Smiles. Such a simple thing, really. Seventeen muscles in your face. They push and pull, making you pull your teeth together and part your lips, showing almost all of your teeth. Can I smile?

Almost everyone smiles. Kaylee has mastered it, over the course of much happiness. Inara smiles, whether its apart of her job or when she's with Mal. Mal...he smiles. More than he ever has now, since his and Inara's marriage two years back. Even Zoe and Jayne smile, when its needed. Simon? He smiles a lot now, because he's a lot more laid back now that he's been a Reaver, 'cause after something like that, its hard to frazzle a guy all that much.

But me? Can I smile? After... him? Heh, that shows how weak I really am. Can't even say his name now, since its been three years since... Ariel. But, still... can I smile after all this? I am happy to say that I can, now.

Well, I couldn't smile at all for the first year or so. Not until we made a pit stop on Persephone. Mal trusts Badger... well, almost. But more than he ever did, since the fed incident. Of course, Kaylee wanted to tear him into little bits and feed him into Serenity's engine feet first, but her efforts were curtailed by Simon's proposal and almost dying.

Either way, we made a stop at Persephone. Stayed there for a week, not doing much... well, I din't. Simon and Kaylee were holed up in their room for most of the week (Kaylee has found that, since Ariel, Simon has a wild streak that turns her on... okay, bad thoughts). Zoe and Inara went with Mal and Jayne to negotiate a job.

So, with nothing to do, I had went into town on a little shore leave. And, while I was just eating some lunch, this guy comes up to me. He was eighteen, like me. Dark, dark hair, and deep green eyes, his clothes were a bit torn. And, I didn't know what he was thinking, thats how distraught I was. So, he comes up, and just sits next to me. I didn't know what to do, I not being educated in matters of interactions between males and f