The Rising, Chapter Four
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firefly_fanfic
Title: The Rising
Author: Sarah-Beth (memorysdaughter)
Email: memorysdaughter@gmail.com
Summary: After the events in “Radio Nowhere,” Serenity’s family must go to great lengths to save a stranger.
Series: 4/?
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Post-BDM, with two very important changes. And also post-“Radio Nowhere,” which you can read HERE.
Disclaimer: Not mine, never have been, never will be. The title comes from a Bruce Springsteen song. Lyrics in this chapter are from "The Rising."
Chapters 1-3
The Rising
Simon watched as his sister disappeared into her bunk, carrying Linnea. There was no room in the bunk for the wheelchair, so it remained in the hallway. He kept his eyes on the place where they had been seconds before, waiting for something he couldn’t define.
It was Beck’s voice he heard, for some reason, though she’d never spoken to him. Sometimes you just have to let go, she said.
“Doc?” someone said, and Simon jumped. Mal was next to him.
“Yes?” Simon asked.
“Just wanted t’ talk t’ ya ‘bout our new passenger,” Mal said. “Y’ saw her files. Is there anyone lookin’ fer her?”
Simon shook his head. “She was found abandoned during a raid on a village outside Hale’s Landing.”
Mal leaned back against the wall. “Does that strike you as likely?”
“Well, Miss Grant said there’d been a lot of gang activity in that area recently…”
“That ain’t what I mean, Doc. She’s obviously been cared for – somebody had t’ put them tubes in her throat and stomach. Who did that?”
“I assumed Miss Grant’s medical team did.”
Mal shook his head. “Her medical team wouldn’t have even been able t’ keep Linnea alive fer somethin’ like that. You saw her infirmary.”
“I assumed they had the procedures done at the hospital on Hale’s Landing.”
“But that’s what – fifty klicks away at least? And if she was abandoned and they did the surgeries in th’ hospital, why would they have brought her back t’ the children’s home? The hospital woulda kept her.”
“Are you sure?” Simon asked.
“They kept yer daughter fer ten years,” Mal said.
“I suppose you’re right,” Simon said at last. “I can go through her files again. Do you really think someone’s going to come after her?”
“Somebody cared enough t’ put them tubes in her. I’m thinkin’ that’s the kind o’ somebody who’s gonna come find her.”
“We adopted her,” Simon reminded the captain.
“I’m thinkin’ it’s also the kind o’ somebody who ain’t gonna care ‘bout that.”
“Now, you just tell me if you want something done differently,” River said as she set Linnea on Beck’s bed, “but usually I would put Beck’s pajamas on and then rock her until she went to sleep.”
No one’s ever done that for me before. Linnea looked up at the map of the ‘verse still stuck to the ceiling. Is that where we’re going?
“We go a lot of places,” River said, opening the little bureau to find some pajamas.
Beck saw those places, Linnea said softly. Beck loved those places.
River stopped shifting clothes and looked over at the girl lying as Beck had, on Beck’s bed. Her heart ached and she could feel tears in her eyes.
And you loved Beck, Linnea went on. I know that as much as I’ve ever known anything. You loved Beck… and she loved you.
Her eyes were a little sad. I’m sorry I can’t bring Beck back for you. I’m sorry I can’t be Beck for you.
“I don’t need you to be Beck,” River said quietly, and came over to sit on the bed. “We came to get you because of who you were.”
Everybody’s looking at me like they want me to be Beck. That little girl, she even said I was Beck.
“Daisy’s a lot smarter than most people give her credit for,” River said. “She knows exactly who you are.”
And you? Do you know exactly who I am?
“Most days I don’t even know exactly who I am, pretty girl,” River said, and brushed Linnea’s hair back from her face. “You just be whoever you are… and we’ll love you anyway. No matter who you are.”
She slept and she dreamed. She saw Beck in her pink silk dress, the one they’d buried her in. And Beck was spinning in circles with her hair out behind her, her arms thrown up to the sun, laughing as loud as River had ever heard.
There was Beck dancing, her eyes closed, smiling as big as the moon.
There was Beck giggling.
There was Beck barefoot.
There was Beck climbing trees, trying to touch the sky.
There was Beck doing everything she’d been denied in life.
And though it broke River’s heart, since she knew it had to be a dream, something in her bloomed with hope.
And then there was Mal, holding her, pride shining in his eyes, and she could hear him telling her, “I see you here in the garden / in the garden of a thousand sighs / there's holy pictures of our children / dancin' in a sky filled with light / may I feel your arms around me / may I feel your blood mix with mine / a dream of life comes to me… come on up for the rising / come on up, lay your hands in mine…”
And then there were those sounds, the sounds she never thought she’d hear again – a heart monitor flatlining, a ventilator whooping a warning.
