The galley is quiet when he enters, the crew still tense after River's descent into crazyland the night before. She's not here, obviously, and he guesses Simon must be keeping her company. Kaylee gives him a wan smile, then dumps her plate in the sink where Book is washing up. Both Inara and Jayne are nowhere to be seen, and the captain stalks out of the room with barely a nod of acknowledgment.

"Was it something I said?" he asks the air, hoping to ease his own mind if nothing else.

Zoe smiles and brushes a kiss across his lips before leaving without a word. He's feeling a bit bewildered, but that's nothing new in the state of the 'verse. He digs into lunch, the stew starting to congeal but the biscuits still warm at the core.

"Sometimes it sucks being the pilot," he grunts over the meal.

"They're just worried, son," Book says, his voice like the purr of Kaylee's fine tuned engine. "Doesn't reflect on you any."

Wash sighs, gulps down more of the cold stew. "I know," he admits. "It just seems like I'm the last to know about what's going on most of the time. And here I thought sleeping with the first mate would change that."

Book smiles at him, but doesn't call him on the absurdity. "Maybe you just need to open your eyes to the things that are right in front of you," he says cryptically.

Wash shakes his head and chomps on the biscuit. Maybe the shepherd is right, but sometimes it's better not to know.

On to Vigilance.