Title: Rifts & Intersections
By: nancy
Pairing: Tosh/Zoe (Firefly
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: fem and slash in this one, language, violence, post-Serenity
Summary: The Firefly crew encounters Toshiko Sato on a backwater planet.
Finally, a place where no one knew her. It had been long enough that the pitying glances were gone, but not long enough for the rest of the crew to be able to handle seeing her with someone other than Wash. Really, Zoe wasn’t all that sure that she was ready, but she’d never backed down from anything in her life and wasn’t about to start. So she’d split from the others once they’d gotten planet-side and made her way to some dingy bar that had no real name, but plenty of booze.
She was either going to get laid, or in a fight, and this place would do for either. Probably both.
Taking a table in the back corner gave Zoe the view of the rest of the tavern. She drank two shots off the bat and then settled in to nurse a beer while eating flavorless protein in the form of some kind of fowl over vegetables. So it was that she spotted trouble well ahead of everyone else in the place.
The woman didn’t look like much, standing about five foot five and sixty kilograms, tops, probably none of it muscle. Zoe had seen small people pack a punch before, men and women both, but this one wasn’t a fighter in any sense of the word. She looked purebred, too, with the flawless complexion and perfect teeth that she’d only seen on River and Simon, though with dusky skin.
Zoe sighed in annoyance as she thought, Just broke in two of that kind, don’t need another project.
Walking up to the bar counter showed the woman unsteady on her feet, no big surprise. Her soft, cultured tones were also no surprise and Zoe groaned to herself as she saw a couple of the men in the shadows take an interest. Thankfully, this was the kind of place that didn’t make anyone hand over their weapons and she’d taken a look around at the weaponry on display earlier. No one there had anything more than a knife; other than herself, of course. Too many years of living on the same ship as Jayne.
The bartender gave the woman a blank look and then shrugged, answering what was probably an obvious question like, ‘Where am I?’ or ‘Where’s the nearest
One of the heavies walked over to the bar and loomed over the woman, who shrank back in a way that declared her as civilian, even if Zoe hadn’t already known from the way she’d walked and talked. As one of the other men started towards them, Zoe stood, getting his attention. He spotted her hand resting on her gun and his hands went up before he retreated to his seat.
Walking over to the bar, she heard the woman saying…
“…I really am not interested, but thank you. If you’ll simply go on about your business, I’ll wait for my friends…”
The man grabbed her arm, provoking a yelp of pain from the slight woman. Zoe’s gaze narrowed on that point, the knuckles white, which meant considerable force was being exerted. Pain to someone who was clearly so innocent…it was like someone trying to hurt Kaylee or River.
The last five months of ice over her heart melted faster than an
Freezing, the man carefully released his hold.
“Back away,” Zoe ordered.
He did so.
Not sparing a glance at the woman, Zoe held out her free hand and stated, “Come with me if you want to live.”
A small, delicate hand rested in hers and Zoe backed towards the exit.
Unfortunately, the man’s friends apparently decided to show up then, because a loud group came through the doors behind them and the man shouted, “Get them!”
“Tzao gao,” Zoe muttered, shooting the man in front of them before pushing the woman aside.
She barely ducked a punch to the head from a beefy man who would’ve given Jayne a run for his money and slugged a skinnier one over the head with the butt of her pistol. She would just shoot them, but didn’t need to worry about having her own personal Wave as a murdering fugee. Not that she wasn’t, but there was nothing official yet.
She and the big merc exchanged a few punches and Zoe’s head rocked back when one connected, causing her to see stars. Surprisingly, the woman grabbed a chair and slammed it over the big man’s head, bringing him down. She was unfortunately stunned enough at the result of her actions to stay still after. The man Zoe’d shot in the shoulder grabbed her, putting a knife to her throat.
“Enough! Drop the gun or I slit her throat!” the man roared.
“Oh, I don’t rightly think so.”
Zoe grimaced at Mal’s cheerful comment. Pinching her bleeding nose and tilting her head back, she looked over to find him and Jayne standing in the doorway, armed to the teeth. She gritted out, “This was supposed to be my night off, Sir.”
“And a fun time you’re having of it too,” Mal replied, stepping forward. “Didn’t think that was rightly fair, seein’ how Jayne’s been so good, the last couple weeks.”
