schemes. Yet. He waits for the meeting to break up, figures that he'll get Sam alone before he starts asking what else Sam's forgotten all about over the past couple months. Before he can get them out, though, River slips a hand in his.
"We have to wait here," she says. "The body can't walk off without the heart."
He's still trying to parse that when another girl hurries into the hold. "Hey there," she says, "You're not gone yet. You two are the ones flying that 67-model KAZ-class I saw in port this morning, right? You sure don't see one of those every day, do you, 'specially not in such good shape -- I don't suppose you'd let me get a look at her engines?" She looks from Dean to Sam and back again before adding a wistful, "Only, I never have seen the insides of one before."
Dean starts grinning; she's cute, that's for sure, and she likes engines. And judging from the jumpsuit and the little smudges of grease on her hands and her cheeks, she might even know a thing or two about them. His day has just got a lot better. "Sure thing, sweetheart," he says.
"Shiny!" She holds out a hand to shake. "I'm Kaylee Frye -- you're Dean, right? -- John talks about you all the time. I can't believe Simon and River came to see you and never got a look at her engines but," she lowers her voice a little as they head out into the sunlight, "you know, he's still pretty ignorant about that kind of thing. Just don't see the point of knowing his way around an engine."
Dean tucks her arm into his. "I never met an engine I didn't want to learn my way around," he assures her, and grins even more when she turns pink and looks back to check on Simon and Sam, trailing behind with River.
* * *
Mal's been keeping his mouth shut about this, not meddling in Zoe's business. It's not that he don't approve, or anyway, he's not sure whether he approves of John Winchester or not. He's not sorry to see a little less grief in Zoe these days, and a man who can make Jayne shut up just by staring at him can't be all bad. But this is his crew, damn it, and a captain has to draw the line somewhere.
He finds Winchester where he figures he'd be, out by his ship, no sign of his sons. Good, he thinks; Simon and Kaylee must be doing their job. Mal takes a good look at the scene: ship's got more engine than he'd expect for the size, and Winchester's mounted a couple guns on her. Pretty well concealed, but there if you know what you're looking for. Same with the man, if he stops to think about it: stronger and quicker than you'd guess from his age and tired look and the careful way he has of talking. But if you know the signs, you can see that he's a soldier, and he's got a look that tells Mal that he's killed before and he'll do it again if he has to. So Mal comes up slow and careful, just like Winchester didn't know he was there the minute he showed on the horizon, and Winchester waits to acknowledge him until he's near enough that they don't need to raise their voices to talk.
Mal figures it's going to be his job to get the conversation started, but Winchester gets to his feet when he gets near. "We gonna do this now?" he asks.
"You planning on dragging my crew with you?" Mal asks. He's keeping his hands down and relaxed.
"I ain't forcing this on anyone. But it seems to me, you'd want the help of someone who knows what they're up against."
"We know what we're up against," Mal says. "Faced it down while you were off chasing nightmares somewhere. Went up against Reavers and the whole gorram Alliance, and won."
"Well," Winchester says, "maybe you're not up for a second round, but I can't hang back if my sons are at risk. And maybe when we're done with this, it won't come back for you again next year."
"I can take care of my crew," Mal says. "Don't doubt that."
It's pretty clear from Winchester's face that he's doing just that. "Can't fly under the radar forever."
"I ain't the one dragging us all back up into Blue Sun's line of sight," Mal says. "And you got a good line about those boys of yours, but what about Zoe? You even thinking of what you're putting her through?" That must not have been what Winchester expected, because his face goes blank with surprise, just for a second. It might be comical, but Mal isn't inclined to be amused. He's so far from amused, in fact, that before he knows what he's doing he's raised his fist and punched Winchester straight in the jaw.
It don't take more than a moment for Mal to realize that he's slightly outclassed here, but he's thinking he still has a few tricks to play when John's fist catches him under the chin and sends him sprawling down on his back. Son of a bitch. "We done here?" Winchester asks. Least he's breathing heavy.
Mal gets to his feet. "No, we ain't."
Next round goes a little better, and Mal manages a couple good blows before Winchester gets an arm around his neck. "When you're ready to give up, just say the word."
