He knew what he had to do. He had to get up and nothing in the verse could stop him. This place was his home. It was his freedom, his way to get away from the claws of the Alliance. She was dead, Serenity, she was dead in the water. he passed the passenger dorm, empty. he thought of Simon, River, and the Shepherd. Would he ever see them again? He had never cared before but now with life-support failing and the bullet wound in his gut bleeding, he could only thin about his family, his crew. Climbing the stairs to the engine room was like climbing a mountain. Every step was excruciating and he didn't know if he could make it. The part, the engine part, it was a tiny insignificant piece of metal, but without it, he knew that this was it. The engine room was a few steps away, but the pain was growing, and everything was getting black. Either he would suffocate or he would bleed out. There it was, the engine room. Serenity's heart. Kaylee had showed him where the part went... but it was a struggle for him to place it in it's home. One of them was going to meet their final resting place and he prayed to a god he didn't believe in that it wouldn't be him. After moments of fumbling he put all his chips on the table and went for it. a moment later everything went dark.

He woke up, clean, crisp light shone through his weary eyelids. was he dead? He looked around, familiar faces. Wash, Zoe, Simon, River, Kaylee, Inara, and even Jayne. he was alive and he was home.