This is the third in my Wash/Zoe series. This story takes place after Not Poaching and Not Sharing. While it can be read alone, it will make more sense if you have read those stories. It is part of a cycle of stories which shares the back history of The Price Paid series. It’s just the four of them, they haven’t taken on Jayne yet and Inara doesn’t come aboard until eight months before the events in The Train Job.

With grateful thanks to Sarah for her suggestions and supportive beta and to Channain for a very fast second beta. Feedback is always welcome. Please do not archive without permission. All rights belong to Mutant Enemy and Joss Whedon.

Chinese Glossary

dong ma [ understand] mashong [Fast, on the double] Shee-niou [shit urine] Hao de [okay, will do] Hao ba, hou lai, sui [okay (reluctant)later, afterwards though] Tong yi[to agree/to consent/to approve] ben dan [you] idiot] xiao chou [clown] Bu yao chou [ Don't worry] kan shang qu bi ran [ it would appear to be inevitable/ it had to happen] bu cuo [not bad/pretty good] Ting hao [very good] Bai gan jiao ji [all sorts of feelings well up in one's heart] Bai chi [sentimental idiot] gu nian zhong de gu nian [A woman among women] nan ren zhong de nan ren [A man among men] sha ni zu xian shi ba dai [I will slaughter 18 generations of your ancestors]

SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY

Wash clattered down the gangway between the bridge and the engine room looking for Kaylee. They were on autopilot in orbit around some jerkwater moon he couldn’t be bothered to remember the name of. Mal and Zoe had taken the shuttle down to pick up the cargo. This might be his only chance to talk to Kaylee when he was sure neither would be able to overhear. "Kaylee? Kaylee?"

"Yeah, Wash? You need somethin'?" Came the muffled reply from beneath Serenity's slowly turning engine.

"I need to ask you to do me a favor."

"Can it wait a smidge? I'm up to my elbows in this G-line, it's playin' hell with the motivator. I'll be done pretty soon--Ouch! Gorramit!"

Wash could see Kaylee's legs kicking out in an effort to give her more purchase to reach the damaged part. Her muttered grunts indicated it might be a futile effort. Wash couldn't afford to wait. They might come back before he sorted it out and he would have blown his chance. He dropped down on his back and began to wriggle his considerably larger frame under the revolving accelerator core so he could give her a hand.

"Why, thanks Wash. That's right nice of you." She said with her usual sunny smile. She looked like a little girl playing in her brother's coveralls with her hair in a messy knot on top of her head and grease streaked on her face from her habit of rubbing it while she thought through some problem with Serenity's antiquated engines. "Could you hand me that pressure gauge?"

He picked it up and passed it to her as he thought of a way to ask for his favor. "Kaylee, I need you to find something wrong enough with the engines that we have to put in for repairs. Put in somewhere for awhile, couple of days at least. Someplace we can get shore leave." He said it in a rush, then looked to see how she was taking it.

She looked puzzled but continued to work on the stubborn part, as she said "Whyn't you just ask the captain for shore leave. Got it comin' don't ya?"

"Well right now Mal's head would blow off his shoulders if I asked for time off." He said with a broad grin.

That stilled her busy hands. She looked at him in surprise. "Why's that? Ain't seen nothing you done to get on Mal's bad side."

"Well, he ain't seen it either." the pilot said with a chuckle, "But I told him about it, and it's got him all hot and bothered."

"Come back? You faded on me there, Wash."

"Well, Mal and I had words couple of weeks ago about how I feel about Zoe, and Mal's bound and determined that it's going to end, but he's in for the surprise of his life there."

"Oh, Wash!" she tried to throw her arms around his neck but was thwarted by the cramped confines of the engine access. "For you and Zoe I'll break somethin' major, myself." She grinned mischievously. "Well, not really, but I can fake it real good." He watched her expectantly as she knit her brows in thought, rubbing her face idly with agrease stained hand.

"I got a notion that I think will work, but it'll take some time. Maybe a week or two, can it wait that long?" She asked anxiously.

"You get me to a decent planet and get us a couple of days of shore leave, kid, and I'll buy you that hydraulic autoclamp you been lusting after. Planet's got a beach, I'll throw in a pair of synchronizers."

"Gee, guess I owe it to Serenity to help you then--Won't be the engine, though, can't risk messin' with that. But I'm thinkin'--You ever notice, Cap don't like it too hot?”

Wash nodded wordlessly, not clear where she was headed.

“Might be the EC control's gonna go on the fritz. Gonna play merry hell with the temperature, and there ain't gonna be a thing I can do to fix it with the engine runnin'.” Adding, with mischief brimming in her eyes “'Fact, as long as life support is on I just ain't gonna be able to do a blessed thing."

“You’re devious, Kaylee. It would be unnerving, were I any other kind of man.” She gave him a seraphic smile. Wash didn't see how someone so devious could look so innocent. More importantly, he didn't think Mal would either.

***

After five days of sporadic temperature shifts and ostentatious banging emanating from the engine room, the mercury had been steadily on the rise, to the discomfort of all and the almost complete demoralization of the captain. Mal found his way to the engine room to have the latest in a series of aggravated talks with his mechanic.

"Kaylee, girl, I thought you said you'd have this problem with the temperature controls fixed by yesterday, what's the hold-up? It's like a Turkish bath in here!" Mal's shirt was soaked with sweat and his hair was plastered to his forehead.

"I thought re-rerouting the primary artery function would fix it, I think it's getting a mite cooler, don't you, Cap?" She asked with a disingenuous show of concern. She had abandoned her usual overalls and was working in a distractingly short pair of cutoffs and a very skimpy t-shirt.

"No, mei-mei, I don't! If anything it's getting worse. It's hotter than the hinges of hell in here. Can you commence to makin' it right? Before I melt?"

