Author's Notes:

Epilogue...either later this morning or this afternoon. Promise.

You know the drill. Feedback at kaylee@kikiroxxorz.com is appreciated. Also, for timeline purposes, I am George Lucas. I worked backwards.

2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 if you're new to the series.

A somewhat happy ending. Weird? I think so.

Warnings, etc:

Warnings from the previous La Cienega Just Smiled stories:

Read with caution. There's some topical matter, namely who's paired with whom, that might be offensive.

Any problems can be directed to my dear and fluffy muse, Ryan Adams. He sings, I write.

"Now I hold you close in the back of my mind, feels so good, but damn, it makes me hurt

I’m too scared to know how I feel about you now

La cienega just smiles and says “I’ll see you ‘round.”

Now I hold you close in the back of my mind

Raise my glass cause either way I’m dead

Neither of you really help me to sleep anymore

One breaks my body and the other breaks my soul

La cienega just smiles and waves goodbye."

~Ryan Adams, La Cienega Just Smiled

***

I wake hours before anyone else. We’re not even going to get Simon until ten thirty, but Kaylee is dreaming and her dreams are better than mine. I sit, guiltlessly, for two hours, twelve minutes and seventeen seconds, absorbing all of Kaylee’s happiness, until Mal comes, sleepy and contented, from Inara’s shuttle.

“No shipboard relationships,” I remind him chirpily.

“Wassat, li’l one?”

“Never mind.” I grin at him. “Thank you for remembering to put your pants back on,” I say, enjoying the look of horror spreading across his face.

***

There’s only one thing that Mal is worried about. He’s worried that, no matter how nice the doc is bein’ now, he’ll come back to Serenity and break Kaylee’s heart. He’s getting used to the lights in her eyes and he ain’t too keen on the idea of losin’ them ‘gain.

Inara comes up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “Everything will be fine,” she murmu