After scrubbing clean and donning fresh clothes, Wash slipped into the cockpit to say a proper hello to Serenity. He found River in the pilot's chair looking dreamily out the observation windows. She didn't turn when he entered. For a while he said nothing, just stood beside the chair and watched the stars with her.

"You came back," she softly said into the quiet around them.

Wash affectionately looked down at her. "Was brought back, yeah."

"I knew you would," she quietly stated, drawing her knees to her chest . Her eyes remained fixed on the stars. "From the beginning." She turned at last to gaze up at him, and her eyes seemed haunted with sadness. It was the same sort of sadness Wash recognized from when she had spoken of Miranda over a year ago.

"River," he began, uncertainly.

She shook her head, silencing him. "When they recovered, they started questioning," she elaborated in a hushed tone. "I could see the trouble on Miranda, knew the Reavers were coming, knew who was good and who was bad. I saw it all happening first." She studied his face, letting silence fill in the rest. The calm stretched on, even when she spoke again. "Zoe thought it immediately. Her eyes told me even when her thoughts didn't. I know Mal thought it once or twice, too. Kaylee tried not to. She tried so hard, and I had to pull her away because she didn't want to believe it. Simon was the only one who knew. He was the only one I had." She closed her eyes. "They never questioned, but I know they wanted to ask."

Wash put a hand out on her shoulder and squeezed it.

"I didn't see it," she confessed. "I don't know what I might have done if I had." Her eyes opened and flickered away from his for a few seconds as she contemplated possibilities that could never now be explored. "But in my mind, you've always been there." She looked back up at him. "There was a hole, a gap. You poured back into it and filled it." She took a deep breath. " I saw it, thought it was okay. But then I felt guilt. The others resented me a little for not knowing better."

"There wasn't anything you could do about it," Wash reassured her.

She studied his face carefully and then slowly nodded. "It's all right now." She hugged her knees tighter and looked back to the stars. "Everything is all right now."

Wash stood beside her a while longer. He closed his eyes and felt Serenity hum around him. It was hard to believe he was back here, safe on the ship, and that Mal and Zoe were both there for him, and Kaylee and River and Simon and even Jayne. He opened his eyes. It felt like it was all a dream he was bound to wake up from. "Come on," he said, pushing the thought aside, "the others are gathering in the kitchen."

River tilted her head to look up at him and smiled softly. "Do you know which way you're going to go?" she asked serenely.

Wash thought he knew what she meant and just shrugged. "Forward," he answered. "That's about all I can do."

He stepped back away from her, and she turned and dropped her legs, gracefully unfolding out of the chair. She studied him several moments, as though gauging him somehow. Then she nodded, apparently pleased. "It's a good direction."
--

Wash and River were greeted to several bright smiles when they descended the stairs into the galley together. Kaylee was passing out empty mugs. Simon was sitting at the far end of the table, grinning to see his his sister joining them. Mal sat on one side of the table and smiled up at the pair as they arrived. He'd had a shower and changed, and his hair was still a little damp and shiny in the light. He nodded welcomingly at Wash and enticed him over with just a look.

Kaylee pressed a mug into Wash's hand as he passed in front of her, and then she steered him off towards Mal.

"What's this?" he questioned, staring into the empty mug.

Mal smirked and reached over to push the chair beside him out. "Apparently, Jayne's got a surprise for us," Mal replied. "Figure it's of the drinkin' sort." He put a hand comfortably on Wash's knee once he'd sat. "You feeling better?"

Wash bobbed his head. "I am. I ate a little, showered a lot, said hello to my ship." He glanced down at Mal's hand and then looked up at him. "Now I'm getting comfortable with my captain." He gave a crooked smile.

"This gorram party can now get started!" Jayne announced as his broad frame filled up the door to the crew quarters. "Ha, ha!" he laughed and held up a bottle of dark colored liquid in his hands. "Think we got time for a little celebration, Mal?" he asked gleefully. "'Cause I got hooch enough for a lot."

Mal just smiled at Jayne's obvious glee and lifted his mug approvingly. "Kaylee already passed out the mugs," he called.

