The shuttle had barely been winched in before Hank was out of his seat and down the stairs, almost colliding with his son as he barrelled along the catwalk.

“Mama!” Ben yelled as the door opened, tackling his mother even while she had hold of the release, and not looking like he was ever going to let go.

“Hey, honey,” Zoe said, ruffling his hair. “You know, I think you’ve grown.”

“Have I?”

“Mmn.” She went down onto her heels to look into his coffee-coloured face. “You been good for your daddy?”

“Mostly.”

“Only mostly?”

Ben did the foot roll favoured by virtually all the Serenity children. “Most of it was Bethie’s fault.”

Zoe had to smile, running her fingertips across his cheek. “I’m sure it was.” She looked up at Hank, hanging back a little, and stood up. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Hank was studying her closely.

“All here,” she whispered, understanding everything.

“Good. Honestly though, can’t I let you go anywhere without me but you get into trouble?” He managed to get an impressive amount of annoyance into his tone.

“Better not let me go anywhere on my own again.”

“Don’t intend on it.” He swept her into his arms, crushing her lips with his. For a long moment there was no other sound.

Mal, leaning on the bulkhead, cleared his throat. Then again when they showed no signs of parting. And a third time.

“You wanna get that seen to, Mal,” Hank said, pulling away only just enough to speak.

“Can I remind you I’m captain? And some of us actually want to get off?”

“Hush, Mal,” Inara admonished. “They missed each other.”

“You gonna be like this when we drop you back on Lazarus? You gonna eat Sam’s face off too?”

“Mal, really. You can be so crude. I don’t know how Freya puts up with you.”

“True love, ‘Nara. True love.”

“It must be. And yes, I probably will show a great deal of affection when I get home. And you probably won’t want to watch.”

He shuddered theatrically. “Thanks for sharing, ‘Nara.”

“You’re welcome.”

River slipped behind the pi