Something was different on Serenity tonight. Not

wrong, not dangerous, just different. A slight

alteration in the processing of events by everyone's

minds, even her own, River realized after a moment.

As she climbed down, she realized there was a slight

change in her own perceptions. For example, the third

rung down on the ladder into her bunk was full three

centimeters below the second then the second was to

the first. She'd never noticed this before. River'd

had this bunk for months and never noticed that

before...

...Maybe it was the dried potatoes.

***

Kaylee was exhausted. Had been since dinner. She'd

eaten a bit more then was normal and was tired from

eating nearly too much. That, and staying up hours

after running check after check on the engine wasn't

doing much for her eyelids power to defy

gravity...which also worked just fine.

Practically falling down the ladder into her bunk,

Kaylee yawned and sat on her bed, looking briefly at

the dress that still hung at the end of it. Made her

feel like a princess, best she could remember. Then

the night had been interrupted and the feeling was

lost.

As Kaylee stretched out on her bed, she found herself

wishing she could, just once, feel like a princess

again.

***

Simon had screwed up. Again.

He'd been planning it for weeks. Leave a note in

Kaylee's bunk asking her to meet him in the cargo

bay...and to wear her dress. Music he'd downloaded

off the cortex (illegally, not that it made any

difference in the long run) set to play, his own best

suit, and leftovers he'd scrounged up from various

evenings to make a nice-looking little stew if he did

say so himself.

Then he'd seen how much Shepherd had made for dinner

that night. Kaylee had filled up, no need for the

stew. In fact, it would just make things awkward.

Best save it for another night. Stash it in the

kitchen...

Sometimes, Jayne made him positively furious. It was

seeing Jayne eating what he'd prepared so

specifically, and comp