"Jayne, go get the bag," said Mal.

"Why?"

"Just do it," said Mal. Jayne walked over to the store where Diamond's bag was still lying on the ground, grumbling all the way. Zoë stood next to Mal.

"She going to be okay?" she asked.

"Hard tellin'," said Mal.

Diamond opened her eyes and sat up slowly. With a small gasp of pain, she switched her weight onto her left arm. She rolled the bloody arm warmer down her arm. Flexing, she said, "Damn."

Jayne walked up with Diamond's bag in hand. Grabbing it, Diamond unzipped it and rummaged around in it. A ripping noise came from within the bag, and Diamond pulled out a strip of cloth. Putting one end in her mouth, she managed to tie the strip tightly around her wound.

Then she zipped the bag shut and stood up. "Well, Captain, it's been fun. We'll have to do it again in Hell."

Turning, Diamond took a few steps away and then collapsed. Walking over to her, Mal could see that she had passed out, either from shock, blood loss, or both.

"Zoë," he said. She walked over to him and they carefully put Diamond back in the bag. Then they picked the bag up, and headed back towards Serenity.

"Capt'n, what the hell are you doin'? I thought we was just gonna leave her here!" said Jayne.

"Slight change of plans," said Mal. He tossed a radio to Jayne. "Call Wash. Tell him to have Simon get the infirmary ready. We'll be there in five minutes."



An hour later, Diamond awoke to find herself back on the table in the infirmary. 'At least I'm still dressed,' she thought. She looked around. There was a blood covered bullet in a tray on the counter. 'No doubt from my arm,' she told herself. She looked down and saw a white bandage around her arm, where her tourniquet had been. There was a heart monitor beeping behind her, measuring her stats by a chord attached to her chest.

At that moment, Mal walked in. "Good," he said. "You're awake."

Diamond stared at him, resisting the urge to say something smart. Instead, she asked, "Why am I here?"

"Because you got shot."

'Looks like I'm not the only smartass on board,' Diamond thought. 'Well, two can play that game.' "Really? I thought white bandages on the arm were the new style."

"Well, you'd know all about style, wouldn't you?" asked Mal, leaning against the doorframe and crossing his arms over his chest, apparently settling in.

"Why am I back on the ship?" asked Diamond, ignoring the outfit slam.

"Would you rather be on that planet, alone, where no one wants you?"

Diamond crossed her arms, ignoring the sharp pain in her right arm, and looked away from the Captain. "Are you trying to say that you want me?" she asked, a biting, disbelieving edge to her voice. "You saved my life, I saved yours. We're even."

"You can leave," said Mal. "As soon as you tell me the truth. Your parents aren't really Alliance, are they?"

Diamond was quiet for a moment. Then she quietly said, "No."

"Then why--"

"Because they took me," Diamond said, looking at Mal, fire in her eyes.

"The Alliance took you?"

Diamond nodded. "My parents died when I wasn't even a year old. Some friends of theirs took me in. When I was three, the Alliance came to our planet. Something had happened, and they were pissed off. They came to destroy our planet."

Diamond sighed. "My parents' friends knew that the end was near. They pinned a note to my shirt and told me to stay in the house. And then they went outside."

'No,' thought Mal.

"Their blood was splattered on the windows within ten seconds," said Diamond. "When the killing was over, the Alliance started raiding houses, looking for hideaways to kill and valuables to steal. After they cleaned a house, they burned it to the ground. When the Alliance came to my house, they saw me standing in the corner. The weird thing was, I wasn't scared or crying. A member came over and read the note attached to my shirt."

"Which said what, exactly?" asked Mal.

" 'I can be of use to the Alliance. Please spare my life for my lifelong service'. So, the Alliance finished rummaging through my house, took me outside, and burned the place. Once onboard the Alliance ship, they gave me my necklace and told me I was one of theirs now. They trained me and made me what I am today."

"If you're so special to them, why'd they drop you off on that planet?"

"You tell me." said Diamond.

