"Do you hate me now?" Lee's voice startled Zoe ; she'd not been aware of his presence in the storeroom a guard had abruptly shoved her into.

"Hate what you stand for, hate whoever did that to him. Can't say I hate you in particular."

Lee nodded, emerging from the shadows and studying the handcuffed woman standing almost defiantly before him. "Corporal, this is my prison and my command. I feel responsible for what my men did to him, and I want to see him clear of this. Imagine you do too."

Zoe didn't reply. Like Mal, she found herself trusting Lee instinctively. Unlike Mal, however, her military training overrode any desire to open up to him, especially where the last remaining person in the 'verse who meant something to her was concerned.

Lee didn't seem surprised by her lack of reply. He said "I've read every report, every interview transcript including yours, every detail about your Sergeant Reynolds, and I don't think I've ever run across a man who's inspired more loyalty. I saw him do something so stupidly heroic that I gotta feel the same way."

Zoe's lips twitched in a slight smile. Stupidly heroic; that was one way to describe him, she supposed. She had a notion that he was far more intelligent about it than most people might realize, but that was for them to figure out on their own. "You really want to help him?" she challenged.

"Yes," replied Lee. "I do, and before I can do a single thing I gotta know he's thinking straight. I'm afraid with everything he's been through......." His voice trailed off. "He's in a tight spot, and I got to know he cares about that."

"Get him out of that place." Zoe found it hard to control the ferocity that was trying to creep into her voice. "You want to help him, you get him out of that box you have him locked in and put him someplace where he can act and feel like an actual human."

Lee understood the barely veiled accusation. "I'm not trying to be cruel, Corporal. I want to see your Sergeant get out of here alive, and I put him in the best place I could find to make sure that happens. We're taking good care of him."

"Well, he'd be happier if you chained him up in a dungeon, sir," Zoe replied. "You want him to come out of this even halfway, you let him out of there."

"You want me to put him back in general population?" Lee asked. Zoe, already regretting her outburst, didn't respond. "I let him out, is he gonna be alive the next day? And my guards, are they going to be alive? Can he handle it out there?"

"He's not loony, sir," Zoe replied. "I don't see him doing anything someone doesn't push him into."

Lee nodded. "All right. I asked you for your help, I'm going to accept your advice. Now we need to talk about you."

"Huh?" Zoe was puzzled.

"The soldiers he saved have been locked up on their own together since that day. Reynolds, I'm trusting to keep his mouth shut. But I imagine seeing what we did to him's got to make you mad enough to want to take me down."

Lee walked up and stood directly before Zoe. "I'm locking you down in solitary from this point on. I'm not punishing you, but if this story comes out, I've got to choose between saving my career and killing your Sergeant. I don't intend to make that choice."

"I understand, sir," Zoe replied calmly.

Lee wandered away for a moment, considering and letting his words sink in before facing Zoe quietly, the threatening demeanor gone. "Would you do it again?" he asked gently.

"Do what?" Zoe asked.

"Try to help him. Would you do it, knowing it was going to get you locked up?"

"I already am locked up, sir," Zoe replied wearily.

Lee smiled. "If you can bring yourself to trust me for even five seconds, I'd like an honest answer. Please."

Zoe regarded him with interest, wondering what a halfway intelligent and decent fellow like Lee was doing in charge of an Alliance prison. "Of course I would, sir."

"And you understand what's at stake here for him?" Lee inquired.

Zoe nodded, and Lee stepped forward, placing his hand on her back and steering her towards the door. "All right. I'll get to looking for that dungeon you mentioned." Zoe stopped, staring at him sharply.

Lee grinned. "I'm sorry.....men in my position shouldn't make jokes. I'll take care of your Sergeant."

He opened the door and they stepped out into the corridor where the guard who had stuffed her into the storeroom in the first place was waiting. Lee addressed him crisply. "Take her back to her housing unit."

"Yes, sir!" replied the guard with a salute, taking hold of Zoe's arm. She glanced back at Lee inquisitively, and he met her gaze with a quiet smile in his eyes before turning to walk away.