Translations: Are below.

Baobei—Sweetheart

Ni ta ma de. Tianxia suoyoude ren. Dou gaisi—Everyone under the heavens ought to go die

December Twenty-Third

Mal stumbled into the kitchen the next morning to find that Zoe was the only one there. "Where's your husband?"

"Asleep." Zoe rummaged in the cupboard. "Far as I know, so's everyone else. Enjoy all this—" she waved around the kitchen "—while you can. Prepare for the tinsel invasion."

"Tinsel. Can't wait 'til this is over."

Zoe chuckled. "It ain't that bad, sir."

"Would think you'd feel the same as me. 'Least about the gift exchange."

"I do, in a way. Funny how that turned out to be the Christmas thing as gets to us the most. Talk about strange horrors."

"Yeah," Mal conceded. "Guess it ain't Kaylee's fault she had to bring that up. Not like she knows. Nobody on this boat does."

"Wash knows." Zoe brought out a pot and a protein packet. "Told him the December after our wedding."

Mal pulled out a chair. "Why'd you do that?"

Zoe gave him a look. "We're married, sir."

"Still don't got to let him know your secrets."

"Handling all your demons by yourself ain't always the way to go. 'Specially when it comes to the person you want to be closest to. I know I was scared to tell it again, but when it's over, you got someone who understands you and your fears a bit better."

"Don't know I want anyone else understanding my fears."

"Mayhap you ain't found the person to tell them to yet." Zoe put the water-and-protein-filled pot on the stove and turned it on. "Since this here gift exchange is happening, what're you hoping for?"

"All kinds of things I could use. Serenity could use a few more parts and I suppose our guns need oiling and—"

Zoe shook her head. "That ain't what I meant. All that's for the ship, for the job. What do you want for your own self?"

"You know well what I'd like. One or two fewer nightmares."

"How 'bout something possible? Or I feel sorry for whatever poor soul drew your name."

"Think the possible ain't my area of expertise when it comes to wishes."

Wash strolled into the kitchen. "Morning, baobei."

Zoe kissed him. "Not sleeping in?"

"Without you by my side? I was bereft. Morning, Mal. Are you heading for town today?"

"Reckon I will. Got a gift to buy. Did you get yours already?"

"My secret plot has been executed." Wash grinned. "Well, mostly secret. Zoe helped a little. She, however, managed just fine without me. It was kind of like our marriage."

Jayne stumped into the kitchen and went straight for the protein cupboard. "Suppose I gotta drag myself down there too. Gorram nuisance."

"Yeah, you're comin' with me, Jayne!" Kaylee had appeared at the other door. "Need your help pickin' out somethin'."

"What makes ya think I'm gonna know what to get any better than you?"

"Your kind of thing."

Mal decided not to spare a moment in wondering just what was Jayne's "kind of thing."

After breakfast, Wash accosted Mal in the hall. "Adrianna, our client? She wants us to wave her as soon as we can."

"Probably wants us to lower our asking price a notch or two, in the 'spirit of the holiday.'" Mal climbed the stairs to the bridge.

Wash followed. "Oh, I don't know. They might just want to pay us in paper snowflakes."

Mal punched in his clients' wave code, and Adrianna's face appeared. "Captain Reynolds. Tengfei tells me you've arrived."

"Been here since yesterday."

"And no trouble?"

"Not a bit." Mal frowned. "Why do you ask?"

"You've heard about the accident at the factory. Well, people are pretty angry about it, and the police around here sometimes have crackdowns. I doubt it'll happen, and you're not actually involved in either side, but I'd stay out of the working-people side of town today."

"Will do. Thanks for the warning."

"No problem." Adrianna signed off.

"So are you going to put off the trip?" Wash asked.

"Probably not. If Kaylee's gonna go through with this Christmas thing, she might as well have the chance to do it proper. And I think we'll mostly be shopping at any rate."

Wash winked. "I had to sneak away from Zoe to buy her gift yesterday. She knows I did it, but at least she doesn't know what I got. I hope."

"So you got her? I thought we weren't supposed to tell no one."

"What? Oh, no. This is extra. Husband to wife thing. There's nothing like a surprise gift for the special person you care about. You'll figure that out soon enough."

"What? Why? I ain't got no special person."

Wash smirked. "Sure you don't."

"Me and Inara ain't gonna work out, if that's what you're thinking. We—"

"Who's talking about Inara?"

