"Mal," Wash said, eyeing the ball of fur. "This isn't a kitten."

"It ain't?" Mal said. "What is it?"

"Looks like a rat," Jayne put in.

"Actually," Simon said thoughtfully, "It's feline. But I'm guessing when you were thinking 'kitten' you didn't exactly have Prionailurus viverrinus in mind."

"Pryo-what?" Mal asked. "What the gorram hell did Cooper sell me?"

"It's a fishing cat," Simon explained, showing them the kitten's webbed paws. "I've never seen one outside of a text book. This cat belongs in a zoo, not a spaceship. You can't give this kitten to Hannah."

"Lucky thing we ain't off the ground yet," Mal sighed.

"Hold up," Jayne said. "Fishin' cat could be useful, we land on a rock with some sweet water holes."

"Jayne," Simon said patiently. "This cat is not domesticated. It could tear Hannah's face off in her sleep or something! Wild animals are unpredictable, and they don't belong in someone's house as a pet."

"Right. Doc, you an' Jayne are comin' with me to pay Cooper another visit. I'm leavin' it in your hands to make sure he don't sell me another one o' these pryo-whatsits. Jayne don't gotta be healed to look menacin' enough." Mal turned. "Wash, keep the ladies distracted."

The ladies, it turned out, were in the kitchen. Every last one of them, from Inara to Hannah, was in the middle of making some kind of food. Hannah and River were decorating sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies with brightly colored icing. Kaylee was finishing up what looked like a batch of egg nog. Inara was brewing mulled cider.

"What is that?" Wash asked Kate.

She grinned. "It's figgy pudding. You know, "o bring us some figgy pudding, o bring us some figgy pudding,'" she sang.

"O bring us some figgy pudding, and bring it right here," Kaylee, Inara and River joined in. "We won't go until we get some -"

"I get the picture," Wash laughed. "Have you ladies been tasting the egg nog?"

"No," Inara smiled. "But we have been tasting the rum that goes into it."

"All of you?"

"Well, not Hannah,