Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah. I suck royal hippogriff.
Wash blinked away tears. He was dead. He looked over at the doorway that Zoe, his Zoe, had just walked through. He was so confused. Was this the afterlife? Was he just supposed to sit here forever? Was he supposed to follow Mal and Zoe? He was fairly certain there ought to be a bright light he could walk into.
He whispered into the empty air, "What do I do?"
"Well, that depends."
Wash jumped about a foot in the air. "Jesus!"
Shepherd Book smiled at him. "Not quite, son."
"You scared me to death, Shepherd." Wash winced at his own wording. "Well, at least I know that with you here, I can't be in Hell."
"..."
"We aren't in Hell, are we?"
Shepherd Book laughed in that slightly creepifying way of his. "No, no, Wash. We're fine."
"Aside from being dead, you mean?"
"There are worse things." Wash doubted it.
Wash got up and stood next to his body, trying not to look at it. Picking up his t-rex, he looked at Book and quietly asked, "What happens now?"
"Whatever you want, really. You can stay in this world and explore or haunt folk, but I don't recommend that. You can't stay forever, and everything you do in this world, even after death, is taken into account. Or, you can go straight to the afterlife. That's what I did."
"What's it like?" This was one of those questions that kept him awake late at night. What happened when we died? How big is space? Is there such a thing as too much vacation? When he got to posing these questions Zoe would roll her eyes and tell him not to overwork his brain. Wash felt a pang in his chest. Zoe.
"I can't tell you that."
Wash had figured as much. He knew that it didn't really matter. Even if the afterlife was a place where you could ride friendly dinosaurs and never have to lay eyes on protein again, he wouldn't have gone. He couldn't. Not yet.
Wash looked up at Book and could see that Book knew what he was going to say. He said it anyway. "I'm going to stay."
Book simply nodded before turning towards the door to leave. "You might want to catch up to the group, then. I think they may need you."
Wash nodded and set down his t-rex. A thought struck him. "Hey, wait!"
Book turned again. He was already halfway down the hall. "Hmmm?"
"How do you know all that stuff a preacher shouldn't?"
Wash was slightly annoyed to find out that, even in death, he wasn't going to get that answer. Book just chuckled and disappeared from view.
Wash sighed and made to follow after Zoe.