Disclaimer: I'm not on Firefly's payroll. =o(

The Trunk

By KaySky

Chapter Three

“Dark man coming.” She said softly. “He knows what’s inside.” Simon came to his sister’s side. He offered comforting words as he held her tight.

“Simon,” Mal yelled as he came running down the stairs. “Take your sister and Daniel to Inara’s shuttle.”

“What’s going on?” Simon and Daniel said in unison.

“We’ve got people coming aboard. They say they need help.”

“If all they need is help why are we hiding?” Daniel asked, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

“I got a trust issue.” Mal said as he reached the floor of the cargo bay. “Where’s the key?” He asked Daniel.

“My sister’s got it. Don’t I need to be handcuffed to this at all times?”

“How ‘bout we forget to mention this to your Uncle.” He turned to Simon. “Take River and get the key from Dani.”

As Simon walked River to Inara’s shuttle, she cried “the dark man’s coming” over and over again. The feeling in Simon’s stomach told him the dark man was indeed coming.

* * * *

Simon didn’t even knock. “Hey…” He began to speak, but then his eyes fell on Kaylee, who was still wearing the wedding gown. “…wow.” She was beautiful. Absolutely, positively, the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She never looked so bright. She never looked so pretty.

“Simon don’t you know it’s bad luck to see your bride in her wedding dress before the wedding?” Dani teased.

“Huh…what…no…what?” Did he miss something? Sure he had thought about marriage. Even came close to asking her twice that night Vincent had arrived, but since then… He thought about it, yes… oh god, did he think about it out loud one day? Did he ask her to marry him without realizing it?

“It’s okay, Simon.” Kaylee said laughing. “Dani’s just teasin’.”

“Did River decide to join us?” Inara saw the look on the doctor’s face when he saw Kaylee. He was delightfully stunned. Then she saw the look on his face when Dani mentioned the wedding. She expected to see the look