It was early the following morning and a small group had gathered outside the locker room that Wellington used as their brig.

The remaining members of Gamma Squad were there. Mal had insisted that he be released from the infirmary and was there, in a wheelchair, pushed by Edith. If this was to be the end of one of his boys he insisted on being there for it. Zoe, Simon and Jayne were there of course, Jayne had insisted on being the executioner:

"If my brother has to be given mercy, then I'm gonna be the son of a bitch who gives it to him!"

The leaders of all three communities were there, minus Rawlins, who was still in the infirmary dealing with the loss of his eye. Joel had turned to Riley as they entered the brig's front door and said to him:

"I hope to fuck you're wrong!"

Riley had looked back at him and replied sadly:

"So do I"

Finally Clementine was there and she had insisted on going into the brig with Jayne. No one could dissuade her, no matter how hard they tried. No matter what state her boyfriend was in in that room, she was going to be there for him.

The guard apprehensively unlocked the solid steel door, as Jayne cocked his glock and nodded to him, Clementine right behind him.

The guard opened the door and stood back in fear, Jayne rushing in the room and Clementine went in just as fast behind him.

Jayne was nervous, apprehensive, even fearful. Not for his safety, but for his brother. Not much could be seen in the shadow filled brig in the early morning, it had only small windows at the top of its walls and they were blocked from getting sunlight until the afternoon.

Jayne looked around before finally seeing Y/N sat, in the corner, half covered by shadow.

"How you feeling brother? Say something... anything..." Jayne said pleadingly as Clementine prayed behind him. Y/N finally leant forward, his face and eyes visible and unaffected by any 'Reaver syndrome' as he replied hoarsely:

"Like hammered shit!"

Clementine gasped in relief and rushed passed a relieved beyond words Jayne, falling down into Y/N's arms, hugging him tightly before she leant in smiling and passionately kissed her boyfriend.

—~—

Six months had passed and much had happened since the defeat of the Reavers. Y/N had, to the shock of everyone, emerged from the Reaver turning with no sign of infection.

He had though been pulled from military duty, like Mal and any other injured soldier in the 'Battle of Reaver Valley' on full pay.

When Y/N had insisted on the fact that he wasn't injured in the battle and had been told he was diagnosed with 'psychological distress', it hadn't gone down well.

Rawlins had tried to put the blame on Y/N and Jayne for the disastrous losses suffered by the three communities, but Hugh and the other Oligarchs had refused to let that slide, and at a public hearing had expressed the concerns Y/N had raised on the lack of available intelligence, which Rawlins had dismissed out of hand. Public opinion had quickly turned against him- many Wellingtonians had lost loved ones in the Battle, and Rawlins had fled in disgrace in the middle of the night- stealing a car and supplies when he went.

Speaking of Hugh and the Oligarchs- they, along with Riley and Joel, had wanted to award Y/N a special medal for defeating the Reavers single handedly. He had refused, having no interest in such things, and no wish to be paraded as some kind of hero when his brothers and sisters were six feet under. Riley had thanked Y/N repeatedly for his efforts when the Bethnal contingent left Wellington. Joel had told him that he, Clementine and AJ would always have a place at Jackson if they wanted it.

Y/N and the other surviving members of the now defunct Gamma Squad- Mal, Zoe and Jayne, all got matching tattoos on their left shoulders- a large face of the Virgin Mary, coupled with stylized letters spelling Gamma above, as a tribute to their lost comrades.

Y/N had joined the hunting patrol and was currently working three days a week, often nabbing what he could to help supplement Wellington's food production.

The days at home were spent with Clementine and AJ and in Wellington's gym. Y/N had added a bit of muscle, as well as improving his already pretty outstanding fitness.

It was one such gym day when Y/N was working a heavy bag punching away when Mad-Dog Grimes, the man who shared Y/N's mutual dislike of each other, was sparring in the ring with an opponent.

The opponent had full protective gear on, from head to stomach, but was still struggling to keep up with Mad-Dog, who was completely bullying him in the ring, much to the amusement of the tattooed gym rat groupies who always gathered around Mad-Dog when he was in the ring, but not so much to his trainer, Colt who was yelling out "keep it light, keep it light!"

Y/N turned in time to see a backwards hammerfist knock the trainee out cold.

"God damn it!" Colt yelled in frustration as Mad-Dog laughed "oops" and high fived his hanger ons, asking Colt:

"Where do you find these girls?"

Colt turned to his fighter and said angrily:

"We've finally got a tournament coming up and you wanna kill everyone we can get to help you train?"

Y/N watched as Colt called out to one of the gym employees:

"Hey go see if you can find that Cuban kid who comes in sometimes. If he's here in ten minutes he gets 200 bones."

