Disclaimers: Everything belongs to Joss, except for one character of my creation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “I see you took my suggestion,” Simon said to Mal as he entered the cargo bay leaning on one of Alex’s crutches for support. “Yeah, you’re fulla good ideas,” Mal answered, only halfway paying attention as his eyes swept the bay. He spotted Alex coming out of her room with Kaylee carrying her bag, and met them as they slowly climbed the steps. “Got everything?” Alex gestured to the duffel over Kaylee’s shoulder. “All I have is in there.” She let Kaylee walk ahead with the bag, and stopped as Mal looked at her intently. “Ready?” he asked. She looked up at him, putting on her bravest face. “As ready as I can be.” Mal put his hands on her shoulders. “Remember what I said?” She looked up at him as his lips started to form the words; then she took them from him. “One foot in front of the other.” She gave him a small smile. He smiled back and squeezed her shoulders. “I’m gonna be in touch. Often. Now, I’ll try not to be a pest, but I ain’t guaranteein’ anything.” “Be a pest. Please.” “And you’ll keep in touch with me...with us? Let us know how things are?” She nodded. “I will.” “You sure? You’re not just sayin’ that to get rid of me, are you?” The smile was still on his lips, but his eyes were solemn above it. She nodded at him again. “I’m absolutely sure.” “If anything changes...you have any problems...even if you just wanna jabber at one of us here, you ‘wave,” he said. “Understand?” The ship opened up behind them, and the ramp lowered to the bustle of the Boros docks. Alex craned her neck to see out. “C’mon,” Mal said, putting an arm around her shoulders and positioning the crutch under his arm again. Together they made their way slowly through the bay, each walking on a crutch for support. Zoë chuckled at them. “You two make quite a pair! I need a capture of this,” she laughed. Mal watched Alex as she scanned the crowd outside. He knew when she spotted her mother, because her face opened up in a wide smile. He followed her gaze to a rather old, battered hover-car on the road a short distance from the ship. The woman getting out of the car and looking up at them was the gray-haired woman he had spoken to on the Cortex many times over the course of their journey. He leaned into her. “Uh...by the way...how much does your mama know?” “Not that much,” Alex said. Mal frowned. “I’ll take care of it,” she assured him. “It’ll be fine...you’ll see.” She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, then he let her go, and she began to make her way slowly down the ramp. Suddenly Jayne came up behind her, and, in one smooth gesture, swept her up and carried her the rest of the way down. “Mama!” she exclaimed as he set her on her feet. She fell into her mother’s waiting arms. They were both crying. “Alexandra,” Mrs. Edson choked. She held her daughter close, and her eyes scanned the ship and the crew, gathering on the roadway. Jayne stood awkwardly beside them. Mrs. Edson finally pulled back and looked Alex up and down. She shook her head. “My poor baby,” she whispered. Her eyes moved to Jayne. “Are you...? You don’t look like...” “I’m Captain Reynolds, ma’am,” Mal interjected, stepping up beside Alex. “We’ve spoken many times.” He held out his hand, and Alex’s mother took it gratefully. “Thank you,” she said earnestly. “You brought my baby home. You can’t begin to know what it means to me.” Mal smiled at her softly, resting a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “I think maybe I can.” Mrs. Edson frowned when she saw the crutch under Mal’s arm. “I hope you weren’t hurt getting my Alex to safety.” Mal shook his head. “No ma’am, I was, uh, injured on the job.” Alex looked at the waiting car. “Where’s Bobby?” “Home. Your cousin Arlene’s with him.” Alex looked at Mal. “I guess you get to meet my brother another time.” He smiled and gave her shoulder a squeeze. “C’mon, I’ll help you to the car.” She snorted, eyeing the matching crutches. “You’ll help me! Yeah, right!” Mal walked her to the car and helped her inside. He looked around to make sure they were alone. “We’ll talk soon,” he said. “And we’ll be stoppin’, often as we can. And...” He looked down at her belly, and then up into her eyes, “When that little one comes...I’m gonna be there. So don’t you go thinkin’ you’re gonna stop me; ‘cause you ain’t.” Alex smiled at him, her eyes filling with tears again. “You really mean it?” she asked. “You really wanna be there?” He nodded decisively. “I really mean it. Ain’t nothin’ in the ‘verse can stop me.” He leaned into the car and hugged her with his free arm. She hugged him back, hard, pressing her tear-stained face against his neck. “See you soon,” he said, pulling away as Mrs. Edson sat down in the driver’s seat. She looked up at him, then looked at Alex, and then back at him again. Their eyes met—and Mal saw the awareness on her face. She looked surprised, but only for a moment. Then she smiled at him knowingly as he backed away and closed Alex’s door. He smiled back. “Thank you again, Captain,” she said to him as she started the car. “Let’s go home, Alex; your brother’s been missin’ you something fierce.” She patted her daughter’s knee. “And we have a lot of catching up to do.” “That we do, Mama,” Alex agreed. “That we do.” They waved until they were out of sight on the crowded dock. When they were gone, Mal turned and walked slowly back to the ship. He mounted the ramp with effort, the others watching his every move. He stopped at the top and looked at them one by one. “What’re you all gawkin’ at?” he demanded. “We got a job to finish. Let’s load up this stuff and get movin’ so we can get off this rock!” He gestured to the pile of crates waiting to be loaded onto the mule. Wash, Jayne and Book hastened to the cargo, and Zoë came to stand beside Mal as he watched them work. “Y’know,” he remarked. “This ain’t so bad, watchin’ everybody else do the heavy lifting. A man could get used to this!” Zoë smiled softly at him. “I’m proud of you, sir,” she said quietly. Mal looked at her in surprise. “Wha—proud of me? Why?” She didn’t answer and didn’t look at him; just stood with arms folded, slight smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “What? ‘Cause I got shot in the ass?” Mal persisted. He shrugged and waved a dismissive hand. “Anybody coulda done that!” Zoë’s smile widened just a bit. “Not with your particular style and finesse, sir,” she said. “Besides, that ain’t what I’m talkin’ about.” Mal cocked his head and waited for her to continue. She finally looked at him. “The way you handled this situation, sir. You done...you done good. That’s all I’m sayin’.” Their eyes met for a brief moment, and Mal saw the admiration in her look. Then Wash came up and grabbed his wife around the waist. “Let’s go! Let’s get paid!” he exclaimed, gleefully pulling her off balance from behind. Zoë laughed and smacked him playfully. “That’s right,” Mal agreed, positioning the crutch under him and starting toward the mule. He looked around at the faces of his gathered crew and smiled at them all. “C’mon, all of you—let’s go get paid!” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jie zhe ...

...in "NOTHIN IN THE 'VERSE: PART III", which will be posted as another serial story. It is in progress now, and I will begin posting when I'm a little closer to finishing it...it won't be long!

THANK YOU,THANK YOU, THANK YOU, a thousand times over to everyone who has read and left feedback! I'm still in awe that people are reading what I write and actually enjoying it!!! You're all fantastic! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHINESE: Jie zhe = To be continued ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Chapter 34.