River was sitting on her bed, Ethan lying on the covers in front of her, Bethany on the floor with her colouring book.

“What are you doing?” Jethro asked, leaning on the doorframe.

“Working.” She glanced up at him and smiled, then looked back at Ethan.

“Working. Right.” He waited a moment. “How, exactly?”

“Looking after these two,” River said slowly, as if she was explaining something patently obvious.

“Of course.”

“And seeing whether Ethan has inherited his mother’s psychic abilities.”

“What?”

“He could have. Just because her talents have been dampened artificially, there’s no reason she shouldn’t be able to pass them on.”

“Really.”

She looked up at him. “Really.”

“And has he?”

“I can’t tell yet.” She seemed almost disappointed.

“So what about Bethany?”

The little girl looked up from where she was colouring a pink horse under a purple sky. “Bet’ny?”

“Purple?” River said, her eyes not moving from Jethro’s face. “Everyone knows the sky is black.”

“I like purp … purple,” Bethany said carefully. “’N’ orange.” She grinned and picked up that colour crayon for the grass.

“Don’t change the subject,” Jethro said softly to his girlfriend.

“I haven’t looked,” River admitted, equally quietly.

“Why?”

“Because Bethany is my niece. And I don’t think …” She shook her head at him. “I hope they’re not. Either of them. That Kaylee’s genes are so strong in Bethany, that Mal’s have overcome Freya’s … otherwise they’re not safe.”

“From whom?”

“Hands of blue.”

“What?”

“Not what. Pardon,” Bethany said, concentrating on keeping within the lines.

Jethro smiled.

“Okay, sweetie, time for tea,” Kaylee said, putting her head around the door.

“’Kay, momma,” Bethany said, closing her colouring book.

“She been good?” Kaylee asked her sister-in-law.

“Perfect.”

“Perfec',” Bethany agreed, letting her mother swing her up into her arms.

“Woof, you’re getting heavy,” Kaylee said, groaning theatrically.

“Funny momma,” Bethany said.

“W