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Wash double-checked the route he had planned for Serenity. Should be a straight shot to their destination, no planets between here and there, no large-scale Alliance operations, no major shipping lanes to cross. Nice and clear, just like the captain liked it. Wash didn't mind it, either—it was more fun flying when there weren't a lot of other people in your way.

He tapped a button, setting the autopilot for the night. He knew the captain often came up here after Wash signed off, to take a turn at the helm himself. Wash got it. The captain loved Serenity, and he liked to have his hands on the controls, make sure he knew as best he could what was going on with his ship. Most captains Wash had worked with wouldn't have bothered—and he had made some firm rules on previous ships about not having anyone else messing around with the controls. But that didn't fly on Serenity—while the captain wasn't great at the controls, he wasn't terrible, either. And he knew which settings not to mess with.

No, Wash felt pretty good leaving things as they were, even knowing the captain would be by later.

What to do first? Grab some protein in the mess? Or just straight to the sack-time?

He took the stairs down from the cockpit all at once, grasping the railings and swinging himself down, and then stopped short, seeing Zoe standing there waiting for him.

She was smiling, the kind of smile that curled his toes. Damn, but she was beautiful. He'd have kissed her if they weren't in a publicly accessible part of the ship.

"Hey, you," Wash said to her, for lack of anything more intelligent to say. She often had that effect on him. Fortunately for him, she didn't seem to hold his lack of ability to put words together against him.

"Hey, yourself. You off for the night?"

"I seem to be."

"I suppose you were going to bed?"

"I was thinking of it."

"It matter to you which one?"

Wash stared at her, the breath completely knocked out of him. "I, uh … I mean …"

Zoe's smile widened and she stepped on the ladder down to her berth. She glanced at him over her shoulder, her eyebrows lifted in question, and then started down the ladder.

He was frozen in place. He couldn't possibly have misunderstood that, could he? No. That had been clear. She wanted him … down there. In her berth. And he wanted to be down there. Oh, yes, he did. But he couldn't quite seem to make his feet move.

Her voice floated up to him from the depths of her private place. "You comin'?"

"I—" The window was closing, he told himself. She wasn't going to ask twice, or wait much longer. It was now or completely screw this whole thing up, and among the many things he wanted right now, not to screw this whole thing up was at least number two.

With an effort Wash forced himself to move, putting a foot on the ladder. He could hear footsteps approaching, and very much did not want to be caught on her ladder, on his way down to her bunk. He was fairly sure that both Kaylee and Inara had a pretty good idea what was going on—but he was equally sure that the captain didn't, and that Zoe didn't want him to. That bothered Wash a little, but was hardly a topic for right at this very moment.

He scrambled down the ladder, landing on the floor beneath with very little dignity. "I, um … Hi." Shen, he was an idiot.

Fortunately for him, Zoe didn't seem interested in talking. No sooner had he cleared the ladder and closed the door above his head than she was kissing him, her strong hands on either side of his face. Wash kissed her back, sure of himself at last. Words might not be his thing, but kissing Zoe certainly was. Next to flying, it might just be what he was best at.

They stumbled across the floor, shedding clothes as they went, Wash still half-expecting to wake up and find this all a very nice dream.

He landed on his back on Zoe's bunk, with her on top of him and lots and lots of bare skin under his fingers. He wanted to explore every inch of all that skin. Gently rolling her over, he set about doing just that, finding all the places where she seemed to particularly like being touched. Zoe being Zoe, she returned the favor, her own hands everywhere until Wash thought he might just go out of his mind.

"Zoe," he gasped, leaning down to kiss her again.

She pressed up against him in answer, her beautiful eyes on him until they closed in the intensity of her pleasure. Wash fought to keep his own eyes open, wanting to watch every change in her face, but it was too much, too intense, and he closed his eyes and held on to her and fell through the stars, almost surprised to open his eyes again and find himself still in her bunk.

"Wow."

"You can say that again."

"I'm happy to say it again as long as we can do it again."

Zoe smiled, the sleepy smile of a very satisfied woman, and the resulting jolt to Wash's ego was very pleasant indeed. "You mean right now?"

"Now, tomorrow, the day after, a few times in between …"

"I think that can be arranged." She reached up to kiss him. "You didn't think it was too soon?"

It was on the tip of his tongue to be flippant, but he could hear an undercurrent of worry in her voice. They were shipmates, after all, and there was a difference between kissing and its attendant activities and full-on naked enjoyment.

"Zoe. Remember what I said? I meant it. I'd have been happy to wait as long as you wanted … but I'm even happier not to." He bent and kissed her shoulder, and then worked his way along to her neck. "You're so damned beautiful."

"You're pretty beautiful yourself."

"Yeah? You think so?" He kissed her ear. 'Beautiful' wasn't a word he would have used to describe himself, but he knew better than to argue when a naked woman who was letting him kiss her used it.

She stretched her neck to give him better access. "Oh, yeah. Keep doing that, you might get yourself an upgrade."

He added a hand sliding along her side, cupping her hip, and continuing down the length of her thigh, drawing her leg up. "'Beautiful' is pretty good already. You sure I can do better?"

"Well, there's always fine, hot—" She gasped as his hand moved to her inner thigh and worked its way up. "Sexy."

"Sexy, hm? I like sexy. Sexy's good. Let's aim for that."

"Yes, please." Whether that was a response to what he said or what he did, Wash didn't know, and he was pretty sure he didn't care.