Life on this boat. A Firefly story. #fanfic

Safe.

Lou spent a day washing the girls clean of layers of grime. She never realised how much dirt two children could wear. After a day of washing them and watching them sleep she could relax enough to trust that they were safe.
Simon had checked both girls and found that the damage done to them was mostly malnutrition. Saphire had scars on her back showing that she had been beaten by a whip at some point, but other than that they were both physically intact.
They had been beaten but not raped to Lou's great relief. Once both girls were ready and showed signs of restlessnes, she decided to take them up to the galley to feed them there rather than bring food to them. She also wanted to make dinner for the crew. As she was cooking a stew out of some protein, Inara and Kaylee came in. Inara gave Lou a quick hug.
"How are you doing?" She asked.
Kaylee was looking at the kids with a smile.
"I'm good. Got my kids," Lou smiled.
"Mama. Is she a princess?" Brooke piped up staring mesmerised at Inara.
"This here, Brookie, is my friend Inara," Lou said.
"You know a princess! Saffy. Look. She looks like your doll at home," Brooke said bouncing over to her sister.
"I swear. That child never stops moving," Lou smiled.
Saphire looked up, staring for a minute at Inara.
"Yeah," Saphire mumbled.
"You are Brooke right? Wanna see the engine" Kaylee asked.
"Mama! Can I?" Brooke almost jumped out of her skin.
"Sure. Just don't break anything," Lou said.
Kaylee bounced off hand in hand with Brooke.
Inara sat down next to Saphire.
"So you are the quiet one?" She asked.
"I guess," Saphire said.
"I will tell you a secret. I was quiet too as a child," Inara smiled.
Lou placed a plate of food in front of her daugthter, kissing her hair in the same motion.
"Now you need to eat some Saffy, " she said.
Inara stood up and went to Lou.
"How are you really doing?" She asked.
"They are here. It is all I ever wanted," Lou shrugged.
"But..." Inara asked.
"Yesh.. it's not important. They are all that matter," Lou smiled dishing up a plate for Inara.
Mal turned up a minute later. Lou gave him a spontaneous hug.
"What was that for?" he asked.
"You got my girls out," Lou smiled.
Shd grabbed Mal's hand dragging him to the table.
"Saphire. Sweetie. This here is Mal. He is captain of this ship," she said forcibly seating Mal at the table.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey," Saphire replied.
"Saffy. He is your uncle. He is your dad's big brother," Lou said.
Saphire studied Mal carefully.
"You don't look much like my dad," she said deadpan.
"You look a lot like my mother," Mal replied.
Saphire gave Mal a weak smile.
Soon the rest of the crew arrived and Lou served up.
After the meal, Lou took her daughters around the ship for a proper sightseeing tour. They were shown all the parts of the ship and told where they could and could not go. The girls cautiously went exploring over the next couple of days while Lou got back into a routine of cooking and mending.

The Girls were off With Kaylee one day when Mal came and sat Down in the common area.
"I've been thinking," He said.
"'Bout what?" Lou asked
"Where do you want to go?" Mal asked.
Lou shrugged. She had been thinking about going home, but felt reluctant to say so.
"I'm thinking my crew needs a vacation," Mal smiled.
"Yeah?" Lou saked smiling.
"Yeah... If you can house us?" he asked.
"No trouble," Lou smiled.
Mal sat there for a little while not doing anything.
"You're not getting work are you?" She said.
Mal shook his head.
"I've been thinking. Danny may have fibbed me and tricked be five ways before sunset," She said.
"How so?" Mal asked.
"You know, Duggar said about the money he'd stolen. I think I may know where they are," Lou said thoughtfully.
Mal brightened.
"See.. I wanted Saphire to be named Jade on account of her green eyes, but Danny said that she was more precious than the saphire hills, then he pointed over to what we call the blue mountains on Valhalla. I thought he was trying to be poetic. And whenever we said about not having money he used to say he had everything he needed up in the blue. I think he was hiding something," Lou mused.
Mal scratched his head.
"When he arrived, he had a scruffy beard and rags for clothes, but seeing the rest of the pirates the other day, I realised that his clothes weren't that much worse than what the rest of them wear now. He said he had landed in a forest a week away from Odinshelm, but we herd cattle that way and have cabins built, and none of us ever foound the shuttle he had landed in. Nor had he slept in the cabins. I assumed scrappers had taken the shuttle, but I'm beginning to wonder if Danny wasn't fixing the truth some..." Lou said.
Mal showed the beginning of a smile.
"Lou. I think we have to go treasurehunting," He smiled.
"I'm not promising anything," Lou said cautiously.
"Do you know where to start looking?" Mal asked.
"Let's get ourselves a map," Lou grinned.