Rolling her eyes, Zoe walked over to the woman, still held by the thug, and once more aimed her gun point blank at his head, repeating, “Let her go.”
He did and this time Zoe holstered her gun and grabbed the woman by the scruff to pull her away, heading for the exit. Confident that her back was watched, Zoe didn’t bother to look back on her way out.
She tried not to notice the soft, damp skin beneath her palm.
* * * *
Still woozy from whatever had transported her, not to mention scared witless by the violence in the bar, Tosh allowed the taller woman to manhandle her outside. She somehow knew that safety was with this woman, whoever she was. Of course, it helped that she and her friends were quite heavily armed.
The bitter cold air sent a violent shiver through Tosh when the wind hit her moments later. A jacket landed over her shoulders not a second later and she looked up, and up, at her now jacket-less rescuer. Squirming into the warm leather-like material, Amazon was the first word that sprang to mind. Bloody gorgeous, was a fast second. Muscled, but not overly so. Sharp features and piercing eyes that seemed to see everything; cold eyes that reminded her of Jack, though of a different color.
“Time to get goin,’” the big man said impatiently, though they hadn’t stopped moving.
Clearing her throat, Tosh tried to protest, “I can’t leave! My friends…”
“Will find you somewhere else,” the smaller man stated flatly.
Another Jack, she thought in irritation. Wherever she was, the place seemed full of them.
“Kaylee, get the engines up and ready,” the man continued. “River, we need to be makin’ ourselves scarce.”
Tosh looked around, then realized he was speaking into a communicator of some sort. Bad enough that she’d been sent to another planet, now she was just supposed to fly off in a spaceship?
“I truly appreciate your assistance, but…”
The big man snapped, “Gorram it! Another prissy Core fancy-pants. I bet she’s even a doc, ain’tcha?”
Taken aback, Tosh replied, somewhat winded from the fast pace, “As a matter of fact…”
“Run!” the smaller man interrupted calmly.
And then he started shooting.
The woman grabbed Tosh’s hand again and dragged her willy-nilly towards a field that held massive shapes in the near-distance. One of them was lit up and Tosh did her best to keep up, despite the pinch in her side. A bullet whizzed passed her ear and that did more to speed her up than anything else.
They reached the ramp of a ship whose shape she could barely make out in the darkness. She stumbled on the way up, but the woman dragged her up and then shoved her full-force into the main area. Tosh fell in what had to be an utterly graceless way, landing face-first on the floor, air knocked from her.
“Take off, River! Move it!” the man shouted.
And then everything rumbled around her and Tosh understood that they were truly leaving the planet to which she’d been sent. Coughing, she forced herself up and stumbled towards the ramp that was pulling up. Strong arms caught her around the waist and Tosh shouted “No! They won’t be ale to find me! I have to go back! Let me go!”
Whoever held her grunted as her elbow connected with something and then exclaimed angrily, “A little help here, Doc!”
Tosh caught sight of a well-dressed newcomer walking towards her with a concerned expression and something that looked suspiciously like a sedative gun in hand. She fought wildly and shouted, but it was no good. The big man must be the one holding her, because the arms tightened around her so that she couldn’t move, aside from her legs and head. She snapped her head back, connecting with something hard enough to elicit a bellow of pain.
Seconds later, however, fire pierced her shoulder and darkness followed swiftly. Her last clear sight was that of her rescuer and the well-dressed man, both with identically worried expressions.
* * * *
“Would someone care to tell me why we’re suddenly in the kidnapping business?” Simon questioned acidly.
Zoe grimaced at him, watching him take the woman’s vitals as she answered, “There was no choice. Locals took exception to her leaving with me.”
Eyebrows arching, Simon asked, “And how many times had you fired on them first?”
Mal stepped forward and said, “It was the girl’s fault, Doc. Wandering about in that part of town dressed as she is?”
Simon glared at him, retorting, “So she was asking to be molested and kidnapped then.”
Mal opened his mouth and then seemed to realize no matter what he said, he wouldn’t win.
Zoe hid a grin.
“Zoe, help the Doc get her to the infirmary and then keep an eye on her. You brought her on board, she’s your responsibility until we figure out what in hell’s going on,” Mal ordered.
“What about me?” Jayne whined.
Zoe snorted and said, “Learn how to duck.”
