Simon sat in the infirmary next to the operating table, staring vacantly into the research he'd done about River's condition. He knew each page by heart, memorized like a favorite song, he only looked at them now because he had done it so much that it had become something of a comfort to him. The doctor knew that his sister needed him, but her dismissive demeanor kept him at bay, and Kaylee seemed to be breaking down as well, but whenever he asked her about it, she denied that anything was wrong with a smile. A knock on the infirmary doorway snapped him back to reality and he looked up to see Inara standing hesitantly at the entrance.

"Hello, ài qíng gù shì," Simon greeted.

Inara started at this and for a moment was speechless. When she regained her composure, she replied, "You haven't called me that for a long time."

"I didn't think you remembered me," Simon explained, "What can I do for you?"

Ignoring his question, Inara asked "How could I have forgotten you?"

"It has been quite some time since . . . " the doctor trailed off with his answer, not willing to discuss it, and repeated "What can I do for you?"

Letting it drop, Inara said "Kaylee needs you, níng jìng."

The doctor sighed and, looking down, said "She won't talk to me. Every time I ask her what's wrong, she says nothing."

"Don't you understand?" Inara said, "You're what's wrong with her."

Simon stared blankly at the companion for a moment, then said ". . . What?"

"The way you've reacted to Jayne's . . ." she never finished the statement, concluding instead with "You've become like a hermit in this lab. You talk to nobody, you keep receding farther and farther inside yourself, you lock yourself in here at all hours and Kaylee thinks it's her fault."

The doctor's head reeled, finally understanding why Kaylee wouldn't tell him what her problem was; it was his problem. He'd been so focused on helping River again that he had once again let his personal life suffer. River would probably knock him senseless if she knew. Simon stood and walked slowly to the counter, a look of grim realization on his face as he reached into one of his drawers and pulled out a well-hidden bottle of brandy and, not bothering with a glass, took a long drought. Inara was surprised that the doctor had developed such an alcohol tolerance, not even grimacing after such a large drink.

Wiping his mouth, the doctor looked down at the bottle for a moment, then replaced the cap, picked it up and, with a nod of acknowledgement to Inara, walked out the door. Inara watched through the window as Simon stopped and turned back. Returning to the counter, he reached into a refrigeration unit and pulled out a small wooden box that had once belonged to Shepherd Book, nodded to Inara again, and left. The companion smiled to herself, thinking 'Now if only I can get Mal to realize the same thing . . .'

---------------

Kaylee sat in her bunk wiping away her latest stream of tears, staring at a picture of Simon and Jayne arguing in the middle of a firefight. She remembered the incident well. They had been running from the law on some backwater planet when she, Simon, Jayne and Zoë had been pinned down. At the worst possible moment, Jayne had made a crack about Kaylee's sexuality, and Simon stood up, completely ignoring the need for cover, and told Jayne off. Jayne tackled him to get him out of the line of fire and Simon, mistaking the action for an attack, actually punched Jayne square in the nose. Somehow a net crew had gotten a picture of the moment Simon stood up to yell at the mercenary, which Kaylee convinced Mal to appropriate for her own collection.

At a knock on her door, the mechanic slowly rose and walked to the entrance and pulled the ladder down. Without looking, she walked back to her mattress and said "If it ain't terrible import'nt, I wanna be alone f'r a while."

Simon balanced the wooden box in the crook of his left elbow while that hand held the bottle of brandy while he climbed down the rungs. When he reached the floor and saw that she still wasn't looking, he took the box in his right hand and said "This is important."

Kaylee turned, surprised that Simon had come, and saw the box and bottle, the doctor smiling tenderly. Unable to find the words, Kaylee stammered an incomprehensible response and Simon said "Look, I realize that I've been a real běn rén, so I thought I'd do something to try to make up for it."

Kaylee was torn. She was angry at him for taking so long to figure it out, but at the same time she was overjoyed that he had come to his senses. She let her anger win out, and she said "Oh, so now that it's nice f'r you, you think I should just be all happy and great?"

Simon was ready for this, and in response, opened the wooden box to reveal fresh, ripe strawberries, saying "Well, I was hoping I could maybe bribe you into forgiving me."

Kaylee swooned. Simon set the bottle down and took one of the strawberries and gently brought it to Kaylee's lips. The mechanic hesitated a moment longer, then gave in, biting delicately into the fruit, groaning in enjoyment. Smiling as she chewed, savoring the flavor, Kaylee took Simon's hand and kissed it. When she swallowed the rest of the fruit, she said "Well it's about ruttin' time," and dragged him over to her bed.

--------------------------------------

Inara sat in her shuttle reviewing potential clients on Osiris. Zoë had sent her a short transmission briefly detailing the mission to the core planet, and Inara as usual decided to get a head start on things. The fourth on her list was brought up and smiled gently, not a particularly attractive individual, and younger than she was accustomed to. At her acknowledging smile, he greeted her with "Howdy. My name's Peter, and I would like you to escort me to a small gathering of people here in Madison."

Something about the purity in his eyes made the companion continue the interview, and she asked "And what kind of a gathering would this be?"

"It's a banquet supporting an art gala for a close friend of mine. You may have heard of him, Axel Prometheus?"

Inara nodded, having indeed heard of the up-and-coming artist and philosopher. He was swiftly gaining in popularity among the outer rim, but the core was denouncing him as a radical iconoclast, speaking out against the government as he was. His most famous work of art depicted angels and demons siding respectively with the outer rim in a second war with the alliance. Regardless of whether or not they supported his views, few claimed they were inaccurate. Tension had been building since the release of the Miranda incident into the media, and nearly everyone believed that conflict would eventually erupt. "From what I understand," the companion said, "he isn't the most well-supported modern philosopher."

