Mason looked each crew member in the eye, one after the other. The room was deathly silent. He shuffled his feet and drew in a breath.

"I'm pregnant," he announced at last.


Two Months Earlier

Serenity had stopped to pick up passengers. There were five altogether- a woman and her daughter, a teenage girl who was looking for work on the outer rim, a young man with a perfect smile and a former school teacher.

River was immediately taken with the mother and daughter combo. She watched them from the shadows with an intent, almost creepy look in her eye. Her unbalanced mind was rattling with memories of her own childhood and of people she'd never seen nor met before. The girl, Melanie, fascinated her. How simple life was for her! She would dance with ribbons tied to her wrists, she would giggle and run through the hallways and when she tripped, her mother would come running and kiss the tears away. River longed for the simplicities of childhood.

Mal was suspicious of the teenaged girl. She kept to herself and spent most of the time in her room. Her name was Cassidy, she was nineteen and had spent most of her life on her father's dirt ranch. She was striking out on her own to (hopefully) find a life more fulfilling than that. Mal didn't but that for a minute. Her face said she couldn't have been older than fifteen, and the way she spoke it was clear she didn't have a clue as to how to survive in the outside world. Her working papers and ID card seemed legitimate enough so the captain had let her board, but there was something about her that made him wary. Like she was hiding something.

Zoe and the schoolteacher, Carla, seemed only to have in common the same irritation of how ignorant and obnoxious Jayne was. That seemed to be enough to keep one another's company. Zoe could regale stories of the war and her time with Mal, where Carla delighted in reminiscing about the antics of the children she taught at her private school. In a way, Carla reminded Zoe of Shepherd Book. The older woman was a bit sheltered, but there was something about her that was far from innocent. Carla seemed a lot tougher than one might give her credit for.

Jayne had taken to Mason the moment at dinner he'd told Simon to stop acting to pompous. In truth Simon hadn't said anything really wrong. He was reassuring his sister that the visitors were not from the Alliance, and no one was going to be taking her anywhere. And even if they did try, the captain wouldn't let anyone because they were more important to Mal than the passengers. To which Mason had snorted and said "Would you shut up about how much you love the captain already?" Jayne had almost choked to death on his protein. River had glared hard and muttered "Secret man will be exposed soon enough." Simon had excused himself promptly.

Fifteen days later, Serenity was cruising as scheduled and was on her way for a stop on a middle of nowhere moon called either "Platoh" or "Plataton", nobody could remember which. Kaylee had just announced Serenity would need fuel (just like the people on board because the pantry had been nearly empty for days) when a blip came over the scanner. The ship was being hailed. Worse still, they were being hailed by an Alliance cruiser.

"Captain Reynolds," an officer said curtly when the firefly replied to the call, "prepare your ship for boarding."

"Boarding?" Mal said easily, shooing Kaylee and Simon off the bridge. "There a reason for this honor?"

The man, most likely some low-rank who didn't have much say in anything, smirked. "We believe one of the passengers you've picked up is smuggling illegal goods."

Internally, Mal cussed. "That so?" he replied pleasantly. "What sort of goods? If need be, I can perform a search of guest quarters."

"Classified goods, captain Reynolds. You wouldn't know what to look for. Stand by for boarding."

"Now, I don't-"

"Stand by, captain. I have authority to board with or without your cooperation." The last image Mal saw before the screen went dead was a conceited, full-of-himself grin from the Alliance officer.

This time, Mal cussed out loud. Very loud. And Zoe got to get the brunt of it. "Get everyone in the kitchen!" Mal barked. "NOW!"

Everyone gathered. Melanie and her mother, Chloe, sat huddled together at the end of the table. Mason sat beside them looking unperturbed by the situation. Carla held her steady look of determination that can only be achieved by a woman whose dealt with unruly children all her life. Cassidy was shaking like a small, frail leaf.

"Listen here," Mal began sternly. "We're going to have Alliance agents boarding very, very soon. They're looking for something of theirs that's gone missing." He paced back and forth, trying to find the right words for it. "If anyone here has put my ship or my crew in danger…" He took a breath top calm himself. It didn't work. Luckily for him (and everyone else), Jayne tromped in and broke the awful silence.

"They're boarding," he said softly.

"Is River in her room?"

"With the doc, yeah. Kaylee's with 'em."

