Hello All,

Well here is the final chapter and I hope everyone enjoys it! Thanks to everyone who has been giving reviews! I try to answer each one separately but I've been a little busy. They have helped me immensely in this story and it's thanks to you all that I keep going.

Happy Holidays everyone!

-Moki

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Zoe woke up suddenly in the middle of the night and wondered why until she heard a whimper from the nearby cradle. After a couple of nights sleeping in their bed, Caleb now had a bed of his own thanks to his Auntie Kaylee. Rising quietly so as not to wake Wash (no need for both of them to be up, she figured), Zoe headed over to the baby.

"Hey there little one," she whispered as she picked him up. "Are you hungry?"

Taking the baby she climbed up the ladder out of the bunk (funny how easy it was getting to do that with one hand) and headed to the galley. Once there she went to the cold box and found the formula mixed by Simon earlier in the day. She was just looking around for a new bottle and nipple when she heard footsteps behind her.

"Doesn't that kid ever sleep?" Jayne asked as he crossed the threshold. He looked half asleep himself and yawned and stretched as he walked to the cabinets. He started rooting around until he found what he was looking for and then headed to the table.

"You ain't tellin' me that you heard this babe, are you Jayne?" Zoe asked incredulously. "He hardly makes a sound before me or Wash are up and feeding or changing him. I think he's probably about the quietest youngin' I've ever met"

"Nah, he didn't wake me up none" Jayne replied as he sat at the table eating from the packet he'd just pulled from the cabinet. "I couldn't sleep so I come in here to get me a snack is all." He had brought a couple of his guns with him and began pulling them apart to clean as he ate.

"Oh," Zoe replied and promptly went back to searching for a clean bottle. After a few moments she realized that there weren't any left and she would need to go to the infirmary. Simon was using a medical sterilizer for them and always had clean ones on hand. Zoe cursed herself for not making sure there were some stocked in the kitchen but there wasn't anything she could do about it now.

Deciding that he'd been just about as patient as he could for his meal, Caleb started crying distressfully.

"Oh little one don't be startin' that now," Zoe said comfortingly, bouncing the baby lightly on her hip. "I just need to get you a bottle" She started to take the baby with her but came up with a better idea.

"Jayne," Zoe said and the mercenary looked up at her. He had been hoping Zoe and the little "noisemaker" would leave soon but now he was surprised to see that she was instead bringing Caleb over to him.

"What?" Jayne asked suspiciously.

"Can you hold Caleb for a quick second while I go get him a new bottle? It won't take but a second and maybe you can keep him busy so he won't cry" Zoe replied and started to hand the baby over to the bigger man.

"Nah I don't know nothin' about babies," Jayne protested but Zoe had already put the baby in his lap. He held onto the little one like it was something about to explode and Zoe had to try really hard to keep from laughing at the sight.

"T'aint nothin' to know," she told him. "Just hold onto him and talk to him or something so he forgets about crying for a minute. I'll be right back"

She was out the door before Jayne could say another word and then he was left alone with a squalling infant on his knee. Thinking of what he'd seen Wash do he tried bouncing Caleb up and down lightly but it didn't work.

"Hey," he said and turned the baby around to face him. "Hey lookie here" Jayne started making stupid faces, sticking his tongue out and putting a finger in his nose and the like. But that didn't work and Jayne was about to run out of patience when he thought of something. Picking up one of his guns he showed it to Caleb and began telling him everything about it.

"Listen up Caleb now this here is one of my favorites," Jayne explained, holding up the smaller of the two weapons. Both were completely unloaded of course so felt safe enough with them. "I call this one Margaret and she's a fine one at that"

Miraculously this worked and Caleb stopped crying to look at Margaret as Jayne held her up for him to see. Jayne continued to extol Margaret's many virtues when Zoe walked back in the room. She found Caleb sitting happily in Jayne's lap looking at (but not touching, she noted) one of the other man's guns.

