Over all, the job had gone well. There were little glitches, like when Zoe started crying uncontrollably when the little girl had asked them what they were doing, but over all, it had gone well. Besides, Simon had warned them that pregnant women often have very emotional bouts. Not that Zoe wanted to admit to the emotional bouts, but there was no denying her pregnant state of being. Mood swings or not. Besides, the pay was good, the client savvy without being slippery and at the end of it all, things seemed to be going well. Mal and Jayne were heading out of the brothel (the client had mentioned that no one would pay any attention to men going into a brothel as much as they might pay attention to three men meeting anywhere else...the client being an upstanding citizen of a town of upstanding men and women of good citizenship) when one of the doors burst open and a woman came flying into Mal, knocking him into Jayne, who caught the woman. Both men looked at the woman, covered in fresh scratches and bruises and sobbing, then at the four men in the room, who leered indiscriminately. "Throw her back in," one of the four called from the room. "She's too small for you." Jayne, in a rare moment of endearing chivalry, casually moved the woman out of sight behind his rather large frame and straightened up. Mal noticed and smiled disarmingly. "It appears she'd rather say good evening and let you gentlemen get on your way." He moved to close the door, slowly, and counted the seconds before one of them tried to stop him. He was so glad they decided to start the brawl. * * * As they were striding out (okay, Mal was limping slightly, thanks to that one drunk with the chair leg and Jayne was striding with some minor difficulty, since he was carrying the no-longer-sobbing-but-still-exhausted woman), the brothel owner - who happened to be their previous client - stopped them. "I believe you gentlemen dropped this," he said, handing over a bonus to their payment. Mal looked at it uncertainly, then looked back at the mess they left of the room upstairs. He nodded. No one liked those four, it seemed. "This one yours?" Jayne asked, indicating the woman. "Never seen her in here before," came the response. "They must have brought her in while we were talking in the back." "Then you won't mind if we--" "Jayne, we'll be leaving the young lady in the capable hands of her neighbor," Mal cut off Jayne's hopeful suggestion. He turned to look at the woman, for the first time seeing her face, and paused. He blinked, unsure of himself for a matter of seconds, before recovering.

"However," he said, clearing his throat and still staring at the sleeping face, "Our doctor should perhaps tend to her wounds before we...do that." Jayne looked from Mal to the woman in confusion before following the unsteady Mal into the night. * * * Back on Serenity, Kaylee and Zoe were patiently going through baby names for little girls as Simon and River cleaned up the mess from dinner and Inara made tea to help settle Zoe's stomach. "What about Xiao Xing?" Kaylee offered. "I think it's pretty." "I don't know," Zoe said thoughtfully. "Well, what about Moira?" "Hmm...maybe." "I've always liked the name Ciara," Kaylee suggested. "I'll think about it..." "Zoe, did you have any names you were considering?" Inara asked diplomatically as she placed the tea before Zoe. "I had thought about Mena," Zoe answered softly. "But I hadn't made any final decisions yet." Before anything could be discussed further, Jayne stormed into the room and headed straight for his bunk, ignoring all the stunned faces as he muttered to himself. "First it's 'pick her up,' then 'leave her here' then 'you drive,' then 'no ya can't keep her...' Why does he always get the girls we pick up? Get the doc yourself..." Simon, after hearing the last, raced to the medical bay to find it...empty. He continued on past it, thinking Mal remained on the mule, but instead saw Mal standing leisurely by one of the empty passenger rooms. "Captain," Simon nodded, quickly assessing the captain's appearance and stance. Aside from a few bruised knuckles and a small cut high on his forehead, Mal looked just as he had when he had left the ship earlier to collect payment. "Doc," he responded, his voice gruff. He seemed to be waiting to see if anyone else had followed Simon. "How did it go?" Simon asked, still trying to determine why Mal had needed a doctor, as Jayne had implied. "Oh, it went well," Mal said tightly. "Got the payment plus a bit extra. No one else is back there, now...are they?" River leaned her head around the corner. Followed by Kaylee, Inara and Zoe's extended stomach and, finally, Zoe. "Good." "We just didn't know if you needed somethin' is all," Kaylee tried to explain. "As a matter of fact, I do. I need y'all to listen up and listen up good: we have a passenger and I don't want anyone disturbin' her until I find out what's happening. Now, the doc here is just going to come in for a minute and see to a little tiny scratch she's got and then she's gonna take her time gettin' used to the idea of bein' here. River, I want us up and on our way as soon as you get up to the bridge. The rest of you can