Note: Hi y'all. Hung up on the ratings issue again. Hope no one is offended. The title is partly in reference to the story, partly in reference to the album I listened to over and over while writing: "Furnace Room Lullaby" by Neko Case and Her Boyfriends. The song "Mood to Burn Bridges" is so great. I started out thinking of it as a "Jayne" song, but it seems to work here, too. Okay, it's mostly a Jayne song but the first couple verses really work. I know that that's going a little meta. I have no good excuse.

Disclaimer: These characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and 20th Century Fox or whatever.

Rallying cry: I post this as we learn that UPN doesn't want browncoats. Just wanted to say It's Always Darkest Just Before Dawn. No power in the 'verse can stop us.

Mood to Burn Bridges

“Zoë, you down there?” Mal hollered down the hatch into Zoë ’s bunk.

“Yes, Sir.” She raised one eyebrow. A delicate gesture, balletic even. Wash, on the other side of the room, leaning against her desk, his arms crossed, savored it. They hadn’t precisely been hiding their new romance but hadn’t flaunted it either. He distinctly thought that the next few minutes would be awkward. Would Mal climb down, talk to Zoë and not even notice him? He wasn’t hidden, but from the ladder, Mal would have to turn a good distance around. And what if he did notice him?

Wash was genuinely in her bunk to bed her. The rest of the crew was asleep and his desire for her had only made the day go maddeningly slowly. All day, he had thought of nothing but her skin and smell and heat. Still, he could think of at least ten reasons he could be here this late at night. They were both fully dressed. The lights were on, the bed was made. He could be chatting her up about engine efficiency or the duty rotation.

But he had a vague suspicion that Mal was onto him. There had been the near-incident a couple weeks after he’d first signed on. On an otherwise quiet