Surprise! I know it has been god knows how long since I've updated this story, but I recently got a few messages off people asking me to continue so I'm going to try. For now this is all I have but I promise I will try and update again soon.

xxx

Several Years Ago – One Day After The Battle of Serenity

"Get the hell off me!" Buffy yells as the Alliance guards shove her, Mal and Zoe towards their cells.
The Alliance shoulder glares at her before backhanding her "Independant Scum!"

Buffy's head swings around, before a grin covers her face as she notices that he had lost his grip on her "Oh I was so hoping you'd do that." Buffy smirks before headbutting the guard in the face sending him sprawling to the floor.

Suddenly a loud alarm goes off and 15 more guards enter the holding room, Mal's eyes widen as the guards all run at Buffy.
"Buffy!" He yells as he struggles to get away from the guard currently holding him back.

Buffy groans in pain as she is hit in the face with another baton by one of the guards, she ignores the pain and manages to grab one of the guards and toss him across the room.

As Buffy fights off the ever growing amount of guards the sound of clapping draws Mal and Zoe's attention.
There standing in the corner of the room was a middle aged man, who was watching Buffy curiously "So this is the famous Buffy Summers."

Buffy freezes and turns to the man who had spoken her name, "You their boss?" She asks as she continues to chock the guard she currently had in a headlock.
The man grins at her "For today I am."

Buffy grins "Good." Buffy smirks before swiftly snapping the guards neck "Looks like you're a man down. Better call for back up cause I could do this all day."

The man doesn't even bat an eye he merely nods at the remaining guards, they all approach Buffy and one of them places a needle to her neck and injects her with a blue serum.

"Buffy!" Mal yells before he elbows the guard holding him in the face, he tries to move towards the blonde but another guard grabs him and holds him back.

The man turns to Mal "Malcom Reynolds I presume. You don't need to worry about Ms. Summers here. You will all be allowed on your way once we have finished our questioning, we are just going to be taking extra precautions with your lovely lady."

Present Day

"I worked a job in this town after the war. Was not fun. And Kesslar's a pig," Buffy tells Mal as she buttons her shirt.
Mal who was still lying in bed glances at his wife "It's a job. We don't get a lot of them these days."

Buffy rolls her eyes before standing and grabbing her trousers "Yeah Yeah I know, but whatever Canton smells like crap. Like really gross. And these boots don't do icky ground...anymore."
Mal glances at her bare feet "You're not wearing boots."

"That's not—it was an expression...I think."

Mal chuckles and raises his hands as Buffy tosses him his pants "Get dressed you're distracting me. "
Mal smirks at her before standing.
Buffy turns away blushing slightly "I hate it when you do that."

Mal chuckles "No you don't." He says before kissing the top of her head and grabbing the rest of his clothes before heading out of the room.

CANTON

Buffy groans in disgust as she steps out of the ship with the rest of the crew "I hate this planet, smells like Dawn's room...on a good day."

Simon who was looking slightly green nods in agreement with the blonde "Canton really stinks."
Buffy glances at Jayne "I get why you spent time here Jayne. It smells just like you."
Jayne glares at the small blonde "One day blondie..."
"Yeah, yeah...you're gonna kick my ass to the moons...sure."

"Doesn't matter how it smells." Mal tells them all "It's part of what makes it such a great drop point. No one comes here that doesn't have to."
"I vote we do this job really really fast." Wash says as he continues to look around the wasteland.

"Kessler's our man. He's holding the goods we're to deliver. We go in, make contact. Easy-peasy."

Buffy groans "You know every time you say that, something goes wrong right?"
Mal rolls his eyes at his wife before turning to Zoe "Zoe, you're holdn' down the fort. Call ahead to Bernoulli, let him know he'll have his merchandise end of the week."

Wash frowns "Don't I usually stay with the ship."
Buffy chuckles "She outranks you, dude." She says before walking over to her husband.

"I still say this is a bad idea." She says as she approaches him.
Mal arches a brow "Buff, you think every idea I have is no good."
"And I'm right about 99.999% of the time. Maybe it's time you start listening."

Before Mal could argue his case Wash moves over to the two of them "Listen to your lady cap. She's smarter."
Mal glares at him "Is not."
"Is too." Both Wash and Buffy argue with smirks on their faces.
Wash sighs "I still ask can she be captain?"
"No."

"Captain." Kayley says drawing the three's attention "Don't you think Simon should come with us?"

Everyone including Simon stares at Kayley in astonishment "What?" Simon stutters "Oh, K-Kaylee, I-I don't think it's a good—"
"Go on, boy." Book tells the young man "See the sights."

"I'll stay." Buffy offers "Take care of River."

Book overs the blonde a kind smile "Not necessary Mrs Summers. You know the land, you'll be much use out there." Book than turns to Simon "I can watch over your sister. I believe we've been developing a rapport."

Buffy sighs before walking over to River who immediately smiles at the blonde
"Stay?" River asks hopefully.

