Mal was feeling shiney. For the first time in monthes Serenity's registration wasn't red with warning flags, the job had gone smooth with plenty of cash for food and parts. This morning all of the crew had been in a fine mood. He'd even managed to get in a few good words edgewise with Inara.

Yep, Mal Reynolds was damned content for a wanted man and for the first time in a long time.

*****

River stood stock-still in the kitchen. She searched for flaws in the table top. 'If I don't move, I won't go anywhere," she thought incoherently.

The wood was warmly colored as was the aura surrounding it. Warm and full of contentment, even her chair. There were no flaws in the glow, it pulsed and shone. It laughed and shouted loudly, unafraid and constant. But all around it, was a lining of pain. Especially -

River stood on the cargo bay catwalk.

"No!"

She began to cry. "I wasn't moving, I was barely breathing!" she sobbed to no one.

She wanted to fall down and melt into the floor. Become cold unfeeling metal, moving only when bidden. The thought comforted her. She let her imagination run, concentrating on the fantasy.

Wash would always be close at hand, his ghost curled around the pilots chair. Mal would guide her through the sky and Kaylee would tend to her heart and soul...but Kaylee had not been in the engine room lately. Her usual joy had dissapated and her thoughts were no longer safe to crawl into and be lifted by. She seemed as though everything was frayed and frantich at the edges. Her thoughts had things swimming in the undertow...things that bit.

But whatever they were, Kaylee kept them well hidden from herself and River had dared not breach her mind.

Now, as she listened to the ships fluttering heartbeat, a cold thread of misery pierced her chest. It pulled her toward the door of Inara's shuttle. It was cold to touch.

River put her cheek against the hatch. Inara's glow pulsed around a smaller one, a glow which seemed defeated but laced through it were golden glimmers, faint and fading. Hope.

"Kaylee," River whispered.

River shut her eyes and opened them again. She stood in front of the shuttle door, she hadn't moved an inch.

She held her breath and reached for the handle on the hatch.

*****

Jayne'd reached his destination.

No one'd ever given much credit to Jayne Cobb as a thinker, but when it came to loved ones, the blood between his legs made a violent upward surge to power whatever was betweeen his ears.

The man behind the desk handed him the screen to fill out the forms. Jayne already knew who he was going to be masquerading as. A while back he'd worked with an ex-Special Forces wacko named John Pembry.Pembry had got to talking from time to time about his military career. Some mighty strange things'd come out of his mouth if you let him drink enough.

Pembry had, on one memorable occaision, drunk enough to drown a horse. He'd been talking about how if he ever went back (which he staunchly refused to do, no matter how tight money got or how much booze got swilled) he'd be eligible for any job he wanted.

Perhaps, Jayne'd thought when told this, that he only had this 'honor' because he'd done something 'loyal' enough to warrent all of the drinking he did.

In any case, when Pembry died Jayne'd thought to save his papers (the man had been broke and a good foot shorter then Jayne when he bought it). This was just before he'd gotten picked up by Serenity and he'd been planning to sell Pembry's ID to some fugee or other for a quick buck.

And it was these saved papers which now secured him a chance at vengence for Maddy, for his ma and even, a little bit, Kaylee. Because he wouldn't be coming back and Jayne thought, as the recruiter behind the desk welcomed John Pembry back into the Alliance Armed Forces with a salute and an awe-filled gaze, that when Kaylee saw his body it would make-up for the horrible things he'd done to her.

*****

Inara looked up as River entered the shuttle.

"Kaylee," the girl called silently. Kaylee's head, which had been buried in Inara's chest looked up at River.

"I came to help you."

River took a step towards the mechanic.

"Here to help. Don't be afraid." The young psychic put her hands gently on Kaylee's temples.

"River, honey, what are you doing?" Inara asked quietly.

"Saving Kaylee."

*****

I'll always love you my Zoe, no matter what happens.

Zoe sat, wordlessly, on her bunk. She did not cry as she tightly gripped the letter. The letter from Wash. It was a simple little note, attatched to an unopened box.

The note didn't say anything about sleeping with anybody else once he was dead.

The minutes slid by as she read it over and over again, trying to find something to condemn her, to make her a bad person for what she'd done. Zoe felt a tearing curiosity needle at the nape of her neck. She eyed the box and picked it up.

*****

Mal stood in the empty cargo bay.

"Hello?"

His voice echoed through the ship. Where the hell was everybody?