yah, part two is waaaay longer...

***

“Wash, how close are we to Haven?”

“Not that far, Captain, that little spec right there should be it in a few minutes,” Mal grabbed the microphone.

“This is your captain speaking, we’re approaching Haven, and I want everyone looking spiffy and prepared to unload in fifteen minutes tops. Minimal weapons, please,” he added as and afterthought. No good to him if his clients thought they were being ambushed when they simply wanted a deal.

“Who’s the new kid?” Zoë asked as she entered the cockpit. “Wash found her half dead on, er… whatever that last planet was,”

“Dust Planet,” Wash said shortly.

“Yeah. Whatever,” Mal retired to his room to wash his face.

***

Analith was digging the dirt out from under her nails, and River watched with unblinking eyes.

“What are you here for, then?” River stared.

“Did they find you starvin’ to death on a desert planet too, or what?”

“My brother brought me on,”

“Who’s your brother?”

“Simon,”

“Oh. Is there a sink around here?” River’s gaze shifted, and settled on the sink on the wall nearby. “Oh,” Analith said again, and stood, and then nearly fell back on the bed again.

“Your foot,” said River, looking at it.

“Yeah. It’s tender…” Analith gingerly limped over to the sink and washed her hands and face. River watched her for a moment, but then she was gone. Ana looked around the infirmary, then limped out into the hallway-like area outside. She could hear voices coming from the engine room and the cockpit. The kitchen was empty. She was also picking up sounds from what she didn’t know to be Mal and Kaylee’s rooms. She went over to a door in the wall, opened it, and crept with absolute silence inside.

There was a bed, a screen, everything one needed to get on inside, and someone was in another part of the room, and a faucet was running. She picked up a pair of pajama pants off the bed, and looked at them thoughtfully. The water stopped.

“Jesus!” Mal said when h