Dear mamma,

Just thought I’d drop you a line or two, post it on Persephone, rather than wait for us to be close enough to vid. Soon as we can I'm plannin’ on telling the Captain to stop by, make sure we get a proper visit in, and then you can get to meet the newest addition to the family. You’re a granma! Bethany’s her name, and she is the cutest little dumpling you will ever see. I’ve enclosed a capture so you can see what I mean! Ain't she the most beautiful baby?

That there with me is Simon, Bethany’s daddy. He’s pushing me to get married, and tell Pa I will eventually, just not yet. It don’t feel like the right time, but it will be soon. Guess I feel like Freya, you know, the woman you met? She’s put the Captain off for a long while, ever since she … well, she lost a baby of her own, and I can only imagine what that did to her inside. But he’s finally managed to get her to name a date, and soon as we hit Boros, they’re gonna get hitched! Simon thinks we should make it a double ceremony, but I … well, I don’t … I just can’t yet. ‘Sides, it’s Freya’s day, and I don’t wanna take anything away from her. She has to be the centre of attention, her and the Cap’n.

He’s going round the place looking like he’s just learned how to smile but don’t know how to stop. Ain't never seen the man so happy. It kinda affects the whole crew, you know? Zoe and Hank – she’s the Cap’s first mate and he’s the pilot – well, they’ve been talking. I know that don’t sound much, but normally she’s telling him what she’s likely to do to him to make him go away, but they’ve actually been talking. Like real people. He even made her laugh, and I can tell you, you coulda knocked the Cap’n off his chair with a feather. I reckon he’s seeing the possibility of another breaking of his ‘no shipboard romances’ rule in the not too distant future. I wouldn’t mind – I loved Wash with all my heart, in a not-squishy-sex kinda way, but Zoe deserves to be happy. ‘N’ I think Hank could do that. Not that I'm gonna tell her. Fr