"Do you hate me now?" Lee's voice startled Zoe ; she'd not been aware of his presence in the storeroom a guard had abruptly shoved her into.

"Hate what you stand for, hate whoever did that to him. Can't say I hate you in particular."

Lee nodded, emerging from the shadows and studying the handcuffed woman standing almost defiantly before him. "Corporal, this is my prison and my command. I feel responsible for what my men did to him, and I want to see him clear of this. Imagine you do too."

Zoe didn't reply. Like Mal, she found herself trusting Lee instinctively. Unlike Mal, however, her military training overrode any desire to open up to him, especially where the last remaining person in the 'verse who meant something to her was concerned.

Lee didn't seem surprised by her lack of reply. He said "I've read every report, every interview transcript including yours, every detail about your Sergeant Reynolds, and I don't think I've ever run across a man who's inspired more loyalty. I saw him do something so stupidly heroic that I gotta feel the same way."

Zoe's lips twitched in a slight smile. Stupidly heroic; that was one way to describe him, she supposed. She had a notion that he was far more intelligent about it than most people might realize, but that was for them to figure out on their own. "You really want to help him?" she challenged.

"Yes," replied Lee. "I do, and before I can do a single thing I gotta know he's thinking straight. I'm afraid with everything he's been through......." His voice trailed off. "He's in a tight spot, and I got to know he cares about that."

"Get him out of that place." Zoe found it hard to control the ferocity that was trying to creep into her voice. "You want to help him, you get him out of that box you have him locked in and put him someplace where he can act and feel like an actual human."

Lee understood the barely veiled accusation. "I'm not trying to be cruel, Corporal. I want to see your Sergeant get out of here alive, and I put him in