A/N: A post-BDM J/K/S, written at the behest of Guildsister. So, technically, it’s all her fault.

In the last two years, my life has taken me places I would never have imagined I would go, itself taken turns and twists I could not have anticipated in my wildest fantasy or most savage nightmare. It was a lifetime ago that I was a bright up-and-coming member of the medical elite in the capital city of an opulent planet. I’m still bright, I’d like to think, but the place I was up-and-coming to has been sealed off from me forever. I traded the future I had dedicated my very soul to building, traded it for one frail, fragmented girl. Now, I’m not saying that I’ve gained nothing from this new life. I’ve had experiences to rival the great heroes and found strengths in myself I never knew were there. And Kaylee. Deep down in the heart of all that I am, I want to be with Kaylee. Finally, after our lives changed irrevocably again, I am. No more verbal fumblings from me, no more unforgiving castigations from her. It feels like our souls were beginning to commingle even as our bodies joined and moved apart only to join again. That’s what makes what happened next so … well, I’m not really sure what it was. I guess it was another harrowing opportunity where I learn something about myself and do things I could never have envisioned myself doing when I was a fresh-faced young resident. Kneeling here in front of Jayne, for example. Wait, I’ve got to go back to how it all started.

Kaylee and I had been enjoying each other’s “company” for weeks. It was incredible. We would fall down together wherever we were, scurrying just out of sight of anyone that might pass by. Our record was four times in one day, but who’s counting? And then, it started to stop. Kaylee began to look away from me at times when we would normally be tangled in each other’s arms. Something of tremendous weight seemed to burden her, but whenever I asked her, she’d say she was just a little tired or she ate something past its prime and d