Set six months after the BDM, with standard pairings: Simon and Kaylee, Mal and Inara angst.

If you haven’t read from the start, I would recommend going back to chapter 1 - http://www.fireflyfans.net/bluesun.aspx?bid=19146

Of course - Its Joss’s world and his characters, but I sure enjoy playing with them.

Thanks to Mal4prez for the wonderful beta type advice and thanks to my sweet husband for catching all the typo’s.

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Snowball Chapter 5

Jayne bent his left knee and leaned forward ever so slightly as he made the turn in the ankle deep powder. The snow sprayed up and brushed past his face, making him smile. He planted his pole and bent his other knee, attacking the slope with vigor. The snow below him sparkled in the bright morning sun, the air was crisp and cool, and there was no one else around. It was a perfect morning.

It had been years since Jayne had strapped a pair of telemark skis to his feet, but his muscles remembered. Bend, lean, turn: once you learn you never forget. Growing up in the mountains of Alderna, he had often worn skis. In the winter, it was skis or snowshoes if you wanted to go anywhere; he had always had somewhere to go and skis were faster and a whole lot more fun. Mostly he had gone hunting, bringing home meat for the stewpot had been his responsibility since he was eleven.

On rare occasions, though, he had strapped on skis just to get away. Out on the snow, he didn’t have to listen to his sisters bickering, or watch his mother struggling to stretch what little resources they had to feed all seven of them. He loved to listen to the silence found only in the mountains. He enjoyed seeing the sparkles of the sunlight on untouched snow. There was a peace in the mountains that was hard to find anywhere else, even in the Black. It was during those occasional retreats that he had taken a fondness to carving fresh tracks down steep forbidding slopes.

Back then, he had to work hard for an hour of bliss and speed. These resort people had the rig