William sat on the bridge of Serenity, absently aware of the system readouts as he read his bible. The ship was quiet as a tomb, the rest of the crew in their bunks; it was just William, the stars, and his thoughts. The ship had its course programmed and it was bound to be smooth sailing, but William didn’t want to leave anything to chance. That and he wanted to be here when they arrived. They were about four hours from Titan.

Home. William thought absently. It’s been years since I’ve been back.

“And you swore you never would.” A voice said from behind him.

“River.” William smiled, not even bothering to turn. He touched the side of his head. “You poking around in here again?” He quickly put his arm around her waist and pulled her onto his lap. She yelped in surprise and the two of them laughed. “You know I don’t like that.” William said as he leaned in for a kiss.

After a moment, River broke away smiling. “Well then, maybe you shouldn’t think so loud.” The two of them started laughing, and William found himself kissing River again, much more passionately this time. River adjusted herself into a more comfortable position. She pressed her forehead against William’s, looking into his eyes. “I love you.”

William flashed a smile. “I love you too.”

“You better.” River said smiling as she leaned in for another kiss.

~~~

William finished prepping the flight sequences for entering atmo. Mal and Zoë came into the bridge.

“How’re things going?” Mal asked as he took the co-pilot seat.

“It smells like sex in here.” Zoë commented as she came up behind William.

William ignored her and turned to Mal. “Barring a catastrophe, we should be landing in Riverside in about nine minutes.”

Mal finished strapping in and looked over the diagnostics. “Mal, I’ve been flying ships for years and Serenity for a several months now. I think I can handle this landing.”

“No doubts in your ability, Will,” Mal said without looking up, “just in your focus.”

William clenched his jaw. After