Simon watched Mal sleeping beside River. They certainly weren't a typical pair. They were something for sure. Playful, serious, loving, hateful, gentle, and vicious all at once. They had fights to end all fights since they were so similar. Simon had to fight the urge to laugh audibly when thinking back on one of their awful fights.

****

"Say that to my face!" Mal bellowed, drawing everyone out of their bunks and to the kitchen.

"I said that you're an insufferable chauvinistic idiot-child hundan that can't add two and two together correctly!"

"Well you're a spoiled pretentious egocentric bossy conceited brat!"

"Pretentious and conceited are the same idea!"

"See? There you go again! You drive me crazy! Nothin' I ever do is good enough!"

"I'm not the one that can't do anything right!"

"You take that back!"

"Only if you take what you said back!"

"Which part? The brat or the conceited part?"

"All of it! Starting with the 'controlling' part!"

"I NEVER SAID THAT!"

"YOU THOUGHT IT!"

"STAY OUT OF MY HEAD!"
"MAYBE I LIKE READING YOUR THOUGHTS! MAYBE THAT'S A COMPLIMENT!"

"MAYBE I LIKE CONTROLLING BRATS!"

"You mean it?"

"I do. You should know if'n you're in my thoughts again!"

She smiled. "You're still insufferable."

"You're still pretentious."

"At least you know what that means."

He laughed. "True."

They kissed and then turned to everyone. "Nothin' to see here," he said while shooing them away with his hand.

****

"How long have you been standin' there?" Mal asked while rubbing his eyes.

"Not too long."

"What has you smirkin'?"

"Just thinking back…"

Simon examined the knife wound on Mal's throat to make sure the bleeding was still stopped and the suture was holding up alright. He was doing better, so Simon moved onto examining River.

"This can't go on," Mal said solemnly. Simon looked up, slightly surprised by the comment.

"What do you mean?"

"She's getting worse. We have to do somethin' to make her stop hurtin' like this."

"What would you suggest?"

"I don't rightly know…"

Silence fell over the two men. They both loved her more than anything else in the 'verse, but both didn't know what to do.

"You know that I love her," Mal began.

"I know that you do. And she loves you."

"I'm the reason she slipped back into psychosis-"

"Don't beat yourself up, Mal."

"How can I not? She's lyin' here in pain…"

"We can help her."

"We've been tryin'! It's been two months! How much longer can this go on 'fore it kills one or both of us?"

He had a point. Simon sighed. "I agree. Something has to be done."

"What do you suggest?"

"I don't know. It's always the worst when you aren't here or if you're hurt, but you can't always be with her and you can't avoid scratches in your line of work."

"What if I got out of this line of work?"

"It wouldn't solve the problem. She's become completely dependant on you. The fear of losing you would be the same no matter where you were. Besides, this is your home. It's her home too. She wouldn't want to leave."

"I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't. Bein' with her is killin' her and bein' away from her is doin' the same thing…"

Simon nodded.

"I love her with everythin' I got, but a part of me wishes that we hadn't gotten into this relationship. It would have saved her a world of hurt…"

"If you asked her she wouldn't feel the same way."

"Well she ain't as smart as I thought she was."

Simon chuckled at Mal's weak attempt to lighten the mood.

"I'll keep thinking of something to do. Until we decide, I'm going to keep her on the medication. I think that given her injuries she's…" he stopped not wanting to make him feel any worse. "It'd be better if she stayed asleep. You should get some food or at least some fresh clothes. I'll stay with her."

Mal was about to protest, but his pang of hunger changed his mind. He gently kissed her before exiting to the kitchen.

Jayne was at the table sharpening his knife. He looked up at Mal and watched him get a bowl of protein.

"Damnit, you look like hell!" he commented. Mal shot him an evil glare before sitting down across from him.

"Sorry. I haven't exactly had time to get cleaned up," he snapped.

Jayne felt bad for him. He had something with River that he couldn't comprehend. Then again he rarely comprehended anything.

"What are ya gonna do?" he asked.

"I don't know. There really don't seem to be any real solution…"

"Guide."

"What?"

"A guide. Ya need a guide."

"A what…?"

"Guide. My mother believed in 'em 'cause her uncle once went to one with this problem. See, his girl was cheatin' on him with his best friend and his best friend was engaged to his sister and he didn't know what to do. So he went to this guide and everything worked out just shiny."

"What exactly does a 'guide' do?"

"They's s'pposed to have a link to…" he pointed to the ceiling.

"God?"

"Na…sorta…just like spirits 'n fate and all. They can fix things up no problem. You need one of them."

"Sounds like go se to me."

"My mother swears by 'em."

"That just makes it worse."

"Hey! I'm tellin' you that they're the real deal! They can solve any problem. They're all over the gorram place. All ya have to do is look 'em up on the cortex."

"I don't know, Jayne…"

"Just think on it."

"I will. Thanks I guess."

"No problem."

Mal finished eating in silence and got cleaned up before returning to the infirmary.

He sat back down beside her while Simon prepared her next dosage. Her eyes fluttered open, something that shouldn't have happened for another few hours, and started searching the room.

"Mal…" she said quietly. He took her hand.

"Hey there darlin'."

She looked up at him with relief. "You're…okay…"

"I wish I could say the same about my girl though…" he weakly grinned at her. She tried to smile, but only a ghost of one appeared on her lips.

"It hurts…"

"I know, sweetheart. Just shut your eyes and that doc brother of yours will make it go away."

"Had to…" she said answering the question in his mind. Why'd you do it? He held her hand tighter. "You weren't…okay. I couldn't…" a few tears started to fall from her eyes. He kissed them away.

"Don't worry on that now. Go back to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

He lightly kissed her forehead as Simon injected the medicine into her IV. She fell back asleep. Mal looked down at her with a sharp pain in his chest that he recognized as his heart twisting.

"I think I might know what to do," Mal said softly as he blinked back more unshed tears.

"What?"

"We need to find us a guide…"