Title: Mischief

Rating: PG. For mischief and a little cursin'. Shh, don't repeat that in front of Mei-Mei.

Characters: the whole crew, plus the Pirate Children and Alistair Caramia (the latter are mine, the rest are Joss's)

Pairings: Canon pairings. I generally lean towards M/I, but this one is not as shippery as Shadow or any of the others. This is more about the kids.

Summary: Yet another Pirate Children story. Set thirteen years post-BDM, AU. A look into daily life for the children aboard Serenity. How do four children pass the time in the Black?

Author's Note: Thanks for the feedback! You're all amazing. This story is SO much fun to write. I think it's been my favorite (and the quickest) story yet.

Part 2

“Aiya!”

“Somethin’ wrong, Husband?”

“I’ve got no monitors. They just… blitzed out.” Wash pulls the intercom down to him. “Captain, we’ve got a situation on the bridge.”

Mal’s disgruntled voice crackles back over the comm. “What kind of situation?”

“One of the ‘we’re blind and still flying’ variety.”

A string of Mandarin curses follows, and then abruptly ends as the captain cuts the connection.

Wash is fiddling with switches and buttons, about to open up the console when Mal stomps onto the bridge calling for Kaylee.

“Why can’t this boat stay together for more’n a week at a time? Kaylee!”

“Yeah, Cap’n?” the mechanic answers, climbing the steps to the bridge, Serra on her hip. Both are covered in streaks of paint in all shades of the rainbow. Zoe snickers a little at the pair.

“What the he…” He catches himself, remembering his very impressionable five-year-old, and continues, “Heck happened to you two?”

Serra grins, big brown eyes wide with innocence even as one of her black curls is practically dipped in purple paint. That innocence strikes Mal as funny, but he knows his littlest has the mischief of her three older companions combined.

“We had a finger-paintin’ mishap,” Kaylee shrugs. “But we made some real purty pictures, didn’t we, Mei-Mei?”

“Yep, Daddy. Yo