"Well, Cap, I done just about everything I can do in the Black. If this don't fix it we're gonna have to put down someplace, I'll have to shut down life support to do anything more.” She looked at him sidelong to see how he was taking the news. “Might need some parts that probably be pretty hard to come by. I think we should give it a couple more days, see if this works." She smiled encouragingly at him. "I know you don't want to lose any time we don't have to."

In aggravation he asked, "And what then?"

"Well, if it don't start getting' considerable cooler in the next eighteen hours . . ."

"Jien tah duh guai! Start getting cooler? Kaylee!" He exclaimed in exasperation.

"I think this will fix it. Dan nang." She said with her usual cheerfulness unimpaired by the sweat beading on her lip.

They were all feeling wilted with the increasingly exhausting heat. No one had managed the energy for their customary game of chain ball for a couple of days. Only Zoe had maintained her soigné appearance. She had shed her customary vest for a sleeveless tank and pulled her hair up into a casual chignon held in place by a couple of chopsticks as her only concession to the temperature. While Mal's temper was getting frayed enough to make the rest of them try to avoid him, her temper remained unruffled. She was, however, finding chores that needed to be done alone somewhere Mal wasn't. Neither Kaylee nor Wash had that luxury. Kaylee had to at least pretend to work on the environmental controls, and Wash was leashed to the navigation console much of the time.

He had a small side bet going with Kaylee on the exact moment Mal's aggravation would get the best of him and order them to put in somewhere so the little mechanic could make the “needed” repairs. He had a couple of planets picked out for whenever Mal finally broke. With his native cunning he had picked a couple of more highly developed planets with sizable Alliance presences as well as two sweet unspoiled moons, each of which just happened to have decent-sized scrap yards. Wash was sitting on the bridge in his undershirt, his flight suit tied around his waist, a glass of tea sitting on the console before him that two dispirited ice cubes had done nothing to cool, when Mal finally broke under the strain.

"Wash!" he bellowed from the companionway between the bridge and the engine room, where Kaylee had apparently been ‘unable’ to satisfy his demand that she fix the environmental controls right damn now. Smothering a laugh, he thought I owe you two pints of strawberries, Kaylee, in silent admiration. She had pegged it within the quarter hour.

"Yeah Mal?" he answered in a neutral tone.

"Seems Kaylee can only fix this shee-niou temperature problem if we set down somewhere and let her turn off life support. She thinks it'll take the best part of two or three days. She may need some parts." He said in aggravation, mopping his forehead with the crook of his elbow. "We got any likely ports won't take us too far afield?"

"I can look, Cap. Right off the top of my head, we're about halfway between Boros and Beaumonde. They both got plenty of parts yards. Maybe we could visit the fleshpots while we're in port," he said feigning enthusiasm.

Mal grimaced, "Could you find any with a bigger Alliance presence if you looked, Wash?"

Wash grinned, knowing Mal would take it for him just being a wiseass, "So what you really want is a quiet world with no Feds, a scrap yard with cut-rate prices and a low-risk high-profit outgoing cargo waiting on the landing dock when we touch down?"

Mal smiled tightly in response, "I'll take best two out of three, so long as one of them is no Feds."

"Roger that, Cap." It wouldn't do to look too prepared. "For that I'm gonna need some time. Give me half an hour, okay?"

"Ma shang! Wash, my eyeballs are sizzling in this heat." Mal's aggravation radiated though the bridge as he turned to leave. After some ostentatious play with the star charts Wash had offered his two choices. Mal had opted for Nereus as three hours closer at the most fuel efficient boost. Wash was gonna be in to Kaylee for at least a couple of paydays--Nereus had a large inland tidal lake not far from the docks.

He made it a point for Mal to hear him stump in to the engine room and ask Kaylee if she would need any help breaking down the EC system for the overhaul. Grinning at her and giving her a big wink, he raised his voice to be heard by Mal, who had taken up a post on the bridge, as if he could move Serenity faster by sheer force of will.

Kaylee had to stuff a nearly clean rag in her mouth to cover the giggles before replying from underneath the engine that it was a one-woman job and that the Captain had said he'd take her to the scrap yard to make sure she didn't get cheated. She rolled her eyes at the last statement, as if Mal would know a sequencer from a catalyzer or what he should pay for either. Wash had returned to the bridge, struggling not to appear openly smug at the smoothness with which his plan was proceeding.

"So, Mal, looks like there won't be anything for me to do after I refuel. Got some shoppin' I'd like to do and a personal matter to take care of. Any reason I can't have some time off in port?" He said with studied casualness.

"Guess not, Wash, long as you take the com. When we're ready to lift I want you back on the double. Don't want to lose more time than we have to." Mal replied with obvious reluctance.

Wash walked away from the bridge grumbling gently under his breath, purely in the interest of verisimilitude, about having to take leave on a backwater moon with no decent port. He thought he'd thrown Mal off the scent by his apparent eagerness to land on a more advanced world. Mal probably thought he was safe while they were on the Rim. He didn't comprehend the brilliance that was Wash, but he was about to get a lesson.

***

They touched down just after breakfast local time, on a clear crisp autumn morning with the promise of Indian summer about the day to come. The port was small but well run and Wash was able to arrange to refuel without any delay. Mal had taken himself to the harbormaster's office in hopes of making the stop turn into a paying gig, so Wash took the com and walked into town.

He found the shopping district with little problem. He bought a basket and filled it with a couple of loaves of bread, some meat, cheese and fruit. The staple export crop of Nereus was orchard fruit, pears, cherries, peaches and apples. Apples of all kinds: Pippins, Granny Smith's, McIntosh, Red Delicious and a small crisp sweet cultivar he had tasted nowhere else, called Nerean Princess.