Now Mal was well and truly confused. "You were."

"Well, if you don't know, I'm certainly not going to tell you." Wash went off down the stairs. Mal decided Wash was a few parts short of an engine and he wouldn't demand an explanation.

Down in the cargo bay, River trotted up on Zoe, who was standing beside the mule, and handed her several crumpled credits. "Presents are a social indicator of affection. I need the moon and the stars and the sun for my gift."

"You're gonna have to explain a little further, honey," Zoe told her.

River rolled her eyes and went up on her toes, whispering in Zoe's ear. She listened a moment, then nodded. "Oh, I see. Moon and stars and sun...got it. I'll fetch 'em for you."

"If you understand, it's more than I did." Mal climbed into the driver's seat of the mule with Jayne beside him and Kaylee and Simon in the back. Since Book and Wash were planning to stay on Serenity, and Inara would be returning later that morning, the doctor had decided, obviously cautiously, to leave River again.

"Think it's real nice, you goin' to help all those folk," Kaylee told him.

"It's what I was trained to do. I'm glad to be able to offer some assistance." It would've been real hard for a man to look more uncomfortable than Simon did, crammed in next to the girl who'd been giving him looks since he'd stepped onboard the ship. Though Mal had noted Kaylee wasn't flirting with Simon as much as she had been, but mayhap that was his wishful thinking. And having wishful thinking about that was really inexcusable.

Zoe climbed into the back, tucking away River's credits. "We're set, sir. Let's go."

Snow flew up on either side of the mule as they drove towards the city. Kaylee chattered to Zoe and Simon, both of them throwing in a sentence or two occasionally, while Jayne sat and sulked. Mal hoped he had the right idea with his gift to River. The idea of her staring blankly at it or tossing it to the floor in one of her fits weren't an appealing one.

What did he want for himself? Zoe had set him to wondering. He knew for sure it weren't something he could hold in his hands. Mayhap just the chance to forget for a time that he weren't any more than a soldier who'd lost a war.

The mule screeched to a halt on the outskirts of the city. Kaylee scrambled out and grabbed Jayne's arm. "Come on! I know just where to go!"

"This better not take long," Jayne informed her as he was dragged off.

Simon climbed out of the back. "Thank you for the ride. I'll walk back by this evening." He hurried off opposite from where Kaylee and Jayne had gone.

"Know where you're going, Zoe?" Mal asked.

"Reckon I do. Good luck with your shopping."

"I'll need it," Mal muttered.

He had to ask six different people for directions before he got on the right track, and then had the misfortune to get attacked by a group of carolers, who blocked his path while singing songs with a grating variety of skill. Mal ducked into an alley to avoid them, and was right pleased with himself for his escape 'til half a roof of snow slid off a nearby eave and dropped on his head. Once he'd waded out of that into a nearby street, two poorly dressed drunkards descended on him, mistaking him for a man who owed them a hundred in platinum. He managed to talk them down, but the last of his patience nearly vanished when he slipped and fell on the ice a block over.

Gorram girl better appreciate this, is all, Mal thought grimly as he spotted his destination. In a few steps he was there, inside, and ready to go right back out again. The song playing in the shop was one he'd heard his last Christmas at home, on Shadow, and though that might be sentimental for some, it just reminded him of what he'd lost.

"Need help finding something?" The shopkeeper was sorting something behind the counter. "Or do you just want to browse?"

Mal tried to pull himself together by envisioning how Simon's face would look if River didn't get a present, and then promptly kicked himself for using that as any kind of motivation. "Help would be good. Do you have one of those things you can hook up to a ship's com to play music so the folks onboard can hear it?"

"What make is your ship?"

"Class 03 Firefly."

The shopkeeper frowned. "Great ships, but not many in the sky anymore, so I've mostly stopped stocking...let me look." She walked into the back. Mal tapped his fingers on the counter, the song making him itch.

Luckily, she emerged before long. "You're in luck. I've got a few left, and one's practically new. I can't really sell them to most people, so I'll give you a discount. Anything else?"

"Yeah. You got any idea what kind of music would suit a girl as loves to dance?"

"How old is she?"

"Seventeen, eighteen," Mal estimated.

"Solo or partner?"

"Sorry?"

"This girl, does she like to dance alone, like you can do with ballet? Or with a partner, like with a waltz?"

Mal wished he'd thought of asking Simon before he'd left. "How about one of each?"

