Wash had changed like Maxine. He no longer spouted Mandarin as much as he did before. Though he did offer Maxine conversation when she wanted, he had grown akin to the emotion brought on by words like 'shit,' 'damn,' and occasionally (and not in front of Maxine) 'fuck.' Though a stub to his toe or a pure surprise and he would speak more Mandarin than the entirety of China. And old habits did die hard.
Wash had also watched the little blonde girl change and was worried. All of his attempts to excite her with her own abilities had failed. So he'd waited and watched and did all he could. She was going to become a good little navigator, if she wasn't careful.
"About that--" he started to respond to Bruce with a clap of his hands and one foot forward. But a small voice took him off guard. He drew his phone out of his pocket and his the heel of his hand to his head. Right! School was over!
"Monkey face!" he exclaimed, each name he called her being more and more random as time went on. "Hey! Welcome back. You probably thought I forgot when you were coming back, didn't you? It's interesting that you mention it. I might have. Rawr!"
And with the noise he hauled her up from the floor taking on the brunt of her grown weight and books.
"My God, Bruce! What are they feeding kids in school these days?" he asked as he strained. "Did you eat bricks today? You know how I feel about concrete in the toilet!"
He grinned and let her down.
"Bruce, this is Maxine. She is second in command of the Serenity. Ish. Maxine, this is Bruce; that big pile of glass is for him and he is taking a tour of the ship. I was just about to tell Bruce how Tony made the engine room a nice shade of blue. He says it's an arc generator, but I'm pretty sure that's a made up word. It keeps the power on, though," Wash said, obviously lighter in mood since the girl had arrived.