He bought some cider and a bottle of something called Calvados, a brandy made from apples. The shopkeeper, a ripe matron with a lush figure and snapping black eyes, assured him it was love nectar made directly from the fruit of the Forbidden Tree. "The real reason Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden!" She said with a knowing twinkle.

Wash grinned at her "Am I that obvious?"

Laughing she replied "Once upon a time, when the world was young, my man packed just such a basket for me and we ate it by a lake. Now we have five children, but still we drink Calvados. Who knows, maybe there will be six, by and by!"

Wash responded with a sly smile, "And this lake he took you to, does it still have water in it, now that the world is old?"

She gave him good directions and told him where he could rent a scooter that would get them there. After he left the shop he got an idea and wheeled about, returning to buy another bottle of Calvados and have a longer chat with her and her man about ways and means. After half an hour of earnest conversation, he had a shiny twist on an already brilliant plan.

He parked out of sight and walked back to the ship, leaving the picnic hamper in the boot of the scooter, but taking one of the bottles of brandy with him. He found Mal had returned from the port office with no immediate prospect of work, but already in a better mood since the ramp was down and the cargo hatch was open wide to catch the cool breeze.

Wash gave Mal a mischievous smile. "Hey Cap, thought I might make it two out of three, after all."

Mal looked at him for a moment from his perch on an empty cargo container, then cocked his head at the pilot and asked, "What you got in mind, Wash?"

"Let me buy you a drink." he said pulling the bottle of brandy from the inside of his flight suit and nodding his head towards the interior of the cargo bay. They walked into the ship and climbed the ladder to the mess where Wash took a couple of glasses from the cupboard. It swirled like syrup into the cheap glass tumblers as he poured them both a good sized tot. They each took a sip of the deep amber liquid. It tasted exactly like they might have expected and unlike anything they could have imagined, with an intense apple flavor mixed with vanilla bean, spices, rich oak and quince. It started out tart on the tongue but finished fiery, with a burn that traveled all the way down to their toes.

At Mal's delighted look Wash nodded and announced, "They make one from apples and pears, too! Look, I haven't sent any wave yet, but I asked around. They double ferment the stuff, then they age it in oak barrels for years. Minimum is five, some up to fifty! This here is a compromise at twelve."

"What's your thinking Wash?" Mal asked curiously.

"I thought we could send a wave to that fella on Greenleaf with the whiskey. He has the operation, might be willing to branch out. Bet this stuff would bring a pretty coin in the Core too. Might be, we could make it a triangle run. Brandy to Greenleaf in casks, brandy in bottles to the Core, empty whiskey barrels back to Nereus. Seems old whiskey barrels are best for aging the stuff." he said enthusiastically.

"How long you been workin' this through?" Mal asked the pilot curiously.

"I went into a store to buy some fruit and got talking to the gal behind the counter, that's all Mal." he said wickedly, enjoying to the full Mal's automatic scowl and the glare that accompanied it, on his assumption that Wash had been flirting with the woman.

Mal waved the fellow on Greenleaf . He was more than interested, so Mal decided a visit to the distillery would be in order. Just as Wash began to fear he'd want to take Zoe with him, Kaylee tripped into the mess.

"You ready, Cap?" She asked with her sunniest smile, clearly ready for an outing.

"Well, see Kaylee, I kinda got a line on a cargo, I need to see about."

"That's okay, Mal, I can go to the scrap yard myself." She said her cheerfulness unabated. "It was always silly that you thought I'd need you to keep from being cheated. The first time you asked me to explain somethin' in Captain Dummy-talk, they'd probably twig that they had a live one!" She said with an impish grin.

She had traded her shorts for something a little more modest out of deference to Mal's known sensibilities, but she was still a remarkably pretty girl, which reminded Mal of the real reason he usually went with Kaylee for parts, anytime they were in a new port. She didn't have the sense God promised to a doorknob about who to chat up in a strange port. Bester had been proof of that, and that was on her home planet. There was always a risk of any decent mechanic getting shanghaied, and if you added in the bonus that the skilled mechanic looked like Kaylee, it was just an open invitation for the unscrupulous to try their hand at a little slaving.

"Well, I don't know as that's an almighty good idea, mei-mei," Mal temporized.

"You know Mal, Kaylee runs her own fermentation operation, might be she'd be a useful addition to the negotiating team," Wash interjected quickly. Then he added with a grin, "And maybe she could pick up some pointers for her own operation. That last batch of hooch was pretty raw. I had a hangover for three days."

Mal grinned in response.-- He wasn't sure you could blame it all on the rawness of Kaylee's raisin-jack, it had been a bender of monumental proportions.

"Anyway, since when does it hurt to have a pretty girl around when you're negotiatin' price? Seems to me that's how you got me down from fifteen per cent firm to twelve percent." Wash said provocatively.

Remembering how distracting Zoe's presence had been to Wash's salary negotiations brought a brief reminiscent smile of satisfaction to the captain. "Guess we could take the mule and run both the errands. We'll see about the cargo first.--I know you, little Kaylee--we'll be crawling through wreckage all day if we start there. We'd look like something the cat drug in by the time we got to talking business with the gentry."

Kaylee bounced up and down on her toes with delight and kissed Mal on the cheek, “That's shiny! Distilleries and a scrap yard! I love my captain! Wait here, I'll be back in a sec.” she said mysteriously. When she returned she had on the very short dress that he had first seen her in--half in--the day he signed her on as crew. She was carrying a rolled up bundle under one arm.

"Now, hold hard there, girl, what's the what with this outfit, mei mei? You looked just fine to me before."

"But Cap, my mama always said if you wanna' catch a fish, you gotta bait the hook." She smiled winningly as Mal groaned.

"My God, Wash, she thinks she's Mata Hari! You can't go dumpster divin' in that thing, girl."

