"Kaylee!" Mal yelled as he ran through Serenity. "Where is that girl?" He muttered. "KAYLEE!" He stopped outside the doctor's room when he heard the noises inside. He groaned before pounding on the door. "I don't pay ya to rut the doctor, do I, Kaylee? Get the hell back into the engine room!" "Sorry...Cap'n." Kaylee panted from behind the door. "Be right..out!" Mal waited a few minutes before a very sweaty Kaylee appeared. "Hiya." She smiled. Mal just shook his head and mumbled in chinese before heading back the way he came. He was going to visit Inara. He hadn't seen her since the night before, and they hadn't even had much time to themselves. Inara had run off with Zoe leaving Mal alone. But he didn't mind, as long as Zoe was getting what she needed. Mal walked into the shuttle without knocking, to see Zoe sitting cross legged on Inara's bed with a cup of tea and Inara sitting across from her on the couch. Both women were laughing. "What is going on here?" Mal asked, surprised to see Zoe laughing. "Zoe was telling me about when her and Wash first got together." Inara said with a smile. "Oh. Well I'll just be out doing...captainy things if you need me." He backed out of the shuttle. "No, sir, it's fine I was getting ready to leave." Zoe said as she got up and headed to the door. She grabbed Mal's arm and pulled him back in. "Thank you, Inara." "Come back whenever you need to, Zoe." "I will." Zoe left Mal and Inara alone. Inara put down her tea and came over to Mal, kissing him. "Hey you." She said against his lips. "Hey you." He replied. Mal let his hands travel to her waist, down over her backside and up again. She shivered. Soon the couple fell moaning onto the bed. Mal pulled at Inara's fancy silk dress, but Inara stopped him. "Mal...I can't - not here - not this bed." "It doesn't matter, 'Nara. I want you now." Inara looked into his eyes and whispered, "I love you." "I love you too." Mal said. Inara kissed him passionately and Mal continued where he left off.

********

Zoe walked aimlessly around the ship. Inara had told her to wallow for her dead husband. Wallow. What did it even mean? indulge in an unrestrained way in. Something that creates a pleasurable sensation. Or that's how the Cortex described it at least. Zoe wondered how mourning could ever be a 'pleasurable sensation' but Inara showed her to remember him at his best times. All the jokes he told, all the things that made her smile. And soon learn to move on. But Zoe was scared. Scared she would forget him. She was already starting to forget his voice, starting to forget the way he smiled. "I dont want to forget." Zoe whispered to herself. She was in the bridge now and she sat in Wash's chair. She hadn't been up here since Miranda. Wash's dying image appeared in her mind and she felt tears slipping down her cheeks. She squeezed her eyelids shut. "Wash. Wash why did you leave me? I need you, baby. I need you so much I..I can't...oh Wash. Why why why?" Zoe whispered through her sobs. "God damn it Wash!" She screamed and slammed her fist on the console, sobbing loudly. "He's sorry. Sorry he had to go." A voice came from behind her. Zoe turned to look at River through tears. "What?" She said so quietly she was hard to hear. "Needs you too. Needs to see you smile again. Misses you. Says he's sorry he had to go." Zoe blinked at her. "Wants me to tell you he loves you." "You really...expect me to believe...that you can talk to my dead husband?" Zoe said through clenched teeth. River tilted her head. "Yes." She said simply. "But how..." "Says you're strong. Says you're the strongest person he ever met. Says you can do this." Zoe's mind flashed back to when she lay unconscious after the explosion. Wash's voice echoed in her mind. 'You're strong. You're the strongest person I ever met you can do this' Sure she had been unconscious but she had heard him. "Wash!" Zoe yelled, jumping up to look out into the Black. "Has to go now. Says he has a dinner party with Book. Says he'll be waiting for you to join him at very far far time in the future. Says goodbye for now. Says he loves you." "I love you too, baby, I love you too." Zoe whispered as more tears fell from her eyes. "Goodbye."