note: alright so the last episode i tried to write wasn't particularly inspired, but this one is gonna be better, i promise! plus, we have baby w/z! aw... don't cha just wanna give her a hug??

incase you don't know, my episodes ignore serenity completely basically. i love wash and book too much to part with them!

~~~

It wasn’t silence, but it felt like it.

She opened her fathomless emerald eyes, her sight adjusting quickly to the darkness. Soon she could make out the tiny creases of laughter lines around the mouth of the man lying next to her. She momentarily wondered what he had to laugh about, before realising he would never laugh again.

It was the quiet in which his breaths should be that resonated inside her mind.

He was, had been, not what she had expected. She had not expected him to be good looking; that was something she had not thought he would be. In her mind she had created so cruel, so monstrous a being… But outward appearances did not matter so much. It was often used to mask what was beneath, what was within. She had been taught this.

Suddenly she froze, her blood momentarily running cold. Had that been..? It had seemed she had caught his lips move. Not move, quiver, shake slightly, she had seen it in the corner of her eye. It could not be though. She stared at him nervously. Without realising she allowed her fingers to brush gently against his cheek. Did she want a response? She gazed at the face, so pale in the dark, so still…

No!

She leapt up from beneath the soft covers, reaching for her robe, flinging it around herself. She would not allow herself to do this to herself. After all she had fought to achieve… Still, she glanced back at the bed where he lay, half expecting him to stir, to want to hold her again.

She watched for an instant, before bending over the man. The body. The corpse. Her quick breaths filled the night for a moment.

Finally she held her fingers to his neck, holding them firmly over the skin that was already growing cold. Not so long ago this flesh had been almost too hot to touch. Now it would never be again. After a long moment she found nothing.

He was dead.

~

“I don’t think she likes me.”

“Of course she likes you, honey,” Zoë said reassuringly.

“Then why’s she frowning?” Wash demanded.

They both looked down at the tiny child laid out on the table, her dark features creased into a scowl. Her hair was a mess of black curls, her large eyes enchantingly beautiful even in their fixed glare.

“Probably takin’ a crap,” Jayne suggested from across the mess where he was tenderly cleaning Vera.

“Jayne!” Zoë barked. They had already had the ‘no-cursin’-around-baby’ talk.

He seemed to have forgotten however, for he looked obliviously up. “What?”

Wash suddenly held his hand up to his nose, scrunching up his face. “Egh! Disturbing as it is, I think he may be right.”

Zoë too recoiled slightly. “It’s your turn,” she reminded her husband.

Wash looked suitably disgusted. “See! Look at that smug smile. She doesn’t like me.”

“She’s barely a month old. She can’t smile yet,” Zoë pointed out.

Wash picked up the baby, holding her at arms length, grumbling under her breath. “If she could…”

~

Mal strode freely into Inara’s shuttle. “Heard you wanted me.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that,” Inara grinned. She was in a good mood. “But there was a favour I wished to ask.”

Mal smiled painfully. “And your goin’ the right way about it, gotta say… What is it your after? Unlike some people on this ship my profession don’t gravitate around givin’ people favours.”

“I know we are on course Paquin -”

“That we are…” he replied edgily. Inara wasn’t in the habit of asking him for anything. In fact she prided herself in her autonomy.

“I was wondering if we could perhaps take a slight detour to pick up a friend of mine. She would, of course be willing to p -”

“Where is he?”

Inara winced slightly. “Boros..?”

“Boros!” Mal spluttered. “Slight detour is not millions of light-years, ‘Nara.”

“That’s a slight exaggeration. And he’s a she.”

“What’d she be wantin’ on this boat anyhow?” he demanded. “I thought your friends would be rich and fancible enough to be shippin’ out in style.”

“Perhaps, but she heard I was in the area and it was been a long while since we last met…”

“My boat will not be a venue for your whore academy reunion party!”

Inara looked disdainfully at him, calculating how best to go about her next move. “Look, she is rich. She could make this tiny trip worth its weight. She needs to travel to Paquin and no further. You could perhaps buy that part Kaylee’s been pleading for once we get there. She would make it worth your while, Mal, and you could do with the cash. Plus, I get to see a friend I have not in years. Surely you must see it is a mutually beneficial proposition.”

Mal considered her for a moment. He had a gut instinct he was going to regret this. “Fine, you can have your sleepover-reunion what not. Let’s just hope we don’t run into any Alliance. They may accuse me of pimpin’.”