"Don't worry, Cap, I got my coverall. Dress'll fit right down inside it. Easy-peasy, we're shiny, really!" Taking his hand, she pulled him out of the mess, leading him down the ladder to the cargo bay and the waiting mule, before he could change his mind.

Wash heard him grumbling at Kaylee all the way down the companionway that she was not to get too friendly with the customers, 'cause he didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea of the services provided by the crew of Serenity. Wash smothered a laugh and sat back to savor the silence and the last of his of glass of brandy before he put phase two of his plan into operation.

***

He'd been interested in Zoe from the minute he caught sight of her. About a minute and a half after that she'd thrown him against the bulkhead and given him a frisking that was more satisfying than many of the nights he'd spent in the arms of a chance met jade. He'd signed on Serenity mostly on the strength of her being the first mate. But given who she was, and what he'd been, he'd had to wait for her to be ready. She took her time before she invited him into her bed. He'd never waited for a woman before Zoe. If a girl wasn't interested when he was, why then, he'd move on to the next. Girls were easy come by, and he only went with the ones who'd be easy to leave. He'd never had to court a woman before Zoe.

By the time she was willing to share her body with him, he already knew he wanted to share his life with her. The thought had crept up on him and announced itself the morning after he bedded her for the first time. She didn't ask him to leave in the still hours. With any other woman he would have been leaving because he didn't want to be there when she woke up. With Zoe he left because he did. She was the kind of woman who didn't invite men into her bed easily. It was clear she wouldn't have done it unless she was willing for Mal to know, but being willing wasn't always the same as being ready. For the first time he found himself involved enough on an emotional level to want to protect Zoe from consequences she maybe wasn't yet ready to face.

His clothes had been strewn about the room in breathless haste in the heat of their first passion. As he stood in the dim light trying to track them down without waking Zoe, he noticed a velvet lined tray with several pieces of simple jewelry on top of her dresser. Zoe was not a woman who went in for frills. She probably never had been, but the circumstances of her life had not permitted it. He had never seen her wear jewelry of any kind, bar a leather thong twisted about her neck. He knew immediately that these were keepsakes from the men in her life, could tell even with fair certainty who had given her each. Her father's pocket watch with her mama's gold wedding band soldered to the watch chain; the antique jade circlet with a gold dragon in the center which had been Tet's gift; and a chased silver belt buckle in a Celtic knot. She had never mentioned the buckle, so that meant it must be from Mal. At that moment it came to him that he wanted his gift to be among them. No, that wasn't right. He wanted his gift to be her last keepsake.

He'd been patient and bided his time until he thought she loved him, now he was about to put it to the touch. If he asked and she said no, well, he'd promised Mal he'd find him a pilot and see that he was checked out on Serenity. Then he'd be in the wind. He couldn't live here beside her, knowing she wasn't really his. Just bedding her wouldn't be enough, maybe, if she had been easier in the beginning, but then she wouldn't have been his Zoe. She was wildly passionate, an inventive and tender lover, but she wasn't easy and it wouldn't be easy to be married to her. He knew if he married Zoe, in some sense he was accepting that their lives would forever be entwined with Mal's and with Serenity. He knew that was the price he'd have to pay to love her. Everything in life had a price, and Zoe's was Mal. He knew Mal loved Zoe too, and he made up his mind that he could learn to live with that because he couldn't live without Zoe.

***

He finished the brandy and went to his bunk for the parcel he had hidden there for the past three weeks. Then he went to look for Zoe. He found her in the head. They had re-stocked on water. She was enjoying a real shower, without the need for water discipline usually necessary in the Black. Zoe had very few vices, but one of them was a sybaritic delight in bathing. Wash was counting on it to get her off the ship.

He knocked softly at the hatch and called out, "Zoe, my sweet, will you go on a picnic with me? By a lake? I been to town and got the food and a scooter 'n' such." She opened the hatch and stepped out with her skin glowing a delicate mahogany rose and her curls damp on her neck and forehead.

"What about the Captain and Kaylee?" she asked.

"Gone to town. Mal's got a line on some possible cargo and Kaylee went with him. They're gonna scavenge for parts after that." He looked at her to see if he was making any headway. "Most likely be gone all day, what with a new scrap yard for Kaylee to dig through, and all. Mal said I could take some time, as long as I took the com."

"I should probably stay with the ship, Mal didn't say nothin' . . ." she began.

Wash interrupted her before she finished the thought, placing two fingers over her lips to silence her, "Come on baobei, you know that's why Mal had the ignition interlock system installed. Nereus is a decent-ish place, I'll ask the harbormaster to include Serenity on the security patrols." He smiled appealingly at her. "It's supposed to be a beautiful sandy-bottom freshwater lake, with tides and everything." He wheedled. "Well not big waves, more like white caps, okay--like someone sloshed the water out of a bathtub, but, hey--beach!"

She smiled in surrender, saying, "Hao de, I'll set the alarms, you call the port control tower. And Wash--better let Mal know where we're going, so he don't worry."

"Hao ba, hou la, sui? From the beach? Right ? The beach?"

His eager smile and comically cocked eyebrow seemed to carry the day as she laughingly agreed. "Tong yi, ben dan!"

As Zoe checked each escape hatch and set the ignition interlock to their previously agreed upon code, she thought contentedly that she was happy. She hadn't expected to ever be happy again. Not after the Valley. That was almost three years behind them now. When she was living it, she never expected to survive it. And having survived it, she felt the guilt for all those who fell. Happiness had snuck up on her, stealing into her life and her heart. When she finally took note of it, she discovered it was wearing Wash's face.