“Go on with them,” Mal ordered, smirking a bit. “Wouldn’t want that pretty face of yours permanently damaged.”
Jayne frowned at the word ‘pretty,’ but didn’t gainsay it, instead muttering something under his breath that couldn’t quite be made out.
Zoe picked up their new guest, surprised at how little she weighed, even if they weren’t at max grav. Then again, she spent a lot of time working out to keep her mind as empty as possible. Maybe she’d packed on more muscle than she’d thought. Either way, it wasn’t a strain to get to the infirmary and she carefully set the woman down on an exam bed.
“So who is she?” Simon asked, turning to fix up Jayne on the other bed.
Zoe stared at the pretty, delicate face and answered, “I don’t know. She stumbled into the bar where I was and got into some trouble. Definitely Core.”
Dry, Simon commented, “Yes, I noticed her teeth.”
“And she talked like you used to,” Zoe added. “Walked like you used to, too.”
Simon paused to look at her. “And how did I used to walk and talk?”
Making a vague motion with her hand, Zoe explained, “It’s just something Core. You still do it sometimes.”
“She means you get all prissy,” Jayne stated.
Simon turned his attention back to Jayne and casually put his hand on Jayne’s still-bleeding nose before twisting. It crunched and Jayne yelped and Simon observed, “Is that so?”
“Gorramit, Doc! My nose feels broke already!”
“It’s not. Here.”
Zoe grinned outright as Simon pushed a plug into each nostril.
“Now go on and drink yourself to sleep,” Simon ordered.
Jayne snarled wordlessly and hopped off the exam table, storming off.
Chuckling, Zoe told him, “That’s gonna cost you.”
Simon shrugged it off as he said, “He’ll calm down.”
Looking at the woman on the bed, Zoe asked, “How long will she be out?”
“Not too much longer, maybe another five minutes or so,” Simon replied. “I’m just going to take some blood and get a workup on her, see what innocs she needs, being out here.”
Zoe nodded and let him do his work, sitting on the edge of the bed to watch and wait.
* * * *
Tosh woke to someone stroking her hair and smiled, even though she had no idea who it could possibly be. Maybe it was Gwen or even Ianto. It certainly wasn’t Owen or Jack. Sighing at the return of reality, Tosh opened her eyes expecting to find herself in hospital for some reason only to discover a strange, rough-seeming infirmary and a black woman sitting on the edge of her bed. Events came flooding back and she went very still, not sure what to do or say.
“It’s okay,” the woman assured her with a voice like warm honey. “You’re safe. I’m Zoe and that there’s Simon. He’s our Doc. A real one, so don’t worry. Went to school and everything.”
Tosh glanced over to where the woman, Zoe, indicated and found that well-dressed man from before walking towards them. Strangely, he spoke in something that sounded a lot like Chinese, formal Mandarin, perhaps? But the dialect was very odd. Not that they spoke proper English as such, but it was a lot more understandable.
Frowning her incomprehension, it had been a number of years since Primary after all, Tosh said, “I’m sorry, I’ve no idea what you’re saying.”
Simon and Zoe exchanged a surprised look and he said in English, “My apologies. I thought you were from Sinon, or one of the other Core planets.”
“No, I’m from…further away,” Tosh evaded. “Nowhere that you would likely have heard of.”
“And you are?”
Startled by the new voice, Tosh looked over to find that hard man from before standing in the doorway. Not the giant one, but the one giving orders. The one with cold eyes that seemed to look right into her. Just like Jack. Almost the same color, even.
“Tosh. Ah, Toshiko Sato,” she amended.
Another surprised look and apprehension crossed Simon’s face, if she wasn’t mistaken. A look to the other two showed absolutely no expression and that worried her even more. It was rather like Jack got after getting really bad news.
Tosh asked hesitantly, “Did I say something wrong?”
Simon offered a smile and assured her, “Of course not. I did notice that your inoculations were woefully behind, so perhaps we could get started on that?”
Tosh wasn’t sure of the proper procedure. On the one hand, she didn’t want to get any local diseases. On the other, she didn’t want to bring anything else back with her. She finally nodded, knowing that her immediate survival was more important.
Zoe rubbed her shoulder briefly before standing and telling her, “I’ll be right outside if you need anything.”
Feeling a bit bereft at the woman’s departure, Tosh nonetheless nodded. “Of course. Thank you.”
