Ship - Father Duré - Infirmary

[Hollywood Heidi]

WENDY

The pollution had already been bad when she'd left. "I'm surprised it's still habitable."

Done with the bandaging, Wendy studied one of the tattoos partially covered by the bandaging, tracing it with her finger. "These are new. And so are these," she added while gently tracing one of the many scars and burns. Realizing the inappropriate familiarity she was taking, she pulled her hand away. "Do they still hurt? The burns?" she asked, looking back up at him, her brow furrowed with concern.

[Frank Pickett]

"I'm surprised it's still habitable."

"Last I spoke to my family, Omar said he needed a mask to go to the lower regions. Nothing grows there anymore, anyway." he said with a sigh that bordered dangerously on being resigned.

"These are new. And so are these,"

"Some people I do business with end up finding me hard to like," he explained with the slow growth of a smile. "I know. Hard to believe."

"Do they still hurt? The burns?"

Pickett shook his head. "No. Nerves are mostly dead, all scorched up and crispy," he said.

[Hollywood Heidi]

WENDY

"I haven't changed," she said, reverting back to one of his earlier comments. She poured some disinfectant onto a clean piece of gauze and started to clean up some of the dried blood near the gash on his nose. "Not much, at least. Okay, this is gonna sting," she warned before carefully dabbing at the gash. "I've picked up some new skills, learned not to trust anybody, but other than that, I'm still the same girl."

[Frank Pickett]

Pickett nodded with a lift of his eyebrows. "And you've filled out," he said before he could stop himself. "....filled out with...with experience and lack of trust. And your hair is longer too."

[Hollywood Heidi]

WENDY

Wendy laughed. "You've filled out quite nicely yourself," she said, not shy about saying it or freely eyeing his arms and torso before looking back up at him. "And your hair is shorter."

[Frank Pickett]

"Uh, yeah, it was getting in the way," he said nervously, suddenly feeling both flattered and taken aback. He looked upward, as if that was the perfect solution, while inwardly cursing himself for turning into a teenage boy so suddenly. "My wanted posters on Newhall still use the picture with the long hair. You'd think they'd adjust but they don't. I can virtually walk there without fear of arrest."

[Hollywood Heidi]

WENDY

Wendy was surprised at first at his reaction to her compliment. She didn't think it possible that anybody could make the big, tough and gruff Frank nervous but here he was, avoiding eye contact while nervously chattering on. She found Nervous Frank to be vastly amusing.

Amusing as it was, his fixation on a spot somewhere above her head was making her job difficult. "You're being very uncooperative, Frankie," she said with a frustrated sigh as she went to retrieve one of the chairs. "Sit, please."

[Frank Pickett]

"Frankie?" he asked in a tone that was only partly mocking in apparant offense. "Christ, it took me long enough to get rid of 'Francis' and just be 'Frank'. Now you got to label me with that." Pickett sat and shrugged lightly. "Don't call me that in front of Mox, or stuff could happen."

[Hollywood Heidi]

WENDY

"'Stuff' could happen?" Wendy repeated as she continued her ministrations. "Tell me, Captain, should I be scared by that... or intrigued?" she asked with a mischievous grin.

[Frank Pickett]

"I don't...I don't know what you're..." He raised his hand to his face in frustration, then dropped it again. "Uh, scared. Yeah, scared." Pickett was not face-to-breast with Wendy's cleavage as she tended to his wounds, and he directed his eyes elsewhere. Memories were beginning to pulse back to life, as fresh and hot-blooded as yesterday. "So you and Jax, are...?"

[Hollywood Heidi]

WENDY

The playful smile left her face as his question changed the mood to a more serious, personal feel. She looked thoughtful as she considered how to answer. "Friends. Confidants. He's the closest thing to family that I've got." In an attempt to steer the focus of the conversation back to him, she quickly added, "You should probably have Chloe take a look and see if you'll need stitches."

[Frank Pickett]

Pickett nodded silently, and when the silence stretched he cleared his throat excessively. "Chloe's just as likely to give me stitches. I put her in a mood sometimes," he explained. "But she's a good doctor. Good to have around. And Mox is my good right hand...or right eye. Or something, but he's a hell of a friend to have. Don't tell him I said that."

