Wash was having a hard time leaving his wife for this job. He knew Mal and Jayne were waiting, but he kept coming back to kiss Zoe then her stomach.

She laughed every time. "Baby you need to go!"

"I know! But I would rather stay with you and the tine tiny thing you have in your belly!" He smiled and leaned down to kiss her stomach one more time.

"Ok I need to go now."

Zoe sat up and kissed her husband deeply. "You come back to us. If you see, hear, or even think Reavers are there you run."

Wash smiled hearing the words he made Zoe promise him earlier.

"I promise. I will return shortly my love!"


Things went horribly wrong.

Mal was knocked to the side as he watched it all unfold.

Griffin's men were there waiting, this was all a trap. Mal remembered Jayne talking about something River said was a trap. Hell they should have listened to the girl.

And then the worse thing possible happened, a gun blast went off and Jayne flew back crashing to the floor loudly.

Wash screamed something and went for the large man, and received a bag over his head and a swift punch to the jaw, knocking him out completely.

Mal was to stunned to move, he just kept his eyes fixed on Griffin's men, going through the shit on the ship they were supposed to be taking.

Wash was gone.

Jayne was bleeding out.

And Mal, for once Mal couldn't respond.


Serenity was ripped with a horrible scream. River was rocking back and forth shaking her head, and screaming 'Trouble! Trap! WASH!' but it was the vision that she just saw that set her over the edge. "JAYNE!" River bounced off the couch in the kitchen and was gone.

Zoe did her best to keep the small woman from getting off the ship.

Simon was there immediately to calm her down.

"River… What is it?"

River looked up at Zoe her eyes spilling with tears. "They got Wash…. They got him… and Jayne… they, they." River was about to lose it again, when the cargo doors opened and the crew saw Jayne for themselves.

Mal stumbled in his clothes stained with Jayne's blood.

Jayne was clutching to his stomach and doing his very best to walk but his knees kept giving out and he would stumble. Mal wouldn't let him fall though.

"Oh god!" Simon rushed towards them and took Jayne's other arm around his shoulder and encouraged Mal to walk faster, towards the infirmary.

Jayne looked up at River smiling, blood seeping out his mouth, but he just smiled. "Told you I'd be back darlin'"

River just started to shake and curled up on the floor and began to fumble with her hands again and mumble 'Wash' over and over.

"Mal… Where is Wash?" Zoe was completely disturbed by what River had said to her.

The whole ship was just exploded with chaos and fear now.

Mal didn't answer Zoe. He couldn't right now.


"You… gotta… tell her… Mal."

"Stop talking Jayne." Simon interjected.

Jayne obeyed and Mal nodded. He knew he had to.

"What happened out there?" Simon asked as he began to dig the bullet out.

"It was a trap. They want you and your sister, so they took Wash. They expect us to trade the two of you for him." Mal's brian was scrambling. It had been so long since they had gotten themselves into trouble like this.

Jayne growled. "The alliance finally stopped looking for 'em and now every bad gao yang jong duh goo yang in the verse wants 'em!"

"Jayne stop talking!" Simon repeated more sternly.

"Don't worry Jayne, we'll figure this out."

"What 'bout Wash?" Jayne asked as his conscious was fading.

"Like I said we'll figure it out."


Mal found his crew still in the cargo bay trying to recover River, Zoe seemed to be the calmest out of them all and he knew that would soon change.

"Zoe… They have Wash." Mal looked at her as firmly as he could. "I set a course and we are flying after Griffin's men. We will get him back, but we need to focus on Jayne first." Mal watched her expression change carefully.

And then the whole ship heard Zoe's painful scream.

"NO! We are going to get him now!" Zoe clung to Mal and began to cry.

"We can't Zoe! It would be me and you against their whole ship. We would die before we could even get to Wash. We need a plan."

Zoe was now clutching her stomach. Her heart was breaking at the thought of what they were doing to her husband.

"Captain, please. I can't raise his child without him." She whispered her voice cracking painfully.

Mal's eyes widened in pure surprise. "Your?" Things just kept getting better. Everything was falling apart.

"Yes I am." Zoe looked to see if anyone had heard this, and thankfully no one reacted. She wanted the news of her child to be known in a time where everyone could be happy and enjoy it. Now was not the time for that.

"I want to help get him capt'n" Kaylee said as she left River's side.

"Count me in as well." Sheppard smiled and left to go raid Jayne's guns and ammo, Kaylee followed him.

"Zoe, follow the ship then, bring us right down on their front door."

"You got it sir." Zoe did her best to keep her calm, she was sure Wash was fine, he had been in a situation like this before with Mal. But he was alone now, but she had faith in her husband, and his promise that he would come back. She took a deep breath and gently touched on of his toys that covered the dash.


"How's he holding up Doc?" Mal asked as he walked in and looked at Jayne.

"He's stable. That's really all I can say at this point."

"Well were about to go in and get Wash, so I'm going to leave a few guns with you and Jayne, hold the ship down.

"I'm going with you, I'm not staying on the ship." Simon looked at Mal as if to call him an idiot for even thinking that Simon would stay.

"You have to stay her to watch your sister, and make sure my man doesn't die."

"River can stay. And I won't let Wash die so don't worry about that. Fact is you need all the help you can get, and without Jayne your one good man short. And I will not let Kaylee go out on her own." Simon didnt really think that River would leave Jayne alone anyway. Not with the reaction so gave him.

At this point Mal just wanted Wash safe. "The more the merrier." Mal said flatly. This was a nightmare.


And they all thought it couldn't get any worse...


River heard Mal and Zoe talking. And she knew why they took Wash. A trade for her and Simon. But she would convince them just to take her and let Wash go, so he could live to be a father. And a big part of River wanted to kill the man who shot Jayne. Her Jayne.

Right when the ship basically crashed into Griffin's space station, River opened the door and vanished.

Zoe came out on the loud speaker as soon as the doors alarms went off. "River took off! She's in the god damn space station!"

Jayne's eyes flashed opened. "Mal get me Vera!"

"What! No you cant even walk!" Mal understood that Wash and River meant a little more to Jayne then he let on, but Mal loved his crew enough to know when they really were going on a suicide mission. And Mal didn't think the crew could take a death at this point in time.

"Damn it Mal! Please, I would gladly die in River's place." Jayne was now convinced that he loved River. He couldn't explain it, hell no one could. But he couldn't deny the connection they had.

Mal sighed and looked into Jayne's eyes, he knew Jayne was not going to back down. "Alright."


The plan unraveled. They were all splitting up. Simon and Jayne ran off for River. Zoe Sheppard and Kaylee went to go find Wash and kill anyone in their way. Mal was left alone. He knew that Jayne probably wasn't going to make it back. He was already half dead to begin with. And who knew what condition Wash was in.

And it was just by look that Mal accidently stumbled upon Wash first.