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Author's Note: Written for fic challenge #6.

Simple Things
by Tara O'Shea

"Is it so bad here?" Kaylee asked as she took a step towards Simon in the narrow hallway outside the mess. She played with a loose thread on the hem of her shirt, nervous.

Was it so terrible? Compared to the life he'd left behind—yes. So many little things were so terrible. Things he'd taken for granted, all gone. The ability to chose where he wanted to go—even show his face in public—gone. The opportunity to practice his craft at one of the top hospitals in the Core—really help people, use his gift to its fullest, lost forever because of what the Academy had done to River. He missed simple things—fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, fish—things he'd eaten every day never realising how scarce staples could be at the edge of space. Taking a long hot shower at the end of a long day. Buying something new to replace something old and worn. Walking in a sunlit park, just to pass the time. Talking to friends and family whenever he wished, whenever the mood struck him. So many little things...

He'd traded them. Traded one life for another, and it had been worth it just to see River once dancing and laughing like the girl he'd once known. Like the girl she should be—and would be again, if he could just find the right key to unlock her. He told himself this over and over again, every night as he fell asleep, lulled by the steady thrum of Serenity's engine. Reminded himself as he shaved over the tiny ba