Everyone sat around in the common room, laughing and talking. Kaylee and Simon were curled up together on the loveseat. Jayne had taken the lone chair hostage. Zoe leaned against the doorway to the infirmary, and Mal stood with Inara by the stairway. At the moment it seemed they were exchanging stories of childhood antics, and Kaylee had just shared a doozie.
"So my daddy comes out with his belt," she was explaining through laughter, "and he's waving it over his head screaming, 'I'm gonna kill you, boy!' Poor Travis goes flying off like a rocket, dropping his clothes in the dirt and heading home fast as he can get. Poor thing. And I'm screamin' at my daddy that Travis and I fell into the lake and we was walkin' home in our underthings 'cause our clothes were soaked and we didn't wanna catch our deaths!" This brought about more peals of laughter from the group.
River peeked down the stairway, carefully approaching the group. All eyes were focused on Kaylee. She stepped lightly in behind Mal and Inara, watching intently.
As the laughter died down, Kaylee shook her head and smiled. "I was only nine, I didn't know any better. What, did he think me 'an Travis were doin' the nasty? I didn't even know what from where back then." She giggled, stroking a stray hair off Simon's cheek. "Not like I do now, anyway."
"And how," Simon agreed, though he blushed like crazy.
"I bet she do," Jayne agreed, grinning like a dervish.
"That's a mystery you'll never solve," Kaylee teased Jayne, scooting closer to Simon.
"You best be keepin' good thoughts on Kaylee," Mal warned. "She's spoken for, an' I don't need no gentlemanly fights to the death on my boat."
"Mm," Zoe agreed. "Then you'd have to show 'em a thing or two on dueling, eh?" This brought about another round of laughter, only this time at Mal's expense.
River bent down at the waist, her hair falling aside her face. At eye level with Mal, she reached over and touched his cheek, gently turning his face towards hers. She caught him in the middle of a laugh, his mouth curled into a sheepish grin. Tilting her head, she pressed her mouth against his, her tongue pushing its way past his teeth. He gasped, and she deepened the kiss. It felt like an eternity passed between them, eons of time before he reared back, too surprised to speak.
"River!" Simon cried out, shocked. The room had suddenly gone still.
"Tastes like aftermath," she told Mal in a calm voice. "Of things lost."
This, it seemed, brought Mal back to focus. "Whoa there!" he cried out, taking a step away. "You... I said no!" Shaking his head, he couldn't think of anything more to say, except for "Wow.", which incidentally slipped out anyway.
"River, what are you thinking?!" Simon yelled, pushing Kaylee off him and getting to his feet.
"Wow?" Inara asked, her gaze hard.
"Well, she... tongue!" Mal said defensively. He wasn't helping himself any. But what more could he say? She'd caught him completely by surprise, and what's more is she made it all Frenchified. And he hated to admit it, but it had been very... intense. Erotic. Powerful. She was gonna make some man real lucky someday.
"Mal, I am so, so sorry!" Simon apologized. "I don't know why she's-"
"Do you care?" River said accusingly. She glared at Simon. "Does he even notice she's not there, does he care? Or does he waste his time in the engine room getting things revved up?" She cast a sidelong glace at Kaylee, whose mouth was hanging open in shock.
"River, you can't just act on impulses!" he scolded her. "And you shouldn't even be thinking things like this."
She leapt down the last few steps, landing between Inara and Mal. "Jealous?" she asked coyly. "Or do you never notice anymore when she's gone?" Glaring hard at him, River stomped away to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
Simon stood for awhile, staring after her. "I-I'm really sorry, Mal," he said finally. "I don't know why she did that."
Still a bit shaken, Mal took it in stride. "Well, you know, she's just... it's okay." Pursing his lips, he chose his next words carefully. "She feels left out," he told Simon. "Since you an' Kaylee. Maybe you oughta..."
"I'll talk to her," Simon offered. "And again, I'm... really sorry about that." He couldn't even manage to make eye contact with the captain before slinking away to River's room. As he slid the door closed behind him, Simon sighed at River. "Mei-mei," he began.
