oldMal's Serenity. Getting to know the new crewmembers

[random-w00t.livejournal.com]

((written with omgtehrandom ))

Morning finds no Sam in the room. Only a Dean with a sore wrist.

He wakes a bit slow, and looks around frowning at not seeing Sam.

The 'com crackles and Mal's voice says, "You wanna come get the kid, Doc? Vi won't let nobody near 'im."

And groggy or not, he's stumblin out of bed. "I'm a comin." he says, not looking at all presentable. "what's going on?" he says when he gets to where they are.

Mal points from where he's leaning against the wall and his cane, and there is Sam, laying full-length under the table with all the chairs laid carefully on their sides so as to wall him in.

Dean goes over to him, hunkering down next to the chairs and knocking on one of them. "Hey there Sam, can I come in?"

"No." The reply is soft and a little shaky.

"Mind if I ask why?" he asks gently.

His brother hesitates, but then says, "Sam's hiding. Can't hide if someone else is inside with you."

"Sure you can. I can hide right along with you." he says. "Just lemme know who we're hidin from."

"Them." Sam's voice trembles. "Sam's hiding from them."

"Well can I hide from them too, they sound scary. I get scared real easy." he says, which is a bit of a lie, but still.

"No." Sam shows a bit of agitation. "No." Then he starts as Mal shifts and grumbles at pain in his leg. "Captain needs help."

And Dean doesn't want to head over away from him, but he does. "Captain?" he asks, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm alright, kid," says the older man, though he's pale around the mouth and his eyes show pain. This is the first time Dean's really seen him out of the Pilot's seat since he and Sam came aboard. "Tend ta yer brother."

And he wants to tend to his brother but..."You need tending to, rest, and maybe something for the pain." A beat. "And don't try to tell me that nothing is wrong. I'm not a doctor without good reason."

Mal scowls at him, the look of a man accustomed to pain and of fierce independence. "I don't need no Doc fussin' at me."

"Well I'll be fussin at you if you hurt yourself more than you should."

The Captain shakes his head and pushes away from the wall, his right hand gripping the head of a cane that Dean hadn't noticed till now. He starts to talk, but at that moment Sam curls up and holds his head.

Mal blinks, his anger changing to concern. "Kid? Doc get yer #$&#@ over there 'n tend yer brother."

Dean growls a bit and heads over to the table, slowly pulling the chair away. "Sam?"

"Help the Captain!" Sam curls tighter. "Hurts.... It hurts."

Mal shakes his head and chooses to try and retreat, despite the fact that he'd been in the galley to try and get the pain in his leg to subside before he continued to the bridge. The first step wrings a low groan out of him and his hand clenches on the doorframe as he shakes his head.

Dean's just torn between the two of them but he does go back after the Captain. "Sir, you need to come to the infirmary with me." he says, taking his arm.

Mal goes to growl at him, but then his attempt to pull his arm free results in him not paying attention to his leg, which buckles.

And Dean's got ahold of him and throws his arm over his shoulders. "Alright Cap'n no complainin, and I mean it."

Mal bites back a curse, but then lifts his head and sees Zoe giving him a look.

His shoulders slump. "Whatever. Nothin' ya kin do anyhow."

"I can do what I can. If even if that's only to give you some painkillers." he says, grunting as he starts to head back to the infirmary.

"No dope."

"Not anything to dope you." he says. "Only something for the pain that won't knock you on your ass." -Heaven knows we don't need you breaking anything.-

Mal squares his jaw. "Not takin' any'a that neither."

"You will or I'll talk to Zoe seein as she's your first mate and I'm sure she don't want you hurtin like this."

"I gone this long without resortin' ta drugs," says the older man stubornly, giving Dean the first hint that this was a chronic condition. "I ain't gonna start now."

"So you've been denying the fact that it hurts this bad, and only managing to make yourself worse."

"Ain't ben denyin' nothin'."

"Not taking anything is just as bad as denying it." he says, finally getting them both into the infirmary.

Mal just shakes his head, his expression saying that he thought Dean too dumb to understand.

And Dean gives him a bit of a glare at that look, before setting him down on the bed. "Look, I'm trying to do my job. I'm trying to help my baby brother, who I have on good reason to believe is getting worse by the day, if not less." He rubs a hand across his forehead, looking through some of the cabinets for something to give the Captain. "I barely sleep, worry is the highlight of my day, and I'll be lucky if I keep my sanity for the next week." he finishes, coming over to the Captain with some meds. "So please, if you don't allow me to do anything else on this boat...allow me my job."