River slipped into a seat diagonal to Simon and studied the goings-on carefully. "The stage is set for the play within a play," she murmured softly.

Simon looked to her curiously. "River?" he questioned.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and just smiled brightly at him. "It's nothing. It's fun." She beamed at Mal and Wash across from her and looked up when Jayne poured a stream of liquid into Simon's cup.

"Now, how come River ain't got herself a mug?" Jayne asked suddenly. "We ain't waterin' the pilots or somethin'?"

"Well, they do say that it isn't safe to drink and drive, you know," Wash piped up, grinning quite broadly.

"Hell with that," Jayne protested. "Kaylee, get th'girl a mug."

"River's only eighteen," Simon began, floundering.

"Hell, boy," Jayne cut him off. "I was drinking stuff harder'n'this when I was half her age." He bent and plucked the mug out of Simon's hand and pressed it into River's.

"Thank you," River said as she accepted the mug. She tilted her head obligingly and grinned merrily at Simon when Jayne moved past them to fill Wash and Mal's mugs. She took a drink and wrinkled her face up.

Simon laughed and put an arm around her casually. "I suppose if you must drink, tonight's the night to do it."

Kaylee gave Simon a new mug and then settled down with her own mug beside Wash. Jayne eventually sat down at the head of the table, opposite Simon.

"I'd only dare to hope we could have a reunion celebration like this," Kaylee crooned happily over her mug. Her eyes darted from Mal to Wash to Jayne.

River raised her glass quickly. "A toast to seeing things through!" she announced.

Everyone laughed for several seconds at her unexpected enthusiasm. Then Kaylee nodded, warming to the suggestion. "She ain't off her mark, y'know," she agreed. "Toastin' is good!" She lifted her mug up too. "T'seein' things through!"

The men all broke into smiles at her words and raised their mugs as well. After taking drinks from them, Wash raised his glass again almost immediately. "To Mal, for being an insane but lovable son of a bitch who doesn't know when to quit," he called happily. The rest cheered and drank. Wash turned to him, smiling. "I'm very grateful for that flaw, you know," he added privately.

Mal met his gaze with a deep, intense one. He was smiling softly like had been all night, but his eyes held a sort of resigned sadness in them that drew Wash in immediately. The cheers from the others seemed to fade away in that moment. Wash knew what the look was for and what it meant, but seeing it so plainly written on Mal's face pulled the air out of him.

Jayne was making another toast, but Wash didn't hear the words. He was only aware of Mal's hand as he took it off Wash's knee and raised it to touch his cheek. Mal's fingers were warm as they ghosted over his skin. Mal's eyes broke away from Wash's gaze for just a moment, and Wash knew it was because Mal was studying his lips.

Wash smiled easily, encouraging, and Mal's eyes lidded closed slightly as he leaned to take what they both knew was likely to be their very last kiss together. At the last second before contact, Mal's eyes flickered off from Wash, and he suddenly straightened up and pulled away.

"See you started the party without me," Zoe called as she came down the stairs.

Mal's hands dropped into his lap, sloshing a bit of alcohol as they fell. Wash swiftly turned away from him to take Zoe in.

She had washed and scrubbed probably twice as long as he had, and now her hair hung in soft, loose curls around her face and shoulders. Her skin glowed in the tawny light of the kitchen. She wore a casual red shirt and dark brown trousers along with her boots, but she seemed warmer and more welcoming than Wash remembered ever seeing her before.

Her eyes swept over the crew, but eventually they settled on Wash. She smirked almost playfully at the way his mouth was now hanging open.

Mal squeezed Wash's arm, and only that made him break his eye contact with Zoe. He turned back to look at Mal as Kaylee got up to get Zoe a mug. The sadness in Mal's eyes had vanished, and now he was all smiles and cheer. "Zoe and me spent a real long time talkin' this past week," he informed Wash in an easy voice.

Wash looked back to Zoe and watched her talk to Kaylee as she filled Zoe's mug. Mal's voice continued on in Wash's ear. "Think she's got some things she needs to say t'you," he quietly explained. Mal's hand squeezed Wash's arm again, then slipped onto his back and gently nudged him out of the chair. "Go to her," he encouraged.

