"Do you want something to do with her?" River replied in the interest of gathering data. She couldn't expect Mal to understand that Jaime lashed out because of prior hurts and not because of him ... because Mal was a boy and simply didn't understand that logic. "She's frightened," River shared in a conspiratorial whisper. "Hurts you before you can hurt her because she's too broken to know any better."
River closed her eyes and shuddered as the pain flooded over her. "Alone, abandoned, unwanted, frightened," she whisper-chanted. "Needs strong hands and a big heart," River insisted as she opened her eyes to gaze at Mal. "Not Jayne," she repeated.
Sighing as Mal changed the subject, River shrugged her slender shoulders. "Simon would worry, but he worries unnecessarily. Always worried about me, about something, about Kaylee." She smiled a little. "Maybe alone with her now, and still worried."
Turning her dark eyes again to Mal, she shook her head. "Nothing to worry about."