Freya was sitting by the fire, sewing at something, and occasionally muttering curses under her breath as the needle slid once more into her finger. Every so often she looked across at the bed, but Zoe seemed to be dozing.
After a while the fire died down somewhat, and she got up, placing another log into the centre of the embers, using the poker to push it into position.
"Um, Frey," Zoe said, breathing out through her mouth.
Freya poked the fire once more, then looked around. "Mmn?" She saw her friend lay back, the light sheen of sweat across her forehead, and reached out with her mind gingerly … "Ah. Hold on." She ran to the door. "Simon!" she yelled.
One of the doors along the corridor opened. "Is it …?"
"I think so."
The young doctor finished drying his hands as he hurried, dropping the towel on the chair by the bed. Zoe was pushing herself into a seated position.
"I thought it was indigestion, but it's been getting worse and now it's every ten minutes …"
"How long have you felt this?" Simon asked, his hands gently running over her belly.
"A while." At his look, she added, "Maybe a day. Sorry."
"That's okay. And relax," he said quietly, his voice taking on the soothing tone of a doctor. "You're a few days early, but that's fine. This is just the start."
"And there I was thinking it was going to be all over in five minutes," she said dryly.
"I think all women through the ages have wished that, but it isn't the case." He turned to his bag for his portable scanner.
"Has to be a man thought of this. No way a woman would've come up with this way of procreating."
Freya laughed. "You're probably right. The man gets five minutes pleasure, and the woman gets nine months of aches, pains and peeing at all hours, followed by trying to pass a melon. Yeah, definitely a man."
"Five minutes?" Zoe swung her legs off the bed. "The captain takes as long as that?" She smiled at the affronted expression on her friend's face.
"What … where are you going?" Simon asked.
"I need to walk."
"Oh, right."
"And go to the bathroom."
"No, that's … we can arrange something in here."
"I'm not peeing in a bucket."
"I wasn't suggesting …" At Zoe's look he backed down a millimetre. "All right. But Freya stays with you inside."
"That's fine." Zoe let her friend take her arm, and they walked slowly out of the room.
"You'd better let Hank know it's started," Freya said over her shoulder.
"I am the doctor, you know, not your messenger service!" Simon called, but neither of the two women answered him. He muttered something unrepeatable in mixed company under his breath and headed down the stairs.
Mal was standing at the bottom. "Started?" he asked.
Simon nodded, walking down to the main landing. "Freya?"
"She … let me know." Mal's lips twitched. "You need Hank now?"
"Well, I think he should be aware it's actually begun."
"How long we got?"
"A while. But –"
"Yeah." Mal glanced towards the front door. "You know, he has been gone some little time. Maybe I will have to send that search party out for him after all."
---
Half an hour later and the majority of his crew were reassembled in the hall.
"Ain't no sign of him in the grounds, Cap'n," Kaylee said. "You think he might have had some kinda accident?"
"If he doesn't get back soon, Zoe's gonna make sure he does." Mal shook his head. "This ain't like him. Not like this."
The front door banged open and Jayne strode in. "Idiot's taken the old mule, Mal."
"It's pitch black out there! What's he think he's doing?"
"You have to find him," Freya said, her hands on her hips.
"You know, I think I figured that." He looked at her. "Can you feel him? At least tell us if he's … I don't know, driven into the lake or something?"
Freya shook her head. "He's still alive, that much I can say. But he's concentrating so hard on something else, I can't … sorry, Mal, I have no idea where he is."
"River?" Mal turned to the other psychic in their midst.
"I'm getting the same as Freya," she apologised. "He's sort of …" She pointed vaguely into one corner of the hall. "… that direction, but that's all."
"Bethie?" Mal suggested.
"I doubt she'll get more than we are," Freya said softly.
Inara half-ran down the stair to the landing. "Anything?" she asked.
"Not … really."
"Zoe's asking for him."
Mal nodded. "Okay, that does it." He turned to the big mercenary. "Jayne, you're with me. Get the hover mule down and make sure the lights are working. You're going to be tracking that sha gua chun zi."
The big man nodded and ran out of the house.
"What about us, Cap'n?" Kaylee asked.
