| Ficathon #14 For the Washficathon on Livejournal. Copyright 2007 by Mel. Standard disclaimer applies. Ain’t got nothin’, but it’s shiny. Thanks to Nari for the beta. You rock. All Kinds of Crazy Her boot heels beating a rapid tattoo on the metal walkways, Kaylee hurried toward the cargo bay. She’d looked just about everywhere else. Okay, she’d actually looked in the cargo bay, too, but he just had to be somewhere. Maybe she just kept missing him since he’d certainly been antsy the last few days. So much so he’d even resorted to jogging the length of the ship for over an hour the day before, just to burn off some restless energy. Poor Simon had nearly been bowled over on his way to the galley for some coffee. Skipping down the stairs, Kaylee made her way over to the make-shift workout area Jayne had set up in the cargo bay. He and Shepherd Book were currently spotting each other on the weight bench. Darting a quick glance around for Zoe or the Captain, Kaylee brushed a lock of hair out of her face. “Either o’ you seen Wash around?” Hands poised to catch the barbell if Book needed him to, Jayne shook his head. “Nope. Little man was gettin’ on my ruttin’ nerves this morning. Told him to beat it or I’d beat him. Haven’t seen him since. Maybe he’s danglin’ from the walkway again.” Kaylee frowned at the big mercenary and shook her head impatiently. “You shouldn’t be that way, Jayne. You know he gets a bit land-crazy, we’re grounded too long.” “Gorram pilot’s always crazy, you ask me.” “Well, I didn’t ask you, Jayne.” Kaylee glared at the big mercenary once more just for good measure, then turned her attention to Book. “You seen him, Shepherd?” Book settled the bar back on the rack and sat up, reaching for the towel Jayne handed him. He wiped his face, hiding a smile. Kaylee was everyone’s defender. Even Jayne’s, on occasion. “As a matter of fact, I saw our wayward pilot an hour ago. He was in River’s room.” Ignoring Jayne’s leer at that information, Kaylee raised her eyebrows. “River’s room?” Knowing just where Jayne’s mind was going with that statement, Book was quick to amend, “They were drawing. The two of them were on the floor with sketch pads and more colored pencils than I’ve ever seen in one place. It should keep them both busy and out of trouble for quite some time.” Obviously, Shepherd Book had never seen Wash when they’d been grounded so long. Waving her thanks, Kaylee hurried through the hatch to the passenger quarters, wondering how she’d ended up with the job of babysitting Wash. That shoulda been Zoe’s job. They couldn’t have had worse luck when it came to picking planets to land on in an emergency. Intercido was a small, backwater moon hugging the rim of civilization. When their air scrubbers quit, however, they hadn’t had much choice. Wash had done a great job just getting Serenity anywhere before life support gave out, but now they were left trying to scrounge parts on a moon with few resources. So, for want of a small piece of steel and copper, they were stranded. Had been for more than four weeks. Captain ‘n Zoe were out once again trying to come up with the replacement part-or even something she could rig to work in its place-while Kaylee tried to keep an eye on Wash. That had become a full-time job the last two days. The pilot was land-crazy. The man fairly vibrated with the need to get back into the black. In his desire to occupy his mind, Wash had been into nearly everything. He’d been chased out of every room on the ship by one person or another, driven near moon brained themselves by the pilot’s incessant chatter. The day before, Wash had apparently been fooling around on the straps rigged to the walkway that Jayne used for chin-ups. For some reason, Wash had decided to try to hang from the straps with his feet. He’d managed to get one foot in, but slipped and ended up dangling by one leg until Jayne found him and lifted him down. Not without a barrage of Chinese swears. Even Zoe was a bit put out by that one. Pilot coulda actually hurt himself with that fool stunt. Captain wasn’t too amused, either. Even Kaylee, cheerful as she was, was starting to get frustrated with Wash. If