As always everything belongs to Joss. All of these are written in chronological order, but can be read as stand alones (only vague references to other installments). Ratings are shiny, comments are shinier!

Intro 1 –

He never told her and now he regretted it. Only because the similarities were so pronounced, so obvious. He had hinted to her that she was catlike, but never came out saying that it was a lioness that most often came to mind. It was because he had never seen a lioness except in books and the occasional film in GenEd. It was enough for him to see it in her though – she was a lioness: sleek, feline, graceful, dangerous – such an adept hunter that the prey rarely even saw her coming. But when they did it was loud, powerful and overwhelming. He couldn’t tell her now and it’d be a long time before he would be able to. Besides, when they can talk again… really talk there might be other, more important things to be said. So for now he watched her stalk the shadows, hold quiet to the corners and walls. Both of them unseen by virtually everyone, seeing virtually everything.

~~

Intro 2 –

It was better this way, truly it was. She was always up before everyone else, but stayed out of sight. Couldn’t take the looks on their face. They meant well of course, but well intended pity was still pity and it rankled her. If her lack of presence meant that they didn’t have to face everything head on, then it was the least she could do. And it meant that she didn’t have to face everything either. Let them deal with the Alliance hun dans, let them deal with the memory of Miranda, let them deal with Serenity and the physical wounds. It would be more than enough to distract them from Wash an’ Book being gone. For Zoe, none of that could distract her mind from circling the same thought over and over and over: “He’s gone. He’s really gone.”

Having sat through an hour of the medical attention given her by the Alliance she left. Doctors and nurses all tried to argue, convince her to stay. One steely look from