Fic: Love, Honor, and Disobey (Firefly)

[butterfly]

Title: Love, Honor, and Disobey
Author: Diana Michelle (butterfly)
Timeline: Backstory, pre-series, no movie spoilers.
Rating: PG
Summary: Mal absolutely forbids it, and that's final.
Disclaimer: Created by Joss, fucked over by Fox, resurrected over at Universal. Not a jot of it owned by me.

Love, Honor, and Disobey

"I will not have it," Mal said. "Do you hear me?"

"I'm not seeing as to where it's your choice, sir," Zoe said. Mal sputtered for a moment, and was looking throughly flummoxed. Zoe knew that she shouldn't be enjoying it so, but she hadn't ever really surprised him before, and he'd needed some shaking up, in any case.

"Not my choice?" Mal said. "Which one of us is running this boat?"

"You are, sir," Zoe said. "But that don't mean you run me."

"Since when?" Mal muttered. He glared at her for a moment, and she stared back calmly. His eyes narrowed. "I forbid it. I absolutely forbid any sort of misbegotten union between you and that qing wa cao de liu mang."

"Thought he was a brilliant pilot that you'd never seen the likes of before," Zoe said. "Sir."

"Yeah, well... things change," Mal said. "I've forbidden it, it's been forbidden, and you'll have to tell him no."

"Sir," Zoe said. She hadn't been expecting the Captain to throw her and Wash a parade, but she'd been hoping for a mite warmer of a reception than this. "That's not possible, as it turns out."

"Zao gao," Mal said, with feeling. "What does that mean?"

"It's already been done, sir," Zoe said. "Civil ceremony. Last night."

"You got yourself married and didn't tell me?" Mal asked, some hurt mixing in with the anger in his voice. "Then what's the point of asking me today?"

"Didn't ask, sir," Zoe said, reproachfully. "Said, sir. Was you that interpreted it as a question."

"Cause it shoulda been," Mal said, leaning back against the console with a bit of a sulk, which meant that he'd decided to ungraciously give in. "Next thing, we'll be tripping over some shoeless toddler, and I don't hold with children on my boat, dong ma?"

"Wasn't planning on having them right away, sir," Zoe said.

"Planning on giving me any advance notice on that one?" Mal asked.

"I'll let you know at least a week before I give birth, sir," Zoe said. Mal glared at her again.

"That husband of yours is rubbing off on you," he announced, pushing away from the console. "Don't like it, not in the least."

"Sorry, sir," Zoe said.

"No, you ain't," Mal said. He sighed and glanced out the cockpit window, the sight of all the grass and trees seeming to depress him a bit. "I'm gonna go track down our genius mechanic, see why we're still on the ground."

"Yes, sir," Zoe said.

"You wouldn't have had the chance if we'd been out in the black," Mal said gloomily. She did feel a little bad, him taking it so hard, but she couldn't do nothing about that. Body had to grab what happiness could be had, and someday he'd realize that, too. "Better get us back out there, before you decide to up and marry Bester, too."

"That's not legal, sir," Zoe pointed out.

"Yeah, well, and pulling the wool over your Captain's eyes ain't right," Mal said, heading out of the cockpit. "You think on that."

Zoe watched him head down the set of stairs into the corridor, and, as the Captain had requested, thought on her new arrangement with Wash for a spell. The way he'd gone all fluttery last night, when she'd cornered him and asked if he was angling for a lifetime or just a stop-over while he was piloting their ship. The shocked, pleased look in his eyes when she'd knelt over on top of him, after, even though it hadn't been the first time they'd shared bunk.

He'd touched her like he did the ship, like he knew where all the controls were already, and just needed to get adjusted to the quirks. He'd run his hands down her body, made her soar just as he did Serenity. Should make her uncomfortable, him knowing her so well. Should, but didn't, not anymore.

Zoe rubbed her hand over the back of the empty pilot's seat, longing to be touching skin instead.

