"Momma? Momma, I had a bad dream."
Zoe groaned in response to her daughter's insistent tugging of the pillow.
"Momma!"
"I'm comin'," she mumbled, slowly disentangling herself from Wash, who was still deep into unconsciousness.
"I need cocoa."
"Oh, you do, do you?" Zoe looked around for her robe.
"Uh-huh."
"Was the dream really that bad?" She spotted the robe slung over the back of a chair and grabbed it, putting it on as she waited for the little girl to precede her up the ladder.
"That bad." She nodded and gave her mother her plush dinosaur to hold while she climbed.
"Well, if that's how bad it was..." Zoe climbed up second and gave the toy back once they were out of the bunk. Then she took her daughter's free hand and led her into the empty kitchen.
They both squinted when Zoe turned on the light. The little girl clung to her tightly and didn't let go until Zoe needed both hands to find a pan to boil the water. While they waited for it to heat up Zoe found two mugs and let the child put a spoonful of cheap cocoa powder into each. Milo the dinosaur watched the water until it bubbled and then Zoe poured some into each mug. She picked them up and carried them into the common area. Her daughter turned off the light in the kitchen and hurried after her. A different light was flicked on instead and Zoe pulled the little girl onto her lap and gave her her cocoa.
She took a sip of her own drink as her daughter slurped. She had drunk almost half the mug before she looked up at Zoe again.
"Momma?"
"Yes dear?"
"Do you ever have nightmares?"
"Everyone has nightmares, darlin'."
"Even Jayne?"
Zoe laughed. "Even Jayne."
"Huh." The little girl sipped her drink thoughtfully. "So what do you have nightmares about?"
"Ohh, you don't wanna know. Much too scary."
"I ain't scared."
"You were scared of your nightmare."
"But apart from that I ain't scared. Tell me, Momma."
"Oh-kay..." Zoe nodded and shifted her daughter's position on her lap. "I have nightmares about... loud noises. About everythin' goin' red. An' about losin' things; things an' people."
The little girl blinked. "That's silly."
Zoe smiled, amused. "Glad you think so, sweetie."
"My dream was way scarier than that."
"Oh yeah? What was it about?"
"I dreamed that Roland grew to a billion feet high an' chased me all 'round Greenleaf tryin' to eat me."
"Roland?"
"Daddy's new dinosaur. You know, the brontosaurus."
"Ahh. Well, you're right, that's much scarier than any of my dreams."
The little girl finished her cocoa and put down her mug. "Told ya," she said, leaping off Zoe's lap and wiping her mouth with her sleeve.
Zoe laughed. "Come on then, you, back to bed."
They returned the mugs to the kitchen and rinsed them out. The little girl skipped back to her bed and Zoe tucked her in and kissed her and Milo the dinosaur goodnight.
Then she lay back down next to Wash and dreamed of sunshine.