He’d known that something was going on. Kaylee had been building something in the engine room. Simon and Eve had been spending a lot of time in the infirmary messing about with nasty smelling chemicals. And Jayne had shown a marked tendency to show up and try and distract him anytime he was around the engine room or the infirmary.

He didn’t like being kept in the dark, this was his goram boat! He was the Captain, and no one ever told him anything!

He’d been tempted to lock Simon and Eve in the hold for a month when they’d pulled that “nothing” business! And then they’d had the gall to giggle at him! Though he had to admit he’d been shocked to hear the sound from Simon, he’d always thought the boy too much of a stuffed shirt to giggle.

Now sitting here staring at a pile of credits, three thousand credits! He no longer felt quite so annoyed, it still bugged him; he was the Captain they should have told him!

But he couldn’t really generate much heat, especially when he thought of the looks on their faces when they’d given him the money. Pride, and something else, something he couldn’t explain, something he couldn’t put into words. But he remembered feeling it himself, remembered the pride and joy and simple satisfaction when he’d done something for his Ma that she hadn’t expected, something that she’d needed but would never have asked him for.

It scared him a little, to know that they felt that way about him. Worried him.

But mostly he felt grateful.

Even Jayne had worn the same expression, and that was down-right frightening in some ways, the man was nearly the same age as he was!

But mostly he could only feel gratitude.

Three thousand credits.

They’d made whiskey from the apples Eve grew, forged an Alliance tax seal and sold the liquor. It annoyed him that they had done so without telling him, they could have gotten them pinched if they got caught. But Simon and Eve had an answer for that. They’d given him two different glasses of whiskey to taste and he was supposed to say which was the fake…he’d picked Eve’s for the real stuff, he’d felt better when Inara did too. They’d also pointed out that their seals were visually and chemically identical to the real seal, and further pointed out that they only had one crate of the stuff at a time making the odds of them having the real stuff more likely. And besides all that Kaylee had cleverly built the whiskey still into her inter-engine fermenter, so she could give whomever came onboard some of her inter-engine wine and have them none the wiser.

They’d given him every credit they’d made, save for the cost of the materials they’d bought. Every credit.

He wouldn’t have asked that of them. They’d done the work, they should get the profit.

Yet they’d given him all of it, all of it to split the way he normally did. Everyone would get some, some less than others but everyone would get some. But it bothered him a little; no may as well be honest, it bothered him a lot that two of the four who’d done the work would get less than everyone else.

He’d had to change the division, what with all the people on board he’d had to make sure that everyone got paid. Inara, Simon and Eve got eight percent, River got nine percent, Jayne and Kaylee got ten percent, Zoe got thirteen, he got fifteen and Serenity got twenty percent But money didn’t go far not when split nine ways, but he still felt guilty about the split.

It always bothered him, how to decide what someone was worth?

Inara still argued about getting a share, and he knew that every credit he gave her went back into the general supplies fund.

More often than not Simon spent his on medical tools and supplies that rightly should have come out of Serenity’s fund. Though, he had no idea how he would have afforded it…he’d stopped arguing with Simon about. Though arguing probably wasn’t the right word, he talked and Simon just nodded and said “Yes, Captain” and did what he wanted anyway.

He’d long known that Kaylee spent more than half of her income on parts and tools, the rest she spent on pretties and treats which she shared with the crew. And every time he’d tried to talk to her about it she distracted him with something else, so that it was hours before he remembered what he’d originally went to talk to her about.

River spent very little of her coin, what she did spend was on paints and drawing supplies. She still continued to wear Kaylee and Inara’s cast-offs but now she also wore Eve and Zoe’s cast offs; he’d seen her in an old shirt and vest of Zoe’s just the other day. And right odd the plain buff colored shirt and dark red vest had looked when paired with the garish orange, green and blue skirt River had pieced together out of several of Wash’s old shirts. The girl was hording her money, he knew what for, he’d over-heard Kaylee and River discussing it a few weeks ago.

Granted Serenity did need a new sensor suite, but it wasn’t the crew’s problem, they shouldn’t all be contributing to the fund. River shouldn’t be putting ninety percent of her income into it either.