she had to tell him one more time that she hadn’t fixed the ship, she was fair certain she’d scream. Reaching River’s room in the passenger corridor, Kaylee slid open the door without bothering to knock. The sight that greeted her gave her a bit of pause. River Tam, poor girl, was a bit moon brained herself. Damaged, in ways they’d possibly never fully understand, by Alliance doctors who’d decided to play God by messing with the teenager’s brain. She was strange and unpredictable, needing near constant minding by her brother, Simon. Yet at this moment, she was calm and peaceful. Even smiling gently as she reached over to color something on the piece of paper under Wash’s diligent hands, her dark unkempt hair briefly obscuring her face. Wash was laid out on the floor on his stomach, rust-colored flight suit knotted around his waist. He’d ditched his brightly patterned shirt on River’s bed, leaving just his grease-stained singlet. His usually tousled blond hair was even messier than usual, sticking up in manic tufts and spikes, and his blue eyes were red-rimmed. He’d been such a bundle of nerves and energy, he’d taken to roaming the ship at night instead of sleeping. Yet Kaylee thought Wash looked more peaceful than he had in days. She really hated to disturb the two, but Captain’s orders were orders. “Wash, Cap’n wanted us to fix the wiring under the co-pilot’s console. We ain’t got much time ‘til he and Zoe get back. I’ve been lookin’ for you for hours.” Without even looking up, Wash reached for a new colored pencil. “Nobody sits there anyway. ‘Sides, it’s not as if we’ll be getting off this rock anytime soon. We can do it later.” “C’mon, Wash. Captain’ll be mad if we don’t get it done like he said.” “We’re busy, Kaylee. Come back later.” River looked up from her graceful sprawl on the floor and smiled up at her serenely. Kaylee had the sudden, irrational urge to glare back. “Wash, please.” Maybe begging would work. “Cap’n will yell, Zoe will be all silent and mad at ya and dinner will be all kinds of uncomfortable. You can color later. Please?” With a martyred sigh, Wash gathered up his pencils and dropped them into a small wooden box next to River then shuffled his papers together. He slid them across the floor to River and smiled crookedly. “We’ll get back to this later, River. Promise.” “Don’t fly away.” River’s soft voice quavered a bit, as if afraid that Wash would abandon her. Snatching his shirt off the bed and jerking it on, Wash frowned. “No chance of that happening today. Bet ya fifty credits Mal and Zoe didn’t find that part.” River smiled wistfully as Wash brushed past Kaylee through the door. “The colors will be waiting. Lines and angles. Puzzles to be solved.” There were all sorts of puzzles to be solved, in Kaylee’s opinion, not least of those was River herself. Following Wash out the door, the mechanic thought maybe the pilot was another puzzled in search of a solution. ~~~~~***~~~~~ After an hour shoulder to shoulder with Wash under the co-pilot console, Kaylee was ready to do the pilot serious damage. It’d be a mercy to just knock Wash out. Maybe they’d be ready to leave the world by the time he came to. Wash was twitchy with unused energy, rambling on about anything and everything. It was enough to make Kaylee’s ears ring. “So anyway, there I was about forty seconds from atmo and my port stabilizer freezes…” As they worked the under-panel off. “Well, I couldn’t let a prank like that go unanswered, especially from a first year cadet. So I crawled through the air-ducts to his room, had my friend tie bags to a rope as I needed them, and filled the guy’s whole room with three inch bearings. You shoulda seen his face when he opened the door. ‘Course, I didn’t take into account his size. He was as big as Jayne and had an even worse sense of humor…” Searched out the faulty wiring. “I didn’t mean to grope her. We lost power-Bester was a sha gua of a mechanic-and the emergency lights didn’t kick in. I was just trying to find the right switches. Zoe shouldn’t have moved. My Lambie-toes packs a punch, I’m here to tell ya. Funny, it wasn’t long after that she finally smiled at me…” And spliced