Our most intimate moment wasn't in the bedroom. It was eight years since the Alliance had taken the one thing I treasured away from me. I hadn't spoken to anyone. I had gotten up before Wash and went to the cargo bay. The room may be large, but I could hide there. I sat behind a crate and thought about my mother.
As the tears fell from my eyes, I felt arms scoop me into someone's lap. I looked up at Wash as he held me to him. He rocked me gently as I sobbed into his chest.
We stayed that way for a long time, him holding me, letting me get my grief out. He continued to hold me long after my tears had dried. He had seen me without my clothes before but at that moment I was completely naked to him. All my emotions were out in the open, the mask of the warrior woman thrown aside, leaving the grieving daughter for all the world to see. He kissed the side of my head.
"Who was it, bao bei?"
"My mother," I said quietly. I curled up into a ball in his lap, making myself as small as possible. There was nothing to hide from him any longer.
Wash began to hum. With my ear pressed against his chest, I listened to the vibrations. Then I started to sing softly along, honoring my mother. I pulled back and looked into his eyes as I sang and I knew in that moment that I would marry this man.
"I once was lost, but now am found..."