Disclaimer: I dont own Firefly, I dont own GsG... and I'm broke to boot, so if you decide to try to sue me for all the money I'm not making on this, you'll just loose out from paying your lawyer.

A/N: Merry (belated) Christmas guys! heres a nice, massive, long overdue update for you!

Bomber68: Nice to know you feel the wait was worth it! hope this waits fruits are just as tasty for you!

RC1212: 'whats next' will hopefully knock your socks off, heh.

JackMatrix: Yea, the chase scene song is literally what was playing on my phone when the idea for it bounced into my head on the way to work. I guess the song just followed it into the chapter... though 'Darker Side of the Moon' fit just as well when I read the scene with that playing, heh.

VizeerLord: Thanks, I was stumped on how to fold Ed's backstory into the 'Verse properly, glad to hear that it makes sense to you.

Anonymous Fan: I think I can do all of that for you... just not all of that in this chapter, haha.

crimsonkatana: Well, no need to wait any longer, here ya go!

Early afternoon, after a job, on a moon is typically the perfect time for Simon Tam to tidy up and organize his infirmary, and collect his thoughts while he's at it. For Simon, it is a tried and comfortable routine, first, he checks the infirmary, flicking the lights on to confirm that its empty, then off again as he leaves. After that, he walks the ship. Kaylee, working on the engine, Henrietta grumbling as she struggles against a bolt his girlfriend had clearly used one of her hydraulic screwdrivers to tighten: with a crescent wrench, both girls coated in the engines lifeblood, sweat, and a bit of their own blood. He pushes the lust that spikes from seeing Kaylee so fully in her element to the back of his mind, and carries on. Sandro and Petra can be heard arguing with each other in co-habitative bliss as he passes the crew bunks. River is napping in the hammock Henrietta had set up in the cockpit between spurts helping Kaylee fix Serenity as best she can while they were still out in the black. He passes Inara on his way through the common room sipping tea, light classical music playing in the background, the companion nearly falling asleep in her calmed state, the scent of incense heavy in the air, despite the fact that the cargo bay is hanging wide open to fresh out the ships air. Victor is lounging in a nearby chair, reading quietly and looking quite content.

Down in the cargo bay, Simon spots Jayne outside, all but napping in a folding chair after poking his head out of the access to the catwalk. Satisfied that he wont be disturbed as he cleans, organizes and inventories his infirmary, he turns around and makes his way back to it. His first hint that something is wrong is when he notices light pouring from its now open door. He rounds the corner to see his infirmary looking more like a war-zone than a place of healing. The apparent culprit is perched on the counter, one hand at the hem of her jeans, the other holding a roll of gauze wrap. "Did you need help... finding something, Rico?" flashbacks of one Jayne Cobb doing much the same to his infirmary in search of tape to hold guns to his skin flashing through the doctors mind.

She looks up to shake her head in a negative "No. I found the gauze already." she replies plainly and cheerily.

Almost afraid to press for more information, the fell hand of years of training and schooling push him forward into the infirmary, he asks "Why did you need to destroy my infirmary to find gauze?" more than a bit of distress on his voice.

The girls thumb properly hooks the hem of her jeans as her fingers begin to fiddle at the snap "Oh. Because I'm bleeding."

One plus one equals two, and suddenly Simon Tam is an awkward teenage boy from a very reserved, well-to-do family again, being chased from the house because mom had to spend the day talking about 'girl things' with River for some reason. Of course, after the thrill of spending a day at an amusement park with his dad wore off, he had realized why mom had chased them, all of the butlers, gardeners, and perhaps even all of the male bugs out of the house would sink in. So, he does the only thing he knows how to do when presented with a girl finally not pre-pubescant, and passing that undeniable marker on the road to womanhood. He slaps the shipwide com on the wall and shouts "KAYLEE! INARA! I need you in the infirmary!" before beating a hasty retreat from the now very confused girl, looking much like a blushing ghost himself.

****Broken****

"So, this is a problem how?" Mal asks, looking down at the pictures of Triela, Rico, Henrietta and Petrushka, mostly from before they woke up in the future, and one of each from after. Curves. Not big, but, curves on teenage girls, or the growth thereof can only mean one thing, really.

Simon shakes his head "Think about it Mal. Their bones, their muscles, hell, most of their organs are fake. When they start growing properly, their bodies will tear themselves apart with too much exertion. For now, it looks to be just the drugs that had them stuck before, or in the early stages of of puberty they were at when cybernized failing. The actual growth still looks to have not started yet, mercifully."

The captain, still sore over being called back to Serenity from the Bebop flops into a chair and asks "Why Rico first, anyhow? Wasnt she the youngest of the ones that woke up when she got turned into a cyborg?"

Victor walks into the room, and answers "Because Jean kept her the most heavily conditioned of all of the girls, would be my guess. Biological backlash."

Inara follows behind, pinching the bridge of her nose "I think she may be more hopeless at being a girl than Jayne would be." she growls out exasperatedly. Before turning to look over her shoulder, and floping into a chair of her own. The rest of the crew simply accepting her statement at face value.

Simon forces a smile "Well, considering how well she does with not being able to be active, she'll be the first to go. Without better instruments than we have and a specialist they probably dont have all that much longer."

Victor, for his part, keeps his face controlled, and, with minimum body movement manages to almost make "I thought you had already stretched out their lives by years?" seem liked the simple question the words form, before turning away from Simon, and as a result, the rest of the people in the room for the answer.

The doctor shakes his head "That was before the witches brew those girls are on decided to start playing merry hell with their pituitaries, and body chemistry as a result."

The German sighs, then presses "How is it we missed this?"

Inara rolls her eyes as she tilts her head over to look at Victor, but her face softens immensely when she see's the pained, worried, absolutely paternal look on his face. She pauses, re-works her reply in her mind, and only then does she anser "When your building a wardrobe from the ground up, size changes and issues with a comfortable or flattering fit get missed." Of course her consideration failed to put enough of a pause between eye contact and speech for anyone to notice it.

"That would be my guess." Simon interjects with a noncommittal shrug "And with the girls shopping for themselves, and most of us men, its no wonder the most... telling, size changes never would have been mentioned."

