This is a sequel to Not Poaching. Mal is going to talk to Zoe about this thing she’s got going with the pilot.

I would like to thank Sarah for her insightful beta and Archer for giving it a second read.

Not Sharing

Mal had been skulking around for a couple of days waiting for an opportunity to talk to Zoe about what was going on with her and Wash. The pilot had told him pretty clearly what he wanted. That was to marry Zoe. He had been right cocky about it too, when Mal had told him that he thought he wasn’t the man to make her happy. The pilot’s response had been echoing in his head ever since, “When Zoe tells me I’m not the man then I’ll pay attention. ‘Till then your opinion and com-static, all the same to me.”

It had pissed him off royal at the time and it still did every time he thought about it since. Which had been a lot. He’d studied on it and decided it would be best to tackle Zoe with it off-ship so it would be just him and her. No chance of anyone coming in unexpected to interrupt them. Course the only two others on the boat were Kaylee and Wash. But he had a feeling Wash would feel entitled to weigh in and Mal thought he wasn’t. The stick-jockey already made it clear he was bedding Zoe. He figured pillow talk gave Wash all the advantage in the situation he intended to give him. It wasn’t like Mal could get his word in there, so there’d be no need for Wash to think he could get his in here.

Once decided though, he had to wait for landfall on Greenleaf to get her to himself. They had to refuel and Kaylee had some upgrades she wanted to install. They weren’t flush but they had enough on hand to let her go to the salvage yard for her doodads. Wash could see to the refueling and he and Zoe would deliver their cargo, re-provison and go for a nice quiet drink where he could broach the subject.

When he’d gone up to the bridge to tell the pilot that he and Zoe would be gone on the delivery job a couple of hours, Wash had grinned at him in knowing amusement and said,