The Lights Knew How to Love

Simon was letting Zoe pull a bullet out of him—again.

He'd come in and out of consciousness as the crew had carried him back to Serenity after their last stand on Miranda. He'd lost probably a pint of blood, and he honestly wasn't sure if Zoe could get him through this one. At least she had experience with the extractor now; he couldn't keep his head up to watch her work on his abdomen. Whenever he was lucid enough, he tried to check in, but the drugs he'd instructed her to give him never kept him lucid long.

Once the bullet had been extracted and Zoe was stitching him back up, his head lolled sideways on the sickbay bed. He saw Kaylee lying on the floor. The Captain had been working on her, but he'd done all he could. As far as Simon could tell, the darts in her neck had injected her with something meant to render her unconscious, but not to kill her. The Reavers do prefer their prey live, after all. She was sleeping it off now, but he had no way of knowing if she'd have side effects.

But before he could think about it further, he dropped back into unconsciousness.

Serenity needed a lot of work. They finally took the desecrated bodies off the hull, and Jayne even gave them a proper burial. Now the Captain, Jayne, and Zoe were working hard to restore the hull as the Alliance—the gāisǐ de Alliance—gave them new parts. Simon had lost track of River amidst the hustle and bustle—he thought he'd seen her staring at some wiring earlier. Even Inara was helping clean the hull, removing the red paint and restoring Serenity's name. Kaylee was deep in the engine room, trying to get Serenity back in working condition.

Simon felt useless while everyone else was so busy. He figured he'd be best able to help Kaylee in the engine room. It had been a week since he'd been shot, and the pain had gone down to a persistent ache. Still, he didn't think he'd be able to keep up with the intense physical labor going on outside.

Well, that, and he might actually get a moment alone with Kaylee.

He found her under the engine—that is, he saw her legs sticking out from under the engine. The room was unbearably hot. He immediately felt his cotton tee shirt sticking to his skin. Tools were scattered in a pile around Kaylee. Maybe he should talk to her later.

Her hand poked out, groping for a tool. He saw that her fingers were only a centimeter away from a likely-looking wrench, so he stepped forward and passed the tool into her hand. She jerked, and Simon heard a thump as her head whacked against something. She hurriedly scooted out, cocking her head to look up at him with wide eyes.

"Tiān nǎ, Simon!" she cried, her shocked expression changing to one of relief. "You scared me!"

"Sorry," he said. "Just thought maybe you'd like some help."

She pushed herself upright, brushing her hair out of her greasy face. She smiled, but he could see that she was still stuck in mechanical mode. "Well, the compressor fell off and got all bent out of shape, so I was trying to fix it, but then the Captain just said the Alliance is going to get us a new one, but I got it wedged in there so tight cuz of my jerry-rigging and now I can't get it out—" She took a deep breath. "Sorry. Did you have somethin' you needed to ask?"

Simon shrugged. "Just wanted to help."

She handed him a wrench. "Here, hold this for a second." She scrambled to her feet, then wobbled for a moment. He reached out to stabilize her, but his hand lingered on her shoulder as she looked up into his eyes.

"Simon?" Kaylee said. He swallowed. She was looking at him very differently now—her eyes were clearing, and they seemed to look straight into him. Now his stomach was knotting, and he couldn't move. "You—you meant what you said, didn't ya? Back on Miranda?"

He swallowed. Of course he had meant it. Had never meant anything more in his life. "About my one regret?"

She nodded, biting her lip. How could she look at him like that? Like he was the only thing in the 'verse that mattered to her?

He stepped forward. Reached out a hand, slowly, to brush his fingers through her hair and cup her face in his hand. The desire that he'd spent so long shoving back down into his stomach rose, and he stepped in even closer—until their faces were only an inch apart.

Kaylee's head tilted back, her lips parting and her eyes closing. Even Simon could read that as an invitation.

He leaned down and kissed her—and for all the nerves he'd had before, he was surprised at how easy it was. His fingertips pressed into the back of her head, pulling her gently closer to him. She responded, pulling her lips away and then plunging back in, letting them each take in tiny gasps between each kiss. Her hands slid up his stomach—up under his shirt—and his nerve endings fired like sparks. Without thinking about it, he lifted his arms and slipped them out of the sleeves, his mouth still on hers as she tugged it up his body. When it came time to take his head out, he broke away quickly and ripped the whole thing off, flinging it to the floor before lunging back in for more. She laughed, and so did he, trying to keep kissing her even though he was smiling.

Then he realized—he still had that blasted wrench in his hand. He tossed it aside.

One of her hands pressed against his side, the other gripping the ladder that they'd somehow bumped into. He placed his hand over hers on the ladder, then reached around her waist with the other.

