A/N: Wow, the response I got from the first chapter. Wow! Thank you everyone.

Thanks to sirius 4-ever and a day, RJ Steamboat, writtenwordlover and Lady Bree for reviewing. :)

Thanks to bb4evr and RJ Steamboat for favouriting after one chapter :)

Thanks to Brown-in-the-Black, Madje Knotts, RJ Steamboat and yesimadramaqueen for alerting. :)

It's nice to you all are so interested in this story.

Unification day or U-day as it was also known as. Mal hated the celebration of the independents defeats – twice. There had been two unifications wars, two times in the whole of history where people actually took a stand for what they believed in. Mal was one of those people and when the universe felt the need to openly celebrate his defeat along with thousands of others, from both wars, on the same day, he couldn't resist not walking into a bar for a 'friendly and quiet' drink.

He was flanked by Jayne, the mercenary more or less taking Zoë's position when she had decided to live on Shadow with some of the other adults. Her and Wash had finally decided that it was time to settle down a bit and despite Mal asking his first mate to stay and help manage the ship with him, she had stuck by her husband and left Serenity to live planet side, raising a family just as they had always dreamed of doing.

Granted, Wash leaving left him a pilot short, forcing him to keep his ship stationed for a few years. It did allow him to spend a lot more time with his own wife, Inara, but that sense of flying and living in the black was always itching at him, calling him back to the stars. So when Trent Washburn turned 18, Mal had found himself a pilot. A good one at that too having Wash's piloting skills running around his body.

River became the co-pilot, the two making the best team for the job ever since Wash left. Mal never admitted it but he wanted some personal time with his family too, so when that decision was made it enabled everyone to settle down for a while. Mal really only took back to the skies when he felt that the money they were getting on Shadow wasn't enough to pay for the big family that was still growing. So he had cleaned Serenity up and hired Tent to be the main pilot, River to be co-pilot, Jayne stayed on board as the muscle of the crew again and the twins; Phoebe and Hoban Tam – children of lil' Kaylee and Simon; became the doctor and mechanic aboard his ship.

Entering the bustling and cheerful bar he did a quick sweep of the people in there, seeing if any of them were going to be easy pickings for him and he was guaranteed his wishes seeing a good handful of happy drunks who he was sure would be in his range. Happy with the number of people in the area he led the way to an empty table, sitting himself down he waited for Jayne to return with the three drinks. The third being for his own son, Solomon Reynolds who had recently turned 17.

Sam – short for Solomon, had been begging lately for Mal to allow him to go to a bar on his own or with the other, some older than him, children but Mal had always declined and made sure that most of the time, Sam was in his line of sight. He had been told several times that he was being too over-protective, they all knew why he acted this way, even he knew that they knew why but no-one dared to say it out loud, for fear that the painful memories may cause a lot of grumpiness, stubbornness and a lot of guilt to pass around each other. That the great Captain was afraid of a repeat of consequences. Hell they all were, but not as much as he did, fearing that he only had himself to blame and that it still could happen to Sam or even Izzy at any time.

Accepting the drink off Jayne all three of them divulged in a friendly and quiet conversation about their next job. There was somebody here who was supposed to give them details about the specifications of the job; all they had to do was wait. Waiting on this particular day, was something Mal could do. He had all day to wait for their source as far as he was concerned.

The level of noise in the bar dropped considerably as the entrance door was flung open, causing Mal, Jayne and Sam to turn and look as the midday sun filtered through and around the figure that walked with a certain charm, elegance and balance in their strides. A wolf whistle echoed loudly, the owners' voice carrying through, "I'd get trim off you any day." The man was obviously drunk and the woman didn't seem to falter or acknowledge the man, her cold, stone, expressionless face remaining the same as she made her way towards the bar.

In the dim lighting of the bar Mal managed to see that her leather clad boots stopped mid thigh, not quite being tied properly with the lip of the boot slouching over slightly. Her bare legs reached up to the pair of fitted black shorts, showing off her legs to onlookers, obviously being a tease to any man that tried. His eyes traveled up, analysing this new woman even more in case she became a bigger threat than anyone else. The navy blue fitted shirt buttoned up to just above the chest. Mal swore that he could see black britches hanging down either side of her, but it was hard to tell in this light. Her fingerless leather gloved hands gripped the dark duffel bag to her side closely, not allowing it to leave her even as she sat at the bar with the bag underneath her feet, her right foot hooking under one of the handles to ensure better safety of this carry case. What really struck him was the long, bottom hiding browncoat that she wore, coming down heavily on her shoulders, even as she sat it reached just short of her ankles.

