When George Smith was clearly stable a few credits in the right hands let him disappear. Jayne and Mal carried Simon out under cover of darkness. It was no doubt overkill, who would demand he stayed? He was a stranger draining their supplies. Jayne held the doctor under his arms and Mal had the man's knees over his forearms. They walked in silence out into the city and got a cab to take them back to Serenity. I was a short ride, only a few minutes. The driver didn't ask any questions, despite the fact Mal had already made up the cover story about a night of hard drinking. They were both still quiet as they carried him to his room. Mal didn't know what Jayne was thinking, he rarely did anyway. But he was thinking about how sour this job had turned; about how he had been betrayed. This job had started out like so many others, but it wound up with them carrying one of his crew out of a hospital. The two men carefully set the doctor on the bed.
Mal couldn't help but be amazed at both how fragile Simon looked and how gentle Jayne was being. He didn't think the mercenary had it in him. The only reason he'd taken Jayne with him for this was because Wash was off with Zoe. The two of them had suddenly decided life was uncertain and they should enjoy the time they had. This meant they hadn't been seen out of their room much. Seeing the captain looking at him Jayne growled as he moved his hands out from under the doctor's back. "What? I still don't like him." But he softened just a little, "Just don't wanna hurt him more"
"Sorry I even questioned Jayne. You are still a manly man. Don't let anyone say anything different." The mercenary took a semi-playful swing at the captain as he left Simon's room.
Mal looked at the pale man as he covered him with a blanket. Kaylee appeared in the doorway. "I was expecting you about now" the captain admitted. The girl's eyes were locked on Simon. "He's getting better"
"He's so pale."
"He was always pale."
"Yeah, but don't he look paler?"
"A little; they said he'd be fine Kaylee. Don't worry so much"
"I know" she admitted. Mal ruffled her hair as he passed heading towards the door.
"You going to keep him company for a while?"
"Yeah"
"Alright" Mal left, heading to the cockpit to find Wash. Mal didn't take kindly to betrayal. Now that everything was sorted out he had an old buddy to see again.
Mal slammed a paper down on Byron's desk and glared at the man. "You set me up!"
"I did no such thing Mal!"
"You did, and you nearly killed my doctor. So you will be paying the bill."
"I will not!"
"I got a confession; I know you set this up. Did you want your supplier to find out you were planning to double cross him?"
"Let's talk about this Mal" Byron smiled, "We don't need to do anything we will regret later."
"He nearly died!" Byron looked at the medical bill. It was steep, but not as bad as what would happen to his business if Mal squealed.
"I think we can work something out." He opened the desk drawer and pulled out a fund transfer slip.
"You know I'm keeping the guns too, right?"
"But what will I tell the customer? You're already late getting them there."
"Now see, that's not my problem, now is it. My problem is that you betrayed me, sold me out to make a few more credits, and you nearly got the doc killed. It might nota just been the doc, anyone could have ticked them off. They sure didn't have a problem with the violence. I'm going to need some compensation for my problems, hence the keeping of the guns."
"Now Mal..." Mal whipped a gun out from under his shirt. Byron really needed better security.
"I'm sorry; did this seem like a request? I'm just telling you what's going to happen. Sign!" Byron signed the transfer and eradicated their debt to the hospital. Mal clapped him on the shoulder, "We won't be keeping in touch. Have a nice life." Then Mal strode out of the office, twirling his gun casually.
Kaylee looked at the sleeping Simon. He had such rotten luck. The engineer sighed. Simon responded with a big yawn followed by a wince of pain. Taking a big breath had used muscles that pulled at his wound. The doctor slowly opened his eyes. Kaylee's face lit up. "You're awake!"
"It would appear so" Simon admitted with another yawn. He knew better than to try and sit up. He'd seen plenty of patients spring up and have their world do a 90 degree flip. So he continued to look straight up. "Kaylee?"
"Yeah?"
"Would you mind moving closer
so I could see you?"
"Sure Simon" Kaylee sat down on the edge of the bed next to him. He smiled.
"Thank you" he said with true heart felt sincerity.
"I was only a foot or so over there" she gestured.
"I mean for saving my life. I'd have died there if you hadn't come along."
Kaylee was near tears, "Oh, I don't wanna think about that anymore. I was so scared, and and you…" Simon moved his hand on top of hers. It seemed to take a lot of his strength because then he closed his eyes. It either took a lot of strength or he was shy about the action.
"Thank you" he repeated softly
"Anytime. But, uh, could we not make a habit of it, I think you should be in charge of the doctorin' and I'll stick to the engines."
"Fair enough."