The Universe's Mixer

As strange as it seemed, Wash still wasn't over whatever illness had attacked him a month or so back. He was still experiencing general stuffiness and the kind of mucus draining that inspired folks to stuff tissues up their noses while they slept.

But he had his voice back, no matter how hoarse it sounded. And his energy was up. He had meant to get back to Bruce about the extra glass that was stored on Serenity so he decided that this was the perfect day for it.

And the ship had never looked so pretty. Wash had been up-keeping her pretty well since he was here. It was a distraction that got his mind well off of all of his misgivings about the City and his existence in it. And it might well have been the cleanings of places that hadn't been cleaned since the Firefly's purchase that kicked up something into his nostrils that started this whole illness thing in the start.

Bruce was set to arrive any moment and within the small collection of trees sat the large ship, shiny as she had ever been. Wash took pride in that. He sat in the cargo hold with the door open on a chair with Kaylee's parasol. A stack of replacement windows for the shuttles were beside him.

He played "Angry Birds" on his phone while he waited.