(no subject)
Title: How to Love Your Garden
Author: damn_hero_zoe
Rating: PG
Prompt: weeds
Pairing: Zoë
I was born on a ship. Lived most of my life out in the black, with two noteable exceptions. One was the war. The other was a year my momma and I spent on Harvest before she was killed, before I joined up.
We didn't have much, but we had each other and it was enough for me. We had just lost my dad and it was peaceful. A few weeks before the Alliance came to our town, my momma took me out to her garden. It was small, but it florished ans she was proud of it.
"Wanna know my secret, Zoe? Wanna know what keeps this little oasis of mine alive?" I smiled and nodded at her. She was always trying to teach me little things and I loved her for it.
She knelt in the dirt and tended her garden as she spoke. "Ain't the amount of land. Ain't the amount of sunlight. Ain't the amount of water." She pulled some weeds away from the tomato plant and held them up to me. "Sure those things are important, but what really makes a garden grow is love. You gotta love it enough to take care of it. To water it. To prune it. To let it grow." She smiled at me and I joined her in the dirt and loved her garden.
~~~~~~~
It's been a little over a year now as we journey back. I hold little Wash on my hip as River lands. She turns and looks at me and I offer her a smile as I hand her nephew back to her. He coos as I leave the bridge and head out to the cargo bay, grabbing the bag I had left by the door on my way.
I walk towards that hill, my heart catching in my throat. The holo images as slower and have more static. I make a note in my head to ask Kaylee if she can fix them. I stand, looking at the image of my Wash for a moment. Tears form but do not fall. Not yet.
I kneel down in the sirt and pull the little weeds away from the markers. There weren't many, but they were gone before they knew what was happening. I pull a trowel and a packet of seeds from my bag. I dig careful holes around Mr. Universe and Book's markers, planting the seeds deep in the dirt. It is warm and I sit back on my heels and wipe my brow.
I pull out another packet of seeds and begin to work again. Around Wash I plant forget-me-nots. It was what I would have planted around my momma if I could have. The tears fall softly as I feel a hand on my shoulder. I look up at Mal. He says nothing. Everyone has gathered behind me. I put the trowel back in my bag and stand up, brushing my hands of on my pants.
We stand quietly for a moment. Kaylee bounces her son on her hip and Inara starts to hum "Amazing Grace." I sing along, softly at first, as I bend down and retrieve the container of water from my bag. I walk slowly around the markers, loving the seeds as I sing.
I look at Wash's image as I sing "I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see." I take a breath and whisper "I love you." Inara's hand slips onto my shoulder and I start to cry again. He had really saved me. More than once. He always had been and always would be my hero. I took another breath and walked around his marker, loving the forget-me-nots, for I would never, ever forget him.