Wash got to his feet uncertainly, clutching his mug. He looked back at Mal, expecting to see some hidden pain in his eyes. If there was any, it was too well veiled for him to make out. Zoe and Kaylee were expectantly looking at him now, so he had no choice but to start over.

Zoe studied Wash for several moments and then turned to Kaylee with a smile. "Give us a bit, will you?"

Kaylee nodded. "'Course! You two take your time," she said cheerfully and waved a bit. She smiled brightly to Wash and slipped around the two of them back to the table. She sat in Wash's vacated chair next to Mal and began animatedly asking for specifics on the breakout from the facility.

Jayne launched into a tirade about how he killed three federal officers before they blew out the main power supply and made it down to Wash.

Mal paid no attention. He was watching Zoe and Wash as they spoke together in low voices, smiling embarrassedly at one another like kids on their first date. Neither one of them glanced back at him as they turned away from the table and slipped out into the crew quarters.

Mal watched them as they walked away together and only turned his attention back to the others when he saw Wash sink down into the pilot's chair and Zoe lean against the console to face him.
--

Zoe's eyes were fixed on the mug of alcohol she had in her hands. She had a tender expression on her face, but it was creased slightly with concern. Wash sat patiently in the pilot's chair, waiting for her to find the right words to begin.

"Guess I owe you an apology," she began in a soft tone Wash had only ever heard her use when they were together in private. She tilted her head and her hair pooled over her shoulder, but she didn't look up. "Probably several."

Wash smiled warmly and reached out to touch her. He squeezed her arm and left his hand there. "You don't have to say anything. You know I understand."

The touch made her look up, and she met his eyes. Her expression clouded just a bit, and she shook her head. "No, you don't," she replied intently. Her shoulders squared a little as she drew herself up. "I screwed up. Ain't something I'm too proud to admit," she confessed. "I did a lot of wrong things these past few months." She nodded her head, admitting. "Plan to fix that."

Wash remained sitting, leaning forward on the chair, and left his hand on her arm. He wasn't going to force her to say anything, but he knew better than to try to silence her, either. She needed to tell him these things, even if he was beyond needing to hear them. He gave her an understanding smile and sat and listened intently.

"I had to have my reservations," she began. Her tone was soft again, and her eyes were on him fondly. She lifted one of her hands off her mug to fall over the hand he had on her arm. "Couldn't let myself believe too much that this could be real." She smiled sadly. "Thought it'd be easier t'act like I didn't care."

"That's why you avoided me," Wash supplied gently.

It was clear this was hard for her because she flinched at the statement. Then she nodded and accepted that. "It was harder to have you near but not to have you, than to not have you around at all." She pressed her lips together for a few seconds as she contemplated that sentence and then shook her head again. "Thought I could explain it all. Thought I'd be the one saying 'I told you so' t'Mal and the others later." Her gaze returned to him, and she drank in his face.

"Zoe," Wash began, but she shook her head and cut him off. She wasn't done.

"Seein' you and he together is what done it." She smiled at her own foolishness, a full smile that showed off her beautiful teeth and luminous eyes. "Ain't like me t'be jealous," she admitted, "but that did it. But why? I had to ask myself that." She bobbed her head a little, thoughtfully. "Figured folk don't get jealous over Alliance plants." She took her hand off Wash's and raised it to touch his face.

Wash's eyes fluttered closed as she did.

"Captain don't fall for men he can't trust, neither," she added. "Not like that." She took a deep breath and dropped her hand away. Wash opened his eyes to study her, and when she saw the look there, she smiled again. "By the time I figured it all out for myself, though, you'd already left. Thought maybe I was too late. Maybe you weren't gonna come back. Maybe you would come back and I'd've lost you anyway, to him." She nodded her head, conceding. "Man managed t'trust you when your own wife didn't. Couldn't blame you for that."

Wash shook his head, trying to deny that accusation, but he didn't say anything. He just tightened his hold on her arm and tried to say how much he loved her through the look in his eyes.

She seemed to read it, because she smiled more. "You went and got yourself captured," she mused, a little easier. She shifted on the console and set her mug down beside a dinosaur. When her other hand was free, she slid closer to him and touched his face again with one hand, letting the other rest on his hand on her arm.

