Chapter 2

She hadn't heard him. She was too busy trying to figure out in her head how Mal was standing in front of her, alive and breathing. It wasn't possible.

He looked just as confused as her. They both realized at the same moment that they had guns trained on each other. They relaxed their hands, fingers off the triggers, guns pointed down now. Everyone there noticed how they did this at the exact same moment, in the exact same way.

Lia spoke first. "I thought you were dead." Her voice was serious, quiet, and slightly incredulous at the same time.

"I thought you were dead," Mal responded, just as confused. There was a beat before Mal stepped forward and pulled Lia into a warm embrace.

The crew of Serenity was obviously confused. They had never seen the captain act like this. They couldn't explain it. But the words that came out of his mouth with this mysterious woman in his arms made everything clear.

"Mei-mei. I thought I'd lost you forever." He pulled back, a tear in his eye. "Is Momma—"

She shook her head, unable to find the words. There was so much to say, so much to share. He put his arm around her and turned her towards his crew, a happy smile on his face.

"Everyone, this is my sister, Ophelia." The woman named Kaylee covered her mouth in surprise. The gruff looking man looked very confused. Zo' smiled a little more that Lia had seen her do before. A polished looking man who had come in looked from her to the captain and back again, clearly shocked by this revelation.

Mal introduced her to everyone in turn. Kaylee turned out to be the ship's mechanic. The polished man was the doctor, Simon, for whom Kaylee clearly had an attraction. Lia could tell it was reciprocated. The gruff man was Jayne Cobb. Not much else was said about him. Then Mal introduced the woman she knew as Zo'.

"And this here is my second-in-command, Zoë Washburne. Fought with me in the war."

It took a second to register in Lia's brain. Washburne. But Mal was still talking.

"You'll meet River and Inara later. But that's the crew of Serenity." He smiled at her again as she was lost in her thoughts.

Washburne. Serenity. This was Wash's home. She had just shook hands with the wife she had heard so much about. It was all so unreal. But she put her brave face on as Xavier, Nick, and David went to leave. She let Mal lead her off for a tour. This was going to be interesting.

"And here is the galley. Since you're the cook now," Mal said, turning towards her, smiling more, "I should let you know that we usually take dinner together. Everyone fends for themselves for the other meals. If you feel the need to change that, be my guest."

Lia laughed. "You just want me to start cooking now, don't you?" she teased. Mal nodded eagerly and pointed through the kitchen and down a passage.

"Down there is the engine room." She followed his gaze and saw Kaylee tinkering with something, Mal turned her around and led her up a few steps and into a darkened hallway. "These are the crew quarters. We're fixing up this bunk for you right now." He rested his hand on the door down to it. "Belonged to our old pilot, long time ago, before—" At this he saddened for a moment, trialing off, but before Lia could say anything, he started up a flight of stairs. "And this here is the bridge."

Lia saw a dark haired girl curled up in the pilot's seat. She turned towards Lia, saying quietly, to no one in particular, "She in the shadows again. The dead sleep in the bed." This startled Lia, but Mal just chuckled.

"This is River Tam, Simon's sister. She's our pilot, ain't you, little albatross?"

The girl turned to look up at Mal. "He's come back. They missed him, say I'm not the same as him." She indicated the dinosaurs that were placed in the dashboard. Mal's eyes saddened again.

Lia had never seen him get so sad. This was not the brother she had grown up with. He had changed. They both had. They had seen too much, fought their own wars. She placed her hand on his arm and he turned to her and she had to resist the urge to hug him again. He looked like he had lost his best friend, and she realized he had. She wasn't sure if it was Wash or the way Zoë was when Wash was there that he missed more.

"Mal, we need to talk." The 'alone' was implied.

River inclined her head. "She comes bearing gifts to make us whole again." Her eyes turned to Lia.

Mal didn't seem to hear River. He just nodded to Lia and led her down to his own bunk. She climbed down first and couldn't help but smile. The room was all Mal. Maybe he hadn't changed that much.

He came down the ladder. He pulled out a chair from his desk and sat down, indicating that she could sit on the bed, which she did gratefully, pulling her legs up to rest her chin on them. They sat saying nothing for a moment. Neither knew where to begin.

Lia took a deep breath. "Mal, I have something to tell you. I just don't know how to say it."

He looked at her. "You have seven children and a dog." He had always teased her about that because when she was seven, she told their mother that's what she wanted for Christmas. She got the dog.

Now it was her turn to be sad. "No," she said quietly. Mal was next to her in an instant and suddenly it was back to a time when she had her heart broken by some boy or another and he put his arm around her, comforting her, trying to make her smile by threatening the boy in question's life.

