Kaylee sat on her bed staring up at her beautiful dress and reminiscing about the events of the previous evening. It has truly been one of the most magical nights of her entire life and surprisingly the first time she didn’t feel out of place at a party such as that. Kaylee knew she wouldn’t trade her loving upbringing or her life on Serenity for all the jewels in the world but that didn’t stop her from dreaming about a life of luxury from time to time. What poor girl didn’t? She thought about it more and more now that Simon was living on Serenity. Being around him filled her with so many contradicting emotions. Part of her felt inferior to him because he came from such a wealthy family and had been a much respected doctor before he capture River but part of her felt really good about herself because neither Simon’s family name nor his previous career meant nothing out here in the black. Whoever he had been made no difference to how he was treated and because he was so unfamiliar with life onboard a spaceship it gave Kaylee and chance to show him the ropes and impart some of the wisdom she had acquired while working on Serenity. What was more, once Simon got over the shock of how different things were onboard the firefly he was actually really receptive to her teaching and often sought her out during the day so she could talk his ear off with tales from her home planet or of previous heists the crew had pulled before he became a member.

Of course everybody knew that she didn’t just enjoy his attention because it made her feel good about herself. What had started off as a harmless crush had grown into something deeper and as every day went past Kaylee pined for Simon more and more. She knew that he liked her, at least as a friend, but she was clueless as to whether or not he felt the same as she did. Whether she was the last thing he thought about at night, whether he would talk the long route to a certain part of the ships just to catch a glimpse of her and whether seeing her smile made his heart flip over and brightened up his entire day. She had no way of knowing if he thought he was falling in love with her.

Simon sat in the infirmary reading his medical journals but not really taking any of it in. His mind was busy reminiscing about the events of the previous evening. He was thinking about Kaylee and about how beautiful she had looked all dressed her for the ball on Persephone. He remembered sitting in the kitchen with Book and Jayne playing cards and trying to take his mind off River when suddenly Jayne had out a Wolf Whistle and Book had say something about there being a princess on board. He had looked up, not knowing what to expect and has seen Kaylee, dressed head to toe in pink ruffles with the biggest smile on her face. He remembered just sitting there, mouth hanging open, unable to form words while Kaylee twirled around the kitchen showing off the dress that her “lovely captain had bought” for her. She had looked so happy and he remembered fighting the urge to just go up to her, pull her into his arms and kiss her. Now, sitting alone in the infirmary he was trying desperately to remember why he had thought it was a good idea to fight that urge.

Over the past couple of months he had developed real feelings for Kaylee. From the moment they met she had been nothing but friendly to him and it had been so refreshing to be around someone who seemed generally interested in him for reasons other than his job or his wallet. Kaylee was just so different from all the girls he had known back on Osiris. She was so full of life and always saw the bright side of everything. She never set out to impress anybody yet she impressed him everyday with her skills and with her unfailing faith in everyone and everything. He knew that she liked him but he had no idea if her feeling for his were anywhere near as strong as his for her. She was the last thing he thought about at night, he would talk the long route to a certain part of the ships just to catch a glimpse of her and seeing her smile made his heart flip over and brightened up his entire day but that didn’t mean that he was that important to her. It didn’t mean that she thought she was falling in love with him.