Once again thanks to Archer for his light speed beta and to LJC for her advice on writing dialect.

This takes place in the early days of Serenity, before Wash and Zoe are married when the crew only numbers four.

NOT POACHING

Malcolm Reynolds, late sergeant of the Independent Army, currently master of Firefly-class deep space transport Serenity and captain of a crew of four, looked up from the ship’s ledger. He had been trying for some hours to make the numbers say something more optimistic than they currently did. He stretched his arms over his head and gave a tremendous backward arch until he could hear his back crack, then rubbed his eyes and got up to get a cup of what out of courtesy they were currently calling coffee. Looking at his watch he realized he had been at the accounts for hours. The rest of the crew must have long since hit their racks. The ship was quiet except for the ever-present hum of the engine vibrating thru the deck plates. As he climbed the ladder from his bunk, headed for the galley he realized with some surprise that despite their dismal financial condition, he felt more content with life than he had in, well, he flat out couldn’t remember the last time he felt this much at peace. The crew was shaping up, especially since they had hired on Kaylee Frye in place of that bun tien-shung de ee-duai-ro, Bester. How had he come to be so mistaken about that fella? Well, they were better shut of him. Kaylee, now, she was a real find. Unbidden, a smile came to his lips just thinking about her. Amazing natural talent with engines, pleasant to have around, working on a small crush on him, which didn’t speak too. well of her judgment in men. But then neither did her interest in Bester which is what got her on board in the first place.

Well she wasn’t the first young recruit to develop a crush on her commander and he had plenty of experience deflecting that kind of interest until it ran its natural course. It would be a sin for a man like himself, with nothing left to give of his own heart, to take advantage of the ardency of a young girl who didn’t have the first notion of the price she’d have to pay. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate that she was a winsome piece. He just wouldn’t sink to despoiling a young girl who was mistaking gratitude for love.

Wash, too was exactly the kind of pilot Serenity needed. Odd to the point of eccentricity, he had an amazing stick, was always ready to help Kaylee with getting the most out of Serenity’s antiquated engines, wasn’t picky about what he ate, had passable table manners and was flexible about shore leave or lack there of. At this point he realized that this might not be the train of thought he wanted to jump aboard. Because there was one niggling concern about the pilot. Well, truthfully not the pilot. Well not just the pilot. It was really more the pilot’s all too understandable interest in the first mate. Well if he was really going to be honest it was the first mate’s obviously reciprocal interest which made this a railroad he really didn’t want to ride. But he was aboard now, want to, or no.

He had known Zoe King over half his life. They had taken her in after her pilot father died in his first year of ranching on Shadow. They’d been closer than most blood kin, enlisted together and served 8 years in the same unit during the War and another year getting out of the POW camp. In all that time there had only been one fella he thought worthy of her, and Tet Hamano had died during the bloodbath of their first week in the Valley. That was over three years ago now.

Something had died in Zoe when Tet died. She had always been self sufficient, not standoffish but not real sociable either. He’d thought that came from having been raised on a ship where the crew were so close they were family and no one else mattered because you had to leave them in the World when you went back to the Black. But after Tet died Zoe had shut down every soft feeling she had. The only one she let in had been him. Well not really let in, he was just always there and she couldn’t shut him out if she tried. But nobody else got in. The last time he’d seen her cry had been the dawn of Tet’s death. He had taken a round in the gut and been a long time in the dying.

Mal came back from the line to check on them and had found her with tears on her face, after. As he’d bent to try to comfort her he heard her say ‘It’s wrong that the sunrise is so beautiful. It shouldn’t be beautiful, should it?’ It was the most desolate truth he ever heard to describe grief. After that Zoe didn’t cry anywhere but her dreams, and she let no one close, either.

Until now. Unaccountably, she seemed to have taken a shine to the pilot. She’d started out not liking him. He’d bothered her. Mal had had to work overtime to convince her he was just what Serenity needed to get into the Black. They were still refitting then, still earthbound. But you could feel her straining at the leash to leap into space. They’d needed Wash and he’d said so, sung his praises, in fact. Something he might be regretting soon.

He liked the pilot well enough. If there was no Zoe in the equation he would have liked him better. But from their first meeting it was clear to anyone with eyes to see that a big enlistment incentive for the pilot had been the first mate. Mal had seen it and hadn’t been slow to trade on it to get the man signed on.

At first Zoe had ignored him, then she’d been cold, then distantly polite. By the time she warmed up to cordial he’d started to get a distinct feeling of disquiet. That was about the time Kaylee had come aboard. Something changed then, he wasn’t quite sure what. He’d hoped at the time that Kaylee’s innocent sensuality might distract the pilot from pursuing Zoe, but it hadn’t gone down like that. Wash was friendly as all get out but distinctly uninterested.

Instead after a few weeks of Kaylee’s cheerful chatter at meal times, Zoe had started to soften towards the man. She started to laugh at his jokes, and he would come on the bridge at odd hours and find them deep in conversation or just sitting in companionable silence. That had been going on for a couple of months now.

