Title: Presumption of Guilt - 5

Author: hisgoodgirl

Disclaimer: All belongs to Joss. I got nada but my imagination.

Characters: Crew, omc, ofc.

Warning: PG for graphic violence, profanity and other grownup things.

Setting: In the town of Silverton, on Santo, immediately prior to “The Train Job”.

Words: 2,410

A/N: As a kid, my two favorite TV genres were westerns and detective shows. I finally decided to tackle both in a mix I’ve thought of as “Firefly CSI”. This is a new story genre for me and I’d really appreciate hearing what you think. It’s all helpful, dear readers.

X - posted from my LiveJournal.

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Title: Presumption of Guilt - Chapter 5

Author: hisgoodgirl

Kaylee lifted the lid from the rice cooker and fragrant steam billowed out to envelop her. At the sound of footsteps, she glanced over her shoulder to see Simon entering the galley from the aft stairs, River skipping close behind him.

“Hey, Doctor!” Kaylee smiled brightly and waved. “You have any luck talkin’ with that Coroner fella this afternoon? I was… just wonderin’ how things went.” She began to scrape the rice into a large ceramic bowl. “Your sister was real good – “

“Kicked her gluteus maximus at hoopball,” the younger girl interjected.

“Well, that’s for sure. Ain't nobody got any business bein’ that fast.” Kaylee shook her finger at River. Turning to Simon, she batted her eyelashes flirtatiously and suggested, “Maybe next time you can be on my team. I think we’d be real good together.”

“What?” Simon had been lost in consideration of the conclusions he and Doc Bailey had shared and only realized that Kaylee had been talking to him because his sister had poked him.

“Rude to ignore, Simon. Kaylee just wants a playmate. A big brain isn’t everything. Needs a different vantage point.” She grinned at Kaylee as if she had just done something extraordinarily helpful.

“River! Shush!” Kaylee blurted, now t