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A few hours later Zoe and Mal were back at the ship and they were not happy.
"Hey, Mal!"
It was Jayne and...someone. Mal's eyes almost came out of his head.
"This is my Ma, happy now?"
"Thank you for making my boy come see me. I know he never would have if you hadn't."
Mal was speechless. Jayne's mother bore a striking resemblance to the cook he just hired, except she had brown hair. Somehow he got through the next few minutes of talking to Jayne's mother without swallowing his tongue. Kaylee had opened the doors and Mal yelled for Jia to join them.
When she did, not a shadow of recognition was on anyone's faces. Jayne introduced the two ladies and Mal stood like a spectator in a freak show.
After Jayne's mom left Mal took aside Jia and asked her, "Isn't there someone she reminds you of?"
She paused, "Not really. She had the same hair color as Jayne, other than that he must take after his dad."
"That's it? No one else?"
"No, who does she remind you of?"
Mal paused and then finally just shrugged. The crew all filed back onto Serenity and Mal went up to Jayne. "I guess we now know why you're not attracted to Jia." He joked.
"Why?"
Mal walked away, shocked that he had been the only one to see it, but then he saw the look on Zoe's face and knew he hadn't been the only one.
Kaylee was the first to bring the subject up, "So, we got a new job Captain?"
Mal's face was suddenly once again furious, "Absolutely not!"
He stormed to the bridge to take the ship out. The crew turned to Zoe. She enlightened them. "Another generous offer to be slave traders."
Everyone cringed while Zoe went to the bridge.
When she arrived, Mal was sitting in her husband's chair. The dinosaurs were still all sitting there, not one had been moved. She approached with caution.
"Sir?"Mal didn't say anything. "We can get another..."
"Just tell me one thing Zoe."
"Anything sir."
"Why, ever since Miranda have we just been offered gosa for jobs?"
The mention of Miranda was still hard for Zoe, but she did understand. Their opportunities for honest crime had diminished greatly since then. "I don't know."
They sat there for minutes before anyone said anything. Finally Zoe said, "Boris on Savage is always good for a cake run. Honest crime."
Mal brightened slightly, "I guess. He still working with Eaves?"
"Not that I had heard sir. I think they broke up months ago."
"Might be interesting."
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With a plan in mind, Mal was much happier. Or as happy as he gets. He had just come down from making his arrangements with Boris, who was more than happy to give them work, when he went into the galley. He could feel the unhappiness as soon as he entered. Jai was behind the island chopping something in a very unpleased manner.
He knew it was a bad idea but he asked anyway. "Anything wrong?"
She didn't stop what she was doing, "Not a thing sir."
That was probably a good place to stop. He had asked, his duty was over, but a masochistic part of him made him say, "I can tell something's bothering you."
She put down her knife, "Do you really want to know?"
"I...maybe"
"I'm bored out of my mind. I'm used to working 16 hours a day. I work 4 here. I asked you if I could do something else too and you didn't even consider it."
"What else do you want to do?"
"I don't know, clean floors, laundry, anything."
"The rest of the crew do that as their chores."
"I know that sir, but I just can't sit around and do nothing."
"Most of working on a ship is sitting around. If that's not for you then..."
"No sir, I love this job and the people I really do. And I appreciate the job, but there's gotta be something."
"Well, Jayne has his guns, Kaylee has her engine and her Simon, Inara does...whatever. You're just going to have to find something. Gossip with Kaylee, arrange the pantry in alphabetical order, draw...pictures of things. It doesn't matter to me."
Jia seemed to consider that, "Anything?"
Mal put up his hand, "Within reason. No... bomb making or anything."
"I think I can find something. I guess I'm not used to budgeting my own time."
Over the next few days it was obvious she hadn't thought of anything yet. They had the most elaborate and decorated meals any of them had ever had.
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When they arrived at Savage, Kaylee dragged Jia out of the ship for a drink. They both satin a booth in the back of a dingy bar giggling. Kaylee went to go get more drinks. Suddenly, Jia was grabbed out of the booth and a hand put over her mouth.
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Mal had just returned from concluding his business with Boris and was loading the ship with his cargo when Kaylee came running, "Captain, I lost Jia."
"What do you mean you lost her?"
"I turned my back to get more drinks and when I turned back she was gone. You gotta find her sir."
"What's wrong Kaylee?"
Mal and Kaylee turned to see Jia Li walking towards them. Kaylee ran to her and hugged her. " I thought something horrible had happened to you."
"Well, you can see I'm fine."
Mal interrupted, "Now that's over, lets get going. Got a schedule to keep."
They all climbed aboard. River was entering the cargo bay and froze. As Jia Li passed her, River looked confused. Jia looked at her with no expression. When Jia had passed, River whispered, "The Magician."