One day till landfall.

It wasn't mealtime, but the crew were meeting in the dining room. They sat in their usual places, paying varying degrees of attention to Mal as he pored over a diagram, marked at several points.

River sat a couple feet away from the table, her knees drawn up to her chin and feet flat on the seat of the chair. She was staring off in the general direction of the rest of them, but otherwise showed no sign of recognition of her surroundings. Simon stepped away from the table a moment to lay a hand on her shoulder.

"River? Are you all right?"

"She's sorry."

Simon waited.

"She's very sorry for embarrassing kin again. Knows spicy condiments are not the enemy." She went silent, then poked at her toes absently.

"That's good, River. That's... that's progress."

"She wishes she could help with the Captain's latest game, but is always picked last to play."

She looked up at Simon, the ghost of a smile pulling at the edges of her mouth. "Won't always be that way. She'll get to score the winning point yet."

Kaylee smiled as she saw Simon go all misty-eyed at this, even as his sister's eyes returned to their far-off, glassy stare - then turned away as Wash waved for her attention on a very pertinent engines capacity concern. She gave another, more private, smile as he returned to the table beside her, brushing against her arm in the process.

Jayne watched the scene seated a few feet away in the opposite direction, honing and polishing yet another of his wide array of combat knives with a whetstone and a worn, but clean, blue cloth. No-one mistook the fact that he had taken the farthest point away from River for this meeting; he had of late been a little edgy around 'that 吃奶酪 moon-brain,' as he referred to her, and her breakdown at the mealtime a few days ago hadn't helped his opinion of her.

One new person attending the meeting still had a few of them casting worried glances at him as they went into some of the less savory aspects of their latest job.

"Um, Mal," said Simon,"I know he's helped us out a lot, and... well, I suppose it's kind of funny that I'm bringing this up, but..."

"Something on your mind, Doc?"

"It's just- Doctor Smith," he said, casting an apologetic glance toward the man in question, "no offense, you've helped us with a lot of things, but frankly... we're... not always completely lawful in the jobs we take."

Mal barked a laugh, causing all eyes to go to him. "What my ship's doctor is tryin' to put so delicately, Smith, is that we oftimes end up smugglers. Criminals. Just enough to pay the bills, o' course. An' he seems to think you might turn he an' his sister in, or otherwise be compromisin' our little gambit. That about what you were sayin', Doc?" He kept his eyes locked on the Doctor's, giving him a flat smile.

The Doctor smiled back. "I have no problem with that," he said. "You conduct your business as you see fit. I'll let you know if I find it objectionable."

"Well, that's right shiny of-"

"Oh, and my name is not John Smith."

"What?"

All eyes were on the Doctor now. Jayne looked up from his work, a half-smirk on his face. "Told ya it sounded phony," he said.

Mal coughed, frowned at Jayne, then turned his attention back to the old man. "Yes, well," he said, "we figured it was a fake name - man can't be too careful in this line o' work." He frowned. "You sayin' you're gonna trust us with your real name? Don't get me wrong, you're a right nice ol' gent and all, gettin' along with everyone, but do you really think no one's gonna -"

The Doctor interrupted him. "I highly doubt anyone would be able to connect any significance to it in this particular sector," he said.

"And the others?"

"Those, too."

Sheapard Book took the initiative now. "Well, 'Doctor Smith,'" he said earnestly, "perhaps you could dispel this wonderfully-crafted tension, and tell us?"

The Doctor laughed. "Fair enough," he said. "My name is the Doctor."

Wash frowned at this. "Sorry, sorry. That just doesn't sound right. Doctor... of engineering? Doctor what??"

"Just the Doctor, I'm afraid," said the Doctor. "I adopted the 'John Smith' alias some time ago just to avoid such questions. There's no intention to usurp Doctor Tam's title aboard this ship, of course. I had really meant to avoid that."

He paused, stroking his chin. He chuckled

"After all, 'Doctor John Smith' does take a bit too long to say, anyway."