You can click these links below in order to read Part 1, 2, and 3... confusion ain't always a good thing. :)

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

*Joss is the greatest, I just borrow his awesomeness of Firefly/Serenity! ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ The crew had been in the black for a few days before they landed in another desert, much like the last one that Serenity was all to familiar with. Wash had parked her not too far from a small town that lay in the eastern horizon. They’d been there for a week while Mal worked out a deal with a man who knew of work on Paquin. Upon orders from Mal, Wash started up the engine and prepped Serenity for take-off. However, the engine made a troubling noise as it jolted and came to a rather sudden stop.

“That don’t sound too good,” Bester said under his breath.

“What don’t sound too good?” Mal asked, Bester hadn’t noticed him walking in the passageway to the living quarters. “We’re gunna need a new, something.”

“Mind informing me on what that something might be?”

“Not sure quite yet, but I’m workin’ on it.”

“Terrific. Well, figure out what’s wrong. And then we can figure out what to do about it.” “Sure, shouldn’t be a problem.” Bester replied. Mal left the engine room and went to find Zoë. He couldn’t help but think that something was going to go wrong with Bester’s task. He was eager to trust Bester, but the boy still hadn’t given him much reason to.

******* Zoë was in the kitchen taking a quick inventory of the supplies which had become low. Granted, they hadn’t been out in the ship that long, but there wasn’t that much to begin with. She handed Bester the list without a word and started to head towards her bunk when she heard some bizarre noises coming from the cockpit. She came to find Wash, who was still sitting in the pilots chair, with his back to her. He was acting out a whole little scenario with plastic dinosaurs. “Let me take you out tonight?” The stegosaurus asked the T-Rex, in an overly masculine voice.

“If it wasn’t for your hideous moustache and your obscenely bright shirts, I might be inclined to consider your offer,” replied the T-Rex, in the most feminine voice that Wash could muster. “Yes, but people respect a man who can wear colorful hibiscus flowers all over his shirts.” “Only cause they’re afraid too say anything.” Zoë interrupted.

Wash jumped, dropping the Stego onto the console. He was a little more than slightly embarrassed, but more interested to know exactly how much Zoë had actually heard. She inadvertently answered his question when she added,

“I don’t really sound like that, do I?”

Zoë smiled mysteriously to herself as she turned on her heel and retreated to her bunk. Wash was left in the cockpit with his dinos, along with a rather rosy-colored face. That was the first genuine smile that Serenity had seen from Zoë. It surprised her that the first one, she had seen, came from the pilot that “bothered” Zoë so. Zoë was someone who kept her emotions locked up tight inside. When she normally smiled, really smiled, it was when no one was around to see. Serenity figured that Mal and Zoë had to have been soldiers at some point. They both acted rather stoic when it came to their true emotions. Mal gave orders like a soldier. And Zoë took orders like a soldier. And that was how it worked. *******

As late afternoon approached. Mal went to look for Bester. He’d given Bester that mind-boggling easy task earlier in the week, and figured they should be half way to Paquin now. He found Zoë having lunch at the table on his way to the engine room.

“You seen Bester? That boy was supposed to have us space worthy by now.”

“I didn’t see him, but when he came back, he did say something’ about needing a part that wasn’t available here.” “Oh, juh jen sh guh kwai luh duh jean-jan.” Mal muttered, obviously annoyed by that new piece of information. Mal walked off towards the engine room, his steps heavy with the unintentional anguish that Bester kept causing him. Why hadn’t Bester bothered telling him this earlier? When he was about half-way there he took a deep breath and said,

“Bester! What’s this I hear about yet another delay? S‘posed to have this engine fixed and us up and run-”

His sentence was suddenly cut short by the sight of Bester and some girl sharing some…what should’ve been alone time, in his engine room. He was slightly embarrassed by the sight, but more aggravated. “Bester.” He said patiently. “Bester.” But Mal had yet to gain Bester’s attention.

“Bester!” Mal’s voice exploded, along with his anger. At last earning him the boy’s attention, along with the girl’s, as he quickly tried to cover himself and walk over to Mal simultaneously.

Serenity watched as Bester was chastised by Mal. She couldn’t help but find amusement in the seeing him get yelled at. If her last “Captain” had taken the time to put some of his crew in their place, perhaps she wouldn’t have ended up on that god-forsaken piece of land. But, she was glad of where she was now. She’d seen Bester sneak the girl on while Zoë was in the cargo bay. Serenity admired the girl’s cute outfit, but didn’t so much admire her taste in men. The girl seemed to never stop smiling, which was something Serenity had never seen before. She quietly giggled the whole way into the engine room. Serenity didn’t like Mal’s reference to the girl as a “prairie-harpie.” Aside from the lack of prairie, and the girl’s attraction to simple-minded men, Serenity didn’t think the girl all that bad. Bester interrupted her thoughts when he referred to what was broken, her secondary Grav Boot. Serenity didn’t want to believe that something was broken again. She’d been avoiding that truth since her engine stopped spinnin’ earlier that week. But when the girl suddenly argued with Bester, she listened intently.

“No it ain’t. Ain’t nothing wrong with your Grav Boot. Grav Boot’s juust fine.”

The girl went on to explaining what the real trouble was, and moved on to tinkering a bit with Serenity’s engine. Then, as quickly as it had stopped spinnin’, the engine began to sweetly hum as it steadily rotated. Serenity was more than ecstatic to be runnin’ again and would’ve laughed out loud, when Mal asked the girl if she wanted to be part of his crew. The girl quickly ran off to ask permission from her folks, as Bester asked,

“Mal, what do ya need two mechanics for?”

“I really don’t.” Mal replied as he walked away, relieved to have a better mechanic than Bester. He’d given the boy as many chances, if not more, than he deserved. But Mal wasn’t half as excited as Serenity. Not only was she running, and slightly better than before, but she wouldn’t have to worry about Bester anymore. He’d be yesterday’s news as soon as they were on their way. That day, Serenity found that Mal was a man to be trusted. Through his direct way of telling people what he wanted done and they way he carried himself, she could see that he wasn’t just some young man who didn’t know anything. And that’s the thought that drove her to begin to invest a little faith in him. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Please leave me feedback! Thx!