Author's Note: just for the record, the title of this chapter is a play on the title of Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost.

Finally. Finally, Serenity was about to slip the confines of the planet Persephone and return to where she belonged – navigating the great blackness of outer space.

They were only taking off a day late, which Mal Reynolds continued to tell himself was a lot better than it could have been. Nonetheless, the fact that Kaylee had decided, on a whim, to strip down, clean, and rebuild the engine kind of stuck in his craw.

She hadn't notified him. Oh, no. He'd come back to the ship one day and walked into the engine room to find the engine disassembled all over the deck, and Kaylee, dressed in what seemed like next-to-nothing, on her back under the engine chassis, wiping down each part of the transmission with oil.

"What in the unholy blazes of all the blue hell is goin' on here, young Miss Frye?!" he'd demanded, dropping down to a knee so he could look under the transmission and look her in the eye. "I said I wanted to leave tomorrow, not set up a homestead!"

She slid out from under the chassis and looked straight back at him. "Captain, I found a guy who was sellin' enough brand new K64 parts to half-rebuild the engine. You think I was gonna pass that up?"

Mal cocked his head to the side. "And exactly where'd you get the kind of cash you'd need to buy enough parts to make the engine all shiny again?"

Kaylee looked like she didn't want to say, and mumbled something too soft for Mal to hear. "Sorry, darlin', I didn't catch that. You wanna run that by me again?"

She sighed. "It was Logan Echolls," she told him. "He gave me the cash I needed to buy the parts."

"Is that so," Mal said, standing up. "Well, Kaywinnit Lee, you best get my ship put back together. You don't sleep, you don't go off-board, until that engine is ready to blow a hole in space. You got me?"

She had already slid back under the engine compartment. "Shiny, Captain," he heard her grumble from underneath the chassis.

Mal's next stop had been Logan Echolls' quarters – the Shepherd's old quarters, in fact, and that was how Mal still thought of them. He knocked on the door, and then slid it open without being bidden to enter.

"Mr. Echolls," Mal said. "A word with you?"

Logan looked up at Mal, and set down the book he was reading. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the cover said, indicating it was by somebody named Douglas Adams. "Appropriate piece of reading you got there," Mal mused.

Logan nodded. "What can I do for you, Captain Reynolds?"

Mal looked at Logan, and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You wanna tell me why exactly you're bankrollin' my mechanic's foolhardiness?"

"You mean why I gave her the money she needed to buy parts for the engine?" Logan clarified.

"You say it your way, I say it mine," Mal shot back. "Justify."

Logan shrugged. "She said the engine could use the parts, and I had the money. I figure, if I'm going to be living and working onboard this ship, and I can do something to help, it's kind of my responsibility to do so."

Mal couldn't argue with that logic, but it wasn't in his nature to give up that easily. "Mr. Echolls, that must've been fifteen, sixteen thousand credits in parts."

"Twenty-two, actually," Logan replied. "But, you know, I've got a few million in my bank accounts. It's not like it bled me dry."

Mal narrowed his eyes, trying to see into Logan's head. If the rich boy wanted to part with a few of his credits to help out Mal's ship, he wasn't going to argue with that. But he had to have some sort of motivation beyond just wanting to help.

Oh, of course. "You tryin' to get my mechanic to do the horizontal hokey-pokey, Mr. Echolls?"

The way Logan's jaw dropped was almost comical. "I – what? I beg your pardon, Captain?"

Mal laughed. "Come on, Mr. Echolls. I've seen the way Kaylee locks those big ol' green eyes onto you and practically starts droolin'. You've only been on the ship two days, and already you have well and thoroughly supplanted the doc in her heart."

He could tell from Logan's expression that that was pretty much the last thing he had expected to hear. "Uh… I see," Logan finally managed to force out. "Let me assure you, Captain, I didn't do it because I'm trying to curry favor with Kaylee. I won't deny, she is a very attractive woman, and she certainly seems like a very nice person, but I hardly know her."

Mal nodded thoughtfully. "Well, that's good to hear, Mr. Echolls. And here I thought you were considering treating her like some sort of jien huo."

Logan shook his head. "No sir. I know better than that."

Mal considered that for a moment. "Let me ask you this, then. Would you ever consider making a move on Kaylee?"

Logan shrugged. "If the circumstances were right, and we both felt that way about the other…"

Mal raised an eyebrow. "I see." And with that, he turned and exited Logan's quarters, muttering, "Chu fei wo si le," as he went.

And so Kaylee had spent the next forty hours working practically nonstop on the engine. Now that she was done, Mal had to admit that it seemed to be running much more smoothly and a hell of a lot more quietly.

