based on the world of Firefly by J Whedon

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It was an old gun, pump action with groves scratched on its wooden handle. Her fingers brushed them, knowing that four of them where from her claws. She stroked the barrel fondly as the smell of gun powder and the scent of him wafted from it. One year ago...that's how long it had been. Since he walked away and she stayed...one year ago.

Soft footsteps came up behind me, the smell of the war and the subtle scent of her own covering his freshly showered body. A sigh escaped his lips as he admired her beauty, but stopped when he saw her stroking the gun. "You miss him, don't you?"

Turning, her green eyes caught his blue ones. "Yes, but not the way you think. I miss the life I had with him. The 'Verse was our playground and I didn't need to worry about my other half going wild on my family. Hell, 'Ski would just find a herd of cattle and let me tear into them. Not a pretty picture, but I didn't kill anyone. Now," Cat's eyes shifted over the room he had given her, to keep her things, to have a place to store the research they found, and just to have something to call her own. "I have so much more to lose."

"Boa bei." He whispered, walking over to take her into her arms, sitting the shotgun to the bed. "If I thought you were a danger to me and mine, I'd have turn you away. You use to tussle with the boys from my unit...Bo, Tracey...even Jacob. Never once did you hurt any of them, unless they needed it."

She smiled, warm in his embrace. "Pups needed a bit of training and to know who was better."

"Miss them, don't you?"

"Always miss members of my pack. Just because I'm not completely human doesn't mean I don't share some of your feelings." She didn't mean for it to sound harsh, but it did. Mal flinched at her words and Cat sighed. "Yes, I miss everyone that I cared about that's gone. Only one left beside you and Zoe is Bo, I've heard."

"If you can say he's still himself. Academy did a good number on hi