Simon sighed, and rifled through the various things sitting on top of the counter in his infirmary. He couldn't find his electron stethoscope. He hated when his equipment went missing. He had precious little of it, and he liked to run a tidy infirmary. Now where had he had it last?
Simon closed his eyes and tried to visualize where he had had his stethoscope last. He'd used it to hear Zoe's heartbeat two weeks ago when she'd come in complaining of chest pains. Then he'd put it down and…
River.
River had been playing with it only a few days ago. She loved that thing. She always wanted to hear her own heartbeat, or accost somebody else and hear theirs. She said it helped her "manifest them as concrete constructs of the will." Whatever that meant.
Simon shook his head, and headed out of his infirmary. If the stethoscope was anywhere, it was going to be River's room. She was kind of a magpie.
For a brief second, he considered asking her before he went looking at it, and then decided against it. She would only refuse to let him have the stethoscope back, and at the rate this crew got into danger, he would probably need it to save someone's life one of these days.
Slipping through the hallways, Simon made his way to River's room. Since he had moved in with Kaylee in her bunk, River had the quarters they had formerly shared all to herself.
He met Inara on the way, smiling to her as she passed him in a rustle of skirts.
"Kaylee in the engine room?" she asked.
Simon nodded.
"Making sure the ship doesn't fall apart, as usual," he joked.
"Thanks," said Inara, heading towards Kaylee's domain.
Simon hurried onward towards River's room. The sliding door was unlocked. Simon slid it open, and slipped into the room. It was slightly untidy, things thrown here and there. Now, where would River hid his stethoscope?
Simon smiled slightly as he picked up a pink sweater from the floor. He was about to lay it tidily on the back of the chair when the object that had been underneath it caught his eye.
Immediately Simon froze, staring with disbelief. This could not be what he thought it was. There was no way. Lying crumpled on the floor, as if it had been hastily cast off, was a distinctive dark blue shirt.
Simon saw red
Spike was lounging in his seat, smirking over the top of his cards.
"How many, luv?"
Zoe's face was impassive over the kitchen table as she considered her hand.
"One," she said.
Spike passed her one card, which she put in the pace of the one she had just cast off. He glanced down at his own cards, and fought back a smirk. Warrior woman was going down this time. He was pretty much a master of every game imaginable. 500 years was a long time with which to improve your pokers skills. Except for mah jung. He was rubbish at that game. Never could get the hang of it.
Heavy footsteps made both Spike and Zoe look up. Simon sprinted into the kitchen, a crumpled shirt in his hand. He barreled straight into Spike, pulling the vampire up by the scruff of his neck with surprising strength.
"You care to explain this, you scum?" he demanded.
"Hey now," objected Zoe. "What's goin' on here, Simon?"
Spike regarded Simon's furious face with cool indifference.
"Yeah, what's up, doc?" he smirked at his own (long defunct) pop culture reference.
"I ought to beat you within an inch of your life," Simon threatened. He let go of Spike, stepping back just long enough to shove the wad of material into Spike's face.
"You found my jumper," Spike said. "Cheers, mate."
"Do you know where I found this?" Simon asked through gritted teeth.
"Been going through my things again, Sunshine?" Spike asked snarkily. "If you wanted a pair of my knickers, all you had to do was ask."
"I found them on River's floor," Simon growled.
Zoe gave a soft "Oh" in the background.
Spike kept his face impassive.
"Yeah. And?"
Simon's punch blindsided Spike. He stumbled backwards, and then regained himself, gingerly touching his nose. It throbbed painfully as he shoved it back in place. No way he was spending the rest of eternity with a crooked nose.
"You done yet?" he asked.
Simon was furious. He took another swing at Spike, which Spike easily deflected. He swung around, cuffing Simon on the cheek. Simon's lip began to bleed.
"Don't think I'll let you have another freebee, boy," Spike growled. "I haven't come this far in life to let a poncy rich boy like you beat me around."
Zoe surged forward to come between them, but Spike held her off with a raised hand.
"Think this is between me and the doc, luv," he said.
Zoe considered the two of them as carefully as she had been considering her cards, and the nodded one short, sharp nod. Her footsteps echoed on the metal grating as she left the kitchen. No sooner was she gone, but Simon began to speak again.
"How dare you?" Simon ground out. "How dare you? My little sister! She's a child!"
Spike scoffed.
"Your sister, mate, is a grown woman."
"I'm not your mate!" Simon yelled.
Spike shrugged. Semantics.
"She's just a girl. How could you take advantage of her like that?" Simon demanded.
Spike let out a sputtering laugh.
"You been living with your eyes shut, doc? River ain't a little girl no more. She's 19. Where I come from, she'd be married by now. And she's certainly old enough to make her own decisions without big brother's say-so. Open your eyes, doc. Your little girly's all grown up."
"You took her innocence!" Simon's voice went up an octave.
"She gave it to me!" Spike glared at Simon. "I didn't take anything that wasn't offered. 'S not my style." For a split second, Spike recalled blond hair and a bathroom floor, and a sweet voice begging him to stop, to leave her alone. The memory left him cold inside.
Simon's eyes blazed with anger.
"You're saying she, what, seduced you?
"'M saying it was mutual, mate."
"So you thought, what? You'd take a crack at her, while she was offering?"
It was Spike's turn to punch Simon. The force of the blow sent Simon sprawling on the ground.
"You understand nothing," Spike said fiercely. "You think River's what, some quick shag?"
"What am I meant to think?" Simon asked, picking himself up.
"How can you think that about your own sister? What's wrong with you?" Spike snapped.
"It's not her I think that of," Simon fired back. "She's barely more than a child and very vulnerable, and I don't know you from Adam. You just waltz in here with your black coat and your air of mystery, and…"
"And River's young and impressionable and bound to swoon?" Spike finished for him. "I think I've got to tell you a few things about your sister, mate. She's young, but she ain't stupid. And I understand her in a way you never will."
"I'm her brother," Simon spat. "I understand everything about her."
"No, you don't," Spike contradicted. "You might have, once, when you were kids. You understood her childish hopes and dreams. But she's got different ones now."
Simon blushed at his implications.
"You see her like a patient, like someone who's got to be fixed," Spike continued. "Truth is, she's fine just the way she is. She's not broken."
"You didn't know her before the Academy got to her," Simon replied. "You didn't know the happy girl she was."
"But I know her now. Don't you bloody get it, doc? She thinks she's broken, that there's something wrong with her. There's nothing wrong with her. She's never going to go back to the girl you knew, but she can be the woman she's becoming."
Simon considered Spike, a look of surprise on his cultured features.
"You really think that, don't you?" he said finally.
Spike nodded.
"I've known some seers in my time. They're all a bit off their rockers. But they're not broken."
"The Academy…"
"Did terrible things to her. And I will make them pay for it, sooner rather than later. But she's not your patient any more. You better cut those apron strings, doc, or you're going to loose her."
"Do you love her?" Simon asked bluntly.
Spike rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed.
"I care about her," he admitted. "A lot. A lot more than a lot. More than I thought I'd care about anyone again."
Simon looked straight into the taller man's eyes.
"If you hurt her, even a little bit, I know poisons that cause terrible pain before they kill. I will hunt you down, no matter where you are, and I will kill you, no matter what it takes."
Spike considered Simon, and then gave a sharp nod of his head.
"Fair enough, mate," he said.
Simon tossed Spike's shirt to him, and Spike caught it deftly. Simon turned on his heels, and walked out of the kitchen.
"I'm not your mate," he threw over his shoulder.