He pursed his lips a little. "Best you stay close. Zoe's gonna need all the female type help she can get right now, so …"
"We'll search," Freya put in. "Again. Just to make sure he's not smacked into a tree or something. Maybe River and I can triangulate a position."
"Good idea." He dragged his brown coat down and pushed his arms into the sleeves. "That man's gonna be the death of me."
---
Mal drove the hover, while Jayne walked in front.
"Looks like he headed for town, Mal," the born tracker said, taking note of the tyre marks appearing and disappearing in the strong headlight. "Is he totally fong luh?"
"I conjure he must be."
"Zoe's gonna kill 'im."
"Jayne, the way I feel right now, I'm gonna hold her coat."
"Can I watch, then?"
"Only if you clean up after."
"You know, I have a hankering it might be worth it."
"Better get back up then. Be quicker."
"Hell, I ain't walking all the way to town. Not even for him."
---
"Where the hell is he?" Zoe asked, walking around the room.
"He'll be here," Kaylee said soothingly, but only earning a glare from the other woman.
"You're doing fine," Simon assured her. "It'll be a little while yet, but you're handling it."
"If he ever … ever tries to come near me again I'll cut his throat," Zoe promised, then grabbed Kaylee's arm as another contraction hit. "And where are the damn drugs?" she ground out.
Simon prepared another hypo as River slipped into the room and shook her head slightly at him.
He sighed a little. It was up to Mal now.
---
They'd found the old mule abandoned on the edge of town. Leaving the hover next to it they now followed their instincts. Approaching the main street, there was the sound of a fight drifting from one of the saloons, and as they rounded the corner of the building a chair burst through the window to shatter at their feet.
"You thinking he's inside?" Jayne asked.
"Hope not," Mal said. "Hank ain't exactly a fighter."
"Could be Zoe won't have to kill him herself after all."
"Permaybehaps."
They headed for the door, neatly sidestepping as a man fell through and rolled into the dust.
"If he's got any sense he's hiding under a table," Jayne commented.
Mal glanced through the door and his eyes widened slightly. "I don't think he's got any sense whatsoever."
Jayne looked, and whistled. "That Hank?" he asked, staring at their pilot as he threw a punch.
"Come on. We'd better get him out of there."
They slid into the bar, but were not unobserved. A man grabbed Mal by the coat and swung a left hook into his chin, which rattled Mal's brains for a moment but caused him to retaliate automatically by giving two short, hard jabs to the man's solar plexus. He reeled away, his arms wrapped around his stomach, unable to breathe.
Jayne hadn't reached Hank before he was similarly accosted by two men, and had to take both of them on.
Mal pushed through the fighters. "Hank! What the hell's going on?" he shouted above the din.
"Fight, Mal!" Hank ducked a fist.
"I kinda saw. Come on, time to go."
"I ain't wanting to be rescued." He let loose with an uppercut. "This is why I came."
"You're what?" Someone grabbed Mal around the body, pinning his arms to his chest. He leaned backwards and stamped. The man let go and hobbled away, yelping like a dog.
"This is my fight, Mal! It's what I came for." He stood for a moment then someone else moved in.
"You came to start a fight?" Mal couldn't believe it, despite the fact that Hank was currently trading blows with a man twice his size.
"Seemed like a good idea at the time," Hank managed to get out.
Mal kicked his own assailant on the knee, hearing a crack most satisfactory. The man howled and went down, clutching the affected portion. "They're bigger'n you!"
"What can I say, Mal," Hank said, punching the man on the chin. "Seemed like –"
"A good idea at the time. Yeah, I got that." He ducked a chair flying at him. "And Zoe? You think of her at all during this crazyiness?"
"That's kinda why I'm here."
"You thought wanting to get your head kicked in would impress her or something?"
Jayne passed by, throwing the man held above his head into another fighting pair.
"A baby, Mal." Hank paused a moment. "A baby!"
"Yeah!" Mal elbowed someone coming up behind him and felt a stab of pain down his arm. "Which your better half is having right now!"
"What?" Hank stood still. Unfortunately the man coming the other way didn't, and they fell to the floor in a rolling heap, taking out half a dozen others like pins.
Suddenly the fight seemed to be done. Various people lay on the floor, some moaning, while others crowded the edge of the bar, not wanting to get involved if it flared up again.
"Jayne, get him out," Mal ordered.
