Reaffirmation of Life – by Darlin who's always Dreaming in Watercolors

Disclaimer – Serenity and all character's herein belong to the very talented Joss Whedon and except for the pleasure I get from writing. I make no profit and certainly intend no copyright infringement.

Everything should have slowly returned to normal after the events of last month and yet how could it? Yes they had wounded the Alliance but it was more like winning a minor skirmish rather than a definite defeat. The ’verse would now know what the Alliance was truly capable of but what would come of that? Would the appalling discovery of how the Reaver’s came to be change anything? Would the Alliance be able to white wash the atrocity as they had so many other crimes? But mostly were the losses of their companions worth this skirmish?

With thoughts like these troubling the crew of Serenity there was little wonder that life had not quite returned to normal. Jayne was perhaps the first to shrug it all off as well as the first to start to get antsy. Kaylee too had resumed her life moving forward with Simon who now felt some of his burden had been lifted now that River’s secret had been discovered. But though the doctor and his sister were full of relief and plans for the future they spoke in hushed whispers as if afraid of disturbing the others, most specifically Zoë.

For the past month Mal had been quietly observing Zoë. She went about her duties as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened to her or the crew, as if death had passed them by and nothing had changed in the ’verse. He ordered . . . she obeyed; standard fare for her, business as usual. And why not, he wondered, mostly thankful that she hadn’t lost her composure after everything. It’s what he admired most about her that she as stoic as he was, that neither death nor the flames of hell nor cannibalistic Reaver’s could deter her quiet calm demeanor.

Even now while the others were taking much needed down time she was working – hard too with sleeves rolled up and sweat be