"Knew right away I had to go in," she admitted. "Knew if I felt so strong that I had t'get you back, there was no way I could doubt that it was you." She nodded a little, mostly to herself. "Knew, too, that when I got you, you'd go to the captain." She gave a sad little crooked smile and took a moment to muse over that. "Think he knew, too."

She let her breath out slowly and lifted her head. Down the corridor, she could see into the kitchen just a bit and hear the voices of the rest of the crew, muffled and cheerful without them. She returned her gaze to Wash. "We talked, him and I." She shook her head. "We don't do that much, outside the job. Ain't much t'say that needs words, not after all these years." Her head nodded again. "But we talked 'bout you.

"And he knew," she explained. "The moment I opened my mouth, he knew. Thinkin' he almost did it just so I'd figure it out, too." She smiled brightly, and Wash knew that it was all right; the talking hadn't been a bad thing. Her face sobered again. "Told him I wasn't mad at him for anything. He did what needed to be done. I hadn't stepping up to fill the shoes that desperately needed fillin', so he did. Told him I was thankful for that." She gave Wash an intent look. "I am." She made the point clear. "Wouldn't've made it this far without him doing what he did."

Wash nodded in agreement, although he found the whole conversation slightly bizarre, all things considered. Her hand on him and her smile overwrote all the strangeness, and he kept listening.

Zoe's grin turned playful and she hesitated a bit, thinking on her next words. "We figured, you know," she began, shifting to lean in more, "to even the playing field, he and I ought to sleep together." Her grin broadened slowly as Wash's eyes widened.

"You didn't!" Wash breathed in disbelief.

Zoe's smile hung between them like a light for several moments before she demurely tilted her head to the side. "No, we didn't." She laughed softly at the look of relief that washed over his face, and in that instant, she leaned in and kissed him.

Whatever thoughts Wash might have been formulating on the subject fled immediately. He closed his eyes and soaked her in. He absorbed her smell and the way she felt against him. It was half newly discovered and half remembered memories, and he reveled in the sensations it sent coursing through his body. She pulled back after a few seconds and studied him. "There any way you're ever going to forgive me for this, dear?" she questioned, smiling.

Wash thought his own transgressions with other people pretty much made up for it, but he was never one to turn down playing along with to coy Zoe. "A little more kissing might help me decide," he answered once he found his voice.

Zoe laughed easily at him, a buoyant, light sound. Wash broke into an amazing grin and reached forward to pull her into his lap. He encircled his arms around her, and she met him halfway, kissing him again. It was deeper this time and full of far more meaning. She had lost a husband and just rediscovered him, and the kiss she gave him explained all that. Her arms wrapped to him, clinging in a possessive way that Wash knew was new.

He had lost a wife, too, and a year of his life. He'd gone through a hellish ordeal and somehow, against all the odds, he had come out on top. His kiss, as he squeezed her tightly, reflected that back into her.

"Wash, Wash, Wash," Zoe breathed into his ear once they pulled apart, as though to make sure he was real. She kissed the side of his face and then his ear. "Baby," she murmured and pulled back.

Wash was calmer than he thought he would be. Maybe he'd known since the first day he'd seen her again that this moment would come to pass. Maybe he just enjoyed being right and being fussed over by the woman he had pined on for months. Maybe it was just the fact that he had changed and grown stronger, but he just smiled contently as she kissed him and crooned over him, and he held her securely against him.

When her output of emotions subsided, she curled against him. He tucked her head under his chin and rested her against his shoulder. He leaned back in the chair, remembering many times before they'd assumed this position in the cockpit, but he couldn't remember it ever being this special. He stroked her hair softly, marveling in the texture of it and how he'd forgotten how it felt.

Zoe didn't sleep but instead listened to the beating of his heart as it thrummed evenly beneath the hand she pressed to his chest. It was strange but comforting sound, and she found the mystery around it quite intriguing. After several long minutes, she let out a soft sigh. "Think we'd better go back and join the others?"

Wash stretched his legs out beneath him and let his hand come to a still on the curve of her waist. "They all know 'bout this?" he asked softly.