The big mercenary hauled Hank out from under the pile of bodies, but the man hung limply in his hands.
"Shit, Mal. He's gone and got himself good and out."
"Get him outside." Mal ran his tongue around his teeth, noting a patch inside his cheek that tasted tinny. "We need to get him back." He wiped at his lip with the back of his hand and wasn't surprised to see it come away red.
"Why?"
"Just do it."
Jayne shrugged and dragged Hank unceremoniously out of the bar, Mal taking his other arm as they headed for the side alley. They were just in time. As they rounded the corner of the building the local law enforcement arrived.
"Kinda close, Mal," Jayne observed quietly.
"I think Zoe'd kill him if we let him get pinched, let alone what she'd do to us. Though I sincerely and honestly wish right now we could." Mal rubbed his chin.
"Yeah." Jayne knew how he felt. Someone had landed a lucky kick, and if he'd been turned just an inch to the right, River would've had to find a new bed companion for the foreseeable future.
They were almost to the vehicles when they came across a horse trough, full to the brim and glittering with ice.
"Mal …" Jayne's breath hung like crystals in the air.
"Damn fool nearly got my jaw busted," Mal said. "But …"
"Please."
Serenity's Captain looked at the trough, then at Jayne, and finally at Hank hanging unconscious between them.
"Just so's you know," he said, "it ain't because I'm falling for them puppy dog eyes of yours." He grinned despite the ache in his face.
Between them they laid their pilot on the edge of the trough on his side, then, smiling widely and somewhat evilly, let him roll in.
The sound of ice cracking was like music to the ears, and the noise of Hank coming to and yelling was a sweet counterpoint.
"Tah mah duh hwoon dahn!" Hank hollered as he scrambled from the trough, dripping into the dirt. "What the hell are you playing at?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Mal said, crossing his arms. "Fighting while Zoe's preparing to have your kid? And worse – starting the fight?"
"He didn't, did he?" Jayne put in.
"He did. And I'm still kinda waiting for an explanation for that stupid and foolhardy manoeuvre."
"I'm scared, okay?" Hank shouted. "Happy? I am scared. Terrified. Petrified because my Zoe is about to bring a new life into the 'verse and I don't know how to deal with it!"
"Hank, you'd had nearly nine months to get used to the idea."
"Well, I haven't. Not one little bit."
"So you ran away?"
Hank balled his fists and for a moment it looked as if he was going to physically attack Mal, but then he collapsed and sat down hard on the edge of the trough. "Yeah," he said in a much quieter voice. "I ran. Thought if I got into a fight it might take the edge off the fear."
"Did it?"
"No. Just got afraid for a whole different set of reasons."
Mal sighed. "Well, people pounding on you'll do that."
"How do you do it?" Hank asked. "Make it look so easy."
"Hank, like I told you before, I don't. When Ethan was born I was as scared as you are. But when I saw him come out of his momma, when I held him … it makes it worth it. And it'll be worth it to you too."
The pilot looked up. "She's gonna kill me, isn't she?"
"Probably. If you don't die from something first." Mal shook his head at his crew member, now beginning to shiver violently. "Come on. Jayne, you'd better drive the old mule back, while I get our proud father-to-be back to Serenity and some dry clothes." He glared at his pilot. "Then you can go and help Zoe."
---
"Should it take this long?" Zoe grunted, panting in the pattern she'd been taught – five short then one long cleansing breath.
"It takes as long as it takes." Simon smiled at her. "You're doing very well."
"But how much longer?" The contraction eased.
"Probably several hours."
"Hours?"
Simon was glad she didn't have her gun anywhere close. "Labour takes a while."
"Then why can't I have more pain killers?"
"I've given you what I can. Any more and it might interfere with the effacement of the cervix, and that would make the labour last a lot longer." He looked at her quizzically. "Would you prefer that?"
"I am going to kill him," Zoe said, slumping back onto the pillow.
---
"You know, if you'd wanted to get yourself all beat up, I'm pretty sure Jayne would've done it for you." Mal glanced at the man huddled in the corner of the hover, the silver blanket from the emergency locker wrapped tightly around him. "I mean, you didn't have to go all that way." Hank ignored him. "Pretty please and you could've had your jaw broken in the comfort of your own home." He moved his own, making sure it was still attached, and suppressing a wince at the ache in it. Hank still didn't speak, and Mal drove in silence for a few minutes. Then, "Do you want to explain to me what the diyu you were doing?"