"What's wrong, mei mei?"

She felt the tears. "He's gone. My husband is gone and it's all my fault." She leaned against him and let them fall. "And he never knew."

He rocked her gently. "How is it your fault?"

Her tears turned angry. "It was my plan that got him killed. My stupid plan to stick it to the Alliance again." She knew he didn't understand what she was talking about. So she sat up and wiped her eyes, looking at him, and she started to explain how she had come home to find her husband crying and how she needed desperately to fix it.

"So he and I made it out. Alex didn't."

Mal nodded. He was furious at the Alliance for hurting his sister and added it to the long list of things the Alliance had done to piss him off.

"So that man in the passenger dorms is the man you rescued?"

She nodded. "That's what I need to tell you, Mal. Who he is." Mal looked confused again and it was clear this wasn't going to be easy. "That man down there is Hoban Washburne. It's Wash."

Mal stared at her like she was crazy. She sighed. He didn't believe her.

"That's not funny, Lia."

"I'm not kidding. He told me about this ship. About Zoë. About the crew, his family. He told me that this was his home."

Mal stood up, angry now. "That's not possible. I – I watched him die. I had to pull Zoë away from him. Wash is dead, Lia. Ain't nothing in the 'verse to bring him back."

Now it was her turn to be angry. "Didn't I just explain about my husband's work? About the Alliance's secret project?" She placed her hands on her hips, a fire in her eyes, and for a second Mal could have sworn it was his mother standing in front on him. But he didn't back down. "You believed me before I told you Wash was alive. What changed?"

"The fact that I had to bury him and Book and Mr. Universe on Haven. The fact that I went to his funeral. The fact that I was the one to pull the harpoon out of his chest because Zoë couldn't because she was crying too hard." He looked like he was about ready to cry himself.

Lia looked at him. This had affected him deeply. He blamed himself. "Come on, Mal. How would I know about his name? How would I know about Zoë? She searched her brain, trying to remember something Wash had told her that would convince him she was telling the truth. "What about that time you and he were kidnapped by that man? Oh, what was his name?" She paused for a moment. "Niska. That's it. You and he were kidnapped by Niska and you kept him from breaking by talking about Zoë."

His eyes widened. "How do you –"

"Because he told me." She smiled softly. "It's him, Mal. I just didn't realize Xavier had found his ship." She didn't know. She figured it was some great cosmic coincidence. "He's hurting, Mal. He needed to come back here."

Mal seemed to regain himself. "Then how did he get past Zoë without her noticing?"

"Didn't Xavier tell you he'd be disguised? The serum should wear off in about twenty-four hours, unless I give him the antiserum sooner." She looked up into her big brother's eyes. "It's him, Mal, sure as I'm sitting her before you."

He sat back on the bed, clearly still trying to work it all out in his head. After a moment, "Don't tell anyone else. Not yet."

She nodded. "Need to prove it to yourself first?" He nodded. "I understand, Mal. I do."

There was a knock at his door and it opened. She heard Zoë's voice. "Inara's back, sir. We headed out of here?"

"Yeah, Zoë. Have River take us out of the world." He turned to Lia. "Come on you. I think you need to unpack. When will our patient wake up?"

"Couple of hours. He's heavily sedated and wasn't too happy about it either."

Mal smiled as if to say 'Yep, that's Wash.' He caught himself before saying it out loud.

Lia headed to the cargo bay to get the crate Xavier had been carrying after checking on the sleeping Wash. She lifted it up and heard grunting. She peered over the top and saw Jayne doing pull ups. She walked past him.

"Need help?" he asked, not stopping.

She turned back. "Nope, I'm good." At that exact moment, they broke atmo and the ship shook, causing her to lose her grip. Fortunately, Jayne reacted quickly and grabbed the other side. She smiled sheepishly. "Thanks."

He took the box from her. "Headed to your bunk?"

"Kitchen actually. Gonna make dinner." Jayne smiled at the thought of food and she had to suppress laughter as he led her out of the bay and up to the galley. He sat the box down on the counter and looked at her eagerly.

"So, what's for dinner?"

"It's a surprise." He looked disappointed and she laughed out loud this time. "I promise you'll like it, Jayne." She didn't see the brief look that flitted across his face as she said his name. He headed back down to the cargo bay as she opened the lockers, surveying what they had and shaking her head.

About an hour later, the crate was unpacked and sitting in a corner and dinner was starting to smell good. Lia smiled as she checked it again. She moved to set the table as Zoë came in.

"Let me. It's my turn." Zoë took the plates from her and placed them around the table. "Cap'n tells me you lsot your husband. I'm sorry."

