A.N.: Completely independent of my other fics, one-shot. (I promise, more of Three Strand Cord will be posted tonight.) Song lyrics courtesy of Steve Green, "I Can See (On the Emmaus Road)", so google that if you want the rest. Now, I turn the story over to Mal...

------- LIKE A ONCE FAMILIAR STRAIN

The first time I saw him, I resented him. This intrusion into my past. The belief I held dearly for so long only to watch it fly away on the wings of my supposed angels. 'Command says it's too hot. They're pulling out. We're to lay down arms.' I watched my God fly away from me in that valley, shots still ringing. Left to die. I banished him from my life that day, and we managed to avoid each other a good six years, until this man walked into my life. This Shepherd. Oh, how I resented him in those first weeks. Shut him down. Ignored his commentary on my heathen life. But he stood firm, offered his counsel. And sometimes, my head would turn in surprise.

Can't you see who walks with you? Can't you hear who speaks your name? Can't you feel something stirring in your heart?

It wasn't the first job, nor the second. He allowed me to keep on with my thieving, not commenting at all on the illegality of it. He did not proselytize me as I suspected he might. Kept his prayers to himself, though I know for a fact he prayed every day. It's what I used to do, back when I thought it mattered. Every now and again, he'd drop a tidbit. A morsel of truth into my situation, reminding me he had a path that wasn't always so godly. There was something in him I recognized. We were mirrors, him and me. God was my past, his future.

How his words ring strong and true, Like a once familiar strain. Can the paths we follow from now on be the same?

I came to rely on his counsel, even after he left my ship to follow his God. I remember sitting in my bunk those lonesome days, wishing for a listening ear, a sound word of advice. I thought of sending a wave, but knew he'd only quote a scripture or tell me to believe. I knew that scripture back and forwards, having memorized it all before the war. But the comfort weren't in those words so much as the eyes of the man sayin' them. Somehow, he made them come alive with truth, even when I didn't want to see it. Oh, how his eyes held that truth to his dying breath. I remember holding his hand, his bloody palm touching my face. He wasn't part of this business, yet he'd been killed on account of me. But it wasn't blame I saw in his eyes, it was another light altogether. His sermon was simple that day. Urgent. "Just believe."

And from that moment in time I felt the emptiness subside, And saw eternity and suddenly I knew...

He only walked beside me for a short span, but there was something I saw in his death that I'd never seen in my whole life. I was back in Serenity Valley, and instead of watching my angels fly away, they were flying towards me. Come again to fight beside me, just for this one battle. Book's blood on my face, my clothes, my hands - his spirit infused in mine. I had been without belief so long, it washed over me like crushing waves of salty ocean. I could hardly stand, but I knew what needed to be done. All the advice he'd offered over the past few months sang in my ears, lending me strength. Though I left his body there in the dirt, he walked beside me as I began the next task. Hearing his words; doing what had to be done.

How His words ring strong and true, Like a once familiar strain! And I know I'll never be the same! I can see. *~*