Disclaimer- Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy has the pleasure of owning Firefly, but I invented the rest.

Sorry about the wait. Stacks of homework and a packed schedule have a way of preventing a person from writing. I also would like to apologize for any confusion that may be caused, but I'm sad to say that I don't really know where I am going with this story.

Dedicated to IdiotChild- the inspiration behing Cas.

All By Myself

****************************************************************

Chapter 2

The crew of The Messenger were gathered in the Infirmary. Greggors was sitting by the bed, dealing himself a game of Solitaire on the tray, seemingly oblivious to everything else around him. The war had changed Greggors, who had taken part in the battle at Lougier. It was considered one of the bloodiest battles, second only after Serenity Valley. One thing he never told anyone, including Cas, was which side he was on. Anyway, he was known by the crew to be slightly erratic- sometimes he would be off his own world, and sometimes he would be wild as a space monkey. Today was a quiet day for him.

Rhee and Marco were sitting on the bench, listening to Cam read from his handheld. Cam’s little blonde head was bent in concentration as his round rosy mouth struggled to sound out the words on the screen. Both Rhee and Marco smiled at each other as they listened to their sweet little boy attempt to read ‘The Ugly Duckling’.

Emma lay in the middle of the room, conscious but still in pain. She winced, but tried to hide it as she laughed with Cas and Kaylee over some lame joke. They were still laughing when the proximity alert went off. “That’ll be the planet” Rhee said, as she got off the bench and hurried out of the Infirmary. Cas followed and Greggors, snapping out his trance-like state, also exited the room.

“Kaylee” the voice came from Cam, who looked up at her with the big blue eyes he inherited from his mother. “Can I go into town with you to get the parts for the ship?” Cam had shown a particular interest in mech