They sat around the dinner table; it was too small for nine people (now eight since river had left for bed) but no one minded the forced closeness. The meal was finished, dishes piled loosely in the center of the table. The entire group laughed, chuckling as Zoe told another of her humorous war stories. The laughter died down, Simon whispered softly into Kaylee’s ear, Jayne talked to Book as he skewered an apple, Zoe and Wash discussed some of the details of the story, Inara pestered Mal for the details of their next stop. All perfectly at ease with each other aboard the ship- except perhaps for Mal and Inara. They all would have probably begun leaving to attend to their duties at that point, but unwilling to let one of the few tranquil moments Kaylee asked for Mal to tell another story.

Mal thought for a moment, a slow sinister smile creeping on his face, “I think I have one, the Doctor might enjoy it especially well.” Kaylee nudged Simon, smiling as Mal began his tale, “You know Kaylee wasn’t our first engineer . . .”

Oh no, nonononono, Kaylee thought, not this one, “Actually I think I had better check—“

“Wait a minute Kaylee they’ll hold,” Wash said, oblivious to her growing anxiety. Kaylee tried to kick the captain under the table, to make him stop, he naturally ignored her.

Simon listened to the tail unfurl, it wasn’t very funny yet, which probably meant that it was going to get very funny very soon.

“. . .so I rounded the corner to the engine room,” Mal continued, “and I found my engineer in the back of the room with Kaylee-“ Simon stood up in shock, swaying a little. The atmosphere changed, everyone fell silent, “I . . . I need to go check on river,” he mumbled weakly and stumbled out of the room. Kaylee stood to follow, the word wait resting on the tip of her tongue, but then she turned and ran to the engine room instead. Silence reigned in the dining room; even Jayne knew enough to remain silent.

“I’m going to wash the dishes,” Book said and stood.

Inara rolled her eyes at Mal, and then