Simon was looking for River. He always seemed to be looking for River, anymore. It was ironic that after he had spent so much time and energy to get her out of the Academy, he still found himself engaged in a protracted game of hide and seek.

She liked to watch the stars drift by and talk to Wash, so he checked the bridge but she wasn’t there. Nor was she in the galley. Shepard Book hadn’t seen her and when Simon asked the Captain he got a resounding no. The captain had his own problems. They had received a job offer for when they landed on New Canaan and he needed to talk to Jayne. He couldn’t seem to find the big mercenary in any of the usual places though. As he walked away Simon could hear the captain complaining about the apparent epidemic of missing people and possible holes in the space time continuum.

Simon looked in the cargo bay and once again came up short. He remembered River liked to watch Kaylee in the engine room sometimes. He had found his sister there one day last week, helping the mechanic. Kaylee would bark out the names of tools she wanted River to hand to her in a perfect imitation of a stuffy surgeon demanding a scalpel and the two girls would burst into giggles. The sound of their normal ordinary laughter had been so pleasant Simon hadn’t the heart to be offended. He just let them laugh.

When the doctor approached the engine room this time, he heard Kaylee’s giggle drift through the corridor and he smiled, thinking that he must have found his sister at last. When he ducked through the door to the engine room, he heard a deeper guffaw and found himself looking at a cozy little scene that did not include River. Kaylee sat crossed legged on the floor, surrounding by tools, with the usual smudge of grease on her face. Seated on the floor facing her, however, was Jayne. He was holding a large awkwardly shaped engine part of some sort on his lap, holding it steady as Kaylee attended to it.

Kaylee looked up and smiled at Simon when he entered, “Hey Simon!”

“Hello,” he returne