A/N: Alright, so this is reposted, but at the same time it's close to 80% changed. I don't own Firefly, so on and so forth. Enjoy and tell me what you think in a review, please!

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Mal Reynolds was not pleased. Badger had weaseled his way into getting the crew of Serenity to get more goods. The thing was, this time, it was right out stealing for Badger, which Mal wasn't thrilled about. The businessman didn't deserve it. However, he knew they needed to get paid. So now here he was, in a ranch on the planet Demeter, with Jayne and Zoë a few paces behind. They were approaching a herd of cattle, which was Badger's payload, for whatever reason. He cursed under his breath when the cow he was heading for caught sight of him and started walking away. Figuring running after it would lead to a stampede, he started to slowly walk towards it. He didn't mind the few extra moments. He cast a glance back at Jayne and Zoë, who were busy trying to get one of the herd themselves a few meters away. He turned his attention back to the cow and put a rope around its neck when the last thing he would want to have happen occurred.

"Whatcha doin'?"

The voice was slightly high pitched, and it was also somewhat loud. Mal winced, knowing that only meant one thing. A child was either behind the cow, or behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and didn't find anything, but when he started to turn his head, he caught sight of the child in question- a little girl. He didn't know why, but the girl seemed familiar. He felt like he had seen her before, but he knew he hadn't. "Uh… well… uh…." He heard Zoë and Jayne walking over. He wasn't too thrilled they hadn't seen the kid before he had, either.

"Maya, get inside. Now!" another voice cut in from the distance

Mal looked down. Female voice again, but adult this time. Had they been watching or something? Did Badger set them up?

"But Mama, he was about to take Yuri!" the girl, apparently Maya, objected.

"I know that, Maya. That's exactly why I want you to go back into the house," Her mother replied.

Mal turned his head even more. She was coming closer. He couldn't believe it. He had been caught. Caught, gorram it! Malcolm Reynolds never gets caught! He decided to try and charm his way out of it. It's worked before, why not now? He lifted his head back up. "Mornin'!" he greeted cheerfully, poking his head out from behind the cow, since the woman was on the other side of it. Of course, another thing was added to the list of things he wasn't thrilled about when he found the barrel of a pistol was about an inch from his nose as he finished turning. He heard Jayne and Zoë draw their weapons as backup. He moved a bit more to get the sun out of his eyes, but when the woman came into focus, his jaw dropped, realizing just why the girl seemed familiar. "Doctor Seward?"

The woman stared at him, also recognizing him after a moment. "Sergeant?"

Mal's smile faded completely now. "…Oh, this isn't good."

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Six years ago, one week after Battle of Serenity Valley:

"Zoë, I could use some help right about now!" Mal called over the gunfire that had been going on for the past two hours. He was in the middle of a shootout with three other men, while his allies around him were only dealing with one.

"Busy here too, sir!" Zoë called back.

"Ain't that shiny…" Mal muttered before shooting one of them. He stood to shoot the second man, realizing perhaps too late that it was a bad move, being that a bullet hit his side a moment later and he fell to the ground.

"Sergeant? Sergeant!" Zoë called behind her before she shot the man who had shot him. Afterwards, she went over to him, seeing that he had already passed out. "Zhòu ma…" she mumbled, tossing one of his arms over her shoulder and lifting her up. One of her orders was to leave the wounded and tend to them later, but this was her leader and best friend. She had heard a house nearby had two doctors helping the Browncoats' wounded. Seeing that there was a break in the attack, she quickly got out of the ditch they were in, practically dragging Mal along with her, until she reached the said house and banged on the door. "Browncoats! We need medical attention, here!" she called. She groaned when no one answered for a few seconds. She knocked again.

This time, someone did answer. A woman with reddish blonde hair, tied back in a ponytail opened the door. She smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, I was tending to another patient. What happened? Qing jin.." the statements came in one swift sentence as she moved aside. "Peter!" she called, looking over Mal, then spotted the wound on his side. "You got here at the right time. We can take him in the back room. Just take that hallway and it's the door furthest to the right." The woman instructed, pointing Zoë in the direction she had told her, then looked at the staircase. "Peter!" she called again, louder this time, then started following Zoë into the room that she mentioned, which seemed like a small exam room. Almost like some of the private dentist's rooms back on the Earth-that-Was.

A man with dark brown hair and bright blue eyes, who looked a few years older than the woman came down the stairs. "Forgive me, Love. Had to get Maya tucked in. Long day…" he spotted Mal. "And it's about to get longer, I take?"