"Mmm," she answered, her grin slowly creeping back onto her face. "They do."

Wash found he didn't really want to get up from the cozy situation he now found himself in, but he knew that it didn't make sense for them to just stay there. They needed to show the rest of the crew they were made up, at least. Maybe then, he hoped, Zoe would invite him down to her bunk.

"Let's go face the crowd," he agreed and shifted to adjust Zoe on his lap.

She unfurled from him and got back to her feet. One of her hands crossed to hold her opposite arm and, for just a moment, she appeared small and somewhat insecure. Wash got to his feet immediately and wrapped one of his arms around her waist.

She smiled and leaned into him as her easy, old demeanor effortlessly slipped back into place. "Think I could get used to this again," she teased.

With a very cheerful, wicked grin, Wash dropped his hand and gave her a loving pop on the rump. She laughed, surprised, and pulled away from him. "Think I could, too!" he called jovially.

She spun back to face him and put her hands out on either side of his head. She pulled him in by his ears to kiss him again. It was a slow, easy kiss, and she kept her eyes open, studying his reactions. He put his hands on her hips and just grinned back when she broke the kiss. "We got a lot of time to make up for, husband," she observed after they'd studied one another awhile.

"Weren't we going to see the others?" he asked happily without pulling away from her. "Put in an appearance or something?"

"Yeah," she drawled and nodded. She pulled away from him and studied him for several seconds before nodding. "A short one." She hesitated for several seconds, steeling herself to reenter the galley with Wash at her side. "I'm ready," she announced.

Wash had never seen Zoe hesitate over something like this before. It took a moment for him to realize that, of course, she had changed just as much as he had. He smiled brightly at her and slipped his arm around her waist. "Not like you'll be going out there alone," he pointed out and started walking.

Zoe nodded and smiled and moved to fall into step beside him, letting her own arm snake around his back. Perhaps it was a little strange to fall so quickly and so completely back into place with each other, but Wash didn't think much of it. It was a place he'd never really left, and he felt that Zoe hadn't, either. A wall had just been erected between them, and that had been all that separated them. Now that it had come down, it was just like two drops of water joining together again.

They reached the bottom of the stairs together and began crossing through the crew quarter corridor. Zoe leaned into him easily as they progressed, looking at the people seated at the table through the doorway before them. Mal had already noticed them approaching and was smiling slightly at the sight.

"What're we going to do 'bout Mal?" Zoe questioned softly into Wash's ear.

He let his mouth slide into a very content smirk as he took in the laughing table of people before them. He really didn't know anything at that moment beside the fact that he was happy and all was right with the world. "We'll think of something," he mused blissfully. He had all the time in the universe to think about that now.

They stepped into the light at the top of the stairwell to the kitchen, and all the eyes at the table drew to them. There wasn't a single person who wasn't smiling brightly at the sight of Wash and Zoe with their arms around each other.

They stood there for a moment grinning down at everyone, and then Wash nudged Zoe playfully to walk down the steps together. Wash pulled out a chair for Zoe, and she took a seat. He pulled out the other chair and settled beside her, opposite Mal and Kaylee.

After a few seconds of silence, Jayne cleared his voice and forced the smile off his face. "I still don't get what she sees in 'im," he teased off-handedly, but the comment was mostly directed as an aside to Simon. Kaylee guffawed and reached across to smack Jayne playfully.

Wash looked across the table and found Mal smiling at the both of them. Their eyes connected. Wash's smile deepened, warm and full of love and caring for Mal. He could see Mal's own smile strengthening in return.

Mal put his hands on the table and nodded, pleased. "Everything's back t'how it ought t'be," he stated, contently. His gaze pulled off Wash and traveled languidly around the table, taking in the faces of each member of his crew. They all were smiling and nodding, projecting love for each other and shining in a way he had never seen before.

The kitchen glowed warm and welcoming. Serenity thrummed a melody that wrapped all of them together, sinking the love deep into their very bones. The universe sang all around them, encompassing each of them in its vastness. The last pieces of the puzzle had finally been returned to their proper places. The stars in the black seemed to acknowledge the homecoming, and they sang out with love and peace and light because of it.

"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." – The Beatles

The End.