(All these characters are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy)

All feedback is very welcome, good or bad please tell me what you think, as this is my first Fanfiction.

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Mal remembered hating Simon, hating the way he walked and the way he talked. Had hated him from the very first moment on Serenity's ramp. Thought him a stuck up rich kid who (like so many others of his class) looked down at him.

As that first journey had progressed, he had had Simon pegged first as a fed, then a killer and even a slaver before coming to realise that the Doc was just a good man who would do anything for his sister. But that didn't stop Mal from hating him.

The first time Mal realised he had stopped hating Simon was when he and that gorram crazy sister of his got pinched and the Shepherd shot on that backwater hellhole. All the time they were on the Alliance cruiser Mal had felt very restless and uneasy. He put it down to where they were at the time but the feeling continued as he and Zoe saved Simon and River from being burnt at the stake. It only went away when they were all back on Serenity and the crew was complete once more.

Then when Simon had had to patch him up after the compression coil had broke and he had been shot and almost suffocated, Mal felt a warm feeling spread over him but convinced himself that it was just plain old relief at having cheated death once more.

Mal was finally forced to admit to himself that maybe there was something more going on when Simon was re-attaching his ear after his run in with Niska.

Simon's fingers were warm and steady and every touch sent little waves of an exciting tingly feeling long forgotten down Mal's body. He told himself to stay calm, tried not to think of those fingers touching other, more intimate, places.

After that, Mal spent his time desperately alternating between wanting to hide in his bunk and never look Simon in the eyes again and wanting to confess all to the world, but that was only on