The shopkeeper reached into her drawer. "Shiny. I'll give you some Tchaikovsky—"

"Bless you."

"He's an Earth-That-Was composer. There's your ballet. And there's a new kind of waltz from Ariel that's very popular these days." The shopkeeper handed him a few envelopes. "You type these codes in on the Cortex and your song lists will come up."

"Thanks." Mal paid, collected the envelopes and the package with the com connector, and left the shop.

It turned out Kaylee and Zoe had been far more efficient than he and were back at the mule, both clutching packages whose shapes gave Mal no chance at guessing their contents. "Where's Jayne? Weren't he with you, Kaylee?"

Kaylee frowned. "He took himself off once we got the thing I wanted. I had more to do, so I didn't think nothin' of it."

Jayne limped up to the mule with a black eye and a cut lip, carrying an old sack and looking mighty pleased with himself. "I been shoppin'," he announced proudly. "Ain't no one gettin' in my way."

Mal sighed. "Let's go back to Serenity 'fore you bring the law down on us."

It began snowing again on their way back, though not too hard. Zoe went to make tea when they arrived, and Jayne followed her, mumbling something about gorram protein lunches that were the same every day. Kaylee waved at Inara, who was just emerging from her shuttle. "Didja have a good time?"

"I did indeed." Inara leaned her elbows on the railing. "I'm glad to be back, though."

"You got anythin' happenin' 'tween here and Christmas?"

"I'll be gone all tomorrow afternoon and evening, but I'll be back by the next morning."

"No Christmas sex?" Kaylee teased. Mal decided it was time to be elsewhere. He absolutely had important things to do.

Inara laughed. "I'm afraid not. But family is often even more wonderful."

"If you're Zoe and Wash you get both." Kaylee began pulling off her sweater. "'Course, the captain could have his share, if he wanted."

Mal paused with one foot on the lowermost stair. "I could what?"

Kaylee continued as if she hadn't heard him. "Not everyone's lucky enough to have someone to bed down with. I remember there was one time, back home, this lady and her man came through. So sweet to look at,both of 'em! Guess they thought I was too, 'cause when they couldn't afford to pay for their repairs, they said to me, why don't the three of us head back to where we're staying and we'll—"

"Why don't we go to my shuttle and you can tell me all about it?" Inara suggested. "River's been in there since I arrived an hour ago. We thought we'd make a few more snowflakes."

"Sure!" Kaylee skipped up the steps. "Hey, does the captain really not know what I was talkin' about?"

"Kaylee, that's between Mal and—" Inara stopped. "No, I don't think he does."

"Well, someone should say somethin'. It's a cryin' shame..." Kaylee's voice faded as she disappeared into the shuttle. Inara gave Mal an indecipherable look and followed her.

First Wash, now Kaylee. Both of 'em seeming convinced that he had his eye on someone. Probably Inara, but 'spite of what they might think, that weren't what he wanted. Mal weren't sure he could be that close to someone who'd never had to watch people die, who'd never had reason to pick up a gun, and who'd never had to live every day fleeing from a power they hated.

Mal preferred not to think about what he'd really want from a partner anyway. Hard enough to think about what he wanted for Christmas. He supposed the closest thing would be a chance to feel like others were happy and he'd caused it. Fool himself into thinking he were a good man.

Lunch came and went, and Mal found himself up on the bridge. There was something to be said for only having dinosaurs for company. They didn't ask hard questions or drop odd hints. However, he weren't alone with them for long.

"No! The fighting roosters are tearing, ripping in the sky! Their feathers are a curse!" River ran up, bare feet thumping on the stairs. "He needs help!"

"Who?" Mal demanded sharply.

"Simon. He needs you. Don't be Nero! Don't fiddle while Rome burns!"

"What are you on about?"

River dropped down to the floor, tearing at her face. "They're coming down. They think their fire is holy but it is profane. Snap of the gun, snap of the handcuffs, snap of the flames. The net is closing!" Inara ran up the stairs and knelt beside her.

Mal whirled around and hit his clients' wave code. After several long minutes filled with River's sobs and Inara's whispered reassurances, Tengfei's face appeared. "Glad to see you're back at your ship."

"What's going on in the city?"

"There was a crackdown. Adrianna told you it might happen, right? No one knows if it's the workers or the police, but somebody's been starting fires. And they're rioting in the streets. It's a mess. Good thing you're out of it."

