On Serenity, Zoe was pacing in the dining area while Book was working on the welcome home meal. River was in the corner, petting the golden retriever that always seemed to follow her everywhere. That was one of the reasons why Steve had been attracted to the Firefly class ship. His dog, Mike, liked the Tams, and whenever Steve was away, Mike would seek out River. Simon had been saying that animals help to calm people down, and Jayne, to everyones surprise, suggested getting a dog. It was one of the reasons that the crew liked the idea of hiring Steve, they all thought that him bringing the dog onboard would be good for River. Kaylee entered the doorway looking worried.

“Zoe,” she asked in an anxiety filled voice. “Do you think they’re all right. I mean, I was the one that convinced the captain that Simon would be usefull. And if anything happened to Simon or Steve…” her voice trailed off, everyone knew why Kaylee felt that way. She and Steve had become good friends during his short time on the ship, and Simon was more than a friend to her. “We, Simon and I, owe Steve a lot and…” that was another reason why they had let Steve join the crew. Back on Persephone, they had all split up. Mal and Zoe went to check on a posable job while Wash was going to catch up with an old buddy, Jayne had elected to stay on the ship with Book and River. Simon and Kaylee had been taking a walk and a small gang tried to mug them. Simon had fought back, but there were too many of them and he was on the ground after the first fiveten minuets. Kaylee had thought Simon would be killed, but destiny, or more precisely Steve Roberts, had intervened. He knocked out two of them, leaving Simon free to brake another’s nose and tackle a final hood. The gang member was on the ground, breathing, barely, in quick, gasping breaths, the Doc laying on top of him out of breath from the earlier beating he had been given at the hands of the punks. After seeing how easily their comrades had been defeated, the remaining hoods fled. The stranger helped