"So straight on to Ariel after we stop on Persephone to get the ID's?" Inara prompts, looking more than a bit sad herself as the severity of the situation continues to sink in.

Mal opens his mouth, pauses, turns to glare at Inara and leans forward to demand "Since when do you decide where my ship flys?"

Inara just rolls her eyes "Since you signed that contract a few years back saying you wouldn't keep me from the mandatory obligations of my profession. Medical examinations are one of them." her tone becoming increasingly clipped with each word.

"Ah, gotta have those whore-checkups after all. Cant go spreadin no diseases." Mal drawls almost reflexively as he drops back into his seat "May as well run another hospital job while yer sneakin'em in to figure what needs to be fixed Simon. Gonna need the cash after buyin the parts 'Etta broke and those ID's"

Of course, his greedy planning leads to the captain being the last to pick up on the scent of burnt ozone, and the full weight of Inara's death-glare on him "Its an exit exam Malcolm. The Companions guild finally decided to expel me, thanks to the rumor that I helped the ship that sent The Wave. No need to worry though, I was smart enough to not take any physical jobs since I decided to stay again so you wont be harboring an unregistered, illegal prostitute while I try to find a new livelihood at least." she shoves herself up from her chair, clearly on the verge of tears "I should have enough cash to stay at home for a few more months after the bills are payed." before storming out.

Mal sits there, staring at where the woman he just might love had just been, looking positively stunned. Simon lets out a low whistle and quips, in an almost Jayne-like manner "And here I thought I was the worst of all the men on Serenity when it comes to reading women."

Victor scoffs, as the captains look shifts from shock to absolute, devastated self-loathing "Personally, I'm appalled at our commanding officers severely deficient observational skills. For all the whore cracks I've heard, I havent once whiffed the smell of sex, or cover-perfume on her coming back from one of her jobs since I came onboard." Is it a low shot? Yes. Kicking a man when he's down? Certainly. Necessary? Victor Hartmann may not consider himself a matchmaker or a shrink, but he is certain that it is.

Finally, the captain snaps out of his fugue-like state "Nara, wait, I-" trailing off as it is only his doctor, gun-hand and open air listening.

Simon turns away from the stricken man "Too late now Mal." pausing as he stands up to leave himself "Right, Persephone then Ariel?" Mal just nods as he deflates into the back of his chair.

"I'd avoid her shuttle for a while if I were you Reynolds." Victor adds as he moves to follow the doctor out, leaving the man to his thoughts.

****Broken****

Triela is trying to give Atton a chance to make amends, she really is. But he's grasping at straws already, and she's caught his gaze go from her chest, to her guns, then her hips, then back up to her eyes three times in the last five minutes. However, he is the first person not crew to even try to befriend her since she found herself in the future. Add to that that he is either stupid or brave enough to still try to get to know her better after their first encounters end, and she figures he deserves the chance he is quickly squandering. "We could... no, said I wouldnt parade you around again."

Triela rolls her eyes, and interjects "We're on Whitefall, there cant be that many people living here. I know I wouldnt."

He shoots a glare at her "I wouldn't either, but buyin passage on a ship aint cheap, and when there aint no guarantee of a job when you get somewhere else..."

Triela pushes off of the wall she had been leaning against to walk over towards the other teen, kicking a rock clear of her path on the way "Why do you want to leave here? I thought you had a pretty good set-up workin for your Gran."

He looks down at the ground with a sigh "Old folks die. Gran did 'bout a month or so after you left. I'm just lucky the feed-mill was hirin when my cash ran out." he forces a chuckle, before he adds "Plus the physical work did a bang-up job of finally forcing my growth spurt." he shrugs, pauses, and adds "That gives me an idea. Follow me." he turns to go, but notices Triela rooted in place glaring at him. "Oh dont give me that Tri, I figure I have a few years on ya anyhow. An its not like you've been locked looking the same the last few months either." the terrible, brutal irony, of course, is lost on him.

The tail end of the other teens admonition makes slow, confusing progress from ear to brain, then proceeds to get lost in the chaos it throws Trielas mind into. "How do you figure?" she fills the silence with as she lurches to follow Atton.

As the pair starts to cross the increasingly busy patch of shops and bars, Atton replies "I turned 17 a few months ago, I'd say that gives me two an a half, maybe three years on ya, depending on how hard yer body's been holdin out on ya."

Triela scowls down at her body, but refrains from mentally berating Simon for not figuring out how to get them to age properly sooner. It would make her look like she was sulking, or mopey, and she really is trying to not torture Atton. "I'm gonna be sixteen soon enough."

He cracks a grin and offers "Puts you a good sight closer to normal than I was at that age then." holding out an arm to stop Triela from stepping out into the street and getting bowled over by a passing horse.

She steps back, and shoots back "We're only a few months apart." before pausing to brush the front of her t-shirt clean of the not inconsiderate ammount of dirt that had transferred over from the other teens dirty flannel. "So, where are we headed anyhow?"

"Pond behind the mill I work at. Has a gorge not to far off to one side, and a scrub forest off to the other." he replies plainly, starting to walk again.

"I said you could try to make your being a hun-dan and dragging me around town like a chunk of arm candy last time we met up to me." Triela dryly replies "Not that you could try to take me on a date." she pauses "Especially to a swimming hole so you can splash me, pull me in, or try to con me into stripping down for a dip." more than a bit of ire creeping into her voice.

Atton chuckles "I'd rather you not grow a third arm to be honest. Its runoff from a chemical refinery and the feedmill combined. Chemical sheen and the sun make it look kinda nice, and the waste from the mill mixes with the chemicals around it. Varmants git all loopy eatin it... its funny."

The image of an absolutely stoned bunny shambling about plays out in her mind, followed by one of Henrietta and Angelica panicking and trying to help it out passing through as well, unbidden, the two images eliciting a smirk from her. "Alright, sounds good enough." she relents as they begin to pass from the bars and shops to what look to be factories, or something close enough. "I have to ask though, why is it you were so insistent on pressing that you wanted to make something up to me anyways? Its not like you were mean or bragged or anything."

