Disclaimers : Everything belongs to Joss, except for one character of my creation.

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**Mousing over the Chinese should reveal the English translations on most browsers. If not, translations follow the story.

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Mal woke later, still face down, to the quiet of the infirmary at night. He licked his parched lips, his tongue feeling like a dry lump of something foreign in his mouth. He lifted his head and looked around to shake off the sedative hangover, and, though the lights had been dimmed, saw Zoë sitting in the corner of the room. He tried to speak, but his mouth was too dry.

“Sir,” Zoë said, rising as she saw him stir.

“Unnh...” he managed to get out in return.

She brought him a cup of water she had at the ready. He sipped from it and rested his head on the pillow again.

“How long I been out?”

“Few hours. Doc kept you sedated awhile.”

Mal inhaled deeply and tried to stretch his stiff arms and legs. He grimaced as a jolt of pain from his left buttock reminded him why he was in the infirmary to begin with.

“Gorramn Badger...” he murmured. “Never again. I told that sorry little gun he wasn’t gonna—“

“We got the goods, sir,” Zoë said. Mal looked at her in surprise. “We went back while Doc was patchin’ you up—Jayne felt the need to, uh, remedy the situation of you bein’ shot in the backside.”

“Well...how’d he do that?”

“Shot somebody in the frontside.”

Mal sighed and couldn’t help cracking a faint smile.

“Just enough to hurt, I hope?”

Zoë nodded. “Just enough.”

Mal looked down at his right hand, which had an IV catheter and line taped to it. He shook his head.

“This is not where I’d hoped to find myself just as we’re about to get to Boros. I gotta take Alex to her mama, I don’t relish the thought of meetin’ her while favorin’ my pi gu ...” He narrowed his eyes. “So Jayne ‘felt the