River moans as she clutches her head, her brain feels like it might explode and she howls in agony

"The dead thing breathes" she gasps as shudders rack her body furiously. She can vaguely see Simon standing over her, but blossoms of pain flare and burn in her head, distorting her vision with shafts of colour and light. River longs for blackness, to sink back into the cool dimness of sleep but sleep has been snatched away permanently. River feels the pain slowly easing away until at last she can form actual coherent thought.

"The Dead thing breathes" she gasps again as Simon looks down at her, gripping her wrist as he checks her pulse, his face concerned and more than a little scared.

I thought you were better, that this was behind us

"What happened?" He asks her

"Simon... Aliens, Big, Nasty, Aliens" She whimpers as Simon wipes the tears away from her face. She feels Simon pulling her up to sitting and hugging her close.

"It's ok, they're gone, I'm here mei mei, don't worry, I'm here" River sinks gratefully into Simon's loving embrace, feeling glad for her brother being here, his warmth and compassion like a soft blanket that she can snuggle happily into.

The door suddenly springs open and River glances left to see captain Reynolds standing in the doorway with his pistol out and drawn, still in his blue and white striped nightclothes.

what the gorram hell is going on here? River feels his thoughts just as Reynolds utters the same phrase

"You got a reason for disturbing the sleep of the whole gorram boat?" he asks sharply as he holsters his pistol.

What's the little freak done now? River hears Mal thinking and she shudders briefly as she feels Mal's annoyance at her and she tries to tell herself that it's just the lack of sleep talking.

"She had a bad dream" Simon says, springing to River's defence "That's all"

Mal nods calmly

"Well, next time she has a bad dream, make sure she has it quietly" He answers calmly, before stalking off angrily

"I didn't mean to" River says sadl