*cracks a whip* back you beasts, back! here you go, now be satiated until i can come up with an ending! review pleaaaaaaaaaaaase, it makes my day!

--------------------------------------------------

Being dead didn't really leave a body with much to do, Mal realized. Though he wasn't technically dead. Fact was, he was bored.

"So how long does this usually take?" he asked Tracey, who was rummaging through the food lockers in the kitchen. Mal sat at the table, tapping his fingers absently on the worn wood.

"How long's it gonna take to get a simple concept through your thick skull?" he replied, peeling open a protein bar and nibbling on it. Making a face, he threw it back into the locker. "Nope, doesn't even taste good when you're dead."

"Can't I just say that I get it and blah blah blah? I got certain captain-y things I'd rather be doing than sitting here having a tea party with you."

"You've got to feel it, and they need to be certain that you're going to live it as well." Tracey settled for some tea instead. Mal made a face.

"They teach you all this touchy-feely stuff in dead guy school? You certainly didn't live like you're talkin' when you were alive."

"Death teaches you certain lessons Mal. And when you humped life as good as I did, you see how dumb it is to let others make the same mistakes."

"And you don't have a choice in the matter."

"True." Tracey jumped a bit as he burned his tounge on the hot tea.

"How can you burn yourself if you're dead an' all?" Mal asked curiously. "Come to think of it, how can you eat at all?"

"Death is a mystery Cap'n." Tracey grinned.

"Not one I'm too keen on gettin' friendly with."

Zoe entered, apparently as oblivious as everyone else to the two spirits sitting at the table. She poured herself a cup of tea, then continued out the door to the infirmary. Mal stared after her, mouth hanging open. It looked like Zoe had been...crying? That was impossible. She'd never cried in the war. Even after Wash died, she hadn't shed a tear. Had been mighty