It made Mal uneasy, the more so because Zoe never spoke of it in any way. It was just like when they were kids. He never knew how she felt about someone who was courting her until they showed up at the supper table and kissed her good night as they left. By then it was always too late for him to do anything because she’d already made up her mind.

Wash’s pursuit of Zoe had continued quietly but relentlessly. He joked with her and helped her do the dishes, jumped to his feet if she came in the room. He asked her about growing up on a ship, and compared it to being raised in a smog-enshrouded industrial wasteland. He offered to teach her to pilot the ship and the shuttle. He was crafty and never made any overt sexual offers, but never hid his admiration for her as a beautiful woman. When they were in port he always invited her somewhere nice for a meal or offered to accompany her to get supplies. It was clear that he hadn’t been making any conquests in any of their ports-of-call since he came on board Serenity.

If it had been anyone else he would have found the whole song and dance distinctly amusing but it wasn’t and he didn’t. He could tell from the man’s style and from having asked around about him that Hoban Washburn was the kind of pilot who had a girl in every port, two in some. No one said he lied to them or promised more than a casual fling. But is seemed to Mal that a man with that much casualness about his appetites was not the man for Zoe. He didn’t want to see her hurt. Correction, he wasn’t going to see her get hurt. He wanted Zoe to come out of the frozen place she had been since Tet’s death, but if the first man she took to after was no good, she might never come out of the coldness.

By the time these thoughts had run through his head he’d about talked himself out of his earlier good mood. As he entered the galley and started to heat up the coffee he realized that not every one on the ship had turned in. ‘Think of the devil and he appears.’ was his first thought. ‘What’s he got on his mind?’ was the second.

“What’s got you up so late, Wash?” with a casual nod as he sauntered over and took his usual seat at the head of the table.

“I usually get up around this time Mal, I like to check the nav-sats. Doesn’t do to rely too much on auto-pilot.” With a ghost of a laugh he went on. “You might take into your head you don’t need a live one. I thought I’d get a cup of coffee and stare out at the Black awhile. Gives a man perspective.” The pilot poured himself a cup of the stewed sludge that had been closer to coffee after dinner, then sat down next to the captain.

“If I could save that twelve percent I pay you, it just might put us in the black. But I’m thinking there’s no way a machine’d get out of Serenity what you do. Truth is you probably save us almost your wages in fuel and repairs. I got no complaints in that department.”

“That’s good, glad to hear you say it but I think after what I’m about to say, you might rethink that opinion.”

He shot a questioning look at the smaller man. “You been doin’ something to change my mind?”

“Well, it’s pretty clear you’ve been trying to warn me off Zoe almost since I got here. Even tried to throw Kaylee at me. Which, by the way, if I was the kind of man you obviously think I am, would be a low trick to play on such a sweet kid. Anyway, I just thought I’d serve notice here, I don’t intend to be warned.” Wash met his eye without wavering.

“You don’t hunh? And how’s that?” He said quietly with steel underneath.

He returned a soft response, “When I first came on board I thought you and Zoe were an item. I wouldn’t poach on a man’s preserve in his own ship, especially if I intended to stay aboard. But it became clear to me fairly early on that what you two have isn’t—well, it isn’t that. So no question of poaching arises.”

“And if I told you that poaching or no, Zoe’s off limits to you, what then?” Steel not underneath any more, out there in plain sight now.

“Well, I’d tell you I don’t think that’s your decision to make. And knowing Zoe, I don’t expect she’d appreciate your trying to make it for her.” Wash answered the hardness with some of his own.

“I’m captain of this vessel and who stays aboard her is my decision to make.”

“That’s right Mal, it is. And I expect that knowing Zoe and the history you two have if you put me off she’s gonna let you—right now. But you ought to think before you do that. Zoe is a passionate woman. She’s bound to you, that’s clear, but is it right to use that bond to deny her what every woman deserves?”

“And what—exactly—is that?”

“Someone who is passionate about her. I love her, I think she could love me. Right now you have the power to stop that just by putting me off the boat. There might come a time when putting me off won’t be enough. Maybe not, but I think you should know—to stop it, that’s what you’ll have to do. Put me off the boat.”

“Why would I believe a fly-by-night-got-a-girl-in-every-port-stick jockey like you is gonna’ stay passionate about her? Who’s to say you won’t get tired of her like all the other ones? Next time we’re in port and some bar maid with more hair than brains gives you the eye, who’s to say you won’t feel passionate about her for the five minutes it takes to scratch your itch.”

Wash said very simply. “I’ll never tire of Zoe.” He looked quizzically at the captain. “Well if you won a woman like Zoe, supposing you were trying to, would you ever tire of her? Credit me with at least as much intelligence as you. We might fight, not saying that won’t happen. Hell, Mal, fighting with Zoe is more satisfying than spending a week with a paid Companion. I’d have thought you of all people would know that.”

