"Hello Simon." The Alliance operative peacefully spoke with a smile, his hands non-threateningly at his sides.

"What are you doing here?" Simon asked again, his gun still directed at him intently.

"At ease doctor." Mal shouted from behind the operative.

Badger and the captain both entered Serenity with guns drawn and now the operative raised his hands.

"Seems I recall you tellin' me I'd never see again? You stick around much longer and I fear I'll prove them last words a'yers right."

"Please captain all I need…" Mal cut him off, "…is ta get off my boat. Ain't nothin', no one or no place for you here."

Jayne, Zoe and Kaylee had all come back to Serenity at that moment, all of them carrying large brown paper bags and all of them in shock and disgust of the man before them.

"What in the gorram hell is he doin' here?" Zoe asked through her teeth.

"He was just leavin' Zoe." Mal replied calmly.

Zoe could retain her calm through hell and back, but as she stared down the man responsible for her husband's death, she was no more collected than a rabid dog. She reached into the bag she was carrying and retrieved a large caliber firearm. The bag fell to the floor of the hold and within seconds she placed the barrel under his chin and cocked the hammer.

"You gimme a reason I shouldn't blow your head off." Zoe demanded.

The operative remained surprisingly calm at the fact that she was prepared to decorate Serenity with his gray matter, almost as though he didn't care that she could end him in the blink of an eye, "I have no reason. In fact if I were you I wouldn't have bothered to come over here, I would have simply shot me from where you came in."

Zoe swung her head in disgust as she asked, "What do you want here?"

"I need a ride to Beaumonde. That is all." He replied.

Jayne smiled as he laughed, "Ya hear that everybody? He's just lookin' for a ride. Hey Badger, tea and dumplings for this hun-dan."

"Fairly convenient that you need a ride when the little girl you were looking for, the little girl who could tell me if you're lyin' or not isn't on board." Mal replied.

"You surprise me Mal; you actually let Miss Tam out of your sight?"

"Her name is River!" Simon shouted, his gun still pointed at him.

Mal smiled slightly as he continued for Simon, "…and believe me, she doesn't need as much protecting as you might think."

"Captain, all I'm seeking is a ride."

"Plenty of ships out there, find yerself another one." Mal replied.

"I chose yours because I trust you'll actually deliver me to my destination…"

Mal cut him off by cocking the hammer of his pistol.

"Cap'n…" Kaylee asked from the back of the hold.

Mal's eyes met hers and she motioned for him to come away for a second.

The captain lowered his pistol, "Zoe, if he moves blow his head off, that's an order."

Mal walked to the back of the hold to meet with Kaylee. Knowing her, the captain was not looking forward to this conversation.

"I think you should do this cap'n." Kaylee whispered.

"This ain't the time for warm and fuzzies Kaylee girl. This guy's responsible for killin' the Shepherd, and if it weren't fer him, Wash'd still be alive too…" Kaylee cut him off, "…and the rest of the verse would never know about Miranda if it weren't fer him neither. Believe me cap'n, I know full well what this guy did, but you're always tryin' ta do the right thing. Seems ta me that givin' him a lift is the right thing."

"Right thing ta me would be puttin' a bullet, perhaps several bullets in his brain pan."

"For all we know, Alliance messed with him the same way they messed with River. I think we should do this."

Mal swallowed the lump in his throat. She could justify anything with her kindness and above that, he could never say no to her.

"You get in that engine room and get my girl workin' good and strong. I want to be passin' Sihnon as quick as possible. I'll feel a lot better 'bout havin' him on board once River's back."

Kaylee smiled at having done a good deed, "Sheh-sheh captain."

The mechanic headed up to the engine room and Mal joined Zoe by the operative. He carefully took the gun from his first mate and got within millimeters of the man's face.

"You listen good. I'm gonna go through every last thing you got on you. I see anything I don't like, anything that leads me ta thinkin' that your intentions are less than honest and I swear I will end you."

The operative nodded and Mal continued, "You're to be restrained, and you will remain in the hold until we get to Beaumonde. Dong luh mah?"

"I understand your apprehension and agree to your terms captain."

"Good." Mal kept his eyes trained on the operative as he began to call out orders, "Doc, get in the engine room, help Kaylee get us goin'. Jayne, get the gear stowed and bring me down a pair of cuffs. Zoe, you and I are gonna have a look through his things."

"A word sir?" Zoe asked all but amused.

"Speak your piece." Mal replied, himself displeased at the arrangement.

"I'm not comfortable with this."

"Me neither. I've got Kaylee in the engine room getting us ready to burn hard to Sihnon. Conjure we'll all feel a bit better when little River has words with our friend here."

"Sir…"

Mal finally turned to his first mate. He was angry at the situation and unfortunately he let it loose on her, "Orders been given, conversation's done. Now help me go through his things before we lift off this rock."

Zoe struggled to contain her anger and replied, "Yes sir."

-

On Sihnon, Inara had come to visit River in her room. As was often the case, River granted her permission to enter before she could make herself known, "Qing jin."

Inara smiled from the opposite side of the door before sliding it open. River was packing her things in preparation for their return to Serenity.

