Serenity's doors closed with only one shuttle docked. The engines fired up and the landing gear pulled in as they rose in altitude, turning slightly to the east, facing the rising sun.

They had remained all night before Mal had given the order to go at full-burn. He, Wash and Kaylee had concluded they might still make it to the drop-off within the timeframe given them, with some creative paths carved through this corner of the 'verse. Kaylee, with the additional time to collect bits and pieces from the town, had been able to wire up some intriguing nest of cables to boost just a bit more power than any Firefly class boat had gotten before. The trick was, she pointed out, she couldn't say it would last very long.

They had decided to go for it.

As the planet fell away behind them, Mal watched Wash maneuver the controls deftly. Wash looked up, slightly self-conscious.

"We're coming back," Wash said, seeing Mal's focus was not on Wash's actual movements. Mal blinked and looked at Wash, this time focusing on his pilot.

"What?" he asked.

"We're coming back," Wash repeated. "No need to worry about her."

"I ain't worried about her," Mal protested. "I'm worried about getting us to that drop on time. We lose this, we ain't gettin' much other business from this moon any time soon. Can't lose even the slightly honest jobs we can scrape up." He turned to go, only to reappear at the door moments later.

"And I'm worried about my boat. We keep pushin' her too far and even Kaylee won't be able to get her crawlin'. I ain't worried about...Those are my worries. They should be yours, too."

He left again, either not seeing or choosing to ignore Wash's barely checked smile.

***

Jayne was spotting the Shepherd lift weights when Kaylee came in. Almost unconsciously, he stood a little straighter. She didn't notice.

"Have you seen River?" she asked, looking around the corners and shadows for the young Tam.

"She's up there," Jayne nodded to where Inara's shuttle would have been. "She be