"Okay." Mal calmed himself, then walked off to greet the intruding officers.

Sergeant Terk of the Alliance Forces was all smiles while boarding the renegade firefly ship. You could tell from looking at him he was thinking of doing a thorough inspection of the entire vessel to see if he could book the captain on any charges.

"All stored items are out here," Mal informed him wryly. "Guest quarters are-"

"I'm not looking for an item, Captain Reynolds," Terk said haughtily. "I need all the women you have on board."

"…. Come again?"

"Every female, including crew."

"What for?"

"We need them examined."

Mal lifted an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Captain Reynolds, there is a woman on this ship who is carrying a child that belongs to someone else."

Mal blinked. "You mean I have a pregnant woman on board?"

"Relatively. It is an artificial insemination, so whether or not you think a woman on your ship might be pregnant, she may be carrying what we need."

"I… see. And whose kid is this if not hers?"

"It belongs to a man who wants the fetus."

"It's his kid?"

"He owns it, yes. If you'll excuse me, please." Terk strode past Mal with his head high. Mal waved away the gun Jayne had started pulling from his shoulder holster. "Reynolds, get all your females ready for examination."

In half an hour, every woman from Serenity was waiting in an Alliance sickbay looking irritable. Zoe kept tapping her foot to keep from striking out. "This is insane," she fumed. "I don't see why they couldn't just take the passengers."

"I feel violated," Kaylee confessed. "But I feel worse for River." River was asleep on her shoulder. She was drugged for the exam because, naturally, she wouldn't let anyone related to the Alliance touch her in any way, shape or form.

"What's worse is poor Melanie," Carla commented. "She's only nine years old. Of course she hasn't been implanted with a stolen embryo. Can you imagine how uncomfortable she must feel? Her future intimate life with men will be scarred forever."

Chloe and Melanie came out of the room, the small girl looking pale and nervous. The Alliance doctor slammed the door behind them.

"That's everyone," Zoe declared to the guards who were stationed to watch them. "Can we go now?"

"This way," one of them responded, sounding annoyed.

The females returned to Serenity looking worse for the wear. Cassidy was positively shaking.

"You all right?" Simon asked her as she passed.

"I'm… I just… yes," she managed to spit out.

"We done?" Mal asked Terk impatiently.

Terk was obviously quite put-off. "Yes," he spat. "None of them are carrying the child." He turned on his heels and marched out, the few foot soldiers he brought with him following like puppies.

"Well," Mason declared into the silence, "that was annoying."

Three weeks passed with little to no activity. The stop was made as planned, and Chloe and Melanie got off on that planet. "Thank you for everything, Captain," Chloe had said, "but Melanie is scared to death by what happened. She just needs some time to settle again, you know?"

"Of course," he assured her. "I hope she's okay."

Serenity was airborne again. Carla and Zoe chatted when there was a moment, Jayne and Mason spent a lot of time playing with Jayne's weight sets, Cassidy locked herself away in her room. Life was as normal as it was going to be.

Until Mason started getting sick.

He seemed pale most of the time. His appetite was healthy, but he would throw up at least twice a day. But the kicker was that no matter how much Simon asked to take a look at him, Mason refused and ran off to his room. Mal created a sort of intervention in the kitchen one day.

"Look," Mal said plainly, "if you're going to infect my crew and passengers and possibly endanger our lives-"

"No, I'm not," promised Mason. "It's nothing contagious or anything."

"Then tell me what's going on."


Present Time

"The hell?" Jayne snapped, which pretty well summed up everyone's thoughts on the matter.

"I'm pregnant," he repeated. "I'm carrying a child."

Mal looked at Zoe, who looked at Simon. Everyone looked at Simon, who shrugged. "I don't think I understand," Simon confessed. "How could you…"

"Are you aware of how people smuggle organs through human transport?"

"Yes," Simon replied, remembering all too well the head-on encounter they'd had with one of Mal and Zoe's war buddies.

"Embryos work the same way. Only instead of two hearts, I have a womb-like pocket in my abdomen that's holding a living child."

"But… that's medically impossible. How are you feeding it, how will it grow?"

"How will it come out?" That had been Kaylee.

"Surgery, I imagine. Same way it came in." Mason smile a little and placed his hand on his stomach. Under close scrutiny, there was a tiny bump there.

"So," Mal reasoned, "you're who those Alliance officers were looking for."

