Mal, Zoë, and Jayne walked up to Serenity's cargo bay, the blast doors opening to reveal Kaylee. As they entered the cargo bay, Zoë and Jayne got to storing the cargo.

Kaylee hit the button to close the blast doors. "What happened?" she asked, a worried look on her face.

Mal hit the comm button, "Take us out of here, little albatross." Serenity started to take off as he turned back to Kaylee. He opened the right flap of his coat, revealing a bullet hole, the bullet narrowly missing his leg. "There was shootin'."

"I don't understand, Cap'n. Thought this was supposed to be an easy pick-up."

"They're all supposed to be easy pick-ups. Never are. Third party got involved and created us a messy situation."

Zoë and Jayne finished storing the cargo and walked back over to Mal and Kaylee. "Cargo stored, sir," Zoë said.

As Kaylee turned to look at Zoë, she saw blood trailing down her arm. "Zoë, you're hurt."

"Lucky it's all she got," Jayne muttered.

Mal silenced Jayne with a glare. "We all got jobs on this boat. Ain't paying you to stand around."

"I'll make sure Simon has the lab prepped," Kaylee said softly as she left the bay, Jayne following her.

As Zoë stared to leave, Mal stopped her, "Could've been prevented ya know."

Zoë turned to face him, "What's that, sir?"

"That whole fight. It didn't have to happen. You pulled your gun first. You wanted a fight." Mal paused. "You wanted to step into the line of fire."

"Wouldn't do that, sir. Just trying to do my job."

"Last time I checked, your job didn't entail gettin' yourself killed." Mal paused, and it was clear this conversation was hard for him. "Are you with me, Zoë?"

"Till the end, sir."

"Question is, is the end gonna come sooner than it's supposed to."

Zoë didn't respond but continued to look ahead, to look past the Captain.

"Go get your arm fixed. While you're there, talk to the doc about how much you're eatin' and sleepin'."

"Sir, I don't think that..."

"That's an order."

"Yes, sir."

Mal watched as Zoë