"We ain't all out of it." Mal switched off the screen and ran down the stairs. "Zoe!"

Zoe straightened up from where she was reordering crates in the cargo bay. "Something wrong?"

"There's trouble in town. We're going to get Simon."

"What kind of trouble? Feds?"

"Riots and fires, by the sound of things."

River screamed from the top of the stairs, jerking away from Inara. "Don't wait! There were the three little pigs, with the brick house and the wood house and the straw house. This house is straw. Don't wait!"

"Got it." Zoe grabbed her gun belt. "Let's go."

Mal had to get a grip on himself in order not to run the mule into the ground as he steered. Because River would go flat-out moon-brained without her brother. Because eventually someone would get shot bad and without a doctor there'd be no one to patch them up. Not at all because he cared about Simon and wanted him safe. Not at all.

He needs you. Snap of the gun, snap of the handcuffs, snap of the flames. The net is closing. Don't wait.

"Sir, if you drive any faster you'll run the engine down before we even get there. I know you're worried, but—"

"I ain't worried," Mal snapped, reluctantly slowing down a bit.

"Yes, you are."

"Simon's got good sense. When there ain't folk getting injured."

"Point." Zoe's mouth twisted in worry. "Mayhap we do need to drive a mite faster. Riots and fires usually mean injured..."

"Ni ta ma de. Tianxia suoyoude ren. Dou gaisi." Mal shoved the controls right back up again.

When they got to the city—way later than Mal would've liked—the first two people they asked for directions to the hospital told them they'd have to be crazy to go down there now. Mal didn't honor their advice with answers. Zoe tapped on the handle of her gun, face expressionless.

They heard the sounds of the riots before they saw them, but the sights weren't long in coming. The police were beating down what rioters they could, but most of 'em weren't doing well. Folk hurled paving stones and pulled down street signs to defend themselves. In some places, guns were out on both sides. The rioters had set up crates and parts ripped off their ramshackle buildings on the roads. Soon they couldn't go no further driving.

"You stay with the mule," Mal ordered, swinging himself down. "Hospital ain't far. We'll be back."

"Be careful, sir."

"Will do."

The first block could've been worse, but once he rounded the corner, the real deal kicked in. Mal ducked rocks thrown at his back, elbowed a police guard in the stomach, avoided at least five people who tried to trip him, and heard two bullets bury themselves in the wall just above his head.

The closer he got to the hospital, the more smoke he could smell. Didn't that just figure. Folk had just lost their own to fire, now the police had to try and burn them out. He spotted the hospital across the street and plunged through the crowd, miraculously emerging with only one bruised cheekbone.

A policeman—local by the look of him, not a Fed—stood outside the door, trying to push past two doctors. "You're sheltering criminals in there. They've got to be apprehended."

"They're seriously hurt. Do you want me to count the lacerations?" It was Simon, Mal realized resignedly, and he sounded furious.

"Let me through."

The other doctor broke in. "Not a chance."

The policeman pulled his gun. "I'm serious, so get out of the way." Fear shot through Mal and he sped up.

Simon stood his ground. "If you want dead bodies in your jail, you can just grab a few off the street!"

The gun went off just before Mal grabbed it out of the man's hand and smashed the handle into his head, knocking him unconscious. "Did he get you?"

"No, I'm fine. You shouldn't be here, it's not safe."

"Then what the hell are you doing here?" Mal half-dragged him away from the hospital door and in the direction of the mule.

"They needed me." Simon was struggling to keep up, but Mal had no interest in slowing down and staying here for any longer than they had to. "They needed help."

"You looked like you could've used some help your own self. Ain't anyone ever teach you not to argue when someone's got a gun and you don't?"

"It's not a lesson I seem to have learned terribly well."

"You'd better learn it fast, is all I can say. And what's this about it not being safe for me?" Mal lowered his voice. "You're the one with the price on his head. You're the one who can't shoot. You're the one who's got a sister as needs you."

"Fine, I was being stupid. I do that on occasion. Happy now?"

"Not in particular."

Zoe was waiting in the mule, tense. "There's more police on their way, I heard someone say so. Best get out of here now."

"Couldn't agree more." Mal climbed into the seat beside Zoe as Simon scrambled into the back.

It took more time than any of them would've liked, but they got out of the city without anything else going wrong. As the snow flew up from either side of the mule, Mal tried his best not to think on what could've happened outside that hospital. It was useless. If that policeman had aimed better, or had gotten another chance to shoot—no, that weren't a good direction to be sending his mind.

