Title: Virtuoso

Author: babies stole my dingo (agilebrit)

Fandom: Firefly

Rating: PG-13 for language

Length: Short story (a little over 1000 words)

Disclaimer: Joss is the genius behind these characters; I am but a lowly follower. I make no money from any of this, so please don't sue me.

Written for: Just me. How it might have been...

Notes: How did Zoe go from "He bothers me, sir" to "love, honor, and cherish"?

She couldn't put her finger on it. Something about their new hotshot pilot just bugged the go se out of her.

Maybe it wasn't one thing. Lord knew he had enough quirks to fill the cargo hold. That ridiculous mustache, those horrible shirts, that silly manner of speaking. Other things...

She'd paused outside the door to the cockpit soon after they'd hired him, hearing voices, although she knew he was the only one in there. "'Look! Fire in the sky!' 'Oh, no, we're all going to die!' 'And you will die a little sooner than everyone else! Grawr, grawr, grawr!'" She poked her head in--then went to find Mal, who was in the engine room with Kaylee.

"Sir, a grown man who plays with plastic dinosaurs just ain't right in the head."

"Aw, I think it's sweet," Kaylee said.

Zoe shook her head at the mechanic. Kaylee would think a rattlesnake was sweet, right up until it bit her. "Sir..." she said to Mal.

"Look, Zoe, he's one of the best pilots I've ever seen. Maybe the best. So, get used to him, because he's gonna be around for awhile, at least 'til we find a better. Dong ma?"

"Yessir." But she didn't have to like it. And she didn't.

Things took a turn for the weird when she found a yellow rose on her pillow one afternoon. She stormed into the dining room and threw it on the table. Jayne and Mal were the only other ones in the room, and they stared at it in confusion. "Which of you fung luh<