"It's not like her to be late," Wash said quietly as he and Mal stared out at the empty landscape.

"I know it," Mal responded, just as quietly. "She'll have some reason, no doubt."

Wash nodded, although he wasn't sure he completely agreed. They were due to leave several hours ago, yet here they remained...waiting. And with every hour they remained, they put themselves in danger of being late on their delivery.

"'Wave her again," Mal instructed his pilot as he turned back to Serenity again. "Either she answers with an explanation or we have to come back after we deliver. Can't be waitin' around like this."

Wash hurried to the bridge. He hoped, for Inara's sake, that she had a good explanation. Mal seemed to be quietly fuming...or really overly worried. Wash couldn't tell yet. He supposed if he had to sit around and wait for Zoë to show up for several hours, he would be upset, too. However, since most of the time he did have to wait around for Zoë to show up, usually with the Captain and Jayne with her, he was probably more used to it than Mal.

***

"River, you have to come out of there soon," Simon pleaded from the hallway. His sister had locked herself in her room and refused to eat anything offered to her. Kaylee and Shepherd Book stood nearby, offering what little help they could in a situation like this.

"No," she replied stubbornly.

"Child, you need to eat something," Book urged. "We've made such lovely stew just for you."

"Yeah, with real ingredients an' everything," Kaylee added hopefully. The three exchanged looks at the silence flooding the hallway in response.

"Mei mei," Simon began, but stopped when he saw the Captain coming down the hallway. He could practically see the foul mood emanating from the man. He straightened and tried to act casual until Mal passed. Kaylee tried to hide behind the Shepherd, who tried to pass off the bowl of stew to the mechanic. It didn't work and stew ended up on the floor.

"What's goin' on here?" Mal asked shortly, his