The older teen forces a chuckle "Ehh, I kinda took you on the longest paths from shop to shop. Gran figured that out real quick." he pauses and looks up and down a street at an intersection, then chooses the less populous path, leading them into another shipping crate park.

Triela's gaze flicks over to the boy walking next to her "So, you decided to do what your dead grandma said you should, and started by strong-arming me into a position where I had to go along?" Realizing too late that she just took a big bite out of her foot with that question.

"What? No! I, well, it was just a chance meeting. And I didnt want to wreck it." he defends himself "And how do you sort I was strong-armin you?"

Triela's gaze gets a bit frosty around the edges, as she points out "You walk up on me an my dad havin lunch, and sitting bored. Then you drop an apology, and say you want to make amends. Now, if someone walked up to you cleaning tables for your gran after closing up her shop, and did that, would you get to say no?"

He opens his mouth, closes it, looks at Triela, is unable to hold her gaze, so his flicks to chest, then to handgun, in to her hips, then away and down. He spots a rock, kicks it clear and away down an alley as they pass it, and growls out "Gorramit. Look, I'm sorry, honest. Didnt mean to do nothin like that to ya."

At at that the girl realizes that she just took a second bite out of her poor foot, and begins to wonder why she left it in her mouth in the first place. As the pair passes under an awning, Triela pauses and pinches her nose, eyes closed "So you're saying you do narcissistic gou-shi like that off reflex?" some part of her mind apparently deciding she may as well chew at this point, as she slows to a stop, fully expecting to find herself standing alone shortly.

Another hapless rock is sent flying before the boy thumps his head into the steel shipping crate someone is living out of a few feet ahead of her and answers "No. No, its just, not many ships come through, an lots are Firefly's so the chance of yours bein one is real slim. An when the last proper meaningful talk you have with the only family you got is about a wrong you need to right..."

Triela starts walking in the direction her had been leading her "You make sure you do it. Right. C'mon lets see those stoned bunnies."

Atton is slow to catch on, but quick to catch up with her after that. He eventually takes back his spot, half a step ahead of her, a more or less confident look on his face, grinning ever so slightly. He opens his mouth to again try to strike up conversation just in time to be cut off by a halting female voice oozing of forced sexuality crooning "So, finally came by for a tumble Ton?"

Triela feels her face snapping to an angry scowl, as the other teen blusters out "What? NO! Thats... what in the ruttin hell is wrong with you Kate?" his voice laced with disgust and concern. The cyborg glances over to the source of the voice, to see a girl probably a bit older than Atton clad in a pair of 'shorts' that were probably a mans cargo pants before the legs were ripped off just below crotch level, a plain black bra and a white knitted shawl. Her skin is a bit on the pale side, red hair a bit thin, eyes just a tad sunken and cheeks a bit gaunt. A methhead then, probably fallen to full addiction not long ago by how light the damage is. Her grin is desperate, but it shows that all of the teeth are still there, and only a bit yellowed, her posture is awkward and rigid, ruining what would normally be a very alluring pose on the side of the shipping-crate-house she is outside of.

"Well, I cant get my fix if I aint got no cash, and I'm not that bad lookin, so why not?" she asks in response.

Atton scowls, and deflects the girls hand as she moves to wrap it over his shoulder. He quickly slips out of his button-down shirt and wraps it around her shoulders "Didnt I tell you not to go round Wayams no more?"

The girl giggles as Atton leads her back towards the 'house' she had been waiting outside of, Triela following behind, face softening, then hardeining again as the sounds of copulation begin to filter out through the thin steel wall, she begins searching for trouble approaching as the other girl drawls out "But... all I had ta do was keep the boys happy an they kept the pipe full. Best week I've had for months..." as Atton gently lowers Kate to the ground.

The male teens face hardens to a mask of rage as he pushes up from the ground. Before Triela can ask what's going on, the older teen has the door to the shack kicked in, and is inside. A few shouts, the sounds of a brief, one sided scuffle, then that of a skull bouncing off metal followed by glass shattering, then a few more resonating thuds, filter through the ruined door shortly afterwords. Atton stalks out, hands still clenched into fists, blood and glass shards falling from his left, muscles tense from the sudden exertion "Triela, I know this isnt exactly what we agreed on, but can you help me get Kate back to my house?" as he crouches to lift the barely lucid, swiftly crashing teen from the ground.

Triela just nods, and for a while, the trio backtrack through town, ignoring the shocked and scandalized looks and comments of the people they pass as so much white noise, before she asks "Friend of yours?" Atton just nods, still visibly working to get his anger under control "Family?" she guesses.

"Cousin. Worked with me at grans. Fell in with some wang ba dan de bia zi footpads thought they would make it big cooking meth, when she was looking for a new job. Other girls are all your age at best. High as all hell an sellin their bodies to not come down." he grinds out.

Triela spares a glance at the girl that, addiction considered, might be her junior, back in the direction of the shack that almost certainly did house some of her juniors, and doesnt press the issue past that; filling in the gaps herself. Minutes pass in silence until Attons shack of a home is in sight, and she breaks the silence to prompt "Sounds like you know some of'em."

He nods as he pushes his door open "Grew up with most all of'em." there is a pause as he braces out and re-positions his cousin in his arms "Both groups."

She cocks an eyebrow at Atton as he makes his way through the mostly clean, almost homey shack to deposit his cousin on the mostly clean bed after pushing the mound of sheets clear from its center "Know where they live?"

"Gou neong yung de has his gang cooking meth in the very same house, real house, that he grew up in." the other teen answers as he walks back out of his house, barely acknowledging Triela as he passes her in the doorway.

She catches the door behind him to keep it from slamming, and asks "And why havent you stopped them then?"

He wheels about to glare, rather impressively she will admit, at her before snapping out "Oh, I dont know, maybe the part where they trade meth for cash, sex, guns an ammo, or I'm just one kid and theres over a dozen of them by now? And if you say I should have told the 'liance to get it sorted I'll crack you upside the head, girl or no." He pauses to take a deep, steadying breath, forces his left hand down from where it had been holding an acusing finger inches from her chest; clenches and unclenches his fists, and continues "Sorry... its just, their killin what little good there is in this hellhole, and I cant do a thing 'bout it."

