The Dr. Tam Journals – Part 3 – Bushwhacked

Another yawn escaped from Kaylee’s mouth and she knew she’d have to go back to bed soon, despite her desire to read the entire journal before morning. She now figured that’d be impossible as she flipped through the numerous pages remaining. Just a little more she thought, hoping to catch more glimpses of how Simon saw her in those early weeks he and River had been aboard Serenity.

His ability to understand many of the crew so easily astonished her since he seemed to have trouble figuring her out forever. Then again, he had said he knew she was flirting with him and that he was attracted to her, but had no place in his life for a relationship or anything else. It was the figuring he was good at. The actual practice of courting a lady he was not so good at. At least with her.

Not that he had never had a girlfriend before. Since their serious relationship began they had both divulged their secrets of their past companions, including her tryst with Bester that had led to her getting her job on Serenity. He had laughed at the story and said he was glad the captain had discovered them because he probable never would have gotten to meet her if it hadn’t happened the way it did. When Kaylee thought on it, the number of circumstances that led her to Simon and him to her was so long and complex that if one thing had not happened the way it had then they never would have met. Perhaps that is the way for most people who fall in love.

Kaylee knew about his past girlfriends and his one serious relationship that went sour because of his obsession with finding and helping River. She had been a daughter of a business associate of his father and they had flirted with the idea of marriage. As he began to worry more about River, she obviously had no interest in the matter and he realized she was looking for a man with standing, a man to latch onto to climb the ladder of Osiris high society, not a man to love. The relationship ended badly, with a lot of crying and a terrible