He went back to his drink and finished it off, heading to the bar for a refill. He purposefully stood next to this woman, wanting to analyse her further, wanting to rule out that she would become a threat to him and his crew. He glanced at her, seeing fully the brown hair that was strung high into a pony, loose strands array here and there. He turned back to the barkeeper, ordering his refill before taking a proper look down the bars, charting up each person. He looked to his right and past her, charting up the rest of them. His eyes glided back to her for a brief second, going to his now filled cup before darting back to her.

'That face', he thought to himself. It was recognizable anywhere, even in this grim setting. That face he had seen everyday for the past 35 years. He'd always said that she would look like her mother and now, well the resemblance was there. He'd lain awake for weeks just dreaming of who she might have become, what she might look like and now, it was like seeing a ghost. He took in every feature of her face that he could see; the thin but strong lips, the small and cute button like nose, the square jaw line that he had run his hand over every day and that held firm in any situation and the eyes. Once brown and invitingly joyful and utter bliss filled eyes now seemed to be cold, empty and as dead as metal. Age and wisdom being in there too, other than that her face was unreadable. Expressionless. "Walk on." Her soft but cold and emotionless voice interrupted his thoughts and he shook his head lightly, seeing that she wasn't even looking his way but straight on, the cup in her hand around her parted lips. She seemed the right age to him, but he didn't hold his hopes up. It was a big universe and it had been 17 years. She may have changed completely and even gotten herself a new life.

He nodded, "Sorry 'bout that. Thought I knew ya'." Her head turned noticeably and he faintly saw her eyes do a quick check up and down of him, doing the same as he had done to her, analysing for a threat. Seeing her full face old buried images flashed in his mind and it really hurt him to seem them. Years ago he had managed to hide it showing, now he would concentrate on blocking them altogether, to save himself the guilty pain. Their eyes locked and he faintly wondered if it really was her. He shook the thought when she looked away, uninterested in him any longer as she nodded her head in understanding and flicked her wrist as a sign for him to leave her alone.

He complied, shuffling back to his seat with Jayne and Sam, quietly sipping on his drink slowly and watching the girl with hawk like eyes as the other two occupants of the table carried on with their conversation, Mal often muttering the odd word in agreement or the curt nod of the head.

Jayne watched as Mal kept his eyes trained on the mysterious woman's back. The man was married so he knew that the Captain's gaze wasn't a hopeful one for a bit of trim. Hell he even had three children, even if one of them he barely had a chance to know. That loss had hit him hard, it had even hit Jayne hard 'cos the little girl always listened to his stories no matter how gruesome he told them, and she wouldn't squirm or pull a face of disgust as other's would, she'd nod and want to hear another one, or learn about his family.

The girl was like the daughter he hadn't had. Jayne had never wanted a family of his own but being with Serenity and seeing all of those children aboard made him feel like he was a part of one anyhow. For the time that she was with them it was a comfort knowing that he wasn't being left out too much. That he was still a part of the crew in one form other than the muscle and guns of the operation.

The last of the liquid left the glass and Jayne stared over at Sam's empty glass. "Need a refill kid?"

Sam glanced down and offered Jayne his glass, "Sure, fill her up." Walking to the bar Jayne set the two glasses down and waited for the refills. He suddenly realised that he was next to the woman that Mal had been eyeing carefully for the past ten minutes and he could now see why. The resemblance was uncanny. Even after 17 years, if it even was her, she certainly had changed having lost the baby fat and her body seemed to have changed so much, getting the right curves and her face being slightly more defined in resemblance to her mothers, her hair having changed colour though which struck him as odd. He shook his head and focused on the conversation she was having with a drunk who was failing to get her to even look at him.

"Take the coat off an' show us ya' pretty things," the drunk spewed, his elbows on the bar and his head tilting back for a quick drain of his drink. She drank, unmoved by his words as she stared off in front of her. "Ya ain't gotta say a damn word bao bay, I can do all the talkin' for us." The drunk then toyed with a piece of her hair, rubbing it between his fingers.

Her hand shot up and grabbed his wrist, slamming it onto the bar top. "Liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh ur-tze," she muttered to him, drinking casually from her cup as he struggled to lift his hand free.