"So how did you enjoy your time here?" Inara asked.

"I enjoyed it very much thank you. A girl could get used to fresh fruit every day." River replied with a smile, though Inara saw a bit more to her expression than she was letting on.

"Is everything alright?"

"I…" River collected her thoughts, "…I'm just homesick." River replied with a contrived smile.

"Have you been sleeping alright?"

"Yes. I didn't think I'd make this much progress this quickly. Controlling the voices, it's getting easier."

Inara smiled, "I know we don't talk much, but you do sound much better."

"Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity."

"You're welcome. If you need anything, or if you ever want to talk, you know you can always come to me."

"I know." River replied as she tapped at her temple with a finger.

Inara smiled, "I suppose you do. Good night."

"To you too." River replied.

As Inara reached to close the door she was startled to find River had followed her. River reached to close the door signifying to Inara that she would close it behind her. They shared a smile of understanding and Inara turned to continue down the hall.

River again raised her hand and again concentrated on trying to move the door with her mind.

-

Jayne came into the hold to exercise and couldn't help but notice the operative. Mal had cuffed him through the stairs in the rear of the hold ensuring he would not be going anywhere.

Jayne tried to ignore him as he took a seat at his bench and lifted the bar from its supports. Unfortunately, before he could get a single rep out, he felt the need to confront the operative. He lowered the bar back to its supports, and walked over to him.

The merc knelt before him and addressed him quietly, "You know, before the likes'a you came along, I had a friend who spotted me at that bench. He was a good man, man'a faith and such. He's dead now on account'a you."

Jayne pulled one of his larger knives from a sheath strapped to his calf and held it to the operative's neck; again, he showed no fear.

"Time would have it I'da been happy, you takin' little River off this boat. Unfortunately for you, that time's come and gone. When that girl gets back, you so much as look at her the wrong way and I swear I'll cut your eyes out."

"You love her?" The operative asked.

Jayne smiled, "She's part'a the crew and that's all you need concern yerself with."

Jayne stood and sheathed the knife. He walked past his bench, now disgusted beyond wanting to workout.

As Jayne entered the Galley, he found Zoe stripping some of the new used weapons they had purchased.

"Swear just seein' that hoe-tze duh pigu makes me angry. Why'd the captain agree to let him on anyway?"

"We have Kaylee to thank for that one, she broke him." Zoe replied.

"How's that?" Jayne asked.

"Oh you know, bein' all sensible and sweet like she can be. I can hardly blame him, sayin' no to her ain't exactly the easiest thing in the verse."

"Still wish I could cut on him a little."

"Believe me, I know how you feel." Zoe replied.

Simon walked into the Galley in an obvious mood of sorts.

Zoe took notice and asked, "You alright doc?"

As he gathered a bowl of rice and a pair of chopsticks he replied, "I've been better."

"Operative?" Zoe asked.

"You think?" Simon replied as he went through several cabinets, "That guy hunted my sister like a rutting dog, killed friends of ours trying to get to her and now, we're giving him a ride. The whole thing makes so much sense I can hardly understand why we're discussing it."

Kaylee walked through the Galley a few seconds later and everyone gave her a cold stare.

Quickly putting together what was happening, she asked, "Is this how it's gonna be from now on? I walk into a room and get freezed out?"

"Can you really blame us?" Zoe asked.

"None of us knows a thing about that guy. For all we know Alliance used him just like they tried to use River. Maybe he wasn't lucky enough to have someone like Simon who cared enough about him to try and help him…" Simon cut her off, "…and maybe he's always been a sociopath and the Alliance just gave him permission to kill. No what am I saying, I'm sure he's really kind and caring and very sorry for killing two of our friends."

Just as he finished his sentence, Mal came into the Galley as Kaylee replied, clearly hurt by his comment, "Sorry fer bein' me."

Kaylee turned and left the room and Simon immediately saw he had gone too far.

"Mind tellin' me what's going on here?" Mal asked.

"We want that guy off." Jayne replied.

"Duly noted." Mal replied as he retrieved a glass.

"I agree with him sir. None of us can get nothin' done with him here."

"Also duly noted. He's chained to the stairs in the hold I don't think he'll be givin' anyone any trouble."

"It doesn't matter. We all have more than our fair share of reasons to hate him." Simon replied.

"And I understand that, believe me. I have plenty'a scars to prove I ain't the fondest of him neither."

"So why did you agree to take him on?" Simon asked.

"Because helpin' him is what makes us different from the likes'a him. Now, that bein' said, none'a you need ta be nice to him or even see him for the rest of this trip. We should be comin' up on Sihnon in a bit. Soon as River gets back we'll see if she can get a read on him, see what his game is."

"If Kaylee's right and the Alliance has played with him, they might have gone through extra lengths to make sure River can't read him." Simon replied.

"I suppose anything's possible. For now just remember, whether she can read him or not, he's off in less than 2 days. Let's all just try and tolerate him."

Zoe and Jayne nodded weakly while Simon walked towards the engine room.

"We gonna have a problem doc?" Mal asked.

Simon continued to the engine room as he replied, "No problem."