Worth Fighting For
Rating: PG-13 just because it gives a writer a little leeway.
Characters: Zoe/Wash
Disclaimer: I don't own anything about Firefly although I sincerely wish I did. I also wish I owned Fox because if I did it never would have been cancelled.
Timeline: Pre-seriesish. Zoe's POV.
Description: Even the most peaceful of people will eventually find something…or someone worth fighting for.
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I had a vague feeling that the captain was trying to prove some kind of point. I mean, there had to be some reason he had sent me out on this drop with the one person in the'Verse that I could barely tolerate. The fact that this very person now sat very close behind me on the mule with his arms around my waist made even more annoyed at Mal.
"If you want to keep them attached, you'd better keep your paws to yourself, pilot!" I growled over my shoulder as I started to pull out of Serenity. I felt his grip loosen slightly.
"I have to hold on t' something!" he replied. His cheeky tone was one of my biggest pet peeves about him. He was too damn cheerful and careless.
I twisted the throttle and we sped across the dusty landscape to the pre-determined drop point. This was an outer-rim planet that was newly settled and Mal assured me that the people we were delivering to wouldn't cause no trouble because they were desperate for the supplies. I was pretty sure there wouldn't even be any haggling for a lower price because what we had to offer they couldn't get no place else. And so the captain decided to let our little pilot out for a run because he'd been cooped up so long. Wo de ma, why not send Kaylee? She'd been cooped up just as long!
I guess my anger was showing in the way I was driving because I felt the pilot's arms tighten suddenly.
"What'd I say, Washburne!" I snapped.
"You're driving like a maniac!" the pilot yelled over the sound of the engine, I grinned a little at the panic in his voice. I've never considered myself a sadist before but, somehow, making him uncomfortable and scared made me feel better about this whole arrangement.
I saw the drop point ahead where a group of men were standing so I made one more attempt at making the pilot scream like a girl. I twisted the left break grip hard and sent us into a sideways skid stop that jarred my teeth, a huge cloud of dust flew up and the mule tilted dangerously for a second on two tired before it thumped back to all four. Then I realized I couldn't breathe because he had a hold of my stomach so tight and his face was pressed into the back of my shoulder. I was pretty sure I heard a whimper before I unstraddled the mule and greeted our buyers.
"Mornin', boys," I said cheerfully, feeling much better now that the drop was half completed, but that faded as soon as I got a good look at the men I was to do business with.
They were filthy as was to be expected on outer-rim planets with no working facilities as of yet. Running water was apparently not an option here and neither was soap. But that didn't bother me as much as their faces. They were looking at me with something very close to disgust and one of them wouldn't even look at me.
"Something wrong?" I challenged.
"These outer planets sure ain't what they use to be," one of them mumbled to the one not meeting my eyes.
"S'getting' t' where anyone ol' body thinks they can land here," the other one inspecting me with distaste replied.
"I'm afraid I don't get your meaning," I said, keeping my voice at a low and controlled tone. I had begun to realize the problem because this had happened before.
"Hey, ginger, get over here," one of the men addressed my pilot. "Bring that there box wit' ya."
Wash looked up with a start and blindly slid off the mule and heaved the crate of supplies off the rack. He walked over and set it down between us and the men, looking at me in confusion.
The men pried open the crate, examined the clothes, tools and food that was inside and seemed to find it acceptable.
"Seems you kept up your end of the deal," the one who seemed to be the leader addressed Wash, but made a point of excluding me.
Wash's eyes were wide and he looked at me questioningly, searching for advice on what to do. I remained silent and didn't return his look.
"I…we…yes, we sure did," I heard him stutter at last.
"I'll give you…" the leader started to say.
"You'll give us our agreed price and nothing less," I interrupted darkly. I gave the man the most deadly glare I could and he just ignored me.
"Like I was sayin', ginger…"
"You heard her," Wash's sudden change of tone made me glance over at him, he looked pretty angry and it shocked me. I had never seen him be anything but ridiculous. "You'll pay us the agreed price and nothing less."
The men all gave Wash look that would kill if they could, but the leader finally handed over a small canvas bag of coins to him and picked up the crate with the help of one of the others without so much as a "nice doin' business with ya". The third man, who had still not even glanced my way stood there for a moment longer.
Wash and I turned to leave. I heard the man behind us whisper almost under his breath: "Go tsao de Darkies ain't go no right to be here." I felt my spine stiffen at the prejudiced remark but I kept my calm and didn't even falter in my walk back to the mule. But I did notice that Wash had suddenly disappeared from my side and I quickly turned around to find out where he had got to.