[Hollywood Heidi]

WENDY


"Oh, of course I won't. People just hate compliments," she said dryly. She cleaned up as she continued. "Chloe seems like such a sweet gal. The way you talk to her, it's no wonder you 'put her in a mood'. Twice now, your comments to her seemed like thinly veiled threats. Both in regards to her treatment of me." Wendy leaned against the counter, crossing her arms as she studied the man who had abandoned her so many years ago with only a hurtful letter that told her just how much he didn't care. "Why do you seem to care so much about my well-being all of a sudden?" Blunt and to the point. Wendy was not one to dance around an issue.

[Frank Pickett]

"Chloe seems like such a sweet gal. The way you talk to her, it's no wonder you 'put her in a mood'. Twice now, your comments to her seemed like thinly veiled threats. Both in regards to her treatment of me."

"It's how you stay in charge. You don't show weakness, and these people? They're my crew first. I'm responsible for 'em and that means I got to keep 'em in line," he said. "Sometimes they'll hate me for it. That's how it works."

"Why do you seem to care so much about my well-being all of a sudden?"

Pickett looked up suddenly and stared at her, confusion crossing his face. "You can't be serious, huh? Are you?" he asked, standing abruptly with a sudden growing rage. "You were gone. All of you. Every piece, gone. Far as I knew, you'd joined the damn purple-belly bastards! You were with them, and I don't care if you were undercover or whatever other bullshit. You were with them!"

As Frank ranted, his voice grew darker and solid. "And I saw you, Wendy. With that 'confidant', all those years ago. Yeah, you played me for a chump. You and the Alliance, Wendy. You made me want you and then made me think you wanted me. You were the only thing I wanted, and then, and then, and then you and Jax and the Alliance ground that want, that desire down into something shameful. Something beautiful ended up being a joke. One more ugly little joke in a kingdom of billions. And you're still standing here, still playing me. Accusing and angry like you got the right, and already you've got my mind running this way and that. Chasin' tails and ripping up the map. I just...I...." Pickett paced and grunted as he spoke, finally lashing out and grabbing a nearby stool before flinging it carelessly against a wall, where it crashed with a resounding echo of broken metal.

Catching his breath, he looked back at Wendy. "And I never stopped caring about you. Never. So I'm still a chump, 'cause you're still something beautiful to me. After everything, you're still something beautiful to me. And I'm happy, I'm happy to have you on this ship. And I hate myself for bein' happy you're here," he said, his voice suddenly having grown introverted and soft. Frank began slowly walking toward her. "So do you have more lies for me? Are you playing me? Playing the Alliance? Playing everyone? 'Cause I've had my share of lies by now. What else you got? Truth?" He reached her, standing close enough to smell her breath and lock his eyes with hers. "Give me some truth, Wendy."

[Hollywood Heidi]

WENDY

"You can't be serious, huh? Are you?" "You were gone. All of you. Every piece, gone. Far as I knew, you'd joined the damn purple-belly bastards! You were with them, and I don't care if you were undercover or whatever other bullshit. You were with them!"

"Joined them?! They owned me. I was never with--"


"And I saw you, Wendy. With that 'confidant', all those years ago. Yeah, you played me for a chump. You and the Alliance, Wendy. You made me want you and then made me think you wanted me. You were the only thing I wanted, and then, and then, and then you and Jax and the Alliance ground that want, that desire down into something shameful. Something beautiful ended up being a joke. One more ugly little joke in a kingdom of billions. And you're still standing here, still playing me. Accusing and angry like you got the right, and already you've got my mind running this way and that. Chasin' tails and ripping up the map. I just...I...."

Wendy listened in stunned silence, jumping when he threw the chair. She was at a loss for words. None of what he'd just said made any sense.


"And I never stopped caring about you. Never. So I'm still a chump, 'cause you're still something beautiful to me. After everything, you're still something beautiful to me. And I'm happy, I'm happy to have you on this ship. And I hate myself for bein' happy you're here," "So do you have more lies for me? Are you playing me? Playing the Alliance? Playing everyone? 'Cause I've had my share of lies by now. What else you got? Truth?" "Give me some truth, Wendy."

