"I can't believe you didn't tell me 'Nara mighta been pregnant," Kaylee scolded from the bed. Simon looked up from his notes at the small desk in the corner.

"I still haven't told you that," he said, his confusion apparent on his face.

"I know and I can't believe it!" Kaylee repeated. "I had to find out by overhearin' Zoë arguing with the Cap'n."

"Kaylee," Simon sighed, leaning his head against the wall behind him, "You know eavesdropping is a bad habit, right?"

"So's keepin' secrets like this from your wife!" she countered. Simon looked at her patiently.

"I'm a doctor," he said, trying to calm the woman he loved. "I'm going to have secrets that are not my own. Inara's health is not supposed to be public knowledge anymore than yours is."

"But a baby!" Kaylee said wistfully. "Couldn't ya just imagine a little baby with us on this ship? Bet she'da been pretty, like her ma."

"What if she had been a he?" Simon teased.

"Well...he prob'bly woulda been thick-headed like his daddy," Kaylee sighed, lost in her happy world of make-believe. Simon smiled, content just to see Kaylee like this. He remembered his thought at dinner: she could be pregnant. His stomach dropped as it set in again. The concept of being a father someday was a pleasant and far-off feeling. The concept of being a father in a matter of months was a little more frightening.

"You're doing it again," Kaylee said softly, a blush rising to her cheeks. Simon smiled at her, rising out of his chair to close the distance between them.

"Doing what?" he asked, placing his hand against her cheek gently.

"Lookin' at me like that," she answered, leaning against his hand and looking up at him. "Like...all warm and wonderful."

"Perhaps it's because you are warm and wonderful," he whispered, kneeling down to meet her eyes. They kissed, their love evident in the action. It was the kiss shared by two people in love, unafraid of the consequences. It was a sharing of souls.

***

"It was one night, Mal," Inara argued,