Disclaimers : Everything belongs to Joss, except for one character of my creation.

**Mousing over the Chinese should reveal the English translations on most browsers. If not, translations follow the story.

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Alex stared at the gun in her hand long after Captain Reynolds left.

The man was certainly puzzling. She assumed he would be furious about the night before, so she opted to steer clear of him that morning. But not only did he not seem angry—no mention of the incident whatsoever—he handed her a loaded gun to boot.

At least she assumed it was loaded. She checked; it was.

So what was the point of this? To test her, see if she would obey his captain-y command? She wondered what would happen if she didn’t. Would he finally be angry enough to lock her in her room for the duration of the journey, and have Kaylee or the Shepard toss her some scraps occasionally? Or would he dump her on Three Hills and let her get her sorry ass to Zargon some other way?

Although Alex was itching to stretch her legs planetside, she decided to do his bidding and stay on board. She decided even staying out of the common areas and away from the crew would be a good idea. But she was too restless to stay in her room, so she let herself quietly out, tucking the gun under her mattress before she went, and went to the infirmary. Simon was there.

“Good morning,” she greeted him.

He had been engrossed in some task with his back to her, and started as she spoke.

“Didn’t mean to scare you,” she said. “Need help with anything?”

He turned to face her, skipping the formalities.

“Did you dope the captain last night?” He sounded incredulous, but Alex thought she saw a twinkle of approval in his eyes.

She shrugged. “I made him a cup of my special tea.”

A hint of a smile played at the corners of Simon’s mouth.

“He looked like death,” Alex went on. “He needed something or he would’ve fallen down on the job.”

Simon shook his