Jayne sat at the kitchen table and polished the small gun in his hands. The girl had not come back for it and he had wondered what sort of weapon his daughter would carry. Gorramit, thought Jayne, his daughter. He was still having trouble with the thought.

The weapon was not nearly adequate by his estimation. It only had two shots, and in a fairly small caliber. He considered giving her one of his guns, but then realized she probably wouldn't want any gifts from him. It was pretty though, with mother of pearl handle grips, inlaid with what looked like real silver from the tarnish, and there was intricate scrollwork etched into the two small barrels. It was something he could see Inara carrying. It needed a cleaning too.

Jayne heard the clank of a hatch from behind him. It was followed by footsteps as someone walked into the kitchen. Looking up he saw it was Kaylee.

“Hey there,” he greeted her hopefully.

“Ain’t talkin’ to you,” she replied without even looking at him as she walked around the corner and down into the cargo bay.

“Damn,” said Jayne to himself. It had been two days and that was still all she would say to him. Wasn’t like he didn’t deserve it though.

Mal stopped Kaylee as she walked through the cargo bay. You going over there again? Spent more time lookin to their ship than ours the last two days.” The two ships were still docked together as they both drifted through space on a coarse for New Shadow. It would be another two days still before they were arrived at the embattled planet, at which point Serenity would disengage and wait until the drop was made.

“Cuz they need it,” replied Kaylee. “You should see what they did. Shoved a firefly engine in that tiny ship. It’s a wonder the hull ain’t torn itself to shreds. They’ll need the thing running a damn sight better than it is now if they’re gonna keep flying.”

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Kaylee found Sarah already in the engine room of the Shire waiting for her. The two women had spen