Chapter 17

“You look like how I feel,” Zoe said when Simon walked in the door.

He offered her a wry smile and lifted the chart from the end of the bed.

“Been a while,” Zoe said. She didn’t want to interrupt his reading. “You look well – except for the tired, of course.”

Simon gave her a wry chuckle

She couldn’t stand not knowing. She glanced at Mal lying motionless in the bed and then back to Simon. “He gonna be ok?”

“He’s been hurt pretty badly. But he should recover.”

He continued reading the chart, making notes. It was a side of him, all clinical and precise, that she wouldn’t ever forget, though she was a bit surprised to see it, given what they’d all been through. But then, he and Mal hadn’t parted with friendly words, so she couldn’t really blame Simon if he was a bit cold.

“Thank you.” The words were out of her mouth before she could even contemplate phrasing them differently.

Simon glanced up from the chart, brows knit together, and Zoe arched her neck toward the unconscious Mal. “For saving him.”

“Wasn’t just me.”

“I know but – I could see it in his eyes. He was real grateful it was you tending to him out there.”

Simon shifted his gaze toward Mal to hide the embarrassed flush that crept up his neck. “I’m not the only capable –“

“Just take the damn compliment.”

Simon closed his mouth and looked back at her. He closed the chart slowly and gave her a once over. “How are your injuries?”

Zoe flexed her shoulder and stretched her back. “Not bad.” A silent moment passed before she asked, “Jayne?”

“He’s going to be in rehabilitation for a good few weeks when he wakes up, but he’s stable and breathing on his own.”

“Good to hear.”

Simon opened the chart again. Silence fell for another few moments. The only sounds in the room were the scratch of a pen as Simon made more notes and the steady beep of the machinery which assured her Mal was still alive.

“How’d you come to be out here?” She thought he was headed to the Core.

Simon paused and Zo