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[flybywash]

[Not too long after this.]

Nighttime's coming up planetside. Shuttle Two's out on business, leaving the port dock well and clear.

A Firefly has all kinds of safeguards to prevent the inner door from opening when the shuttle's not docked, but there are just as many emergency overrides programmed in there, too. It's a matter of ten seconds' work to pop the door and step out.

The new extender and thruster look unnatural, gleaming as they are next to Serenity's familiar tarnish. Wash moves carefully, crutches squeaking against the metal. He should probably be tethering up just to be safe, even on something as mundane as this, but that isn't a thing he's looking to affirm right now.

When he reaches the curving wall of the port thruster, he shifts his balance and reaches out, putting his palm flat against the engine.

It's still faintly warm from touchdown. He smiles.

In silence, he eases himself to a sitting position, legs dangling over the edge of the extender, and sets the crutches aside as he watches the sunset.

Comments

[gonna_live]

The door's open; that's a little odd.

Kaylee sticks her head out...and grins.

"See we got ourselves a pilot."

[flybywash]

When he hears her, Wash leans back enough to see the door and grins broadly.

"At extremely too long last," he says. Patting the extender, "Looking good out here."

[gonna_live]

"She's gonna hold together a while longer, yeah." Simple pride, and pleasure, too. "Want company, or not so much?"

[flybywash]

"Sure, come on out." He nudges the crutches back a little further to make room.

Above him, the red-gold gleam of the sunset's catching on Serenity's hull: whole, intact, unscathed.

[gonna_live]

It's a beautiful evening. A beautiful sight.

Kaylee settles down next to Wash, legs dangling and crossing at the angle.

And then there is swinging of feet.

"I'm glad we're movin' again." Quietly.

Ion clouds, like the one covering Mr. Universe's rock, don't make for nice amounts of good weather. And they sure as hell don't make for sunsets like this.

[flybywash]

"Yeah, me too. Kinda defeats the whole pilot-y purposes if we're not."

He cranes his neck to look up at Serenity. His good leg starts swinging to match Kaylee's after too long.

"Wish I'd been around to help out a little."

[gonna_live]

"Wish you had too." Her smile goes crooked. "Jayne's good at liftin' stuff, but...wasn't much he could do to help out. Not with the real technical stuff. And Simon don't know enough yet, and he's still a little under the weather anyhow."

Kaylee sits back a little, leaning back on her hands, looking up at the sky. "Truth to tell, I was a little surprised at how fast we could get the parts. It bein' the feds and all. Mostly it was us fixin' her that took the longest."

Now she's not smiling at all.

[flybywash]

Wash gets her meaning.

As nasty as that landing had been, replacing a thruster, the landing gear, and the windscreen wouldn't have taken much more than a week.

"I yelled at Mal about that," he says, quietly. "All of it. Or, okay, most of it."

[gonna_live]

Kaylee's not looking at the sky any more. Now she's looking at Wash.

"You mean -- "

She stops. Starts again, more quietly.

"You mean...what he had us do?"

Not made us do. They could have chosen to remain on Haven, with the dead.

[flybywash]

"Yeah. That might've taken up a good part of the conversation."

He bites his lip, looking down at his leg.

"And...." A heaving sigh; it's been patched up, for now, but it's still plenty raw. "How he said he'd make us do it again if he had to."

[gonna_live]

No more leg-swinging.

"He didn't."

It's pleading. Just a little.

[flybywash]

"That was what started the yelling."

He's shaking his head, unconsciously, still looking down.

A touch bitter, "Cap'n has to do whatever it takes."

[gonna_live]

"But -- "

Kaylee falls silent. She's not so much with the looking up, either.

Her thumb strokes the metal below, slowly.

"I couldn't do it, Wash."

[flybywash]

"I couldn't either. Told him that. Said if he asks me again, I ain't gonna -- "

He breaks off, looks over at Kaylee.

"Hurt her enough with that landing."

[gonna_live]

"You got us down safe." Firmly. "And -- and that's what matters. Weren't like you could help what was on our tail."

[flybywash]

"I should've seen it at least."

Wash's throat works slightly.

"Kaylee, this is only the second time I've crashed in my life. I mean, there's rough landings, and then there's...."

He makes a helpless gesture toward the new port thruster, and sighs, rubbing the back of his head.

"I don't know."

[gonna_live]

She nods, helplessly.

She understands.

"But -- she's better, now." Kaylee's making an effort. "Pretty much everything we needed replaced even from before got replaced."

Kaylee's maybe trying a little too hard. Because that's not what's wrong here.

[flybywash]

He nods.

"Gotta hope that'll be enough."

To make up for what he did -- what all of them did. Maybe win enough of the ship's forgiveness so she won't shake him off when he sits back in his old chair again.

He is not going to let himself be afraid of this.

[gonna_live]

'Course it is, she wants to say. But she can't.

Because -- Kaylee doesn't know, does she.

Everything's shiny new and fixed, down to the fresh coat of paint on the walls of the engine room, but...new doesn't always mean better.

Kaylee sits forward, folding her arms loosely, cupping her elbows in her palms, shoulders hunched.

