Zoe stifled her own laughter as she ordered Book to tie back his unbelievably wild hair. She wasn't surprised it had frightened River into hiding. She wished Wash had been here to witness it. He would have gotten a good laugh out of the situation and she loved to share jokes with Wash. She'd tell him when he got back, maybe as he and the others were walking in from the hot, smelly town of Canton. They'd be tired and spending time alone with the Captain often made Wash tense and in need of a good laugh. On the other hand, she might wait until she and Wash had retreated to the bunk they shared and tell him then. That way she could have Wash's amusement all to herself. She liked that idea best, imagining Wash doubled over in laughter and clutching at her.
Even as she smiled at the thought, Wash's familiar voice sang out through the cargo bay, "Honey, we're home!"
She turned to see the Captain and Wash strolling companionably up the ramp and into Serenity. Wash grinned broadly at her and Zoe decided to wait to tell him about Book's hair. She wanted him to be serious or bored when she proved that she could make him laugh. So, she turned her thoughts to business.
"Where you guys been?" she asked, faintly reproving. "Captain, Bernoulli's chomping at the bit, says he wants his merchandise yesterday."
"Yeah, well," said the Captain, not looking at all concerned. "We still got a few wrinkles to work out on the deal."
Zoe remembered the rather tense conversation she'd just had with Bernoulli and was about to warn her Captain about upsetting a customer when Wash spoke up first. "Did you know that Jayne is a bona fide folk hero?" Wash asked happily, grinning even more broadly.
He reached out to her with an unsteady hand, as if to physically draw her into the joke.
"Got a song and everything," Wash added, looking at her as if expecting some kind of reaction.
Zoe frowned, smelling the alcohol clinging to him beneath the stench of Canton. She couldn't make sense of his words but the alcohol she understood too well.
"What? You been drinking, husband?" she asked.
If Wash's unrepentant nod hadn't confirmed it, the way he completely missed the quiet anger and disapproval in her tone proved that her husband was drunk. The Captain tried to suppress a smile at the unknown joke but Zoe could hear it in his voice when he explained on Wash's behalf.
"That he has," said Mal, his failure to be serious proving beyond a doubt that he'd been drinking at least as much as Wash. "Don't make it any less the case."
Zoe watched Wash looking at the Captain with unrestrained hilarity. Wash was clearly waiting to catch the Captain's eyes so they could laugh together. As the Captain was keeping a poker face and concentrating too fiercely on his explanation, Zoe figured he knew Wash was staring at him. Zoe wasn't sure she liked the way her husband wanted to share a joke with the Captain or the way the Captain seemed to be avoiding it out of respect for Zoe's presence. She wondered bitterly how many other jokes the two most important men in her life had shared during her absence. She wondered how many drinks. She'd been aggressively playing the role of moderator between them from the time the Captain had first discovered that Wash was sharing her bunk. She felt as if her place had been made obsolete. Then again, she still had a place as First Mate on this crew.
"You telling me that Jayne..." began Zoe.
"It's true," the Captain interrupted and Wash's goofy grin widened. "True enough - we can use it, anyway. We talked a few pillars of the Mudder community into having a little Jayne Day celebration in town square tomorrow."
Wash lost it, holding his stomach and reaching out to Zoe to keep his balance as he laughed hard. His head was bowed, his eyes screwed up in helpless mirth but for once the sound didn't carry Zoe away despite herself. He may have been reaching out to her but it was the Captain's dead-pan expression that was making Wash laugh harder. Zoe knew it was uncharitable and bitter but she couldn't help wondering if the two men had done too much bonding lately. She'd seen the Captain earn the loyalty of lesser men time after time and she wasn't happy to see her husband fall in line like so many other faces. She wanted Wash to be different, to be special and above all, hers. She ignored the Captain's explanation of how Jayne's bizarre fame could help them pull of the job unnoticed. Instead, she focused her gaze firmly on the man she married. She wanted him to tell her the joke, she wanted Wash to want to tell her the joke.
"You're really going to have to start again. Jayne's a what?"
The End
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