The captain will be pissed. Hillshire will be furious. But to Triela, there's only one course of action she can live with open to her. She carefully schools the shocked expression Attons outburst had left on her face to one of calm confidence, and only then does she reply "Of course there's something you can do about it." acting on instinct, she offers him one of her handguns she hadnt even realized was out of its hideaway holster, her hand firmly clasping the barrel so that he can take the grip "You can follow me."

****Broken****

Petra stomps onto the bridge, where River had, up until the redhead entered, been napping in Henrietta's cot, and chooses to ignore the noise. Petra, pulling at her hair, half-screams "Arrgh! Why did I move in with that pig-headed hun-dan?!"

River tilts her head back, opens one eye cocks its brow, and looking as cat like as a girl can, quips "Took you less than five minutes to move the rest of your things Petra."

The angry redhead growls out something incoherent, throws herself into the co-pilots chair and pouts back "readings cheating." as the chair slowly spins from her weight and momentum

River lets her head drop back onto the cot, closes her eye and replys "As good as breathing to me." she pauses and rolls over after a few moments of silence to face the other teen "What was it about?"

Now its the redheads turn to pout as she bitterly replies "Thought a reader like youd know already."

River lets Petra know just how much of a boob she is with a glance, before rolling back to her back, closing her eyes and extrapolating "You inhale and exhale. I dont get everything. Not anymore. What was it about?"

Still pouting, Petra mutters "Sandro wants to leave Serenity. I think thats a terrible idea."

River shrugs "Just because you leave home doesn't make it stop being home." she pauses to yawn, and stretch, only making the brunette seem even more like a cat before she presses "He has a plan, doesn't he?"

Petra nods slowly "Yea, he does."

River blows a stray lock of hair out her eyes, closes them again and offers "And its a good one. Your just mad that he's telling not asking."

Head staring down at her own cleavage, arms crossed under it the other girl again spits out "Readings cheating Riv."

A hurt look crosses the other girls face before she scoffs and spits back "You really think I need to read you to know why you were so mad Petra? Was written all over the way you stormed in here." she huffs through a slowly forming grin as her friend finally starts to come out of her funk a bit, her arms and legs uncrossing "Go. Make nice with Sandro. Your all sulky when your mad at him still."

Petra finally cracks a smirk and relaxes into the chair "Dont know what I'd do without you River."

The other girl shrugs after a while as she looks over to reply "Have one less feng-le friend?"

The older teen shakes her head ruefully "Stop that." her voice bearing more than a bit of a commanding snap, before it softens into "Every friend I had before I got here was crazy by most standards considered normal. Your just a new friend, and one I wouldnt change for the verse right now."

River forces a 'long suffering' sigh through a small grin "Now your just being soppy to be soppy. Stop that."

"Read that?" the redhead queries, turning her own grin on the brunette who is pointedly staring out the viewscreen to avoid eye contact.

Silence hangs pregnantly for a few minutes before River turns to Petrushka, a positively Cheshire grin on her face "All over your voice. Now go, make up. Captains back off Serenity so you wont even have to hear him complain about the noise you make this time."

"Eh..." the other girl trails off, pulling on the co-pilots seats lever to recline it "I think I'll sweat him for a bit. Cant have him not respecting my anger properly."

River hums a bit from her cot, before replying "Then shut up and get to sleep. Whitefalls boring and its naptime."

****Broken****

Rico wanders the labyrinthine streets of Whitefall city half in a daze, head throbbing. Food shack, food shack, general store, gun store... all of them useless to the list she has stuffed into her shorts pocket. She side-steps a passing horse, trips on a curb, and stumbles to a halt in front of a concrete block of a building with 'Pawn Shop' painted in English and Mandarin above its one barred window. Ignoring the riders cursing at her for walking down the middle of the street, she shakes her head to clear it, and makes her way into the shop. Cheap guns are displayed on a pegboard rack behind the cashiers counter. The aisle leading to the bored, pidgeon-featured woman reading a magazine behind the same barred off counter is lined with glass-topped, locked cases filled with assorted knives, blades and jewelry. Alot of them look dull or like fakes, but the cyborg cant be sure.

A light flickers to the right, momentarily breaking illumination around the chunk of the shop devoted to electronics, and drawing Ricos attention to a white, red lettered sign reading 'Clerk is armed. Attempt shoplifting at your own risk.' Opposite the electronics section is a seemingly random spattering of items, and a sign, slightly more faded, and sporting a bullet hole, though otherwise the same reading 'No Questions'. There may be no chairs readily visible, but she might find something on 'Ettas list, so Rico begins to browse, her interest piqued.

Wandering off to her left she nearly knocks over a stand of umbrellas and canes digging through it, and in her haste to right it, she finds a particularly ornate dragon-headed cane that, in reality, should be in one of the weapon cases. She considers it for a minute, before putting it back in the rack after sliding the fraction of blade that had just become visible back in. Maybe next time. The rack of weird smelling, and ominously stained clothes is bypassed, to potentially reveal paydirt; most of a wicker furniture set that looks more or less clean. Rico plops down into one of the high backed, surprisingly comfy chairs. After a few seconds though, it starts to creak ominously, and the cyborg pushes herself out of it before she becomes the owner of a pile of twigs.

Defeated but not done, she wanders over into the electronics, her eyes again lingering on the cane-blade as she passes it. Most of what she sees appears broke, old and outdated, or both; though a few media players catch her eye as possible replacements to the literally ancient devices she and her sisters all have still. After a few more minutes of aimless browsing, she stumbles across an oddity, a new, sealed box for what appears to be a stereo surround-sound set. Probably a nice one, if even half of the selling points on the box can be believed "Ooh! SoundMaster 7's new model!" a somewhat familiar voice crows from over her shoulder.

Rico spins about to see Ed, the girl from the Bebop they had saved from the prison train, her prison jumpsuit swapped out for a faded grey pair of low-rise, hip-hugging cargo pants, and a white low shouldered t-shirt exposing her midriff and a single shoulder, along with a yellow bra-strap. Despite being probably the same physiological age, the redhead, her hair now tamed enough to fall down to just above her shoulders, looks decidedly older than the more petite blond, especially with the panicked, borderline insane glint in her eyes. "Edward?"