in the new wires. With a sigh of relief, Kaylee watched as Wash tightened the last bolt on the under-panel of the console. They were done. She could finally run and take refuge in the engine room. She liked Wash, truly she did. But the poor man was slipping off his axis. If Zoe and the Cap’n didn’t find them a replacement part soon, Jayne was liable to go find that “chain of command” and do as he’d threatened before. Beat Wash with it. Wash had fallen silent as they gathered up their tools, wiping each one clean with a rag as they went. Kaylee was a mite particular about her tools. It was she and they kept Serenity flying. Mostly. Thinking Wash had finally run out of words, Kaylee was startled when he began talking again. Softer than before, his gaze fixed firmly on the toy dinosaur he’d picked up from his own console. “I grew up planet-side, you know. I haven’t always had trouble being grounded. Stuck in one place. Seventeen months…seventeen months in an Alliance prison during the war…the Black is my home now. I like knowing I can go where I want, if I get the notion, is all.” Kaylee conjured there was more Wash wasn’t telling her, but she didn’t press. She wondered if he’d told Zoe, though. “It’s okay, Wash. You ain’t any worse than River.” Chuckling wryly, Wash smiled and met her gaze. “River isn’t as moon brained as she seems, actually. After a while, it gets a bit easier to understand her.” Picking up a second dinosaur then a small plastic palm tree, Wash shoved his toys into various pockets in his flight suit and jiggled on his toes. “Think I’ll go see if River wants to play. I’ll win, though. Her laugh isn’t as evil as mine.” Rubbing his hands together in glee, Wash hurried through the door to the stairs. Kaylee shook her head and gathered up her toolbox. “Yep. Land-crazy.” ~~~~~***~~~~~ Kaylee was resting in her hammock in the engine room when Zoe and Mal finally returned to Serenity. Empty-handed, as usual. The captain was growin’ more and more tetchy by the day because of it. “Kaylee! Where are you, girl?” Well, where else would she be? “In the engine room, Cap’n. What’s all the fuss?” Malcolm Reynolds poked his head through the door, frowning. “You an’ Wash get that wiring fixed like I asked you?” “’Course, Cap’n. It’s shiny.” Kaylee resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It wasn’t as if the wiring was keeping them grounded. They’d flown with that faulty wiring for months as it was. “Where is that shen jing bing, anyways? I ain’t gonna find him hangin’ from the rafters, am I?” This time Kaylee did roll her eyes. “No, Cap’n. Last I seen him, he was off to play dinos with River.” “Shenme?” “He went to play dinosaurs with River. They was colorin’ earlier, before we fixed the wiring.” “Coloring?” “At least it kept them both from causin’ trouble.” Though puzzled, Mal seemed to accept the wisdom of that. Shrugging, he left without another word. Kaylee sighed in frustration. They really needed to get back into the Black before they all lost their minds. Kaylee stayed hid out in the engine room ‘til dinner time. Stepping into the galley, she found Simon and Mal involved in yet another argument. The Captain was a bit red in the face and Simon had his pinched, worried look. Book seemed concerned, Jayne amused, Zoe and Inara as calm as usual. “All you gotta do all day, doc, is keep an eye on that moon brained sister o’ yours.” “Well, what about that moon brained pilot of yours? Do you think it’s a coincidence that they’re both missing? Every time I checked on River this afternoon, she and Wash were drawing something. He was with her, so he’s the one you should be yelling at.” “Like as not, your sister went crazy and did somethin’ to our pilot. You got a notion as to where she’d go?” Zoe didn’t seem to like the suggestion that harm may have come to her husband. Kaylee could tell by the minute stiffening of the warrior-woman’s spine. Not that Kaylee actually thought River had done harm to Wash. More likely, Wash had come up with some hair-brained scheme to kill time and they just didn’t realize how late it was. Simon and Mal were still arguing, toe to toe by now, when a clank followed