Hey kids, due to popular demand, another segment! So please, whoever had the gunmen on order, hold your horses. (PLEASE!) All will be revealed in time. (might take a while since writer's block is setting in). Reviews make my pathetic existance worthwhile! Enjoy.

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Mal woke up back in his own bunk, Tracey sitting backwards on a chair studying him intently.

"You still here?"

"Can't go anywhere 'till you learn your lesson."

"Guess that means I ain't dead." Mal closed his eyes. "And what's this great lesson I'm supposed to be learning now?"

Tracey shook his head. "You're a stubborn man, Captain Reynolds. Been bitter for far too long. They're not too keen on giving you another free pass if you're just going to waste it."

"ANOTHER free pass?" he asked increduolously. "When have I ever gotten anything but the heel of their boot shoving my face deeper into the mud?"

"Captain. How many times have you come out of botched jobs unscathed? How many times have you and yours been just one step in front of the law? How do you thing this piece of go se stays in the air with all you put her through? Do you think that it was all just your dumb luck?"

Mal laid back and considered this for awhile. Sure, he and his crew had had some close calls but come out on the shiny end...more so then they had a right to sometimes. But that wasn't due to anything other than his master plans and luck. Was it?

"I don't believe that anyone but me has anything to do with what happens to us." He said finally. Tracey sighed heavily.

"That's your problem Mal. You've spent so much time being Captain-y, bitter and lonely- and making sure that everyone knows it- that you've missed that was given to you completely. Stop focusing on what you've lost and take a look around at what you do have."

"And what's that exactly?"

"Love." Tracey answered simply.

"Love!" Mal laughed. "Now there's something I don't know much about. Don't put food on the table or fuel in the engine, so it a