Dear Mother, I am inclosing some mor money for you I kno youre birthday is comming but you dint tell me wat you wanted so by youreself somethin pretty with this. Sins my last letter not much has changed. I am still workin with the crew I tole ya about and we still do what we can to make the verse a better plays to live. I aint been in no fights so stop worring. That Miranda wave werent as bad as you thawt and I keep tryin to tell ya but I think someones talking to much around ya and if he is who I think he is he is gonna here from me real soon. You tell him that if you want but I think he will catch the rite hints now. I hope your doin shiny. I shur miss yur cookin. Tonite we had reheeted grull that wasnt no better the 2nd time around. I better git goin now. Were like to land soon and I want to git this in the male fore ya. Love your son, Jayne *** "Captain?" Simon's voice was whisper-soft. Mal turned to him, releasing Inara's hand to do so. "Keep still," Mal instructed. "They did the best they could on you, but you're going to have to doctor from your bedside a while yet." "There were men," Simon went on, only barely conscious of Mal's words. "They fired at us...Kaylee?" "She's fine," Mal replied. "Nothin' but a little cut on her arm and a new-found love for life." "Good," Simon nodded, visibly relaxed. He frowned. "The baby?" "Hobie's doin' better than his ma," Mal nodded. "Powerful set of lungs on that one, but he knew to keep quiet till the fightin' was done." "And...River?" "Still out," Mal answered, glancing quickly at the center bed. She had been Simon's last patient, from what Zoë had told him. Simon had been shot while working on his sister and directed Kaylee's shaking hands once Jayne had finished dispatching the mysterious attacker. "Vitals?" Simon asked, ever the doctor. Mal read them to the barely conscious medic and followed the young man's instructions without question. "What happened to your arm?" Simon finally asked, now fully awake. "Same thing happened to everyone here," Mal answered, tugging at the sling again. "No discussions, just shots fired." "Who were they?" "Wanted to ask you about that," Mal stated frankly as he leaned by River's bed. "Kaylee tells us you wrote to your folks. What did the letter say?" "I'm not sure," Simon admitted. At Mal's barely perceptible widening of the eyes, he held up his hand. "River told me after it was sent that she had...amended it. What I wrote was simply that I had married, River was getting better and I was expecting a child soon. That was it. I'm not completely sure what River added. She wouldn't give details." "This is not what I would call an uplifting change," Mal ground out, closing his eyes. "She wouldn't write anything that could have us killed," Simon insisted. "She's not that foolish." "We'd like to bank on that," Mal sighed, opening his eyes again and turning to watch the girl in question sleep. "It'd certainly help if she'd wake and tell us herself." As if she heard him, the girl's hand twitched slightly. Already feeling guilty for his words, Mal patted her hand softly. Her hand relaxed beneath his. "In time," he whispered. He noticed Inara's eyes opening and walked around to be at her side. She woke up, a moment of fear passing over her face before she focused on the Captain's eyes. She noticed the sling almost immediately and rested her hand on the fabric. "Please tell me that's not made from my skirt," she sighed. He smiled. "It was beyond repair anyway," he teased. "Why does this still hurt?" Inara asked of her injury, afraid of the answer. "We did all we could for now," Mal replied. "The doctor was busy at the time, but he'll get to fixin' you up right now." In truth, Zoë and Kaylee had simply repeated what they could remember of Simon's instructions for River. Everyone hoped Simon would wake before they ran out of time. Mal had been left to Jayne's significantly limited medical expertise for all but his arm. Had Jayne's shoulder wounds not kept him from properly setting the bone, Mal would have been left solely to the merc's ministrations. Mal was grateful for the small mercies granted him. "Inara?" Simon asked from the other side of the infirmary. Mal kissed Inara's hand and smiled swiftly before returning to Simon. "She was shot when we returned to the shuttle," Mal spoke quietly and quickly. "From what I hear, same as what happened with River. We did what we could, stopped the bleedin' and patched up enough that she wouldn't slip away, but I need you to tell me you can fix it." Simon struggled to sit up; Mal helped him. The two returned to Inara's side and Mal took her hand in his as Simon inspected the wound and patch job critically. "I need more light," he ordered. He swayed a little. "And the stool." *** Zoë bounced little Hoban Tam on her uninjured knee while Kaylee washed her hands after the diaper change. The three month old happily drooled as he chewed on his fist and watched the goings-on with wise eyes. "You don't really think we brought this on us, do ya?" Kaylee asked the other two adults in the room. "Well, I didn't," Jayne insisted. "I only wrote my Ma, same as I always do. It was your husband writin' his folks that's so out of the ordinary." "Zoë," Mal said from the doorway, startling the group. "We need two hands." "River?" Kaylee asked, taking her son from the first mate's arms. "Nara," Mal replied, turning back to the infirmary. As an afterthought he looked back at the mechanic. "Simon's awake." Relief flooded her face as she watched Zoë limp after the Captain. She glanced at Jayne. "He's awake," she repeated. He nodded, too tired to point out his ears worked as well as hers. She looked at her son. "Daddy's awake." *** "I'm just sayin' your father has never seemed the type to let go," Mal said softly. "I don't think he would accept a letter as the end of things, only as a start." "And I'm telling you, Sir," Zoë replied, her voice as quiet as his, "It's personal." "He swore to kill me," Mal said, not for the first time in this discussion. "Seemed quite taken with the notion." "That was then," Zoë insisted. "He may have had a change of heart." "He blamed me for Serenity Valley," Mal reminded her. "I don't think the Miranda 'wave wiped that record clean, only added to it. Hell, he probably blames me for creating Reavers." "My father is an intelligent man, Sir," Zoë responded. "And the years may have softened him a bit." "Softened?" Mal echoed. "Are we thinkin' of the same man?" "I hate to interrupt this scintillating conversation," Simon murmured as he directed Zoë's stitches to be tighter. "But we are in surgery here. Couldn't this wait until a life is not hanging in the balance?" "Your father hates me," Mal insisted as he left the infirmary. "Writing to him only opened up that wound." "Is that true?" Simon asked once the Captain was out of earshot. "Your father threatened to kill him?" "My father was never happy," Zoë replied evenly. "When my mother was alive, he wasn't happy I was clinging to her so much. When she died, and I took to the military school like a duck to water, he wasn't happy I was so independent. When I signed up to serve on his crew, he wasn't happy I was always underfoot. When I left, he wasn't happy; I was giving up. I fought on the side of the Independents, he wasn't happy because I was fighting opposite his side. When it was all over, I'm not sure he was happy I'd survived. He bribed some folk to get me out of the camps, and I wouldn't go. Cap'n stood with me as I told him this. He needed to blame someone for my behavior, the Cap'n was handy..." She shrugged. "Do you really feel the years could have changed him?" Simon asked. Zoë's eyes flicked to his. "He's a hard man," Zoë explained. "But there were things that needed to be said between us. He may know that by now." "Fathers seem to be hard-headed at times," Simon acknowledged, his thoughts on the last words his father spoke to him. "I hope you're right about yours." "Even if I'm not," Zoë sighed. "I didn't give any contact information. I didn't think he'd try to find me, but in case he did...this could be his work. He might have found us." "Do you really think that?" Simon asked quietly. Zoë swallowed heavily before answering. "I really think we need to finish this surgery and, if it is him, we need to be ready for the next attack."