AN: To all who have stuck it out this far – a huge thanks. I can't even begin to explain how excited I get to see the numbers tick up. No one's review but a lot are reading and that actually makes me get all fuzzy on the insides. So yeah – that's it, fuzzy insides.

Simon took a deep breath. And exhaled, relaxed and content. He didn't remember getting back to his bunk, but he was relieved to have gotten some sleep. He stretched out his arms and slowly opened his eyes. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he felt the incredible feeling of pride in himself for having managed to solve the problem that had been bothering him for the past few nights. He'd found a small way, at least, to help repay his debt to the mercenary. A figure moved out of the corner of his eye and he blinked to focus faster. He expected River, as she was the only one who ever went into his bunk. He wondered how long he'd been asleep.

"There he is," a high-pitched voice piped at him.

Simon shook his head to see Kaylee sitting in a chair next to him. "Kaylee," he yawned. "What are you doing in here?" He scratched his head.

"Last I checked t'weren't no rule sayin' I couldn't sit in the galley," she giggled at him.

"What do you?" His eyes focused. He looked around. He was in the galley. The last thing he remembered was sitting down before he went to wash… the sheets. He looked down to find that his arms were still tightly wrapped around the stolen goods. "I – what time is it?"

Kaylee smiled. "It's a bit after five, honestly, doc, ain't ever known ya ta fall asleep quite like that. Ya looked so peaceful and stuff," she lifted a book back up to read it. "Didn't wanna wake ya." She was being honest. She'd slept next to him a few times in the past year but he always looked so troubled when he slept. He looked like he had nightmares all the time, and no matter what she'd tried in the past, he never did quite look rested when he woke up in the morning.

Simon rubbed his eyes, still trying to sort out what exactly had happened. He must have fallen asleep. Changing Jayne's sheets must have been just what he needed to do to ease his mind.

"It's gettin' close ta mess time," Kaylee inserted. "Ya might wanna go stash those 'fore anyone else comes up and sees 'em. Honestly doc, don' know what yer up ta, but only one folk on this ship can manage to smell quite so awful as them sheets there – an' I don' wanna know why but I sure am concerned 'bout what might happen to ya' if'n he finds ya with 'em." Kaylee figured not quite the worst. She figured that Simon had accidentally done something to Jayne's sheets while he was sleeping in them and that he was now trying to cover up his tracks. He was doing a pretty awful job of it considering he'd fallen asleep with the evidence in clear light.

Simon looked up at her again, a small spark of panic present when he realized just what she'd meant. Jayne might be there any minute and Simon surely didn't want to get caught red-handed with his sheets until he knew for sure how the big man would be taking it. He gathered up the sheets and started to the door. He stopped and turned back to look at Kaylee. "Thanks." He said before turning again.

Unfortunately for him, when he turned, he ran, sheets-first, into a tall, rough man who made Simon quiver to the very core. The look on his face was deceptive. Inside he was terrified, on the outside, he simply stared, looking as cool as he could and waiting to see what the response might be.

"Watch where yer' goin', Doc," Jayne shoved Simon out of his way and proceeded to the table. He was so happy to be using his arm again that he'd probably worked out longer than he should have – he was starving by the time he'd showered and changed clothes. "Where's the captain? What's fer dinner?" He stared at Kaylee, expecting she would know and when she didn't respond he simply shook his head. "Two warm meals a day, that's all I ask for," he began to mumble, not even noticing how startled the other two people in the room were.

Simon was still standing there like a deer in the headlights when he realized that Jayne hadn't even noticed for half a second exactly what he was doing. When the bigger man began to rummage through the cupboards, Simon took that opportunity to make an exit. Not having time to toss the sheets in the wash, he simply carried them down to his room and tossed them on his bed.

oooOOOooo

Having spent half the day sleeping, Simon was surprised to find himself wide awake come the night. He stalked Serenity's halls looking for something to read that he hadn't already read a hundred times. He remembered that Kaylee had been reading a book earlier and wondered if she'd left it in the galley. He took a moment to pass by the bunks, taking a moment to stop and listen. Down in his bunk, he could hear Jayne snoring. Jayne must not have noticed that his sheets were changed – and better yet, he was sleeping. It must have worked. Simon tried not to think on how a smell that could identify only one man had managed to make itself a "funny" smell to its owner. It had worked and that was all that mattered. Simon would go to bed himself soon, but he had to get tired first.

He finished his walk to the galley and plopped himself down on the couch. He checked the end table and found the book that Kaylee was reading. It had been on he'd given her a few months ago. It was a medical book about neurological phenomena. He'd given it to her when she started asking more about River. Kaylee and River had become very close friends but Kaylee was still, rightfully, afraid that she might do the wrong thing or say something that would cause River to lose herself. So he'd given her one of his early level course books that addressed different ideas of diseases like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Paranoid Schizophrenia. He figured it might help her at least to understand that there isn't always a way to stop an episode from happening, but there are different ways to deal with it.

Even though he already knew just about everything the book had to offer, he hadn't actually read it much in the past couple of years so he figured it wouldn't hurt. In the early chapters it addressed anger disorders and possible triggers for sudden outbursts of extreme anger. He smiled to himself and thought of Jayne. That man was just born angry, he mused to himself. He kept reading though. The passages address how childhood trauma could cause someone to grow up not knowing better ways to cope with pain and hurt. They talked of how children who lose their parents at a young age have the potential to channel their hurt in a variety of different ways. Usually if the way in which they lost their parent was violently, they would spend a large portion of time dwelling on that emotion and environment. This time spent dwelling could manifest itself in later years as the need for aggression to deal with difficult situations.

Simon had no clue about Jayne's childhood but still brushed it off. The way that man hung on to his Ma like she was a saint – clearly his childhood couldn't have been so traumatic. Later chapters discussed learning disorders also associated with early childhood trauma. He read about how sometimes, when the brain goes through that sort of experience, it will actually alter the way the brain perceives things including words and numbers. Simon could feel himself starting to get tired and he was glad for it. He folded shut the book and laid it back on the stand so that Kaylee could return to her reading at her leisure.

Still a little curious, Simon took the chance to once again listen in over Jayne's hatch. The man was still snoring. He found himself passively curious. Did the man look as innocent when he slept naturally as he had when he was blacked out in pain? If a man was able to be so calm in his subconscious when he was in excruciating pain, he wondered what he would look like when his body was back to normal.

"You sure are a weird one, Doc," Kaylee again, was the one to pull him back into reality.

Simon stood up straight, he hadn't realized he'd pressed his ear to the man's bunk, trying to listen better and see if he could formulate a mental picture of the violent man sleeping… with his gun. "Kaylee," he managed.

"Nope… don' wanna know, Doc. I always figgered what goes on in yer head ain't nothin' I can even begin ta understand anyway. Don' matter how curious I am, figger tain't worth gettin' all confused about now," she patted his shoulder and walked away.

Simon was embarrassed and was glad to know that the dim lights of the hallway didn't deceive his reddened cheeks. Knowing it was best to just not try to explain to Kaylee what he was doing snooping on the mercenary's bunk, he returned to his own, washed and shaved his face, then sat down on his bed. He'd nearly forgotten the bed sheets he'd thrown in there earlier. Not wanting to deal with them now, he shoved them into the corner of his bed, curled up with his pillow and fell into a very light sleep. At one point in the night, his subconscious reached up and pulled the sheets to chest, took a deep breath, and sent him back into that deep sleep he'd experienced earlier that day.

AN: I know things are moving slowly, but I kind of like it, lets me relax Review if you like cupcakes!