Author’s Note: You guys were rather accepting of the last chapter, and I thank you for that. To clear up something, the first seperation in the chapter (these ~*~*~*~) is a flashback. It was originally in italics, but that was lost during the transfer. This is my favorite chapter so far because it’s got a little bit of everything in it. Thanks for commenting, and stick with me, because the next chapter is going to be awesome.

Disclaimer: I do not own Firefly/Serenity, nor any of the characters or events that compose them. And if I did, I would be fired for never updating and they would be given to someone more worthy anyways.

Learning to be Patient

Chapter 4

Comfort

His eyes burned as he watched her vitals bleep across the monitor once again. They were steady, but she still lay unconscious before him in the infirmary. Her face was bruised, but the swelling had slowly decreased over the past two days. He’d cleaned the gashes across her chest and stitched together the skin where it needed to be. She hadn’t moved during the entire process.

“She still hasn’t woken up?” a voice called to him.

He turned to find Inara standing inside the doorway. She smiled ruefully at him as she walked inside the darkened room, “Zoë cooked supper. River and I grappled a plate of food away from Jayne for you. If you’d like to go eat, I’ll stay with her,” she offered kindly, as she adjusted the shawl that was draped over her shoulders.

He shook his head silently, “I don’t want to leave,” he told her softly, “If I leave and she wakes up,” he paused and looked to Kaylee’s form. With his face hidden he added, “I don’t want to fail her a second time.”

“Simon,” Inara began softly, as she knelt beside him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, “You didn’t fail her in anyway. Kaylee can be very stubborn at times; she wouldn’t have let you follow her even if you tried.”

“I could’ve just taken her out like we’d planned,” he argued. He placed a hand over his mouth worriedly.

“Then when the Reavers att