Title: Tough

Rating: PG. For now, but it could bump up. Will bump up.

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

Pairings: Canon pairings. I will openly admit that I heavily, heavily favor Mal and Inara and the Reynolds Family.

Summary: Yet another Pirate Children story. Set twenty-eight years post-BDM. A not-so-fluffy (but still slightly fluffy) look at the future. Serenity's adjusting to her grown children.

Author's Note: This one's gonna be controversial. It's not light, it's not fluffy, and Serra is no longer cute and prococious. There are now twelve adults trying to live on Serenity and be useful. Abe's in medacad. And all will be revealed in time. This skips almost a decade from Hell-Raising and though the first chapter doesn't answer any more questions than it raises, details will either be filled in by the characters or by later PC fics.

For newbies:

Brother, Shadow, Mischief, Pirate Children, Hell-Raising (whew, that list is getting long)

Kacey Washburn, 27

Lolly Tam, 26

Abe Reynolds, 24 (medacad on Ariel)

Serra Reynolds, 19

Alistair Caramia (ladies don't reveal their ages)

Part 1

“Dress it up like ya like, empire is empire is Alliance,” Serra says, holding the big, burly man’s eyes steadily, and then takes a large sip of her mug of local brew.

“Gorrammit Mal,” the man Serra calls Uncle Monty laughs thunderously, “Ya’ve raised yourself a right little Browncoat.”

“Yeah, noticed that,” Mal sighs, likewise nursing a beer. He looks uncomfortable at his daughter’s political ramblings. “Wasn’t working on it; just happened on its own.”

“Despite my best efforts,” Inara says from beside him, sipping on a much more girly drink.

Serra continues to discuss the state of the ‘verse from her view, where the Independents went wrong and where they could go right. The whole thing scares Mal more than a mite. She sounds like he did before joining up, except a helluva lot more intelligent. Guess that’s his puni