finish other duties I know you have been puttin' aside for time to waste." Reluctantly, everyone dispersed. Mal turned to Simon with tired eyes. "There is just too much female curiosity on this boat some days," he sighed. Simon agreed silently. Mal ran a hand over his face before continuing. They still stood in the hallway. "This girl...she...you don't have to worry, she's not..." Mal, not used to being this lost for words, took a deep breath. "This girl is my childhood. You do anything to mess my childhood, and there will be one less male body on my ship." Simon blinked. He was unprepared for this turn of events. Mal slid back the door to reveal a young woman, her legs and arms forming bruises where the scratches ended, asleep on the small bed. Tentatively, Simon started forward, his medical training taking over. "She fainted sometime after she ran into Jayne and me," Mal said quietly. "She's been out since." Simon nodded, checking her pulse and glancing at the scratches. They would need to be cleaned...she seemed so thin... He stood. "I'm going to get my bag," he explained. "She may just be in shock; it looks like she put up a fight." "She would," Mal said. Simon left. Mal sighed and sat down on the floor heavily. "What would your daddy say if he saw you in such a state?" he whispered at the sleeping form. She stirred, ever so gently. "Pro'lly the same thing he said when he found you were teachin' me to ride bareback," she whispered. He smiled, half-heartedly. "A lot of bad words directed in my general direction?" "As you may recall," she said sleepily, "He seemed to think I only got bad ideas from you." "You were the source of most of 'em," he answered, defending his honor. "You wanted to do more than just what I showed you." "So I did," she sighed. "And now I even dream of seeing you again. And blaming my troubles on you and yours again." "How did I get you into a brothel?" he asked. She laughed softly. His smile broadened. It had been so very long since he'd seen her. "I was waiting for you outisde and they came along," she shuddered. "They were drunk already and thought I was part of the property. I don't know how I got away..." "Why were you waiting for me?" he asked. "How did you know I'd even be there?" She blinked her eyes open slowly. Her eyes widened. She sat up, her mouth opening in surprise. "I'm not dreaming, am I?" she gasped. When Mal shook his head, she flew to his arms, laughing. "Oh, Mal! I found you! I don't know how but I found you! Oh, it's been so long! I've got so much to tell you, I..." she stopped and leaned back to see his smiling face. She stopped smiling and smacked his arm with the flat of her hand. "I can't believe you almost made me give everything away in that...you *know* I don't wake up well! Don't a girl get to keep her own gorram secrets anymore?" "Who taught Baby Girl language like that? You'd best be on your Daddy's Princess behavior or I'll know the reason why!" he chided her, still laughing. "Malcolm Reynolds, if I recall correctly, it was your ranch hand words that I picked up as my first full sentence and I do seem to remember that being the first thing my daddy used to list as your top fault!" "Ahem," Simon stated from the doorway. Mal realized what position he looked to be in: what with the previously unconcious woman in his lap, on the floor, opposite the bed and all. He gathered up his childhood friend and stood somewhat awkwardly as he tried to not look at her amused face or Simon's questioning one. "Doc, this here is Baby Girl," he said, unceremoniously dropping the woman on the bed. "Baby Girl, this is the Doc. He's gonna take a look at the worst of your scratches here." "Nobody calls me Baby Girl anymore, Mal," she smiled, sitting up. "It's Tess or Mrs. Ban." "Mrs. Ban? You married?" Mal's face lit up. "Let's talk later," Tess murmured, her smile dimming only slightly. "Right now, Doc looks like he wants to poke and prod...and unless you want to know intimate details about my womanly life problems, you're gonna to hafta leave." "Well who says I don't want to know them?" Mal asked, casually leaning against the doorway. Tess's eyes narrowed. "Doctor, the last time my monthly time started the blood was so--" she began. Mal threw his hands in the air, laughing and turned heel and left. He called over his shoulder something about knowing when he wasn't wanted, as he did so. Simon waited for Tess to look at him. "I know," she said simply. Her smile was gone. "Whatever it is you are going to tell me, I know already." "You...know?" His thoughts flew to his sister. To the outstanding warrants for their arrest...to the possibility that the captain had been played by an old friend. "Once you start asking me questions about my size, once you decide to run a test, once you get all the information all the other doctors have gotten...you'll want to tell me what I already know. I've made my peace with it." Her peaceful and solid voice was betrayed by the sadness in her eyes. His heart went out to her. Whatever it was she had to carry, she was obviously trying to carry it on her own. He had felt that way once, too. "Then let's just clean up those scratches for now," he offered.