Author’s Note: in case anyone’s wondering, this takes place AU where the series has happened but the BDM probably won’t (I like my Wash alive)

*

*

I neither own nor hold any claim to any characters or associated articles of Firefly. Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy do that. I am just a humble fan who is very scared of lawyers and has no money.

*

*

Feedback is shiny in the n th degree and will be received with open arms and a mug of hot chocolate (but you only get marshmallows if you comment *glares*)

*

*

Bridge, Serenity, 1546hrs

It was nearly a full three standard weeks since Jaine Williams had joined the crew of his ship, and Captain Malcolm Reynolds was finally allowing himself to relax. He figured if she was fixin’ to do somethin’, she’d’ve done it by now. She was a nice girl. No, nice woman . She was 34, same as him. It was amazing, really. She looked too damn young. He’d asked her about it and she’d said somethin’ ‘bout life bein’ easier on the skin in the Core. He’d also asked her how she found him, how she knew he’d remember her, but she hadn’t heard. Or pretended not to.

She was nice enough, helped out when she could, got on with the crew didn’t ask for much. But there were still a lot of unanswered questions floating around his brainpan. Like how’d she managed to track them down? How’d she known it would be them? That he would remember her? And there was the issue of her past employ. He just wasn’t comfortable having a bounty hunter on his boat again, whatever she might say. Not that he was too comfortable the first time round

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her, like her, even. She was friend; someone who’d saved his and Zoë’s lives time and again. Then again, Jayne’d done all that, too.

He heaved a sigh. He was sitting in the pilot’s chair, watching the ‘verse drift by and thinking about a problem he had.

They’d lined up a job for tomorrow, when they landed on Beylix. It was a minor drop, but enough to keep the crew alive and have enough left to buy a few of the sp