"See?" she said happily. "T'aint nothing to it."

Jayne didn't reply but kept telling Caleb about the guns. Within another minute Zoe had finished making his bottle and took the baby back to feed him.

Over the next few days Caleb proceeded to make his way around the entire ship. He spent hours with Kaylee being taught everything there was to know about a Firefly engine without actually getting anywhere near one. Kaylee knew better than to bring Caleb into the engine room, where it would be too dangerous for a small child. So instead she would bring him to her bunk or play with him in the galley, talking about engines the whole time.

He was tutored by Inara on the intricacies of making good tea and which musical instruments he should learn when he got older. Though, if you were to ask Caleb about this you'd probably find that his favorite part of visiting with Inara was napping on silk sheets.

River (with the ever-watchful Simon close by) carried him around and spoke to him in that unique way that was so very River-like. But he, perhaps more than anyone, understood her and could be found staring at her with big blue eyes as she whispered her secrets to him. The two of them had an immediate understanding of the other from the moment she'd first picked him up.

Shepherd Book would take the boy and read to him passages from his bible. Whether or not Caleb understood any of it, no one could be sure. But he seemed fascinated by the preacher's voice and would sit entranced as the preacher would weave tales of the past from his ever-present Book.

For his part, Jayne continued his tutelage of guns. Often he could be found at the galley table, holding the baby in his lap as he cleaned his menagerie of weapons. No bullets were ever present (of this Wash and Zoe had made sure), but guns there were a'plenty.

Mal even got used to the sight of walking onto the bridge and finding Caleb happily chewing on a toy dinosaur while Wash managed to pilot Serenity with one hand. Wash would tell Caleb all about the stars and how to fly as well as the names of all the many dinosaurs on the dash.

Zoe even arrived for a meeting with Mal with Caleb on her hip, a toy dinosaur clutched in his fist. She would do system checks and inventory with the baby and could be heard telling him why it was important to store the ammo in the middle of the ship and not near the outer hull.

Even the sometimes taciturn Mal could be found holding the baby when everyone was busy at a meal time or such. Little Caleb would pull at his suspenders and once even managed to pull hard enough to give Mal quite a snap on the shoulder. Mal laughed harder than anyone at that and announced that Caleb was going to be stronger than even Jayne someday.

Within a few days hardly anyone could remember what it had been like before a baby had joined the crew.

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It was the middle of the night and Wash was up with Caleb for a nighttime feeding. But the thing was that he'd already fed and changed Caleb and still the baby was crying. He walked back and forth in the galley (he had left the bunk so Zoe could sleep), rocking and trying to get Caleb to stop.

"What's up, eh?" Wash asked Caleb as he bounced the baby on his shoulder and patted him on the back. Nothing was working, not even a toy dino that Wash had found for him to chew.

Looking at the chrono on the wall Wash saw that it was after 3:00am ship's time and realized it was Christmas morning. Ever since his talk with Zoe he hadn't been thinking about the time of year and it's connection with his brother's death and was happy to see that today was no different. Apparently getting it all out in the open like that had done wonders and now Wash was simply enjoying the present without the horrors of the past to infringe upon him.

Well actually he was mostly enjoying the present. Except for the part with the screaming child in his arms, that is. Trying everything he could think of Wash finally sat down near the Christmas tree that the girls had decorated and started humming a little tune to the baby. Within a few moments Caleb stopped crying and listened intently.

"Oh, so you like that huh?" Wash asked the little on his knee. Thinking hard he remembered a Christmas song his mother had taught him and wanting to keep the baby occupied, began to sing it for him. It was called "Oh Holy Night" and Wash thought it fit.

Down in her bunk Zoe woke to find the room empty. She noted the time and thinking that Caleb was usually fed and back to sleep by now, went to investigate. The moment she opened the hatch to her bunk she heard a pleasant sound and smiled to herself as she continued up the ladder.