"Edward Wong Hau Peplu Tivrusky IV to be exact!" she exclaims happily, an air of self-assured confidence seemingly emanating from her "Your gonna buy that, right?"

Rico takes half a step back, remembering how... unpredictable, the other girl can be, and asks "Is it... worth what they're asking?" before tacking on "I'm Rico by the way." and offering her hand, which Ed happily accepts and shakes wildly up and down.

The girl oozes up beside Rico, raises a hand to cover her mouth from the clerks sight and replies in a half-whisper "Alot more than that. Its probably hot."

Rico tilts her head to look at the other teen for a while before responding "Then why arent you buying it?"

"Cuz we're BROKE AGAIN!" she exclaims a bit too cheerily, causing Rico to wince.

Rico deadpans, and lifts the large box up with her left arm "My gain I guess. Why are you in a pawn shop if your broke anyways?"

She shrugs, shoves her hand down into her pockets to pull out some data drives, and what look to be an assortment of home-made badges and earrings, all of them some manner of yellow face "Getting money for dinner for me and Ein."

The blonde just nods, slides the cane she had been eyeing since she realized what it is out of the rack, and proceeds to the counter, Ed still trailing curiously behind her. After a few lazy taps at a keyboard a price pops up on a blinking, mismatched, green, red, blue and yellow LED display. Rico slides some platinum chips into the tray, which the clerk takes, counts and finally nods to Rico. Ed slides her offerings under the tray, the clerk examines them, and types in a number. Ed frowns, takes the data drives back from the tray, and starts to tap her foot, her face now set in a petulant scowl. The price jumps up by half again, Ed slides the drives back into the tray, the clerk takes the haul, drops the amount offered back into it, and goes back to her magazine. The duo make their way out of the shop, but the doors screeching shut makes Rico stop to wince.

"Feelin sick?" Ed asks, a touch warily.

Rico shakes her head as she moves to shield her eyes from the sun "No. Shark Week." she replies, picking the first term she could remember to go with.

Eds mouth forms and understanding 'oh' before she presses "Killer headache?" which elicits an affirmative nod from the cyborg "Cramps just as bad?" this question gets her a negative head-shake from the blonde, who is now rubbing at her temples with her free hand. The redhead tosses her a half-smirk and quips "Lucky."

Rico groans, hefts the stereo system box and whines "Dont see how if I have to deal with this gou-shi every month."

Ed chuckles "So a cyborg and a late-bloomer? Thats harsh." Rico freezes, drops her cane, and nearly drops the sound system "Oh, I left some data-taps on Serenitys computer. I know all about you girls. Triela is probably still all grumpy about me, and she was dragging her boy-toy across town, so I found you so that I could meet the badass robot-cyborg-android girls! Oh, and dinner."

This time, Rico does drop the sound system. Ed dives to catch it, but yelps in pain as all that accomplishes is to crush her hand and pin her in place on the ground. Not breaking stride, she glances up, grinning from ear to ear "Want help setting that up?"

****Broken****

Triela resists the urge to sigh into the awkward silence that had reigned since she and Atton had made their way to the pond he had originally wanted to take her to after destroying the meth lab. His hands are still shaking, and his gaze is distant and unfocussed. He hadnt killed anybody, probably didnt do more than give a few of the drug-pushing, flesh-trading, evil bastards that had once been his friends, or at least acquaintances, flesh wounds, but he is still clearly coming down from the rush of his first bullets in anger. The idea may be one foreign to her, but she has seen enough rookie cops or agents that had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, or getting their trial by fire being talked down by a seasoned hand to at least know, theoretically, what she should be doing.

He bounces his boot hard off the ledge over-looking the surprisingly pretty polluted pond as sunset plays off it, and she realizes just how daunting a task that is. She cant sympathize, as her conditioning means she simply doesn't get what he's feeling, not on the same level at least. At 16, she cant offer him a stiff drink at a nearby bar to distract him; and even if she could, she wouldn't trust the local establishments. She cant even offer him a cup of coffee, as the only liquid around is the chemical-reeking, thick as molasses pond.

"Triela, I-"

"Atton, I-" they both start at the same time, before glancing away from each other awkwardly.

Being the first to recover, Triela stars again "Atton, I want you to know that you did the right thing, a good thing today. It doesnt make you any less or worse of a person."

Finally shaken from his stupor he protests "But I"

"Didnt kill anyone. Tagged a few, but didnt kill anyone." Triela cuts him off, smirking despite herself, knowing that Simon had gotten a similar rebuke not all that long ago.

He shakes his head and takes a ragged breath, before responding "Thats a lie. I set the lab to go off after we got the girls out. You may have put bullets in them, but I probably killed all the ones we left hurt on the ground with that."

Triela closes her eyes, thinks back, and, her smirk turning sad, corrects him "Some ran, and I saw them take the ones we left wounded behind us with them. Your not a killer." she pauses "And if you were, you would still be a good person."

A pair of rodents bump into each other, and start bickering in what seems to be slow motion, thanks to the lethargy the pollutants put them into as Atton presses "How can you know that? How can you... how can you live with what you do?"

The girl presses her lips, and leans back to look up at the blazing sunset, before letting her eyes drift shut "The 'verse isnt a nice place Atton, and it isnt fair, we both know that. Not everyone walking this 'Verse with us is worthy of that privilege." Triela answers, reciting something Hillshire had told her very early in her training, a few words changed of course "Some of us make it our job to separate those undesirables from the rest of humanity, to spare others the pain of doing so themselves." she continues, letting a peace fall over her as her fathers words float from her mouth. She pauses for a moment to savor it, before adding "My father told that to me, when I was in your shoes years ago. Helped keep me sane though the hell between that day and us signing on with Serenity."

The boy chokes a bit, despite the fact that every time he had ran into her, he had seen Triela take lives without showing much more than an ounce of emotion for it. "Years?" some unseen force preventing him from making a total ass of himself and pushing past that.

