It was still early in the morning when Bane, Esper and Zoe return to Serenity to discover the cargo bay full of drunk and snoring men. River had stayed behind at the Frye house as she was Kaylee’s bridesmaid. They closed the door behind them quietly.

“Aren’t you glad you came with us now?” said Bane to them both. Zoe refrained from answering as the smell of stale moonshine, tobacco and sweaty bodies was making her more than a little queasy, but she nodded. The women looked at them all in disgust. None of them had made it to a bed it seemed, including Mal. “I dint know Koz was coming,” said Bane, recognising the large rising and falling belly – and the loudest snore, it seemed.

“He waved a couple of days ago to say he’d try and make it. I think Mal wanted to keep it as a surprise for Kaylee,” said Zoe. They separated and inspected the bodies for injuries and evidence of what they had been up to the night before. Zoe tripped over Spike’s leg and noticed he was spread-eagled under the stairs. Then she noticed most of them were not wearing shoes. Esper walked over to Jayne who was semi-propped up and hugging a large jug of moonshine, a peaceful contented smile on his face.

“Ahh, doesn’t he look sweet,” she whispered, but did not get too close in case she woke him.

“Er, Bane?” said Zoe. Bane looked up guiltily, she was standing over Karl, about to mess with him. “Where’s Simon?” They did a quick head count. Simon was missing and so was one of Kaylee’s brothers.

“You don’t reckon they’ve done something to him, do you?” Zoe looked back at her in such as way as to tell her she was not sure. Bane looked around again, spotting something. “There’s Kaylee’s capture maker.” She stepped over Kaylee’s father to get to it. Zoe caught another pungent whiff of the smell and bolted for the bathroom. Bane picked up the capture and turned it on and Esper came over, looking as well. She turned the volume down as soon as it started playing. “Shang yang ru-fang!” she exclaimed, choking on her own laughter. “Reckon Jayne s