ALONG CAME A ZHI ZHU -Chapter FOUR

By BlueHandTwoByTwo (LarryL)

“You know, this isn’t exactly a convenient time for me to die,” Wash said, staring forlornly at his bandaged hand. “I still had some things I wanted to do first.”

Zoe took his other hand and gave it a squeeze. “You aren’t getting out of your marriage vows that easily. I’ll make sure of that.”

“Yeah, nobody dies on board my ship until I give them permission,” Mal said, standing next to Zoe. “Especially not my navigator. Didn’t you read your contract?”

“Must’ve been in the small print,” Wash chuckled, grimly.

“Zoe, I think your husband needs to get himself a good pair of reading glasses when we reach port,” Mal said. “Whaddya say?”

Zoe nodded. “It’ll be our top priority, Captain.”

Wash wasn’t in the mood for sappy distractions. The fact of the matter was he was infected. Right now, Simon’s ‘thingamabobs’ were in his bloodstream, crystallizing into dangerous, arterial roadblocks that would eventually cause him to stroke. Whether or not he’d be in full command of his senses at the time, though, remained to be seen. They attacked your brain as well. Simon said the condition sometimes caused dementia and that frightened Wash even more than having a heart attack truth be told. “I really wanted to be a dad,” Wash lamented with a warm smile to his wife. “Wouldn’t that have been fun, honey? Have a bunch of little baby Wash’s all running around the ship, doing my evil dirty work? An entire army of little blonde-haired, blue-eyed gremlins reeking havoc and chaos throughout the galaxy?”

“More fun than a barrel of Reavers,” Zoe rolled her eyes and laughed.

Wash snapped back, “Hell, even the gorram Reavers would’ve been scared of ‘em! My offspring would have been legendary!” He shook his head and laughed softly at himself. With one final deep breath and a slow exhale, he turned to Mal and said, “Okay, tell the doctor I’m ready for my sedative. I don’t want to go all looney tunes in front of everyone.”

“Bu