" Clear ," River announced, and Kaylee ripped the control panel off the wall in a shower of sparks.

- - - - -

The Alleyne family tradition was one of stealth and survival and a hierarchy of command. She'd been raised like that. Yes ma'am, yes sir, right away. Only let her guard down a few times in her life. First time had been an early mission with a posse chasing some fugitive horse thieves, her before even her monthlies, but tall, showing signs of the woman she'd grow into. They'd been getting close, made their camp. Then one of the men with her had gotten some ideas. That'd been her first kill, and she hadn't thought much of it. Ended another man the next day when they found their targets, brought back enough of the bounty for some supplies before they left the world. Just regular life on the rim.

Zoë was alert or else. Even with Wash, at first. He was a flyboy, seemed to know everyone in every bar, a girl in every port, and if not he could make friends fast enough anyway. Took her a six months to notice his glances instead of the bushy mustache and the messy blond hair and the floozies, realize he was serious about her. After they started getting together, she slowly eased into trust, went back and forth on whether to be hard with him or soft. Soft won out most of the time. The man got under her armor like no one else, with his combination of jokes and silly sweet talk. Her wedding night with Wash, they'd both been drinking some, she'd been the most carefree she'd ever feel in her whole life.

Then Wash had been skewered by Reavers and a blood-splattered harpoon big around as the tree trunk it'd been carved from, because she hadn't been paying enough attention.

Life had taught her how to be ready for anything, even waking up with a concussion, or in this case, a concussion, hormones, and a bad taste slicking her tongue. Like finding out she was pregnant had somehow made it real, and now her body was catching up with a vengeance on wha