It had been three days since Jo had come aboard, three days for Mal to want to slam his head into the wall every time he saw her, or heard her laugh with one of the crew. He'd overheard Kaylee tell Simon that it looked like a dance every time he and Jo spoke to each other or whenever they were in the same room for more then thirty minutes at a time, choreographed, and cool. He had to admit he'd been reliving a part of his life the last few days that he thought he'd never relive again. It's not that all the memories where bad, most of them where real good, but the end…it'd been hard. He'd written her a note, sent it to her with something she'd given him and then he'd never heard from or seen her again…until three days ago that is. He had to wonder if being this close to him was bothering her as badly. She was quiet and considerate of him whenever she spoke; they'd avoided all physical contact since that small run in, in the cargo bay that first afternoon. It had shaken him how much his body had reacted to hers…he was dead set on not letting it happen again.

He'd also noticed that she got on well with the whole of the crew; Zoe was still withdrawn as she had been since losing Wash but he'd caught Jo talking to her late one night at the dining table. Their conversation had stopped when he'd entered and resumed as soon as he'd left, it'd made him slightly annoyed but he'd kept it to himself. She had hit it off right away with Kaylee, Simon and River but he'd seen that coming; she was a good-hearted person and it was obvious in the way she held herself with others. Jayne on the other hand; she'd managed to wrap around her little finger since the first second they'd gotten to speak, this bothered him more then anything else. He'd never seen Jayne behave quite like this before and he wanted to warn Jo to be careful but in the end, he'd figured that it was the thought of all that money that she would be affording them when this whole thing was said and done that had Jayne in such a state. He sighed and tipped back in the Pilots chair. He'd been hiding out in the cockpit for the better part of the last three days, something River seemed to be aware of but she'd not mentioned it as she'd allowed him to do most of the flying since leaving Persephone.

He jumped near a mile when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to find Jo standing behind him, a wistful smile on her face.

"You damn near scared me to death woman what the hell were you thinking!" He snapped quickly and watched as her smile disappeared to be replaced with a resigned look.

"I was bringing you this and when I came in you had such a strange look on your face I almost hated to say anything." She answered handing him a hot mug. "Here…I'm sorry I bothered you." She said turning to leave.

He fought a loud groan and smacked himself in the head instead, "Jo…wait." He called to her. He watched her reappear in the doorway and gave a soft sigh, "I'm sorry…come back here…please." He said wanting to bite his own tongue. He motioned to the co-pilots chair, "Sit a while…I know you like looking out." He said motioning a hand carelessly toward the view. He took a sip at the mug and nodded, "You always did make a good brew. Thanks for bringing it up here."

"Sure…" She said softly her eyes already beyond the room and out in the black.

He studied her as she sat across from him. He let the silence settle for a while before breaking it, "So…what do you plan on doing once you have the money?"

"I haven't given it a lot of thought really, settle somewhere I guess. I've been moving so long it feels second nature, but then you know that already, don't you?"

She looked at him then and they sat watching each other. He raised an eyebrow. "Why do I get the feeling you know more about where I've been these last years then you're letting on."

She smiled then, "I did some hacking into an alliance data base when I was trying to find you, it gave a lot of info on you since the war as well as on your crew. Seems you're all pretty popular on the Alliance's watchdog list. It's how I knew you where involved with the Miranda uncovering."

He nodded, "Right…and how'd you know to use Badger as a contact point?"

She shrugged, "Good detective work."

"Uh huh…" He sighed, "You always could talk your way into anything couldn't you?"

Her smile grew a little but she didn't answer him instead returning her gaze to the window and beyond.

"I know why you love this ship Mal, it feels like a home, yet when you look out there…" She said hitching her chin up at the window, "…everything seems to disappear…and your free."

He didn't answer her instead taking another sip from his coffee. He heard her sigh as she finally stood up, "I'm going to turn in. River says we're about three days out, if that's true we'll have a day or so before the sale to spend planet side."

"It is true we'll be a little ahead of schedule and the crew could use some downtime I expect."

She nodded, then seemed to waiver a moment before leaving and before he could say or do anything she closed the space between them and brushed a light kiss across his cheek. "Night Mal." She whispered before leaving him stone cold shocked and silently gazing after her. He finally found a voice and said to the room, "Night…"