Of course you all know I don’t own any of the characters, places, etc….but Joss doesn’t mind sharing and when I borrowed them this is what I created. Hope ya like it. < < < < < < < < < <

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NOW.

She reached out and he was there, right where he ought to be. She couldn’t quite believe it her ownself; she had dreamed that the time would come when they could share a bed….a life. That dream was now and she swelled every time she smelled him. And trembled each time they touched because it was no longer forbidden…it was welcomed. As welcomed as the sky welcomes the stars. They belong together then, now, and forever.

That dream she once had, had given her hope which she held as nothing more than a drop of water in a desert, eventually the searing sun and baking sand would take its claim on the drop of water and it would be forever forgotten, the remains of smoke drifting slowly skyward. She was beginning to lose hope…maybe they just weren’t meant to be. But it had rained and the drop had become two drops, then a tiny gleaming pool, now it was a raging sea.

She laid her hand on his bare chest and leaned towards him ‘til she was so close they could have shared the same heartbeat, and then she buried her head into his neck and fell quickly back to sleep. And although no one else could see it a silent smile played on Kaylee’s face as she snuggled up next to her soul mate. Simon automatically and without ever waking up pulled Kaylee even closer to him, more so out of habit, he couldn’t sleep properly without her warmth to guide he safely into dreamless slumber.

THEN.

It had happened one week after Miranda. The thing that had given her the strength to survive the Reaver attack was her love for Simon. And it was not until death was upon them did Simon admit his regret for not telling her what his heart had known all along. She wished it had been under different circumstances…any OTHER circumstances.

It was not exactly the story she wished to some day tell her grandchildren. The timeless day of when granddad had finally given her his heart was when they were moments away from uncertain death and breaths away from hungry raging Reavers. But despite the tremendous loses the events of Miranda had rained down, she got Simon and that for the time being was enough to keep her going.

Miranda change everyone, it had made Simon more spontaneous. So it surprised the hell out of Kaylee when they first made love at the bottom of a stairway and it was Simon who made the first move. They where patching Serenity up, Kaylee and Simon were on engine detail. Kaylee did most of the patching, Simon just stood by and watched, handing her whatever tools she called for.

The little uninviting room, which housed the heart of Serenity, was very restricting, and Simon was beginning to get hot. Or maybe it was watching Kaylee handle each tool with precision as she worked out Serenity’s ache. Either way he was hot and getting hotter with every passing second, so he pulled his shirt off. It really didn’t help matters that he was wearing Persiano silk, yes it makes for a good impression, but it was just so damn hot and itchy. When Simon removed his shirt his body gave Kaylee a better impression of him than any silk fit for a king ever could.

She hadn’t realized he had taken his shirt off not until she had asked him to hand her the inverter tube, and when she didn’t receive It, she glanced up to see what the hold up was. His hands were to busy up over his head, tugging at his shirt. Kaylee looked with an opened mouth at Simon, the sweat glistening over his chest, inviting her to take a taste. Simon had almost gotten his shirt off his head and so she quickly turned away so he wouldn’t catch her gawking at him. But it wasn’t quick enough Simon had gotten the shirt well past his eyes and that was enough to allow him to see her quick but not so discreet turn from his direction.

Kaylee continued to fiddle with some do-dad pretending she hadn’t just seen that delicious body. Simon had to laugh in spite of himself Kaylee being shy, especially when it came to him…them. Simon didn’t want to tell Kaylee he had spotted her watching him, it kinda turned him on. So he feigned ignorance instead and began searching pointlessly in the tool box. “Kaylee, I can’t find the inver... the invero…the ‘whatever’ thing it was you where asking for.” “It’s the silver one with the glass tip.” She explained. Simon continued to search the tool box purposefully ignoring the fact his hand kept passing over the inverter tube. “I'm sorry I just don’t see it Kaylee.” Kaylee got up to lend her assistance in the inverter tube treasure hunt.

The moment she was close enough to him, he grabbed her and placed his lips deep into hers, a passion burned so deep in him, he thought it was like to overcome him. In the next instant they had fallen down the stairway but did not take notice as they continued to ravage each other. Seducing each others needs and extinguishing a desire that had grown in both of them.

She, like the rest of the crew where in a time of mourning and so he came like a majestic savior to pull her out of the cloaked black curtain draped around her; that was despair. He made her whole again. And she blushed the whole time he worked in and out of her, taking with him the hurt she still held inside. He melted her frustration and anger away and she was ready to live. And although moving on would still be hard, they would do it together, and that made the pain a little more bearable. The crew was happy for them, even Mal, especially Mal who was just glad some good had come out of their journey to hell and that not all pieces of them had been scattered on Miranda.

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NOW.

