Kaylee blushed furiously, turning red as a spotlight. She and Simon rushed about, trying to get there clothes back on. Once she had her bra and panties on, she turned to Mal a mite huffily. "Yes, cap'n, what is it?"

Mal turned away, finally, as she struggled to get her pants back on. "Kaylee, much as you both like goin' at it, I need you in the engine room, right now and sooner. Someat is wrong with my ship. Remember what I said? My ship don't crash. She crashes, you crashed her."

Kaylee turned toward Simon as he stumbled in his pants, trying to get them back on over his underpants, both blushing furiously. "Not to worry, cap'n. Everythin'll be shiny with Serenity, not to fret. I'll be there soon." She hastily brought her shirt on, which left her shoes and socks to find. Simon cursed as he fell flat on his face, tripping up in his pants again.

"Damn, but I belive that he's spying on us. Wish it could wait. FUCK!!!" he yelled as he tripped again.

"'Why', doctor, is simple," said Mal frostily. "My ship needs a mechanic to keep 'er goin'. No mechanic, no working ship, which'll leave us all with a very bad case of horrible dead, that even you can't fix." With that, Mal left, closing the hatch behind him. The two of them kept up looking for their respective clothing articles. Mal shivered at seeing his mechanic with his ships medic.

Inara and Jayne were there when he came back intothe dining room proper. Jayne looked up, scowled, and said "those two been ruttin' again?" Inara just smiled into her teacup.

***

Dinner that night was more subdued than usual. For one thing, Mal and Inara didn't have their usual shouting match, which bespoke of two things: first, their relationship was going well, and that Mal was still sore at Kaylee and Simon. Zoe ate in silence, brooding over all the crap that happened in her life. Kaylee was exhausted after three hours working in the engine, which she had let get a little too far gone, thanks to Simons ministrations. The pr