Disclaimer: Joss is boss.

A/N: Inspired by an LJ prompt about Wash. Also, thank you to my beta 2x2. The poor woman has to put up with my crap, uh, I mean, fics.

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The plastic dinosaur was clutched in River’s left hand. Combined with her slumbering form, she reminded Simon of a small child resting peacefully with a plush animal tucked under one arm. Had River woken at that moment, she would have found her brother staring at her, a far-off look in his eyes.

The back of the pilot’s chair was reclined to a forty-five degree angle. River’s head rested on the headrest, but she had turned slightly in her slumber so that the left side of her face was nestled against the cushion. The hand holding the dinosaur dangled off the edge of the armrest.

Standing there, watching, Simon was struck with how peaceful his sister looked. Had it only been weeks ago that she would wake up, screaming in her sleep?

River looked so comfortable in the pilot’s chair. It seemed to Simon that his sister could fall asleep anywhere, in any position. Even now, she had her left leg tucked underneath her while her right leg was stretched out. She looked right at home.

It was almost easy to forget that the pilot’s chair used to be the domain of someone else.

Simon looked to the other dinosaurs lining the console. An unsuspecting person would have mistaken them for a child’s playthings. Now they were a monument, the lasting impression of a man long gone.

He hadn’t thought about Wash’s passing too much. Somewhat guiltily, during the period of mourning, he had been exploring a new relationship with Kaylee. The high of expressing his passion to the young woman who had stolen his heart had kept him occupied for days. When the time had come for Serenity to take back to the skies, it had finally hit Simon. Wash no longer sat at the controls.

As a doctor back on Osiris, he’d been exposed to death all the time, but for the first time, Simon was experiencing the passing of someone he had kno