Once again thanks to Archer for his light speed beta and to LJC for her advice on writing dialect.
This takes place in the early days of Serenity, before Wash and Zoe are
married when the crew only numbers four.
NOT
POACHING
Malcolm Reynolds,
late sergeant of the Independent Army, currently master of Firefly-class deep
space transport Serenity and captain of a crew of four,
looked up from the ship's ledger. He had been trying for some hours to
make the numbers say something more optimistic than they currently did.
He stretched his arms over his head and gave a tremendous backward arch until
he could hear his back crack, then rubbed his eyes and got up to get a cup of
what out of courtesy they were currently calling coffee. Looking at his
watch he realized he had been at the accounts for hours. The rest of the
crew must have long since hit their racks. The ship was quiet except for
the ever-present hum of the engine vibrating thru the deck plates.
As he climbed the ladder from his bunk, headed for the galley he realized with
some surprise that despite their dismal financial condition, he felt more
content with life than he had in, well, he flat out couldn't remember the last
time he felt this much at peace. The crew was shaping up, especially
since they had hired on Kaylee Frye in place of that bun tien-shung de ee-duai-ro, Bester. How had he come to be so
mistaken about that fella? Well, they were
better shut of him. Kaylee, now, she was a real
find. Unbidden, a smile came to his lips just thinking about her.
Amazing natural talent with engines, pleasant to have around, working on a
small crush on him, which didn't speak to well of her judgment in men.
But then neither did her interest in Bester which is what got her on board in
the first place.
Well she wasn't the first young recruit to
develop a crush on her commander and he had plenty of experience deflecting
that kind of interest until it ran its natural course. It would be a sin
for a man like himself, with nothing left to give of his own heart, to take
advantage of the ardency of a young girl who didn't have the first notion of
the price she'd have to pay. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate that she
was a winsome piece. He just wouldn't sink to despoiling a young girl who
was mistaking gratitude for love.
Wash, too was exactly the kind of pilot
Serenity needed. Odd to the point of eccentricity, he had an amazing
stick, was always ready to help Kaylee with getting
the most out of Serenity's antiquated engines, wasn't picky about what he ate,
had passable table manners and was flexible about shore leave or lack there
of. At this point he realized that this might not be the train of thought
he wanted to jump aboard. Because there was one
niggling concern about the pilot. Well, truthfully not the pilot. Well not just the pilot. It was really more
the pilot's all too understandable interest in the first mate. Well if he
was really going to be honest it was
the first mate's obviously reciprocal
interest which made this a railroad he really didn't want to ride. But he
was aboard now, want to, or no.
He had known Zoe King over half his life. They
had taken her in after her pilot father died in his first year of ranching on
Shadow. They'd been closer than most blood kin, enlisted together and
served 8 years in the same unit during the War and another year getting out of
the POW camp. In all that time there had only been one fella he thought worthy of her, and Tet
Hamano had died during the bloodbath of their first week in the
Valley. That was over three years ago now.
Something had died in Zoe when Tet
died. She had always been self sufficient, not standoffish but not real
sociable either. He'd thought that came from having been raised on a ship
where the crew were so close they were family and no
one else mattered because you had to leave them in the World when you went back
to the Black. But after Tet died Zoe had shut down every soft feeling she had. The
only one she let in had been him. Well not really let in, he was just
always there and she couldn't shut him out if she tried. But nobody else
got in. The last time he'd seen her cry had been the dawn of Tet's death. He had taken a round in the gut and been
a long time in the dying.
Mal came back from the line to check on them
and had found her with tears on her face, after. As he'd bent to try to
comfort her he heard her say 'It's wrong
that the sunrise is so beautiful. It shouldn't be beautiful, should it?'
It was the most desolate truth he ever heard to describe grief. After
that Zoe didn't cry anywhere but her dreams, and she
let no one close, either.
Until now. Unaccountably, she seemed to have
taken a shine to the pilot. She'd started out not liking him. He'd
bothered her. Mal had had to work overtime to convince her he was just
what Serenity needed to get into the Black. They were still refitting
then, still earthbound. But you could feel her straining at the leash to
leap into space. They'd needed Wash and he'd said so,
sung his praises, in fact. Something he might be regretting soon.
He liked the pilot well enough. If there was no Zoe
in the equation he would have liked him better. But from their first
meeting it was clear to anyone with eyes to see that a big enlistment incentive
for the pilot had been the first mate. Mal had seen it and hadn't been
slow to trade on it to get the man signed on.
At first Zoe had ignored him, then
she'd been cold, then distantly polite. By the time she warmed up to
cordial he'd started to get a distinct feeling of disquiet. That was
about the time Kaylee had come aboard.
Something changed then, he wasn't quite sure what. He'd hoped at the time
that Kaylee's innocent sensuality might distract the
pilot from pursuing Zoe, but it hadn't gone down like
that. Wash was friendly as all
get out but distinctly uninterested.
