Simon slowly guided River towards the mess hall "We'll get you some hot cereal before bedtime, Mei mei." He smiled warmly at her, "You'll sleep better if you . . ."

Simon stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Kaylee sitting at the mess hall table sipping at a bowl of something hot. He looked at River as one side of his mouth turned upward, "I'm going to talk to her."

River looked at Kaylee and back at Simon, "It's time for my medicine."

Simon looked at his watch, "I guess it is . . . Wait here, I'll be right b- "

"No!" River interrupted, "I'll go with you . . .to the infirmary."

Simon raised a dark eyebrow, "You hate it there, River. I can bring it right back here, and . . ."

"Race you!" River scrambled away to the infirmary. Simon looked confused but caught up with her just as they reached their quarters.

"Okay," Simon huffed, out of breath, "Hop up on the table."

River obeyed and sat on the table humming. She didn't even fight when Simon pressed the needle to her porcelain skin. "Such a good job, Mei mei!" Simon beamed. He helped her down of the table, "Now, I've still got a little nerve left," He turned towards the door, "I'm going to -"

"Oh Simon, I haven't shown you the picture I drew for you!" She loped out of the room while tugging on her brother's hand. She drug him into her bunk and dug through her papers and pulled out a charcoal drawing of him. The likeness was almost unnerving.

"This is very nice, River." Simon studied the drawing. "I'll give it a better look after I . . ."

River rolled her eyes back into her head and began thrashing around and moaning. Simon rushed to her and tried to restrain her. Though he was being plummeted by her flailing limbs, he managed to get her back into the infirmary. He grabbed a vile full of smoother and sat on the table holding the flailing River in his lap.

Just as he was about to inject the smoother, River stopped mid- trash. Her body went limp and Simon slowly lowered the syringe. River turned her face to him as if nothing had happened. "Okay, you can go see Kaylee now." She smiled.

Simon eased River off his lap, and worked his way to the door still facing her. "I'll be right back, Mei mei, I just really need to do something I might not be able to do later."

Simon half-jogged towards the mess hall and stopped as he heard a deep voice echo out the door followed by Kaylee's unmistakable giggle. He peeked around the doorframe into the mess hall and sure enough, Kaylee was still sitting at the table. However, she wasn't alone now. Jayne was sitting next to her with one hand tangled in her auburn hair and the other brushing against her cheek.

Simon darted back away from the door and pressed his back against the wall. Only then did he realize his own prophecy about losing his chance to tell Kaylee everything he wanted to. His eyes grew dark with rage as he stormed back to the infirmary and stomped up to the examining table on which River lay placidly.

He grabbed the tiny girl by the wrist and yanked her into a sitting position. "You knew, and you kept me away!" He rumbled.

"You don't need her, Simon." The calm smile never left Rivers lips. "Besides, I had told her I always win at games."