"I was doin' jes' fine before ya ever came aboard." Mal's voice is low and angry, though his face has a slightly set look to it and the paleness has increased. It's probably pretty clear that anger is partially a cover for something he doesn't want Dean to know about.

Dean's jaw clenches and he hands the Captain a couple of pills before turning and slamming the bottle down on the counter, hands gripping the edge enough to make his knuckles white. "Well maybe we'll just get off the next time we hit port. Or maybe I will." he says. "I don't know, but either way, ... Sam'll be upset. He's taken to this place..this ship..." He looks up, swallowing and then turns around. "But until then, I'm your doctor, and as I asked before. Please...let me do my job."

That's got Mal's jaw clenched. Even though he'd rather poke himself in the game leg than admit it the look on the kid Sam's face has touched him. The boy had been talkative for a few days there- following his older brother like a puppy- but lately he'd seemed nearly catatonic.

"Ya done it," he says gruffly. "I got the dope. Can I go now?"

"Yeah, you can go. And if you'll excuse me-" he starts to head out, a plush kitten that had been left in the infirmary in his hands. "-I have to try and coax my baby brother out from under the galley's table."

A grunt and a crash whirls him around, to see Mal sprawled on the floor with his eyes closed.

"Ruttin hell." he exclaims, going to his side and with difficulty getting him up onto the bed again, and adjusting him so he'd be comfortable. "These people are going to drive me out of my skull." he mutters, wiping a hand across his brow and swallowing.

"Petey," says Sam softly from the door, kneeling to lift the stuffed kitten and hold it close. "Shhh, daddy's got you. They can't hurt you."

Dean turns to look at him, still frowning over the Captain. "I was just coming to give him to you." he says softly, eyes soft except for that worry that seemed to be imprinted there now.

Sam looks up, his expression childlike and lost. "Captain's broken. Hunger broke the ship, broke his lady, broke his leg. Captain's heart died." He bends over the kitten, rocking it and singing softly.

Dean tries to give a smile, but it's short lived. He pretty much feels the same way but he's clawing to keep it from showing.

"I wouldn't know about that. I'm jus tryin to do what I can to fix him medically." he whispers, still trying to think of what he needed to do, that wouldn't involve the Captain killing him when he woke up.

"Hunger came from the Black. Took his light and didn' give her back. Man in the hat buried her away. Captain was too sick to have a say," says Sam, then croons to Petey and curls in a ball in the doorway.

Dean just nods, unable to concentrate on both Sam and the Captain fully in his current situation which was...a number of things. He comes to a decision and dopes Mal.

"You can whoop me for it later." he mutters to the unconscious man. "Right now I can't take the chance of you hurting yourself any worse."

Dean grabs a pair of surgical scissors and carefully cuts the side of what he's reasonably sure is the Captain's injured leg. "I'll owe you another pair of pants when we hit port too," he tells him though he's still unconscious. Once he's got it to where he can see his eyes grow dark with disbelief and concern. The damage to Mal's leg is readily apparent to even the untrained eye and the meat on his thigh bone looked like something you'd toss to the dogs. It could be told that the knee had been messed up and the thigh bone had been shattered something terrible.

"You stupid stubborn son of a *^@&*/z" he mutters angrily. "It's a wonder you're even walking with a cane."

"Broken," comes a sad murmur from the door.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," mutters Dean, though he's talking from a medical standpoint.

"Brother fix?" Sam actually shows a spark of awareness that Dean is there as he turns so he's laying on his stomach looking up.

"I can try," he says giving a small smile and then shaking his head at the unconscious Captain. "Even if I have to turn Zoe against you, you're not getting up from that seat or your bed for a good long @#$%&#@ while." He winces. "He didn't even give it time to heal properly when it happened, it's most likely why he's got more trouble now."

"Dean'll fix." Sam rolls onto his back and wraps his kitten in his Browncoat, his eyes now showing the absolute faith he'd had in Dean as a tiny tot.

"Nice to know that somebody believes that I'm not a crack doctor," he mutters. "I can't do a full examination until he's awake. He looks at his watch. "And since I just doped him..." He sighs. "We have a few hours."

"Dean's sleepy." Sam grins, rubbing the kitten's covered back.

Dean doesn't notice the grin and he's looking through one of the cupboards, away from Sam and his other equipment.

"I'll be fine, don't worry bout me, baby brother," he says, kind of spaced.

"Night night." Sam giggles. Dean has time to look at him, and then the floor is coming to meet him....

And darkness takes him.