Buffy chuckles slightly before shaking her head "Not this time. But if you need me..." Buffy pauses and takes her necklace off before placing it around River's neck "I'll be right here." She says pointing at the necklace.

River smiles "Dawn." She whispers as she looks at the small cresent necklace, at her words a sad smile covers Buffy's face "Yeah. But now yours. If you ever need me just hold onto that and I'll find you."

River hugs Buffy tightly before pulling away and smiling.

The blonde smiles back before heading over to her husband who was currently talking to Simon "You might maybe make yourself useful."
"Come again?" Jayne asks in shock as he piles another layer on himself.

Buffy chuckles "Simon's a doctor, Jayne. And god forbid someone...preferably me knocks you on your ass...well you're gonna need medical attention." At Jayne's glare Buffy laughs before continuing "Look the people who run this joint aren't so big with tourists. Trust me."

Mal nods in agreement "Exactly. That's why we're posin' as Buyers."
As Mal turns to Jayne his eyes widen before shaking his head in amusement and turning back to Simon "There ain't one of us looks the part more than the good doctor."

"Hey!" Buffy exclaims slightly offended.
Mal rolls his eyes "Other than my lovely...loud...wife."

Buffy glares at him before walking over to Simon "Trust me kid, I was on this planet hell long enough to know they like people who look...all showered and richy."

"All right." Simon finally says agreeing to come along "Fine. I'll go. Just keep them away from me." Simon requests as he glances at Jayne and Mal before walking off.
"Looks like we got a new boss." Buffy says "Thank god for that was getting sick of the old one."
"Shut it." Mal hisses while Buffy merely laughs loudly as she follows Simon.

Buffy glances around the disgusting planet as they make their way to the Swege River, she sighs it had been so long since she had been here but it was exactly the same.
It was actually one of the nicer places that she had hidden away in after her first escape from the Alliance.

She sighs remembering the running and hiding she had done for weeks after her first escape, she had been planning on finding Mal but things clearly didn't work out that way.

"Anne!" A gruff voice says causing Buffy's eyes widen, she immediately throws up slightly in her mouth as she spots Brut running towards her, she liked the man but he always smelled like cow crap and vomit.

Before she could even say anything the man wraps his arms and pulls her off her feet.
He spins her around slightly before placing her back on her feet "What you doing here Annie?" He asks moving his hat out of the way of his eyes to look down at her "Not that we are all happy to have ya back."

Buffy smiles up at the elder man before glancing at Mal who was mouthing 'Annie' with a look of amusement over his features.

Kessler glances at the other men around the blonde before focusing on the blonde again lovering his voice but still speaking loudly "You still on the run girly?"
"It's complicated Brut." She tells him.

Brut grins slightly looking up and down her form, completely ignoring the men that were with her "You here for business or pleasure hunny."
Mal's eyes glaze over slightly, causing Buffy to chuckle he was the jealous type.

Brut glances in-between them before a bright smile covers his face "Girl did you get hitched?!"

Buffy opens her mouth before groaning "Brut!" She exclaims "Focus." Buffy grabs Simon's arm and pushes him towards Brut.
Simon chuckles nervously "Um...we're here to buy some mud."
Brut smiles brightly, glad to have the business "Well, then, you come to the right place."

He circles the group before leading the way, as they follow him Buffy glances over at Mal "You need to be careful with that."
Mal frowns and arches a brow at the blonde "What's that?"
Buffy smirks slightly "Jealousy...I might actually think you care."

"Of course..." Brut says drawing the Bonnie and Clyde type duo's attention to the construction around them "...we can handle any volume here. We have over 2000 workers, mostly indentured. We pay them next to nothing. That way we can pass the savings directly on to you, the customer."

Simon glances back at Buffy shocked by Brut's admittion, she nods sadly, it was true, the man skimpt people out of money on a regular bases, if she hadn't been on the run from the Alliance at the time when she showed up here and hadn't needed money quick, their meeting would have gone very differently.

"Um..." Simon stutters "Excellent, that's—because as I said before, I'm gonna be needing quite a bit of it. I'm a buyer."

"The best of it's kind." Brut says as he leads the group over the bridge "We mix it, we brick it raw right here on the premises. You add the right catalyst, you kiln it proper...this stuff's 10 times stronger than steel at half the weight."

As Brut leads them to a stop he looks over at Buffy "Didn't you hammer a man's skull in with some."
Buffy opens her mouth to deny it before remembering the event "Yeah. It just was one time...okay maybe twice...more than twice."

Buffy watches as Simon walks over and begins stuttering very heavily.
"Well that's different." Buffy whispers to Mal.
She had expected Simon to be quite smooth especially when it came to business talk.

"It's entertaining." Mal whispers into her ear chuckling slightly before turning to Brut "Excuse me, boss. I'm sure the foreman has things need attending. Why don't we wander a bit, look at the operation...then you can figure on whether we get an account."

"Yes?" Simon says confused before nodding "Yes." He says more firmly "Yes, we'll wander a bit."

