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Okay, I originally was only going to make this a one-shot but I was having too much fun with it. I might add one or two more chapters and they'll probably be a whole lot longer just like Myth87 asked for.
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It's the sound of Jayne yelling, "I done asked you a question, girlie! What in tha hell did ya mean?!" that pulls Zoë out of her sorrowful thoughts.
"The Omega dog is the lowest of the low, the most abused, and least important! Simon is the Omega dog!" River squeals in excitement as she runs away from the grinning merc.
"Damn straight he is!" Jayne replies, standing just a tad straighter before crouching and beginning to chase the reader through the cargo bay and around the crates, feral, preditory smirk in place.
Zoë can just hear Wash say, "Well, thank Buddha it's not me anymore.". He would have winked at her if he were here. River must have caught that thought as she pauses, for just a second, to wink and grin in the ex-soldiers direction before returning to her game.
The first mate watches in amusement as the two most dangerous people on the ship play like children, giggling and grinning. She can almost feel her dead husband standing next to her as she imagines what he'd think of this little scene.
"Aw, honey, can I go play with the kids too? Can I? Can I, please?"
River faints right before going left around a large crate and Jayne, stupidly, falls for it. They are both breathing hard and laughing as the little girl leads the large man on one more lap around the bay before sprinting towards the infirmary.
"Do you think our kid will be more like River or Jayne? I can handle River. She's weird and cute, but I don't think I could do mean and ugly."
Zoë rubs the rapidly growing protrusion of her belly as she smiles. "I think he'll be just like his papa." she says to the now empty cargo bay.