That drew a rueful chuckle from him. “I know what you mean, a fight with Zoe can be so stimulatin’ it’s almost indecent to do it in public.”

“Look, I know you checked up on me. They told you I was one for the ladies. Fair enough, but nobody told you I ever left anyone the worse for it. Nor promised anything I didn’t deliver. If I promise anything to Zoe you can believe I’ll stand by it.”

“And what if Zoe decides you’re not what she wants? What then?”

“Tyen shiao duh, I don’t know. What are you asking me?”

“Not askin’ you anything, I’m telling you. If you two start somethin’, even if it’s just Zoe scratching an itch, it happens just as long as she wants it to. Not one second longer nor one shorter. Can you live with that.” He gave the pilot an iron stare. “What if she don’t like it after she’s sampled the merchandise? You gonna stay on board then?”

“I can tell you this, Cap, if she gives me a fair trial and don’t like what she gets, I’ll take it like a man. Well, honestly, I’ll probably commit ritual suicide—but I promise I won’t do it until you get a decent pilot to replace me and I personally train him to Serenity’s foibles.” He said it more than half seriously.

They sat in silence for a while. Mal asked himself was he wronging Zoe by trying to protect her. But having seen the cost of loving and losing, he was not one of those who thought it was better to have loved and lost. Better by far never to have given your heart to someone than to watch what happened in the losing of it. He had thought Zoe felt the same way, but now he was not so sure. He wondered if she regretted loving Tet. He knew if it was him he would, but maybe not her. He would ask her one of these times, when the nightmares had them up together in the dark of the night. He thought she might be able to answer now.

After awhile he stirred himself to ask “Wash, why’d you bring this up to me? Why give me the chance to put you off? Why not just keep quiet about it? It’s not like Zoe’s the kind to say anything even to me about what her plans are. First I’d know of it would be when you were already sleepin’ in her bed.”

“I am already sleeping in her bed, Mal.”

“Wh-a-a-a” unable to speak, his glare would have blistered paint, it didn’t even dent Wash’s good humor.

“Your’re kind of gobbling like a turkey there, cap.” he said kindly.

Mal closed his mouth, then said through gritted teeth, “How long?”

“Long enough for me to think I got a shot at convincing her to keep me. How long’s it gotta be?” He asked curiously.

“Ching-wah tsao de liou mahng! What’s the point of this here exercise then?”

“I don’t just want to bed her, Mal, I want to marry her. I intend to be there for the rest of her life. It would make her very unhappy if that came between the two of you. I want her to be happy. Now the unhappy-making will be coming from you. I get to be the good guy. This is all part of my cunning and devious plan.” He said with an annoying grin.

“What say I just shoot you here and now and save us all a lot of trouble down the line.” Mal ground out through gritted teeth, ignoring a tic starting in his jaw. The pilot was standin’ on his last nerve and no mistake.

“Well again, unhappy-making, not me so much.” Wash said with a grin. After a pause he added “Mal, you’re not her father, nor her brother, but you are her only family. As an honorable and manly man, I have come asking permission to court the damsel of my choice. I respect what the two of you have. I just don’t intend to let it stop me from loving her. I’d have thought you’d understand that. I’m not gonna’ sneak around behind your back and I’m not gonna’ ask Zoe to, just to make you feel better. It’s Zoe’s feelings I care about. Yours, again, not so much.”

“You know, sometimes I really don’t like you.” He said with a glare after he digested it.

“I get that a lot.”

“But I give you credit you got a fair amount of gumption, and it counts for a lot with me that you want Zoe to be happy. I just don’t think you’re the man to do it” He said in the tone of a man trying to be reasonable with an idiot child.

“Well, see Mal, the way it works, what you think doesn’t really mean a rat’s ass. Now does it? When Zoe tells me I’m not the man then I’ll pay attention. ‘Till then your opinion and com-static, all the same to me.”

The strangled gargle issuing from Mal caused the pilot’s grin to widen. “You are really starting to piss me off here!” Mal snarled.

Wash gave an exaggerated pantomime of comprehension as he said “I’m just now starting to piss you off. Gee, I must be doing something wrong then.”

“I’ll tell you this for true, Wash, you hurt Zoe and I swear by Serenity, I’ll make you rue the day you father met your mother. Are we clear on this, boy?”

“Mal, you’re just not getting it” he said with a sigh. “If I hurt Zoe, I’ll already rue the day I was born.”

Wash got up to leave the mess, whistling as he headed for the bridge. ‘Of course’, a tiny voice in Mal’s head said, ‘that’s also the way to Zoe’s berth.’ He winced as he tried unsuccessfully to suppress the unbidden thought. ‘And I was feeling content just a few minutes ago. Why can’t anything ever go smooth?’ Mal sat at the table, cold coffee forgotten in front of him and wondered just when he lost control.

Chinese glossary

Bun tien-shung de ee-duai-ro [Stupid inbred sack of meat]

Tyen shiao duh [Heaven/God knows what]

Ching-wah tsao de liou mahng! [Bastard who is humped by frogs!]