Heh, all I could think of is the episode where Mal and Wash are being tortured.
Mal: "There's plenty orders a'mine that she didn't obey."
Wash: "Name one!"
Mal: "She married you!"

No relationship, no matter how close is without conflict. Nice job highlighting that between Zoe and Mal.

Hoo. Very fine characterizations. You never see Mal and Zoe quarrel, but you know they must have had some doozies. I especially like the way you leave it up to the reader's imagination to figure out just why she stayed, what changed her mind.

That...was...good. Exceptional even. I enjoyed it from the first word to the last. It didn't strike me a one of the run in the mill"woke up in the middle of the night and just threw it together" pieces. It read as a carefully thought out and concise (if that's the right word) piece of work. At least that's my is so rare that I get to read a really good Zoe fic. You came through big time on this is going straight into my "Favorites",and it looks like I have my work cut out for me wading through your other stories. Can't wait.

i like that u write zoe very well lol

I could see all of those happening. Good premise and nicely written.

Great stuff as always. You get the Western vibes and idiom just right. I feel like I'm watching Firefly again. :-)

I was a bit surprised that Zoe thought of Mal as 'the Sarge' in the middle segment about her imminent wedding. Zoe of all people, being a stickler for protocol - or the chain of command - would have switched to 'captain' at that point, I would have wagered. Or three seconds after she joined the crew of Serenity.

(I do hope Mal did attend the wedding after all. And give Zoe away. Some things you only have one chance.)

I loved the depth you gave that segment with the underlying reason as to why Mal opposed the wedding, his fear of losing Zoe.

I also liked the reference at the end to Simon's total loyalty to his sister. I loved that bit of Firefly in particular; that thread of Simon abandoning his career and going through (witch) fire to save River was the backbone of the series, in my opinion.

first off i'm loving the insults, one of the things i loved most in canon hehe - the story itself was very emotional in a short space and i could see them so clearly as they argued over her marrying wash. really well done! As always:D