"Don't call me that," she sulked. "I hate it."
"Fine," he conceded. "What in God's name were you doing? Kissing Mal, are you-"
"Crazy?" she said accusingly. Simon frowned, but said nothing. "I wanted you to be jealous. To care. To show you that I won't always be around for you." Pouting, River looked into Simon's eyes. "Why don't you love me anymore?" she asked, her eyes wide and wet.
"What?" He was surprised. Where was this coming from? "Bei-bei, you know I love you." He sat down on the bed beside her and wiped a tear off her cheek. "I'll always love you."
"Then why are you with her?"
He frowned again. "You know why I am."
"But if you love me, you shouldn't need to be with her."
"We've been over this," he explained calmly. "River, you know this is best."
"Why do we have to stay here?" she demanded. "Why can't we go, find another ship, another place?"
"I thought you liked it here. With Mal, and Inara... and Kaylee." He tried to catch her eye, but River looked away. "I thought you were happy here with them. Your friends."
She sniffed. "I am," she admitted. "Serenity is home."
"So why would you want to go?"
"Because I can't have you here!" she shouted. "Because I have to share you and I want to keep you, just mine."
Sighing, Simon put an arm around River and drew her close. He kissed the top of her head. "I'm yours," he promised her. "You know if you need me I'm here."
Tilting her head to look up at him, River frowned dubiously. "I need you," she whispered. "But you're never there. She has you now, all hers, all gone."
"No," he insisted. "Not all hers. I'm yours, bei-bei. Always." He wiped another tear from her face, smiling. River placed a hand on his cheek, stroking the smooth skin. He'd shaved this morning. Breathing in his scent, she moved her mouth close to his, sealing it with a kiss. He closed his eyes, remembering her familiar taste. Her mouth was soft against his, and small. River ran her fingers through his hair, her body aching to be with his. It had been too long since last time, far too long. Her fingertips had almost forgotten the softness of his skin, the smoothness of his neck. She kissed harder, her tongue probing his mouth. He reciprocated, groaning against her lips. River moved herself beneath him, pulling him on top of her. Simon slipped an arm beneath River, holding her close. Her body was lean and limber as she arched her back, grinding herself against him. He moaned again, louder this time. He'd forgotten how good she felt in his arms, how small and warm and smooth. River wrapped her legs around Simon's waist, creating a friction between them that brought Simon to hardness. His mouth trailed away from hers, finding the soft spots on her neck. River gasped, reaching a hand between them to feel his arousal. She stroked it through the fabric, imagining its velvety smoothness. She wanted it inside her.
"Listen, River, I just wanted to-" Mal's voice broke the Tam's heated tryst, his words stopping dead in the air. "Oh, uh..." he said quickly, backing out the door. His face was white as a sheet. He slid the door closed, stepping away and retreating back to the common room.
"Shit," Simon cursed, slipping away from River and chasing after Mal. "Mal!" he called out, hoping against hope to catch him before-
"...in bed together!" Mal exclaimed to a room full of shocked people. Simon ran up behind Mal, placing all the wide-eyed stares upon himself. He stood a moment, too stunned to speak. After being so careful, after months and months of keeping secrets and checking his every move, it all came down to this.
Kaylee was the first to speak. "What's going on?" she asked, looking unbelievably hurt. She knew having someone like Simon was too good to be true, but she didn't think it could ever be this bad.
Simon wracked his brain and tried, really tried, for an explaination. But he didn't have one. "I can explain," he said weakly. Defeated, he threw his hands up. Closing his eyes, he prepared himself for the worst that was yet to come. "River and I. We..." He sighed. "She's not my sister. I'm not her brother."
What did you say to something like that? No one knew how to respond. They simply exchanged confused, horrified glances. "No," Kaylee finally said, "that's not true. You and River... you've told us stories about growing up... together."
"I lied," he said flatly.
"B-but... that's impossible. She's got to be your sister. It's on Alliance records and everything."
"She's not my sister," Simon explained again, " because I'm not Simon Tam."