8
By the time Jenn got to the top of the ladder and out the door, Zoe was already standing there waiting. She reached a hand out and helped Jenn up the last few rungs of the ladder.
"Thanks," Jenn said, "and thank you for meeting me here without knowing why. I didn't wanna say anything else in front of Mal and give him another excuse to put off reading the letter. "
Zoe gave a small giggle, "don't thank me just yet, I haven't agreed to help you with whatever it is that you want. Mostly I'm here to annoy the captain."
Jenn smiled, "that works for me."
"So what do you want?" Zoe asked, looking Jenn up and down. She was wearing a plain grey skirt that came down just past her knees she had on plain black shoes and grey wool jacket that was old and at least a size to large for her. After a second Zoe realized she was wearing old school mourning clothes. She was still mourning the loss of her mother.
"I need you to make sure Mal doesn't come out of this room until he reads the letter. I know it's a lot to ask you and it's not your business or anything, but you're the only one he'll listen too. And you're the only one other than that . . . very large . . . very . . . slow man from earlier, that could stop him if he tried to come out."
Zoe was quite for a moment after Jenn finished talking. After a few seconds she said, "alright I'll help you. But on one condition."
Jenn hesitated for a moment, looking the tall woman up and down, "okay," she said, "what do you want."
"First, how did you know me the first time we met?"
Jenn stared at Zoe for a moment, "what do you mean?"
"You knew me before the captain introduced me. I could tell by the way you looked at me," Zoe seemed amused more than anything. Like Jenn was an interesting puzzle she hadn't quite solved yet.
Without saying anything Jenn reached into the black bag she had slung over her shoulder and began to rummage through what sounded like papers. After a minute or two she pulled out a pack of envelopes packed together with a rubber band. She pulled of the rubber band and went flicking though the letters.
"When Mal first volunteered to go fight in the war I was devastated," Jenn said still flicking though the letters, "and the only way Mal could keep me from completely breaking down when he left, was to promise me that he would write every week and let me know he's safe."
Zoe quickly took count of the letters in Jenn's hand and the thought of the war, "There's not enough letters," she said simply.
Jenn looked up from the letters, her face tight as she tried to keep from showing what she was feeling. "I know," she said quietly, "after the battle of Serenity Valley I didn't hear from Mal again for almost a year. And since the Brown Coast was almost all volunteers, it was impossible to get any kind of information about him."
Zoe looked away from Jenn for a moment, she remember the battle and the change that Mal went through after that. The whole platoon had died, save three of them. And in the end they had just surrendered, pretty much saying that all those people had died for nothing. Mal just couldn't live with that. It changed him, in a lot ways it made him the criminal he was today.
"I thought he had died." Jenn's voice brought Zoe out of her train of thoughts. Her voice was hollow and distant; Zoe started to wonder if she had made a mistake asking Jenn about anything. But Zoe wasn't a woman who was frightened off by much of anything; she pulled her face into a calm emotionless mask and stood her ground.
"We thought he was dead for almost a year. We actually had a memorial service for him," Jenn laughed a little but it wasn't a happy laugh. "My mom couldn't take it. After they bombed Shadow and we lost touch with Mal, mom went kind of crazy started . . ." She trailed off. Jenn looked up suddenly at Zoe who still stood keeping her face a mask.
"Oh I'm sorry," Jenn said smiling sheepishly, "sometimes I just ramble off."
Zoe said nothing.
"Here," Jenn said, pulling something out of the envelope in her hand and held it out to Zoe.
Zoe looked her up and down for a moment, but took the paper anyway. She flipped and over and was surprised to see herself looking back up at her. It was a picture from when she and Mal had first met. She had been enlisted for maybe two months at the time. It was they're whole platoon, standing around smiling and waving at the private who had taken the picture. There was Mal smiling like a fool, next to him it was her, unsmiling and stern. She even spotted Tracy off in the back.
Her heart gave a sudden jerk as she realized that everyone in this picture was dead, save Mal and herself. Even Tracy was gone now. She thought back to watching Mal shoot Tracy. He had gotten mixed up in so much trouble and he'd brought down on them. As far as Zoe was concerned he was dead the second he'd pointed that gun Wash. Nobody threatened her husband and walked away, no one.
"Mal sent me that right after it was taken. He wanted to show me the men he was working with and he wanted to show me you." Jenn said. She was smiling now. "He said he was sure he'd never had a better friend than the friend he'd found in you. He even told I didn't have to worry because you had his back and he felt sorry for any man that crossed you. I know it's strange but seeing you and reading what he said did make me feel better."
Zoe smiled; she took on last long look at the photo and handed it back to Jenn. "You're brother really didn't need me," she said, "He was a good man and better fighter, saved my skin more than a few times."
Jenn beamed at Zoe as she rubber banded the letters back together and stuck them in the bag. "So what's number two?"
"What's in the letter?"
"Oh," Jenn said her smile fading instantly, "Mostly it's my mom taking about how much she loves Mal and how she was always proud of him for not giving up when everyone else did. She explains how he can get his inheritance and . . ." Jenn struggled to find the words, "she . . . also talks about what's going to happen . . . to me now."
Zoe could tell that Jenn was hiding something, but she had already gotten too involved with this girl and her feelings, so she decided to let it go for now. "Alright I'll stand watch. What are you going to do?"
Jenn smiled, "hide."
"Hide?" Zoe asked?
"Yup. When Mal gets done with that letter he's not gonna be very happy and I know that it's gonna take a few minutes for it to sink in. So I'm gonna hide and give him a chance to do that." Jenn smiled and for a moment Zoe could see the relation to Mal clear as day.
"Any ideas where you're gonna go?" Zoe asked amused.
"No. I got kind of lost just getting up to the cockpit."
Zoe smiled a wicked grin and said, "Try the other shuttle or the passenger dorms. Mal's rarely down there because the shepherd's down there. Or the Tams."
Jenn smiled again, "Thank you Zoe." She said as she turned and started to run down the hall. She stopped and looked from the stair case to the door that leads to the galley. She looked back and forth between the two for a moment and then turned back to Zoe.
"Take the stairs all the way down, the dorms are next to the medical bay."
"Right! Thanks Zoe." Jenn turned and disappeared down the stairs, leaving Zoe standing alone in the hallway. She let out a long deep breath and shook her head. She wasn't sure why but she had a feeling that things aboard Serenity had just got a lot more complicated.
