Notes: Simon/Kaylee, pre-Serenity. Joss Whedon's, not mine.
Simon knew Kaylee wanted him. It was fairly obvious. He also knew she had no idea that he wanted her just as badly, and he was glad of that. There was no way he could ever tell her, at least not while River still needed looking after. He had too many responsibilities on Serenity to let romance cloud his judgment.
But sometimes when she did silly things like eat a strawberry or wear a big, ridiculous pouffy dress, he wished desperately that he could. He wondered what it would be like to kiss her. He tried not to think about such things too much. But he supposed it didn't matter. Simon was used to mental torture.