For 2 months now he would wake up in the wee hours of the night, slip into her bed wrap his arms tightly around her and know this is what heaven must fell like. This night as he gazed down at his sleeping angel he couldn’t help but think that he was the luckiest man in the whole damn galaxy.

The night was quite and he knew he was the only one awake because all he could hear was the hum of Serenity and the beating of his own heart. He reached out to touch her angelic face his fingers caressing her cheeks before they roamed over to her ruby red lips and lingered there before he kissed her softly; his lips barely grazing hers. But it was enough contact to make her stir in her sleep. “Oh ‘Nara you’re so beautiful,” is all he could say before Mal laid his head on her breast and drifted slowly into sleep.

THEN.

It had been 7 months after Miranda. She said she was going to stay and he was glad that she was able to find Serenity for a second time. She belonged here, not only because her things were here, but because she couldn’t bring herself to leave the place her heart insisted on staying. At first they both wouldn’t admit how they felt. She thought things would change; she wanted to hear him say he loved her.

Inara would have burned the guild to the ground just to hear him say those words. Things started shifting back to the way they used to be, both on the ship and in their non existent relationship. She knew she shouldn’t have come back, but she would have scolded herself if she didn’t stay to see what could happen. Nothing changed and so she figured for the both of them it would be best if she just returned to the Training house.

Mal had been afraid….afraid of not being good enough…afraid of getting hurt…afraid of losing her forever and so he let things get pushed back into a place of normalcy. He sat back, stored away his feelings, and smashed head first into reality when Inara told him she was going back to the Training house. The one thing he didn’t want to happen was happening…he was going to lose her. He let her walk out of his life the first time he wasn’t going to let it happen a second.

And so on the day Inara was set to leave Serenity he made her stay and not just with gestures of ‘pleases’ and ‘you must’, but with the act of love…he made love to her, all night long and she let him. Mal hid in Inara’s shuttle and when she spun the pilot’s chair around she was a little taken aback to see a naked Mal smiling back at her. “If this is your idea of a farewell party, you picked the wrong attire.” Inara said smirking at the joke.

“I love you ‘Nara…always have.” This she didn’t expect, she expect a witty response and a half-ass attempt to get her to stay, but this…

“I…I…Mal.” she stammered.

“I know Inara your scared…so am I. We have lived so long without giving in that it’s driving us apart. I don’t want you not to be in my life. I’m not just asking you to stay to fill an empty shuttle. I am asking you to stay to fill an empty heart. I knew since the moment I met you that you were special, and that you would make some man the happiest person in the ‘verse…I want to be that man ‘Nara…will you make me happy.”

“I want to Mal…so badly I want to, but what if I fail. You are after all a very complicated man. And besides I thought you hated shipboard romances.”

“No, I ain’t the romantical type but ‘Nara make me a believer.” She opened her mouth to speak again and he hushed her with a stolen kiss.

A part of her longed to pull away, but the greater part of her, the part burning with desire, pulled in closer to him. She let him undress her and led her to the bed. Inara had always been in control of her sexual experiences but he would not let her. She lost herself in him and enjoyed every last fucking minute. And from dusk until dawn they made sweet pleasurable ecstasies intertwined in each other’s movements, frolicking under red satin sheets, finally consummating a love divided by a history of stubbornness. She was his now and he was her’s. There was never leaving Serenity now, her heart found refugee in its captain.

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NOW.

She crept silently across the hallway and down into his bunk. He was sprawled unceremoniously in the center and so she had no other choice but to crawl on top of him. She lay with her head on his chest moving up and down with each breath he took. The stubble from his chin scratched her forehead but she was grateful for the contact.

Moments passed by and she still lay awake listening to his heart beating, it was beating so fast, the rhythmic sound was music to her ears. It was times like this she wondered how she could have been so wrong about the man for so many years. The big buffoon had a heart which now belonged to her.

‘God save the 'verse’ she thought, Jayne Cobb has a heart and feelings; he was human. The next thing she knew he would probably be crying in the galley. Jayne Cobb crying now that would be a sight for sore eyes. And Zoë laughed out loud at the thought as see pressed her ear closer to his chest and continued to listen to the rhythmic song until the lullaby final put her into a peaceful sleep.

THEN.

It had happened almost a year and a half after Miranda. It hurt so badly when she lost Wash, and pretending like she was ok when she wasn’t, made it so much the harder. She put on a brave face and wore a mask of resolve every time she presented herself to the rest of the crew.

But when she was by herself especially at night lying alone in that big empty bed the mask broke, shattered into a thousand pieces as it hit the floor. Then the emotions she held back would overwhelm her and she would shake until sleep took her. Then it would be a new day and the mask would be pieced back together until it strategically covered her face and emotions. She was ok with pretending, the crew knew her to be a strong woman and she had no intention to let them see her as otherwise.

