Standard rules apply here. I acknowledge that these are Joss characteres, I'm just playing with them.

Wash walked slowly down the hallway. Every step he took seemed to echo throughout the ship with a heavy ‘Clunk.’ But the sounds of his feet were the last things on his mind. He had to find Book, Jayne and Inara and tell them the news. He had just told the Captain and now he just wanted to tell the rest of the crew just to get it over with. It was straining him to keep all the sadness and misery he felt in him under control.

He reached the kitchen and found Jayne and Book playing a game of chess. Book had control of the board, while Jayne had only about four pieces left. Jayne stared intently at the board before moving a pawn forward. Book then moved his bishop diagonally across the board.

“Checkmate.” Book pronounced with a reserved glee. Jayne slammed his fists down on the table and pouted.

“Gorram it, Preacher. You know I hate playing games like this.”

“Now son, if you want to gain respect from some of the other crew members, you need to open up. Chess is the ultimate intellectual game.”

“It’s a gorrram waste of time. If this were real, I could’ve taken out all them pawns with Vera and the king with a sniper rifle at 500 yards.”

Wash would’ve found this funny under any other circumstance, but now was not the time for laughter. Just then, Book looked up and noticed him in the doorframe of the kitchen. Jayne noticed this in Book and looked at Wash as well.

“Is there something wrong, son?”

Wash composed himself and cleared his throat. He didn’t want to lose it now, especially in front of Jayne.

“Uhhhhh……it’s gone. The baby, it’s…..it’s not going to happen.”

There was a silence that filled the room between the three of them. Book merely sat back and gave a respectful look towards Wash. He knew that he was grieving and that the most introspective advice towards him would just sound trite. Jayne, on the other hand, was about to say