Zoë lay in Wash’s arms, loving the feel of his fingers running up and down her skin. They were silent, neither wishing to spoil the beauty of the moment. Wash sighed contentedly, breathing deeply in the smell of her. Her dark hair rolled in a mass of curls down her chocolate back, her skin slightly damp and so smooth to the touch. It was a dream, no, better than he could ever have dreamt.

“How is it your bunk is twice the size of mine?”

Zoë smiled. “I’m more important than you, honey.”

“Figures.” They were silent again.

“You can share it if you want,” Zoë suddenly said, quite quietly.

“What as in…”

“Yeah.”

“Shiny! Well, so long as you get rid of the smell…”

Zoë laughed, turning to punch him, affectionately but hard.

“Hey! I'm very tender! Less of the beating…”

With a smile on her face and in her eyes, Zoë kissed him instead. “Better?”

“Mmm… more of the kissing…”

~

“You know, I didn’t realise Wash and Zoë were sweeties,” Kaylee said casually.

Mal looked sharply up from his cards. “Hu?”

“Wash and Zoë. I didn’t know they were together,” Kaylee repeated.

Mal snorted. “They’re not.”

“Oh, well…” A confused frown passed over her face. Maybe she hadn’t seen what she’d thought… But Wash had come from Zoë’s bunk this morning in last nights clothes and his smile seemed to have spoken for itself. But if Mal didn’t know, maybe they didn’t want him to know.

Mal looked curiously at her. “What gave you that impression?”

“May not have been… It doesn’t matter.” Kaylee hurriedly played her next card badly as means of distraction. She wouldn’t be the one to reveal their secret. Still, Mal looked slightly tense.

~

“I wonder what Mal will say.” They were sat on the bridge, Wash in his chair, Zoë leaning against the console.

Zoë looked at Wash slightly oddly, as though she had not before thought of that occurring. “About what?”

“Well, if we’re going to do this, he’s gonna find out somehow. Better us tell than the other thing…” Wash rationalised.

“I hadn’t really… Can we not tell him, just for the -”

“Tell me what?”

Zoë straightened up, but refused to look startled at Mal’s sudden appearance. “Nothing, Sir.”

There was a silence before he continued. “You know, Kaylee just came up with the funniest notion of you two bein’ together. Ain’t that amusin’?” Mal wasn’t laughing. In fact his stare was a hard as stone.

“Hilarious,” Wash replied, his voice deadpan, unsure if this was a warning to him or her.

~

“Hey there.”

Zoë glanced up from her bed to see Wash. She didn’t remember how he came to being in her bunk, but there he was, smiling adorably.

“Who you hiding from?”

“I wasn’t hiding,” she defended herself hastily, standing up.

With one of his large hands he gently cupped her cheek. He grinned. “Yes you were.” His voice was scarce a whisper but she heard it perfectly.

She watched his lips as they spoke and before she knew it they were kissing, her lips mirroring his, soft, gentle but rich with passion.

“I love you, Zoë,” he murmured.

Zoë glanced up, startled. “What?”

Wash smiled. “I love you.”

Zoë let him hold her before whispering into his chest. “I love you too.”

~

It was a few minutes later when there was a knock on the door to the bunk and Mal’s voice calling Zoë’s name. Wash put his finger to her lips, grinning. She was the image of internal debate for an extended moment. Finally, she pulled Wash close towards her again, kissing him tenderly. She had decided. Mal could wait. This most certainly could not.

Unfortunately, for all involved, Mal couldn’t wait. He kicked open the door to her bunk and descended. Wash and Zoë had sprung apart, grasping for the bed covers, while Mal stepped blindly into the room. He glanced between them, rooted to the spot, his eyes wide with shock and dismay.

The silence hung like a brick wall between them before finally being broken.

“Huh.”

The End