Life on this boat. A Firefly story. #fanfic

Briseis

The next morning Lou disentangled herself from the sleeping man's tight grip. She smiled at his spread out form under the covers and resisted the urge to plant a kiss on his face before going. Knowing that this may be the day she got her daughters out made the moment bitter sweet. She did not know if she would wake up in his arms again once Saffy and Brooke was onboard.
She quickly got dressed and braided her hair before going up to the galley.

Shortly after breakfast, they landed and Mal had Lou and Simon all prepped for a visit.
"You ready for this?" He asked getting nods from both.
They entered a shabby building and an even shabbier office. Simon had rehearsed his part of industrialist and was a convincing condecsending employer looking for workers.
The miner had ten girls lined up in front of them.
"Why are you only after two anyway," the large man asked.
"Gotta start with two to test. If they work out I might get more," Simon explained.
"So why are you not going to the slavetraders? Why are you coming to Briseis?" The man asked suspiciously.
"These girls are used to working. I won't have to train them or teach them basic dicipline," Simon said.
Lou was standing behind Simon a bit to the side and Mal was on the other. She studied the downturned faces of the ten girls in front of her. Her heart was beating up in her throat. Four of them were varying shades of blonde, but so fithy it was hard to tell.
"Would you mind if my manager here looks them over?" Simon asked.
"For what?" The miner asked
"She is in charge of the silk spinner and need to check the workers hands for callouses. The thread breaks if it snags on rough skin. Hence why we want soft childrens hands," Simon gave an ingratiating smile.
"Oh. Yeah. Go for it," the man said before barking an order for the girls to hold their hands in front.
Lou took a cautious few steps towards the children lined up in front of her. She was hoping to find her own daughters but her heart was breaking for the ones she could not take with her. She studied each girl in turn, making a point of turning their hands over while subtly studying their faces. In her mind she hoped that her touch was warm enough to give each girl a sense of warmth.
When she got to the fourth girl, the girl met her eyes and Lou saw a smile begin to tug at her mouth. Quickly, Lou put a finger in front of her mouth to signal that the girl should stay quiet, but the urge to hug her daughter was overwhelming. She felt her heart constrict as she gave her daughter's hands an extra squeeze before moving on to the next few girls. The last girl on the lineup did not even look up, but Lou laid a finger under her chin and lifted her face to meet her eyes. Immediately the girls eyes started watering up and her hands began reaching to Lou. Quickly Lou signalled for her to be quiet and held her hands still.
The girl nodded with tears running down her face and Lou felt a lump in her throat threatening to choke her. Swallowing a couple of times, she straightened up and turned to Simon and Mal giving them a nod.
"I think this one and that one there would be suitable, sir," she said and roughly pushed Saphire and Brooke a step foreward. Brooke was looking down with a big smile while Saphire had tears running down her face and looked ready to collapse in a heap on the floor.
"Good," Simon said and turned back to the miner.
"How much for those two?" He asked.
"What have you got?" The miner asked.
"Cured and ready to use sheepskins. A crate per child," Simon offered.
"Sheepskins?" The man asked.
"Exellent for bedding. Keeps the workers warm and rested," Simon said.
"How many fleeces have you got?" The man asked.
"40 fleeces to a crate, sir," Mal replied.
"So 80 sheeps fleeces for two strong workers? Seems a bit cheap to me," the man said trying to barter.
Simon took a step towards the girls pinching their arms and checking their muscle.
"They seem a bit undernourished to me. I will have to feed them up before getting any use out of them," he said.
"Fine," the miner said. "Three crates of cured sheepskins and we have a deal. These two are no good in the mines anyway."
"Good. Mal, tie them up and take them onboard," Simon ordered.
"Hang on," the man said. "you are not getting them without payment up front."
Simon shot a quick panicked look at Mal.
"We will return to Serenity to get the goods," Mal said.
"Exellent. I will have the workers ready for you right here," the miner said with a cunning grin.
Simon gave a shallow bow and turned to leave snapping his fingers to signal Mal and Lou to follow.
Lou threw a last look at her girls itching to run and grab them, but something in the look on Mal's face made her suppress the urge and follow them out.
"It's a setup," Mal said the moment they were out of hearing range.
"Yes, I got that, " Simon agreed.
"But we have to get Saffy and Brooke! They are in there." Lou said firmly.
"We will. It is just gonna take some extra firepower than we had thought," Mal replied.

Once back on Serenity, Mal gathered the crew.
"We have the girls in there. They are filthy and skinny. Trouble is that the miner in charge is not going to let them go without trouble. The guy sat in the corner is one of Duggar's crew," Mal said.
Lou gasped. She had not even considered looking at the other man in the room.
"I'll get Vera," Jayne mumbled.
"I think that might be a good idea," Mal said.
"But how do we get the kids, sir?" Zoe asked.
"We are going by Jayne's method. We grab them and run, " Mal said darkly.
Lou went to get her body armor and a shotgun in addition to her knife and handgun.
Her hands were shaking as she attaced the shotgun to its holster.
"You sure you wanna do this?" Jayne asked coming over to help her.
"They have my babies. That ruttin Duggar is never gonna let them go. I have to," Lou said feeling hot tears roll down her face.
"Could get messy tho," he said.
"I know. I just... they are so dirty and thin. Saphire looked like she's never seen the sunlight. How am I going to live with myself if I don't get them out of there?" Lou said wiping tears away.
"We'll get them. I promise," he muttered.
"You're actually a good man under all that tough talk," Lou smiled through her crying.
"Yeah well... never had much of a likin for womenfolk crying on me, so I figured I'd better try to remedy it," he smiled.
"Even if it means you and I won't be no more," Lou mumbled.
"I might just have to be a big gorram hero then. To change your mind," he said.
"Yeah," Lou said drawing a deep calming breath.
"C'mon. Let's go be good guys. It'll be fun," he grinned.