Persephone's outer marker beeped its warning from the NavSat display, dragging Zoe Washburne's attention from the endless black. "Have to go dear" she murmured, before flicking the display to send/receive. Allowing planetary defense grids too identify Serenity, well Haven, according too their readouts she thought. Sometimes flyboys would remark that the name painted on the hull did not match the registry, a violation, but they really did not care, they had larger worries these days.

During her time on bridge watch, she had skimmed the news on the cortex. Reavers had hit Sihnon, a massive raid, thousands dead, missing or terrified into madness. Didn't care much for Core folk in general, but nobody deserved that. Local Feds, armed with non-lethal weapons hadn't stood a chance. The feed showed combat troops moving through the streets backed by heavy rollers, searching for surviving Reavers. Fleet Marine infantry took point or played bait, same thing when it came to Reavers. The sight of the marine's distinctive battle armor brought a brief unwanted flash of memory of Serenity Valley. Marines could fight; she respected them more than any others she had come up against during the war.

Zoe wondered how Reavers had penetrated that deeply into the Core and how any Reavers were left at all? The Alliance fleet had hunted them for nearly five years, yet the savages continued ravage ever deeper into the Alliance, seemed there was more of them than ever. Footsteps interrupted her thoughts. Jayne appeared in the hatchway, two mugs of coffee in his large hands. The big man smiled fondly at the tiny bundle curled up in the Engineer's chair.

"Keeping Momma company?" he asked.

"Sort of"

She glanced at him, as he handed her a cup, man looked like hell. He usually did after one of the girl's episodes and couple nights ago River had a bad one. The nightmares had come again, the worst kind. The kind where River only allowed Mal into her room, screaming at Simon too stay away. No one dared touch or even talk to her when she was like that. Mal, well he had done what he always does, stayed with her until the worst passed, and the muttering stopped(he refused to speak about what she said in these moments), drove Simon crazy. The Captain let her do what she needed to do. Usually it involved a warm water and soap and scrubbing until red tinged the water. Simon hated it, they all did but there wasn't much you could force River Tam to do, or not to do. Nobody wanted to use the words on her, she hated that more than anything, and afterwards when she woke she was angry and mistrustful. A sad, dazed or crazed River was one thing, an angry River, that was something nobody wanted around, not now!

Much later, the girl had appeared in the hold working out her demons in a tortured dance, displaying all that creepy strength and speed, coupled with a beautiful grace of movement. The dancing, or whatever it was, calmed River, Mal let her, and kept watch, let her because the days of Simon sticking her with a needle too calm her down, when she did not feel like letting him were long gone, had been since that terrible day. Anyone dumb enough to come at her with syringe when she was in such state deserved whatever happened to them Zoe figured.

That's what always put Jayne in his bunk, probably with Vera pointed at the hatch. Girl scared the hell out of Jayne when she was like that. Zoe found it a mite unsettling herself. But Jayne, well it plain unnerved him. She had asked Mal about it once, he'd only shrugged and looked away, she figured she had a good idea but the Captain had let it go, so she didn't it let bother her none.

'Who's taking landfall?" He asked making conversation, a good enough question. Inara, the Captain and River all could land Serenity in Eavesdown. The approach was not difficult. Her look gave him the answer, he grimaced muttering something about checking the Gorram cargo bay and disappeared. Watching him go, Zoe sighed she had come to like Jayne over the time since Miranda, hell even respect him a little. Jayne was still a disreputable idiot, but he was their disreputable idiot. Jayne proved his loyalty on Ferdinand Moon, that was enough for Zoe.

