Wednesday's Child

River was heading to her bunk, it was just hers, as Simon slept with Kaylee now. As she did she cast her mind over the members of Serenity's still healing crew. Mal was asleep, dreaming of Inara, as she slept dreaming of him. Jayne was awake- writing a letter to his mother- they'd all come to realise the importance of family and Jayne Cobb had decided to make more of an effort with his. Simon and Kaylee were doing things that she didn't want to concentrate on, until it came to her time to do them. Her slowly-healing mind trembled as she reached out to Zoe.

Poor Zoe, she had seen so much- just as River herself had. The difference being that River still had Simon unlike Zoe who had first carried it with her and then Mal had come along to share the burden of common experiences. Then Wash had arrived and it was like the weight on her shoulders didn't exist. Serenity Valley was just a distant grisly nightmare and she had learnt to laugh and feel love. River felt for the broken first mate and yet what could she do? She had never lost something she loved, yes she had lost apart of herself, but River had never lost the reason to find herself again.

River hadn't known such a love could exist as it had between Zoe and her man. You couldn't call something this powerful, this pure love it was something that needed a whole new word- a word that no-one not even River knew. A lot like Zoe's grief couldn't really be called grief. Yet River was glad that she would probably never experience it. That love that had kept Zoe whole was now ripping her to shreds. Zoe wasn't just full of sadness, she was full of grief, full of woe.