"They never thought to look for a man. Clever, huh?"

"Sure, I guess, real clever… except you put my entire crew in danger!"

"I knew they wouldn't find me-"

"But they searched my ship which I am not okay with!" Mal snapped. "They traumatized a nine year old girl. You think about that? What if instead of letting us go, they decided to find something to charge me on because, I don't know whether or not you've noticed, Firefly class ships ain't exactly in accordance with Alliance law!"

"I knew you wouldn't take that from them."

"Sometimes what you take ain't a choice!"

"Of course it is! Why do you think I chose Serenity, Malcolm?" Mason's voice was strong and fearless, which was impressive since the captain looked right close to hitting him.

"Why'd you choose Serenity?" the captain demanded.

"Because of them," Mason said, waving a hand and the Tams. "Because you didn't let them get caught no matter what. You're somewhat of a legend in the underworld of crime, Mal."

"Captain Reynolds," he said icily.

"Fine, captain. The point is I knew you wouldn't let the Alliance take you down. You're strong. I needed someplace strong."

"Hell," Zoe moaned. "Does this mean every renegade who needs to run somewhere is gonna come looking for us?"

"I told you passengers was a bad idea," Jayne added.

"Jayne," Mal started, "so help me, you say one more word…" He stomped away a few feet, then rounded back on Mason. "I want you off my ship."

"What? No, Mal, please-"

"That's final! I will not have you endangering my crew."

"I'm not! What danger are they in? You've already been searched for the baby, they won't want you anymore! And besides they didn't even think of looking for a man!"

"And if they do think of looking for one? What then?"

"Then…" Mason bit his lip, not sure of what then. He understood now what pregnant women went through. Being so fragile required a lot of care. It was damn near impossible to do it alone. But what was he going to do if the captain made him leave the ship? He really would be alone. At least here there was a doctor and people who understood the Alliance wasn't doing what was right for its people. Here he was certain no one would turn him in. Out there, out in the world, you couldn't trust anybody. It was such an overwhelming notion, Mason started to cry.

Mal was a bit stunned. Everyone was. "What… you… don't…" He stepped away. Mal hadn't ever been able to deal with crying women too well before, let alone crying men.

"I'm so sorry," Mason chuckled. "I don't mean to. It's just…" he stifled back a sob. "Being pregnant. God, I feel stupid even saying it." He wiped his eyes and tried to smile, but that just made everything sadder. "Damn," he whispered. "I hate these hormones."

"Are you taking estrogen?" Simon asked.

"Yeah. A lot of them. Apparently I have a lot of testosterone, even for a man. But now I'm all… weepy." He pounded a fist on the table.

Kaylee, ever the consoling shoulder, went over and quietly hugged him. "It's okay," she crooned. "We'll see you get set someplace safe."

"There is nowhere safe," Mason sniffed.

"So where were you headed?" Zoe asked quietly.

"Nowhere," he admitted. "I figured I had nine months to decide what to do, maybe make a close friend I could count on. Get some connections somewhere."

Kaylee looked at Mal with her patented puppy-adorable eyes. "Can't he at least stay a while? Until he find himself someplace?"

"No," Mal argued, though it wasn't as strong as he'd meant it to be.

"Come on, cap'n. You can't dump a pregnant man alone in the verse. It ain't right."

"I'll agree to that," Jayne mumbled. "Pregnant man ain't right."

"At least…" Simon got to his feet, trying to make eye contact with the captain. Mal was determined to keep his gaze to the floor. "Let me take a look at him, make sure he's healthy?"

"I don't care what you do with him," Mal said shortly.

"Come on," Kaylee said soothingly, guiding Mason down to the infirmary. "We'll check on your little one. Simon's got a good touch."

As she, Simon and Mason departed, Zoe sided up beside Mal. "Well?" she asked.

"Well what?" He knew damn well what. But he still didn't look up.

"What are you gonna do with him?"

"Dunno," he confessed.

"Babies think in music," River said suddenly. "It's beautiful."

"This is nuts," Jayne declared. "This whole ship is turnin' into one giant psycho factory." He threw his hands up. "When's it gonna end?"

"Sir?" Zoe pressed. "We can't just drop him off anywhere."

"Don't see why not."

"Yes you do. You wouldn't do it to a pregnant woman, would you?"

"No."

"Same thing."

Mal shrugged. "I don't know yet."