Scanners began beeping; Zoe spotted the burns before she saw them. Alliance fast gun skiffs flew by, bracketing Serenity. Zoe didn't have to see them to imagine the graceful deadly arc they performed while examining the hull for illegal weaponry or capture equipment. Their blips separated, one checking the heat wake, the other settling in next to Serenity. They usually got extra scrutiny because of how they ran the black. Alone without pinging the NavSat system for course corrections, they didn't need too with River handling navigation, they were dead silent on their runs, well out of scanner range of the main routes, approach vectors far from standard, it was much safer that way when you were running alone. Five years of being one of the few ships willing too run without escort, anytime, anywhere not bound by the complexities of the Alliance convoy system, had allowed Kaylee to fix up the ship too her heart's content. Verse was falling too pieces, and it was proving profitable for them. Running the Rim was more dangerous than ever. Pirates, corrupt defense contractors often Pirates themselves and Reavers made a ship and crew that proved they could get the job done popular among those who shipped goods to and from, both legal and the t'other.

She opened the com to the skiff pilot's hale noticing how tired and young he was. The conversation was brief, Zoe's answers truthful. Well except, she was not Laren Oliver, registered pilot of the cargo ship Haven, she had never bothered learning how to fly. Having a Companion or a girl with an unofficial price on her head registered as the pilot would likely draw attention. People were still hunting River. They knew that, a few unlucky ones had found her and those that traveled with her. This was a legit fast run though, even if it was on a Badger contract. The pilots cleared Serenity after a few minutes spent confirming point of origin, purpose and cargo. The rest was up to the customs boys on the ground The pilots rolled away on high thrust, hurrying to check out another contact she guessed, Pirates and Reavers often lurked the outer markers waiting for strays or idiots running with open NavSats and Beacons. That's why you turned them on only at the marker Hundan couldn't get too you until you were well within the planetary defense grid. Zoe wished them luck silently. She had noted the tallies, on their cockpits, knew what they were up against. Any sane person wished those pilots luck and good hunting. Strange considering how she hated them ten years ago.

Zoe put those thoughts aside, rose and crossed over to her sleeping daughter, a mirror image of herself, the mumbled protest and bleary eye though, that was all Wash. Heaving a dreadfully dramatic sigh, little Emily Washburne opened her eyes blinking a bit at her mother, before good humor overtook the sleepy look. Emily reached for her hug, and then gasped, "We're here," she said excitedly, repeating it twice, just in case her mother had missed her announcement the first time. Zoe laughed the girl had Wash's joy. She lifted Emily up and they watched Persephone's glowing orb crowd out the black beyond it. Like her father it was sight Emily never tired of.

This landfall would be special, Badger's client wanted speed, was willing to pay extra for it. That meant rapid thruster deceleration and direct atmo entry; not the usual decaying orbit conserving fuel. She glanced at the clock twenty minutes exactly, as it turned Zoe did not have to look to know River had come on to the bridge. She was horrible pilot, yet probably the best flyer and certainly the best navigator in the verse. River just could not stay focused on or during the mundane tasks that made up the bulk of a pilot's duties. The long watches, constant system checks and myriad of minor details required of pilots in the black simply could not hold that powerful and fractured mind's attention. Girl's hands on flying though; magical in its grace. Emily was in for something special, it made Zoe's heart ache and soar.

River took her seat in the copilot's chair, she never sat in Wash's seat, eyes questioning, and Zoe nodded concentrating on her face, avoiding looking at the bright red forearms and hands. Emily looked at her mother, hopefully and Zoe answered, "Go ahead." A peaceful gentle smile lit River's face as she watched Emily for a moment, it was a strange effect Emily had on River, innocence remembered, or something like that Simon would say. Emily stood next to the chair carefully putting her small hands behind her back. River did not like being touched. Poor girl said things like "catch the Blue, never goes away," or worse. Reaching out River flipped a switch and the touchpad modifications that extended from the arms of the chair folded downwards as the control column activated. River and Kaylee had added this modification a couple of years ago. The pads gave her simultaneous control of every maneuvering and main thruster on Serenity, Wash had made Serenity soar, River's fingers could make Serenity dance, not today though, today they would soar.