Her mind felt muddled with all the inconsistencies. "Truth! How could you stand there and preach to me about truth? I'd meant it when I'd told you I loved you. I couldn't wait to see you again. To hear you say those words back to me. Each visiting day, I sat there, waiting and each time it came to an end, my heart broke a little." Wendy's voice hitched with emotion. She steadied herself and continued in a calmer tone. "I wrote to you and still nothing. I started to become sick with worry, thinking something must have happened to you. Then finally, your letter arrived and when I read it, my heart shattered." She looked away as she felt tears stinging the back of her eyes, not wanting him to see the pain it still brought her after all these years. "Your letter made it quite clear the only thing you ever felt for me was pity." To this day, she hated the thought of anybody feeling pity toward her. Just hearing herself say the word aloud made the anger resurface. "Is that why you're saying these things?" she asked angrily, her eyes snapping back up to his. "Is that why you're helping me? Because I don't want your pity. I didn't want it then and I sure as hell don't want it now!"

[Frank Pickett]

"I wrote to you and still nothing. I started to become sick with worry, thinking something must have happened to you. Then finally, your letter arrived and when I read it, my heart shattered."

"You didn't write," he said flatly, his eyes narrowing in growing confusion. A letter? "I wrote to you, I wrote a lot and you never wrote back..."

"Your letter made it quite clear the only thing you ever felt for me was pity. Is that why you're helping me? Because I don't want your pity. I didn't want it then and I sure as hell don't want it now!"

Pickett stared directly at her. In his mind, little snapshots of their past started to come together and slot into place. A realisation was building steadily, and the very idea of it made him shiver. Slowly, Frank walked over to where he'd thrown the stool. He set it back up carefully. "I never got anything from you. No replies to my letters," he said, his tone hollow with the sickening feeling that came with figuring out that you'd been manipulated. "Then I came to you, one day. I saw you with him, with the wh-....the companion. And they took me aside. They told me you'd be lying to me, and using me, and I wouldn't have believed them if it wasn't for what had come before. What I'd seen."

Frank began to feel very heavy. How many years had it been? How many years had he been angry and mistaken? "I got no pity for you, Wendy. I felt a lot of things on your behalf, but never pity," he said, and looked upwards before closing his eyes. "There was never any letter. Never any letter like that. I wrote every single day, and you wrote to me, but neither of us got the letters. But you got theirs...and I saw what they wanted me to see."

He opened his eyes and looked back down. "混蛋," he said. "混蛋." Frank swung around and slammed his fist into a cabinet, shattering the glass and sending streaks of red down his knuckles and hand. "We were wrong, Wendy. We were so damn wrong."

[Hollywood Heidi]

WENDY

Wendy mechanically lowered herself onto the nearest stool as her past began to form a completely different picture in her mind. The real picture. She stared, unseeing, at the ground in a state of shock, unflinching at the sound of breaking glass. All these years, everything she'd believed, the unnecessary pain and sorrow that had left a lifelong scar and had formed her into the person she was now, was all a lie.

"They knew I planned to leave," she said quietly, her mind in the past. "They tried to convince me to stay. All the benefits and opportunities they promised, all the wealth and comfort of the lifestyle that came with a position with them couldn't hold a candle to the future I'd imagined. They knew I was counting down the days until I could legally walk out of there. No guarantees of benefits or opportunities or wealth... just you and me, wherever we ended up. That was all I wanted; all I needed. I didn't make a secret of it. Didn't even cross my mind that I should have kept it a secret."

Wendy was silent again, her mind taunting her with all the "should have's" that could have led to the life she'd imagined so long ago.

[Frank Pickett]

"They knew I planned to leave, They tried to convince me to stay. All the benefits and opportunities they promised, all the wealth and comfort of the lifestyle that came with a position with them couldn't hold a candle to the future I'd imagined. They knew I was counting down the days until I could legally walk out of there. No guarantees of benefits or opportunities or wealth... just you and me, wherever we ended up. That was all I wanted; all I needed. I didn't make a secret of it. Didn't even cross my mind that I should have kept it a secret."

Frank listened carefully, his face blank and unmoving. Calmly sitting down on the now-upright stool, he remained silent, almost thoughtful. But his mind was as blank as his face, unable to process just how much the Alliance had done. He knew they murdered, they lied, they destroyed his home and killed his friends...but this was something different. This wasn't the usual Alliance government meddling, this was meddling on such a personal and emotional level that he felt strangely....violated. Like he'd found the imprint of someone unknown in his bed.

I'm going to kill them, he thought dispassionately. I'm going to kill every single last one of them. Every single purple-belly that did this to us. They're going to die.

Finally, he rose and began to walk towards Wendy. When he reached her, he placed his hands on her shoulders and turned him toward her. Then, Frank leaned forward and kissed her once on the forehead. "It's all done."