The woman nodded, then went over to one of the computers in the room as Zoë set Mal down on the table. "What's his name?"

"What's it to you?" Zoë asked. "I wasn't lying when I said we were Browncoats."

"I wasn't implying you were." the woman replied. "I need to know his name to pull his file… make sure what work I need to do here won't interfere with past work." she replied.

Zoë looked down. "I'm sorry. These last few fights… we've both been on edge."

"It's fine. I understand," the woman offered. "I'm Doctor Kira Seward, by the way. This is my husband, Peter."

Zoë nodded and both of them. "Zoë," she replied. "This is Sergeant Malcolm Reynolds."

Kira smiled at her before looking back at the computer and entering Mal's name. "Alright, just have to watch out for the scarring from the moved nerve cluster…" she mumbled to herself.

Peter went over to Mal's inured side to inspect it. "He may be here a while."

"That's fine. I just want him to heal up well." Zoë replied.

Peter nodded. "Alright. Then please step out. I'll see to him… we can offer you a room to stay at if your unit is also staying…" he offered. "My wife can show you to one of the spare rooms."

Zoë was torn briefly. She wanted to rejoin her comrades, but at the same time, none of them mattered more than Mal at the moment, and they were given orders that the survivors were to find shelter and stay the night around the area. "That'll be fine."

Kira smiled. "Right this way, then." she led Zoë out of the room and back into the hallway.

Zoë, still cautious, looked around and started asking questions. "So how long have you and your husband been working for us?"

Kira laughed. "Since day one of the war…" she replied calmly, going down another hallway. "As far as we're concerned, we won't stop supporting you until our dying day… which might as well be tomorrow, for all we know. All we know is that you give us something to believe in."

Zoë nodded. "We appreciate that. You probably don't hear that much. How long have you been here on the front?"

"Again, since day one, but you weren't fighting on this planet back then. You came fairly recently, haven't you? A month?"

"It's only been that long?" Zoë inquired with a sigh. She looked at the room Mal was in. Sure, he didn't let the change show, but the man hadn't been the same since Serenity Valley. He had the same jokes, same behavior, but it wasn't the same man. Not anymore. She turned her attention back to Kira.

Kira nodded in response to the other woman's question. "Your superiors just contacted us, said that you and your unit might need us, and here we are." she replied. They reached a staircase and stated climbing, only to hear crying about halfway up. Kira sighed. "Duìbùqǐ, I just need to do a little detour. That's my daughter, Maya."

"Do whatever you need to do," Zoë dismissed her. "I don't know how mothers do it, and you're a doctor, no less."

Kira laughed. "I can handle one…" she began, "It's the two on the way with this one that I don't know how I'm going to handle." she replied, then hung a right and went into the room, leaving Zoë at the top, then came out, rocking a little girl in her arms.

Zoë smiled. "She's beautiful."

"Thanks," Kira smiled.

"How old is she?" Zoë asked.

"Going on three next week," Kira replied, then nodded her head towards the door diagonally to their left. "That's the room you can stay in."

Zoë nodded, then paused. "I just remembered, we don't have any way to pay-"

"Pay? No!" Kira shook her head. "You're paying enough out there. Consider this our repaying you. Our thanks for you keeping us safe," she offered. "Your sergeant's in good hands, I promise."

Two days later:

Mal opened one eye slowly, only to have it be met by two smaller ones. He cursed rather loudly and bolted upright, only to have a sharp pain course through his body and send him right back down, cursing. He was barely aware of someone running into the room before he heard a feminine voice.

"Maya!" Kira objected. "How did you get out of your room?" she demanded before carrying the little girl out of the small infirmary. She returned a few moments later. "I see you're awake. I'm sorry about that. I thought my husband was keeping a closer eye on her."

"Yeah, where am I, and who are you?" Mal demanded, not caring much about anything else.

"You're at a house a small way from where you were fighting. You got shot, your friend Zoë brought you here since we have an infirmary here. I'm Doctor Kira Seward."

"Where's Zoë? Where's my unit?" Mal sat up, yet again, having the same luck as last time. He closed his eyes and leaned back once more. Then again listening never hurt anyone.

"Your friend is a couple of rooms down. Listen, I need to know if you remember any of the details I told you, dong ma?"

"Barely," Mal snapped his reply. "Zoë? Zoë!" he called, not at all convinced that the woman in front of him was a real doctor.

Zoë came into the room. "I'm right here, Mal. It's fine. She's legit. She's been patching you up."

"I see that." Mal replied, relaxing slightly.

