Ch 6

Mal skipped up the stairs to the bridge, throwing his jacket over his shoulders. Zoe threw him a look. “Skipping, sir?” she asked flatly.

“Job went smooth. That kinda thing don’t happen too often. Makes me downright giddy,” Mal said, knowing that he hadn’t fooled her for a second. Zoe knew him well. Too well, at times, for his liking. And though the named Inara Serra would not escape her lips, Mal knew that Zoe knew that the job going well didn’t make him skip. Smiling, he quickly sat down in the pilot’s seat. “Where’s Wash?” he asked, noticing for the first time that the usual occupant of the pilot’s seat wasn’t there.

“He decided to turn in early. River gave him a bit of a scare. Truth be told, sir, she gave us all a bit of a scare.”

Mal didn’t like the tone of Zoe’s voice. She was looking at him, brown eyes solid as the earth. Zoe was a soldier, through and through. She had her mind in the job. Seeing her eyes brought out the same in Mal. Thoughts of Inara were put on hold. He met her gaze. “Go on,” he said. He was not smiling anymore.

“Seems that while she slipped away from Wash and found her way right inside of town hall,” Zoe told him calmly. “Knocked out two alliance guards – might have even killed them – on her way into the catacombs.”

“Gū niang jiāng huì cuī cán wǒ,” Mal muttered.

Zoe shook her head. “That’s not the way of it,” she said, leaning forward. “That map your girl gave us? It wasn’t right. River hadn’t come, Jayne and I would have been stranded in that place. Alliance would have come, job would have been over mighty fast. Sir, she saved us all.”

Mal leaned back in his chair. “Huh,” he muttered softly. River… His life had certainly changed since she’d entered it. It was hard, some times, sorting out his feelings for the girl. On one hand, he was genuinely fond of her. River, underneath all the craziness and whatnot, had a kind disposition to her. Mal could appreciate that. On the other hand, she was full of all that craziness and… and what