Chapter 14

Back at Marco’s was the last place Maggie wanted to be. They met with the Lt. as pre-arranged and the group went in. It was all Mal could do to keep Jayne from killing Marco on sight. Marco was aware that some of his men had been moonlighting out at Maggie’s, but he swore that he knew nothing about it. He was a little worried about Jayne, not sure Mal could keep him in-line. The Lieutenant told Marco that he would be either paying compensation or spending time in jail. Marco had no problem with that, but would like Jayne to go back to the ship. “No way in hell I’m leaving Maggie anywhere near you!” Jayne growled. “Fine, fine.” Marco backed up “What was in the house?” He looked at Maggie and Jayne. “Everything I own.” Maggie said, she believed that Marco had nothing to do with the fire, if he wanted her out of the way he could of done it anytime in the last three years. “I’ll need a bed, linen and dresser…..” She wandered around the store. “Figured she would just pick out what she wanted and we would load it in the shuttle and be gone.” Mal watched as Maggie pointed at stuff and Jayne and Wash ran it out to the shuttle. While Mal helped Jayne take the bedroom set out, Maggie caught Wash and Zoë looking at baby stuff. “Oh My God, Zoë your pregnant, congratulations.” Maggie was so happy for them. “Shhhh, No one knows yet.” Wash said, he looked nervously at the captain. “Well, pick out what every you want and stick it in the back of the shuttle.” “Are you sure?” Wash was all excited at the idea of getting baby stuff, Zoë was happy that he was finally getting excited at all. “Yes, I got most of what I wanted earlier.” Maggie just smiled “I’ll distract Jayne and Mal.” With that she walked off wondering why no one wanted to tell the captain anything “Jayne, Mal you two think I should get my own gun?” Jayne laughed when Marco went white “I think that’s a great idea, no question you’re going to run into other scum out there. What you got for my little lady” Jayne and Mal took Maggie to the back room to look at guns. Zoë and Wash took Maggie at her word and loaded up on everything they could find that was baby related. *** When they had a new bed and clothes in Maggie’s room, a new freezer full of meat in the hold, the kitchen bursting with spices and dry food, Zoë and Wash’s room full of hidden baby items, the tanks filled with the best fuel that guilt can buy and 2,000 more credits in Maggie’s purse they were finally ready to take off. Maggie was in her room putting away all her new clothes, bedding and other personal stuff, trying to figure out where to store all the fabric she had gotten. Kaylee came in and said it was time for dinner, it was Wash cooking, so she hoped she wasn’t too hungry. “I had no idea it was so late.” Maggie said as she stood up “Where am I going to keep all this fabric? Any ideas?” “You could hang it on the walls, would look real pretty. Would also help keep the noise out, these walls are real thin.” Kaylee looked around the ceiling “I could put up a rod and you could just drape the fabric over it, how's that sound?” “Sounds good, thank you Kaylee.” The pair headed up for dinner. This is Maggie’s first dinner on board and she is not sure where to sit. Kaylee took her to a chair at the end of the table, Jayne sat at an open chair father down and she smiled at him. This is a dream come true, a new family and a new life. She stopped smiling when dinner arrived. “Wash, what is this?” Kaylee asked as kindly as she could, with all the new food onboard she was not sure what it was suppose to be. “I’m not sure, started with some of those new protein packs and added some of the new seasoning, but I’m not sure what it is.” Wash carefully took a bite. “Still not sure, but it didn’t kill me, so dig in.” The rest slowly sampled the mush before them, it’s all Jayne could do to get it down. “Wash, this has to be a new low, even for you, this is awful. All that good food Maggie brought aboard and this is what we get.” He tossed his spoon down and scooted back form the table “Not right to have to eat this shit after last nights dinner.” “Jayne! You’ve been told to keep a civil tongue in your mouth at the table.” Captain stated in a quite but deadly tone. “Damn it Captain, you think sending me away from this table is a punishment, ha.” Jayne got up and stormed away. “Ah…. Mal….. If you give us half an hour I think Wash and I can fix this.” Maggie asked quietly, looking at Wash she smiled. “Really? OK every one back here in half an hour.” Mal pushed the plate away and left the table with the rest. “You really think you can save this?” Wash sniffed the pot. “Sure, run down to the hold and get a big package of ground chuck out of the freezer.” Maggie smiled at him, as soon as he left she tossed all the mush away and opened another package and cooked it correctly. By the time he got back with the meat Maggie was making tortilla out of ‘his’ mush. “Wash, open that up and put it in that big pan, there’s a jar of seasoning for you to put in it.” Maggie fried up the tortilla while Wash cooked up the filling. Soon the whole ship had this great aroma and the rest of the crew followed their nose back to the kitchen. After dinner Kaylee and Jayne helped Maggie hang the rods, then Kaylee helped hang fabric, soon the whole room looked festive. “Oh my Kaylee, this looks so nice and I can easily find any fabric” Maggie gave her a hug “Pick out the one you want your dress out of and I’ll start on it tomorrow.” Kaylee picked out a loud green and red floral print and they decided on a pattern, she then left to install some of her own new toys. *** In the next few weeks Maggie’s life had settled into a routine, she and Book had taken over cooking, she was busy sewing, Jayne had worked it out so that he was there late at night and left before anyone got up and he is teaching her to shoot