"It's noon," Kate said.

"Yep," Mal replied.

"Why didn't someone wake me?"

"We been fendin' for ourselves in the kitchen for years, one more mornin' ain't gonna make that much difference. An' I reckon you needed the sleep." Mal half-smiled. "Just remember, no matter what Hannah says, I ain't responsible for any additions to her vocabulary."

"Did you teach that sweet, innocent little girl naughty words?" Kate grinned.

"Not me," Mal said defensively.

"Eh, she's heard 'em all before anyway. Where is my little hell-beast?" Kate asked, chuckling.

"Helpin' her Daddy fly the boat," Mal grinned. "You gotta go have a gander. Kaylee took some caps, but this is somethin' you gotta see for yourself."

Hannah was sitting on Wash's chair, looking very serious. She was steering erratically, but the ship wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. Wash was standing beside her, beaming down at her like a fool.

"Whatcha doin', baby girl?" Kate asked, after watching her for a while.

"Hannah fly!" she squealed.

Wash grinned at Kate. "A-U-T-O-P-I-L-O-T," he spelled. "Could she possibly be any cuter?"

"When she wants something," Kate laughed. "You're a natural at this."

"At what?"

"The whole Daddy thing. I mean, your bedtime story knocked me out cold."

"Zoe wanted kids," he told her. "I guess I did, too, but I knew it wouldn't work out. Zoe would have either lost the baby, or been killed herself, because it wasn't in her nature to stand by while Mal went on jobs. Being pregnant out to there would have slowed her down. I didn't want to risk losing her, for all it's worth now."

"I didn't want kids," Kate smiled. "Michael either. I was gonna be a chef in a big, fancy Core restaurant, and he was gonna teach. Hannah had other ideas, and once I knew she was there, wasn't a thing in the 'verse could've made me give her up." She paused. "There's an old, old song, back from Earth-that-was, that says 'Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.'" The more I think about it, the m