"Are you sure?"
"Wow, in a place like that I'm really-"
"A date rape drug," Simon said incredulously. "I can't even believe this. Why did I let her go with you? I should've known something like this would happen."
"Will she be all right?" Zoe asked, her calm demeanor broken for once.
"Yes, she'll be fine," Simon fumed. "She'll be out all night, but fine."
"Oh, no!" Kaylee wailed, then started bawling. Her cries echoed out of the infirmary into the depth of her beloved ship. Inara put an arm around her, trying to soothe the weepy mechanic.
"Why would you let someone buy her a drink?" Simon shouted.
"No one did!" Zoe snapped. "She was with Kaylee all night. I figured she'd bought her own since they'd let her."
Simon ran his fingers through his sleek hair. "Kaylee," he said, forcing his voice to be steady, "did someone buy her something? Maybe she drank one she didn't remember ordering?" She cried harder in response.
"Honey, it isn't your fault," Inara said soothingly.
"N-no!" Kaylee blubbered. "That's not it! I mean, it is it, but it's not! She kept ta-aking my drinks!" She let out one final sob, then quieted some. "Oslo kept buyin 'em for me, and she kept takin some with that mischievous look she gets. After she took the first one when he'd gone to get me another, she told me not to drink it. I figured she just wanted to keep me clear headed for the night. She must've known what he was doing, and she took it all for me. I don't even know how many he bought me. I shoulda listened to her. She's always knowing about stuff like this."
Told you so very nearly jumped out of Jayne's throat and into the silent room. Well, he had told her so, hadn't he? But that funny pang known as guilt forbade him from kicking Kaylee while she was down, so he bit his tongue.
No one knew what to say. Kaylee had pulled herself together and was doing her best to straighten up. She had a look of sad determination on her face that didn't sit well in Mal's stomach.
"Guess, you were right, Jayne," she sniffled. "I ain't good for anything but just one night." She left, and Jayne hung his head. Now he knew it was guilt that was bugging his head. He didn't need anyone to tell him this was all his fault. There was a difference between setting someone straight and stomping all over their ego He'd meant to do the first but had succeeded all too well on the latter.
Kaylee didn't come out for breakfast that morning, or for any other meal that day. She spent her time in the engine room, greasing joints and singing to her ship. They were sweet and low songs of a lullaby nature. This baffled her crew mates completely.
"She's faking it," Mal concluded. "She's not letting on how down she feels."
"I don't think so," Zoe countered. "She's never been one to hide her emotions. Besides, what are the odds she actually believes Jayne was right?"
It was at that moment, as Mal drank down the last of the grit that Serenity called coffee, that Kaylee and Jayne happened into the kitchen.
"You ain't listening to a damn word I say!"
"Jayne, I agreed with you! I'd think you'd be happy that you were right."
"No, no," he said, shaking a finger at her, "That's female code for 'You're a jackass'. You didn't agree with me, you…" he paused, thinking of the best way to put it. "You set me up."
She laughed out loud, grabbing the pitcher of water from the cooler. "I did what now?"
"Set me up! So everyone can feel sorry for you because you've had a hard run and they'll all be thinking 'That Jayne'," he declared, jerking his thumb at his chest, "what a nasty guy for hurting Kaylee so.' Well I ain't gonna let it be that way!"
"Jayne," she said, now genuinely concerned, "I'm not trying to make you look like the 'bad guy'. What you said is true- men only want me for one thing. I'm okay with that."
"No!" he shouted. "That ain't what I said at all! What I said was that with the outfit you had on, no one was gonna want more from you than one night because that dress didn't show the real you. If you walked into that same place looking like you do right now, that Oslo fella wouldn't think twice about you because he'd know you were way outta his radar. But someone else, someone worth talking to, would wanna know you." He ran his fingertips through his very short hair. Honestly, it wasn't that hard an idea to grasp! "All I was saying was that you weren't being Kaylee last night, you were being some sexy girl at a night club that wasn't nobody worth takin serious."
She had stopped pouring her water and hung on every word he'd said, her jaw dropped ever so slightly. "You think I was sexy?" she asked.
"Well, I just… You…" He blushed deeply. Damn her. "You're missing the point entirely, little Kaylee. The point is you went out last night looking for a doctor but dolled up to attract guys like… well, me. No one to take serious." There, he'd said it. That'd been hard to get out there, what with all the words getting in the way. There were too damn many of them to pick the right ones.
Mal looked over to Zoe, whose face looked as impressed as he himself felt. "Why couldn't he have said that last night?" he muttered from the corner of his mouth. She shrugged.
"I take you serious, Jayne," Kaylee assured him.
He rolled his eyes and hopped up on the table. "Again, not the point. See what I mean? You're only hearing what you wanna."
"Okay, I'm sorry. I'm listening."
"Well… now I'm done, I guess."
"Jayne, I don't know what to say. I'm real sorry that I took you wrong last night." She went over to him and hugged him tightly. "And that was just about the nicest thing I've ever heard you say to anyone." She kissed his cheek and skipped away, glass of water forgotten.
Mal and Zoe were staring at Jayne in silent wonder. "I know," he told them, looking after Kaylee. "Why couldn't I have said that last night."
River woke up groggy and sluggish, which she had grown used to a while ago when Simon had been trying different medications on her. She didn't like how the slowness of her limbs reminded her of those days. The light was too bright in the room, the mattress beneath her too hard. She was in the infirmary.
"Simon?" she croaked, parched.
He was by her side in a second. "How are you feeling?"
"You're angry with me," she said, then "Thirsty."
"Angry, no." He handed her a small paper cup with water. "Not angry. More like…"
"Angry?"
"Okay yes, angry. That was a stupid thing you did last night. You don't do stupid things often, but last night you did and I know that you know better which is what angers me so much."
"He's married," she told him. "Oslo. Kaylee didn't know. She was gonna go with him if he asked her somewhere. If she'd been drugged, Inara and Zoe would've let her leave with him. If I was…" She trailed off, her throat hurting.
"They wouldn't have let you leave," he finished for her. "But what if someone had run off with you? I don't think Zoe was watching you very well."
"I don't need watching, Simon. I'm a big girl."
"No, you're my little sister. And apparently you do need watching because you could've gotten into a lot of trouble last night."
She looked at him thoughtfully, sipping from her cup. Finally, she said to him "You're angry because you're scared I don't need you anymore."
As usual, River knew exactly what he was thinking. But he would not concede on this one. "No, that's not it. I'm angry because you were drunk and drugged and it scared me to death." He stood up and turned away from her- her eyes were too much to look at right now. "You should rest some, you had a heavy dosage of that stuff. I'll be in my room if you need something."
River wiped sweat off her brow and watched her brother leave. He had never left her alone in the infirmary before.
Simon paced his room. Okay, so maybe she had been right. Now that she was getting better, why did she need him? She could obviously hold her own. Truth be told, what she'd done for Kaylee had been quite clever because there was no way she would've been allowed to leave with some stranger, even by force. The situation as he saw it was this: Simon Tam, doctor for Serenity. Simon Tam was the cause of Kaylee's recent pessimistic disposition, indirectly to blame for the incident last night. Simon Tam was also disliked by everyone on the ship, and those few that had liked him now probably did not because of Kaylee. Simon Tam, brother of the year who risked life and limb to get his sister out of a torture chamber and now she no longer needed him. And even at her craziest, River had always been more than Simon could ever hope to be. He didn't want to admit it- blatantly refused- but he was jealous.
Maybe it was time to leave. And maybe River wouldn't be coming this time.