"Told you," Hank said, his teeth chattering.
"No. I mean the truth." He pointed ahead. "Your … whatever the hell she is – and I personally think it should be wife, considering the situation she's in – is right now up in that room, preparing to give birth to your kid. And from what I've seen it's long and hard. Hurts like the blazes. And you ran away." He shook his head. "You give me one damn good reason I don't just stop this mule right now and throw you out, make you walk back."
"Zoe'd kill you?" his pilot ground out.
"Apart from that." There was no answer, so Mal went on. "You love her, right?"
"Right," Hank managed to say, his lips beginning to go numb.
"And she loves you, though I've yet to figure out why."
"'Cause I'm pretty."
"Nope. That's my excuse. What's yours?"
There was a pause, and Mal began to wonder whether the man had lost consciousness, but then he heard a voice saying, "Ain't got one, Mal. Guess I'm just a coward. And Zoe deserves someone better'n that."
"You ain't a coward."
"Sure I am. Run away from everything bad in my life. Now I'm running away from something good."
Mal almost smiled. "You ain't a coward, Hank. Maybe crazier than River, but that's to be expected. You're almost a father. That'd throw anyone."
"I don't even know how it happened."
Now Mal did grin. "Well, when a man and woman love each other, the man –"
Hank's head shot out of the blanket. "I don't mean that. I understand the how. I'm just having problems with understanding the why."
"The why?"
"Far as I knew, Zoe was still using that contraception." Hank burrowed down again. "Shouldn't have been able to happen."
"Right." Mal nodded slowly. "So you thought you were safe in telling her you wanted kids, since there was no chance you'd ever have any."
"That wasn't what I meant."
"Sure sounded like it."
"I did want kids!" Hank insisted. "I do. And the fact that Zoe's pregnant is … liao bu qi, but …"
"Why, Hank? Why'd there have to be a but?"
Hank finally sat up and glared at Mal, the heat of anger warming him through. "Because I ain't good enough for her!"
Mal laughed. "I know that."
"You do?"
"You think there's a man alive good enough for the woman he married? Or loved? Or even just wanted?" He leaned over enough to slap the pilot on the arm with the back of his hand. "I ain't good enough for Freya, never have been. And I know Jayne feels that way about River. Ain't exactly asked the young doc, not right out, but I kinda get the notion he thinks Kaylee's too good for him, too." He paused, then went on, "If I ever come across a man who thinks he is good enough, my guess'd be he's a wangba dahn of the first order."
"You really feel like that?"
"I surely do. Thing is, my guess is that a lot of the best women feel the same way, that they ain't good enough for us. It's how come life can get all manner of complicated on us."
"But Zoe's …" His voice trailed off.
"Yeah. So's Frey."
"I really am a ben han, ain't I?" Hank muttered.
"No more'n the rest of us." Mal sighed. "So, you asked her?"
"What?"
"About the contraception."
"I … no. I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer."
"I think you need to. 'Cause I wouldn't be at all surprised if Zoe isn't wondering exactly the same thing."
"You mean she didn't –"
"I mean there's a part of Zoe that's always wanted kids. You know that. You know she wanted them with Wash. She told you."
Hank nodded, this time feeling guilty as well as cold. "She did."
"So maybe being with you made her a bit broody. Only she wasn't going to recognise it. Pushed it away. And perhaps … just perhaps a bit of her unconscious decided it was time."
"You saying she chose to stop the contra–"
"Not chose. Not so strong as that. Just … forgot."
"You mean she wanted kids with me? But she nearly didn't tell me, nearly …" He choked.
"Hank, I don't know. I'm not a doctor, and you'd have to ask Simon to try and explain it in words of one syllable. But that's what it seems to me. And I've know her a long time." In front of them he could see the dark bulk of Serenity, and the lights shining from the house a little ways off, and the unexpected sight of a huge bonfire burning between. "Except these questions are a bit late. She's in labour, Hank. And she needs you right now."
There was a long silence.
"Is there a cure for total stupidity?" his pilot asked finally.
"Don't think there is," Mal said, smiling a little. "If there was, I'd've taken it myself before now."