Disclaimer: Mal & Co. are not mine, just borrowed, all characters not present in Firefly/Serenity were created by me.

***************************

Zoe sat in the cargo hold, going through boxes of new parts, making sure everything ordered had arrived. River sat on the steps watching her, holding a new doll she’d ‘borrowed’ from one of Inara’s boxes. The two of them never spoke and went on like this for quite some time, until Mal came down the stairs from the cockpit.

“That’s enough for today,” he said as he waited for River to move so he could continue down the stairs. “Cargo will still be here tomorrow, waiting to be all looked at and counted.”

Zoe stopped what she was doing and laid her clipboard on the closest unopened crate. Without a word she took the stairs and made her way to her bunk. She passed Simon and Kaylee on the way, the two people she’d been trying to avoid. They stopped talking as she passed, the smiles on their faces replaced with guilty looks. She didn’t know what she hated more, the fact that they were happy or the fact that they felt guilty about it when around her.

At least they were better dealt with together than apart. Simon kept questioning her whenever he saw her. ‘Was she eating?’ ‘Did she sleep at night?’ ‘Did she want to talk?’ ‘Should he speak to the captain about getting her some free time?’ He also kept offering to medicate her, which she wanted no part of. She wanted to scream at him, yell that she didn’t sleep at night; she didn’t want any of his stupid gorram medicine, it wouldn’t fix anything; and that the only thing keeping her going was the work on Serenity, why would she want that taken away? She wanted to hit him, hurt him, kill him for bringing this on her, for choosing this ship of all ships, and for unleashing River on them.

Kaylee was harder to deal with. Zoe could not bring herself to be more than annoyed with the mechanic. And Kaylee was currently being damn annoying. The girl kept touching her, which made Zoe very uncomfortable. She didn’t know what to do with the constant hugs or the shoulder squeezes Kaylee kept giving her. At least Kaylee had stopped crying at the sight of Zoe; that had unsettled her the most.

River was the only crew member Zoe could stand at the moment. She followed Zoe around for most of the day, and hadn’t said a word to Zoe in the month she’d been trailing her. Zoe found it comforting that River was there. The girl’s presence was soothing, and River seemed to respect her by not saying anything. During the few rare moments when River would leave Zoe, Zoe actually missed her and felt relieved when the girl returned.

As the work on the ship had gone on, the two of them became a silent team, River either doing some repairs of her own or just sitting watch, never far from Zoe's side as she worked. The two of them rarely interacted with each other, although occasionally Zoe would need a tool, turn and find River standing there holding it out. The crew had wanted to interfere, but Simon had stopped them. River was theraputic for Zoe, he had told them. So the crew continued with their work until finally Serenity was back together.

Deciding enough was finally enough, Mal took River to the bridge for some help with the flying. He needed a pilot, and she was lucid enough that it was time to find her something to do. Plus, Mal figured that Zoe needed a break from having a constant reminder of why her husband was gone hovering over her. Zoe allowed herself a brief moment of sadness that River was gone, then shook it off. She needed to stand on her own feet now, without a babysitter.

As she washed the last bits of grease from her hands, Zoe breathed a sigh of relief. They were back in the black. Where she liked it. Where he had liked it. She made her way from the cargo bay to her bunk, taking the time to look at each room she passed through. Serenity was finally back to normal. She was finally in one piece again. Zoe passed Mal on his way out of the bridge as she walked to her bunk.

"It's good to be space worthy again, ain't it?" he said as he passed.

"Yes, sir," she responded. "Almost like we're home again."

She kicked the door open and disappeared into her bunk. With grim determination, she cleaned it. All of Wash's stuff was boxed up and put away. All the things she'd collected over the years was boxed up as well. By the time she was done, the room was spartan. It was a soldier's bunk: spotless, uncluttered, and consisting of the bare necessities. And Zoe had done it all without shedding a single tear. Satisfied, she sat down on the edge of the bed, pulling a toy dinosaur from her pocket.

“Good-bye,” she said softly as she turned it over in her hands.

By the time the gunshot echoed throughout the ship, River's face was already stained with tears.

“Good-bye,” she whispered back.