With Serenity just about ready to depart Persephone, Mal decided it was time to get Mr. Echolls in the pilot's seat. Finding him in his quarters, he got him up to the cockpit and sat him down at the right hand station.

The first thing Logan noticed was the plastic dinosaurs. "Okay, just out of curiosity, do these have any significance to the running of the ship?" he asked.

Mal nodded. "They belonged to my old pilot," he replied. "Took a Reaver harpoon through the gut, right before we got all news-media like."

Logan looked down at the pilot's console. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

Mal shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Wash wouldn't want us gettin' all maudlin on his behalf. In fact, do me a favor."

Logan looked up. "What's that?"

"Pick up that T-Rex there – that's the big one with the nasty lookin' teeth."

Logan grew a look of confusion on his face, but complied. "Alright," Mal said, "now, point it at me, and in your most horrified voice, say, 'Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!'"

Logan cocked an eyebrow, and shook his head, but smiled. "CURSE your sudden but inevitable betrayal!"

Mal smiled as Logan said it. "Okay, I think you'll do just fine, Mr. Echolls. Now tell me. You ever flown an 03-K64 Firefly before?"

"I have," Logan replied. "Although, the K64 spacedrive had been removed."

Now it was Mal's turn to look confused. "No spacedrive?"

A slow flush began to creep up Logan's cheeks. "Uh, demolition derby on Beaumonde," he replied. "All atmospheric, you really only need the jets."

Mal's eyes widened. "Demolition derby?!" Logan didn't say anything, he just nodded. "Lao tyen yeh!"

Logan shrugged. "What can I say… we took these old, broken down ships, got them back in atmo-running condition, put all kinds of claws and grapples on 'em, like Reaver-style, and then just went to town."

Mal bent his neck, cradling his head in his hands in despair. "The lengths you rich Core-boys will go to for fun."

A voice came from the doorway behind them. "Did I hear my kind being disparaged?"

Mal looked up. "Doc, nice of you to join us!" he cracked sarcastically. "If Kaylee hadn't tore the engine all up and we'd left on time yesterday, you'da been left behind!"

Simon Tam fixed Mal with a look. "Kaylee waved me," he countered. "She told me we'd be taking off a day late, and if I still had business to conduct, I didn't need to worry about getting back quickly."

Mal smiled. "Sure she wasn't just tryin' to get you left behind, Doc? She's awful sore about the fact that you've been ignorin' her these last few weeks."

Simon did not look amused. "I have my reasons, Captain. I'm not trying to hurt her."

"You best not be, Doc, or I'll have you out the airlock so quick you won't have a clue why your body's imploding."

"Well, that's a lovely mental image, Captain," Simon replied dryly. He turned to Logan, and extended his hand. "Simon Tam. I'm the ship's doctor."

Logan stood and shook Simon's hand. "Logan Echolls. I'm the new pilot. You must be the other rich boy onboard who's running from his troubles."

"That would be me," Simon confirmed. "What was the Captain saying about rich Core-boys going to certain lengths for fun?"

"I used to fly a Firefly in demolition derbies on Beaumonde," Logan replied. "The Captain didn't seem to be a big fan."

Mal held up his hands. "I could quite frankly care less about what you do in your free time," he responded. "I just don't want you flyin' MY Firefly like you think you're still causin' a ruckus on Beaumonde."

"Don't worry, Captain, I won't," Logan replied sarcastically. "Unless, of course, you want me to."

"Don't even think about it," Mal hissed testily. "Now, let's see how you do. Take her out of the world."

Logan nodded. "Alright." He reached across the pilot's console, flipped the three switches to fire up Serenity's jets, and engaged the thrusters.

The transport smoothly lifted off the ground, the jets howling. Logan gradually brought them around to a forty-five degree angle, sending Serenity skyward and away from the Eavesdown Docks.

"Now, see, I ain't a big fan of takin' off this direction," Mal said nervously as the old Firefly shot in a diagonal line toward the sky. "Makes me nervous headed for the sky this quick."

Logan looked over at him, confused. "It's the most efficient angle for atmospheric departure."

"He's right," Simon interjected. "Uses up less fuel, and there's less drag on the hull."

Mal rolled his eyes. "Doc, if I want your opinion, I will make absolutely certain to request it. Otherwise, do me a great big favor and nimen de bizui."

Simon shook his head as Mal turned to Logan. "And as for you, Mr. Hot-Shot son of an actor, how the hell do you know all that fancy talk about efficient angles?"

"Degree in physics from Hearst Provincial University," Logan replied with a shrug. "Comes in useful from time to time."

Simon snorted. "Hearst," he muttered under his breath.