Mal don't have enough air to talk, but he shakes his head and Winchester lets him drop. Third round, and a punch sends Winchester head-first into his own ship. That's got to hurt, and the man comes up wiping blood away from his forehead, but he does come up. "If you're getting tired," Mal says, "we can stop." He's braced for the rush, but it still sends him back and he hits his shoulder as he falls.
"I'll say this for you," Winchester says, "You don't give up easy."
"I don't give up at all," Mal says. Winchester just wipes a little more blood from his eyes; he's favoring his right leg. Next round Mal drops him, but Winchester kicks out and knocks his legs out from underneath him. He falls awkwardly and Winchester's right there with a hold on his arm, and all at once his vision blurs and his right shoulder's nothing but white pain. He grits his teeth too late to keep from crying out.
Winchester's lying there in the dust next to him, doesn't look too good either. He looks over to Mal. "Think I dislocated your shoulder, there. Want me to pop it back in?"
"Yeah," Mal says. So Winchester gets to his knees and damn if it doesn't hurt even more going back in, even though he's braced for it.
"Might want Simon to take a look at that," Winchester says. He's quiet a little, then adds, "I don't intend to cause Zoe any sorrow."
"She ain't unbreakable, is all I'm saying." He watches blood drip down the side of Winchester's face. "Not like us."
Winchester's laughter is a little rueful. "We'll be plenty breakable if she finds out about this."
"I won't tell if you won't," Mal says.
Winchester's giving him a critical look; if they're equally battered, Zoe's not gonna help but notice. "Sure," he says.
"Well," Mal says as he gets to his feet. "I sent her and Jayne out to Eight Crossings to finish up our business here. Best get back to Serenity before she does."
Winchester rises, as well. "You can't hide from what's out there; you know that as well as I do."
"I've been hoping for a quiet life." And since he's been wondering a while, he gestures at the ship and asks, "Why's she named Adelaide, anyway?"
Winchester shrugs. "Don't know. She had that name when I got her."
"And you never thought of renaming her?"
Winchester's looking at him like he's crazy, which Mal feels is a little unjust, considering. "Why should I?"
"She have those gun ports when you got her, too?" he asks.
"Those have a use," Winchester says, like it's the most obvious thing in the 'verse. No point talking to a crazy person, Mal figures; he never has understood Zoe's taste.
* * *
Dean could spend all day and most of the night showing off Impala's engine room, especially to an enthusiastic girl like Kaylee Frye. Left to his own devices, he'd suggest that they go for a little ride, so he could show off what his baby could do, then maybe see about something else after that. But that don't seem to be on the cards, not with Sam looming over them every few minutes and the way Kaylee looks at Simon whenever he sticks his head in the door, and especially not with River sitting there staring at his hands each time he moves. He has no clue what it is she thinks he's about to do, but whatever, it's putting him off, and he spares a curse for the cockblocking ways of younger siblings everywhere. So with flirting off the cards he doesn't object in the least when they end up in a saloon, dusty and threadbare in the daylight, and empty but for them, one card game and four serious drinkers. He casts an eye over the game (one man asleep, three players left and it looks like they've been going all night), sizes up the drinkers and heads for the pool table.
Simon takes him up on the offer of a game. Dean lets him win the first one, even though they aren't playing for money; it may not be sensible to cheat someone who might end up watching your back, but that doesn't mean he's going to let his skills get rusty.
"You were some kind of hot-shot surgeon?" he asks while Simon lines up his next shot. He makes it.
"On Osiris. Yes."
"Hunh." Simon looks up at him for a second. "How'd you get into that?"
Simon shoots again and misses. "I was good at it," he says. "Once I found that out, it seemed like a foregone conclusion. I was very good at it," he adds, as Dean makes his next shot. "I would have been the youngest consultant in Capital City, if I'd stayed. Trauma surgery," he adds. "It's... it's like nothing else -- we'd get busy summer nights, my first year of residency, with patients piling up in the corridors. No one had slept in the last thirty hours, and there was no time to think: your hands had to know what to do before you'd finished examining the patient." He goes quiet, while Dean shoots again. "And, of course, it was moderately lucrative."
Dean looks up; there's a twist to Simon's lips he thinks might be self-mockery. "You miss it?"