[flybywash]

Wash leans back again, weight propped on his hands. Experimentally, he wiggles his right ankle back and forth.

It feels good to be able to do that.

A sideways glance at Kaylee. Another one to the sunset.

"So Simon told me something interesting the other day," he mentions, conversationally.

[gonna_live]

"Yeah?"

Kaylee's still not smiling. Thinking too much. Thinking about how easy it was to mess with the core of the ship. Thinking about how the works caught fire.

The conversational tone doesn't help much. Clue a girl in, Wash?

[flybywash]

Gently ribbing, "Something involving a dramatic wedding proposal while on the brink of possible death? That kind of something?"

A slow grin.

[gonna_live]

Oh. There's the smile. Yeah.

"Well, if you want to get technical, he didn't actually do it until it was all over. Just...kinda said he was gonna, until we got locked out, and then...the whole death thing. So. Yeah."

[flybywash]

"Pfft. Technicalities. Who needs 'em."

Wash reaches over to give her shoulder a quick squeeze.

"Congratulations. When's everybody else gonna find out? 'Cause I think I might need to find that camera again."

[gonna_live]

"Once we finally manage to have dinner with all of us sittin' down for the whole thing." Kaylee shakes her head a little. "We were gonna, but -- didn't seem like the best time, you know? And then we figured we ought to wait until you were back home, so everybody could be together."

[flybywash]

He nods, understanding.

And then...he gets a thoughtful look on his face.

"Hm."

[gonna_live]

An inquiring look as she settles back, leaning on her hands again.

[flybywash]

Once he notices:

"What?"

This man right here is the picture of innocence.

[gonna_live]

"Lookin' like you got somethin' on your mind."

There is eyeing.

"Don't tell me you got somethin' planned for Simon, too."

[flybywash]

"Oh, don't worry, nothing besides the cross-dressing stripper."

Cheerful.

[gonna_live]

...

"You know, I can't decide whether I'd want to see pictures of that or not."

Mostly because Simon would turn a very interesting shade of purple.

[flybywash]

"You would." Firmly. "I couldn't help noticing you forgot to decorate the front hall during your long and tiresome weeks of repairs."

[gonna_live]

"Had other things on my mind."

That was your job anyhow, she doesn't say.

[flybywash]

"But...but there's always time for taping inappropriate, embarrassing pictures to every available surface," he says, with false injury. "What will the visitors think?"

Beat.

"...probably that we're a sane, stable, and respectable bunch. But! That's all the more reason why this catastrophe needs correcting as soon as possible."

[gonna_live]

She cracks a smile. "Anybody visitin' would know us already anyhow."

[flybywash]

"Yeah. Except for those pesky stowaways. But we won't cater to that audience."

There's only a thin sliver of red left above the horizon. Another minute, and it's disappeared.

[gonna_live]

"Who's ever stowed away 'cept Early?"

Pause.

"And...whatever her name is."

Pause.

"And Tracey."

Pause.

"And I guess River if you want to get technical."

Pause.

"Can we cater to River?"

[flybywash]

"Shi a."

Pause.

" -- of course you realize that means I gotta think up something even more embarrassing to do to your fiancé," he adds, brightly.

[gonna_live]

"...please don't embarrass him too bad."

Though it's really Jayne that Kaylee should be worrying about, and Kaylee knows it.

[flybywash]

"I won't," he says, the smile softening. "Promise."

It's kind of startling how fast the temperature drops after sunset. Wash shivers a little, one hand absently rising to rub his other arm.

[gonna_live]

"Speakin' of." There is eyeing. "If we stay out here much longer, it's gonna be hard for us to get you back in, and you'll catch a cold on top of it all, and Simon needs to be restin' up, too, and I can't imagine Zoe'd be too happy about it, either."

[flybywash]

"My one salvation is that she's not allowed to beat me up yet." He chuckles. "I think I still got another couple weeks before the 'but I came back from the dead' excuse wears out."

He picks up his right leg and scoots back a few feet before reaching for the crutches.

[gonna_live]

"You need help?"

Kaylee's getting a little practice with it, what with Mal and Simon.

[flybywash]

"I think I -- " He props the crutches up, wiggling around in an attempt to get his left leg under him without falling.

"Yeah," he admits when this doesn't quite go as planned. "A little."

It's one hell of a drop if he loses his balance.

[gonna_live]

It is.

Kaylee kneels at his right side and slides an arm around his shoulders. "Slow's what does it -- up we go -- "

The view's different, once they're standing. Stars everywhere. And way off on the horizon, there's the glow of a distant city. More a town. But it's visible, out here.

[flybywash]

Wash tucks the crutches under his arms, and, for a little while, just looks.

(And ye'd always know where you are, that way, and never be lost.)

The constellations down here aren't nearly as familiar as the ones up there, but there's one with a sharp hairpin turn that, if somebody took it and stretched it out across the length of every quadrant, would correspond to a gentle arc pointing toward the Core.

(Ye'd be home, wherever ye were.)

Mona Lisa's Eye.

Wash smiles, a little watery.

"Thanks for the company," he says.

[gonna_live]

"Shi a."

Kaylee's got her hands in her pockets. She turns her head.

Her smile is bright.

"Welcome home."