Reunion

Simon Tam awoke from the sudden yet all too familiar jolt of the "Serenity's" landing. Then an unfamiliar jolt made the ship lean slightly to the right and Simon made a frantic attempt to stop his supplies from falling off the small table in front of him. It was only a matter of seconds before the voice of Captain Malcolm Reynolds came over the com system. His voice was so loud Simon could just about hear the Capitan's actual voice coming from the cockpit.

"Kaylee!" Yelled the Captain "Get your gorram pee-goo up here!"

On other ships something like this might put the passengers in a panic (even though the Captain referred to Simon as a "member of his crew" on many occasions, Simon still referred to himself and his sister, River, as "passengers". Simon supposed that subconsciously, he didn't want to become too connected with a ship full of criminals); but on the Firefly class ship: Serenity, when something like this happens, the first thought that comes to your head is: "What piece fell off this time?".Simon saw a quick and multi-colored blur fly past the entrance of the room and heard the always cheerful voice of Kaylee.

"Coming, Capitan!" She said.

Simon, sluggish on his feet ran his hands through his jet-black hair as he stretched. He had been a sleep for three hours but it seemed only like three seconds. At least his loss of sleep wasn't in vain. He had finally found a treatment that seemed to be working for River. The down side though was that her body hadn't gotten used to the medicine yet; and that meant many long nights of helping her through the nausea and headaches. Simon had reassured her over and over that it would not always be like this. That very soon she would a normal girl again. "But how soon" she would always ask. "How soon?"

"Soon" Simon said aloud.

Simon walked over to the infirmary doors and slid them open. The bed was empty and River was nowhere in the room. This was very common for her. She usually woke up before him and wandered the ship but he still was struck with a short wave of panic. Simon exited the room and headed for the kitchen. Maybe River's hungry this morning, Simon thought.

"Oh, juh jen sh guh kwai luh duh jean jan..." Said Mal as he stares up at the damaged leg of his ship.

"Now, you see this is what happens when you force a ship to fly for weeks without maintenance." Said Wash who was beside him.

"It's not like I had a choice!"

"Well, it's doesn't really matter now does it?" remarked Kaylee who was high in a tree examining the mechanical leg. "It'll take at least three days to fix her. Assuming we have the money to buy some new parts."

Wash turned to Mal expectantly. Mal didn't respond. He looked up pleadingly at Kaylee.

"Sorry, Wash. Nothing in my hat this time."

Wash stands there in shock for a moment, then angrily kicks a tree and stomps back into the ship.

"Ai-yah. Tyen-ah!"

Kaylee slowly climbs down from the tree.

"Poor guy."

"He's been stuck in worse."

"No it's more then that. He had an entire day planed out with Zoe for when we got to our next stop. Had it scheduled down to the second. He had to with the crazy weather that moon has—whoa!"

Kaylee's foot slipped on some dew and she lost her grip on the branch but Mal caught her before she hit the ground.

"Sheh-sheh ..."

"Just look at your feet next time."

"Sorry. I just I saw something."

Kaylee glances past Mal into the foggy woods. Her eyes suddenly widened.

"There!"

Mal whorled around and put his hand on his gun holstered to his side, ready to fire at a seconds notice. Neither of them moved, and their surroundings did the same. Aside from the fog slowly swaying to and fro, all was silent and still. After a minute Kaylee tossed her hair out of her face. She seemed to relax a bit.

"Must've been the light in the fog." She said with a slightly embarrassed laugh. Mal grunted in agreement and slow moved his hand away from his gun. Kaylee began to walk back into the ship with Mal following close behind.

"Well, I'm sure we'll find some way to get the parts." Said Mal as he closed the cargo room doors.

"We always do."