Three days before they left Meadow, Jamie was unusually tense that morning; Inara could feel it in his shoulders.

"You've got to relax, Bao Bei. You'll injure yourself if you keep going about like this." she whispered, as she massaged his shoulders.

It just hadn't been going well for him that day; after a certain clumsy gorilla dropped a crate on his feet, and someone accidentally turned off his cortex feed when he was working on something, the crew was trying to stay out of his way.

He stalked in for dinner, and found the galley darkened. "Great." he muttered, going to the light switch. He flipped it on, and was stunned by the scene.

A colorfully decorated cake sat on the table, with 27 candles. A pile of wrapped packages sat to one side of the table, and everyone was gathered around, waiting for him to come in.

"Surprise!"

His face immediately went from pissed to pleased. Inara pulled him forward to the table, sitting him down and kissing his cheek. "Happy birthday, bao bei." Dinner was set on the table, and everyone fell to eating.

"How did you know my birthday?"

"I happen to know a girl who can read minds." Inara winked.

They had some excellent steak and fresh vegetables; Tom Frye had gotten the beef from a local butcher.

After eating, he blew out the candles on the cake and they ate; Jenny had outdone herself, both on the meal and the cake.

Moving to the open area near to the galley, they all sat down and chattered, while Jamie opened his gifts. All of the gifts were very nice; there was some cologne from Kaylee and Simon, which Inara smelled and immediately blushed over. Mal and River had managed to find a quality gold timepiece with a tough leather band. The other gifts were equally thoughtful and heartfelt.

Mal got a funny look on his face when Jamie finished. "Hmm, thought there was one more..."

"Really, I haven't had such a birthday in years. You've all done too much already."

Inara shushed him, as Mal reached behind a chair and pulled out a package about 10x14 inches.

Jamie opened it greedily; could it be? As soon as he saw the tactile dark grey material of the screen and felt it, he slowed and opened the package more carefully. It was a beautiful new data pad with a built-in cortex processor. He thought it felt a touch heavy; he turned it over to see the normally lightweight plastic covered with what looked like a mix of metals.

"From last time, we figured that the normal data pad wasn't quite tough enough, so we had Tom build a multi-layer armored back. Should be able to take hits and still keep running now. I'd still rather you didn't get shot at though."

He was actually feeling teary-eyed; "Thank you. All of you. This is such an unexpected pleasure...you have no idea how long it's been since I had such an amazing family to share my birthday with." River smirked; she knew exactly how long it was.

Inara kissed him on the cheek, wiping the single tear that had leaked out. "I haven't given you my gift yet, Ai Ren." She pulled out a small rectangular box. He opened it, suddenly terrified at what might be inside. It was a simple leather cord.

"What is this, bao bei?" he asked, somewhat confused, somewhat charmed.

She took it out of the box, and wrapped it three times around his neck, tying it tightly behind his head. Then she slipped her finger under her dress line and pulled up an identical cord. Jamie saw Wash and Zoe share a misty-eyed look; they wore similar cords.

"I love you, Jamie. I want to be with you. I don't want you to go anywhere."

"I love you too, baby. Remember; everything I am, nothing I'm not." he smiled, finally understanding what this was. It was a promise.

They brought a music player into the cargo bay, and everyone danced the night away, seemingly a whole family now.