Mal turned and walked out of the infirmary.



"Drinking already, Captain?" asked Zoë as she walked into the kitchen where Mal was sitting, cup in hand. "We haven't even dropped the girl off."

"Clears my mind. Helps me think."

"Is that why you ended up married to Saffron?"

Mal grimaced, recalling the awful memory. "I figure I'm safe from unwanted marriage on my own ship," he said.

"So what are we going to do about the girl?"

Mal sighed. "Dunno. Maybe Wash is right."

"Sir, how much have you had to drink?"

"She's not a full-bread Alliance member," said Mal, taking another drink.

"Sir?"

"I was just in the infirmary. She told me how she was abducted into the Alliance."

"You mean 'inducted'?"

"No. The Alliance ransacked her home planet and took her aboard when she was three. She says they trained her to be what she is today."

"How do you know she wasn't just telling a tale?" asked Zoë, the doubt in her voice.

"The heart monitor. Her pulse stayed the same. It never jacked way up."

"Still, she's Alliance. They could have taught her to lie during all that 'training'."

"Then why'd she push me out of the way and take that bullet?" asked Mal, looking at Zoë. "Words can lie, but actions can't."

"You've been talking to the preacher, haven't you, sir?"

"Just a tad," Mal said, draining his cup.



That night, Diamond stayed in her bunk during dinner. She wasn't very hungry. The doctor probably frowned at her not eating after getting shot. 'But what's he gonna do?' Diamond asked herself. 'Force-feed me?'

Just then, the door opened. Standing there, tray in hand, was the doctor.

"You should eat something," he said.

"Maybe later." said Diamond. She waited for him to say something more, just so she could have an excuse to kick his ass. She was feeling very testy lately. 'Probably due to all the drugs I've been pumped with.'

The doctor nodded uncertainly, set the tray down, and shut the door behind him.

An hour later, the door opened again. This time, the Captain was standing in the doorway. He looked from Diamond to the tray sitting on the floor. "You haven't eaten anything." he said.

"Congrats, you win the 'state-the-obvious' contest." said Diamond. "Can I help you?"

Mal shut the door and help up a white object. "The doctor wanted me to change your dressings."

'There are so many things I could say to that,' Diamond thought. But she sat up and rolled her sleeve up.

Mal walked over and undid the bloody bandage. "So," he said. "What was the name of your home planet?"

"Why do you care? What's it matter?"

"We need somewhere to drop you off. I thought you might want to get in touch with your roots." He looked at her arm. "That's a nasty hole you got in your arm."

"Could be in your chest," said Diamond. "My home planet is shit. Just drop me off somewhere so I can try to forget all of this."

"Are you trying to run away from your past?"

"Are you drunk?"

"Only slightly."

Diamond looked at the Captain. "The past is the past and nothing more. It can't be changed, no matter how much you hope and dream."

"You're so cynical."

"You're--"

Mal leaned forward and kissed Diamond. 'This is why I don't drink,' he told himself. But was it all alcohol?

'What am I doing?' Diamond asked herself. 'Why am I enjoying this? Was I drugged?'

But neither could pull away. And the kiss led to a touch. And the touch led to….



Diamond walked off the ship slowly. This was it. Her leaving. At least there were people around this time. And no shooting. She turned back to look at the crew.

"Bye!" called Kaylee. "Have fun!"

'Fun?' thought Diamond. 'The only fun I've ever had involved kicking ass. Oh God, I'm turning into Jayne.'

"Thanks," said Diamond. "For everything." She looked at the Captain. He was staring off into the distance. To look at him, you would have never known what had happened or what had been said.

'But it's for the best, I suppose,' Diamond thought. 'He was drunk. He probably doesn't even remember anything.'

'Does she remember what happened last night?' Mal thought to himself. 'Or did those painkillers create memory blackouts?'

Diamond met Mal's eyes. A flashback of everything that had happened went screaming through their minds. Then she turned and walked off into the crowd.