"Hey, I'll fight him!" Y/N called out. He had been keeping all the bones from his military 'pension' and hunting work that he and Clem didn't need to use for daily living in a large box under his and Clementine's bed. Their home was great, but AJ was growing. There were larger places in the centre of town that would let the little Ass-kicker have his own room but they were expensive. Y/N wouldn't turn down a chance to earn some easy bones, especially if it meant throwing hands with this Mad-Dog prick.

Before Colt could answer Mad-Dog had smirked and yelled out:

"Hey hero, why don't you bring that cute little girlfriend of yours in here sometime?" with a devious smirk. Y/N's face had gone from neutral to cold as he walked forward, Colt quickly jumping in between and adding:

"He's only kidding Y/N. Why don't you go back to your punching bag. We don't need no war heroes getting hurt today."

Y/N pushed down the thoughts that were fast growing in his head and turned back to his bag, punching it hard, imagining Mad-Dog's face. Only moments later the lackey returned, yelling out:

"No good Colt, I can't find him."

"All I'm saying is I'm happy to keep your boy warm for you. That's all" Y/N yelled out again.

Colt looked across at Mad-Dog who grinned, then signalled Y/N over and said to him quietly.

"We all saw what you did to Rawlins, but don't bullshit me. You ever fought before?"

"Yeah" Y/N nodded, looking at Colt earnestly.

"You get tuned up in here that's on you, Y/N. Ain't nothing coming back on me or Dog."

"Sure, no problem" Y/N answered just as straight faced.

—~—

The two stood on either side of the boxing ring as the bell rang, both having had MMA half gloves taped on. They approached each other and Y/N instantly threw out a Forward kick, surprising not just Mad-Dog but his entourage as he was pushed back to the corner. He looked at Y/N furiously and snapped:

"Alright hero, you wanna be a tough guy?"

He charged out, exchanging blows and kicks with Y/N that each fighter blocked before Y/N caught him with a half spin to the shins that caught Mad-Dog off guard, nearly making him land on his face.

"Watch the legs, watch the legs, keep your hands up" Colt yelled as Mad-Dog got to his feet and growled in frustration.

He walked over to Y/N looking serious and threw out a number of combos that looked to have Y/N on the back foot, various calls of "there you go" "there you go" from his corner before Y/N caught a kick to the flank under his arm and countered with a solid fist straight to Mad-Dog's jaw, dropping him and causing him to spin on all fours as Y/N simultaneously released his leg.

Y/N gave him no reprieve though as he was down over his opponent, throwing lefts one after the other into the side of Mad-Dog's head as Colt yelled "cover up, cover up". More of the gym had stopped to watch the fight in the ring.

"Get up man, get up" Mad-Dog's corner yelled, but as soon as he began to Y/N lifted him from behind in a half Nelson and slammed him back to the mat.

He hurriedly got up and backed into the corner, Y/N giving him no space as he threw punches and then grabbed Mad-Dog's head, brutally kneeing him several times in the face before a savage cross knocked Mad-Dog out cold and left him hanging off the ropes.

There was a shocked silence throughout the gym as Y/N puffed and walked across to Colt. He stood looking down at the smaller and extremely intimidated trainer and said calmly, but in Y/N's tone that said he wasn't playing:

"You owe me 200 bones!"

—~—

It was evening and Y/N was home with Clementine and AJ. Clementine was sat on the couple's couch happily feeding AJ his bottle as Y/N cooked the couple dinner.

Y/N had just finished sautéing the fresh veg to go alongside the venison strips he had been given (after bagging the deer for the community) when there was a knock at the front door.

"Could you get that babe? AJ's nearly finished" Clementine called out. Y/N turned off the gas-bottle powered stovetop he cooked with and smiled as he walked to the front door.

"Of course Clemmy. But this better be Colt with my bones" he said, shocked when he opened it to see Hugh standing at his front door.

"Evening, Y/N. Lovely night isn't it, if a bit brisk" Hugh smiled as Y/N looked at him puzzled.

"Yeah. I was just cooking us dinner and-"

"May I come in for a minute, Y/N? Its about the gym today, what happened" Hugh smiled.

"Yeah, come in" Y/N said angrily, walking in and getting a chair from their dining table for Hugh to sit on across from the couch.

As Hugh sat and Y/N did so on the couch next to his girlfriend and son he said without hiding his distain.

"The two of us walked into that ring. If Mad-Dick had kicked my ass I wouldn't have gone running to an Oligarch to cry about it."

Hugh chuckled at Y/N's response as Clementine began to burp AJ, replying:

"No that's not it, Y/N. We've got an event happening next month, a summer celebration, between us, Bethnal Green and Jackson and we had a space that we were struggling to fill. I want to make you an offer..."