[Hollywood Heidi]

WENDY

Wendy's eyes closed automatically as she absorbed the feeling of Frank's nearness and the kiss he placed on her forehead.

"It's all done."

She opened her eyes and looked back up at him. "They're all done," she said with conviction.

Wendy's goal to take down the Alliance, especially those directly responsible for stealing her life, was renewed with a vengeance. She had to find this Simon Tam and put complete faith in the idea that he could help her to at least prolong the inevitable long enough for her to cause some irreparable damage.

Wendy began to pace as her mind worked furiously. The fury she felt had her worked up when she should be resting. "I need to review that data. Reach out to my contacts, see if they've gathered any more intel. Maybe there'll be enough information on that card but I doubt it. Gorram Alliance doesn't have the brains for that kind of efficiency. They have to manipulate people with brains to get any proper work done..." she continued mumbling on as she paced, constructive thought processes replaced by insults and fury toward the Alliance which only served to get her more worked up.

[Frank Pickett]

"Wendy," he said, interrupting her abruptly. There was a great deal he wanted to say. The words, however, just didn't connect the way he wanted them to. They stopped in his chest, and he fetched a worn-out platitude instead. "It'll be fine. We'll fix it. All of this."

Pickett walked back to the sink, and began splashing his face with cold water, washing away what little remained of the dried blood. "We'll find the bastards and shoot 'em all down. After we find Tam."

[Hollywood Heidi]

WENDY


Wendy reigned in her temper and stopped her pacing. She leaned against the counter next to Frank, holding out a towel as she studied him, a look of concern on her face. This was not going to be easy and everyone who helped her was putting themselves at risk. She felt guilty but knew it was impossible to do this without help. "You sure you're okay with this? Putting yourself, your ship, and your crew at risk? I could find another way..."

[Frank Pickett]

"You sure you're okay with this? Putting yourself, your ship, and your crew at risk? I could find another way..."

"No," he said, turning back to face her. "You couldn't. It's only this way, and I'm with you." Pickett dried his face off with a cloth before dumping it back against the sink. "But for something like this, I got to ask my crew if they're in or out. Much as I want to, I can't just order 'em to go up against the Alliance like this."

[Hollywood Heidi]

WENDY


He was right. There just wasn't time to come up with another way and she knew it. She just wanted to be sure that he didn't feel obligated.

"I understand. You go ahead and talk to your crew. Jax and I will take a look at the new data and see what we can figure out. Is there a place where Jax and I could have some privacy?"

[Frank Pickett]

Pickett looked around him, before folding his arms and leaning back. "This looks private enough, right?" he said firmly. "I'm callin' the crew together in the kitchen. I'll tell 'em what they need to know, leave out the personal stuff."

He turned abruptly and headed for the door, not looking back. There was something solid in place, now. Something to work for.

***Pickett leaves for the bridge***

[Hollywood Heidi]

WENDY

Wendy watched Frank walk out without a backward glance. After all that had just been revealed, she was feeling emotionally vulnerable but there would be time later for comforting and shoulder crying. Knowing that Jax had been waiting outside and would no doubt be checking on her in a matter of seconds, especially after the ruckus of flying chairs and breaking glass, she pushed those feelings aside and squared her shoulders, ready to get to work on finding Simon.

[Brittany]

JAX

Indeed, he was waiting for his chance to make sure everything was okay with Wendy. He'd wanted to go in there as soon as he'd heard the noise, but he waited for the moment when either Wendy called for him or Pickett left. And since Pickett had just left, he took it as his moment to go in. "Hey. How you doing?"

[Hollywood Heidi]

WENDY

Such a simple question that was usually easy to answer but Wendy had a whirlwind of emotions running through her. "I have a lot of stuff to process but I'll be fine," she said, managing to add a smile that reassured that at least for the moment, she was fine. Of course she would be confiding in Jax as soon as they got important matters under control.

"First thing's first. We need to give the captain a direction to point this ship." Wendy sat on the infirmary bed. She patted the spot next to her then held out her hand. "My vid screen, please. Let's see if we can figure out where Tam's been hiding."

[Medieval Kevin]

**Anonymous Communication**

A lone message waited on the screen, a simple cryptic text that stated, "You will find what you are looking for on New Melbourne." It was neither signed nor dated. The sender clearly wished to remain unknown. For anyone this would have meant nothing, except to whom it had appeared.