***

Zoe hadn't taken to Wash when he first came aboard. She couldn't pin down the elusive feeling, but something about him didn't sit right with her as he stood at the cargo hatch of the landlocked Serenity. Mal had put out the word that they were in need of a pilot when Wash strolled up, banging a wrench against the hatch to get somebody's attention. They had been keeping the airlock door sealed for security. They were living on board, re-fitting and paying for parts in coin, to take advantage of the cash discount. Because of the coin, they never left the ship unguarded. Mal and Bester had gone to get an oh-two converter for the EC system, and she was mucking out the passenger dorm.

When she popped the airlock hatch, shotgun cradled in her arm and revolver on her hip, he had given her a wide, open, and frankly admiring smile. It had been annoyingly clear that he liked what he saw. She couldn't say the same. He had on an orange flight suit, with the loudest shirt she had ever seen on top of it. It nearly crossed her eyes just to look at him. His hair was combed all anyhow, he had a ridiculous mustache, and he was leaning casually against Serenity with his arms crossed and one ankle resting on the other, like a man with nothing to do and all the time in the world not to do it in.

"Hi--Mike Tanaka says you folks might be needin' a pilot? Name's Wash--Hoban Washburn if you want the whole Megillah--and I'm lookin' for a berth." He smiled as he said it, and that bothered her too.

"Captain Reynolds' expected back anytime. He says the yay or nay.” She’d taken her time looking him up and down appraisingly. “Guess you can come in to wait, but I’ll have to search you." She said it so briskly it bordered on rude, in the vague hope that this xiao chou would get insulted and walk away. But all he did was push off from the bulkhead, plant his feet the regulation shoulder width apart, hold his arms out from his sides, and grin an invitation. It was pretty apparent he'd been through the drill before. She was rough enough to let him know she had too.

When she stepped back after it was over, he grinned unrepentantly and quipped "Is that a gun in you pocket or are you just happy to see me?" No, she didn't like him. Something, about him, she couldn’t quite say what, bothered her.

And when Mal came in and fell all over himself showing the man around the boat that bothered her too. She could tell Mal wanted the man on his crew because he was pretending he didn't notice the way the pilot was ogling her, and Mal always noticed when men looked at her. He had been doing it since they were kids.

When Mal asked, "So you'll take the job, then?" without calling for a huddle, she sent him a look that let him know she wasn't happy about it. But he pretended not to notice that too. He waited until they left the man alone in the cockpit fiddling underneath the navigation console to ask, "He's great, ain't he?"

When she'd told him that something bothered her about him, she couldn't quite say what, he'd acted surprised. It was clear he intended to have the man, he was desperate to get Serenity aloft. Zoe's comfort was coming a slow second to that driving need. Mal had overruled her, saying, "Well, your 'somethin' comes up against a list of recommendations long as my leg. Tanaka raved about this guy. Renshaw's been trying to get him on his crew for a month. And we need us a pilot."

That had been inescapably true, so Wash had become part of the crew, and a daily irritation to her. Most men who admired her either came on to her almost immediately, then got shamefaced or surly when refused, depending on their natures. Or they held off because they assumed she and Mal were grappling. Mostly neither of them bothered to disabuse anyone of that particular misconception. It saved a lot of trouble, what with one thing and another.

She could tell that Wash fancied her. At first she assumed that he thought she and Mal were together but she soon saw that he knew better than that. He made no secret that he thought she was a fine looking woman. But he made no overt moves in her direction beyond the camaraderie of the crew. He joked with her and offered to help with the chores, he made sure to pull out her chair at meal times or jump to his feet if she came in the room, in obvious contrast to his otherwise casual style. He asked her about growing up on a ship, and talked about his early years on his own smog-enshrouded planet. When they were in port he always invited her somewhere nice or offered to run any errands with her.

She had been the only woman on board for months after they got her into the Black, it could have been impossible if he had pushed. He didn't. He was unmistakably interested but he let her set the pace. He had a way about him, like most pilots. She reckoned he'd left a girl pretty much every place he'd ever been. She had thought of him as a lightweight, and wondered how he would do in a fight. He did fine. He could handle a gun capably, though he was no crack shot. He was useful in a fistfight, though he didn't start them. He was absolutely fearless at the stick, taking them out of some very hot LZ's without turning a hair on his disheveled head. He was neat in the common room and kept a clean mouth at the table. He seldom took anything, including himself seriously, except those little plastic dinosaurs. He talked to them like they were real. Scarier yet, he talked for them and after a few months you started to think of them as real too!

After awhile she had begun to warm to the man a bit. You can't be coldly distant to a man you passed the peas to everyday, even less to one who'd saved your pi gu, that very morning. But she was cautious not to be more than cordial. It wouldn't do to get too close to a man with libertine tendencies. It was a small crew, that sort of thing would fester.

Then they got rid of Bester, who had turned out to be pretty useless, took on Kaylee, and things changed. At first she had thought that with another woman on board Wash would turn his attention elsewhere. Especially with the girl coming on board the way Bester made clear she had. That is, until Mal nearly knocked his teeth down his throat, before throwing him down the loading ramp with his bags flying after him.

Kaylee had been a wonderment. Her bright disposition and winning ways made the long periods in the Black enjoyable rather than merely tolerable. Having another woman on board changed the dynamics of the crew in other ways. It was pretty clear right off that she had a major crush on Mal. It amused Zoe to see that Mal apparently thought the cure for that was to throw her at Wash. She was more surprised to see that Wash, while nice as hell and willing to go out of his way to help the girl settle in, wasn't the least bit interested in Kaylee as a woman. Nor did he seem to be interested in the type of feminine companionship available in any of the ports they put into, and that gave her food for thought. Wash had been aboard not quite a year and Kaylee a few months already, before she let herself consider giving Wash a fall, and as Eve discovered in the Garden, between the thinking about it and the doing of it was just a short step.

