Later that night, Simon and Kaylee were relaxing together in Kaylee’s bunk before heading off to bed. Simon was sitting on Kaylee’s bed and brushing her hair while she sat on the floor in front of him, looking the picture of serene and peaceful. Simon however merely looked distracted and kept staring at the walls with a faraway look on his face. After a bit of time, Kaylee pulled her head away from Simon’s brush and turned to look at her lover.

“Is there something bothering you Simon?”

“Huh? What? Oh, no, nothing’s bothering me bao bei. Why would you think that?”

“Well it’s just that you been combing the same patch of hair for the past couple minutes without moving at all,” said Kaylee, her eyes narrowing.

“Oh, was I? Sorry, I didn’t notice,” said Simon, still staring at the wall.

“Simon, my eyes are down here.”

“Huh?”

Kaylee groaned and got to her feet, standing right in front of Simon and took his face between both her hands, forcing his gaze at her.

“Okay, look, I can tell somethin’s botherin you so ya might as well just come right out and say it ‘less you want to be sleeping alone tonight.”

“Honestly Kaylee, what do you think is on my mind right now? Obviously my mind is on what happened between River and the captain earlier today.” Simon said bitterly, forcing Kaylee’s hands off his face. He stood up himself and started pacing back and forth around the room, hand plastered to his forehead as he tried to make sense of what happened.

“I just don’t get it at all,” he said finally. “I mean, what does River see in him? The man is a bitter, sarcastic, cocky, self-absorbed thief.”

“Whoa, hey, that wasn’t at all nice mister,” Kaylee said icily, standing in Simon’s path with her arms folded over her chest. Simon, all too used to pissing off Kaylee by saying things without thinking, quickly tried to rebound.

“Okay, I didn’t mean that exactly like it sounded. It’s just that I’m not entirely sure that the captain would be a suitable mate for River.”

“Oh, and why exactl