“You okay?” Mal asked, peering at Freya as he pulled his pants up, tucking his shirt in and buttoning them tightly around his hips.

She lay on the bed, one arm across her eyes. “I just feel … odd.”

He sat down next to her, moving her arm so he could touch her forehead. “You don’t feel hot.” Stroking her cheek he added, “You want me to get Simon to come and look at you?”

“No, no,” she said, shaking her head. “I think I’ll just sleep for a while. It’s probably nothing.” She smiled tiredly at him. “Probably just the imminent arrival of Baby Cobb.”

“Baby Cobb,” Mal repeated. “That sounds enough to make anyone feel ill.”

She slapped his thigh. “It’s not as bad as that.”

“I know. And I wouldn’t be surprised if you were picking up something.” He pushed her hair out of her face. “They thought about a name yet?”

“No-one’s said.”

“That wasn't what I asked.”

“And I haven’t looked.”

“No?”

She slapped him again, this time on the arm. “No.”

“You know, I'm gonna have to be called one of them battered husbands, you keep doing that.” He rubbed the sore spot.

“Sorry.” She reached up enough so that she could put a kiss on the offended portion of his anatomy, the sheet sliding off her upper half as she did so.

“And you keep doing that and I’ll be considering a lay-in myself,” he pointed out.

“You can’t,” she said, putting her head back on the pillow. “You’ve got Sullivan to deal with.”

“He’ll be fine.”

“Taking Jayne?”

“And Zoe. I ain't stupid.”

She grinned at him. “I know that.”

“At least Bethie seems to get the whole process now.” Mal picked up his boots, pulling them on over his thick socks, as he went back to the original topic.

“That was sweet, though.” Freya sighed happily.

“You didn’t have to explain it to her.” Mal shuddered as he remembered the time that seemed like only yesterday but was probably more like a couple of years, when Bethany had the wrong end of the stick.

“Bethany?” Mal looked into the storage locker that had been dub