Rating: PG13, to be safe

Disclaimer: the usual, all Joss's

Author's Note: occurs post-BDM, but Wash is here. Also this was getting long, so there's a bit more that I will post later. Can a two-parter have an epilogue? Eh, either way, this one will. Comments are much appreciated!

Sleep Study (part 2 of 2)

The next morning, Simon beat River and Jayne to the table. He was seated before he noticed that no one else was serving them self. All attention was on the empty doorway. He glanced around and registered who was missing, and realized they were waiting for River and/or Jayne.

When those two appeared, though, there didn’t seem anything significant about their arrival, aside from the fact that they were together. Hmm . . . Simon’s eyes began to narrow as he followed his sister’s walk across the room. Jayne was following, focused completely on the breakfast that was laid out. They weren’t interacting at all, but there was something . . . they looked like they were together. Not in a just-met-in-the-corridor manner, but in a walked-here-with-each-other way. It wasn’t something Simon had observed them to do before. Speculations percolating through his mind, he watched them serve themselves, all with a quiet companionship that was notable only for its newness.

“So,” Mal’s voice, so devoid of expression that Simon glanced over check the look on his face, “we’re a mite calm this morning.” Just that, nothing in it to stimulate the glare Jayne sent his way. Had there been a slight emphasis on the word ‘this’? Simon heard Wash choke back a snort, and when he looked that way Zoë was giving her husband one of those private ‘hush-up’ looks.

“I for one am glad to see you two getting along better,” Simon asserted, giving his sister a proud-big-brother nod.

Wash snorted again, and Simon heard “what they’re getting is”- before Zoë muttered a warning, “husband.” What was that about?

Kaylee hastened to lend Simon her support.

“Especially if you two are going to