Simon glances over at the table, serious now. "I'd miss River more."
Something Sam says makes Kaylee laugh out loud, and Dean watches Simon smile. Yeah, he thinks, things don't always turn out the way you expect. Doesn't stop him from wiping the floor with Simon in the next two games, just as a point of principle. "Guess I got lucky," he says.
"Not luck," someone says, just behind him: he nearly jumps, because he didn't hear River coming up. "The application of a fixed amount of force to an object of known mass will have a predictable result."
"This your game, River?" he asks. She shakes her head. "How 'bout I show you the basics?"
Simon looks a little worried, but she smiles and says, "The angular momentum of the initial state of the system must be equal to its final state," which Dean takes as a yes.
So Simon hands her his cue, and Dean racks the balls. He breaks, sinks a couple just to show her how, and takes a step back. "Now you try." She stares at the table before picking up the cue stick; he has to lean over and correct her stance. "That way." She's frowning at the balls; then she leans down shoots, and sinks one ball. "Nice work," he says. By then she's sunk the next ball, and then another, and another. She's not even looking at the table as she lines up her shots, another and then another. What the hell is this girl?
She finishes hers, and starts on his; he thinks about pointing that out, but he's too caught up watching her work. It's like a dance, is what it is: River stepping around the table and the balls dancing at her command.
When she's done, she grins a little. "Not luck."
Dean looks from River to Simon. "I think I've just been had."
"No," Simon says. He's not as smug as Dean thinks a man with a pool shark for a little sister ought to be. "I don't think she has played before."
Dean starts to smile. "Well, sweetheart," he says to River. "You've shown me you can sink 'em. Let me show you how to miss 'em."
Her forehead wrinkles; it's kind of cute. "Why?"
"Money," Dean says. "You and I could make a killing out there. With my looks and your talent, we'd be unstoppable."
"Simon doesn't think I should embark on a life of crime," she says. Then a smile breaks over her face. "Would you grow a twirly moustache?"
"River, how did you-- Never mind," Simon says.
"That was a joke, right?" Dean asks. "Because the money won't be that good."
River's still grinning.
* * *
It's near dark by the time Zoe comes by. "How's your head?" she asks.
He sighs; there was no way that fight was going to stay a secret. "Not bad. Simon came by to look at it, told me I didn't need stitches." Told him that Dean was teaching River to hustle pool, too, which John decided to take as a good sign. "You going to hit me, as well?"
She looks like she's giving it serious consideration. "Maybe not right this minute. Been yelling at Mal a while." Instead, she sits down on the ramp next to him, and they watch people straggling past, between the docks and the town.
After a while, he clears his throat and starts talking. "Sammy had a girl at that school of his. Jess. Never met her myself, but I used to go by and keep track of things from a distance. Nice girl. But the thing that killed Mary came back, and it got her too, just the same." A big group goes by, lighting the way to town with torches. Next to him, Zoe stays quiet. "You don't get over that. Took us two years to hunt it down and kill it, and at the end, Sam got hurt bad. Real bad. But if you ask him, he'll say it was worth it, to know that son of a bitch isn't coming back." No need to tell how it tore him up, watching Sam fight, watching him take on something John couldn't do himself, how Dean looked at him different after that, telling him to leave Sam in peace to heal. Dean didn't care about revenge, just wanted Sam safe and whole; John's not sure he knows even now that you can't have one without the other.
Or maybe he's just fooling himself.
"I ain't a coward." Zoe's voice comes as a surprise.
"Never occurred to me that you were."
"You can't fix this with a quick salt and burn."
"I can't hold back from the fight, either," he says. "Not if it turns out that Blue Sun is gonna come for Sammy, and not if River's right about those signs she recalls."
"Blue Sun and demons." She laughs, low and bitter. "We sure struck it rich this time. You got any idea of how to cope with that?"
"Recon, I figure. Get into their records, find some way to see what they're doing." She looks at him sideways. "What?" he said. "I didn't get to be this old by charging in, guns blazing."
"I've worked with you before, John," she says.
"Well," he says. "I've been lucky a few times, maybe."
end.
Next part: Blackout Zone 1