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Willow heard Jayne’s raucous laughter before she saw the crew. It was underscored by Wash’s almost hysterical giggles. She smiled and struggled to stand from where she’d been lounging on the couch in the galley.
Zoe was the first on through the door and the look on her face was priceless. Willow quirked an eyebrow at her, but Zoe just shook her head and pressed her lips together. Kaylee was next and she had tears streaming down her face and her hands over her mouth.
“Wha-“ Willow started to ask, but Kaylee waved her off, slapping her hand back over her mouth when a giggle-snort escaped.
She heard Mal swearing a blue streak in both Chinese and English. He hadn’t pitched a fit like that in quite a while. Willow bit her lip in anticipation, knowing that whatever had the others laughing had to do with her man and he wasn’t happy about it.
Then he entered the galley with a still giggling Jayne and Wash behind him.
Willow’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped. “Wa kào*! Mal…what happened?”
Mal turned to look at her, a very put-upon look on his currently feathered face and she couldn’t help it. She giggled.
Mal threw his hands up in the air. “Qīngwā tuófēng gǒu niang yǎng de*! I give up! I want it on record that we are never coming back to this huāngliáng, de yīkuài gǒu shǐ xīngqiú* ever again. Nothing good ever happens here and it always happens to me!”
Willow tried to get her laughter under control, but it was pretty difficult. Her husband was covered from head to toe in feathers. Finally, she cleared her throat and managed a relatively calm tone when she asked, “What exactly did happen?”
Mal huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. A sticky, squelching sound followed the movement and Willow’s eyebrows rose again. “I got knocked off the catwalk of the warehouse into a barrel of honey,” he growled. “When I managed to get out I tripped over a broom and landed hard on a pile of feather pillows.”
Wash let out a high-pitched whine of a laugh and even as Willow tried to glare him into submission she had to bite the inside of her lip to keep from completely losing it. “Oh honey,” she managed.
Mal narrowed his eyes at her and she realized that endearment was probably not going to be welcome for a long time to come.
“He flailed around so gorram much there weren’t none of the pillows left intact,” Jayne helpfully contributed.
“Thankfully,” Zoe interjected, “the proprietor was so beside himself over the accident that he didn’t try to makes us pay for any of it.”
Willow nodded her eyes widening as she grasped for the last threads of her composure. “That is a good thing.”
“What kind of báichī shǎguā* keeps pillows next to something like honey,” Mal muttered sullenly.
At that Willow lost the battle and fell onto the couch laughing, her arms wrapped protectively around her swollen middle. Mal glared fiercely at her, but she couldn’t help it. He sounded like a child and he looked ridiculous. She mentally shrugged. Maybe this would be good practice for when their little one arrived.
Mal just stood there and let her laugh herself out, his glare eventually fading into a look of grudging amusement. Willow knew he loved to hear her laugh, even if it was at his own expense. When she finally calmed down and tried to get up he started to reach out to help her then pulled back abruptly. She giggled again and let Jayne help her up instead.
She came to stand in front of her husband and said as evenly as she could, “Come on, Qíngrén*. Let’s go get you cleaned up.” She reached out and took his sticky hand, valiantly keeping a grimace off her face as she led him towards their quarters. The others left in the galley all looked at each other for a moment.
Kaylee opened her mouth, but before she could say anything they heard Mal yell, “ Tā mā de wǒ ba!*, no! These are my favorite boots! I am not getting rid of them, woman!”
Zoe, Wash, Jayne, and Kaylee all started laughing again and didn’t stop for a very long time.
The crew of Serenity also never did business on Ibsa again.
-30-