by the thumping of boots drew everyone’s attention to the forward galley entrance. At everyone’s sudden stares, Wash stopped. River edged behind him, seemingly a bit disconcerted by the attention. Sensing his wife’s annoyance, Wash smiled at her. “What?” “Where’ve you been, husband?” Yep, Zoe was annoyed. And a bit puzzled by Wash’s recent behavior, too, by Kaylee’s judgement. “River and I were just drawing. Simon kept interrupting us, so River suggested we go somewhere we wouldn’t be disturbed. I figured outside would be a good place.” The Captain’s scowl didn’t let up at this bit of information. Mal turned his wrath on Wash, jabbing his finger at the air in the pilot’s direction. “So you thought you’d just mosey up on top of Serenity? You ever get the notion River might fall off and get herself killed? And supposin’ you fell off, you shen jing bing? Who’d fly us then?” Not sure what all the fuss was about, Wash raised his hands in a placating gesture. “Since when have I ever fallen when walking about Serenity? I’ve been up there a million times. I’d never let anything happen to River, not that she’d ever fall anyway. Kid’s got the grace and agility of a cat, in case you’ve never noticed.” Shooting his wife an apologetic look, Wash shrugged. “Didn’t mean to cause a ruckus.” Zoe stepped in before the Captain could really let loose. Their tempers were all getting a mite short. “Just let someone know where you’re going, Wash. You know how Simon and the Cap’n worry about River.” At this, River stepped from behind the pilot and frowned at her brother. “You’re such a boob. I was safe. I know about angle and balance and gravity. No danger of falling.” Mal laughed at the look on Simon’s face. “Guess she told you, Doc.” “She told you, too, Sir.” Zoe’s lips twitched into a small smile. “You just keep that land-crazy husband of yours out of trouble, Zoe.” “I’ll do my best, Sir.” Zoe raised her hand for Wash to take and led her wayward husband to his seat. She’d spent a long, fruitless day trying to hustle what Serenity needed to get off the ground with no luck. She was tired and hungry. “Nobody fell off Serenity, so how ‘bout we just eat. Shepherd Book cooked us a fine meal this evenin’.” Brooking no argument, not even from the Captain, Zoe shot each a quelling look and took her own seat. Wash slid into his spot to her left and reached for the pitcher of cider. Pouring a glass for Zoe, he looked across the table at River as she pulled out her chair. “Wanna show ‘em what we were drawing up there, River?” Jayne snorted in disgust as he took his own place and reached for the platter of what he thought might be chicken. “Who gives a good gorram what you two moon brains were doodlin’ all day?” Feigning disinterest, Wash poured himself a glass of cider and set the pitcher down. “Oh, I dunno. Mal and Kaylee might find it a bit interesting. Inara might be a bit put out but she needs off this rock same as the rest of us.” Interest duly piqued, Mal stopped with his fork halfway to his mouth. “You got somethin’ needs sayin’, Wash?” “It was River’s idea, mostly. I’ll let her explain it.” Reaching into the bag she had slung over the back of her chair, River pulled out a handful of papers. Wash pushed plates and platters out of the way to make room, and she laid the pages out onto the table so everyone could see. Instead of the doodles and drawings everyone had expected, the pages were covered in schematics, equations and visualizations of different parts. Voice hopeful, Mal turned to his pilot. “Wash?” “I’ll need Kaylee’s help and we’ll have to raid the two shuttles, but River and I found a way to build what we need.” Mal took a closer look at the drawings, amazed at the details. “Gao guhn.” Not sure what everything she saw meant, Zoe raised an eyebrow at Mal. “Clever enough to work, Sir?” “Kaylee?” The equations were beyond anything Kaylee could work out, but she reckoned Wash knew what all the numbers meant. Sometimes, amid the jokes and wise-cracks, they forgot how smart Wash was. But, the pictures…now, pictures Kaylee could understand. And it was beyond gao guhn. It was down-right brilliant. “Oh, it’ll work Cap’n. Won’t