Logan turned to him. "Yeah, Hearst," he replied. "You got a problem with that? Where the hell did you go to school, anyway?"

Simon smiled smugly. "Cambridge."

Logan turned back to Mal. "Just a warning, Captain, I may have to kick your doctor's ass."

Mal snorted. "Be my guest."

"Heathens," Simon grumbled, as Serenity passed through the last layer of the atmosphere and entered space. "Logan, if you could swing by the sickbay at some point, I need to make sure you're all up to date on immunizations and so on."

Logan nodded. "Dr. Tam."

Simon turned and walked away down the corridor. Mal looked after him, shook his head, and then looked over at Logan. "You ready for some spaceflight?"

"Indeed I am," Logan replied, a look of anticipation growing on his face.

"See the big red flashing button?"

Logan looked. Sure enough, there was a flashing red button on the console. "Yeah?"

"That engages the K64 spacedrive," Mal told him. "It's showing ready to engage, but before we do that, we want to talk to Kaylee, make sure she doesn't have a hand inside it or something."

He turned away from Logan and grabbed the squawk box for the intercom. Depressing the talk button, he said, "Kaylee, we ready for space flight?"

A moment later, her voice came back. "Ready and waitin', Captain McDreamy!"

A look of amusement crossed Logan's face, while Mal's eyes narrowed in confusion. He hit the talk button again. "You been watchin' those twentieth-century Earth-That-Was shows again, young lady?"

"Grey's Anatomy was twenty-first century," Kaylee's voice mockingly admonished him. "Geez, Captain, get your years right!"

Logan's face broke into a full-on smile. "Gonna come down there with the duct tape, pien juh duh jiou cha wen," Mal warned Kaylee.

"Did you just call me a STUBBORN MART-"

Mal hit a switch and cut Kaylee's voice off. "All hands, this is the Captain. We have a newbie about to hit the spacedrive button for the first time, so you might want to buckle yourselves in, hold onto something, brace yourselves, so on and so forth, because we're probably gonna encounter some turbulence, and then possibly explode. See y'all on the other side."

Logan gave Mal a dirty look as he hung up the squawk box. "Alright, Mr. Echolls, let's see what you got. Try not to blow us up."

Logan shook his head, and depressed the flashing red button. On Serenity's tail, the dim glow of the spacedrive flashed to bright light. A twirling exhaust of glowing radioactive gasses began to stream from her tail, and the ship accelerated away from Persephone, disappearing into the black.

Six hours later, Logan was by himself in the cockpit. The rest of the ship was quiet, with everybody else asleep. Logan was still up here because he had found that he enjoyed flying in space immensely.

So quiet was the ship that Logan heard the soft footfall in the doorway before he actually saw her. "Are you my navigator?" he asked, without even turning around.

The thin, lithe figure of a girl who couldn't have even been twenty appeared in his vision, dropping herself into Captain Reynolds' seat on the other side of the cockpit. "I'm River," she told him. "I actually usually fly the ship when everybody's asleep – I can't hear them then."

Logan looked at her curiously. "You can't hear them? What do you mean?"

River smiled slightly. "Serenity holds no secrets from me," she whispered. "I know what you think before you know what you think."

Logan cocked his head. "You're a psychic?"

"A reader," River corrected him. "Psychics contact the dead. I read your mind."

"Do you now," Logan replied skeptically. "What am I thinking about, then?"

River didn't even pause a beat. "You loved her."

Logan froze. "What did you see?"

River looked him in the eyes. "You loved her, and you lost her. It eats away at you on the inside, like a virus, like a plague. You loved and lost."

Logan sighed. "Yes," he said softly. "Yes, I loved Lilly a great deal."

River looked down and shook her head. "No, not Lilly," she responded. "There was another. There IS another. Her name is V-"

"STOP," Logan snapped angrily. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about, and I don't want to talk about it."

He stood from the chair, and stepped toward the exit, preparing to leave, but River spoke again.

"Logan," she said, and he froze. He hadn't told her his name.

"You're right, you didn't tell me your name," she continued. "You didn't need to, remember?"

"Because you're a psy- a reader," Logan replied.

"Logan, if you won't admit your feelings for… her… then, at least tell Kaylee."

Logan turned back around and looked at River, confused. "Tell Kaylee what?"

River smiled. "You think she's pretty. Tell her."

Logan's face became a mask of confusion. River turned around and faced forward. "Good night, Logan."

jien huo - cheap floozy
chu fei wo si le - over my dead body
lao tyen yeh - Jesus Christ
nimen de bizui - shut the hell up
pien juh duh jiou cha wen - stubborn martinet