"Simon!" Zoe shouted as she sped down the hall lined by mostly-empty passenger dorms. Skipping the formality of knocking, she tore his door open and stomped into the room, glaring around until she spotted him on the bed.

"Zoe, what-" he began, sitting up in alarm just before he was yanked towards the corridor by the strong hand that wrapped around his neck. Craning his head to study the harsh look on her face, he felt himself go cold. They're going to kill me, he panicked. Jayne's ended up dead after all, and now Zoe and Mal are going to beat me into the ground. Considering how my luck has been running today, Kaylee will probably join in. Kaylee...how could you be so stupid? I can give you a life, a home, someday when the Alliance isn't interested in River and I anymore. What can he give you? The best he could possibly offer you is a rundown farm on a backwater planet filled with people who are all related to one another and say 'howdy, y'all' rather than using proper greetings. More likely than not he'll never be able to provide you with any sort of security. You'll be dragged from place to place for the rest of your days, bearing him a herd of hulking idiot children, expected to raise them on very little or no money, and with no consolations in your life other than the machinery of whatever ship you happen to be on at any given time. He paused. Why do I suspect that the latter proposal is a mode of life you would find yourself relishing?

He stumbled as Zoe shoved him into the infirmary ahead of her, having dragged him halfway across the ship during the course of his internal diatribe. Mal grabbed his arm before he could topple forward, picking up where the second in command had left off by yanking him up to the table. "You best figure out what in hell's wrong with him quick," the captain growled next to his ear.

What impetus can he possibly imagine I have to do that? This man has made me break my most sacred oath and has stolen the woman I was very possibly considering that I might someday pursue, all in the same day. Even as one side of his consciousness laughed at Mal's order, the other fretted over his patient's obviously deteriorated condition. It appears that he's near the end of a second bottle of blood, but there has clearly been no improvement...Internal hemorrhaging? That would make sense. I sutured the severed artery securely, though. Still, there is no other reasonable explanation I can come up with for why he appears to be dying of blood loss when he's been receiving that very substance.

When the surgeon hesitated, Mal decided he'd had enough. "Listen to me, and you best listen close," he instructed, practically snarling. "You might not think you've got much of a reason to be working on Jayne right now, seeing as how you and him have never been the best of friends. I figure you might be feeling a bit put out by Kaylee's change of heart earlier today, too. Well, I'm going to tell you something; none of that matters. You're going to figure out what's wrong, and you're going to fix it, for two reasons. First, you're a doctor, and that's what your filthy rich parents spent so much money gettin' trained into you, was helping people who needed it. Second, you're a fugitive from the law who, out of the kindness of my heart, I've allowed to stay on my ship up to this point. Now, you've got a valuable member of my crew on the table in front of you. Time was when I was starting to think of you with that same term, valuable. If you want me to keep thinking about you with that definition-and more importantly, if you want me to keep you and your sister on this ship-you'll do your job, and you'll do it quick, and you'll do it right. Dong ma?"

Simon gaped at him. Would he really throw us off of the ship? he wondered. Remembering the terrain he had traveled with Zoe on the way into town, his concern took a new turn. Would he really throw us off of the ship here, in the middle of absolutely no where? How would we survive? The town already has a doctor, and I am certainly not going to work for him. Taking a deep breath, the surgeon closed his eyes and silenced the part of him that wanted to just turn and walk away, the part of him that wasn't interested in any aspect of life as it was outside of the Core, the part of him that hated everything it had seen since the day he had ignored his father and gone after River. I cannot live on this seedy little dump of a world. This ship is far from ideal, but at least from here I can try to find someplace suitable for River and I to wait out the Alliance. I have to keep us on this ship. Decision firmly in hand, he addressed Kaylee.

"I need you to move off of the bed."

"But-"

"I'm going to have to reopen the wound," he explained as he moved to the drawer where he kept prepared surgical trays at the ready. "I can do that much more easily if you aren't on the bed. I may need to move around the table, and then you will be in the way. Once I've gone back in I'm going to have to work very quickly."

"He's bleeding out, and you're going to cut him open?" Mal protested.

"Do you see any blood?" Simon countered, his voice nearly as sharp as the sound of his gloves snapping against his wrists. "He's bleeding internally. If I can get in there fast enough and re-suture the vessel that was damaged by the bullet, I might still be able to save him."

"Re-suture?" Zoe asked, her eyes narrowing. "Any particular reason you didn't do it right the first time?"

"I assure you," he said defensively as he removed the bandages and considered the neat stitches he had laid down only hours earlier, "that the vessel was not leaking when I finished operating the first time. However, he's been given two full bottles of blood over the past few hours. The transfusion raised his blood pressure, which in turn put additional stress on the suture line. With enough extra pressure, the vessel would have begun to hemorrhage, possibly even springing a few stitches, which is why he is doing so poorly. It's my guess that I'm going to find not only a large aperture at the point of arterial severance, but also that much of the blood he's received up to this time has been pooling in and around his organs, causing him to go more deeply into shock. That's what is causing his coloring to be so poor." He glanced around at three slightly bewildered looking faces and sighed. Oh, how I miss operating theatres, he lamented to himself, where everyone in attendance knew what you meant when you said there was an 'aperture at the point of arterial severance.' "Any questions?" he asked impatiently.

"Just do it," Mal ordered after a brief silence. "Don't waste your time trying to explain it. While he's working," he went on, turning to Zoe, "we're going to pay the local physician a visit."

"He ain't exactly the friendliest person I've ever met, except when he's being over-friendly," she counseled. "Got plenty of the right type of blood, though. We saw that. We robbing him, or are we going to try something else?"

"Whatever it takes." Only problem is, I don't much like the idea of leaving Simon here more or less alone with Jayne. Kaylee's too shook up to really be able to watch him work, and she wouldn't know what she was looking for anyway. Catching Zoe's eye, he knew she was suffering from the same indecision. Can't just be one of us going, though. Going to be hard enough with just me and her, if it comes down to shooting.

"Excuse me, captain?"

Book's voice from the doorway caused Mal to whirl around, a near smile on his face as his answer entered the room. "Damn good timing," he said. Wonder if you're something-more-than-a-preacher enough to stand guard and make sure Tam doesn't try to do him in when no one's watching. "You reckon you can play nurse for Simon while Zoe and I attend to some business in town?"

"I didn't ask for assistance, captain," the surgeon contributed testily. "I'm perfectly capable of handling this."

"Yeah, well, extra hands never hurt no one. Shepherd?"

"Of course. I will be more than happy to lend a hand, should the doctor find he needs one. Until that time comes, I'll just stand with Kaylee and watch." As he stepped towards the silently shaking mechanic, he threw a stealthy wink to Mal and Zoe. The captain wouldn't be leaving right now unless it was very important, and I don't blame him for not trusting Simon, particularly since he's now operating again. I only hope that the doctor has examined his own soul and will do the right thing, and that my services will not be needed. Examining the patient as he slipped his arm gently around Kaylee's shuddering shoulders, he barely repressed a shiver of his own. Good Lord, he looks terrible, he gasped mentally, his mouth tightening. I can see where he might be beyond saving at this point, but may I be struck down if Simon tries anything and I don't catch it. The idea of having Jayne's metaphorical blood on his hands, even indirectly, turned his stomach. Hearing Mal and Zoe leaving the room, he called after them. "Good luck!"

Yeah, Zoe thought darkly as they headed for the cargo bay. We're going to need it.