In thinking about it later she realized what had bothered her in the beginning. All her life she had measured men against Mal. Some measured up and some didn't, but he was always the touchstone. Wash simply could not be measured against anyone or anything else. He was unique. He intended to be, he intended you to know it, and he liked it if it befuddled you. She thought that she started to love him when she realized he didn't measure himself against any man but himself. In that one way only, he was like Mal. She knew she couldn't stop herself from loving him when she realized that he was trying to make sure nothing he did ever came between her and Mal.

***

Things were going well at the distillery. Wash had given him the name he'd gotten from the shopkeeper. Beauvais et Fils was a small family run operation, not as well known as some of the bigger vintners. Monsieur Beauvais was more than glad for an opportunity to expand into a new and lucrative market. He was a rotund little man with scrubbed cheeks, twinkling black eyes and a pink scalp peeking through thinning white hair. He had been delighted to meet a potential new customer and even more delighted that he was accompanied by a pretty girl who actually knew her way around the distilling process. Most of his remarks had been directed to Kaylee once he figured that out.

He had been working his way through their inventory in multiples of five. He spoke of five, ten, fifteen and twenty-five years on oak. They'd had thimble sized samples in thin balloon shaped goblets. He'd waxed eloquent on all the facets of his craft. It was his passion as well as his trade.

"And this is a sample from our twenty-five year reserve. You can tell the difference, yes, ma petit?" He said with pride. "As you can see, the longer on oak, the darker the color and the more complex the finish."

They were just getting down to brass tacks on the price when the com chirped. Mal gave Kaylee a lifted eyebrow and inclined his head at the door. Kaylee gave an apologetic smile and stepped out of the office to answer the call. Mal heard her soft murmur just outside the door. "Okay, Wash, I'll let him know. Have a good time. Bu yao chou. See ya' then." As she stepped back in she caught Mal's eye and gave him a brilliant smile. Nothing to worry about there, then. He went back to concentrating on negotiating a price that would make them a profit.

"And, ahem . . . about the excise duty." Finally, Monsieur Beauvais inquired delicately.

"Well, we've found that cuts into everyone's profits considerable." Mal answered. In his experience, any planet with a significant production of dutiable alcohol had a thriving industry in avoiding customs duties and excise taxes, so he felt confident in adding meaningfully, "Mayhap you know someone local with an artistic touch on bills of lading?"

"Just so . . .just so. I think that could be arranged." Beauvais said smilingly. They had a final drink to seal the bargain and he pressed a bottle of the twenty-five year reserve on them as a parting gift. Taking Kaylee's hand he bowed formally over it and kissed it. She smiled delightedly as he said, "Alas, ma petit, that you are not staying longer to meet my sons. It is their loss, were I only two decades younger I would try myself to convince you to stay!"

"Why that's the prettiest thing anybody's said to me since I signed on with Serenity." She said laughingly, throwing Mal a provocative glance.

Ignoring the by-play, Mal took the man's offered hand, "We'll be ready to load by day after tomorrow . . ." looking to Kaylee for confirmation and getting her vigorous nod, he went on. "We'll lift the day after that. Been a real pleasure doing business with you Monsieur Beauvais."

When they were on the street headed for the salvage yard he asked "What did Wash want? Any problems with Serenity?"

"Nah, Captain, everything's just shiny." She said cheerfully.

"Well then, what did the man want, Kaylee?" he asked with some foreboding.

"He just wanted to let us know that he and Zoe went out to that lake and they won't be in until late tonight or maybe tomorrow. He said they left the interlock on, set to the regular code, and port control is adding Serenity to the patrol watch." She looked up at him innocently from beneath her lashes.

His jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed as he heard the news but he didn't say anything meant for her ears, only muttering under his breath "Kan shang qu bi ran.”

"Shenme, Cap?"

"Nothing, mei-mei." Then looking at her narrowly, "Did you have anything to do with this Kaylee?" he demanded.

"Do with what, Mal? What's got you so tweaked, all of a sudden? Thought we were doing good, got cargo and all. Gonna have the ship fixed soon as we get that part. Why ya' so upset just cause Wash and Zoe went swimming?" she asked artlessly.

Mal looked at her searchingly for another moment and decided that it was just Wash taking advantage of the situation. Well, give the devil his due, he'd served notice he intended to. "It's just something I was expecting, only not so soon. I was hoping to choke Wash off until he lost interest."

"He ain't gonna lose interest in Zoe if that's what you're talking about, Cap. Ain’t never seen a man more in love with a woman than Wash is with Zoe. Don't think anything'll change that." She said with simple conviction. "Why'nt you want 'em to be together?" she asked curiously.

"Shipboard romances complicate things, mei-mei. Complications in our line of work can get people hurt. They can get people killed"

"Oh, Mal" she said, in gentle derision, "Nothing complicated about folks lovin' each other. I thought you cared about Zoe--don't you want her to be happy?"

"Ain't a question of wanting her to be happy, gotta be alive to be happy. Can't be happy if you're dead."

"But, if she can't have a shipboard romance--" she was aghast, "You mean you'd make Zoe leave Serenity just so's she can love somebody. But that's just cruel!" she said, ready tears springing to her eyes.

"Now hold your horses, there, I didn't mean--" he stuttered

"Well what did you mean? She can have a home on Serenity as long as she don't love nobody? Or she can only love somebody if she leaves 'em in the world when you get the itch to move on? 'Cause seems to me it's gotta be one of those," she said pugnaciously.

"Its not--I didn't--I wouldn't-- it's more complicated than that." He sputtered in an injured tone.

"Wash makes her happy. Nothing complicated about that. Seems to me you should be glad she found someone who can make her happy and will stay with her on Serenity. Lots of men I know wouldn't." She poked him in the ribs, hard, adding "Not sure you would, if you was in Wash's shoes."

