This person hadn’t been gone long. A few days, a week at most and these new fangled coffins had a descent way of preserving things. And by things I mean bodies. How Smitty had made them so lucky he really didn’t know. Atticus Smith, the doctor’s assistant, marveled at the new patient. The whole details of the procedure were still unknown to him. Him being only an assistant they didn’t tell him much until they already started doing it. They were going to have to fix that hole though, he knew that. It was a huge hole, mostly in the chest area, but still it was a huge hole.

***********

Zoë was always emotionless now. She never cried in front of the crew, but everyone wanted her to. It would be less painful than watching her try to hide the fact that he was never there. We all loved him, and if she wanted to cry and talk about it, we’d all cry and talk about it. That wasn’t her way though, being all touchy feely and what not. But still, venting never hurt nobody. Kaylee had cried numerous times since Miranda, especially when she remembers asking what happened to Wash when they were at Mr. Universe’s. Zoë’s look nearly crumpled her heart into tiny little pieces. Even Simon couldn’t get her mind off of it sometimes. If it was this hard for her she could only imagine how hard it was for Zoë.

River knew how hard it was for Zoë. She would sit outside her bunk and listen to her cry at night, wishing she could bring her comfort, even of the smallest kind. Simon constantly gave his little sister glances as to warn her not to say what he warned her not to say. River just wanted Zoë to be okay again.

She missed his smile the most. The smile that could automatically make her less serious. She really wanted to kiss him again, to feel his skin. She wanted him to be there to comfort her. But he’d never be back, she would never get to touch him, kiss him or see him smile ever again. She knew the others wanted to talk especially Mal. He was the most subtle one about it but he wanted it the most. There hadn’t ever be