River nodded into his neck. "Two years, three weeks, five days, six hours, 19 minutes, 54 seconds."
She sat down and tilted her head, eyes very focused, watching him as he handed her a present. Both eyebrows rose and River took it, looking at the box as it sat in her hand, other hand hesitant to touch it like she'd ruin it. It was pretty the way it was and even had a ribbon on top of it.
River pulled it. Pulled it again. Pulled the lid off.
There were not a lot of things that River would want; certainly not a lot of things that would fit into a box. She could easily have tried to pull out of Hannibal's mind what was in the box, but River didn't do that. For once, she wanted to be surprised.
There was a short, silver chain in the box that shone when the light hit it. River pressed her lips together; she wasn't really one for jewelery, and pretending to like something was not a thing she would do. But as she pulled the chain to see what was at the end of it, she knew she wouldn't have to do that.
There were stars. In a bunch. Different, all of them, and silver. Some larger than the others. Spread out, they could be a constellation; spread out, they were...
...Home.
River thought about hiding when Serenity was searched. Simon was so afraid, he was shaking inside the spacesuit. River was grinning, unable to look away from the vastness of the universe. She kept asking to do it again.
For once in her entire life, River Tam had been caught by surprise.
"How did you do that?" she asked, taking the necklace out of the box and holding it up, watching the stars shine and move.