Someone choking, someone dying.
Author: Sarah-Beth (memorysdaughter)
Email: memorysdaughter@gmail.com
Summary: After the events in “Radio Nowhere,” Serenity’s family must go to great lengths to save a stranger.
Series: 4/?
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Post-BDM, with two very important changes. And also post-“Radio Nowhere,” which you can read HERE.
Disclaimer: Not mine, never have been, never will be. The title comes from a Bruce Springsteen song. Lyrics in this chapter are from "The Rising."
Chapters 1-3
The Rising
Simon watched as his sister disappeared into her bunk, carrying Linnea. There was no room in the bunk for the wheelchair, so it remained in the hallway. He kept his eyes on the place where they had been seconds before, waiting for something he couldn’t define.
It was Beck’s voice he heard, for some reason, though she’d never spoken to him. Sometimes you just have to let go, she said.
“Doc?” someone said, and Simon jumped. Mal was next to him.
“Yes?” Simon asked.
“Just wanted t’ talk t’ ya ‘bout our new passenger,” Mal said. “Y’ saw her files. Is there anyone lookin’ fer her?”
Simon shook his head. “She was found abandoned during a raid on a village outside Hale’s Landing.”
Mal leaned back against the wall. “Does that strike you as likely?”
“Well, Miss Grant said there’d been a lot of gang activity in that area recently…”
“That ain’t what I mean, Doc. She’s obviously been cared for – somebody had t’ put them tubes in her throat and stomach. Who did that?”
“I assumed Miss Grant’s medical team did.”
Mal shook his head. “Her medical team wouldn’t have even been able t’ keep Linnea alive fer somethin’ like that. You saw her infirmary.”
“I assumed they had the procedures done at the hospital on Hale’s Landing.”
“But that’s what – fifty klicks away at least? And if she was abandoned and they did the surgeries in th’ hospital, why would they have brought her back t’ the children’s home? The hospital woulda kept her.”
“Are you sure?” Simon asked.
“They kept yer daughter fer ten years,” Mal said.
“I suppose you’re right,” Simon said at last. “I can go through her files again. Do you really think someone’s going to come after her?”
“Somebody cared enough t’ put them tubes in her. I’m thinkin’ that’s the kind o’ somebody who’s gonna come find her.”
“We adopted her,” Simon reminded the captain.
“I’m thinkin’ it’s also the kind o’ somebody who ain’t gonna care ‘bout that.”
“Now, you just tell me if you want something done differently,” River said as she set Linnea on Beck’s bed, “but usually I would put Beck’s pajamas on and then rock her until she went to sleep.”
No one’s ever done that for me before. Linnea looked up at the map of the ‘verse still stuck to the ceiling. Is that where we’re going?
“We go a lot of places,” River said, opening the little bureau to find some pajamas.
Beck saw those places, Linnea said softly. Beck loved those places.
River stopped shifting clothes and looked over at the girl lying as Beck had, on Beck’s bed. Her heart ached and she could feel tears in her eyes.
And you loved Beck, Linnea went on. I know that as much as I’ve ever known anything. You loved Beck… and she loved you.
Her eyes were a little sad. I’m sorry I can’t bring Beck back for you. I’m sorry I can’t be Beck for you.
“I don’t need you to be Beck,” River said quietly, and came over to sit on the bed. “We came to get you because of who you were.”
Everybody’s looking at me like they want me to be Beck. That little girl, she even said I was Beck.
“Daisy’s a lot smarter than most people give her credit for,” River said. “She knows exactly who you are.”
And you? Do you know exactly who I am?
“Most days I don’t even know exactly who I am, pretty girl,” River said, and brushed Linnea’s hair back from her face. “You just be whoever you are… and we’ll love you anyway. No matter who you are.”
She slept and she dreamed. She saw Beck in her pink silk dress, the one they’d buried her in. And Beck was spinning in circles with her hair out behind her, her arms thrown up to the sun, laughing as loud as River had ever heard.
There was Beck dancing, her eyes closed, smiling as big as the moon.
There was Beck giggling.
There was Beck barefoot.
There was Beck climbing trees, trying to touch the sky.
There was Beck doing everything she’d been denied in life.
And though it broke River’s heart, since she knew it had to be a dream, something in her bloomed with hope.
And then there was Mal, holding her, pride shining in his eyes, and she could hear him telling her, “I see you here in the garden / in the garden of a thousand sighs / there's holy pictures of our children / dancin' in a sky filled with light / may I feel your arms around me / may I feel your blood mix with mine / a dream of life comes to me… come on up for the rising / come on up, lay your hands in mine…”
And then there were those sounds, the sounds she never thought she’d hear again – a heart monitor flatlining, a ventilator whooping a warning.
Someone choking, someone dying.