They all sat in the common room, each with varying displays of disbelief dancing behind their eyes. Mal had expected that it would take some convincing but he hadn’t been prepared for the steady silence that greeted him now.

“So, you think they what, they kidnapped him?” Kaylee asked the first to break the mood, her eyes still red from having been crying.

“It’s not unheard of this far out,” Inara added but still sounding doubtful.

“It’s not like he has any money or anything,” Jayne blurted out, “They didn’t ask for no ransom or nothing. Hell, not like we’d pay it to get him back anyway.”

The three women all shot him nasty looks not quite believing he’d said that. Even Mal didn’t look to kindly at him, so Jayne, being Jayne, rolled his eyes but figured it was time to keep his mouth shut.

“It wasn’t for money,” Mal answered after a beat, “couldn’t of been, they’d offered us money. Only thing I can think is that they must of needed a pilot. So they went and got themselves one. Ours.”

“But why Wash?” Kaylee asked. She was having the hardest time excepting it, “None of this makes sense. They could of taken anyone they’d run across. Or, they could of just done the normal thing and hire a hand. I just don’t…”

Kaylee let her words drift off. It had been a long week. With the fighting and the sickness and then the talks and it had all ended with death, but now that might not even be true. All of it was making her head spin.

“Lee.”

“I figured the same,” Mal agreed choosing to ignore the venom in Zoë’s voice.

“She knew Wash. She offered up the job. She set this up.”

“So,” Inara said a bit tentatively, “what are we going to do Mal?”

They all looked at him expectantly. Jayne seemed a bit dubious. Kaylee was scared. Inara just sat there as if it didn’t affect her either way. Zoë just looked anxious. And she was. She half expected Mal to say, ‘forget him,’ and press for Persephone, but the other half of her knew he wouldn’t. Mal had been angry at Wash, angrier then she could remember seeing him in a while, but he was also a fair man. If Mal had truly thrown Wash off he wouldn’t have been worried about him back on Medea. Mal couldn’t leave behind one of his own to this fate. Zoë knew that. And Mal’s concern clearly showed he still thought of Wash in those terms. But for a moment, she was anxious.

“We’re going back,” Mal said flatly.

Jayne’s was the only one whose expression remained unchanged. As Mal began handing out orders he waited behind. Finally after the others had shuffled off Jayne spoke up.

“You really think he’s alive.”

It was a statement of disbelief, not a question.

“Well Jayne, I don’t think they would have taken his things otherwise,” his tone was borderline condescending.

“Mal,” Jayne said shaking his head, “if these people are slavers, they ain’t going to let him go without a fight. There’s probably fifty people in that outfit we know of. Who’s to say there ain’t more? You think the three of us got a chance bustin in and out again?”

Mal just stared at him. He was beginning to get a feel for where this was headed.

“And if he ain’t dead Mal, which I still think he is, he’s about near it. They carried him off the ship. We’d have to carry him back on. And if we’re carrying him …”

Just as he’d thought. Everything came down to money with this man. Going back for Wash wasn’t going to get them anything but grief as far as Jayne saw.

“Tell you what,” Mal said leaning in, “when the three of us do go in, how about you let Zoë and I worry about getting Wash back out. Leave your hands free for carrying other things.”

Jayne kind of smirked, glad he’d been understood.

“Still think he’s dead,” he said over his shoulder as he left.

Mal didn’t care what Jayne thought. He’d made up his mind.

****

Wash felt very much like he’d just awoken from a three-week bender the next morning. His head was pounding, his vision was blurred and his entire body pulsed with a dull ache.

“You’re up,” Adrienne Lee practically chirped.

“Kind of,” Wash mumbled.

“How you feeling?”

”Not good.”

For a moment she looked concerned, a slight moment.

“It’ll wear off. It’s the remnants of the antidote. We had to give you a fairly large dose yesterday.”

Wash nodded but didn’t really comprehend what she was saying.