"I didnt get this good overnight, and like I said, the 'Verse aint fair." She deadpans, tilting her head towards him and opeining her eyes again, doing her best to keep the acid from her retort, as the shaking starts to return to the teen who had very nearly been calm not moments before.

He shifts in place, deflates a bit more and asks "It... it was just those words that held you together?"

Triela allows herself to laugh a bit, missing the flush that comes to the other teens face, as her eyes are closed in mirth, before she adds "No, Dad was there every step of the way with me. Him, Rico, 'Etta an their big brothers. We were all as good as family, still are, those of us who are left. The adults all cut us enough slack to act our age when we could afford to, no matter how bad it got." she chuckles again as memories pass by her minds eye, and allows her own eyes to open again as she laces her fingers behind her head and again settles down onto her back in the dirt "I still have the teddy bear collection Dad got me. A bear for every job gone right; even when I got something nice on the job that most of the other adults would call reward enough."

Atton feels a spike of anxiety as the girls gaze falls on his still blushing face, but the idea of such a fierce warrior collecting teddy bears of all things is enough to get him to break out into laughter, covering for him. "Bears, really?" he forces out between guffaws, missing the embarrassed flush on the tan girls face now "You'll have to show me some time."

Triela schools her embarrassed scowl to a more amicable half-smirk, and replies "Next time I'm on world, I just might." She looks up at the nearly finished sunset "But I have a dad probably worried sick and sharpening a knife for you by now, and a Captain that no doubt heard a gunfight and a building blowing up to answer to. So I really need to be on my way... and you have a cousin that'll be comin' to soon enough that needs seeing to." before unlacing her hands from behind her head, and slapping the ground as if to help herself push up from the dirt.

Atton quickly bolts up to stand, and begins to fumble at his waistband for the handgun he still had stuffed into it. By the time he has the Sig Sauer P232 fumbled free, Triela is standing, and facing him "I almost forgot to give this-"

"Keep it." she cuts him off, catching his hand, offering her the but of the handgun, with her own hand mid-way through his offering the weapon back "I have another, and on a world like this your crazy not having something to protect yourself with. Just promise to take care of it for me." Atton is only able to nod dumbly as she turns to head back to Serenity.

****Broken****

"Hey, Rico, I have a question." Ed asks from the corner of the room the blond shares with Henrietta, a laptop sitting on her crossed legs.

Rico looks down at the tanned girl from the ladder she is securing the last speaker to the wall from and replies "Yea?"

Ed tilts her head in confusion, as she looks between the new computer she is transferring the music files the roommates have to, after converting them to a modern format , and the positively ancient laptop they had been on, then asks "When did you get froze again?

"A little bit into the second decade of the 2000's I think?" Rico responds as she finishes affixing the speaker to the wall, her tongue hanging out in concentration as she does so. "We knew holidays, birthdays and how old we were, but, with how short our lives were supposed to be, the actual year never really mattered to us. Why?"

Ed unfurls her legs from her lotus pose to pull one up over her head in a stretch, pushing the laptop forward and leaning her face forward to be inches from the screen as she replies "Because some of these songs are from the second half of that decade... or the next few decades altogether." As the other girl climbs down the ladder and walks over to where the tan girl is working.

Rico peeks her head over the other girls shoulder to look at the screen, blatantly ignoring the gratuitous feat of flexibility the redhead is exhibiting "Well, some of the girls at the Agency were information warfare experts, and they didnt pay us. Maybe they used torrents?"

Ed scrunches her face up in confusion "Torrents?" as a suddenly bored Rico turns around to head towards one of the beds.

Rico throws herself onto said bed and explains "You know, peer to peer sharing. Get a client, download the file, get free games movies and songs until you get caught?"

Ed shakes her head "Peer to peer?" as she taps away at the keyboard and touchpad, still moving files over and converting them.

The blond rolls on to her side to face Ed "One person uploads a file, others download it, after they have it all they upload too." she pauses as her finger involuntarily finds the corner of her mouth "At least, thats how I think it works. I got a few albums, then Jean and Lorenzo yelled at me about breaking opsec when they got some e-mails from the studios lawyers."

"Mmm... if there really was something like that, a good data-diver could set up a program to get the best quality files for their favorite bands as soon as the file was on the cortex-"

"Web" Rico interjects playfully.

Ed turns up to stick her tongue out at the other girl and argues "Semantics shmemantics. If it used to exist Blue Sun probably stopped it after they got big anyways."

Rico shrugs "There were a few that were good with computers like I said. I just bought music after I got busted."

Ed nods and goes back to her work, which Rico quickly grows bored of again, and rolls over again to sprawl out on "Busted?" the redhead queries.

"Lorenzo got a threatening cease and desist letter, and a lot of the Section 1 clerks saw the out of court settlement e-mail. Something like twenty euro per song... they pegged me for 3 dozen or so I think. I... was in trouble for a few months after that." the other girl airily replies, missing the redheads wince, as the sound of the door leading down to the bunk opening draws her attention.

A grumbling Henrietta makes her way down the ladder, and has her grease, grime and sweat-coated old p.e. T-shirt halfway off before she realizes that not only is her roommate in the room, but there is a visitor. She drops the garment back on, turns to face the pair, and in a very level voice announces "Triela's nearly back to the ship, cap'n is. I'm taking a shower before we lose our water hook up and are on rations. Liftoff in an hour."

Ed, not knowing Henrietta well enough to take the hint replies, without looking up to see the sabers the brunette is glaring at her "You're the mechanic and the pilot? Didnt expect that."

"I'm. Not. The. Mechanic." Henrietta grinds out. Ed, head still leaned up against the laptop screen as she absent-mindedly switches to her other leg stretched up and over her head, almost to the point that its touching her nose, misses Rico pushing herself back on her bed far enough to be able to hide behind it when her long-time roommate blows her lid and turns the redheads head into paste.

Ed taps a few random keys triumphantly with her free hand and, voice still absent-minded and peppy, replies "Awful nice of you to help out the mechanic with repairs while your ships on the ground then."