But no one had listened when he’d said that, they’d just given River the money they’d saved out and left him sputtering in the cock-pit while the maddening girl smiled understandingly at him.

Zoe had always snuck money into the general fund, when he’d had control of the fund he’d been able to limit how much and how often, but now Inara controlled all of the books. So now he had no way of knowing how often and how much Zoe gave, but he was willing to bet based solely on the improvement of the food quality (Eve’s fresh produce not with standing since when did they eat real meat?) that it was a lot more than a single mother with two children had any business putting in.

And when he’d pointed that out to her, Zoe'd the gall to laugh at him (though it had done him good to hear her laugh) and point out to him that she hasn’t had to pay for a single thing for the girls. And while he had to admit that was true she should still be saving her money.

He smiled a little; Kaylee’s mother had taken a collection up for outgrown children’s clothing. They stopped to visit, and introduce the newest crew members to their surrogate grand-parents and been given three crates full of clothing.

It was an even mix of boys and girls clothing (Ellie generally wore the girl’s clothing, while Ari opted for the boy’s and like their father before them both girls had a unique way with color coordination) all of good sturdy material and all clean, stainless and nearly invisibly mended. Plus the clothing covered a wide range of ages, so he doubted that they would have to buy much as the years went by. His only concern had been storage, those were big crates and he didn’t want them cluttering up his hold indefinitely.

But in typical fashion his crew had foreseen the problem and solved it without so much as telling him about it. He’d been a little surprised to find the crates gone the next day. He found one in the common room strapped down and covered with the plants that had been sitting on the deck. Another had ended up in his and Inara’s shuttle, pushed up against the wall, securely strapped down and covered in more of the filmy red fabric that covered everything. Neatly arranged on it was his toiletries and hanging above it was a mirror for him to shave. He didn’t find the third crate for several days not until he caught Zoe climbing out of Jayne’s bunk, baby clothing in hand.

Jayne had dismantled the desk he used to strip down and clean his guns and strapped the crate in its place. A bit of canvas to protect the crate from the gun oil and it was actually a larger work surface for him.

And everyone bought the girls clothing, he smiled sometimes at the odd mix of stuff they had as each person bought something to their taste. But they wore it all.

Jayne had been changing of late, and at first he’d been inclined to worry, thinking the man ill. He all but stopped drinking, oh he’d have a glass with the crew, but he no longer drank to get drunk. He spent less and less time in his bunk, and more time with the crew, He and Simon actually got along with each other (not perfectly they were polar opposites and would never get along perfectly). He was more willing to help out and less likely to complain when work was handed out. The most telling (and truth to be told, disturbing) change though was that he no longer went to the whore-houses.

As a result the man had more coin to spend, and spend it he did. Jayne seemed to think he was responsible for making sure that the girls were shod, and what he wouldn’t have given to see the man in a children’s shoe store with both the girls. Every time they went the girls came back with a bare minimum of two pairs of shoes; a good sturdy pair of boots and one or two pairs of frivolous shoes. The last time they’d went Ari’d come back with a pair of red sequined sandals and another pair of sandals with big blue silk rosettes. Ellie opted for a garish green pair of what Simon called “Mary Jane’s” and a pair of silver sequined sandals.

Jayne also seemed to think it was his responsibility to handle ammunition and security aboard Serenity. No one had to buy their own ammo, Jayne supplied it all. He’s also spent a fair portion of his earnings on a new state of the art cargo lock (it had to have been stolen, that’s the only way he could have afforded it). When he tried to talk to him about not spending the money Jayne had gotten uncomfortable and said he had enough coin, was even saving some up.

And Eve, Eve was the worst of them. Every credit she got went into the various funds his crew insisted on having, back into her plants or to books and supplies for the girl’s schooling.

He tried to tell her not to, but she laughed at him. Asked him what he thought she needed, said she had a home, she had good clothing, food on the table and a lab to experiment in, what more did she need? He’d no answer for her.

He stared down at the pile of credits in front of him, he’d split it up and give it out and he’d get something like ninety percent of it back in one way or another. He smiled, laughing a little, aside from the little bit he needed to buy ‘Nara that necklace she eyed every time they were on Persephone, his coin would go into Serenity’s fund.

He had a home, a soft bed, good clothing, good food and his family.

What more did he need?