The drunk managed to pull his hand free, an obsessive smile on his face as he put himself in her personal space. "Quite a dirty little mouth we got there, bet that ain't the on'y thing is dirty," he whispered and Jayne watched as he pulled the collar of her coat away, checking her body up and down with a dirty grin.

Jayne was stunned at how calm she seemed to be to the whole situation of a man sizing her up as a trophy, a prize that was his for the taking. He failed to notice the now full glasses landing back in front of him as his mind was set on the situation in front of him. The woman reminded him of her so much that seeing this, made him think of old men leering on the young girl when she was seven. It made him sick.

He was taken by surprise by her tone of voice on her next, threatening words that made a shiver run down his own spine, "How about I show you my dirty little knife for dirty little men such as yourself." He watched as she pulled out a small dagger, just in sight of both men and even in the dim lighting he could see a thin layer of dried blood that was yet to be removed.

The drunk saw the glint of the silver and backed away, not willing to take the risk, "Lost cause baby, lost cause." The drunk then slinked off into the heaving crowd as a round of cheers for the alliance erupted. He grabbed the drinks and looked over the woman once more before leaving the bar and heading back to his seat.

"Took ya time," Sam called as he grabbed his own glass and took a swig of it, glancing around the room at the many cheers and celebrations. Jayne knew that any moment Mal would go back up to the bar and order another drink, waiting for the right moment. It was routine now and he didn't argue with a good bar brawl every once in a while, it was a good way to blow of some steam.

So when Mal left them alone for a second time that day, Jayne turned to Sam with his glass raised, "Hey kid, 'member ta watch ya back all times." Sam nodded to Jayne's advice before finishing his drink and waiting for the right moment.

Squeezing past the crowd and towards the bar Mal's mood was one of patience and longing. He'd waited long enough for this moment and he could very well exit politely. They'd already received the details and were just busy wasting time, just waiting. Ordering another drink he was approached by a drunk who landed his arm around Mal's shoulder. "Drink to the alliance, both of ya," he told them, his other arm going around the woman that Mal had been watching all night.

Mal just drank from his dink, not saying a single word and he watched as the woman matched his actions, no amusement or humour on her face about the day's celebrations. "Hey, didn't quite hear ya drink to the loss of them dirty inbred pisspots. Matter of fact," he eyed both of them up, "both ya coats look a lil' brown ta me."

Mal didn't get a chance to reply as she beat him to it, sarcasm dripping off of every word, "So you actually got a schooling then?"

The drunk turned to her and Mal watched as she didn't even flinch at his next set of words. "Browncoats ain't nothin' but a bunch a ruttin' cowards."

He watched as her face turned, her eyes cold and challenging, ready to take action at a moments notice. "Say that to my face," Mal interrupted, drawing the attention off of her and onto himself.

He watched as the drunken man turned slowly to face him, a mocking smile plastered on his face. "I say, ya ain't nuttin' but a ruttin' coward. What'cha gonna do?"

Mal eyed him up, watching the space behind the drunk for any sign that he was being backed up. He smiled with mirth seeing the cold and now slightly humoured look that greeted him back, "Not me," he watched as he was given a nod of agreement. Pointing a finger over the drunks shoulder he finished off his sentence, "Her." The drunk turned slowly to see the woman standing there, a taunting smile on her face as her fist made contact with his face.

All hell broke loose and Mal lost sight of her easily when he was jumped by a handful of people. He managed to catch glimpses of her every now and again of her holding her own foot, but right now he was worried that Sam might become seriously hurt in the fight.

Outside and outnumbered Mal, Jayne and Sam stood their ground, waiting for another onslaught of fists. "See, now this is why we lost. We were outnumbered vastly." He had already called for River to come and pick them up, so again it was a matter of waiting for him. He took this time to notice that the strange woman, who had fought on their side, was nowhere nearby. Looking over the crowds he saw her, walking away calmly with her duffel bag in hands. She glanced back, over her shoulder once and he could have sworn she looked straight at him, nodding once and regrettably turning away from them, leaving them to get out of the situation alone.

When they had arrived back on Serenity, Sam caught his dad up, "Hey, dad?"

Mal turned and waited for his son to continue, a quick flash of shock and guilt crossing his face before disappearing, "Hmm, yeah?"

He squirmed under his gaze slightly, not quite sure if it was his place to ask. "Who was she?"

"Who was who?" He asked back, but Sam saw the quick look of fear that disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

"That woman you kept watchin'. Ya know her?"

