Well all thing s must come to an end. Hope you like the ending.

The Job (PartV - Conclusion)

It had been a difficult day. The town where they landed hadn’t been his home, but he and his family had visited there once before. It still looked the same, as if nothing had changed in the last 20 years. But as far as Malcolm Reynolds was concerned, everything had changed. In the intervening years, his family had died, he’d sold the ranch, he’d lost a war and his faith, and he’d been beaten, tortured, arrested and left to die on more than one occasion. It was hard to look at the shops ringing the docks and remember the innocent kid he’d been back then. It was harder still to remember his mother and his sister shopping for party dresses at the same shop that still stood on the corner of the main street.

Mal didn’t avoid difficult tasks. So he’d gone himself to meet with the owner of their cargo and arrange for the delivery and the return shipment even though just about the last thing in the universe he wanted was set foot on that planet. Zoe and Wash had both volunteered to go in his place, but it was a harsh universe and a captain who couldn’t do the job of a captain didn’t last very long in it. So Mal had gone and now he was back on Serenity.

They were unloading the cargo now, but the return cargo wouldn’t be here for three more days because some flooding had cut off the delivery route of the grain. So they had to wait while the wagon train took a longer route.

Everyone was standing in the cargo bay when he returned except Simon and River, who always stayed out of sight when strangers were on board. They were there to give him support, he knew.

Inara came down to greet him looking cool and elegant as usual. "How are you doing," she asked.

"Fine." She gave him a look that clearly said, "That’s a load of gos se." But she let it pass without remark for which he was grateful.

It was due to her that he was functioning at all. The last three days of discussing his feelings and nightmares with her had he