“Come on,” she said again. Wash couldn’t help thinking she was entirely too upbeat. “We’ll get something to eat and you’ll feel better.”

Slowly Wash got up. His back was still tight but walking was far less difficult today then he’d remembered it being the day before.

“Mind if I shower first,” Wash said as he realized that he’d probably been in the same clothes for the better part of a week now.

“No problem,” she smiled, “I’ll show you where.”

Wash felt much better having gotten clean and changed. His head was beginning to feel normal again and he’d even managed to walk now without hunching over. Lee had given him a tour of the common areas and the rooms. Wash hadn’t seen much of this on his last visit and he was somewhat impressed with the size of Eden Station as it was easily larger then the town it resided next to.

“I know it’s nothing like anything we had on Demeter, but it’s better then most,” Lee finished as they headed to the mess area.

He had been feeling good until she’d said that. He’d been remembering more and more of what had taken place on Serenity and now had a pretty good idea why Mal had chosen to leave him behind. Demeter. Mal couldn’t trust him because he came from Demeter. More then that, Mal wouldn’t trust him because he hadn’t been upfront with him.

Wash had been feeling guilty about it for some time now, long before all of this, but couldn’t bring himself to actually tell Mal. It wasn’t like telling Zoë. Telling her had been easy. One day they were talking and she asked and instead of changing the subject or lying, which he’d always done in the past to anyone who had asked, he told her. Told her the truth, as much of it as she wanted to hear. Probably more then she wanted to know. Much more. But she didn’t judge him because of it. Didn’t treat him different. She just accepted it and that had made him feel good about himself. Better then he had in a long time. He would have told her anything she’d asked. Done anything she’d asked.

“Wash? Wash?”

He snapped back to reality. Adrienne looked annoyed that he’d drifted off like that. He couldn’t remember what she’d been saying. He was too busy thinking of other things. Other people.

“I asked you if you’d like to meet my boss now,” she said haughtily, “Doing you a favor… remember?”

“Sorry,” Wash muttered, “I’m just letting my thoughts get away from me.”

”Listen,” she said her voice growing warmer, “I know your upset about everything that’s happened.”

”I’m that easy to read huh,” he cut in jokingly.

“Well,” she said rolling her eyes, “it wasn’t that hard to figure out. But seriously, you’re going to love it here. Everyone does. Give it a few days and you won’t even remember what any of them look like.”

Not wanting to argue with her he agreed but knowing for certain that he would never forget Zoë’s face.

As they left from their breakfasts, Wash finally started to pay attention to what was going on around him. He’d assumed from everything Lee had told him about Eden Station that it was primarily a farming community, growing and producing new plant life. Now, on the inside, they looked more like miners or some kind of shipping outfit. Not that he pretending to understand any of it in the first place, but it some how seemed off.

Lee had told him everything she could about the job. It was mostly shuttle work between Medea and a few of the closest planets. In his opinion it sounded boring as hell, but he didn’t want to offend her. They stopped in front of large black door.

“Wait a minute,” Wash said grabbing her wrist, “I’m not exactly use to doing things like this. I’m not even sure I want this job. I’ve got some credits; I may decide to just catch the next freight out of here to a larger port. This guy isn’t expecting me to take this job, is he?”

For a moment he thought he saw anger light up her eyes, but it faded quickly.

“No ones going to force you to do anything.”

“I know that,” he said trying to back peddle a bit. He’d offended her, as much as said her job was dull and not worth doing. “I’m not saying no, I just, I’m not sure this is what I want to do right now. I really should be just getting my head together again.”

“Just hear him out, okay?” she said flashing a brilliant smile.

Wash nodded, but wasn’t convinced. He was already thinking of polite ways of saying no.

“Okay, this is it,” she said obviously excited.

“Okay then,” he returned without near as much enthusiasm. She didn’t seem to care as they entered the office.

Behind a large rather expensive looking desk sat the man Lee had been talking about all morning. Dennly. Wash took one look at him and knew that he wouldn’t be taking the job.