"Maybe not," Peter replied, "but this is something of a special occasion. You see, several key members of parliament are scheduled to attend the seminar he is planning to give after the banquet. Something about wanting a firsthand look at his views."

"I see," was Inara's reply, "And you want someone to add some respectability to your side."

"It is so nice to see intelligence in people," peter mused happily, "such a rarity in these times."

Inara smiled and said "I'd be delighted to attend. I read in the overview that there was a dress code?"

"Yes, about that," Peter said meekly, "I'm sure I could convince Ax to ignore that on your behalf if you didn't approve--"

"I take it that the code applies only to those in support of his views?" Inara asked.

"Yes, and it's not particularly strict. Black and silver are the colors of choice, and all of the major supporters will be wearing a stylized dragon motif in the form of a brassard on their arm, but that's not a requirement."

"Actually," the companion declared, "We'll be stopping by our post-carrier on the way, so if you could send one of the brassards to the address I'm sending, I could pick an outfit that would match it. Also, I understand he's written various works on his thoughts; if you could send some of the more significant works so I could familiarize myself with them."

The delight shone plainly on Peter's face as he jabbered out his thanks and assurance, and closed the line. Inara leaned back and smiled, thinking of how much Mal would love to find out about this. Of course she wouldn't tell him, it would boost his ego far too much. Before she had managed to sort her thoughts enough to decide on her next course of action, the intercom came on and the captain's voice rang out with "All personnel please report to the dining area for a briefing. I repeat, all personnel please report to the dining area for a briefing . . . yes, you too, Inara."

The companion puffed slightly, and headed towards the kitchen. When she arrived, she saw Zoë, Mal, River and a stranger in a long black coat and brown hair in a pony tail. Mal looked at his watch and said "Where the hell are Kaylee and the doctor?"

Zoë looked at Inara, who shrugged. River Spoke up saying "They're making up at the moment."

Mal looked at the ship's pilot and began to ask what she meant when it dawned on him. "Oh," he said, "Well, that's, um . . . Zoë would you be sure let them know about all this when we're done?"

"Pleasure, sir," the first mate acknowledged.

"Right," Mal started, "Well I'm sure you've noticed by now that there's a new face. This here's Mark Maliss, and he'll be our support for the next job."

"Malice," River said "a desire to harm others or to see others suffer; extreme ill will or spite."

Mark looked at the girl curiously, and Zoë quickly said "Don't worry, she does that to everybody."

Rolling his shoulders, the mercenary let the matter drop. Mal continued "We'll be settin' down on Osiris. The target is a research lab called the Omicron Center that's makin' a cure for Bowden's Malady, and they ain't sharin' with no one. Our goal is to steal it from 'em. One Hundred Thousand platinum is on the line for this one, so we can't afford any mistakes. Mr. Maliss?"

Mark stepped to the table and drew some papers from within his coat and laid them all out, arranging them meticulously. During the course of this, Simon and Kaylee entered. Flushing and trying to fix her hair, the mechanic offered "Sorry we're late, cap'n, but we had to, um, clean up some, uh . . ."

"That's not somethin' I wanna hear about," Mal interrupted.

Embarassed, the mechanic stayed silent while Simon stepped forward and said, "I'm sorry, I believe that we missed the formal introductions. My name is Simon Tam, I'm the ship's doctor."

Mark briskly shook the hand proffered and replied "Mark Maliss."

Returning to his papers, the mercenary completed his arrangement, and began. "This is a comprehensive schematic of the target facility."

Kaylee looked at Simon and asked "What's a com, compor . . ."

Without looking away from the map, the doctor answered "It's a map."

"Oh," the mechanic said, and continued listening.

"The Omicron Center is guarded at all three entry points by at least two posted sentries;" the mercenary began, "there are at least two two-man mobile fire teams patrolling the outer perimeter, three four-man mobile assault teams patrolling the interior, an alert four-man fire team on stand-by, and a seventeen-man dedicated response force all guarding the place. This is in addition to the head of internal security, entry control sentries, and the researchers and beaurocrats inside. How many combatants are on this crew?"

Captain Reynolds looked back and forth among the assembled crew and answered "Three, four if we're real desperate. The other two'll help if need-be, but they ain't experts on the subject."

The mercenary sighed, saying "This is going to be difficult. I anticipated at least six. What's our ETA to Osiris?"

"Three days, eleven hours, sixteen minutes and thirty-six seconds at our current speed, not allowing for course alterations," River answered.

Slightly shocked at the complexity of the answer, Mark replied "Good, that should be more than enough time. I'll have to completely re-write my plan of attack. This shouldn't take more than seven hours at most. I suggest everyone get rest until then. When I'm finished, we'll begin practice."

With that, the mercenary began gathering up his papers. Mal seemed a little flustered at the man's demeanor, but let the matter drop as River approached him saying "Captain, I need to talk to you."

Allowing himself to be pulled aside, the captain asked "What is it, darlin'?"

Hesitating only briefly, River said "It's Mark. He's dangerous. Very dangerous."

Mal glanced at the lean man as he finished arranging his papers, picked up his duffle bag and headed off in the direction of his bunk. Glancing back at River, Mal asked "What makes you say that. Seems to me that he's just an intellectual, good at plannin' and such, and probably has some nifty gizmos in that bag to keep the killin' squad off our backs. Not much of a fighter, though."

"That operative didn't seem like a fighter either," the girl responded.

Darkening slightly, Mal said "What makes you think he's in a league with that guy?"

"They know each other."

Mal's breath caught in his chest. Grabbing River's shoulder, he said "You're sure? No mistake about that?"

River shook her head, saying "They knew each other a long time ago. They didn't like each other, but they had to put up with each other."

"Why'd they have to put up with each other?"

"Because they worked together."