[Hollywood Heidi]

WENDY

Several hours had passed. She wasn't sure exactly how many but she was sure it was more than she realized. Knowing your days were numbered had a way of keeping you awake. The others had also put in many hours of research but the captain had insisted everyone needed a few hours of rest, including herself, in order to stay sharp and avoid missing even the smallest of details.

She grudgingly agreed but as soon as all was quiet, Wendy picked up right where she left off. Big universe or not, it wasn't easy to hide from the Alliance when you were on their most wanted list. She had to give Simon Tam a lot of credit. He and his sister had only shown up as minor blips on their radar and only then, they were reports of speculation or searches that came up empty handed.

Wendy thought about what direction to take her research but as her screen lit up, a new message notification interrupted those thoughts. Why didn't the vid screen notify her of a new message as soon as it had arrived? She stared wearily at the notification, her finger hovering over the view button. Someone must have hacked into the device and placed the message. But who? She'd been careful about reprogramming the device after taking it from the Alliance so whoever had placed it had tracked her down to it.

She tapped the view button and looked to the headings. Nothing. No name of the sender. No ID or coordination of where it had been sent from. No date or time. Not even a Reply button. She read the message.

"You will find what you are looking for on New Melbourne."

Apparently, someone was trying to help but why the anonymity? Was it a trap by the Alliance or bounty hunter to lure her there? Someone trying to help but avoiding any possibilities of becoming entangled if things went sideways? Or, if all went right, someone who would show up on her doorstep one day demanding her help as repayment?

Wendy did a search both in the Alliance and Independence records. Nothing noteworthy in the Alliance records besides a few minor incidents in the past. In their eyes, it was merely a layover point where non-threatening non-Alliance supporters would exchange cargo. The Alliance had bigger problems to worry about.

The Independents had more thorough records on New Melbourne including a log of jobs past and present that had been contracted out to trustworthy sources. She looked down the list of upcoming pick-ups or drop-offs and a name caught her attention. Serenity. She'd almost missed it as it was more of a side note. The job had originally been contracted to another ship but that ship outsourced it to Serenity due to mechanical problems. It wasn't the first time she'd taken interest in Serenity but perhaps she'd made the same mistake as the Alliance and had too easily dismissed it.

Wendy recalled what she knew so far. The Alliance had records of searching the ship for stolen cargo and 'persons of interest'. No names of said 'persons' mentioned which she'd found odd. Besides a complaint filed by an Alliance supporter against the ship and a couple other notes, they were dismissed as a minor annoyance.

The Independents, on the other hand, spoke highly of them and referred to them as a strong alliance, though the captain and crew preferred to keep to themselves. There were also spoken highly of for a crazy, yet brave job they had almost been pulled off an the Alliance-strong planet of Ariel. Funny. There'd been no mention of anything on Ariel and Serenity in Alliance records. That could only mean the Alliance didn't know they'd been involved. Or at least the Alliance on a whole. She knew there were people within who operated on their own. After all, she'd been raised and trained by those people.

Further research showed no mention of a doctor on board nor any mentions of the ship and crew stopping at any Independent-friendly bases for medical support. Pulling jobs all these years in order to keep on flying meant having to sometimes take on jobs on the shady side. There simply was no way to go about it without being shot at on occasion. Captain Malcolm Reynolds and Zoë Alleyne Washburne no doubt had battlefield skills of dealing with bullet wounds but that was always too risky. They had to have a doctor on board and there was only one reason why said doctor would never be mentioned or included in the crew roster; the person was in hiding.

It was her best chance. It would also be best if she found another means to carry out her plan. She couldn't put Pickett and his crew and Jax in harms way. Plus, traveling with people from your past wasn't smart. It's the first place people would look for her and this anonymous source had already tracked her down.

Wendy went over records again, hoping to find a common link. She thankfully found one within the complaint filed against Serenity by an Atherton Wing. Captain Richard Cavanaugh.

Wendy quietly made her way to a comm. After a few quick tweaks in the programming to mask the call and its coordinates, she sent out a voice-only wave.

"Captain Richard Cavanaugh. Do you read me?"

[Hollywood Heidi]

WENDY

"This is Captain Richard Cavanaugh of the Cobblestone Road II," "I am receiving you Lima Charlie. Identify yourself."

Wendy gave a sigh of relief at the quick response. "Roger Wilco, but first I must be sure you're alone and that this comm is secure."