"So, Kaylee, you still haven't told us how Simon proposed." Inara said, smiling across the table at the younger woman.

"Ain't really much to tell." Kaylee stammered, shifting in her seat and exchanging a nervous look with Simon.

"You tellin' us that our fancy Doc here couldn't even propose proper?" Jayne chuckled. "Didn't get down on one knee and all?"

"Someone was on their knees, all right." River giggled.

"River!" Kaylee and Simon both yelled.

"Well now, sounds like this might be an interestin' engagment story after all." Jayne said. "Must've been one hell of a blo-"

"And it's time to change the subject." Simon interrupted.

"As strange as it may sound, I agree with the Doc." Mal said, glaring at the mercenary.

Zoe cleared her throat. "So, have you two given any thought to where and when you'd like to have the wedding?"

"Soon as possible." Kaylee grinned.

"We've waited long enough." Simon added. "More than enough."

"Waited for what?" Jayne asked. "Ain't like you two have been abstainin'."

"I should be more concerned about your inability to be civil for even one conversation, but I'm more interested in how a word like that is even in your vocabulary." Simon said, giving the man-ape a confused look.

"I did occasionally pay some attention to the Shepard's preachin'." Jayne said defensively.

The mention of Book cast a cloud over the table, as the two missing faces flashed through everyone's mind. Kaylee looked down as it hit her for the first time that the Shepard wouldn't be there to perform her wedding ceremony.

Inara saw the girl's face fall and quickly spoke up. "I can help you make your dress, Kaylee. Come up to my shuttle later, we can look for a design on the cortex, and a good silk and some lace shouldn't be too hard to come by on Regina."

"She still don't got a ring." Jayne pointed out.

"That won't be a problem, either." Inara told him sharply, noticing that Simon now looked almost as depressed as Kaylee had a moment before. She gave him a gentle smile. "I know a jeweler on Regina as well, I can speak to her for you, if you'd like."

"That would be...thank you, Inara. I'd appreciate that." Simon replied, looking relieved.

"I keep tellin' him I don't need anything fancy." Kaylee blushed.

"You're only going to get married once, Kaylee." Inara said. "It should be perfect. You two deserve it."

"It will be perfect." Kaylee said, placing her hand over Simon's and grinning at him. "No matter how we get hitched, it'll be perfect."

"Can't argue with that." Simon admitted, his face softening as he leaned in to give his bride-to-be a gentle kiss.

"We're eatin', here!" Jayne protested.

"Leave them alone." Zoe ordered.

Jayne frowned. He looked at Mal. "We're outnumbered."

River giggled as she looked around the table. "Three men, four women. The numbers will be even soon enough."

No one spoke for a minute as River's words settled over them. Then slowly, moving as one, everyone turned to look at Simon and Kaylee.

"What? What's everyone looking at?" Kaylee asked.

Mal's hand moved to his gun. "Something you two want to share with us?"

Zoe stood up slowly. "Wrong again, sir." Another silence took hold, this one lasting until Zoe gave the rest of them a bemused look. "You all going to sit there trying to catch flies, or you gonna congratulate me?"

Kaylee leapt up from her chair and raced around the table to give the older woman a hug. "Zoe, that's so shiny!"

Simon looked concerned. "You're at least five months along, you should have come to see me as soon as you found out."

"Only just figured it out recently myself." Zoe admitted. "I thought I was feelin' off due to stress, until your sister clued me in."

River grinned proudly. "Everything's fine." She assured her brother. "He's a happy soul. Like his father."

Jayne frowned at the girl. "You knew all along and didn't even bother telling her?"

"He didn't want me to." River shrugged. "Wanted his mother all to himself for a while."

"Oh, Zoe." Inara breathed, hugging her, a little in shock. "Congratulations."

Zoe smiled, a little overwhelmed by all the attention. "He?" She asked River. That part was news to her.

"Your son." River replied. "Wash's son."

Mal, who had been sitting silent since Zoe's announcement, finally reached out and took his first mate's hand. "And you're...okay?"

"I'm fine." Zoe promised. She placed their joined hands over her stomach. "Always knew my man wouldn't leave me for good." ________________________

Hours later, Mal knocked on the hatch to Zoe's bunk, knowing somehow that she would still be awake.

"Come in, sir." Her voice drifted up to him.

He climbed down and stood at the foot of the ladder. "Doc check you out?"

Zoe nodded. "He says everything's fine." She looked at Mal for a long moment. "You don't approve."

"I didn't say that." Mal protested. "I'm not sure I see the percentage in raising a critter in this kind of environment, but obviously that ain't my choice."

"Wash took some convincin', too." Zoe said. "He'd just come around to the idea when...well, we'd only just started trying." She stood up, and in her nightclothes, a small bump in her belly was more apparent.

"So, a boy." Mal said. "Just about five months along?" In another week, it would be five months that Wash had been gone. It didn't seem real yet.

"Very nearly." Zoe replied.

"He got a name yet?" Mal asked.

"River says he told her his name." Zoe said with a light chuckle. "But that it's gotta stay a secret between the three of us for a little longer."

"Been a lot of secrets being kept around here lately." Mal observed.

"That's true." Zoe agreed. "And River and I aren't the only ones with secrets, are we?"

Mal's eyes widened for a moment. "Well, no, I'd imagine you ain't." Her knowing look made him uncomfortable, and he cleared his throat. "I just wanted to...make sure you're all right, and say...you know, congratulations."

"Thank you, sir." Zoe smiled. "Good night."

"Good night." Mal replied. He climbed up the ladder and pulled the hatch closed. Outside his own bunk, he opened the hatch and waited for a moment before closing it. Then, with one last glance around to be sure he was alone, he crept off in the direction of Inara's shuttle.