Buffy sighs before turning to Mal "You enjoyed that." She hisses knowing he had enjoyed undermining Simon a little.

"Fair Enough." Brut tells them "Come and see me when you're through." Brut then glances at Buffy "Don't you go disappearing again now you hear." He says before walking off back to work.

Buffy sighs before turning to Mal "I hate this planet." She mumbles before heading in the direction of the main town.
Mal walks beside her a hand just hovering over her lower back "Let's fine our man Kessler and get this job done."

As they walk Jayne walks over to her and Mal, Buffy almost laughs as she spots the large goggles and hood Jayne was wearing "You alright big foot?"

Jayne merely stares at her confused making her roll her eyes, she turns to her husband who shrugs, neither of them were absolutely sure what was wrong with Jayne's head, other than the fact that it was clearly hollow.

"The boy's gonna get us killed. Let's just go this deal and get."

Buffy groans "I hate to agree with the big stooge here, but a lot of people on this planet won't be so happy to have me back."
Mal frowns, Buffy wasn't exactly being very forthcoming about what exactly had gone down here on this planet, and the more she spoke about it the more he worried.

"His disguise ain't half as funny as yours." Mal tells Jayne as he throws an arm over Buffy's shoulder "Who're you supposed to be, anyway?"
"ET?" Buffy asks before tapping Jayne's goggles causing him to slap her hand away and glare at her.

Buffy rolls her eyes "Come on, it can't be that bad, you haven't even been here in years."

"Buffy's right..." Wash tells him "You really think you need that getup?"
Buffy smiles "Yeah despite what you think, you're not exactly memorable."

Jayne stops and gets into her personal space causing Buffy to pull away from Mal and smirk up at him.
He points a finger at her chest "I am plenty memorable, I'd be happy to prove..."
"Jayne!" Mal yells catching his crew member's double meaning and not likely it one bit.

Buffy rolls her eyes and walks forward, men were always the same no matter what century they're in, however as she walks she pauses as she spots a statue in front of her.

And to her horror it looked exactly like Jayne "I think hell has just frozen over guys."

Simon steps over to Buffy and stares at the Statue and the name below, this couldn't be real "Son of a bitch."

"Jayne?" Mal asks as they all continue to stare at the 8-foot statue in shock.
Jayne who was equally as shocked as everyone else could only nod "yeah?"

Buffy just continues to stare in horror, this was so far from disturbing, she'd rather be tied up in Spike's crypt all over again with Drusilla and Harmony.
"Do you understand this?" She asks Mal, who didn't look at her as he shakes his head, he was finding it impossible to look away from this statue.

"You wanna tell me how come there's a statue of you here looking at me like I owe him something?" Mal asks Jayne as he continues to stare with a disturbed look at the statue.
Buffy groans, this was slightly unfair, she had been here and didn't get a statue, God did she feel like Andrew right now.
"Wishing I could, captain." Jayne tells him honestly.

"No, seriously, Jayne." Mal orders "You want to tell me—?"

Finally tearing his gaze away from his statue Jayne turns to the captain "Look, Mal, I got no rutting idea. I was here a few years back, like I said...pulled a second story, stoke a lot of scratch from the magistrate on the hill...but things went pretty south. I had to hightail it. They don't put you on a pedestal in town square for that."

Buffy continues to stare "Apparently they do. Fun."
"This must be what going mad feels like." Simon says from behind the blonde.

Buffy shakes her head "There is normally more nausea involved." In her opinion this here was proof, that the world was truly coming to an end.
"I think they captured him, though, you know." Wash says suddenly making Buffy's eyes widen "Captured his essence."
"More like his stench." Buffy points out.

Kaylee smiles slightly before glancing at the statue again "He looks kind of angry, don't he?"
"That's kind of what I meant." Wash tells them.

Suddenly a loud blaring sound goes off filling all of their ears, 'Shift 4 on duty. Shift 4 on duty.'

As the workmen move off Buffy couldn't help but sigh, the conditions they were put in and the long hours with such little pay, a lot of them were really suffering.

Taking a deep breath she tries to push away the voice in her head telling her to help them, as much as she wanted to this wasn't that world anymore, her world was gone and the way things worked here were different, she wasn't a hero in this world, in this time.

"I have an idea..." Jayne says drawing her attention away from the people and back to their little group "Instead of us hanging around playing art critic till I get pinched by the man, how's about we move away...from this eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our day."

"I don't know." Mal says as he continues to stare at the statue of Jayne "This here's a spectacle might warrant a moment's consideration."
"Hey at least he is quiet." Buffy points out "I think I prefer him to the real one."

While Mal laughs, Kaylee who was still staring at the statue moves around slightly "Everywhere I go his eyes keep following me."

Jayne growls, he was getting really sick of this "Come on, gorram, we got a job. Let's go do it, get the hell out of here." Yet still no member of the crew was able to move "I crossed the magistrate of this company town. Understand? He ain't exactly a forgiving sort of guy."