One afternoon, Lou and her daughters entered the galley in time for Lou to make dinner.
In the dining area, Jayne was sat just finished polishing a few guns, rags spread over the table. He had not been to see them in the cabin and not approached them during meals so Lou was a bit unsure what he was thinking.
"Hey there, Jayne," Lou said, introducing them.
"He's the one that carried us," Brooke smiled.
"That's right," Lou replied.
"He killed those men," Saphire said sceptically.
"I didn't. Vera did," Jayne said evenly pointing to his pride and joy on the table.
"Yeah? Well you pulled the trigger," Saphire argued.
"Got you out of there tho. Didn't I?" He asked.
"I guess... but you could have just knocked 'em out," the girl persisted.
"Ain't you just like your mama?" Jayne grinned at Lou with a wink.
"What do you mean?" Brooke asked.
"It means he thinks Saffy can kick his ass," Lou smiled.
Jayne stood up and took up his pretend threatening pose as he approached Lou.
"I sure ain't fighting no little girl, but I don't mind trying you on again," he gave a cheeky grin standing close to Lou.
"You mean to say I didn't beat you hard enough last time?" Lou asked with a smile.
"You didn't beat me.... I let you win," he grinned as he grabbed Vera and the rest of the guns before he strolled out grabbing an apple on the way past the table.
The girls were stood staring after him.
"You fought ...him?" Saffy asked.
"Yep," Lou smiled.
"And you won?" Brooke asked.
"I'd say I did," Lou said.
"But he's big and strong and scary," Brooke said.
"He brought the two of you back to me tho," Lou said giving her little girl a squeeze.
"I think he likes Mama," Saphire said.
"What makes you think that?" Lou asked feeling her cheeks warm slightly.
"Coz he looks at you all funny. With a special smile on his face," Brooke giggled.
"He looks at you at mealtimes too... And he's always just sitting there looking at you when you are cooking," Saphire said.
"Would it be really bad if he did?" Lou asked feeling slightly nervous about what the answer might be.
"Only if you didn't like him too. Coz even big scary men get sad when they aren't liked," Brooke said with a seven year olds logic.
Lou smiled at her daughters.
"But he killed those men," Saphire said sceptically.
"Doesn't make him a bad man," Lou explained. "He did that to get you back to me."
"Why?" Saphire asked.
"Coz he wanted me to be happy and how can I be happy without my two precious angels," Lou said kissing Saphire's hair.
"But now he's not happy coz you're with us and not with him," Brooke stated.
"How do you know he's not happy? " Lou asked.
"Coz he only smiles when you're there. He tries to smile when I've seen him, but it's not really a smile. More like his mouth moving without his eyes," Brooke said pulling freaky fake smiles.
"Silly girl," Lou said messing with her youngest daughter's hair.
Brooke seemed to have accepted Serenity as a new home and was as chatty and talkative as ever. Saphire on the other hand was quiet, listless and didn't eat much. Lou suspected that Saffy had protected her sister and taken the brunt of whatever they had been through.

That evening after putting the girls to bed, Lou knocked on Simon's cabin door.
"What do you know about depression in children," she asked.
"Saphire?" He asked.
"Yeah... she is so... gray and there is no joy in her," Lou said.
"I saw that earlier. Brooke bouncing around with River and Kaylee while Saffy just sat on the stairs," Simon said.
"She keeps saying about how Jayne killed the men holding them, but I think it's more than that," Lou said.
"Do you want me to try to talk with her? I only have rudimentary knowledge about child psychology, but I could try?" Simon offered.
"I think she may have spent two years protecting her sister," Lou said.
"That would be a strain on a child's mind," Simon agreed. "I will get them in to check their health tomorrow and ask them both a few questions at the same time."
"Thank you!" Lou said giving him a hug.
On her way back into the kitchen to get the dough made for breakfast, she was waylaid by Jayne.
"Your kids are funny," he said.
"Yeah. They are," she agreed.
"And perceptive," he said.
"How so?" Lou asked.
"I heard you talk earlier. They are right...I miss you, Lou," he said.
Lou felt a big ball of emotions gather and burst in her belly.
"Thank you for getting them back," she said.
"Yeah... been wondering about getting some kind of reward for that," he grinned.
Lou scooted closer and gave him a quick peck when a heavy set of footsteps approached.
"I thought I was going to get a break from this. The pair of you sneaking around making me see things I have no desire to see. On my own ship none the less..." Mal grouched walking past mumbling about kids underfoot and no space on his own boat.
"Not been able to get work," Jayne said.
"Something like that," Lou smiled.
"Would be helpful getting a paid job," Jayne mumbled making Lou smile at his singlemindedness.
"Guess I'd better get to my work then. No breakfast makes for a pissed off captain," Lou sighed trying to wiggle out of Jayne's grip.
"Not so fast," he said pulling her further into a shadowy corner.
"First I wanna hear you say it," he mumbled into her ear.
"Say what?" Lou asked innocently.
"What a big damned hero I am and how much you worship me," he grinned.
"You are my hero. Now let me go," Lou laughed.
He let her go, leaving a very silly smile on her face.