For the hundredth time since Mal collapsed, Simon glanced over at him lying on the medbed. He was still asleep, and Freya was dozing next to him, her head pillowed on her crossed arms. The after effects of all the tension and worry had finally caught up with her, and as much as she wanted to stay awake, to keep watch over him, her body had rebelled. She still had her hand wrapped around his, though.

Simon half-smiled. There were times when Serenity’s captain could annoy him like no other man alive, but he rather wanted to keep it that way. Quickly checking the monitors on the wall above him, he ascertained there had been no deterioration in Mal’s condition, so turned back to the tests.

His little blood analyser had been working overtime. With the kits River had found in the crates he’d managed to rule out a number of possible causes, some obvious, some not. It wasn’t even as if Mal’s lifestyle could really have caused the attack, since most days they didn’t have access to high cholesterol foods, or an over-abundance of salt or sugar.

Indeed, for a man who seemed to take little exercise apart from occasionally working out on Jayne’s weights, and running from the law and villains alike, he was in remarkably good condition. Perhaps it was having a wife like Freya. Although, come to think of it, Simon really didn’t want to go down that mental route.

“Doc?” Zoe’s voice, kept low to avoid waking the patient, or his wife, had him turning.

He held up a hand, checking once more on Mal, then walked out of the infirmary to join her. “I’m presuming we’re on our way to Boros.”

Serenity’s first mate nodded. “Yes. Hank’s keeping an eye out for Alliance boats, seeing if maybe they’ll be closer, but it looks like we’re just going to have to wait it out.” Her eyes strayed to the man on the bed. “How is he?”

“Holding his own.”

“Are you any closer to finding out why this happened?”

“Not yet. Although by ruling out a number of possibilities, I suppose in a way …” He shrugged.

Zoe nodde