Zoe turned away, closing her eyes as River's hands slid across the panels in a most familiar way, hands gripping the column with that easy confidence. Despite herself she listened too River's soft patient voice answering the endless whys. The voice was River's the words were not, Emily was getting her first flying lesson from her father. Zoe stole a glance at Emily; her small face was glowing, paying rapt attention to everything River was saying. A peal of laughter escaped her when River threw her hands in the air crying out "Oh No, Oh No' we're crashing again," the comical look on her face one of mock horror. Zoe wondered for a moment if her daughter somehow knew. Emily was the only one on the ship who had absolutely no fear of the odd young woman, gravitated towards her, sometimes just sitting and staring at her adoringly.

Malcolm Reynolds joined then on the bridge, as their descent slowed and leveled out, leaning nonchalantly against the wall eyeing his adopted daughters with all the pride and love he possessed, and Malcolm Reynolds had a mighty capacity when it came to love.. Glancing at Zoe she saw the hint of guilt in his eyes. Love for his girls shined in those eyes, but Zoe could see the tightness of his face, tension that filled him, a powerful and reckless fury was building in him, had been for a while now. Someone had hurt one of his girls, hurt her in a way that she could never recover from and killed the other's father in his mind. Captain ever got a bearing, well they would be showing folk what unforgiving was. She looked forward to it. Been a long time since her Captain had believed, could shake the verse when he did.

They entered atmo like a whisper just as Wash use too, a perfect dive. Inara bumped like a normal pilot entering atmosphere, Mal usually bounced a couple of times and sometimes he skidded, sort of thought it was fun, which maybe it was for him, for the others not so much. River spoke to Docking control, receiving clearances, while all the time speaking in that soft gentle voice to Emily, words not her own. Emily squealed in delight as River leveled out nose canted downward banking gently this way and that, allowing Persephone to reveal itself in greater detail. Emily watched in wonder as the shapeless mass of Persephone's land formations took on greater and greater detail, green, became forest, became trees in the bare blink of an eye, calm placid blue, turning into white-tipped breakers crashing against coastlines, furious at their containment, wearing great rocks to sand. The transformation fascinated Emily's young mind, nearly as much as River and the controls in her hands, making this magic possible. Emily's eyes darted from the wonderful view, to the console with all its bright lights and screens to the intently focused face of River and the soft words explaining the how and why of it all in childish terms perfect for an inquisitive four-year old. Zoe knew that was exactly how Wash would have done it.

They settled into Eavesdown gently, "like a downy feather," thought Zoe too herself only the Captain's startled look let her know she had accidentally spoken her thought.

Suddenly Emily was beside her wrapping her tiny arms around one of her legs "Momma did you see, did you see," proud as if she had landed the ship her own little self.

"Yes I saw" answered Zoe feeling happiness at her daughter's joy. Soon she would forget most of it and want a new adventure but this was as perfect a moment as Zoe got these days.

Glancing up from her daughter, her eyes met River's, then the girl's eyes dropped to Emily, soft and wondering. River's raw hand extended trembling slightly almost touching a loose strand of Emily's hair before it closed into a tight little fist and jerked back. She smiled a little at Zoe and then the young woman slid gracefully by.

"What do you say Emily?"

"Thank you River, " her high little voice filled with earnest thanks and love, the effect on River Tam surprised Zoe, or maybe it didn't. The girl stopped and turned, her eyes happy and alive like they had not been in ages, a smile made her face radiate a joy long absent. Then she spun away, calling for Simon. Zoe could have sworn she was almost skipping, that is if you can skip and float at the same time. River Tam had been able to do a good thing today, for someone she loved, a very good thing. Something she was proud of, something Simon could be proud of her for. Simon's approval was everything to her sometimes, maybe all the time.

Zoe put it on the list to tell her mister about later. Some thought it strange or sad she talked to Wash everyday. It was practical in Zoe's mind, be good God Damn, if she wasting time talking when she finally got to see him again.