Disclaimer: Firefly and these characters belong to Joss Whedon. Thanks for sharing, Joss!

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MAKE A WISH

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Simon crooked his little finger around one side of the wishbone and held it out to Kaylee.

“What 'm'I s'posed to do?” she asked uncertainly.

“Think the Doc wants you to pull his bone,” Jayne leered, biting into a firm juicy piece of thigh.

Kaylee giggled and blushed, glancing quickly across at Mal to see if he was going to warn Jayne about keeping a civil tongue, but the Captain just grinned, more than a little amused at the way Simon was spluttering with embarrassment. So she curled her pinky round the other side of the bone till she was holding it in the same was as the Doctor and asked, “What we doin' this for, Simon?”

“A Christmas ritual from Earth-that-was,” River explained. “You both pull and whoever is left with the longest piece gets to make a wish.” She smiled sweetly, then frowned. “The premise relies on a belief in magic – which is illogical. Contradicts all the laws of physics. Count to three and pull.”

One. Two. Three. Snap! Kaylee laughed and held up the winning fragment of bone triumphantly. “I win! I win! Now let me see ... I wish-”

“Shhh!” River placed a finger over her friend's lips. “Wishes have to be secret.”

Kaylee's eyes sparkled as she nodded. “OK.”

* * * * *

To Simon's amazement River accepted the injection without protest. “This one is different,” she replied in answer to his unvoiced question in a tone that implied it should be obvious. “This one will work.”

He smiled, a touch sadly. “You can't know that, mei-mei , I can't even be sure.”

“I am.”

* * * * *

Wash sniffed appreciatively as he entered the kitchen the next day. “Is that..? I mean, it smells like fresh bao ...”

Zoe looked up from the pan she was stirring with serious attention. “ Tamade ! It was supposed to be a surprise.” But she grinned and kissed him as he put his arms round her.

“You made me fresh bao ? You ?