Before Serenity
Chapter 1
….. …..
River looked up with those big puppy dog eye and Mal's face. He sighed and rolled his eye in a defeatist manner. River smiled back at him satisfied in her victory over him to tell another tale from his war years.
"You know the Doc won't be happy you hearing all these spun yarns young'un." Smiled the captain as he switched the cockpit to autopilot.
He and River had been spending a lot of time on the bridge of recent. In all honesty the bridge had become the place most of them spent their time. Mal thought it was because of the memories of Wash that soaked the walls of the place; after all it was only two months since he had died.
"What he doesn't know won't fuss him much" she replied as she tucked her legs under her in the co-pilot seat.
They had been in the black for two days now on a legit cargo run to a rim mining moon. The rest of the crew was asleep with only Mal and River unable to get some shut eye. River in herself had become more chatty and her brother Simon had noticed she was becoming more like her own self, more in control of her acquired attributes.
"Why you so interested in my old war stories these days?" Mal asked.
"I just like to know" she quietly replied.
She had secretly wanted to hear about the Battle of Serenity, of course she was scared of asking as it was still a massive scar on her captains mind. Instead she questioned him on the final week before Serenity in the hopes he'll slip into it without realising.