Disclaimer:

This story is not meant to infringe on the copyright of any person or company related to the trademarked characters and situations depicted in the Serenity movie or Firefly series.

A/N:

Hey!

Thank you very much to Nyokokuri, Jarvey and ded-ringr for reviewing. I really appreciate it. This is the second chapter. I know it's short, but I decided to split the original one into two parts. (So the next part will be the end).

Out of interest, has anyone heard the song 'A boy called Sue' by Jonny Cash?

Two days into the trip, the crew were gathered for a meal.

'Has anyone seen my scarf?' asked Kaylee. The old yellow, woolly one. I can't find it in my cabin.'

'What d'you need that old thing for?' asked Jayne. 'The new one Inara gave you suits you better.'

'My god, it's Jayne the fashion advisor!' said Zoe, before her face contorted as a tremendous sneeze took hold.

'And this from a guy who wears that hat,' added Simon.

'What's wrong with my hat?' boomed Jayne, turning towards Simon.

'Nothing. It's a fine hat,' interjected Mal quickly.

Jayne beamed back at his approval and reached for the salt.

'Is that a scratch on your arm?', asked Inara.

'A ladyfriend on the last planet get too friendly?', asked Zoe innocently.

'S'nothin,' muttered Jayne. 'Who's this guy we're picking up on Sable anyway?'

'Just a lawyer,' Zoe replied. 'I guess in their business the girls need all types of protection.'

Mal chuckled 'I guess that they do.' Then he added, 'We'll make Sable tomorrow.'

Zoe sneezed again.

'You know, the fridge seems all wrong to me,' said Kaylee. 'I think someone's taking stuff.'

The hold door lowered, to reveal a man already striding up towards the ship, a bag slung over his back. He was tall and blonde, with a strong but weather beaten face.

He held his hand out to Zoe as she met him on the ramp. Captain. 'Pleased to make your acquaintance. I'm Mike Bliss.'

Mal, who was standing back in the shadows, strangled a laugh. The new man shot him a quick look but then ignored him.

'Pleased to make yours too, Mike,' Zoe replied.

'Just call me Bliss, most folks do.'

Zoe turned and fixed Mal with a glare before he could say anything, but he just smiled.

Bliss looked around the hold. 'Firefly, huh? She got the 7B engine mod?'

Mal stepped forward, looking more serious now. 'You know a lot about ships…for a lawyer.'

'That I do,' grinned Bliss. 'That I do. Anyway, has she got the mod?

'Maybe,' said Mal.

Zoe sneezed.

In the darkness of Serenity's next night, a tall figure quietly made its way through the silent corridors, past the cargo hold and on to the galley. The figure paused and then opened the door of the fridge. The light from inside the store lit the figure up momentarily, but then the main lights flooded the deck, and the startled figure turned around.

Mal was at the light switch, and pointing a gun. 'Jayne? What the hell! So you're our food thief – just what you got there?'

Mal strode over to a dumbstruck Jayne, who was holding several packets of meat substitute and a flask of milk.

'What's wrong big guy, ain't we feeding you enough?'

Jayne hesitated, before answering. 'That's right Mal, I get kinda hungry and…'

'- You crave meat and milk?...Wait a minute.' Mal turned and started to stride away, Jayne chasing after.

'What's going on?' asked a sleepy Zoe emerging from her cabin. Jayne continued to remonstrate as the captain made his way to Jayne's cabin. He flung open the door. Other crew members began to shuffle into view as the volume of Jayne's protests increased.

Mal stood in the doorway to Jayne's room.

'Figures,' was all he said at what he saw.

The rest of the crew gathered , straining to see over the shoulders of the two men.

'Hey, that's my scarf!' began Kaylee before she stopped and then added, 'Oh, that's so cute!'

Bundled up on top of the yellow scarf (which was inside an ammunition box) was a kitten.

'Was this thing under your shirt the other day?' asked Mal. 'You realize it ain't allowed?'

'Why not?' asked Jayne plaintively as Kaylee and River pushed past to crouch down by the kitten.

'Cos it's against the rules.'

'What rules?' asked Jayne.

'My rules - no animals on board!'

'But we've had cattle in the hold afore now,'

'That's different – this thing was… smuggled on board.'

'Well you smuggled a woman on board once.' Jayne countered.

'Different again,' said Mal. 'She was my wife.'

'No she wasn't,' said Kaylee, as she played with the young cat.

'Well…she had been,' replied Mal.

'No. She hadn't,' Inara put in.

'Well it's my ship and I make the rules,' Mal almost screamed in exasperation, as he turned and left the rest of the crew admiring Jayne's kitten.

Just outside Zoe sneezed.

'Have you given it a name?', asked Kaylee.

Jayne grinned, 'Yeah, I'm calling her Susie. I used to have a gun called that.'

Simon, who was stroking the kitten's soft belly, said 'You may want to re-think that.'

Jayne looked confused.

'I think you'll find that she's a he. Don't you check on these things?'

'The trader said it was a girl,' Jayne said, looking hurt.

River turned and smiled at him. 'Never mind, you can just shorten it.'

'What, to Sue'? I ain't having no boy-cat called Sue.'

'No,' River replied, gently. 'Back on old Earth, there was a warrior people of that name – spelt SIOUX'.

Jayne brightened, 'A warrior people, eh? Sioux. I like that.'

Outside, Zoe sneezed again. 'Jayne,' she called out bad temperedly. 'Did it not occur to you that some of us might be allergic to cats?'

'I can give you a shot for that,' Simon called. 'Come and see me in the morning.'

'Oh. Great. I just love shots.' said Zoe, and slowly turned back down the corridor towards her cabin, sneezing again on her way.

'Is this ship always this much fun?', asked Bliss, brightly. He had been watching, unnoticed, from just outside the cabin. 'And when exactly did Mr Reynolds become the captain?'

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Boo26.