“Gorramit River! Who the hell let her pilot anyways!”

River had taken a sharp turn. He was just upset because some of his guns on the rack next to his bunk fell on him as he was taking a nap.

“No sleep needed. Complicated dreams ensued. Why two females at once? Is one not enough?”

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to, River. And trust me darlin, you don’t want to know.”

She accepted this answer from her captain and concentrated on the black ahead of her.

Now that he was awake, he might as well lift some weights. After all, he had some extra energy to burn…

Zoe smirked, hearing the commotion. Hadn’t quite gotten over the compliment from Jayne a few days ago. She wasn’t all better, but it was what finally made her realize that there were still people in the ‘verse that cared. Strange that Jayne would be the one to remind her of that. She stood looking over into the cargo bay watching the man-ape lift weights. She had been so upset when Mal offered him a spot on the crew. Not as upset as she was when he hired Wash…Wash. Her husband. Gone. Her heart was like a stone. She felt nothing. On their last job she got shot in the arm and didn’t realize it until Jayne had so lovingly pointed it out by grabbing by the same arm and pulling her onto the mule. Come to think of it, Jayne had been acting a little unusual lately. Was he actually trying to take advantage of her mourning and get into her pants? He’d get an ass kicking, that’s what he get… No, he wasn’t that dumb. She’d cut off his John Thomas and hand it to him if he was.

“Zo, get down here. That arm’s lookin’ at tad flabby there. You could use these weights more than me!”

With such a charming invitation, who could resist? She made her way down and he watched her as she lifted.

“This was you and the preacher’s deal, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah well…(changing subject)someone’s gotta keep you in shape and alert. You’re the only one who can deal with Mal and his hissy fits.”

As they worked in silence,