Simon had never treated a non-human before.

That, coupled with the fact that River was nowhere to be seen, was making his surgery on an eight month old cattle dog difficult. He had given Chester a small dose of sedative, hooked him to an IV line and placed him on a sheet atop the kitchen table. After rigging a cup as an oxygen mask for the dog's snout and shearing back some fur; he used the handheld scanner, scalpel and an extractor to take out all of the shot. Finished patching the dog's lung, he ran a scan one more time to make sure there was no other perforated organs. Satisfied, he steadily began to suture up the dog.

He heard Inara and Kaylee outside shouting for River.

It made his normally precise hands tremble, and he had to steady himself.

Perhaps it was the fact that he felt as if he hadn't been paying attention to River. His days had been consumed with work, and nights with Kaylee, rarely had he been spending any time with her. Simon had had little concern over his sister, because after Miranda she hadn't done anything to cause alarm. Curious and full of life was the new River, as she had simply been taking time to learn about life, but never had she shown signs of deterioration. Then again, perhaps he hadn't been around her enough to properly see the signs if something was wrong. Working through his guilt, he tied off the sutures, placed some gauze over the site, and wrapped a clothe bandage around to hold it in place. Taking the dog off of oxygen, he pulled off his gloves and picked Chester up to set him down in the laundry basket Kaylee had lined with a blanket. Hanging the IV on a chair, he covered the dog with a second blanket and turned his attention to the mess. Swiftly cleaning up he grabbed his hat and coat, as it was frosty outside after the hard rain, and went out to see a pinking sky that brought forth morning.

"RIVER!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mal pulled the branding iron out of the fire.

His Ma had collected them as a hobby, and he decided on using her favorite, the ol