Wash wasn't the only one who flinched. His death would always haunt her. She knew there was nothing she could have done to change it, but that didn't make it any easier. She gave him a slight smile, then a slightly bigger one.
"Ever known me to be silly enough to go heroing in bits of fluff and frill?" A brow rose as she asked the question. "I left that to the captain and his flowered bonnets. Or his frequent times when he lacked clothes at all." The first officer had always been the one in clothes rather than out of them.
Her eyes dropped to his hand on her arm. His words stung as much as the feeling of guilt. She hadn't be disloyal to him, or his memory. As much as he was possessive, he'd never want her unhappy, that much she believed. She couldn't live alone forever; would he expect her to do so?
"I'm older. Plumper maybe." She was in fit condition, possibly more so than he'd ever seen her as she was now getting proper fresh food to eat on a regular basis. "Been grounded for nigh on five years. Here." Her clothes were certainly different. No leather pants, no sidearm or Mare's Leg. There was the leather tie about her neck, but her clothes seemed newer and better quality. They also seemed tailor made, and accented more of her womanly attributes without being just tight.