This is my first Firefly fanfic so please leave gentle feedback.

Setting flashes between the "Present" which is about ten years before the Firefly series, and the "Past" which is approximately seven years before that.

Obviously I'm standing on the shoulders of giants here and none of the known characters are mine.

I intend to continue in chapters so, really, I want feedback.

PRESENT

“Hello Mrs. Reynolds.” The words were whisper-breathed into her ear, his lips grazing her jaw line. She felt the warmth of the sun in her heart as she smiled.

“Why, Mr. Reynolds…you actually succeeded in sneaking up on me that time.” She turned to face him and nipped playfully at his chin with her teeth. They held each other in an embrace for several minutes, kissing and giggling, until they were interrupted by an impatient groan.

“You two best stop moonin’ over one another like a couple of newly weds. There is a lot of work to be done and I ain’t doin’ your share just so the two of you can go around gettin' all kissy-faced.”

“Aw hell Mal, lighten up! We are newly weds gorram it! You’re just sore cause your little brother caught himself such a fine woman when you can’t catch more n’ a case of the –“

“Okay! William my love, why don’t you go help Mal bring in the heifers while I finish up with this fence. Then we can all go back to the house for dinner at the same time and no one feels slighted.” Zoe curved her lips and batted her eyes at her husband. Will returned the smile and settled a kiss on her forehead before turning toward his brother.

“Alrighty partner. Let’s go bring down the young ladies. I don’t know what you’d do without that pretty wife of mine defending you all the time…” Will walked out the door and Mal followed behind, smiling.

“I don’t know little brother…guess I’m grateful as hell that you married a woman that doesn’t feel the need to sass me every fifteen minutes like you do.”

Their voices faded as they walked away. Zoe turned to watch them go, saying a silent prayer of gratitude in her heart.

PAST

Malcolm was the backbone of the family. When their father was killed in an accident on the ranch, it was Mal who saw to William and Emily and their mother. He was the oldest son, so it fell to him. He was thirteen at the time. Fortunately for the Reynolds family, they had a large ranch with a lot of hands, so things got done and it felt like a family.

Life on Shadow was simple. The people were blessed for living on an outer rim moon. The seasons and weather were Earth-normal. The water was pure. Vegetation and wildlife flourished. People lived happily together in small towns and villages. There was almost a utopian feeling to the place.

The Reynolds’s ranch was in a small town called Willow Run, and the school had less than fifty children. They were a tight bunch who had been together all of their lives. So it was a big deal when the Alleyne’s settled on Shadow and enrolled their three girls in the school. Zoe was the oldest at fifteen, followed by twin ten year olds, Alexis and Maura. Being from off world made them celebrities for a time, and the questions from other students were constant.

“What is your home world like?”

“What is space travel like?”

“Did you see any aliens?”

As it turned out the Alleyne’s home world was a miserable planet, far more densely populated than Shadow, filthy, and filled with the sort of men one does not want around while raising daughters. Raymond Alleyne had elected to move his family to find work “on a planet with blue sky and a soul.” Having worked extensively with cattle, he was hired as the supervisor on the Reynolds’s ranch by Mal, who was new to running things what with the recent death of his father. The Alleyne’s moved into a house on the outskirts of the property and all the children became fast friends.

They became family.