Simon watched as Kaylee stirred the vegetables and protein she was cooking up for dinner. In the eight and something months since she’d had Bethany, she’d been glad to be able to get close enough to the cooker to be able to actually make something. It wasn't that the others couldn’t rustle up something tasty … it was just Freya, even before being confined to bed, couldn’t do anything except stew, and Zoe’s cooking tended to consist of whatever was in the cupboard, thrown into a pan with what her mother called a dash of the Lord’s wine – keeping your fingers crossed and a lot of prayer.

As for the others, the only really good cook was Inara, and she couldn’t be rostered into the cooking chores because of her somewhat fluid schedule, although that had changed lately, with her spending less time with clients and more with Serenity’s crew. Hank wasn’t allowed anywhere near the kitchen after he nearly burned the place down, while Jayne was only good with meat, but as they didn’t get that too often he and the pilot tended to stick to the cleaning up side. And as Mal was captain ...

“You’re staring at me again,” Kaylee said, not turning around.

“How’d you know?” Simon asked, leaning on the table, his head resting on his upturned hands.

“I can feel your eyes. They’re leaving fingerprints all up my back.”

“Eyes don’t leave fingerprints,” Simon pointed out.

“Yours do.”

“But you have such a sexy back.”

”Just my back?”

“And your front. And sides. Top. And bottom.”

Kaylee giggled. “I have a sexy bottom?” She waggled her hips a bit.

“Definitely,” Simon said firmly, admiring the view most avidly.

“That why you want to marry me?”

“I think that may be one of the reasons.”

She glanced over her shoulder, the grin wide on her face. “I hope there’s more than just my bottom.”

“Maybe a few bits.”

“Like what?”

Simon sighed. “If I tell you now, what’re we going to talk about after we’re married?”

“I think we might be able to find something.”

He grinned. “You sure?” he