“Mr. Warren is it?” he said coolly.

“Wash is fine.”

“Ms. Lee here has told me all about you. Says you’re an excellent pilot, which is extremely fortunate, because that is exactly what he need here.”

Lee was smiling big at the both of them and nudged him with her elbow. Apparently it was his turn to speak again.

“Yeah,” Wash said, not sure what he was suppose to be saying, “Lee and I go back a ways.”

“Yes,” Dennly said motioning them to have a seat, “knew you growing up. Demeter right?”

He didn’t wait for Wash to answer.

“You were both on your way to becoming ensigns at the academy. To bad you failed out. Alliance always needs good pilots, although I won’t be too upset you got past them. If you hadn’t you wouldn’t be here working for me.”

Dennly let out a kind of muted laugh.

“About that…” Wash tried to interject.

“You can start tomorrow, first thing in the morning. Ms. Lee can fill you in…”

”I haven’t said yes,” Wash said rather louder and much more curtly then he’d meant too. Dennly talking so casually about his past, one he’d tried so hard to forget, had really irked him. He’d learned to trust his instincts about people and he knew what they were telling him about this man. He wouldn’t be taking this job.

Dennly looked angrily at Lee who, for her part, looked startled.

“Wash, I don’t think you understand what Mr. Dennly is offering you here,” she said turning to him.

“And I don’t think you heard me,” Wash said rising to his feet.

“Sit down Mr. Warren,” Dennly said tonelessly, “and let me explain to you how things work here.”

Wash sat. He had a very bad feeling about this.

“They way I see things is that you owe us. We saved your life Mr. Warren. Took you in when we didn’t have too. If we hadn’t of provided you with the antidote to that nasty venom that was running through your veins, you would be dead.”

He let that sink if before continuing.

“Now these things don’t come cheap in these parts. Not cheap at all. So, you can either pay me now for the services my staff and I have provided for you or you can work off your debt. How you work off your debt is your choice, but believe me when I say that flying a shuttle craft might be boring, but it is not nearly as demanding as working on my docks.”

“How much do you think I owe you?” Wash asked unwilling to hide the sarcasm.

“I figure you owe us upwards of 20,000 credits, and that’s being generous. You’ll make roughly 75 credits a week on the docks. One hundred and fifty as a pilot. Of course, we’ll need to deduct some of that for housing and rations.”

“And how much is that?” Wash asked.

“Thirty-five credits a week,” the man said with a smug smile.

Wash put his head down into his hands as he did a quick mental calculation. At that rate he’d be here ‘working off his debt’ for over 3 years if he flew and close to 10 years if he didn’t.

Dennly wasn’t surprised at first by his reaction; he’d seen resignation before. Truth was, he liked it. Everyone reacted differently. Some cried. Some got angry. Most of them just accepted their fate. He hadn’t been prepared for laughter.

“This is some scam you’ve got going,” Wash said, still laughing.

“I don’t see what is amusing about this,” Dennly said tight lipped. From the looks of it, neither did Lee.

“It’s just that my mother always said I’d end up just like my father. I’m sure Lee here has told you all about her too,” Wash said throwing a significant glance her way which she ignored.

Dennly didn’t ignore her however. He was now glaring at the woman.

“And just so we’re all clear,” Wash said after he’d finally stopped laughing, “there’s no way in hell I’ve flying for you. Got to keep some kind of respect for myself.”

“As you like,” Dennly said the smile creeping back onto his face. He reached under the table and pressed a button. Two armed men appeared at the door.

“Take him to be fitted, he’ll be on dock nine under Chang.”

“Sir?” Lee nearly gasped.

“He’s done this to himself,” Dennly said with a grin.

Wash was good at pushing people’s buttons. Very good. And he knew he had pushed Dennly to far. As the two men led him down the hall, Lee trailing them, Wash briefly bemoaned his fate and silently made up his mind that the next time he found himself in a situation like this he’d keep his big mouth shut. That was, of course, assuming there’d be a next time.