Title : Triptych
Author: JaneEyre17
Email: janeeyre17 -at- livejournal.com
Rating: PG-13
Summery: She can never have them.
Notes: Warning! CSI!
A coda to "The Messege".
Archive: This baby's going to Glow! If anyone else wants it, I'd be honored, just ask.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to 20th Centenry Fox, ME Productions, and Joss Whedon. I own nothing, save the specifics of this plot.
Thanks to skripka and blueraccoon. Hey, At least I finally finished this!
And special thanks to llaras and inalasahl for talking me through this and the betas.
***
Simon knew he shouldn't have said what he had. It was just that sometimes when he was near Kaylee and tried to be nice to her, be honest with her, he said things that just never sounded right. Things had been easier in the Core. Easier, but the girls were never like Kaylee, never so nice. And there was River. He wasn't going to be courting Core girls ever again.
When they had gone to drop off Tracey, drop off that body that had intrigued Kaylee when it had been both living and dead, she had gripped his hands. He didn't think it had much to do with himself; she was probably just reaching out for the nearest source of comfort. He hadn't seen her since they'd taken off.
***
He had sat down unawares. Simon would never have sat where he was otherwise. Ramrod straight and tense as anything, he was sitting on the common room coffee table. Musing about a girl no less. Simon Tam was a different man then he was six months, two years ago.
River came up behind him then. "Boys can be very stupid sometimes. Even you." She put her chin on his shoulder and hugged him from behind.
"She didn't want what you thought. She didn't want him the way she wants you".
Simon turned his head and looked at his sister. He wasn't sure just how to respond to that announcement.
A psychic sister, with a newfound matchmaking tendency. Maybe how he thought about Kaylee was the least of his problems.
What Simon knew was just one fleeting facet flashing in River's mind. A one- sided glimpse of many. Simon only knew what she chose to let him know.
***
Perhaps, River thinks, he is already lost to her. Or at least part of him is.
He has a girl. A bright shining girl. A girl who likes strawberries. A girl that shed quiet tears for the wounded solider. A girl that cries for the one who forces a gun to her is a rare thing. They will break her, and she will finally cry tears for herself then. This is long off.
In the meantime, Kaylee has River's brother. They speak in whispers, share secrets. He doesn't share these secrets with her. But River still knows them. She knows them all. She still wishes to hear them from him, know them because he tells her.
She will never know him the way Kaylee will come to know him. She knows this and yet yearns still. Yearns to be whispered to in the dark, share strawberry tinted kisses, bright-eyed engine greased and medicinal ointment scented caresses both. This is wrong. She knows this. But she yearns still.
She tries to be a good sister and comfort Simon. She gives him just a hug.
Author: JaneEyre17
Email: janeeyre17 -at- livejournal.com
Rating: PG-13
Summery: She can never have them.
Notes: Warning! CSI!
A coda to "The Messege".
Archive: This baby's going to Glow! If anyone else wants it, I'd be honored, just ask.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to 20th Centenry Fox, ME Productions, and Joss Whedon. I own nothing, save the specifics of this plot.
Thanks to skripka and blueraccoon. Hey, At least I finally finished this!
And special thanks to llaras and inalasahl for talking me through this and the betas.
***
Simon knew he shouldn't have said what he had. It was just that sometimes when he was near Kaylee and tried to be nice to her, be honest with her, he said things that just never sounded right. Things had been easier in the Core. Easier, but the girls were never like Kaylee, never so nice. And there was River. He wasn't going to be courting Core girls ever again.
When they had gone to drop off Tracey, drop off that body that had intrigued Kaylee when it had been both living and dead, she had gripped his hands. He didn't think it had much to do with himself; she was probably just reaching out for the nearest source of comfort. He hadn't seen her since they'd taken off.
***
He had sat down unawares. Simon would never have sat where he was otherwise. Ramrod straight and tense as anything, he was sitting on the common room coffee table. Musing about a girl no less. Simon Tam was a different man then he was six months, two years ago.
River came up behind him then. "Boys can be very stupid sometimes. Even you." She put her chin on his shoulder and hugged him from behind.
"She didn't want what you thought. She didn't want him the way she wants you".
Simon turned his head and looked at his sister. He wasn't sure just how to respond to that announcement.
A psychic sister, with a newfound matchmaking tendency. Maybe how he thought about Kaylee was the least of his problems.
What Simon knew was just one fleeting facet flashing in River's mind. A one- sided glimpse of many. Simon only knew what she chose to let him know.
***
Perhaps, River thinks, he is already lost to her. Or at least part of him is.
He has a girl. A bright shining girl. A girl who likes strawberries. A girl that shed quiet tears for the wounded solider. A girl that cries for the one who forces a gun to her is a rare thing. They will break her, and she will finally cry tears for herself then. This is long off.
In the meantime, Kaylee has River's brother. They speak in whispers, share secrets. He doesn't share these secrets with her. But River still knows them. She knows them all. She still wishes to hear them from him, know them because he tells her.
She will never know him the way Kaylee will come to know him. She knows this and yet yearns still. Yearns to be whispered to in the dark, share strawberry tinted kisses, bright-eyed engine greased and medicinal ointment scented caresses both. This is wrong. She knows this. But she yearns still.
She tries to be a good sister and comfort Simon. She gives him just a hug.