Simon was alright, and that was what mattered, and Mal realized a little too late that there was no way he could pretend to himself that he hadn't been terrified.

OoOoO

Hours later, Mal sat in his bunk, trying to rid himself of the itch of the afternoon's events. He and his crew risked death every day, and there was no reason to be getting himself all hung up on what had happened. Except that his mind kept presenting him with unhelpful images of Simon with a bullet through his throat—a scenario that could all too easily have become fact.

Unable to sit, Mal rose and paced back and forth. Sure, it was his job to go up against guns, Zoe's and Jayne's too. And Book and even Wash knew enough to hit a target when they shot at it. But that weren't Simon's job, any more than it were Kaylee's or Inara's. The doc had pulled bullets out of near every member of the crew—he knew the damage guns could do, so what the rutting hell had he been doing jumping in front of one?

But that was what Simon did, wasn't it? Throw himself in the way of danger to protect folk who needed help. Tackling Early and getting shot for it, going into Niska's Skyplex when it was clear as skies after rain he'd barely even held a gun before, climbing onto a gorram pyre right along with his sister. Mal couldn't hardly decide whether all that made him want to shake Simon until his teeth rattled, or kiss him until he couldn't see straight.

No point in trying to sleep right now. Mal climbed the ladder and walked up the stairs to the bridge. Snow swirled against the window, the stars gleaming beyond it. One advantage of being on a border planet—at least you could see 'em. Not blocked out by city lights or pollution.

"Am I intruding?"

Mal turned to see Simon hovering uncertainly on the stairs. He expected that his common sense would advise him to send the doc away promptly, but his common sense seemed to be taking a nice long vacation. "No, you ain't. Come on up if you've a mind to."

Simon climbed the rest of the way to the bridge and moved by Mal to look outside. "Do you know any of the constellations on this planet?"

"Only been to Kerry a few times, so no. Why?"

"Just wondering. I'm fond of constellations, but we're on the move so much I never learn any of the local names. I've taken to making them up at times."

Mal moved over to where Simon stood, trying to pretend it was solely to get a better view and not so he could stand closer to the doctor. "Gonna make up any now?"

Simon pointed. "See that bright star over to the left?"

"Well enough."

"If you imagine that's the head, and those three stars make the top wing, and those three stars make the bottom wing, and that one over to the right makes the tail, you have an origami crane."

Mal examined the pattern closely. "Can see that."

"They make me think of your crew, those cranes."

"Why's that?"

"Because…" Simon watched the snow, falling harder now. "There's a story from Earth-That-Was about a girl who got radiation poisoning from bombs dropped on her country. They had a legend that if you folded a thousand origami cranes, you'd get a wish, so she started folding. But she died before she could finish." Simon paused. "Her friends folded the others. I suppose—I can see that. If anyone on this crew got sick like that, I can imagine the rest of us making cranes for them."

"Kaylee would, for sure," Mal agreed. "And the Shepherd and Inara. They'd most likely bother the rest of us 'til we joined in."

"The cranes mean peace, some say. And we could definitely use more of that in this 'verse."

"Ain't gonna get no arguments from me about that. More a man sees of war, the more he should want it to end, is my way of thinking."

Simon looked away from the sky and towards Mal. "Turnabout is fair play. You make up a constellation."

"Never done it."

"There's always a first time."

"As you say." Mal squinted past the whirling snow. "See those four stars over yonder? Them as look like they're in a line?"

"I do."

"If you say those two above 'em make the handle, and those three bright ones in the triangle below 'em make the spade part, I reckon it could be a shovel."

Simon glanced from the stars to Mal, then started to laugh. "A shovel? Really?"

"You insulting my constellation skills?"

"I'm just—" Simon caught his breath, then started laughing again. "I'm just trying to imagine the legend that would go with that."

"Hell, if my mother were in charge, there'd be shovels and rakes all over the sky. Couldn't have much of a garden on Shadow, but she gorram treasured what she got out of the ground. Always told me to grow something, wherever I went—" Mal stopped abruptly. He couldn't grow a thing now. Sky was the only thing the Alliance hadn't taken.

"Are you alright?" Simon peered at him, clearly concerned.

"Fine," Mal replied, short and sharp, and tried to convince himself he was glad of it when Simon turned away.

Because he handled his demons alone. Always had since the war, and always would.