Don't read unless you've seen the movie or want to be spoiled.

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The Aftermath

It was 4:00 am - ship time. Mal stood at the entrance to the bridge for a long time watching Zoe. She was standing still, too still, looking out at the black holding a toy dinosaur in her hand.

"Zoe" he said softly.

She turned and he could see the tears running down her face. All the years and all the bad things that had happened to them, Mal had never seen Zoe cry. He had a suspicion that she hadn’t meant for him to see this time either.

"You OK?" Even as the words left his mouth, Mal knew that was a stupid question. It had only been a week since they left the place where…Of course she wasn't OK.

Zoe tried to speak and couldn’t. Eventually she just shook her head.

He went to her then and held her. The tears streaming down her face became a flood and she was racked with sobs. Mal couldn’t think of anything to say that could possibly help so he just held her until she was all cried out.

"Mal, I'm sorry. I didn’t mean to cry all over you."

"No call to apologize. It hurts to lose someone. And it seems to me that you've been there for me a time or two when I was feeling much the same."

"I don’t know how to go on without him, Mal. He was my life. If it wasn't for…I know you didn’t approve of our marriage, but it was all the universe to me. He brought back joy and laughter and love and all those things the war destroyed. I used to think about us growing old together surrounded by grandchildren. Now all that's left are.." she gestured helplessly with the tyrannosaurus.

"Zoe, I long since got over my mad about the marriage. Maybe I didn’t remember to mention that." He took the dinosaur out of her hand and gently placed it back in it's proper place on the console. "There's a lot more left than just the dinosaurs, Zoe. Hell, we'd none of us be alive if it wasn't for his skill. And there's the memories of who he was and how he made life on board Serenity a li