Keeping On: Part 1 - Everything Starts

Disclaimer: Firefly, Serenity, and all related characters are copyright 2002-2005 Mutant Enemy, Inc., Universal Pictures, and 20th Century Fox. This is a work of fanfiction. No copyright infringement is intended.

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Late one night while Serenity was making her way towards the crew’s next job, Mal and Zoe sat in the mess, each with a mug of Kaylee’s engine brew.

It was one of those nights…the kind of night where loneliness set in and made a body want another body, if only for companionship and a little chat. It’d been nigh on a year since the broadcast of the Miranda wave…a year since Zoe had lost her husband and Mal had lost both a great friend and confidant.

The ship was on auto-pilot, River having checked in with Mal before finally heading to her room. Mal had sighed afterward. River was an adept pilot. She was certainly no Wash, but she was alright. But her heart, bless her, wasn’t in it the way Wash’s had been when he flew or the way Kaylee’s was when she was tinkering in the engine room...hell, even the way Simon’s was when he was pulling the inevitable bullet out of Mal’s shoulder. (Or leg. Or side.) River gave her all when she flew – she was nothing if not dedicated, but she wasn’t a leaf on the wind, as Wash had liked to say.

Mal knew that he had to find another pilot. Then, maybe he and River could suss out where she belonged. He could tell that she was worried, worried that if she wasn’t meant to be a pilot, then she wouldn’t have a place on Serenity. He would just have to make her see that she did have a place on Serenity, and always would. Mal could see that River was adrift – something that could get awful lonely and depressing out in the Black.

Mal looked over at Zoe. She was nursing her mug, deep in thought. She’d let her hair down and looked more relaxed than he could remember her being in a long time…not since before Serenity had crashed and her husband had been stolen from her. Zoe had been Mal