>>>

When Jayne entered the kitchen he found Zoë sitting at the table cleaning her guns. That woman was so sexy those guns where so damn sexy. He was so turned on and was tempted to return to his bunk when the cloth she was cleaning her guns with flew from the table, an unseeing wind causing it to blow to the ground. He hesitated before bending down and picking up the fallen item.

She could feel someone behind her and when she turned around it startled her to see the big mercenary holding the blue cloth out in her direction. When she reached out to take it, he inadvertly touched her hand, it surprised her how long it had been since she had had human contact lest of all a man’s. But it surprised her much more that Jayne’s hands although they where calloused and rough sent soothing shivers down her spine. Jayne withdrew his hand quickly from hers surprised that she let him linger that long next to her.

In his quickness to get away from her he accidentally spilled a cup of recycled artificial wheat juice on her. It splashed down the front of her vest. The wetness making the material cling tightly to her chest…oh he really needed to go to his bunk. He cursed himself silently for being such a moron. Then inwardly wondered why there we no witnesses when he was moments away from being brutally assaulted. Simon and Kaylee where probably in the engine room humping, Mal and Inara probably in her shuttle humping, and River probably lurking in the cargo bay drawing cute little pictures of them humping. For the love of God man think of anything but sex right now, how he would love to take those chocolate curls and….

‘Jayne you are about to get pummeled by one of the hottest women in the ‘verse’, his mind reminded him, ‘so duck and cover’.

He closed his eyes to ready himself for the blow she was about to send his way, but instead to his shock she grabbed his hands pulled him in the direction of 'crew quaters' and demand he accompany her to his bunk and assist her in removing her wet garment. He had always found Zoë sexy but she was a married women and nothing would come out of his fantasies so he put his attraction aside and stuck with what he knew best; whores. After that he really never thought of her as nothing more than Zoë, first mate and that was that.

But after Miranda he couldn’t stop thinking about her, how much it must hurt to have your heart ripped out of your chest. It pain as well as impressed him to see her put on a brave face. He would hear her sometimes sobbing or screaming out his name (Wash’s name). And he so badly wanted to go down into her bunk and comfort her, nothing sexual, he just wanted to hold her but he knew she would never have him. Also he had no intention of disrespecting Wash, he wasn’t fond of the little man but he was family none the less. Eventually, as the months passed on, she didn’t cry as much and that fact warmed his heart. He was glad he didn’t hear her cry; now all he wanted was to see her smile again. He could make her smile he was sure of it, he was a Cobb after all…

They went to his bunk to see to her wet shirt fiasco. They didn’t dare go into her bunk because although her bed was big enough it was still theirs, (hers and Wash’s); in time it might be filled, but not just yet. With in minutes they were in bed naked and getting more friendly. Jayne threw his rule about ‘not kissin’ them on the mouth’ out the airlock, and took her luscious lips between his and kissed Zoë long, hard, and deep. They made love and Zoë was surprised that he was tender, passionate, and took his time pleasing her.

She thought she might feel guilty afterward but she couldn’t even express the emotion that had overcome her when he finally pulled out and held her in his arms. He hadn’t mended her completely, her hurts ran too deep, but he bandaged her nicely enough so that she would hold until her body decided it was time for her to heal, at which time he would become her crutch and when she was strong enough to walk tall and straight he would walk right beside her, then and for the rest of her life.

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NOW.

Everyone on board knew about Kaylee and Simon’s relationship they had practically sexed up every inch of Serenity and the noises they made left little to the imagination.

With Mal and Inara everyone suspected they were falling for each other but it was just speculation. Often at times they were caught staring at each other past the point of comfortable or at dinner time when Mal asked Inara to pass him the protein he purposely grabbed then end of the plate closest to her hand just to make contact with her smooth skin, then there was always the insistent smiling even when it was plainly clear there was nothing to smile about.

But with Jayne and Zoë no one made the connection. The only tell tale signs where that Jayne had become unmistakable less crude; it was marginal so no one took notice ‘cept Zoë. The other sign was that Zoë was smiling almost everyday and only two people seem to see the change in her. Jayne because he was the reason she laughed and Mal because he had known her for so long and so well, but any inquiries into why she had become sooo…HAPPY…he put out of his mind and didn’t seem to think it fit to bring Zoë’s change to anyone’s attention, much less to Zoë’s attention, just in case she decided to stop.

But to River all of their relationships where evident, she was well aware of them long before the suspecting parties where. And so River steadied Serenity as the black flew like an inviting blur past her view port, encompassing the tiny ship into her waiting arms. She was at ease when she was flying and her mind rested on the crew, ‘they take such looking after she thought to herself’, but speaking out loud to Serenity. They had a little less than nothing, but more than most because they had each other, to love is to be alive, and River loved them all.