Kaylee always hated the late-night intrusions. The invasion of River. A grown woman crawling into bed with her brother! It seemed incestuous. It seemed wrong. And it made Kaylee insanely jealous.

Not that she did it on a nightly basis, or even a monthly one. Never seemed freaked out when she came, just tired or sick, like she was past the worst of it and wanted Simon to know. When she was really bad, she didn’t come to their room. They could hear her screaming right through the walls and Simon would get out of bed and go to her.

Didn’t matter what they were doing – when River cried, his attention was gone. And when River crawled into bed, Simon turned to her and at best, Kaylee could stare at his back or place a hand on his shoulder. Just as he’d tried to warn her so many times before, River was his life. River came first. This was why he’d kept Kaylee at a distance for so long. Why he kept making excuses. It had hurt like hell before, but now that Simon and Kaylee shared a bed, it hurt even worse.

Much as Kaylee hoped she would come to understand, much as she hoped things would change, every time River appeared in their bunk, her heart sank lower. Every time she passed River in the hall, she was overwhelmed with awkward jealousy. She would never be first in Simon’s life. River was the cheeseburger, Kaylee was the fries. Just a little something extra on the side and when it came down to it, the fries never got the premium space on the dinner plate and always got left out of the doggie bag.

A tear rolled down Kaylee’s cheek as she lay alone in the bed they shared. Simon had gone out with the others on this last job. They’d been gone two nights and would probably be gone two more. It was just Kaylee and River on the ship. For some reason, without Simon around, it was easier to talk to River in the day. But at night, alone in a bed meant for two, Kaylee couldn’t help but resent River. Because even on nights she shared this bed with Simon, he wasn’t fully there. She resented River because even with Simon g