Work Text:
Prompt: 005 – Emotions (list 2)
Word Count: 283
Progress: 6/100
She had been shaking with fear, shaking with the cold of the cryo-tank. Her skin had been blue and her eyes haunted. Her cries chilled him to the bone. Without the heat of his anger to sustain him, he had felt momentarily bereft.
He remembers the way Doc had held her, the both of them crying, as the younger man had tried to convince her she was safe. It hadn't been what he'd thought – the girl was his sister – and wo de ma, something bad had surely happened to her.
He'd tried not to allow himself be affected by the Tams' plight. He had his own people to see to and the Doc and his sis had brought nothing but trouble to them. Little Kaylee shot, the Alliance on their tail, a cargo bay full of contraband and a Fed held prisoner in the back. Ain't none 'a that would 'a happened if'n if weren't for Simon choosing his ship to ride on - none of it, 'cepting the contraband in the cargo bay. He had decided they were getting off in Whitefall and then tried to ignore the way his conscience niggled at the thought.
But the girl – River – had been so scared. And the thought 'a what those Alliance hun dan mighta done to her had left him cold.
He wasn't gonna let them stay, but things had a way of sneaking past him when he weren't expecting it. His ship needed a doctor and the Tams needed to run. And that's they only reason he didn't boot kick them out.
The memory of the girl in the box, naked and blue and shaking from shock and cold, had nothing to do with his decision.