Zoe entered the galley just as Wash finished singing the song and she grinned at her husband.

"So did he like that?" Zoe asked as she sat next to them on the couch near the tree. She liked to hear Wash sing and was hoping she hadn't missed out on too much.

"Yeah I think so but I don't think he's anywhere near ready to go back to sleep yet'" Wash said with a sigh.

"Well then husband I think you should keep him entertained," Zoe said with a wink.

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Simon awoke to an odd sound. Lying in his bunk he strained his ears to figure it out and suddenly realized it was the sound of someone singing. He thought he recognized the tune but couldn't put his finger on it. Climbing out of bed he opened his door and came face to face with River.

"Songs of joy, Santa is coming," River said and began pulling on Simon's arm to lead him out of the passenger area. They walked through the galley to the lounge and Simon stopped in his tracks when he realized that the singing (rather good singing actually) was coming from none other than Wash. He had a pleasant tenor voice and Simon found himself suitably impressed.

Zoe looked up when Simon and River walked in and almost laughed out loud at the look on Simon's face. These two were still rather new aboard Serenity and didn't know that her husband had some musical talent to go along with that flying talent of his. It amused her to no end when new people discovered Wash's singing and she was enjoying it now.

Simon finally got over his shock and sat with River on one of the other couches to listen. He and River joined in for the chorus of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and everyone laughed when Caleb decided to do his best and happily "sing" along with them.

After a while Mal woke up as well and joined the motley group and did his best to remember some good songs himself. "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" was a particular favorite of his though unknown by everyone else. Mal taught them all and soon everyone was able to join in on it.

When Kaylee arrived she wanted Wash to sing one of her favorites and proceeded to teach him and everyone else "Christmas in Killarny". It had been a favorite of her family's and apparently dated all the way back to their ancestors on Earth That Was.

The last two to join in were Jayne and Shepherd Book but they too brought along songs of their own. Jayne gave a rousing rendition of "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" that had Kaylee and River giggling fit to be tied. Book sang "The Little Drummer Boy" with everyone doing the "Pa rum pum pum pum's" with him.

By the time the real morning came everyone was jubilantly enjoying the holiday and soon the presents started coming out from under the tree. There were lots of laughs and hugs as people got what they wanted or things they never expected.

"Thanks hon," Wash was saying as he held up a thick sweater from his wife. It was a light brown and Zoe said she thought it matched his hair. Wash secretly thought it was kind of a "girly" sweater but kissed his wife gratefully for the thoughtful gift. He put it on at her insistence and he could tell that both Kaylee and Inara thought it looked nice on him. Maybe he was wrong about it after all if the womenfolk liked it.

After the presents had been exchanged, everyone helped out to make the Christmas feast.

Inara and Simon were in charge but just about every person aboard chipped in with the preparation. After getting another bottle Caleb was put down for a nap which allowed everyone to eat at the same time. So once the food was ready, everyone sat down to a fine meal and ate and ate until they couldn't eat anymore. After that they talked and joked and had a fine time.

When Caleb woke sometime later River went to him and picked him up. She took him to sit beside the tree and softly she began singing to him. As everyone heard her they stopped what they were doing and turned to listen. They hadn't heard her sing like this before and with a simply beautiful voice she was singing "What Child Is This?"

Her voice was clear and needed no accompaniment to touch everyone straight to the soul. When she finished she went straight into "Away in a Manger" as silence reined. Kaylee found a tear running down her eye when she got to the part about the "the cattle are lowing, the poor baby wakes but little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes". That part always made her sniffle; she was never sure why.

Mal was standing the closest to the galley door and therefore the only one to hear the alarm go off on the bridge. Seeing how everyone else was so entranced he left quietly on his own to investigate and in fact no one even noticed him leave.

When River finished singing everyone clapped and she looked up in surprise at the noise. She had obviously been in a world of her own and Simon quickly went to give her some reassurance. They were all settling back down around the tree when Mal reentered.