Henriettas eye twitches, and she walks over to the corner Ed is camped out in, rears her right hand back, makes a fist and, voice still tight, spits out "I. Didnt." before punching, and severely denting, the bulkhead inches above Eds own head "The captain made me because some of the maneuvers I put Serentiy through damaged her because of how someone hacked the ships FIRMWARE did huge amounts of damage to the ship when the commands got carried out." her voice getting louder with each word. Rico covers her eyes, despite the other duo being out of her line of site, and drags her sheets over her head for good measure.

Realization dawns on Ed, and her head snaps up to look at the newcomers face. The hackers eyes bug out, going as large as saucers as she freezes in place "Ummmmm... Sorry?" she begins to try to slowly slide back and away from the other girl, still in her stretching pose "The... uhh... mechanic wasnt hurt, was he?"

Henrietta lets out an angry growl, her fist once again loaded and ready to fly "She is fine, luckily for you." As the soon-to-be-corpse bumps into the wall and realizes she is stuck between that and the irate cyborg.

Ed forces a chuckle out, though it is clear to everyone in the room that it is one of fear, not amusement "I... uhh... was k-k-kinda not right in the head when I went to the bridge." her voice squeaking the whole sentence.

Henrietta blows out a long, slow breath and, moving to let the slightly taller redhead stand in the same motion she lowers her arm and unclenches her fist "I know. Thats why your still here. I'm taking a shower."

Before Ed can formulate any other response, Rico scoops her up from the floor and drags her out of the bunk. "Ettas... a girly girl. She's been helping our mechanic since we were clear after getting you out." the blond explains after getting her new friend clear of her nearly homicidal soul-sister.

Ed groans, as if in physical pain as they pass into the cargo bay "Zao gao... she's gonna kill me iffin we meet each other again, aint she?" still shaking a bit from her brush with death, she pounds the bulkhead to her right and exclaims "Ed's dead Dead DEAD!" not realizing that they are no longer alone.

Triela, who had been berating Hillshire, one hand on her hip, the other gesticulating wildly, her father, and Jayne, who had been, until the tan girl returned, shooting pool with the aforementioned father all freeze to look up to the catwalk. Triela recovers first, and continues "Like I said, this is a Hwo gai moon, and it took real balls for him to actually follow me to take out that meth lab. Not only does he deserve somethin for improving life on this gou shi moon, but not all of the tian sha de e mo that were sellin meth to other kids an acceptin' their friends bodies as pay are dead. He needs it, I have another. Dont have any friends off this boat aside from him an I dont want to lose him because you were being cheap with MY guns!" before stomping off towards, and then up the stairs at an angry, rapid pace. When she reaches the pair of younger girls she pauses, and lets her angry scowl fade to a more amicable, calm expression "Nice to see you looking normal and sane Ed." before continuing on back into the ship.

After the older blond clears earshot Jayne snickers, and takes a shot, sinking his last ball before the 8-ball, puffs the last bit of smoke out of his cigar and quips "What is it you said before about a boy really havin' ta be somethin' to catch her attention Vic?"

Pinching at the bridge of his nose as Jayne scrubs his shot off of one of the Germans remaining stripes, Hillshire answers "Not another gorram word Cobb. Not a word."

Giggling a bit, Rico pats her new-found, and now even more shell-shocked friends shoulder after she recovers from the shouting and assures her "Don't worry Henriettas normally a real sweety. I'll butter her up for you with the sound system and how you moved all that music we copied over to modern files, then you can wave us a few times and I'm sure you two will get along great next time we meet." the blond pauses to let Ed precede her down the stairs and watch Hillshire nearly even out the game before scratching, and Jayne taking the table the next shot. "I'll talk to ya later Ed. Hope yer next job actually works out... an pays."

"Me too." Ed answers as she makes her way off of Serenity.

****Broken****

Henrietta is lounging half awake in her hammock, Serenity in the middle of the black and on course, when the sound of an incoming call jolts her to full wakefulness. She quickly schools her hair into something resembling control by cinching it back into a low ponytail, and hits the 'accept call' button under the screen. It's the on duty pilots job to screen any Waves during the ships night cycle after all. "Oh, hey, you answered!" the boy from the Li Shen Bazaar happily exclaims as Henrietta blushes, and flies into a tizzy trying to get herself a bit more presentable, from the waist up at least, as she curses herself for not checking whose line it was for first.

"Of course I did." she manages as her personal ministrations die down "I am the duty pilot after all."

The boys face lights up, and Henrietta notices, mercifully, that he's in what looks to be a 'comfy t-shirt' as well, and his hat-head is nearly as bad as her bedhead. "Really, a pilot? Thats so cool Henrietta!"

She blushes, and shrugs "Its just how I earn my keep..."

He flashes her a positively radiant grin as he leans back in his chair "You answered, remembered me, and my promise! Will, I'm Will."

Trying her best to fight off the burn on her cheeks, Henrietta pulls at a loose lock of her hair and shifts to better face the camera and screen "Not every day a boy just walks up and calls me 'cute'. Of course I remember you."

Will rolls his eyes "You come from a moon of blind men?" he is rewarded with previously calm Henreitta again breaking out into a blush.

The girl glances away from the screen to cover her blush, then, after a few seconds, asks "Your callin awfully late... any reason why you waited so long?"

The other barely-teen scratches at the back of his head sheepishly with a half-chuckle before answering "I just got off work an felt like talkin is all. I'm sorry if I woke you up."

Henrietta shakes her head vehemently, feeling her blush deepen, but she presses on anyways "No, its not a problem at all! I'm not supposed to fall asleep when I'm watching the bridge actually."

Will flashes her another brilliant smile, and stretches back in his swivel chair "So... your glad I called you?"

The girl nods enthusiastically, her own grin beaming back at him brightly through her still flushed cheeks "Actually, it'd be nice to have someone to talk to on these night shifts."

He chuckles "It get lonely out there?

Henrietta shrugs, and leans back into her hammock "Not really, the crews all great, and we all get along... but I can only play my violin so long when everyone else is asleep before I run out of songs quiet enough to not wake everyone up, or get tired of playin' slow and soft."

"Violin? You mean, like a fiddle, but..."