Kira went over to him to check on his wounds.

Mal watched her curiously. "Am I gonna be able to go back to my men soon?"

Kira nodded. "You'll be fine in a couple of days, but you have to take it easy and stay here so we can check up on you."

" 'We'?"

"My husband and I." she replied.

"Well, that's shiny." Mal got up, slowly this time. He had always been a slow learner, but pain was something that he adapted to faster than usual.

"Shàn," Kira insisted, pushing him back down. "I should've been clearer. I meant bedrest. Don't move from this spot for some time," she replied.

"What else am I supposed to do?"

"Clearly something you don't do often: Relax." Kira replied.

"Bù chì dì yù!" Mal shook his head. "You can't make me sit here and do nothin' for two days. My men are out there gettin' shot at and killed!"

"Well, what would you have me let you do in your condition, hm?" Kira replied.

Mal opened his mouth to retort, then shut it. He had been through countless battles, seen hundreds of enemies, but the woman in front of him held an air of intimidation that worried him, even if it was minimal. He grumbled and shifted into a more comfortable position. "Fine."

"Thank you." Kira nodded. She looked at Zoë. "Him humoring me isn't gonna last long, is it?"

"I'm honestly surprised he humored you now." Zoë admitted with her eyebrows raised.

Kira sighed. "He won't be the first."

Three days later:

Mal was settled into one of the chairs in the Seward kitchen. He felt surprisingly well after only three days of recovery. He had almost forgotten how good medical help from real doctors could be. Now his only complaint was the fact that both Kira and Peter were watching him like a hawk. However, he also dismissed this at them being good, watchful parents since "Little Maya", as he had come to call the little girl who had taken quickly to him, was now perched on his left thigh. He smiled and pretended to have his full attention on her as she rambled on, her small vocabulary and young voice doing nothing to assist him, or her, for that matter. "So you say I can finally get outta here tomorrow?" he inquired. Zoë had left to check on things on the battlefront the previous day, so needless to say, he wanted out.

Peter nodded. "Your wound's healed up remarkably well. Just watch how you turn and move, and you should be fine."

Mal nodded. He was grateful for their help, but he was too proud to show it. All he was focused on was getting out of the place, and never seeing the three of them again.

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But of course, for Mal Reynolds, nothing ever turned out as he would have hoped. He just gawked at the woman who he once knew, then shook his head. "No. Badger can go screw himself for all I care. I ain't doin' this job for him." He took the rope that he had harnessed the cow with and shoved it into her hands. "Here you go, have a good life. Goodbye!" He turned sharply and started to stalk off, motioning at Zoe and Jayne to follow. He wasn't going to stab the person who helped him during the war in the back.

He didn't at all expect her to follow him, but she did."You honestly think I'm gonna let you get off that easy?" Kira called after him. "You just tried to steal my cattle!"

Mal stopped and turned on his heel. "And as you can see, I handed the only one I had back to you, and my crew's wonderin' what I've got wrong in my head right now. So how's 'bout this? We call it even. You saved my life, I don't steal from you. Dong ma?"

"No, actually."

Mal frowned. "What don't you understand?" he tilted his head and squinted to block out the sunlight.

"Oh, I understand perfectly. I want to know who hired you." Kira replied. "Did I hear 'Badger' right?"

Mal looked from side to side. Was this some set up of them? Was Badger in on it somehow? It made sense. He shook his head. She deserved to know. "Yes, as a matter of fact." He raised an eyebrow, even more so when she scowled. "…You know him?"

Kira let out a single syllable of a laugh, but the grin faded a moment later. "Oh yes, I do. And once I get my hands on him, I'm going to KILL him!" she replied, saying the last part more to herself then the ones around her. She eyed Mal. "You. Follow me." She motioned for him to do the action before turning towards the house.

Mal blinked. Had she gone insane sometime in the past six years. "…Uh… you just caught us robbing you and you want us to go in your hou-" he looked down when she lashed out and grabbed the front of his shirt. "-se?" He let out a tiny yelp of alarm when she started dragging him towards the house now, leaving Jayne and Zoe staring after them.

Jayne was the first to speak. "Uh… should we follow them or… somethin'?"

Zoe shook her head. "I have no idea." However, her own memories of the woman came rushing back. "… On second thought, she's a doctor, she has kids, and she has her head screwed on right. The captain should be fine alone. He don't need us." She sighed. "I hope…"

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Duìbùqǐ- Excuse me

bù chì dì yù – Like Hell

Dong ma?- Understand?