Disclaimer: All rights to Joss and Mutant Enemy.

Thank you for the wonderful comments and suggestions! Per request, this new chapter may not be as fluffy as the others... I'm not sure if I like it as much as the others. Maybe I'm just a sucker for fluff.

***

The change was subtle. You didn't notice it right at once, but the more you saw her, the more you knew she was different. Different wasn't necessarily bad, but it left the mind to wonder what had brought this change into being.

You might notice that she spoke coherently more often than not, for example. Or you might pick up on the fact that she seemed generally happier and smiled a great deal. You might even delve so deeply into the study of her change to notice that she rarely, if ever, spoke to Inara anymore.

As her doctor, and her brother, it was his job to notice these things. It frustrated him to no end, however, that he couldn't figure out the cause of it. There had to be something he was missing, something that he hadn't seen yet.

She'd been like this for a few days now. Perhaps, she was merely healing on her own, or maybe she was just going through a more lucid period. All of her symptoms pointed to this except one. Why had she stopped talking to Inara, whom she'd never had a problem with before?

Simon sighed, wishing he knew the answer.

---

She felt warm and safe in his arms. It felt like she laid there forever, drifting in an out of sleep, with a feeling of extreme contentment.

His bare chest provided a wonderfully comfortable pillow, and she relished in the fact that she could feel and hear his heart beating beneath her cheek. The gentle motion of rising and falling provided an excellent lulling sensation.

Even when she was so full of sleep that she couldn't doze anymore, she lay there awake and happy, not wanting to wake him. One of his arms was wrapped gently around her back, the other was tucked beneath his pillow. He looked so handsome and peaceful while asleep.

At last, she reluctantly moved from her warm, c