A.N. Just FYI, the children’s current ages are… Zoë - 13; Cole – 7; Jamie and Genny – 6; Michael – 5. Also, you may want to grab a fresh tissue and a bottle of angst-be-gone.

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PART 28: HE SAT IN THE RAIN

Thunder rumbled and he awoke in the Valley, surrounded by the scent of war, blood, and gunpowder. He shivered as the wind assaulted his rain-soaked skin. Lightning lit up the sky like the exploding shells of cannon fire, followed by the aftershock of more thunder. The only hope he had of making it out was Zoë, leaning right back against him, keeping his head out of the mud so he didn’t drown in his sleep. As the thunder rolled, he barely heard her whisper through the rain.

“I’m with you.”

Sweet words of reassurance. Her hand on his shoulder, she pulled him into an embrace; he rested his head against hers and breathed in her presence, as close as the air.

Not Zoë.

Mal opened his eyes to find Inara, clad in a soft, cotton dress, sitting in the puddle next to him. The memory of Zoë faded, her warm body becoming the cold, metal hull of Serenity on his back. Carefully, Mal tented Zoë’s browncoat so that it shielded both him and Inara from the wind. He closed his eyes again, wishing for his old friend, finding only his wife. Inara held Zoë’s vest in one hand, and rain spilled on it like tears.

“Why would she say that?” Mal asked, knowing that Inara had already spoken to Little Zoë, and had likely issued a swift, but fair punishment.

“She’s a teenager, Mal. They fight dirty. Get used to it; we have two more to go.”

“They don’t have the same bullets as her. Can’t hit me the same way she does.”

“True. I’m sure they’ll find newer and lower ways to hit you.”

“But they’re my own,” Mal pointed out. “If I don’t like ‘em, I can shoot ‘em and try again.”

“She’s yours too,” Inara replied firmly.

Mal swallowed his tears. Inara hadn’t seen him crying since Zoë died, and this seemed like such a minor spat next to the woes of that day. Little Zoë had hit his one great fear and