Serenity- The Captain:

After a brief nap in his bunk, Mal woke with a languid stretch and scratched at his bare chest idly. Dressing quickly, he popped into the cockpit and noticed that River was absent. Shaking his head, he gently touched the controls, and remembered the crazy pilot that gave his life in that very seat. "Almost your ruttin' birthday, Wash," he sighed. Staring out into the black, he wished that Wash was sitting there beside him, saying something along the lines of, "Don't remind, Mal," before cracking a joke.

After a moment, Mal decided to pay Inara a visit, see what his companion was up to.

Quickly checking his hair, and smelling his breath, he found himself outside of her shuttle door in a manner of seconds. He briefly argued with himself, Knock, don't knock...then decided he would just annoy her by walking in.

"Knock knock," Mal said, ambling into her shuttle.

"Mal," she sighed, pulling her towel around her subconsciously, "Don't you ever knock?"

Perplexed, he looked back at the door, and then at her. "I made the sound, didn't I?"

He made himself at home on her couch, ignoring the shake of her head. Until she whispered, "It's almost Wash's birthday."

"I know," he mumbled, nodding his head slowly.

Once more, a moment of silence passed between them, before she motioned to her nearly naked state and said, "Would you mind."

"No," he muttered, still thinking of their fallen pilot, before plastering a smile and standing to leave. "Be back later."

She looked thoughtful, but then he shut the door and left.

"Huh."

"Sir?"

"Wha!" Mal jumped and whirled around, facing his first mate, Zoe. "Don't you know that it's bad to sneak behind the captain while he's doing captainy things?"

She hid a smile. "Sorry, won't happen again, sir."

They stood in contentment for a minute before Mal cleared his throat and said, "So...it's almost Wash's birthday huh?"

Her stoic expression immediately overtook her face, and she nodded mechanically. "Yes sir."

"Doing anything?" he asked tentatively.

"Like what, sir? He's dead."

Mal placed a hand on her shoulder, slowly, and sighed. "I know, but I just-"

Zoe nodded, and took a deep breath. "I know...I know."

Walking away from him, and heading down into the cargo bay, she fought an almost sad smile when he attempted at humor with, "You didn't call me sir!" Before he turned and retreated.

TBC...