Lia looked up and met the other woman's eyes, surprised for a moment that Mal had shared this with her. Then she realized that she was going through the same thing, that Zoë would understand. "Thank you."

"I've been there. Lost mine about seven months ago." The sadness in the room engulfed them both as they shared their ghosts. "Never really had anyone to talk to about it."

Lia nodded, stirring a pot of carrots. It was left unsaid that she could talk to her about it. Lia was mildly surprised that this was Wash's stoic warrior woman. She had obviously changed. She watched Zoë pull napkins out of a drawer.

"So, Mal never told me he had a sister." She stood by the table, folding them. "Actually, he didn't really talk to much about his home before Shadow was razed."

Lia nodded. "Mal tends to be private." She shrugged. "Guess it's his way. He tries to seem like the bad ass but he's noble at heart." Zoë nodded. Lia smiled to herself. "There was this one time, when we were kids. He and his friends were running around the yard, playing cops and robbers. I wanted to play too, so I ran over to them and asked. All the boys said no, even Mal. As I was walking away, I heard one of them call me a stupid, good-for-nothing female, although a little more colorfully than that. Then I heard someone get punched. I turned around and there was Mal, wrestling this kid, 'bout twice his size for insulting me. Needless to say Mal wound up with a black eye and about six stitches in his lip, but that kid never bothered me again." She was laughing at the memory and Zoë was too.

"Sounds like the captain. This one time, on Persephone, Mal punched a guy in the face for insulting Inara. This meant he had challenged him to a fight. With swords!"

"No!" Lia gasped. Soon, she and Zoë were laughing hard as they bonded over their stories about Mal.

"What is so funny?" Mal asked as he walked in a short while later to see his first mate and his little sister laughing like a bunch of gossipy school girls.

Lia looked up from putting the freshly mashed potatoes in a bowl. "Nothing." She laughed again as she put the bowl on the counter, indicating that Mal should carry it over to the table. He took it and looked at her curiously.

Zoë walked around the counter carrying a bowl of carrots. "Nothing at all." The two women shared a look and Zoë snickered.

'Oh, no,' Mal thought. 'This can't be good.'

The smells of breaded chicken and freshly baked bread lured the rest of the crew to the mess.

"What smells so good?" Kaylee asked as she came in, wiping her hands on her jumpsuit. She smiled at the sight of the food as it made its way to the table. "Need any help?"

"No," Lia answered, carrying the platter of chicken. "Why don't you go---" She was about to say get the others as Jayne walked in from the engine room side of the galley with Simon trialing behind him and River glided in from the bridge. Lia spooned some potatoes and carrots on to a plate and placed a piece of chicken and a hunk of bread aside for Wash. Something told her that there would be no leftovers.

Then an incredibly graceful and breathtaking woman entered the galley. Mal seemed to brighten a little as she came over to the table, her violet dress flowing behind her.

"Inara!" Kaylee cried, hugging her.

"Hello, Kaylee." Inara smiled at her. "Been keeping out of trouble?" Kaylee looked at Simon and they both blushed slightly. Clearly the answer was no as Inara laughed quietly to herself.

Lia was carrying the bread over to the table as everyone sat down. Mal remembered he had one more introduction to make.

"Inara, I would like you to meet my little sister, Lia." Inara was clearly surprised to meet her. "Lia, Inara Serra. Inara is a Companion." Clearly, Mal had no respect for her job. There was a tension between the two of them.

Lia put down the bread and held out her hand. "It's very nice to meet you." She smiled warmly and the other woman returned the gesture.

"And you as well."

"Well," Mal said, rubbing his hands together. "Let's eat."

Dinner was an interesting affair. Stories were shared and the crew got to know Lia better. Much to his disappointment, the crew got to know Mal better through Lia's stories. He suddenly realized why she had been laughing with Zoë before. But he was glad to see his first mate smiling again.

After dinner, Jayne cleaned up and Lia brought the plate down to Wash. He was still sleeping and she checked his vitals. He was doing fine. She sat down in a chair and looked over the scans she had taken before boarding Serenity. It looked like they had reconstructed his heart, half of his lung, repaired the cartilage in his chest. The repairs were extensive.

She heard Wash moving and looked up to see him open his eyes. He looked around, confused. "What—where—" He turned and saw Lia. "We on a ship?"

Lia swallowed and nodded. "Yes." She stood up and walked over to the bed, sitting on the edge. "Wash, there's something I have to tell you."

But before she could there was a knock at the door. She turned as Mal stepped into the room. Wash's eyes went wide. "Mal?"