Disclaimer: Characters do not belong to me, they are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and Fox.

Feedback is always welcome.

Takes place shortly after the series ended and about a month after the events in Delta Rain.

My eternal thanks to Cassie E, Starrbaby, Kryptonite, tori deathangel, jebbypal, me (whoever you are, you were my first reviewer way back for Ballad Of Jayne) and everyone else that has read and/or reviewed my stories. Special thanks to silk1 for the incredible "What Just Happened?" series. I know some of what you wrote has seeped into my River and Jayne. :-)

Big hugs and mucho thanks to Cassie E for going above and beyond the call of duty and beta-ing for me, also doing some major hand holding as I embark on this new territory of doing a more plotty and action orientated story.

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Captain Malcolm Reynolds stood looking out at the jumble of bodies mingling around Persephone's docks. His luck hadn't been real shiney the last few trips here and he found himself wondering why he kept coming back. With a wry twist of the lips he turned to face his crew.

"All right folks, let's make this trip smooth." he strode purposefully back towards them, "Wash, you an' Kaylee get the parts we need. Jayne, you take the Doc on his errands, watch out for them patrols." he gave Jayne a stern look; he very much did not like Simon gettin' off the boat here. "Zoë, you're with me."

"You three," he tossed almost casually over his shoulder as they moved out, "watch over my girl."

He couldn't shake the nerves that'd been plaguin' him all morning, didn't help that River'd been actin' all twitchy too. Never a good sign, but when he'd asked if she saw any danger she'd only been able to look at him in frustration and shake her head no. But he could tell somethin' was tickling at her edges. If only he'd been able to think on a way to keep the Doc on the ship, but they needed tho