Wash was dozing off. Finally dozing off after what had been a long, hard day of partly escaping from the crew's latest would-be employers, but mainly trying to keep Zoe even halfway comfortable and happy.
At the moment she was lying in bed next to him, hogging all the covers so she could cover herself, including her meanwhile very large belly, from head to toe. At any other time he would have tried to pull at least some of them away from her; however, pregnancy had made her extremely tetchy, and disturbing her when she was trying to get to sleep would not be a good idea. The Wrath of Zoe was something to be feared.
He could tell that she wasn't asleep yet. She had that expression on her face that meant she was concentrating very hard on something, and right now it was on becoming unconscious. When she was asleep... well, peaceful wasn't always the way she looked, but vulnerable certainly was. He only very occasionally saw her look vulnerable apart from when she was asleep, and no one else ever saw her look that way, except maybe Mal.
But no, right now her expression was neither peaceful nor vulnerable. It was more... extremely frustrated.
She sighed in exasperation and opened her eyes for the hundredth time since they had gone to bed, a good two hours ago now. Seeing that Wash was still awake too, and looking at her intently, she rearranged the covers yet again and angrily pushed the hair off her face.
"You know, I never thought someone kicking you from the inside could be so gorram uncomfortable. I think I'm gettin' bruises on all my internal organs."
"Well, we could see the doctor, maybe he cou-"
"No, he'll be asleep."
"But if-"
"Wash, I said no! I can't go cryin' to the doctor for every little thing. I'm fine, really."
Wash raised his eyebrows. Zoe ignored him and turned to lie on her back.
Wash watched her. Her eyes were open and she was drumming her fingers on the bed, so he knew she wasn't going to sleep anytime soon.
After a few minutes she sighed again and stopped the drumming. Another few minutes and she gave another sigh and closed her eyes.
Maybe she would actually go to sleep this time, Wash thought, being careful not to breathe too loudly or make a movement of any kind. If only he could see her face properly... he couldn't make out her expression from this angle.
When her breathing slowed down and became more regular about ten minutes later, he decided that she was out. Lying back in a more comfortable position, he closed his eyes in relief.
"That's it."
He opened his eyes again and squinted at Zoe, who was now sitting bolt upright.
"I need something to drink," she told him, standing up carefully. She walked over to his side of the bunk and grabbed his robe.
"D'you want me to...?" he asked groggily, propping himself up on his elbow.
"I think I can get a glass of water on my own," she told him, then cursing because she couldn't find the sleeves.
"Okay..."
Zoe finally managed to get the robe on. She hastily donned some footwear and made her way to the ladder, which she was far to big to climb, in Wash's opinion, but she had absolutely refused to move to a passenger dorm, and what could you do then without incurring some serious Wrath?
"Zoe," he said, sitting up properly.
"What?" she asked, pausing with her foot on the first rung to look back at him.
"Just... don't kill anyone," he told her. No one deserved a Zoe in a bad mood.
He thought he saw the side of her mouth twitch just the tiniest bit. "You take away all my fun," she said, a little of the twinkle returning to her eyes.
Wash smiled at this and lay back, listening to the sound of her combat boots (only kind of shoes she owned, she was always proud to admit) on the metal rungs.
A mouth twitch and a twinkle from his favorite Zoe.
His long, hard day seemed a whole lot nicer already.