“So there I was, unconscious and dying, and you guys just leave me there,” Wash began, pretending to glower at them, but his face was to swollen with bruises to make a face all.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” Mal apologized.

“Sure, sure, I know, with the Reaver’s coming and all, you kinda had to go and make sure you didn’t die,” Wash said. “Anyway, I woke up in an infirmary. Some Alliance guy had seen the Miranda wave, and thought it would be the nice thing to do to tell me that my body had been replaced with someone else’s, and I was going to be held hostage. So…..I might get another flogging or round of torture if they find out I contacted you, but I felt I should warn you that falling for any trap these guys set for you will not be the smartest thing to do.”

“Wash, baby, I love you so much,” Zoe nearly whimpered, tears glistening in her eyes.

“I love you, too, baby….I gotta go,” he said suddenly, glancing over his shoulder. “Don’t expect any more contact. And don’t…..try to find me.”

With that, the wave ended, and Zoe fled. She wasn’t sure where to go, where they couldn’t find her. She needed to be alone, so she snuck into the spare shuttle.

Her husband wasn’t dead, after all, but he was being tortured. It made her feel worse, because if he was dead his suffering would be over. Seeing his bruised and puffy face had made her feel horrible, and tears began to slip down her cheeks when the Cortex she was next to flipped on of its own accord.

“Zoe Alleyne Washburn?” a grim looking official asked. “We have your husband. We know he just contacted your ship, and we are prepared to make a deal.”

“I’m not the captain, you should’ve- How did you know I would be here?”

“Brain probes. Very painful. Are you prepared to listen, Mrs. Washburn? We had a proposition for you,” he said.

“What?” Zoe responded suspiciously.

“We have decided that together you are much more of a threat than separated. So, if you kill all of your crewmates, you can have your husband back.”

*~*

“Making choices isn’t fun