I grinned. “Simon! If you’re interested in Serenity’s workin’ you can just say!”

“No, really. I just want to make sure you’re ok!” Simon insisted, gently stroking my arm. We lay in my hammock in the engine room. He’d thought we couldn’t both fit in here. He’d been wrong.

“But I’ll be with Zoë! You’ve got to stay here with Serenity and River! I’m only gettin’ some new parts. Will only be a moment!” Simon was silent. I gave him a hug. “You’re so silly!”

“It’s just Zoë’s been through a lot and she still seems very…”

“Simon! Zoë’s a rock! She won’t never let anythin’ happen. What she needs now is security, not you underminin’ her authority!”

“I’m not -” he protested.

“Yes you are though! Zoë’s fine. She just needs time. We all do.”

I snuggled up to him. He had such a nice smell… I tried not to think of Wash. Some days it was easier than others. We all felt it, the emptiness…

“I just think she -”

“Kaylee?” It was the soft sound of Inara. I wriggled out of the hammock, clambering over Simon.

“Hey ‘nara! S’happenin’?”

“I just wanted to say ‘goodbye’. Make sure you don’t get into too much trouble while I’m away.”

“No fear, Simon’s got if covered!”

“Of course,” she said, smiling. She was off to meet a client and would be staying on Persephone while we were off on a job, whatever it might be. If I wasn’t so in love with Serenity I would be jealous of her, her glamorous lifestyle. “Bye, bao bei.” She kissed my cheek and I was intoxicated for a moment by the sweet scent of her.

She glided away and I watched her go, a butterfly fluttering through our ship.

“How much longer ‘till she an’ the Cap’ain get it on, do you think?” I asked.

Simon shrugged, struggling from the hammock. “At this rate? I’d have to say a year or two.”

~

“How do I look?” I asked self consciously, tugging at my shirt sleeves.

“Very respectable!” Eve laughed.

“As I suspected… You know I’m more of a Hawaiian-shirt kinda guy…” I followed her through the crowded Port.

“Figures, but it’s ‘versally a