Chapter 3:

Detective Beckett and Mal had been working on a murder case. Someone had shot three women, leaving their bodies in public areas. They had been following leads for the past few days, and finally narrowed it down to Harold Ferguson, a local barista at a coffee place that each of the women had been discovered to frequent. They finally caught on to Ferguson, and followed him in his car. Kate grew suspicious when Ferguson stopped at a warehouse. She barely heard Mal's derision of such a cliché place to end up. She got out of the car, telling Mal to stay put. She held out her gun, cautiously stepping forward toward the abandoned warehouse's entrance. She scanned the area, but saw nothing. She lowered her gun, frowning. She turned back to the doors, but her path was blocked. Ferguson stood in front of her, using Mal as a hostage.

"Ferguson," said Kate Beckett, raising her gun again. "Just put the gun down. You don't have to do this."

Ferguson laughed, digging his revolver deeper into Mal's back. "What?" he said. "So you're just going to let me walk straight out of here?"

"No," she said. "But if you give yourself up, we can see about cutting a deal with the DA."

"I'm not going to prison," he said. "Put your gun down, detective, or he's dead."

Mal stood with his arm twisted behind his back, and with the gun pressing into his spine. He mentally chided himself for getting out of the car, for not listening to Kate. But since when did he willingly allow someone he cared about to walk straight into a dangerous situation without backup? That was his problem- he got too close to the situation, didn't hear Ferguson sneaking up behind him. He had lost his touch after years of leading a respectable life.

Mal soon became busy contemplating a way to free himself from Feguson's grasp, to knock him out, to steal his gun, and to let Kate arrest him- but the window of opportunity had not yet opened. He wished he had a gun of his own again, but the department wouldn't let him have one for fear of a liability. Well, here was their liability. He looked at Kate, hoping she had his back.

Kate frowned, and slowly lowered her gun to the floor. "Okay," she said.

"Good," Ferguson said. "Now, why don't we-"

He never got to finish his sentence. Mal felt the man's grasp loosen as his body fell heavily to the ground. Mal turned to see a bullet wound in the man's skull. Kate ran to join him.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said. "I'm fine. But where'd that shot come from?"

"That would be this rifle, Sir," said a mysteriously familiar woman's voice.

Mal turned, and his face went pale. Zoe Washburne marched up to him, nonchalantly carrying a still smoking rifle over her shoulder. Next to her walked Jayne Cobb, his beloved Vera pointed forward.

"Zoe!" said Mal, in absolute shock. He paused for a moment. "What year is this?"

"Good to see you, too, Sir," she said.

"Oh, ain't that nice," said Jayne. "Come all this way and don't even get a hello."

As perplexed as Mal was by his old friends' presense, he was nowhere near as confused as Kate. "Who are you people?" she asked. "Castle, do you know these guys?"

"Can you just give us a second please?" he said to her.

Kate eyed him for a moment before saying, "Fine. But I want to bring them in for questioning later." She gave the two strangers a look as she passed them to stand outside the warehouse.

"What are you two doing here?" Mal asked once Kate was out of range.

"Just following your orders, Sir," said Zoe

"I don't recall giving any lately," said Mal.

"You ever get captured, I should take over the ship, then come and rescue you."

"Well, you took your ruttin' time to find me," a tinge of annoyance in his voice.

"Gorram it, Cap'n," said Jayne. "Do you know how long it took us to get to you? Hell, if Inara hadn't-"

"Inara?" interrupted Mal.

"She used her ties with her Alliance-friendly clientele," Jayne said, a hint of a smirk on his face. "It took her years to find out what really happened to you. It wasn't exactly easy gettin' to ya, you know."

"And all the time I've been here," said Mal, anger slowly flaring up. "I've made a new life for myself. I'm happy... I have a daughter now."

"Daughter?" asked Zoe.

"Her name is Alexis."

"Wouldn't think you'd get married after the last time, Sir."

"It's been my experience," said Mal. "That not every woman is a lying, thieving whore. And I'm pretty sure she even told me her real name." Zoe just looked at him. "Anyway, we got divorced. Just didn't work out. But I can't do this to Alexis. I can't turn her whole world upside down like the Alliance did to me. It wouldn't be fair."

"The Alliance changed things for everyone," said Zoe. "Not just you."

"It's not the same," said Mal. "I've changed... in a different way then the war changed me."

Zoe remained silent, but she gave Mal a look that spoke volumes.

"Dammit," he said, flinging his hands in the air for emphasis, and taking a few steps back. "What do you guys want from me?"

"We want you to come back to Serenity, where you belong," Zoe said, not missing a beat.

Mal, mentally exhausted, rubbed his hands down his face. He looked up at his former crew. "I've missed you all more than anything."

"So let's get a move on back to the ship," said Jayne, starting to move.

"It's not as simple as that," said Mal.

"Sir," said Zoe. "I was standing right beside you that time with the train heist. I remember what you said. Returning stolen medicine to sick peasants wasn't a hard decision to make. This is, and I thought you'd be better than that. I reckon I don't know you as well as I thought I did."

"I reckon you don't," he said.

"So I guess this is it," said Zoe, not showing any signs of hurt. But Mal knew how to read her.

"Zoe, I'm sorry. I just... I'm doing good here."

"You were doing good back home, too. Lot of people still need you. They need a hero."

"You all are hero enough without me," he said.

"I've always counted on you to have my back, Sir," said Zoe.

"You know I do," said Mal, desperation in his voice.

"But now you have other priorities," she said.

"So you never chose Wash over me?" He regreted those words before he even finished saying them.

Zoe gave him a deadly stare. Even Jayne shook his head at him. "Goodbye, Sir," she said. "Sorry to bother you."

She turned, and Jayne followed her as she began to walk away.

"Zoe," Mal called out after her. "I don't need you to carry me."

Zoe stopped, but didn't turn. "No, Sir. You're still running."

Mal watched as they left. He had spent so many years wishing to see them again. After a while, he had lost hope. He built a new life, a good, respectable life. He had friends and a family. Seeing the faces of his crew again brought all of his old pain to the surface. His mended scars became reopened with the idea that they had been searching for him all this time. But he couldn't go with them. He was a man with obligations, with new priorities, and he couldn't let those people down as well.

Zoe and Jayne marched past Kate Beckett. She tried to get them to stop, ask them some questions, but they just kept walking. Kate turned her head to look back into the warehouse. She saw Castle wearing a solemn expression as he stared straight ahead at his disappearing friends. When she turned back to look at the two figures, she was surprised to find that they had completely vanished from sight. She went into the middle of the street, peering down the road, but there was no trace of them. She walked back to Castle. "Okay," she said. "You going to tell me what that was all about?"

"No," he said.

"Castle..."

"I'll tell you when you tell me about your mother," he said. He knew it was a low blow, but he really didn't want to talk about it.

"Fine," she said, walking outside to find her car. Mal found himself alone, in every sense of the word.