When Mal, Zoe and Jayne arrived back on board the silence on the ship was deafening. Completely unsettled by the lack of activity, Mal left his second and the merc to stow the mule and wandered up the stairs and into the common area. Seeing it empty, he turned and headed for the engine room. “Kaylee?”

Entering the warm room, he didn’t see her at first, but a small whimper gave her away. Mal turned with a start to see his mechanic huddled in her hammock, shaking with quiet sobs.

Leaping to a whole bunch of conclusions, none of them good, Mal stepped forward and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. Jumping at the touch, Kaylee snapped her head up and looked at her captain through tear-filled eyes. “Oh, hey cap’n,” she managed to blubber, wiping her face, but to no avail. The girl had been crying for a while. “How’d the job go?”

“I’m not so worried about the job, lil’ Kaylee, as I am about you,” Mal told her. Pulling up a stool, he sat at her side and took a hold of her hand. “What happened? Are you hurt?”

She shook her head slowly and looked as if she might start sobbing again. Mal steeled himself for the inevitable wailing. He didn’t like it when women cried, but seeing those big tears run down Kaylee’s cheeks froze his blood. A girl like her, with a smile as big as the ‘verse and a heart to match, should never have to cry.

“Tell me what’s going on, Kaylee,” Mal warned her quietly. “Or I’ll find that {worthless piece of crap} doctor and make him tell me.”

Judging by Kaylee’s reaction to the mention of Simon, Mal guessed he’d been right. This was about that dandy of a boy. Gorramit if Mal didn’t like shipboard relations.

“It’s not Simon’s fault, cap’n,” Kaylee told him, sitting forward a bit and squeezing his hand. “He didn’t do nothin’. How could he know his dad would be on Ariel? He didn’t think he’d actually ever find ‘em.”

“What a minute,” Mal said quickly, rising. “Simon’s dad was here? On the ship?”

Kaylee nodded, biting her lip to keep in her sobs, her eyes wid