That gave him pause for thought. Was he just being a dog-in-the-manger? What did he want for Zoe? He had been worried that Wash was a chaser, but he didn't really think that was an issue any more. Man had made a change since he came aboard Serenity. Since he'd clapped eyes on Zoe there hadn't been any other women. Once, long while back, he'd told Zoe that he wanted to be happy for her if she found someone she could build a life with. She apparently thought Wash was the man. It was her decision to make. He didn't have to like it, hell, he didn't like it. But he had to give it to the pilot, he'd made no secret about his intentions and he'd done more than most would, to keep Zoe from having to choose between them. If he was honest, Wash had done more than he had in that department. He'd give his right arm to make Zoe happy. The thing was, nothing he could do would make Zoe happy. That was taking Wash to get done. She'd as much as said so on Greenleaf.

After a spell of walking in silence, perhaps sensing the turn his thought were taking, Kaylee said gently, "Cap, sometimes a wave comes, a person has to ride it or drown, but that wave, it's goin' where it wants, it's a force of nature. I think maybe you ought to consider ridin' this wave."

He asked her quizzically, "How did you get to be so wise, mei-mei?"

She smiled mischievously, "I expect that's mostly the brandy talkin'."

***

Sex always left Zoe languid. Bedding Zoe always left Wash energized, with a sense of wonder that she wanted to have him in her bed, inside her body. Their very first coupling had been so frantic that it had been like a sudden clap of summer thunder; totally surprising in its intensity, perhaps because of the months of denied desire. Sometimes it was still like that; fast, furious, a hard taking each of the other. But most times he found that Zoe, his warrior woman outside of the confines of their bed, craved a tender ardor within it. She liked best to be caressed into readiness and pulled him over the edge of his own climax by the intensity with which she looked into his eyes and murmured his name as she crested the wave of her own pleasure, grasping him to her as if she would never let go.

So here was Zoe, lying back with the contented look of a woman who had been well satisfied—twice--about to drift off to sleep, while he raised himself on one elbow beside her to gaze at her as he stroked her curls off her face and traced with one finger the line where her neck met the swell of her breast. He struggled to find the words powerful enough to convince her to be his for the rest of their lives.

They had left the ship carrying a blanket and a couple of towels. Wash drove and Zoe rode pillion with her arms wrapped around his waist and her chin resting on his shoulder. They took a well traveled road out of town until they came within sight of the lakeshore, then Wash took a turning that looked to be much less traveled but still was clearly a beaten path following the shoreline. They had traveled for about forty-five minutes on this path when he turned again, this time in the direction of the lake itself, to stop in a meadow bordered by trees which gave on to a shallow sandy beach. The waves gently lapped the sand which was a soft coral pink, not the usual grayish white.

"I didn't know you'd been on Nereus, before, honey." Zoe said in enchantment.

"Haven't. But I was a man on a mission and I was not to be trifled with. Bu cuo, hunh?" Wash said with obvious pride.

"Ting hao!"

"Wait," he said mysteriously, "You haven't seen the best, yet." Zoe raised an eyebrow in interrogation but he just shook his head and busied himself with getting the blanket spread out and setting out the food. He suggested that she get some firewood and then they could have a fire later, after they came out of the water.

"Might cold for skinny dippin' isn't it?" She asked in surprise.

"Just wait." He said, grinning in his endearing little-boy-with-a-secret kind of way.

Zoe could bathe in cold water, ice water if necessary, but for choice she liked her bath well warmed, so it was with no great enthusiasm for the swim that that she stripped off and took his hand to stroll to the water's edge. But with her first step into the water she gave a trill of delighted laughter. "Honey, you must be a magician." She said as she cut the water in a shallow dive.

"Nah," he said as he followed her into the lake, "the gal at the shop said this beach is fed by an underground thermal. She said the water here is always about 85 degrees. Was it worth the trip?"

She swam up to him and wrapped her legs around his hips as she answered him with her kiss. Then there was no more talking as their water slicked bodies entwined. They touched and explored each other, savoring the privacy that was the most precious commodity on a deep space vessel. They had never spent even one night without someone else on the other side of the bulkhead. When he entered her she cried out his name and he could feel the soft yielding fullness of her against his erection and feel her press herself to him and rock her hips in a rhythm that insistently called out for release. When he could stand no more, he picked her up and carried her to the warmth of the fire and they brought each other to the pinnacle and crashed towards earth with a satisfaction that was more a soaring than a falling.

Later, he stretched across Zoe as she drowsed, to reach into the pile of his discarded flight suit and pull from it the fat calf-bound volume of poetry he had been carrying around for the better part of a month. The movement disturbed Zoe and she opened on eye to remonstrate with him gently. “What’s a girl got to do to get a nap around here?”

“Well, I know this parlour trick I picked up in . . . OUCH!” He turned crimson as she demonstrated she knew a trick or two of her own.

“No, NO! Zoe, seriously, I have something I need to say, that I need you to listen to.”

Raising an eyebrow in surprise at his tone, she gave him her attention.

“This is for you.” He said, catching her eye then nervously looking away, as he handed her the book. “Love Poems of Earth-That-Was,” she said softly then looked up to meet his eyes with a smile in hers.

“The passage is marked.” He said looking back at her with a matching smile playing about his lips.

She opened the book where a blue ribbon marked a place in the book. When she opened it at the spot she found the ribbon was threaded through a simple gold band. She looked back up swiftly and met his eyes with a question in her own.

“You walk in beauty like the night, of cloudless climes and starry skies, and all that’s best of dark and bright meet in your aspect and your eyes.” He recited hesitantly. “I didn’t have the words of my own to tell you how much I love you, figured this poetical fella’s dead he wouldn’t notice if I borrowed some of his,” he said with lopsided smile. “I want you to be there forever, baby, like the cloudless climes and starry skies he was talking about. I promise I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make you happy, if you’ll have me . . .”