"Hey folks," he began uncertainly. "The proximity alarm just went off so I went to see what it was"

Wash looked up worriedly but Mal put up a hand to relieve his fears. "Nothing to worry about Wash, we're still flying fine'" he said and Wash looked noticeably relieved.

"Turns out it's the family of this here youngin'," he continued. "Seems his kin found out where we were and they was so worried that they took it upon themselves to get on a shuttle and come out here and meet us. They'll be here in about ten minutes"

Everyone was dumbfounded at these words and no one said anything for a while. They had gotten so used to Caleb's presence that everyone had sort of conveniently forgotten that he wasn't actually a child of anyone on board.

River was the first to move and quietly got up and handed the baby to Wash. Zoe went to her husband as she knew this moment was going to be harder on him than anyone. Putting an arm around Wash she looked down at Caleb and spoke to him.

"Well little one, it sure has been nice gettin' to know you," she said and kissed the baby on the forehead. Once she did this everyone else lined up to say goodbye.

One by one each person on Serenity walked up to the baby held securely in Wash's arms and said their farewells. Inara, Kaylee and River tried to hold back their tears for the baby's sake but each found it too hard. After saying goodbye himself, Simon held his sister as she cried. He looked up and found that Inara was doing the same on Mal's shoulder and Kaylee was crying into Jayne's chest, the big man doing his best to comfort her but succeeding only in patting her shoulder awkwardly.

When the proximity alarm went off again Mal went to arrange the docking of the two ships. He did this himself to give Wash and Zoe another few minutes with the child they had worked so hard to care for in these past few days. He was right proud of the two of them and felt that they had done a great job with the baby. He knew they would miss him something terrible and wanted to give them a little more time with him.

Wash carried Caleb to the cargo bay and waited with his wife by the outer airlock for it to open. Zoe had her arm through his and they stood alone for a few minutes as the ships were connected. Thinking that the couple needed to do this alone, everyone else had stayed in the galley after saying their own goodbyes.

"Alright Caleb," Wash finally decided that he had to say his farewells before it was too late. "Your family has come to get you. It's been really nice taking care of you but now it's time for you to go back to your kin. I'm sure they miss you and I know you'll be happy with them"

Wash held Caleb up in front of him and the baby looked him in the eyes as he spoke. Then he kissed the baby on the head and hugged him to his chest for a moment. Zoe followed suit and wrapped her arms around both of them, doing her best not to cry just yet.

Suddenly there were some loud clangs and the door opened in front of them. A man and woman about the same age as Zoe and Wash entered and immediately headed towards them excitedly.

"I can't believe it! Caleb! He's okay! Oh Marshall, can you believe he's alright?" The woman asked of the man who was apparently her husband.

"Yes that's quite a boy your sister had, Katherine" the man replied, smiling at the baby and nodding a greeting at Wash and Zoe.

"We simply can't thank you enough for caring for him. When we heard of my sister and her family passing away we were devastated," Katherine said sadly.

"But then we got word that our Godson here had somehow miraculously survived and we had to come get him just as soon as we could," Marshall continued.

"Well you definitely have a fine strong boy here," Wash said and though no one but Zoe would have noticed it, it was with much reluctance that he then handed over the baby.

After a few more words of thanks the couple took Caleb and went back to their ship. Within minutes they were gone and suddenly Serenity felt very empty and much too quiet to everyone aboard.

Zoe and Wash were in the cockpit together and Zoe was on her husband's lap. She was allowing herself a few tears now that they were alone and Wash was rubbing her back in comfort. It was a way to keep his own mind off the loss he felt.

No words were spoken between them but they both knew that someday in the not too distant future they were going to start talking about having a child of their own. Not necessarily soon as each knew the other didn't want to think of "replacing" a child that had grown so close their hearts so fast, but soon enough. Someday another baby would make its way into the hearts of the crew.

All thanks to a little boy who came to visit Serenity at Christmas.

The End