TITLE: "HEAVEN'S DOOR"

AUTHOR: Alison M. DOBELL

FANDOM: "FIREFLY"

PAIRING: Mal/Sarah.

RATING: PG-13

STATUS: SEQUEL to "THE LONGEST JOURNEY"

ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.

FEEDBACK: Welcomed.

EMAIL: AlisonMDobell@aol.com

WEBSITE: http://carlajane.50megs.com/Ali00.html

SUMMARY: "Zoe pieces it all together while Serenity's crew

rally around Sarah. The fallout for Sarah and Mal is not quite

so shiny."

The usual disclaimers apply. The characters and 'Firefly'

are the property and gift of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.

No infringement of copyright is intended.

"HEAVEN'S DOOR"

A "Firefly" story

Written by Alison M. DOBELL

* * * * *

Wash Warren stared at his wife in undisguised disbelief. "What you're sayin' *bao bei* is beyond *shenjingbing*. You have to be mistaken!"

"Trust me, *zhangfu*, I wish I was."

The pilot blinked then looked at the cortex screen again. They were in shuttle 2, half the crew off searching for Sarah, the other half moving about the ship like ghosts. This revelation simply adding to the feeling of unreality. Wash took in the details of the girl. Just a slip of a thing really, not much more than seven, slender as a beanpole with lively eyes and long dark brown hair. Even though the message was 'live' Zoe insisted the girl had died before the War. Gorrammit, was there no getting away from the gorram War? Wasn't it enough with the Captain living and breathing it without his wife doing the same? But he didn't have it in him to speak his thought aloud knowing he would hurt her and he couldn't do that to Zoe for anything in the 'verse. "You have to be wrong, sweetie. If this was her she'd be, what? River's age? Kaylee's?"

Something in his gorgeous but deadly wife's demeanour tightened but he had no idea why. "Never said I could explain it, Wash, though I do have a theory."

Wash blinked, his mind churning through the events of the last couple of months. A horr