Instead after a few weeks of Kaylee's cheerful chatter at meal times, Zoe had started to soften towards the man. She started to laugh at his jokes, and he would come on the bridge at odd hours and find them deep in conversation or just sitting in companionable silence. That had been going on for a couple of months now.
It made Mal uneasy, the more so because Zoe never spoke of it in any way. It was just like
when they were kids. He never knew how she felt about someone who was
courting her until they showed up at the supper table and kissed her good night
as they left. By then it was always too
late for him to do anything because she'd already made up her mind.
Wash's pursuit of Zoe
had continued quietly but relentlessly. He joked with her and helped her
do the dishes, jumped to his feet if she came in the room. He asked her
about growing up on a ship, and compared it to being raised in a
smog-enshrouded industrial wasteland. He offered to teach her to pilot
the ship and the shuttle. He was crafty and never made any overt sexual
offers, but never hid his admiration for her as a beautiful woman. When they
were in port he always invited her somewhere nice for a meal or offered to
accompany her to get supplies. It was clear that he hadn't been making
any conquests in any of their ports-of-call since he came on board Serenity.
If it had been anyone else he would have found the whole song and dance
distinctly amusing but it wasn't and he didn't. He could tell from the
man's style and from having asked around about him that Wash Warren was the
kind of pilot who had a girl in every port, two in some. No one said he
lied to them or promised more than a casual fling. But is seemed to Mal that a
man with that much casualness bout his appetites was not the man for Zoe. He didn't want to see her hurt.
Correction, he wasn't going to see
her get hurt. He wanted Zoe to come out of the
frozen place she had been since Tet's death, but if the
first man she took to after was no good, she might never come out of the
coldness.
By the time these thoughts had run through his head he'd about talked himself
out of his earlier good mood. As he entered the galley and started to
heat up the coffee he realized that not every one on the ship had turned
in. 'Think of the devil and he
appears.' was his first thought. 'What's
he got on his mind?' was the second.
"What's got you up so late, Wash?" with a casual nod
as he sauntered over and took his usual seat at the head of the table.
"I usually get up around this time Mal, I like to
check the nav-sats. Doesn't
do to rely too much on auto-pilot." With a ghost of a laugh he
went on. "You might take into your head you don't need a live one.
I thought I'd get a cup of coffee and stare out at the Black awhile. Gives a man perspective." The pilot poured himself a
cup of the stewed sludge that had been closer to coffee after dinner, then sat down next to the captain.
"If I could save that ten percent I pay you it just might put us in the black. But I'm thinking
there's no way a machine'd get out of Serenity what
you do. Truth is you probably save us almost your wages in fuel and
repairs. I got no complaints in that department."
"That's good, glad to hear you say it but I think after what I'm about to say,
you might rethink that opinion."
He shot a questioning look at the smaller
man. "You been doin' something to change my
mind?"
"Well, it's pretty clear you've been trying to warn me off Zoe
almost since I got here. Even tried to throw Kaylee at me. Which, by the
way, if I was the kind of man you obviously think I am, would be a low trick to
play on such a sweet kid. Anyway, I just thought I'd serve
notice here, I don't intend to be warned." Wash met his eye without
wavering.
"You don't hunh? And how's
that?" He said quietly with steel underneath.
He returned a soft response, "When I first came on board I thought you and Zoe were an item. I wouldn't poach on a man's
preserve in his own ship, especially if I intended to stay aboard. But it
became clear to me fairly early on that what you two have isn't—well, it isn't
that. So no question of poaching arises."
"And if I told you that poaching or no, Zoe's off
limits to you, what then?" Steel not underneath any
more, out there in plain sight now.
"Well, I'd tell you I don't think that's your decision to make. And
knowing Zoe, I don't expect she'd appreciate your
trying to make it for her." Wash answered the hardness
with some of his own.
"I'm captain of this vessel and who stays aboard her is my decision to make."
"That's right Mal, it is. And I expect that knowing Zoe
and the history you two have if you put me off she's gonna
let you—right now. But you ought to think before you do that.
Zoe is a passionate woman. She's bound to you,
that's clear, but is it right to use that bond to deny her what every woman
deserves?"
"And what—exactly—is that?"
"Someone who is passionate about her. I love her, I think she
could love me. Right now you have the power to stop that just by putting
me off the boat. There might come a time when putting me off won't be
enough. Maybe not, but I think you should know—to stop it, that's what
you'll have to do. Put me off the boat."
"Why would I believe a fly-by-night-got-a-girl-in-every-port-stick jockey like you is gonna' stay passionate about her? Who's to say you
won't get tired of her like all the other ones? Next time we're in port
and some bar maid with more hair than brains gives you the eye, who's to say you won't feel passionate about her for the
five minutes it takes to scratch your itch."
Wash said very simply. "I'll never tire of Zoe." He looked quizzically at the captain. "Well if
you won a woman like Zoe, supposing you were trying
to, would you ever tire of her? Credit me with at least as much
intelligence as you. We might fight, not saying that won't happen.
Hell, Mal, fighting with Zoe is more satisfying than
spending a week with a paid Companion. I'd have thought you of all people
would know that."
