Title: Snow Angels

Rating: G

Summary: Serenity is delivering medicine to a very snowy planet. Inara goes with Mal to make the delivery.

[center]Snow Angels [/center]

Malcolm Reynolds was an early riser. It was a habit he’d gotten into during his childhood. His mother would wake up at dawn to start chores. Mal always got up with her to help, even when he was very young and not much help at all. These days, he didn’t need to get up so early – if there was such a thing as ‘early’ in space – but he did anyway. On some days it was a comfort. He woke up and he felt connected to his mother, to Shadow, to that person he was before. Other days, it was a torture. He woke up bone tired, cursing his mother’s memory. Rarely did he wake up to the sound of voices.

Mal noticed them before he even opened his eyes, the sound of laughter drifting down from the kitchen. Kaylee’s mirth filled giggles. Jayne’s confident snicker. River’s overly loud chortle. Heck, he even though he heard the doc’s nervous chuckle. For a moment, Mal smiled at it. There really hadn’t been much laughter on his boat lately. There was a part of him that pretended that was a good thing, more orderly. But he remembered his mother, too, and how her ranch hands would laugh, telling dirty jokes that Mal would repeat to his friends at the school house…

“Mornin’ Cap’n!” Kaylee greeted cheerily when Mal entered the room. “Sleep well?”

Mal didn’t answer for a moment, taking in the site of the room. Jayne and Zoe were sitting next to each other at the table, Zoe’s right ankle supported by the chair on the other side of the table. Zoe nodded to him when he entered. Jayne, though, was much to busy concentrating on the metal monstrosity on the table. “Umm… Kaylee,” Mal said, “what is that?”

Kaylee smiled in response, practically bounding. “It’s a sleigh, Cap’n!” He tilted his head. “For sledding?” He still didn’t react. Kaylee smiled anyway. “Jayne an’ River an’ me have been workin’ on it all mornin’. Its gonna be the best sleigh ever.”

“Damn right