Title: Masquerade

Author: Lupa

Summary: Simon and Kaylee, seen through the eyes of an outsider.

Author's note: As the narrative is presented through the thoughts of a young woman it is mostly composed of disjointed memories, digressions, and sentence fragments. I hope it is not too difficult to read. It takes place anytime after "Shindig" in season one, simply because of a passing reference to "the dress."

Spoilers: If you've ever seen an episode of Firefly you probably observed that Kaylee likes Simon. If you haven't, I apologize profusely for giving away that subtly disguised piece of information.

Disclaimer: I am Joss Whedon, Lord and Master of the Firefly 'verse, lowering myself to write fanfic for the amusement of the legions of Firefly deprived. What? Oh, that's right. Sorry. I'm a just a poor penniless student with delusions of grandeur. Please don't sue.

Feedback: Please. This is my first Firefly fic and I'm going it alone and un-beta-ed, so please, be ruthless, but constructive.

Masquerade

She wasn't fooled by the mask.

Though it did impress her to see how a simple strip of black cloth could transform his face from that of a fugitive into just another young gentleman with that contradictory air of familiarity and mysteriousness that seemed to permeate high society.

But he couldn't hide from her.

She had gazed into those eyes for countless hours under the brilliant sun of the Osiris sky, under the harsh fluorescent glare of cafeteria lights, through inky darkness that wrapped them like the blankets of the bed they shared on their countless, singular nights together.

She had gazed into those eyes so long that she would know them anywhere.

But none of that mattered now.

He had fled their room in the night while she slept, leaving all their formerly shared possessions and many of his own behind along with a brief note. A simple, apologetic letter that she had wanted to burn but couldn't. She had read it often at first - searching for something