That drew a rueful chuckle from him. "I know what you mean, a fight with Zoe can be so stimulatin' it's
almost indecent to do it in public."
"Look, I know you checked up on me. They told you I was one for the
ladies. Fair enough, but nobody told you I ever left anyone the worse for
it. Nor promised anything I didn't deliver. If I promise anything
to Zoe you can believe I'll stand by it."
"And what if Zoe decides you're not what she
wants? What then?"
"Tyen shiao duh, I
don't know. What are you asking me?"
"Not askin' you anything, I'm telling
you. If you two start somethin', even if
it's just Zoe scratching an itch, it happens just as
long as she wants it to. Not one second longer nor one shorter. Can
you live with that." He gave the pilot an iron
stare. "What if she don't like it after she's
sampled the merchandise? You gonna stay on
board then?"
"I can tell you this, Cap, if she gives me a fair trial and don't like what she
gets, I'll take it like a man. Well, honestly,
I'll probably commit ritual suicide—but I promise I won't do it until you get a
decent pilot to replace me and I personally train him to Serenity's
foibles." He said it more than half seriously.
They sat in silence for a while. Mal asked himself was he wronging Zoe by trying to protect her. But having seen the
cost of loving and losing, he was not one of those who thought it was better to
have loved and lost. Better by far never to have given your heart
to someone than to watch what happened in the losing of it. He had
thought Zoe felt the same way, but now he was not so
sure. He wondered if she regretted loving Tet.
He knew if it was him he would, but maybe not her. He would ask her one
of these times, when the nightmares had them up together in the dark of the
night. He thought she might be able to answer now.
After awhile he
stirred himself to ask "Wash, why'd you bring this
up to me? Why give me the chance to put you off? Why not just keep quiet about
it? It's not like Zoe's the kind to say
anything even to me about what her plans are. First I'd know of it would
be when you were already sleepin' in her bed."
"I am already sleeping in her bed,
Mal."
"Wh-a-a-a" unable to speak, his glare would have
blistered paint, it didn't even dent Wash's good humor.
"Your're kind of gobbling
like a turkey there, cap." he said kindly.
Mal closed his mouth, then said through gritted teeth, "How long?"
"Long enough for me to think I got a shot at convincing her to keep me.
How long's it gotta
be?" He asked curiously.
"Ching-wah tsao de liou mahng! What's the
point of this here exercise then?"
"I don't just want to bed her, Mal, I want to marry her. I intend to be
there for the rest of her life. It would make her very unhappy if that came
between the two of you. I want her to be happy. Now the
unhappy-making will be coming from you. I get to be the good guy. This is
all part of my cunning and devious plan."
He said with an annoying grin.
"What say I just shoot you here and now and save us all a lot of trouble down
the line." Mal ground out through gritted teeth,
ignoring a tic starting in his jaw. The pilot was standin'
on his last nerve and no mistake.
"Well again, unhappy-making, not me so much." Wash said with a
grin. After a pause he added "Mal, you're not her father, nor her
brother, but you are her only family. As an honorable and manly man, I
have come asking permission to court the damsel of my choice. I respect
what the two of you have. I just don't intend to let it stop me from
loving her. I'd of thought you'd understand that. I'm not gonna' sneak around behind your back and I'm not gonna' ask Zoe to, just to make
you feel better. It's Zoe's
feelings I care about. Your's, again, not so much."
"You know, sometimes I really don't like you." He said with a glare
after he digested it.
"I
get that a lot."
"But I give you credit you got a fair amount of gumption, and it counts for a
lot with me that you want Zoe to be happy. I
just don't think you're the man to do it" He said in the tone of a
man trying to be reasonable with an idiot child.
"Well, see Mal, the way it works, what you
think doesn't really mean a rat's ass. Now does it? When Zoe tells me I'm not the man then I'll pay attention.
'Till then your opinion and com-static, all the same to me."
The strangled gargle issuing from Mal caused the pilot's grin to widen. "You
are really starting to piss me off here!" Mal snarled.
Wash gave an exaggerated pantomime of
comprehension as he said "I'm just now
starting to piss you off. Gee, I must be doing something wrong then."
"I'll tell you this for true, Wash, you hurt Zoe and I swear by Serenity, I'll make you rue the day you
father met your mother. Are we clear on this, boy?"
"Mal, you're just not getting it" he said with
a sigh. "If I hurt Zoe, I'll already rue the
day I was born."
Wash got up to leave the mess, whistling as he
headed for the bridge. 'Of course', a
tiny voice in Mal's head said, 'that's also the way to Zoe's berth.' He
winced as he tried unsuccessfully to suppress the unbidden thought. 'And I was feeling content just a few minutes
ago. Why can't anything ever go smooth?' Mal sat at the table, cold
coffee forgotten in front of him and wondered just when he lost control.
Chinese glossary
Bun tien-shung de ee-duai-ro
[Stupid inbred sack of meat]
Tyen shiao duh [Heaven/God
knows what]
Ching-wah tsao de liou mahng! [Bastard who is humped by frogs!]
