Spoiler warning: This story takes place a few months after Serenity, the film. It deals heavily with some very major spoilers from the film. I'm operating under the assumption that the refit Serenity undergoes at the end of the movie takes, at minimum, one month.

This is the fifth story in the Tales series. The rest can be found here:

River, Wash, Mal, Kaylee, Simon, Inara, Jayne, Book

Rated PG for some mild language.

Thanks go out to my much appreciated beta-ers. Thanks ladies.

*****

Zoë Washburne was alone in her bunk.

Serenity had landed hours ago. The crew was mended and the ship was mostly repaired. There’d been that buffer panel that’d fallen off during the burn out of Persephone, but Kaylee had managed to get that problem fixed. She needed a few new parts to finish the work. As it was, Serenity was holding together mostly by her gumption alone. The captain wanted to try and find a new job for them while they were here. He figured that the time was ripe to go out and make a bit more money. It was either time to capitalize on the fame they’d earned from Miranda or try and make some funds before the Alliance got testy and the hammer fell. Simon and Kaylee were planning on turning her parts run into an evening on the town. Jayne and the Captain were going to try and sniff out a few new contacts. They intended to bring River along to sniff out any deception that might be about. Inara had a client lined up that involved her taking the shuttle off by herself.

And that left Zoë alone on Serenity.

She’d insisted on coming here right off after the ship had been repaired. She didn’t have a choice in the thing. It never got any easier, telling them. She’d had to do it a hundred times in the wa