Bedlam: Part 5

By Kaynara

***

If she could just hide him away in here, stash him like the cargo, he’d be safe. They wouldn’t be able to find him, harm him. He was heavier than he looked. She grasped him under the armpits, tugging. The walk from the bridge felt endless. But she could save him. Sure it looked bad. She’d seen a lot worse in the war. Legs aching from the weight, arms stinging, Zoe laid Wash’s broken body out in one of Serenity’s many handy cargo holds. So close, baby, so close. She took out the last scaly bits of the Reaver harpoon, gleeful now--they were almost there. And suddenly he awoke, cursing a string of slurred Mandarin, choking for air.

“...on the wind,” he finished, half-amazed. He sat up, rubbing at his chest as though the wound stung just slightly, an old scar mostly-forgotten.

“You almost left me, Husband.” Zoe laid her head on his breast, feeling the warm skin against her lips, feeling his heart.

“Aw, Zoe.” He smoothed the hair over her temple. “I know you’d never desert me, lamby-toes. Never leave me skewered on a stick, the main course at the big Reaver luncheon.” He laughed but his tone turned bitter at the end, wryly-ironic.

She met his gaze, wide-eyed, but he just smiled, hugged her around the middle. She fell against him, wanting to weep for joy. His lips grazed over her ear lobe, and he took it in his mouth, sucking lightly.

“That kid’s gonna have one sexy mama,” he said, sliding a hand under her shirt. “Strong too. Impenetrable as steel and twice as cold.” He stroked gently, and she felt the baby respond, kick against his hand as though yearning to get out. As though trying to escape.

“Here’s hopin’ she don’t fall out of your knapsack whilst you and Mal are shootin the outlaws.”

“Husband, don’t you know I’d never--”

“Of course not, sweetiekins. Least not before....”

Zoe woke retching and threw up in the sink.

***

Sometimes, when he first saw her mornings, ‘fore either of ‘em opened their mouths, he was transported back.