"Classy? Cultured?" Henrietta finishes for the boy, laughing at his shock "Yes, its... a hobby my... big brother got me into a long time ago."

Will shifts about uneasily "did you, wanna play for me, maybe?" he pauses and glances down at the ground, or something off screen and below him at least "I mean, that is, if it isn't too personal."

If Henriettas smile had been bright before, it lights all the way up to 10,000 watts at her luck finding Will, or, him finding her rather "Of course! I'd love to!" she all but squeaks back, reaching down off of her hammock to her still open case.

****Broken****

The forgers work office is, for lack of a better word, a cave. Its a nice cave, polished, well lit and with plenty of room, but a secluded windowless room in the heart of an office complex with more 'B' levels then above-ground real-estate can only really be described as such at the end of the day. Mal and Jayne are both hanging back at the door to act as guards, and let the former members of the Social Welfare Agency make their way to the counter to set up their forged real identities. There is a bit of confusion as the six make their way forward, but, Triela and Hillshire end up in the front of the line at the hackers desk. "So, who do you two want to be?" he asks, his cheap suit and yellowed, cavity-ridden grin combining with the question cementing his blatant creepy-nerd personality for all in the room. For a moment, the only noise is the hum of the bank of powered up computers sitting along the mostly clutter-free right-hand wall of the room.

Hillshire takes half a step forward, and pushes the sniffling Triela protectively behind him. "I am Victor Hartman. This" he pauses to indicate the cyborg he had just shielded from the other mans lecherous gaze "is my daughter Triela Hartman." before sliding the full cost of credentials that could get them cleared to tour Parliament on Londinium if they so chose over to the other man.

The potential pedophile blows a derisive half-snort out through his nose, and asks "Mother?"

"Unkown, adopted." Hillshire responds, his voice clipped and protective.

A 'knowing' and friendly glint lights in the hackers eyes "Thats extra, working in adoption papers as good as your asking for." Hillshire levels a death glare on the man, and slaps down another handful of platinum.

The man shrinks back a bit "Ages?" averting his gaze into the laptop he is working off of.

"My daughters sixteen, I'm thirty-four." he answers, not easing up on his gaze.

Fill out the rest at the first and second computers from the door you came in through. Cards will print after your done."

As Hillshire all but drags his daughter over to the computers, Petra and Sandro advance, hands loosely clasped "Alessandro Ricci and Petrushka Baronovskaya. No living family, be creative. Thirty two and seventeen."

Petra takes a step back, her eyes widening, voice wavering a bit, begins to exclaim "Hey, Sandro, I-"

He half-chuckles, and slips his arm around her waist "Wont be 18 for a few months yet honey." supporting the dejected looking cyborg on the way to the waiting computer where she can enter the rest of her information to be hacked into Alliance data-banks.

Head swiveling back and forth in shock, mouth agape, Henrietta stumbles forward thanks to the gentle nudge Rico gave her during the exchange. The mans eyes light up, only to dart away as the chestnut haired cyborgs eyes fade from a shell-shocked pre-teens to those of a hardened killers "Henrietta Crorce. Fourteen. Family deceased, emancipated orphan as of a year ago." her voice one of unwavering, unyielding steel, and gaining shocked looks from all of the people she had entered the office with.

Deflating, the slimeball of a hacker just nods, indicates the bank of computers the others are typing away at, and, bracing himself for another round of terrifying veiled threats, overt promises of pain or proverbial sucker-punches, and deadly calls out "Next." Rico, not entirely sure what to make of all she had just seen makes her way to the counter, steps small and uncertain. After a few moments of silence, the hacker prompts "Name?" not even bothering to look up from his computer.

"Rico... ahh..." the cyborg pauses, seemingly unsure of how to finish the simple question, despite having had the same more or less familial ties the girl who had been at the desk before her possessed.

Jayne Cobb, to his mind at least, is a man of action, when it needs to be taken. He may bitch and whine about the captains decisions, but he still gets jobs done, or at least his part in them. He doesnt consider himself the most moral of men, but when it comes down to it, he still likes to think of himself as a man who does the right thing when the issue really matters. His proof, to himself, at least, is that after he saw the recording that had woken up the whole 'Verse to the reality of Reavers and the Alliance's place in making them, he hadnt made a single attempt to question or contradict the captains choices; save for tactical qualms. Yet, here, right in front of him, the girl that had somehow managed to worm her way into his heart over the past few months, is struggling over her family name.

Who can a person always count on when the chips are down; who will always count you as their own no matter what you did, or who is asking; who will stand between you and the stormy seas of life when its all to much to bear? Family, to one Jayne Cobb the only answer to those questions is family; and Rico, just after the girl that is her sister in all but genetics had declared to all and sundry what her family name is, is faltering.

The man acts.

"Cobb. She's Rico Cobb." he announces, stalking forward to slap down the extra platinum that would be required to push the adoption papers into the system. You could hear a pin drop, if only someone would let one fall. "I mean, that is... iffin you'll have me as yer Pa, Rico." the mercenary adds awkwardly as he realizes just what it is he had offered. The hacker shrugs and begins to type, as Rico slowly turns around, dumbfounded look on her face.

"You... you'd actually..." she starts trailing off as her words fail her.

Jayne levels an almost condescending gaze on the cyborg "Course I would Tiny. All you gotta say is that your okay with it. I dont aim to force this on you... didnt really know I was gonna do this up until a minute ago myself to be totally honest."

The hacker looks up from his computer, and snaps out "Well, is he your dad or isnt he?"

Rico whips around, looking more than a bit mad herself and snaps back "Corse he-" she pauses, realizes what had just fell from her mouth, collects herself and repeats "Of course he is."

Heh, that last scene has been on my mind since I started this fic.

Translations! (shitty probably but its what I could find, haha):

wang ba dan de biao zi: whores of sons of bitches

Hwo Gai: eserving of bad luck or fate

gou shi: crap

Tian sha de e mo: God Damn monsters

And finally, please read and review! I love to know what you think, what parts you liked, what your pissed at me about, even a quick 'hey I read it and enjoyed it' really brightens my day up! It also makes me wanna write even more... haha. Until next time!