Mal laughed, looking around the table at his audience. "So then Dennis come round the corner, no clue what was goin' on-Zoe, remember the look on his face?"

"I remember, Captain," she replied, all laconical-like in that way she had. Mal wasn't quite sure if she was annoyed, bored, humoring him or what. He'd long ago settled on a little bit everything.

"So?" Wash encouraged. "Wha'd he do?"

"Well, he-"

A crash of dishes in the kitchen area had Mal spinning around where he stood. Kaylee sprang to her feet.

"River, honey, are you okay?"

"The sheep has become the wolf," she muttered, with that faraway, creepifyin' look in her eye. Then she dropped the last of the dishes on the floor and took off at a run.

"Never a dull moment around here," Mal muttered. He set off after her, knowing Zoe was at his back and others were following. "Is it so much to ask, a few dull moments?"

"You were trying your best, Captain," Zoe assured him.

Mal heard Wash's snicker echo through the stairwell as their boots pounded down the metal treads. The crazy little girl had jumped most of them and was headed down to the hold. He was getting too old to be doing stuff like that. Too old for a lot of the go shi went on on his boat these days.

As the hold opened up to view from the catwalk, Mal could see Jayne and the shepherd in the corner. Shepherd Book leaned over Jayne, his hands covering the other man's as he guided the weights back to the stand and River ran straight toward them. Jayne yanked his hands away and stood up, his body language radiating trouble.

"Hey there!" Mal called out, jumping some steps after all.

River planted herself in front of Jayne, bare feet spread, looking hard and ridiculously tiny as she slammed her palm against his chest.

"No!" she commanded.

"Step aside, girlie," Jayne snarled, "this ain't no business of yours."

"Please stay back," she raised her voice to Mal and the rest. "There is a 100% probability that interference will result in serious injury."

"Whose?" Mal asked.

River's head tilted to the side. "Uncertain." She looked up at Jayne. "Must not break the holy man."

"Ain't nothin' holy about that man, you crazy. Now git."

"River," Book said gently, "back away from Jayne."

"He wants to hurt you."

"He has his reasons," Book told her.

"He doesn't understand he hurts himself."

"Out of my gorram way," Jayne roared. His arm whipped out to shove her and she ducked, fast as a fish didn't want to be caught, moving in to deal a blow to his shoulder that knocked him back a pace. "This ain't a dance you want any part of."

"Dancing is what she was made for," River told him.

He lashed out, a testing blow, and she blocked it.

"Jayne!" Mal barked. "You're gonna want to stand down." The big man and the girl traded another set of blows. Mal took an involuntary step forward to get between them, but River had told him to stay out of it. After the way she'd handled things with the bounty hunter, Mal had decided he wanted to find a way to see what she could do, he just didn't think he'd find it so soon. "Doc," he said quietly, over his shoulder as they watched the combatants circle each other, "we may need you handy with a sedative."

"For which one?"

"Don't know yet."

"I'll prep both. Do not let him hurt her."

"Doesn't seem like much chance of that."

The pace of their strikes was picking up, but for all the rage rolling off the mercenary, he seemed to pulling his punches. Both wore looks of fierce concentration, but there was also something else.

"It is a dance," Kaylee whispered. "There's somethin'...beautiful about it."

"About a grown man beating up on a little girl?" Wash asked.

"But he ain't," Zoe observed. "He ain't tried to use his size to advantage. He's calming down."

"Calming d-this is the calming?" Wash asked.

"She's right," Mal said.

Simon skidded to a stop behind him. "Got them."

"Okay, this has gone on long enough. Zoe?"

"I'll take the left, sir."

"I've got the right, then. Doc, gonna need you to get in and dope him right quick-like, can you do that?"

"Wait," Wash interrupted. "I thought you said there was calming."

"And now there'll be more calming," Mal answered. "Zoe?"

xxxxx

go shi- crap