be able to fly the shuttles for a while until we get somewhere we can get a real replacement part, but it’ll work. I’ll need Wash to give me a hand.” Cheers and shouts erupted from the dinner table as everyone celebrated the good news. They’d finally be getting out of the world and back into the Black. Even Jayne gave the pair his grudging admiration. “They’re both crazy, but at least they’re smart crazy.” “Why, thank you Jayne. I do believe that’s about the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.” Wash even managed to keep the sarcasm to a minimum. Dinner was the best it’d been in near a month. Not because of the food. Heaven knew there was only so much you could do with protein. No, it was good because everyone was much more relaxed. The crew was smiling, laughing…the captain was even bein’ polite to Inara. “Wash?” Looking up at Zoe’s quiet murmur, Kaylee choked back a laugh. Seemed that since there was nothing more holding them bound to the earth, Wash had finally let go whatever it was that worried him so about being grounded. And promptly fallen asleep at the table, head pillowed on one folded arm. Days on end of sleepless nights, abruptly catching up to him. Chuckling, Mal waved his chopsticks dismissively. “Let him sleep for a bit, Zoe. Kaylee can get a start on whatever it is they need to do to get us back in the air. Man deserves a bit of rest. And we deserve a break from his mouth. Leave him be.” Lips pressed together to keep from sayin’ whatever it was Zoe wanted to say, she moved her husband’s plate away so he wouldn’t end up wearing what he’d not eaten. Taking a long look at Wash, Zoe couldn’t help smiling a bit softly. He was a mess, but she loved him. She knew why it was so hard for him to stay in one place for so long. She was often amazed that he’d stayed with Serenity, when he hadn’t with any other ship. “Birds should fly. Not be kept in a cage.” Looking across at River, Kaylee noticed the girl was staring at the pilot as well. Zoe frowned, misinterpreting the words. Remembering Wash’s explanation on the bridge, Kaylee sighed a bit sadly. “The Alliance?” River tilted her head, her lips drifting into her enigmatic, somewhat creepifyin’ smile. “Clipped his wings. Couldn’t fly. Made others laugh to keep the crazy away. But inside…flapping his wings, wanting to fly. Drifting away. After…couldn’t stay in one place. Had to fly away. Until he found her. Someone to fly beside him.” Amazed, Kaylee watched as Zoe visibly relaxed. Whatever River had said seemed to make sense to her. Nobody spoke for a moment as everyone else tried to make sense of River’s words. The spell was broken by soft snoring from Wash. Jayned shook his head at River and pointed his fork at Wash. “Maybe you should find out what that gorram pilot did to keep the crazy away, so’s you can use it your ownself.” “Jayne!” Before Kaylee could launch into a tirade on manners, Zoe laughed and pushed her chair back. She stood and held a hand out for River. “Come with me, River.” “Where’re you two goin’?” “You heard Jayne, Cap’n. We’re goin’ to do what Wash did to keep the crazy away.” “Which is?” “Make us some shadow puppets.” Kaylee busted out laughing at the look on Jayne’s face. Wash startled awake at the noise and blinked owlishly at her. “Wha’?” But she could only shake her head, holding her side as she laughed. Only Wash would spend seventeen months, in an Alliance prison, making shadow puppets. Kaylee’d bet her cut of the next job that the puppets had been dinosaurs. It explained a lot about how calming the toys were to Wash, and how easy it was for him slip into the land of make-believe. He’d had a whole lot of practice. Kaylee reckoned there was all kinds of crazy. Land-crazy, smart crazy, she’d even been accused of bein’ boy-crazy. And it seemed to her that they were all a bit off their axis…wanderin’ the Black, dodgin’ the Alliance, callin’ nothin’ home but Serenity. Maybe bein’ crazy wasn’t so bad, then. After all, there weren’t no better home than Serenity. “Someone mention shadow puppets? ‘Cause I think I still have some in my trunk.” And no crazier pilot than their Wash. END (Shiny) Feedback Home |