It was a bit of a thrill to realize that there wasn't nothing stopping her. They were grounded, some engine part or another broke down. Captain didn't need her for anything, not now, and she'd told him her piece. She could go, find Wash, get him moved down into her bunk. That seemed like a better plan than anything she'd heard yet today.

And it was what she wanted to do, anyhow.

~fade to black~

Comments

[babel.livejournal.com]

!!! That was charming. I was laughing at Mal more than once, poor guy. You write him just about as perfectly as I've seen. (And, haha, the title is great. ♥)

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

And yes, it can be quite easy to laugh at Mal sometimes. I think that this may be part of why I adore him so.

[electricmayhem.livejournal.com]

I love your Zoe. You captured her voice perfectly. And I shall refrain from saying anything else to keep spoliers out of the post.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

Zoe is such a strong, calm person, but Wash brings out this wonderful lighter side. I really do adore them.

[honorh.livejournal.com]

I do love this. I've often wondered what that scene between Mal and Zoe was like, and your interpretation will do quite nicely.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

It just came to me, on a rewatch of War Stories, when I realized that Mal wasn't there when Zoe married Wash (as he doesn't know the content of their wedding vows).

[madame-parker.livejournal.com]

Everything about that was just great, I'm going to see Serenity later on today, I can't wait and this just has me in a mood, I'll be dreaming Mal in a bad mood about babies running all over his ship, lol, I love this and I'd love to read more of your Serenity fuelled stories.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

Mal really is a sweetheart of a guy, no matter what he tries to claim.

[fatale.livejournal.com]

Oh, man. Something about Mal and Zoe's fierce friendship is incredibly touching and warm. I'm not sure how she can make 'Sir' sound like such an equalizer.

(does that make sense? at all? I liked this fic, so I'll shut up now. :/)

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

And yes! I love that about them myself. I've never heard anyone say 'Sir' with as much humanity as Zoe does. She respects Mal more than she could ever say, but knows that he's utterly without a clue at times.

[cruelest-month.livejournal.com]

This was absolutely perfect and so them. I could practically hear them talking in my head. Brilliant work.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

And I really adore your icon. Zoe looked all kinds of pretty in the BDM.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Love it, as I do Zoe, Wash, and Mal. As others have said, only Zoe uses "Sir" this way, and you're a genius for capturing it.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

And yeah, I love them all so much. All the respect and love and reality of them.

[tafkarfanfic.livejournal.com]

Awwwwwwww....

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is wonderful! You've got Mal and Zoe down perfect, and I adored this:

He'd touched her like he did the ship, like he knew where all the controls were already, and just needed to get adjusted to the quirks.

Gah.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Mal and Zoe have this amazing wonderful friendship and platonic devotion to each other that is a whole lot of interesting to me.

And yeah, Zoe/Wash are my favorite 'ship on Firefly. They're such a great couple and they're so much in love and... *sigh*

[voleuse.livejournal.com]

Awwww. This is lovely.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad that you enjoyed it.

[raincitygirl.livejournal.com]

Heee! So cute.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm thrilled that you liked the story.

[viciouswishes.livejournal.com]

Wonderful. Your voices are pitch perfect.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm so glad that they felt right to you.

Out of curiosity, did someone recently rec this? I just got three new comments out of nowhere, which is fantastic, but a bit surprising.

[viciouswishes.livejournal.com]

I know it was rec'd somewhere. But I can't tell you where. Sorry. (I bookmark so many things in a day for later reading.)

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Ah, no worries. Curiosity can't always be satisfied.

[invisibleshrew.livejournal.com]

"I'll let you know at least a week before I give birth, sir," Zoe said.

Oh, Zoe. *hearts*

All kinds of adorable - I liked this a lot! (here from del.icio.us btw)

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I'm so glad that you enjoyed the ficlet. Zoe is one of the best characters ever. I adore her.