She stopped him by putting her fingers to his lips and leaning in to kiss him sweetly in acceptance and promise. She tasted of apples as she said, “You already do make me happy.”

***

Mal had been loading supplies all morning. He had just finished re-stocking the infirmary when he entered the cargo bay from the dim recesses at its rear to see Wash and Zoe as they entered the ship hand in hand, caught in a bright shaft of the autumn sunshine. There was an air of heavy content about Zoe that was totally foreign to her. She always had an aura of self-contained stillness about her, as if she held herself ready to spring into action on an instant. As he stood there and gave some thought to it, he realized he had never seen her so exalted by happiness, not even before the war.

He was hidden from their view by the gloom as they left the dazzling sunshine for the cool darkness of the ship. They stood with hands entwined at the base of the ladder that led to the bridge as they held a murmured conversation, then kissed tenderly. Mal felt like a voyeur as he stepped deeper into the shadows. Wash headed up the ladder, clinging to Zoe’s hand and smiling at her in an intimate way, totally different from his usual insouciant grin. He prolonged the contact as long as he could, only releasing her hand as his ascent made it impossible to clasp it any longer. She stood at the base of the ladder with her hand on the guard rail, watching him as he retreated from her sight.

Without turning she said, “I hear we got cargo after all.”

He left the gloom and entered the bay, approaching where she stood, “Yeah, Wash had a good notion there.” He didn’t know what else to say so he just stood there waiting to hear what she had to tell him.

“He asked me.” She said without inflection.

“I’m guessing from the looks of things that you said yes.”

“That’s the gist of it.” After a pause during which he stood with his hands in his back pockets and looking at the tips of his boots in dumb misery, she added, “Can you live with this thing Mal? It means a lot to me, that you be okay with it.”

“I don’t suppose it would do any good for me to order you not to marry that xiao chou?” He said, looking at her half hopefully.

She smiled at him in rueful affection as she shook her head, saying simply, “The heart wants what the heart wants.” She looked at him steadfastly, waiting for him to put his thoughts into words.

“Bai gan jiao ji. I want you to be happy, woman, always have. Appears you think he’s the man to do that, so best I get used to it, I’m thinking.” He slid his arm around her waist and pulled her close to drop a gentle kiss on her curls by way of giving her his blessing.

“It’s been me and you for so long, Zoe, I don’t know what kind of ornery I’ll be till I get used to it, but to see you this happy --”

“Bai chi” she said indulgently, “How will I know the difference?”

***

Serenity was quiet. Wash was alone on the bridge, fingers interlaced on his head. Booted feet on the navigation console. His menagerie of plastic dinosaurs lined up, facing the jeweled expanse of the Black visible from the forward view port. All except the stegosaurus, who faced Wash, companionably.

The soft hum of the engines was the perfect accompaniment to his sense of satisfied wonder that Zoe had agreed to have him. Later he would join her in their bed and every night for the rest of his life she would be there. Because when Zoe King looked to make a vow, not the devil in hell would stop her from keeping it. For all his cockiness with Mal, he had been terrified that what he had to promise her would not be enough, or that she simply would be unwilling or unready to be loved. That it was, and she wasn't, still surprised and delighted him.

All day long, words had been singing in his mind. Ancient words, beautiful words, words from an ancient poet of Earth-that-was, he'd said some of them to Zoe, when he'd asked her. Unable to find better himself than those of an archaic aristocrat named Byron, he quoted them to his plastic audience.

“She walks in beauty, like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that's best of dark and bright meet in her aspect and her eyes, Thus mellowed to that tender light which heaven to gaudy day denies.”

"Is that how you feel about her?" Mal asked in a tight voice, from behind him.

Wash tipped the command chair back enough to swing his feet off the console and braced himself to turn and face the captain. He had not heard the quiet steps on the ladder to the bridge, had, in fact, not even been aware that he was, himself, speaking aloud. Well it had to be faced some time. His ears burned in embarrassment as he silently cursed the fair complexion which had made his adolescence a purgatory.

Then he raised his chin defiantly, and said, "That's how I feel. Every time I look at her. Every time I even think of her, that's how I feel."

Mal looked at him straitly as he said, "Well, that's shiny then, because she deserves that. She has a right to it."

"Well, she's agreed to marry me, I figure you know that by now," the pilot said calmly in the face of what he expected to be Mal's resentment.

Mal gave him an indecipherable look. When Wash didn't quail at it, or even seem to take much note, he said thoughtfully, "Zoe is gu nian zhong de gu nian. She deserves someone special, but what she wants appears to be you."

Mals look took on a pronounced edge as he loomed over the seated pilot. "So I am here to serve notice on you. She better be the sun and the moon to you and she better know it every single day of her life. Or, just as sure as god made little green apples, sha ni zi xian shí ba dai. Dong ma ?"

Wash looked at him shrewdly. "So I take it we have your blessing, then?" he said, a slow lop-sided smile spreading across his face. "That will make Zoe happy."

For a moment Mal seemed to be looking at something in the distance, then he smiled enigmatically and quoted softly,

"One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impaired the nameless grace which wave in every raven tress, Or softly lightens o'er her face; Where thoughts serenely sweet express How pure, how dear their dwelling-place."

At the look of confounded shock on Wash's face he raised an eyebrow as he smirked, "What? Think you're the onliest fella ever learned a poem to impress a girl? Just remember what I said—see you make her happy."

As Mal stalked off the bridge Wash began to chuckle. Gradually his laughter swelled to fill the bridge as he thought in amazement, 'Well that went smooth.'

The End