“Now then, let’s start at the beginning,” Simon announced cheerfully. “Childhood immunization series 1.”
Tosh blinked. “Just how many are we talking about here?”
“Thirty two.”
“Bloody hell!”
“Yes, exactly.”
* * * *
Zoe watched as Mal paced up and down the hall, knowing exactly how he felt.
“We’re humped.”
“I’m sorry, Sir.”
“We’re beyond humped.”
“I’m sorry, Sir.”
Mal grimaced at her. “Not like you could’ve left her there.”
“No, but maybe we could’ve not left any witnesses, if we’d known who she was,” Zoe pointed out.
“No help for it now.” Mal sighed. “Best we can do is get on the Cortex and see what’s what. I never heard anything about a kidnapping.”
“And Sato would be all over the place,” Zoe agreed.
They fell into step together, heading for the nearest Cortex station where Mal typed in Sato. Nothing came up, surprising them both, Zoe could tell.
“What if she wasn’t kidnapped?” Zoe mused.
Mal looked up at her. “Meaning?”
Not really wanting to say it, she nonetheless replied, “What if we have another River on our hands?”
“That would be…no, not possible!” Mal snapped.
Zoe’s lips twitched. “It would be our luck, Sir.”
Mal cursed creatively for a good minute before finishing, “You go in there and you find out who she is, where she’s from, how she got to that bar, and who’s looking for her.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Have River get us away from that rock as far and fast as she can.”
Zoe headed back inside the infirmary. She leaned against the wall, watching as Simon administered what looked like shot number ten, from the raised bumps on Toshiko’s upper arm.
“That’s all I can give you safely at the same time,” Simon announced. “How do you feel?”
Toshiko swallowed visibly and answered, “Ill. Do you have a sack handy?”
Such precise diction. Zoe was forcibly reminded of when Simon had first boarded Serenity over a year ago. So much had happened in that time that it seemed an impossibly short and, conversely, long time. It was almost like she couldn’t remember a time where Simon and River weren’t on the ship.
A time where
Simon quickly grabbed a bucket and held it out.
Taking it from him, holding it to her stomach, Toshiko groaned and closed her eyes. “I feel like I’ve gone on a pub crawl without the dubious fun of the crawl.”
Zoe didn’t quite get the term ‘pub crawl,’ but understood the meaning.
Apparently Simon did too, smiling kindly as he rubbed her back and promised, “You’ll feel better after you sleep for a few hours. Zoe, would you keep an eye on our guest and call me if she has any adverse reactions?”
Zoe nodded and Simon left them, pulling the door closed behind him. Glancing back at Toshiko, she observed, “You should probably lie down.”
“I prefer to be interrogated while upright,” Toshiko informed her.
Eyebrows rising, Zoe said, “No one’s interrogating anyone.”
“Of course you are. That’s why the men so thoughtfully left us alone,” Toshiko countered, smiling wearily. “Probably assumed a womanly bond of some sort.”
Wondering just how far she would get by taking the same, honest approach, Zoe questioned, “Where are you from?”
“You honestly wouldn’t believe me.”
“Try me.”
“A planet named Earth. Specifically,
Zoe blinked at her a few times before asking, “You traveled through time and space?”
“Apparently,” Toshiko confirmed. “I told you that you wouldn’t believe me.”
Given the things they’d come across over the years, Zoe wasn’t inclined to dismiss it out of hand. “And how did you get here?”
Toshiko looked surprised at being believed. It took her a moment to answer, “I’ve no earthly idea.”
“Why don’t you start from the beginning?” Zoe suggested.
“It’s a bit of a long story.”
Zoe hopped onto the opposite bed. “I have time.”
Toshiko nodded slowly and started talking about something called Torchwood.
* * * *
Graham yawned as he dumped the last of the trash from the fight the night before. What a night. He was of a mind to ban Josef and his pals even after they healed up from the ruckus. They always caused way too much trouble, not to mention broke more than they bought in alcohol.
Walking back into the bar, he stopped short in surprise at finding two men standing there, waiting. Both were dressed perfectly in dark suits. Both had short, military haircuts. Both had very strange, blue gloves on.
“Something I can do for you fellas?” Graham asked cautiously. “Not rightly open yet.”
One of them smiled and that was when Graham realized just how much trouble he was in.
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