A short one, with a little person. These Characters belong to Joss, i'm just borrowing them for a while. Can't wait for the Big Damn Movie!

***

Hope raged. Hope wailed. Hope was definitely Zoe's daughter.

"(God in Heaven)", Wash muttered, as he sat up. Beside him, Zoe was stirring. She must have just gotten back to sleep from the last time, he thought. Wash touched her arm and whispered (well, spoke more quietly than their baby girl), "I've got her, Zo'." She relaxed and drifted back to sleep. Wash sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, then went to Hope as she decided she was being ignored and her wails redoubled.

"Shush, little one." Her diaper was okay and her belly was full, but Hope was moving her tongue around, running it over her first little tooth. Wash put a little of the pain rub they'd gotten from Simon for this on his finger and applied it to her gums. It must have tasted awful, from the face that Hope made. She complained, tiredly, at the injustice of the 'verse, not so loud as before, but Wash knew she could go on for a quite a while. So he put Hope in the little baby sling that Jayne, of all people, had surprised them with and climbed up the ladder and to the bridge.

Wash settled into his pilot's chair with Hope in front of him, where she could see what he was doing while he worked and steal dinosaurs from him when he played. Presently he had looked at all Serenity's systems. Hope was gumming the T. Rex (Wash had moved the Stegasaur to safety, much to her highness' displeasure). Hope sensed that he was done and threw the plastic dinosaur away. Wash smiled. "Thus ever to tyrants, little one?" Hope cooed at him. "Time for a lullabye, and not one of River's fairy tales?" Wash leaned back and started to sing.

"Way out in big town airport, in hangar # 4, Lived a lonely little biplane, his name was Evermore. His working days were over, and no more did he sail, Upon his wings, above the clouds, flying the U.S. Mail."

Inarra was up and making herself some tea in the common area. She poured a cup and went to the table, but before she sat, she heard the singing, faintly, from the hallway to the bridge. Interested, she set the cup on the table and walked towards the sound.

"All the mighty jet planes looked down their nose at him. They'd laugh and say, 'I'm glad that we're not one of them.' And Evermore would shake away the teardrops from his wings, And dream of days when he again could do heroic things."

Inarra had taken a seat on the steps, listening. Simon opened the door and upper ladder to Kalyee's room and crept up it, only to start as he saw Inarra a few feet away. He started to speak, when Inarra put a finger to her lips. Simon listened , then looked curiously up the stairs and smiled. He reached down to shut the door, quietly.

"Bye bye, biplane, once upon a sky plane, If they'd let you try, plane, biplane Evermore."

Jayne poked his head up out of his quarters. He saw the two of them and gave one of his patented, 'I'll be in my bunk' leers, before disappearing again. Inarra and Simon exchanged equally disgusted looks and nearly broke out laughing. "Further adventures of 'The Man-Ape Gone Wrong'," Simon stage whispered. Wash didn't seem to notice- if anything, the next bit was a little louder.

"Then one day the fog and rain had closed the airport down, And all the mighty jet planes were helpless on the ground, When a call came to the airport, for a mercy flight. Would be too late, they could not wait, someone must fly tonight.

Bye bye, biplane, once upon a sky plane, If they'd let you try, plane, biplane Evermore. There rolled a little biplane out to runway #5. And though he looked so small and weak, they knew he could survive."

At this point, Wash was humming, and Hope tried to hum along with him. Her antics finally broke the two by the foot of the stairs. "Who's there?" Wash said. By way of answering him, Simon, and then Inarra, started in on the end of the song and came up to join him.

"And as he rose into the storm, the big jets hung their wings, And hoped someday, like Evermore, to do heroic things.

Bye bye, biplane, once again sky plane, Now they let you try, plane, biplane Evermore."

Hope decided that the song was over at this point and waved her little arms at Inarra, who took her from Wash. The two men exchanged a look as they watched the two of them, but said nothing. Nothing needed saying. Simon, uncomfortable, cleared his throat. "I think I remember a different ending."

"And so, my bitty bundle, I have spun a tale for you. You must learn there’s nothing in this 'verse* that you can’t do. Do not be discouraged by circumstance or size: Remember Evermore and set your sights up in the skies."

"Great, now we're Doomed, Doomed, I tell you!" Wash threw his hands up. "I just want her to be a pilot, like her Old Man, but now she'll think she can save the 'verse or something!"

***

*With apologies to Martin Cooper, The Biplane Evermore. http://holyjoe.org/poetry/cooper.htm

And, thanks to The Royal Guardsman, for this and their Snoopy songs.

PS- Also inspired by Memories of Guns by Jade http://www.geocities.com/jadethe2nd/ff_memoriesofguns.html