Title: Black Days: Mal

Author: CharlieBZ

Summary: Mal works to find a job.

Rating: PG for language

Characters: Mal, Crew

Pairing: Canon, if any

Spoilers/Timeline: post BDM

Disclaimer: No money is being made from by me and I certainly don’t own Firefly/Serenity.

Author's Note: This fic takes is part of a continuing series. If you’re a little lost see my blog entry Many thanks to gilliebeans at LiveJournal for all her help.

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Black Days: Mal

Everyone had become accustomed to strapping themselves in for Mal's landings so it was no surprise when Serenity set down with an ungainly jolt. On his first landing, a particularly fine bottle of rye whiskey that Jayne had been saving fell and broke. Jayne groused about it to Mal but the merc’s heart hadn’t been in it. That was then. Now, Jayne didn’t require the flimsiest of reasons to communicate to Mal his deep ire.

Mal cursed as the ship lurched again. He had entered the wrong sequence and Serenity dragged a bit before coming to a full stop. Unstrapping the shoulder harness, he leaned up to look out the window. Not seeing a flurry of activity which would indicate he had hit something, he sat back down breathing a sigh of relief. He paid more attention, though, as he entered the post flight sequence and powered down the engines. Kaylee would give him another earful for his less than careful treatment of Serenity. Her tirade would be punctuated by the River-could-be-the-pilot look which he would respond with his I'm-the-Captain-and-it's-none-of-your-gorramn-business look.

The kid had seemed promising, that was a fact, but now wasn’t the tim