A Noise

Serenity makes a noise, asking for help, and Kaylee opens her eyes slowly, swearing a bit in her head but never letting the negative words slip from her mouth. River is curled up beside her on the hammock and Kaylee hates to move and risk waking her, but Serenity needs her.

River's eyes snap open when Kaylee jostles the hammock and her hands tangle in the loose threads. "Simon?" she breathes, an automatic reaction, but she relaxes when she sees Kaylee smile softly for her.

"Sorry," Kaylee says sheepishly. "Serenity called."

"Calling, needs help, needs fixing, needs Kaylee," River says, twisting around so her eyes can follow Kaylee around the engine room. There's not much Kaylee can do for her, but she does what she can and makes a mental note to bully Mal into getting new parts on their next stop.

When Serenity's back to humming like normal, Kaylee eases herself down beside River. "You fixed her," River says. "She sounds happy."

"Did you come down here to listen to Serenity?" It's the third time Kaylee's found River in her hammock this week, and Kaylee supposes Simon is trying something new with her medication again. Every time Simon changes her meds, River changes a bit too.

Kaylee doesn't mind having River around in the engine room. At first she was a bit worried River might meddle with something, but all she did was curl up on the floor and sleep. When she woke up, Kaylee had to spend an hour convincing her it was okay to sleep in her hammock, but other than that, River was no trouble at all.

(Of course, when Simon found out about his sister's newest habit, it took Kaylee from breakfast to dinner just to stop the flow of tired apologies coming from his mouth long enough to tell him it was okay, but she imagines that's why River's called the smart one of the two.)

River nods to answer Kaylee's question. "Noise covers up noise, stops the sounds," she speaks like she's reading a poem. She closes her eyes, eyebrows creasing, and presses thin fingers against her forehead. "It's so loud sometimes."

"It's okay, sweetie," Kaylee says. "Just go back to sleep."

"Calling, needs help, needs fixing, but Simon can't fix me." Sadness sinks River's voice down to a whisper and Kaylee feels her heart breaks a bit in her chest. "Can't you fix me? I want to sound happy too."

Kaylee can't find an answer so she just pulls River closer, tangles her fingers in River's already tangled hair and repeats meaningless promises that things will get better.