Kaylee knew she was interrupting something, but she couldn’t help it. Mal had sent her down to swap places with Zoë. In short, the grown-ups needed to talk. She’d been mildly offended at first, but then it made sense. Kaylee already knew what was happening, Zoë didn’t. And in Mal’s eyes, Kaylee and Wash were closer then Zoë and Wash. He wanted Wash distracted while they discussed their options.

‘Well, he’s certainly distracted,’ Kaylee thought with a smile as she spied Zoë sitting close to him. They were holding hands and looked to be in deep conversation. ‘Doubt I could do a better job then that.’

“Uh hum,” she said, purposely hanging back and looking off to the side.

Zoë stood up, but she hadn’t moved deliberately, it hadn’t been like she’d been caught doing anything wrong. She just casually stood up and faced her. That was her way. Zoë never did anything she didn’t mean to. She wasn’t embarrassed by Kaylee’s entrance or by her seeing them like that.

“Came to see how you’re doing,” Kaylee smiled as walked over to Wash, “Obviously you’re fine.”

Wash laughed a little, a nervous laugh. He was embarrassed.

“I’ve been better,” he managed, the blush slowly leaking from his face.

“Here,” Zoë said to Kaylee, “help me lean the table up, at least part way. It’ll be easier for him to talk.”

The two of them did just that and it had helped.

“This is much better then looking at the ceiling. Thanks.”

“So, you’re going to have to get out of here soon.”

“I don’t see that happening,” he said flatly.

“Really? Jayne’s talking about flying Serenity.”

“What?” Wash said in disbelief. The animation had returned to his features. “No way he’s touching her. It’ll take weeks to fix whatever he’d manage to break.”

“I don’t know,” she said teasingly, “he sounded like he knew what he was doing. He even correctly identified the port side.”

“Oh man. Well, I don’t have to worry about this killing me. Jayne’s gonna drive us into a sun.”

“I’m kidding,” Kaylee laughed, “Cap’n pu