It was a rare treat for Wash taking the Serenity to the repair depot in the outer ring of the galaxy. The ship was quiet with only Kayle and he allowed to make the run. Their recent outlaw status had mad the group of them easily identified in places with notorious reputations for selling people out on bounties in exchange for fuel or parts. He and Kayle would blend in far easier to the crowd of pilots and mechs. Mal, Zoe and Jayne would stick out as like deceleration brake on a falling ship. They’d be picked up in the first hour and sold off to the alliance. And Simon and Book they’d be lucky to make it off the ship before being robbed or taken in a confidence scam. Yeah the depot was dirty, smelly and you constantly had to on your toes looking for deal or scam. Aside from the Serenity in short it was the closest thing that Wash had to a “home”. He loved it. The bars were full of stories impossible to believe until the pilot or mech began rattling off the specs of the ship or the part that performed such a feat.

But the trip their was almost as fun. The three days it would take would allow Kayle and Wash a chance to crank old rock and roll and country music over the ships PA system. While the music blared out into the cosmos they took a careful inventory of the ships parts and ran diagnostics on all of her systems. At night they would break out a bottle of Mal’s hidden whiskey. Mal would always expect to find the Serenity light 3 or 4 bottles of his whiskey after one of their maintenance runs and considered it as just part of the price of having a good crew. They would sit in the Serenity’s cockpit watching the stars trail by as they figured out what they need to refit or improve on the ship. Their budget was extremely tight this time and some creative trading would need to get done. It was comparable to a couple of kids going through their baseball card collections with “got it, got it, want it, NEED IT! got it, got it. Wash used to really love these trips to the outer rim but since his marriage Zoe it had become bittersweet. He still loved the trip and the tech talk but there was always the pang of missing her. Normally he tried to be upbeat about life but this was something new. Something he hadn’t counted on when he took the vow. Jokingly he told her “Well what do you know I DO have feelings…Who would’ve thunk?” It was a joke at the time but like with most his jokes there was a hint of pained truth to it. Feeling for someone was never in his equation before. He had never figured it into his life plan. As if his life had ever had a plan aside from making his next hop. His greatest joy before meeting Zoe was the sound of all 5 of the Serenity’s engines firing in unison. But Zoe…Zoe was different. Her love hit him in the face like a shovel. It spun his universe around…and he loved the ways that shovel felt. He thought of all of this as the Serenity’s engines hummed along and he stared deep out past the windows into the further reaches of space.

“Hey…” it was Kayle. “You’re thinking about Zoe aren’t you?”. Wash blushed he didn’t like being caught in these mushy ‘love’ moments. ”Uh….No! In fact I was wondering if Mal has moved his whiskey hiding spot.”. Slyly Kayle pulled out a bottle out from behind her back and to short glasses and poured them high with the potent liquid. “AH…My stomach was wanting dinner. Silly stomach!” he laughed as he snatched the glass from her hand. She giggled as she flopped down into the co pilots chair. “It must be nice…’love’”. She said with a distant look of her own. “I’d recommend it but its hard on the heart…a lot like this whiskey” he said as he grimaced and slugged down another swallow. “Are you sure you didn’t get this from the hydraulics? Yish…Aye-choi!”. Kayle smiled You’ll be changing your tune after the third glass of this stuff.”. He joined her in the laugh, which slowly died back down and the sound of Serenity’s engine hum returned to the cockpit. After a few minutes and a few system checks he glanced over at Kayle. Who now took her turn gazing out into space. She was changing from a girl to a woman. He barely noticed they spent so much time together it was like watching a daisy grow. The first time you see it its just a little tender sprig and after awhile you look again and its grown and beautiful. He never thought of her in a romantic it way. She was too much like a sister to him. Their mother being this ship Serenity. Really the ship was a mother to them all. Giving rebirth and a new beginning to each of them. “It must be nice to be missed…I wonder what its like?”. Wash cocked his eyebrow, as he looked up from the system display “Anything you want to talk about?”. “NO! Definitely not!” she said sharply quickly changing her pensive mood. “This is supposed to be our time! Our time to drink all night and swap jokes…Our time to moon passenger ships and outpost technicians…Our time to wear the same clothes for 3 days straight…”. “OUR TIME TO PEE WITH THE SEAT DOWN!” Wash shouted. “Oh…EWWW!” retorted Kayle. “Ok maybe its not quite that time yet…In the meantime lets go over our parts list.”. He said punching up his display. They both snickered, filling their glasses again and began running through their lists.

Chapter 2

“Affirmative, ‘Bad Whiskey’ you are cleared for landing a repair/refueling bay 94.”. A controllers voiced crackled over the Serenity’s radio.

“’Bad Whiskey’” questioned Kayle “Call it…inspiration” quipped Wash waving one arm over his head dramatically as he slid his chair back to the ships navigational controls from the radio station. “I call it a bad hang over.” Kayle said with a smile. “I tell you the ship tags that Jayne provided have come through on more than one occasion.” “Well that’s about twice as many times that thug has come through. Are you good the plan once we touch down?” “Oh its good” the tousled haired pilot said ”….Arrange a fuel purchase. Trade up some oxygen converters and power converters a few quick hands of poker and we are out of here by daybreak. If either one of us gets in trouble hit the alarm on your personal radio”. He said as he deftly applied the braking thrusters. “I thought Zoe said “no poker”” Kayle questioned. “Actually she said ‘I don’t want to hear about you playing poker’. So in fact it is an order to YOU not to say ANYTHING. It’s all in the interpretation…”. The freighter softly touched down on the planets surface. “Any chance someone spotted us coming in?” Kayle winced. “Not a chance…we came in at night and the Serenity looks like a typical freighter. And if folks round here started looking up at the ships coming in they might never look down again”.

They began walking towards the outer cargo door as the vacuum seal of the ship opened. And a rush of warm, humid, fuel smelling air smacked them in the face. “Oh I think I smell money!” giggled Wash as he danced down the runway. “Yeah? Ours or theirs?” Kayle hollered after him but it was too late he had rounded the corner and was down the street and out of sigh before you knew it. Wash…Marriage had change him in a good way but deep down he was the same old 12 year old he’d always been.