Chapter 3

A few minutes later, after Rose had settled her few possessions in the small, stark cabin, Kaylee caught her arm and wandered them through the ship, introducing Rose to the rest of the crew as they poked through all the rooms. The ship was surprisingly spacious for its size, from the engine room that Kaylee showed off with obvious pride to the long corridor that held the crew's bunks. Up on the bridge they found the pilot and his wife canoodling, and Rose was surprised and pleased to see that Zoe-the-second-in-command was the same woman who had helped her earlier in the marketplace. She just nodded as Rose thanked her again, and Kaylee and Rose finished the tour with the galley, a charming yellow room painted with faded vines.

Kaylee grinned at the grey-haired black man that was cobbling together a supper of protein packets and miscellaneous vegetables. "This here's Shepherd Book, and a finer Shepherd you never could find." She winked at Rose. "He's also one of the few people on board that knows how to cook, so make sure you get along with him."

"I'm sure that won't be a problem, Kaylee." The Shepherd smiled at her, and Rose couldn't help but smile back—something about the man put her instinctively at ease.

"Rose Tyler, Shepherd. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Same here, Miss Tyler. We don't often have a chance to find new travelers, so I look forward to getting to know you."

Kaylee peeked into the simmering pot on the stove. "Anything we can help with, Shepherd?"

"I'm almost done, Kaylee." He stirred the stew carefully and reached for a small packet of dried herbs.

A thump sounded at the doorway, and Rose turned to see a handsome, posh-looking young man standing there, gripping his thigh unhappily. Kaylee made a noise of protest and hurried over, helping him to the dinner table. "Now, you know you should be off that leg, Simon. Wanderin' about ain't much good for bullet wounds."

Rose blinked. "Bullet wounds?"

They turned to look at her guiltily, and Kaylee smiled nervously. "Bit of a misfire, that's all. Nothin' to be worried about, really." She clapped her hands together. "Oh, you two haven't been introduced yet! Simon, this is Rose Tyler, our new passenger. Rose, this is Simon. He's the ship's doctor, and a right good one at that. He was even trained on Ariel an' everything!"

Simon's eyes widened, and his smile froze. Kaylee frowned in confusion before her own eyes flew wide, and she hurried away to help the Shepherd with the meal. Simon gulped nervously and began speaking, his words rushing together. "Kaylee's exaggerating a bit—I wasn't on Ariel for long, just for a school trip. There's nothing like being out here, travelling the stars."

Rose cocked an eyebrow, but smiled comfortingly. "Yeah, I agree. Haven't been to Ariel yet myself, but I hear it's a sight worth seein'."

He seemed to relax a little at that, and winced as his leg bumped into a chair as he sat down. "Oh? Where are you from, then?"

"Long ways away." Kaylee came back to the table, toting the steaming stewpot, and Rose stepped back to give her space as the mechanic sat down next to the young man. Rose bit her lip as she began setting the table, half in amusement and half in sympathy for the other girl.

Only a flashing neon sign could've made it more obvious that she fancied the bloke, but this Simon Tam seemed to have oblivious down to an art form. Rose bit down a groan. Lord, was that what it looked like to everyone around the Doctor and me? For a moment doubt swamped her, but the memory of his smile—the soft smile that he only ever gifted her with—and the way his hand always reached out to her, as much instinct as breathing, calmed her mind.

A voice broke through her thoughts, and she jumped before blushing a little. Torchwood she may have been, hardened she was not. The Shepherd chuckled at her, watching her curiously.

"You alright there, Miss Tyler? You seemed a million miles away." She smiled at him as she resumed her chore of setting the crowded and battered table.

"Please, just Rose is fine. An' yeah, I'm fine—just caught in a memory, I guess."

Book raised a graying eyebrow at her. "You seem awfully young to be reminiscing that hard."

A grin tilted the corners of her mouth. "Well, age is really just a matter of experiences lived, isn't it?"

Book smiled back at her. "Truer words were never spoken. I've met many a man or woman who was far too young for their age." He sighed and glanced up the corridor towards the bridge, where the sounds of Captain Reynolds and Zoe discussing their flight plan could be heard. "And I've met a good many who were too old for their age, as well."