He watched as Mal's face turned to one of surprise that his son had actually noticed the vacant expression that Mal had been wearing most of the time he had sat back down after getting his first refill. "Ain't nothin' but a ghost. Don't worry yourself," He finished, ruffling his hair slightly with an amused expression before turning away and heading off to the cockpit. Entering he found just Trent at the controls, playing with the plastic dinosaurs that he had taken to collecting himself as well as his father. Mal watched as the young man failed to notice his presence.

"And we will rule this land, hereby calling it 'This land'." Trent voiced, a toy triceratops in one hand.

"An' I will call it my boat." Mal enjoyed the sight of the man jumping at the surprise, the plastic figures falling from his hands. "Course plotted an' set to go?"

"Yeah, Liann Jiun all set to go, under every radar and should be a total of 2 weeks, 3 max 'fore we land again." Trent reeled off, going into pilot mode.

"Good, don't be touchin' no controls without River here dong ma? Just in case." He warned making a leave to turn.

Trent smiled to himself, picking up his dinosaurs again, "I won't be held responsible for the dinosaurs' actions," he called back to the captain, immediately going back to the fake world of dinosaurs.

Mal smiled at the easily recognizable resemblance to Wash. The pale skin and the warm and friendly blue eyes. The dinosaurs and piloting skills he also gained from Wash. His short and jagged red hair was from his father, but his sense of dress was from his mother, no more of them big flowery shirts. He hadn't taken a fancy to the large flowered Hawaiian shirts that his father loved and part of him was glad. He didn't like them.

Entering the galley he found Phoebe cooking the nights dinner, trying her hardest to get rid of the taste of protein, being as inventive as she could each time with what they had to do it. She bubbled with optimism just like her mother, even in life or death situations when more than likely, someone got shot. Her cheery mood was enough to deter your thoughts from the pain when she was bandaging you up. "Hey Cap'n. We got a job?"

"Yeah we do lil one. Good pay out too. Able to buy you some real food next time we hit planet side. Start cookin' somethin' other than that go se."

She clapped and cheered at the thought of real food and ran around the kitchenette to hug the Captain. "Finally Cap'n," she stepped back and smiled warmly, "I'll try my best ta make this the best protein mush yet."

He laughed to himself, heading off to the engine room next, stopping just short of the door gazing around at the mess. Usually it was the other twin who liked to work in messes; Hoban Tam was usually well organized and very co-ordinated with everything. The room was a mess, engine parts scattered around and odd bits off wires and tools lying here and there. "Hoban?!" He called out, wanting to know the reason for the mess. "What in the hell…Hoban!" Mal stood, waiting for a response and received one in the form of banging from underneath the engine and the eventual appearance of the boy.

"Captain?" He called out, pulling himself up and wiping engine grease on his overalls.

Mal motioned his hand around the room at the mess that surrounded them, "Explain."

Hoban glanced around, his mop of black hair bouncing lightly. "Cat'gorizing and organizing, seeing what we need an' what we 'ave plenty of. Assumin' we got 'nough for some new parts from the next job."

"'Nough creds to buy you a few bits, tidy it up. I don't like messes on my boat." Mal finished, heading off to leave the young mechanic to tidy the room. He faintly heard the sounds of 'Yes sir,' from the man, knowing it was sarcastic and made in the mockery of playful word bantering.

Inara turned to the cortex screen in her room when it buzzed to life. Finding that it was Serenity that was hailing her she answered joyfully and instantly. Seeing Mal she smiled, "Mal, I thought you weren't calling for another few days? Nothing bad has happened I hope."

"No, no, no. Nothing bad, of a sorts. Got a job with a good payload though. Should keep us goin' for a while." She watched as he smiled nervously, hiding something from her.

She rolled her eyes and her tone changed to one of annoyance. The last time he was this shifty was when somebody had gotten hurt, badly and he was trying to tell them that the injured person was going to be just fine. He also shifted when he was telling Inara that he was going to get Serenity flying again. "Who got shot?"

"What? No, no. Ain't nobody got shot, least not yet. Everyone's fine, why would you say such a thing?" He was beating around the bush now, unsure of whether he was going to tell her what he thought he'd seen. He didn't know how she'd take it and played out as many of the different scenarios as he could in his head.

