Chapter 4

Mal woke up the next day looking like twice baked death. As he began his morning routine, he thought about how he was going to take out his frustrations out on Simon. After all, he was the one that got them in this gorram mess in the first place. As he finished his shave he thought, to be fair, it was my fault we got drunk. 'Course, that don't mean I can't go wake 'em up and enjoy his misery. Mal smiled as he finished getting dressed and climbed out of his cabin.

Mal cheerfully greeted Zoe as he passed her in the galley on his way to the stairwell that lead to the infirmary and the passenger dorms. Zoe returned the greeting with a neutral response. Her curiosity over his unusually high spirits was obvious, but she asked no questions.

Mal stood outside the door to Simon's room with a smile as he remembered his first truly horrific hangover. Matter of fact, I was also in a fight the night before. Next mornin' my entire world was achy and loud. Mal took a deep breath and threw open the door.

"GOOD MORNING DOCTOR-" Mal cut himself off, momentarily shocked into silence. "And uh… Kaylee…"

The small bed could not contain the startled couple and Mal saw more of Simon than he was comfortable with as the doctor tumbled over the side.

"Are you psychotic?" Simon yelled as he labored painfully to bring himself into a sitting position.

Kaylee said, "Be gentle, Capt'n I ain't done fixin' him yet!"

"Things keep changin' round here an' I might fix him!" Mall continued yelling.

Simon's modesty was temporarily forgotten as he clutched his ears in his hands and pleaded, "Could everybody please stop yelling?"

"There a reason why you was here, Captain?" Kaylee enunciated the word 'captain' with precision and severely undisguised dislike.

"Yeah!" Mal continued lamely, "Big day today, just wanted to make sure everyone was up and ready."

"It's time for your checkup, big brother!" River announced as she cheerfully walked into the room, causing Mal and Kaylee to nearly jump out of their skin. S