Rose nodded absently in agreement, her mind on all those she'd known who had been scarred by war. The Doctor, a pacifist and explorer who was always dragged into the center of conflict. Mickey, once her sweet, bumbling best friend, who had become a hardened elder Torchwood operative. Jack, smiling and flirting until the Daleks arrived. Nothing had brought home how hopeless Satellite Five was like Jack saying goodbye with a desperate sweetness.

"You've been travelling a while, haven't you?" Book watched her consideringly. "You seem to be more comfortable on a ship than most new passengers."

"A while, yeah. My friend and I, we used to travel all the time—now I can't really think of living another way. Staying in one place... it just doesn't work for me anymore."

The Shepherd looked at her in a way that left her feeling curiously exposed. "Don't you think it depends on where you are, and who you're with?"

Remembering a doomed planet orbiting a black hole, Rose's mouth twisted. "I used to think that. Now I know better."

"Really." Book raised his eyebrows inquiringly, obviously hoping to hear more of the story.

Rose smiled at him. "Maybe later. For now, dinner—anything else I can do to help?"

He grinned a little and nodded as he accepted her topic change. "Well, the nutrient loaf needs to be distributed, and the protein soup will be ladled up when the crew gets here."

A few minutes later, Rose stared at the brown rectangle that the Shepherd was slicing carefully and watched as the crew members attempted appreciation for the greyish sludge that Kaylee was dishing up. Whatever the Doctor came to this time for, it definitely wasn't the food.

Kaylee plopped down next to her, a wide smile on her face that even the dubious scents wafting from the bowls couldn't dim. "Well, eat up! It don't look like much, but it'll keep your stomach happy."

Rose grinned back at her, tongue peeping from behind her teeth. "So I guess my taste buds are a lost cause?"

Wash snorted and started to cough, his wife slapping his back hard enough to make him wince. Rose grimaced in sympathy—the soup was bad enough going down the normal way, never mind coming back up.

The Captain grinned at her, the first real smile she'd seen from him. "What're those taste buds you're talking about? I don't think we have 'em out here in the Black. Luxury product, those."

Rose sat back as she ate her dinner, happy to watch a crew that obviously got along. The sort of camaraderie the Serenity crew shared was rare, and it was something she missed with an almost physical ache. That ease with other people, the trust and comfort to rib each other—she hadn't had that in a long time.

She'd had that with Mickey once, but her time with the Doctor had changed her in too many ways to go back to the easy relationship they'd once shared. Her mum had always loved her, she knew, but Rose's change put an insurmountable tension between them. Rose couldn't really blame her. It wasn't every day that you find out your daughter's basically an alien. She and Pete had gotten along well enough, but he'd never really been comfortable around her after running away when he first found out who, exactly, she was.

She'd tried to make a life for herself, she really had, but she didn't belong there, no matter what her mum and Mickey wished for. They'd slipped into perfect slots for themselves. She'd replaced a dog. (She'd never really forgiven the Doctor for laughing about that—she'd hated that dog. Yappy little mongrel. She and Jackie cracked open some bubbly when the neighbors ran over it.)

After she'd discovered her own immortality, even her relationships with Mickey and her mum went south. They'd still loved her, she knew, but they would never be completely at ease around her again. Sometimes their resentment was clear as day. The Doctor had come into their lives and shaken things up, but Rose kept shaking 'em. The normal, comfortable lives Mickey and Jackie lived were never the same again, just because they loved her.

She missed the Doctor with a fierceness that never really went away, not only because she was (madly, desperately) in love with him, but because he was her best friend. She'd been free to be herself around the Doctor in a way that she'd never really had with anyone else. Jackie had depended on her as much as she mothered her, and Mickey had wanted her to be some sort of female version of himself. With the Doctor, she had found somebody who was happy to fly away from the ordinary, who didn't think that security was the most important thing in life.

Remembering Cassandra, she smiled to herself. So other people thought she was the epitome of common, just some overly made-up shop girl from the Estates, no education and no future. Here she was, travelling the stars five hundred years from when she was born. And yet the people surrounding her could be anyone she'd met on her travels. Jayne especially seemed to be a match for early Earth evolution. Hmm... I should check and see if he's a stranded Neanderthal.

"Dessert!" Kaylee's cry woke Rose from her mental wanderings, and she watched in bemusement as the crew crowded appreciatively around the small crate of apricots she'd brought from the marketplace. Well, okay, not everything's the same.