The next moment, she started pulling him down, and they used the ladder to swing themselves gently to the floor beneath the hatch. Kaylee giggled as she lay back beneath him, but he couldn't stop kissing her. He propped himself up on his elbows, not wanting to put his weight on her, but he felt her knees come up and press against the sides of his hips. A moan escaped his throat, and he moved his mouth down her jaw, down her neck, down to her collar bone. Her hands kept moving, one moment pulling on his neck, the next pulling on his back, but they were always pulling, pulling, trying to draw him closer to her. Her feet hooked around his legs, and he felt her lifting herself to him—like if he wouldn't come down, then she sure as hell would come up.

Then out of nowhere, Kaylee screamed.

Oh, he was finally doing it, finally lighting her on fire the way she'd known he could. His mouth was on her shoulder, giving her a chance to breathe. Her eyelids fluttered open, only to see a pair of gleaming eyes staring down at her and Simon. Kaylee screamed.

Simon jerked back. "What? What's wrong?"

When the eyes drew back, Kaylee was able to make out the rest of the person. "River!" she chided. Simon pulled away and looked up at the service port to see his little sister poking her head through, staring down at them.

"River!" For once, he actually sounded irritated. "This is private."

"I heard you," she said. "You're very loud."

Simon got up to a kneeling position, and Kaylee propped herself up on her elbows. "I didn't think we were being loud," she muttered.

"Not on the outside," River said. "On the inside."

Simon looked down at Kaylee, and both of them seemed to realize at the same time what River was talking about.

"Oh," Simon said. His face was getting very red. "Oh, um…"

"It's okay." River smiled. "Keep going."

"That's, uh, that's—" Simon babbled. He stood up, holding out a hand for Kaylee. She hesitated—she wanted to go back to what they'd been doin'. Couldn't River just...listen in from far away?

She took Simon's hand anyway. Once she stood, she kept her grip on Simon's hand and looked up at his sister. "River. We're going to my cabin. You just keep working on that control panel, okay?"

"But I want to watch."

"No!" Simon shouted, but Kaylee squeezed his hand.

"River, I have a challenge for you."

River's eyes lit up. "A challenge?"

"I want you to make sure the Alliance installs the port thruster right. I don't trust them with Serenity. Can you do that without them catching you?"

River smiled. "I am smoke." With that, she dashed off.

"I take that as a yes?" Kaylee said, smiling at Simon.

He exhaled deeply, then started to laugh. "You scared me."

"She scared me!" But Kaylee laughed and tugged Simon back up the hallway to the crew's quarters.

"I'm so sorry," Simon said. "I never thought—I mean, I should have known—"

"Ain't your doin'," Kaylee said, only letting go of his hand when she opened the hatch to her quarters. "Come on."

She was already on the ladder when Simon grabbed her shoulder. "Wait—Kaylee, are you sure we should—"

She whipped her head around. "If you don't come down here, Simon Tam, I will drop the temp in your quarters so low it'll start to snow." She climbed down the ladder with adrenaline-shaky hands, landing with a thump. Simon was right behind her, and then she closed and sealed the hatch.

Kaylee pulled him into the room. "Forget about River. If she overhears, so what?" She looked into his eyes, though she couldn't help a quick glance over the rest of him, too. Qīn'ài de shàngdì, he was handsome. "No regrets, Simon."

His breath was hot on her face. His eyes—oh, his eyes bored into hers, like he couldn't possibly think about anything else in the 'verse. "No regrets."

He was tender as he started to kiss her again, but she was burning from the inside out. His skin was sweat-slicked. She ran her hands up his torso and over his chest—she'd known he looked good with clothes on, but she had not expected him to have such nice muscles underneath those fancy button-ups. His hands were soft on her waist, grazing the gap between her tank top and her overalls. He played at the hem of her shirt, as if only teasing the idea of moving it.

She needed to be closer. She giggled in between kisses, taking small steps back to guide him toward the bed. She didn't realize how far she'd gotten until her knees hit the edge, and she toppled backwards.

"Whoa!" Simon yelped as she pulled him down with her, catching himself on his hands before falling on top of her. She grinned, grasping his neck tightly.

"Come on, Simon," she breathed. She reached up with her other hand, pulling him down. He adjusted on the bed, pulling himself up so that he knelt between her legs, hands on either side of her head. Her heart thudded up her throat as she stared at him—at his beautiful, beautiful face. His hair hung down, and she brushed her fingers through it. He stared at her as she took a moment to just touch his face—to run her hands over his sharp cheekbones and jawline. Then she hooked her legs around his and pulled him down on her, and with a gasp they started kissing again.

Elsewhere on Serenity, River had wedged herself between pipelines that were not meant to be big enough for humans—but she had found a way. She was watching the mechanical hands very carefully. Kaylee was right to challenge her. These beetle-men were doing it all wrong.

And then there was fire.

No, not fire. Fireworks. Sparkles, and lights, and fairy explosions. They tingled all over her body so she couldn't watch the hands anymore. She had to close her eyes and lay on her back and let the lights flare through her. They were inside, they were outside. They were not her lights, but she loved them.

The lights knew how to love.