Disclaimer: all things Firefly/Serenity are the property of Whedon et al. I’m not making any money off this, just playing with the toys. For the prompt “tar”.

A/N: this comes after my Cold Understanding two-parter, but you don't have to have read that to know what's happening here.

“Something I can do for ya, Tar?”

My brows lifted in confusion. “Tar?”

He eyed me narrowly, giving the impression that he was speaking to an idiot. I suddenly had an understanding of what Jayne felt every time he opened his mouth.

“What is it you be wanting?” His accent was thick of the Earth-That-Was English style so favoured by the uppity wannabes. Of course, not even Badger’s was this coarse.

“Ah, well...” I surveyed the large room, noting the empty tables and garish neon lights. Quickly choosing a seat, I shifted my body in the hard chair to find some measure of comfort, but nothing seemed to work. “Perhaps if you could give me a menu?”

The barman searched around until he spotted something. “Here.” He thrust a slip of paper at me with the words ‘Eatins 15 bits. Room 20 bits. Water 30 bits.’ before returning to the bar proper.

“Thank-you.” I let the paper fall to the wet table and scanned the open-aired pub. The skyplex was bustling, a not unusual occurrence at any time. I continued to watch as people came and went, some fast, some slow, but all seeming to have a destination in mind. The shouts of the nearest vendor echoed off the walls of the pub and I recalled a similar type of voice from almost a year ago. Twelve bits it had cost me to have Kaylee turn her back and curse me.

So little seems to have changed since then. And yet everything was different.

Sitting back and hearing the chair creak a little, I recalled the past two weeks since Kaylee and I had our “talk”. It had been one of the few times where I hadn’t said the wrong thing or tried to make a horrible joke. Oddly, it had been freeing.

I still love her. But it’s not the kind of love that makes me want to lea