I heard a sickening crack and turned to find Wash standing over the man with a his fists clenched tightly, the man on the ground had his hand pressed to his nose which was bleeding profusely. I watched in confused awe as Wash leaned down and grabbed the man by the collar, yanking him to his feet. The man seemed to recover his wits because he grabbed Wash by the shoulders and delivered a head-butt to his face. I should have jumped in and split it up, but I was too amazed the events before me that I found myself watching in stunned silence. Wash recovered from the blow quickly and threw his whole weight into the man, knocking them both to the ground where they started to throw more punches. Wash ended the fight with a swift knee to the man's right kidney and stood up, hair sticking out wildly, fists clenched, eyes blazing.
"Ain't you got no manners?" I heard him growl at the man cowering below him, "You don't talk about ladies like that. No get your worthless pigu back to your buddies."
The man stumbled to his feet and limped off toward the town. Wash watched him go with a grim look on his face and I finally made my legs move and walked over to his side.
"Pilot," I said, softly, not wanting to make a sudden movement and make him swing a punch my way. Not that he would ever be able to get a punch past me. He jerked slightly and looked at me. "Let's get back to the ship and patch you up. You look like go se."
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The drive back was silent and I pondered what had just happened. What on earth had possessed the crazy man to haul off and beat the living daylights out of that man for such a simple remark? Mal would have let it slide. Hell, I had let it slide and I was the one being insulted!
We pulled into the cargo area and I cut the engine. Mal walked down the stairs and caught sight of our bruised and bloodied pilot on the seat behind me and he gave me a confused look.
"Had a little tussle is all, captain," I replied as I dismounted. "Pilot, get your butt to the infirmary and I'll be up to tend to you."
Wash nodded slightly and tossed Mal the bag of coins as he passed him on his way up the stairs.
"Do I even want to know what happened, Zoe?" Mal asked.
"Something triggered him, Captain," I replied simply. "Don't worry though, the other guy looks much worse."
An amused look covered Mal's face and he pushed the button to close the airlock as I left for the infirmary.
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I had to smile slightly when I walked through the infirmary doors. Wash was sitting on the counter to my right, legs dangling off the edge kicking back and forth in glee. He looked up and gave me his well-known toothy grin and I shook my head with a sigh.
"Wash," I used his nickname for the first time and it felt somehow more easy on the tongue. "What on earth possessed ya back there?"
He looked at me confused for a second.
"I thought that was obvious," he replied. I motioned for him to get off the counter and onto the table in the middle of the room. He complied and I started digging through drawers for the proper utensils.
"Prejudice is one of those things that no one can change," I muttered as I laid out everything I needed on the table beside him. I took his face in my hands and turned his head left and then right to get a view from all angles. Pretty bad split bottom lip, a deep cut over his right eyebrow but other than that he looked alright. "It's one of those things that will be around even after we're gone."
"Doesn't make it any more acceptable," Wash muttered. He watched me thread a stitching needle with a nervous expression. "Is that gonna hurt?"
"Probably," I replied simply, as I sterilized the needle and thread. "And, no, it doesn't make it acceptable. But if I beat up everyone who insulted me somehow I would get worn out. Lay back."
Wash let out a shaky sigh and laid back on the table. He shut his eyes and his hands gripped the edges of the table as I positioned the needle carefully. He let out a small whimper as I threaded through the first stitch but remained perfectly still so as not to mess anything up. I had to smile at his brave front he was putting on.
Finally I told him to sit back up.
"I'm not one for fighting," he commented, twitching his newly stitched eyebrow experimentally.
"Well you handled yourself pretty well back there, pilot," I replied as I cleaned the dried blood from his lip with a wet cloth.
"That was an exception," he said quietly.
"How was that an exception?" I asked offhandedly as I closely examined his lip to see if I should stitch it.
"I had something worth fighting for."
I felt my breath catch in my throat and I slowly raised my head to look at him. I found a pair of the brightest blue eyes I had ever seen in the verse staring straight into my chocolate brown. For some reason, I couldn't make my voice work but he didn't make any move to rush me so I concentrated on my breathing and slowly straightened up to my full height.
Suddenly, he didn't look so foolish or immature. I found myself looking at him with a newfound prospective. Suddenly, he wasn't just a pilot…he was a part of my crew and I found myself wanting him to be more than that. I wanted to know who he really was.
"Wash," I finally found the ability to speak. "I have something to say to you."
His gaze turned a little bit nervous, probably the fear of rejection.
"Yeah?" he asked carefully.
I finally let a genuine smile cross my face and I liked the way his face lit up as I did.
"Wash…if your lip wasn't split and you didn't have that damn lip ferret I would kiss you right now."
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