TITLE: "UNEQUAL PASSIONS"

AUTHOR: Alison M. DOBELL

FANDOM: "FIREFLY"

PAIRING: No specific pairing.

RATING: PG-13.

STATUS: SEQUEL to "STRANGE CARGO"

ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.

FEEDBACK: Welcomed.

EMAIL: AlisonMDobell@aol.com

WEBSITE: http://carlajane.50megs.com/Ali00.html

SUMMARY: "Simon carefully begins to plan what to do next.

The crates are opened giving the Captain much more than he

bargained for."

The usual disclaimers apply. The characters and 'Firefly'

are the property and gift of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.

No infringement of copyright is intended.

"UNEQUAL PASSIONS"

"Firefly" story

Written by Alison M. DOBELL

* * * * *

Simon Tam watched his mother's face. The smug aura of self congratulation befouling the air between them, though no expression was on his face she knew him too well to be fooled. Regan knew her son was barely holding his emotions in check. It suited her fine. A small measure of payback for his defiance even though that had led to her current rise in status. A back handed compliment was still a compliment of sorts. Simon was smart. Clever and bright in ways that impressed the academic elite. But in the ways of the 'verse and in particular the people who made up those planets within it, he was still a child. And any child could be manipulated.

"You are upset, my son."

His teeth grated at the title she did not own. A label Simon felt constricted him to the narrow confines of her own political expedience. And yet he knew she loved him. River too. It was the fact that both of them came way down the list of her priorities that stung. Time and again she had fooled him with a flash of emotion, deep and raw enough that he had believed it to be true. The fabrication was that much uglier when revealed for the artifice it was. Simon wanted to close his eyes. Block out the truth. Ruing the day he and River had come into the household of the Tams.