note: this is the second in my series (my first being here: http://www.fireflyfans.net/bluesun.aspx?bid=9639), but you really dont have to read the first episode if you dont want to, itll still make perfect sense! i have all the characters (cos i cant bear not to) and it doesnt take place at any particular time in the series or bdm... oh and zoes pregnant =D

this is just the teaser and acts i-iii will come afterwards!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bar sat at the edge of a small town situated in the middle of a sparse desert. It was on the verge of disrepair, shabby and worn beneath the blazing sun that shone fiercely down on the sign reading ‘Th Gold n Pl n t’. Within sat a fair few locals, despite it being barely lunchtime. Unemployment rates were high leading to many drowning their sorrows and spending their dwindling coin in this place of refuge. Heat radiated from the surfaces and there was a strong smell of sweat mingled with the sickly stench of alcohol. In the darkest corner was a small table surrounded by men lent forwards in secrecy.

“We were expecting more…” one said reluctantly. He was young, wore his long blonde hair, now turned brown by dirt, over his tanned face, his deep blue eyes peering at the Captain Malcolm Reynolds with a mixed look of desperation and distrust.

“Well, you shouldn’t have,” Mal replied firmly. “Now do you want the goods or not?”

The man’s eyes flickered from Mal to the piece of folded paper that was gripped between the Captain’s finger and thumb, to the bulky figure of his oaf, Jayne. Finally, his eyes came to rest on his associate who shrugged, handing him the bag of coin. He sighed. They really couldn’t afford this.

Mal glanced at Jayne, sensing trouble. He had suspected this would not run smoothly. Although hopeless people gave them more power, desperate times led to desperate actions.

It was a swift movement with which the man grabbed the piece of paper, leaping from the table in a dash to the door, the money still in his sweaty grasp.

Jayne stood and shot him clean through the leg causing a strangled yell and him to stumble, flying forwards into a table, glasses shattering on the tiles around him.

Mal stepped forward, stooping to pick the coin from the floor. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

He and Jayne moved towards the door, grimly ignoring the man writhing in agony on the floor. They were arrested, however, by a number of tough looking men, wearing frowns.

“Right…” Mal said, “I assume this money ain’t gettin’ off this planet without a brawl…”

“Well, bring it on!” Jayne growled, pushing up his sleeves.

~

“I can feel her kicking! I think she gets that from you.” Wash looked up at Zoë, his eyes shining. She lay leisurely on their bed and he knelt next to her, tenderly touching her stomach.

“I expect so,” Zoë said, smiling. Despite becoming increasingly handicapped, this baby felt the best thing that’d every happened to her, beside the obvious.

“I was a very leisurely baby, didn’t kick till I was prodded. In fact, they thought I’d died a couple of times,” he said in a matter of fact tone of voice.

Zoë grinned to herself, pulling Wash up to face her, kissing him gently. “You know… Captain and Jayne aren’t going to be back for another hour…”

“I like your thinking!” Wash ran his hand along her arm, causing shivers to jump up her spine.

“Wash,” Zoë said, holding her fingers up to halt his lips. “Am I getting fat?”

“Yes, dear,” he replied. “But you remain sexy as hell.”

Zoë smiled and allowed him to kiss her, drinking in his scent, gently pulling him on top of her. His lips found her neck, gently kissing and caressing, his hands holding her tight to him.

“Wash?” Mal’s voice crackled through a muffled radio, sounding out of breath.

He sighed in frustration, rooting in his pocket to produce the radio. Though he longed just to turn it off, he reluctantly climbed off Zoë who struggled to sit up as well. “Yup?”

“Could do with a lift!”

Now? Wash almost said, but he bit his tongue. “Of course, Sir,” he replied instead, bitterly. He looked mournfully to Zoë who began labouring to her feet “You stay here, Honey. I got it.”

She gave him a look of disdain. She didn’t want him fussing over her and he knew it.

“Or… not.” He smiled, helping her to her feet. He had tried to get her to move to one of the passenger dorms, to prevent the climb down into their bunk. She had predictably refused, demanding her independence. He understood it must be frustrating, especially for one so capable as she, but he as so worried of anything going wrong… He tried not to think about it.

Serenity stretched her wings and pushed off, scooting through the sky.

~

“How’d it go, Sir?” Zoë asked once they were out of atmosphere, finding a seat at the kitchen table.

“Missed you, could’ve done with a spare fist.” Mal stood at the sink with a pad Simon had given him clasped to his arm.

“So I see.”

“Oh, it’s nothin’, just a graze,” Mal said, defensively as Kaylee entered, grabbing a drink.

“We get paid?”

“Surely did. Won’t be goin’ back to that place for a decade or so though. Think we made ourselves some enemies.”

“Is there a place we don’t have enemies?” Zoë pointed out.

Mal threw her his not amused look but Kaylee grinned. “So, we goin’ shoppin’ now?”

“Right we are, Little Kaylee,” he replied, smiling.