When Simon and Book came rushing into the cargo hold, it seemed like they were the last to arrive. Book held him back for a second while he checked to see if it was safe. Simon had no patience for it—his sister had been headed this way.

“Were those gunshots?” Simon called as he wrestled his way past the shepherd.

“Relax, Doc,” he heard the captain say before he saw him. “We’re all fine.”

Simon finally found him helping Jayne inside along with Zoë. “No we’re not!” the mercenary complained as loudly as possible. “Doc! Patch me up! Got shot in my gorram leg!”

But Simon was still preoccupied with finding his sister. He looked at the walkways up the stairs. He found only Inara there, watching the three below with her distaste for their often violent solutions written clearly on her face. While Simon’s eyes were still on her, though, the expression on her face turned suddenly to one of alarm. Fearing the worst, Simon turned to see what she was looking at—and found Kaylee stumbling into the ship.

At first glance, the girl seemed unharmed, but she was obviously very shaken. Like Inara, Simon had the urge to immediately storm down the stairs to comfort her. Unlike Inara, though, Simon didn’t.

Even with Inara’s customary grace of movement, the rush with which she came down the stairs caused quite a noise, and made Simon look around again.

That’s where, with a sigh of relief, he finally found his sister, standing on the landing halfway up the stairs. She was perfectly all right, from the looks of it—she was even smiling. Again Simon had the urge to run down, and again he suppressed it. River had been sensitive about his constant presence lately. That morning, as he’d been helping her dress for the cold, she’d even called him ‘clingy.’ He was trying to keep his distance as much as he could make himself. Fortunately, though he hadn’t yet officially lifted the restrictions he’d put on River’s movements, the captain was letting it slide.

Freed from his concern for his little sister for the moment, Simon looked again at