Before Inara could reply a little girl with black curls in a sky blue sundress that fell to her knees, bounded into the room, chanting, "Mama, mama, mama," was going straight for Inara's lap. The older woman smiled down at the girl and pulled her up, turning her to face the cortex screen, her face lighting up even more. "Daddy!" She cried out, waving frantically to the screen.

Mal smiled back through the cortex, waving back, "Hey there Izzy, you're not causin' no trouble now are ya? Still my lil angel?"

Izzy nodded back, her joyful blue eyes full of excitement. "Guess what Sarah taught me to do?" She looked up at Inara to make sure that the older knew that she was addressing both of them.

"What did she teach you honey?" Inara asked, looking down at her.

She smiled and looked back to the cortex to see that Mal was looking interested in the conversation to, "She taught me how ta drive the mule! I can drive it now!" She called out, a proud smile stretched across her face. Sarah was Zoë and Wash's second child, who was only 15. She was like a big sister to Izzy and enjoyed looking after the little excited 5 year old.

"That's great honey, jus' don't be on your own when you do drive it." Mal replied with a cheeky grin.

"Mal," Inara whined, not wanting him to encourage their daughter to cause an accident. He shrugged at her, unable to control the happy smile that filled his face, not quite reaching his eyes though which Inara took note of. "Mal, what did you call in for?"

"To say hi. Can't a husband say hi to his wife and daughter no more?"

She stared pointedly at him, knowing that he'd give up and tell her under the squirmish gaze she had mastered to using on him and many others over time. "Malcolm Reynolds,"

"Alright, alright, no need to use my full name woman." He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face before continuing on, his eyes fixed on Inara's face, comparing each feature and matching each one point for point. "Just, today on Beylix, I thought, I," Mal struggled to come up with the right words and it wasn't often that he did that. He formulated the sentence in his mind before swallowing the lump and taking a deep breath. He just hoped that she wouldn't accuse him of lying or go into a state of panic. "I thought I saw her."

She froze, knowing exactly who he was talking about. They had had this conversation years back when all he saw was her face on every child's, though it had been years ago that, almost a decade. 'She can't possibly look the same' Inara thought, the chances that he easily recognized her was slim.

True Inara wished he wasn't lying, but part of her hoped that he was lying, not wanting to face the fact that she's managed to grow up without them and that she might not even recognize them. "Ma, who is she?" The little 5 year old asked, tilting her head up.

Izzy wondered to Aunt Kaylee's workshop, her mother hadn't answered her question and had wanted a private word with Mal, meaning she had to leave. Entering the messy shop she found Kaylee sorting through a pile of old engine parts, trying to find the right one for the current engine she was slaving over. "Aunt Kaylee?" Izzy called out timidly, walking slowly into the room.

"Isabella, what's up girl?" Kaylee asked coming out from behind the engine. She then went into a story of how her mother had basically kicked her out whilst she talked with her dad alone. "Well why would she do that? That's not like 'Nara."

She shrugged her shoulders, fiddling with her hands that sat in her lap as she stared at Kaylee's feet that were under her, "Dad jus' said that he thought he saw her. Ma went real quiet and wanted me to leave. Who's her?" She asked looking up, hoping Kaylee would give a good answer, but found the same expression that Inara had used when she first heard it. "Kaylee? Who is she?"

Kaylee snapped out of her surprise and looked down at the little girl, not quite sure how to answer her. "Her? Er, nobody honey. Don't you worry none okay?" Even though Izzy wasn't happy with the answer she knew it was the best that she was going to get from her, so she settled for it and left her to go find some of the other children to play with, maybe even take her frustration out on.

River sat in the galley, watching everyone begin to flank into the room knowing that the food would be ready. An old but new life had been found on Beylix that needed to be saved before it was too late. River knew this, she's sensed it. "Was a friend, now stranger, don't know her proper place yet. Find and take and help. Little lost cub is returning to the pack." Everyone stared at the gibberish that came out of her mouth, not making any sense of it as she continued to eat her protein, as if it had never happened.

River knew that the near future needed to be taken in consideration and with the utmost care and that everyone needed to be on their toes soon due to the change that was going to take place. She may be different and feel like a stranger, but Maya Jayne Serra Reynolds was returning home real soon.

Chinese Translations

Bao bay - - - - sweetheart

Liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh ur-tze- - Stupid son of a drooling whore and monkey.

Dong ma - - - - understand?

Go se - - - - crap.

A/N: Hope you all liked it and things will be kicking off in the next chapter, or real soon, trust me, it gets interesting after this one okay. :) Have faith :)