Since I found Serenity
"I thought 'serenity' meant 'peace'," Mal says to himself. These days, his boat is anything but peaceful.
In the months immediately following his purchase of the Firefly, he and Zoe had built a good crew to join them on Serenity. Wash was a pilot worth his weight in plastic dinosaurs, and he had also turned into a pretty decent husband for Zoe. Bester had been a mistake, but if they hadn't hired him they never would've found Kaylee, and she was the best mechanic in the 'verse. Inara brought a touch of class to the vessel, and, although he'd never admit it to anyone else, light to Mal's world. Jayne was useful in his own way, even though some days Mal wanted to send him out the airlock.
The point was, the crew had been doing fine. Then Simon and River Tam arrived.
Now Mal is trying to avoid the Alliance cruisers even more than usual while still providing for everyone on board. He has Shepherd Book trying to save him (or so it seems to Mal) at every possible opportunity, and Jayne is constantly whining about how little coin they've gotten lately. River has her moments of almost-normal, but anything can cause her to become a jabbering idiot again. Simon, who's actually not doing half-bad at being ship's medic, spends all of his free time trying to figure out what's wrong with his younger sister. Kaylee is mooning after the doctor, who's apparently oblivious. When she's not seeing clients, Inara will watch the younger Tam or engage in philosophical discussions with the Shepherd.
Peace is the last thing to be found on Serenity right now. Truthfully, though, Mal isn't sure he'd have it any other way.