Kaylee was face down on the bed, sound asleep and holding the pillow tightly under her head. Her soft breathing filled the bunk as Simon looked down at her, smiling softly.
It's been over a year since he came onto Serenity with River and so much has changed. Not just with them, but on the ship as well. Everyone is a bit more sullen now that Wash is gone, the Captain seems a bit happier now that Inara has 'taken time off' and decided to live off her savings and stay aboard Serenity for a few months.
River and Jayne are spending more time together. That makes Simon…he's still not sure how he feels about it. Jayne dotes on River when he thinks nobody's looking and he's seen River laugh more since Miranda then he has in a long time.
So for the moment he's come to the conclusion to leave well enough alone, if she's happy then it's ok. That's all that ever mattered to him was River's happiness; even before his own.
It's taken some time, some slow measured steps and he's changed that. Simon's unwound himself and tried to enjoy the things that life on this ship had to offer; what Kaylee had to offer. His happiness was right next to him, naked and contently sleeping beneath the sheets of his bunk.
It's taken him months to finally let himself go completely. He still can't but cling onto a few things that he had back on Osiris. One of the first things he did after Serenity got back in the sky off Miranda was take the money they got from their job before Miranda and took Kaylee out for the day when they landed on Shadow. It wasn't fancy like things were on Osiris but the look on Kaylee's face when they walked in was enough for him.
He's done little things that remind him of the home he's left so long ago – simple things like candy's he grew up loving and even a set of soft sheets for his bunk – just enough to blend it in with his life on Serenity – his life with Kaylee – to make something new. Something that was his and something he could be proud of.
Simon boldly let his hand wonder over her shoulder and then on down her spine, feeling the soft skin under his fingers. They've been together for months and he still found himself amazed by her. Everything about her was soft and womanly, from her smile right on down to her curves. Her fingers were slightly roughed from working so many hours on the engine, but he didn't think it took anything away from her and who she was.
If anything it drew him in more, made him crave her knowledge like he and River craved learning in school when they were younger.
His fingers finally trailed over her lower back, at the base of her spine. He knew every medical name for the bones in her spine, every letter the vertebrae had and what nerves ran through it.
What captivated him most was how easily his fingers found the inked unicorn at the base of her spine - L3, L4 and L5 of the lumbar to be exact. The way it marked her skin made him even more curious about her. They've spent months talking since that day on Miranda, many long nights sitting in a darkened room talking about anything and everything about their pasts and what they wanted from the future.
Yet, no matter how much they talked he still yearned to know more about her. He wanted to know why she did the things she did, what made her who she is and just how he could keep her his forever.
He'd never tell her that last part, he wonders if he's too much of a sap sometimes for his own good.
A small smile find's its way to the corner's of his mouth as he leans down and kisses her bare shoulder, his fingers moving away from the tattoo and wraps around her waist. His eyes close as his mind still wonders about the girl beside him, amazing and mystifying him as the unicorn she bore on her back.