"Wash? There's a wave for you." Li poked her head into Wash's temporary bedroom, which was really one of the larger closets. She looked, happy- shiny, in fact- and she wasn't a morning person. So either she just got some very good news or he had slept in far too late.

Wash threw up a hand to block the sudden light. "Ugh. What time is it?" He fumbled with the light and tried to get his eyes to stay open.

"Ten in the morning. You've been sleeping for a while."

"Mm. Why did you wake me up again?"

"You got a wave."

"From who?"

"What's-her-face. Your wife."

"Zoe?"

"That's the one."

Wash jumped out of bed, hastily pulling on a shirt and attempting to straighten out his hair. When he reached the Cortex screen, he saw Zoe's face light up.

"Hey!"

"Hi, honey. This is a surprise. Where did even get this address?"

"Oh, this nifty little site on the Cortex," she said dismissively, "Not technically legal, but not much of what we do is, is it?"

"I guess not. Why-?"

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. What's wrong?" Wash replied, confused. Zoe wasn't the kind of person to be easily troubled, so why on Earth-that-was would she be calling him?

"I'm just worried about you, is all. Is that so odd?"

"No but, you tracking down my sister's address and sending me a wave is. Is everything alright?"

"It's fine," Zoe said, "I miss you."

"I miss you, too, baby."

"Will you-" Zoe began, but he quieted her. He heard something that chilled his blood. Mario was shouting. Mario was a big man, and not easily frightened, but now he was screaming like a little girl. And was he- no, it couldn't be! - Was he crying? While Mario wasn't as brave or as tough as most people his size, Wash had never heard him cry. The very idea was strange. This had to be serious.

"I gotta go!" he said quickly.

"But-" Zoe said, but he really didn't have time to discuss it.

"Love you!" he said, and shut off the screen.

He ran downstairs, and found Mario bleeding in the doorway.

"What happened?"

"Bastards shot me! And they took Li. I don't know who they were or where they went, they just grabbed Li and dragged her off."

"Is Sydney all right?"

"I think so."

"Well, have him call for help."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna go get Li."

Zoe tried to put the incident with Wash out of her mind, but she hadn't even been able to ignore a dream. In the end, she gave up and sent them another wave.

For a moment, she was elated to see Li, but then she realized it was a recording. She stood between two men that Zoe had never seen before, who made faces while she talked.

"Hey! This is Li, Mario, and Syd. We're not in ri- He he! Stop it, guys, you're messing me up!- We're not in right now, so either try again another time or leave us a message.

The men behind her moved forward. "Peace, y'all," One of them said, holding out two of his fingers.

The other held out his hand in a position that made it look like he had only three fingers. "Live long and prosper," he said.

Li rolled her eyes. "You guys are such weirdos."

Then the video switched to the one everyone was familiar with, a recording of a professional-looking lady with calming voice, instructing her to record her message in san, er, yi.

"Hello? Is anyone there? Answer me! Wash, are you alright?"

The screen switched on, and Zoe recognized one of the men from the recording, the one who had told her to live long and prosper. She could tell right away that he was in bad shape. His face was pale and strained and the hand she could see was soaked in blood.

"Hello? Who are you?"

"Wash's wife. What happened?"

"Some people came. I don't know who they are, but they shot me and ran off with Li. There were a lot of them. And Wash went after them."

"What! That idiot! If he dies, I'm going to kill him!"

"Um,"

"I know it doesn't make sense!" she shouted, "Do you know where they went?"

"No, sorry."

"Ta ma de!" Zoe shouted, and left without turning off the Cortex. As she ran, she felt the ship lurch, and went to the bridge to see what was going on. Mal was already there, shouting at River.

"What in the Hell are you doing?"

"Wash is in trouble." River said, frowning at the controls.

"What-"

"It's true. I just talked to someone at the house. Apparently, some people came and kidnapped Li, and Wash went after them."

"But- these are new clients! And, in case you didn't notice, not exactly cuddly."

"Wash is going to get himself killed!" Zoe shouted.

"We can make it back before the end of the day if we're careful." River added.

Mal relented. "We can't land there. But we can get you close enough to leave in the shuttle."

"Thank you, sir."

Zoe flew as fast as the shuttle would go, scanning the ground for any sign of Wash. Finally, she found him trying to force entry to a small, square building. Before she could do anything, the doors gave way beneath his shoulder and he ran in.

Zoe landed the ship so recklessly she nearly crashed, but didn't care. She ran into the building, which was filled with people, some of whom she recognized as the ones who had attacked Li before. Li was tied to a chair, and Wash was running toward her.

"Wash!" she shouted.

"Zoe?" he said, spinning around to face her.

Then there was a bang, and Wash fell to the ground, covered in bright, bright blood.