Simon stared at the image on the screen, a look of horror on his face. "Penelope." "You know her, Doc?" Jayne asked. Holding Kaylee's hand, Simon nodded. "I knew her on Osiris." "Knew her?" Jayne pressed. "Or...y'know, knew her?" "What could that possibly have to do with the situation at hand?" Simon asked, glaring at the mercenary. "Yep. Humped her." Jayne said under his breath, earning a sharp look from Mal. "I don't understand." Simon said to Mal. "What happened to her? Who contacted us?" "She was attacked. Alliance goons. Our...'old friend' seemed to think we might be in a position to help." Mal explained. "He didn't say how they managed to track her down." "Because of me." Simon's voice had an edge of bitterness. "She tried to help me find River, and was arrested as a result. The Alliance could have easily looked up her record." Kaylee squeezed his hand gently. "Ain't your fault, honey." "How far out are we?" Simon asked. "Hold on now, we can't just go charging off to the rescue. For all we know, this is a trap." Mal said. "When has that ever stopped you?" Inara asked. Mal considered that for a moment. "What's her last name?" Simon looked surprised by the question. "Antoine." "Lil' Albatross, can you plot a course?" Mal asked River. She nodded, and he patted her shoulder lightly. "Good, do it." "Wait a second, Cap'n." Kaylee frowned as a disturbing thought occured to her. "He said people we know are in danger, right?" Mal cursed under his breath, immediately understanding what Kaylee was getting at. "Wave your folks, tell them to lay low." Simon wrapped his arm around Kaylee's shoulders, comforting her. "I'm sure they're fine, baobei." "I know, I think so too." Kaylee sighed. "But if they gotta hide, and we're going to Bayou..." "The wedding." Simon realized. "I'm so sorry, Kaylee." "Can't be helped." Kaylee squeezed his hand again and managed a sad smile as she sat down in front of the screen. ____________________ After checking the infirmary, making sure everything was ready for a critical patient, Simon retreated to the bunk he and Kaylee shared. He wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting there, staring at the ceiling above the bed, when she came in. "Did you get to your family?" He asked. Kaylee nodded, looking more than a little relieved. "Yeah. My daddy's got a friend who has a ship, owes him a favor. They'll be all right." Simon sat up and wrapped his arms around her waist as she approached the bed and pulled her into his lap. "I'm really sorry about the wedding." "I know, sweetie." Kaylee assured him. "I am, too. But I couldn't put my folks at risk. And anyway, we couldn't enjoy the wedding or the honeymoon, knowin' there's someone needs our help." "That's true." Simon admitted. Kaylee recognized the look on his face. "Simon, this ain't your fault at all." He shook his head. "If it weren't for me...if she hadn't tried to help me, they wouldn't have been able to get to her." "You know that for sure?" Kaylee asked. "Sweetie, she was a whore and a spy, how'd you know she didn't have a record already? And anyway, she chose to help you, nothing you could have done about that." "You can't really say it's her fault, though." Simon pointed out. "It's the Alliance's fault." Kaylee said. "This ain't the first time they've done somethin' horrible to some poor girl who didn't deserve it." Simon nodded. "You're right about that." "Honey, we're gonna be married sooner or later, so you'd best remember one thing." Kaylee giggled. "I'm always right." "Do I ever get to be right?" Simon asked, finally cracking a smile. "When you agree with me." Kaylee replied. "Hey, I didn't make the rules, but I'm damn sure gonna follow 'em." She kissed him, letting her hands run over his back. "Now then, I've got orders to help you relax a little." "Mal ordered you to help me...relax?" Simon was slightly disturbed by the thought. "Yep." Kaylee said cheerfully, unbuttoning his shirt. "He said you were lookin' all depressed before, and it was makin' him depressed, and I should deal with you before you made him wanna put a bullet in his head. He was non-specific as to how I should 'deal with you.'" "His concern is truly awe-inspiring." Simon chuckled. "Well, if you've got orders..."

"Good boy." Kaylee cooed, giving him a devilish grin and pushing him back onto the bed. She pushed his open shirt aside, then slid her hands down to his belt buckle, as he reached out to start undressing her. Breaking contact with him only once to wriggle out of her jumpsuit, she deftly undid his pants and reached through the slit in his boxers to free his already hard length. Stroking just the tip with her thumb, she leaned down and began placing warm, open-mouthed kisses down his chest. Groaning with anticipation, Simon grasped her hips and started turning her body. Kaylee gasped and moaned when she found herself facing his feet, his cock inches from her lips. She could feel his warm breath between her thighs. She ran her tongue around the head of his length just as she felt his mouth on her slick folds. "Oh, Simon..." She gasped out. His tongue delved in, seeking out her clit and circling it, causing her to moan around his cock as she took as much of it into her mouth as she could. He groaned and mumbled something she couldn't make out, his tongue vibrating against her entrance. Everything else melted away as Simon tasted Kaylee's slickness and felt her mouth moving up and down his length. She had the ability to shrink his entire world, his very exisistance, to just the two of them. God, she felt so amazing, and sounded so sweet, moaning and gasping while she sucked him. Kaylee was in heaven. Being with Simon like this, the two of them giving and recieving pleasure at the same time, was nothing short of perfection as far as she was concerned. She relaxed her throat and took more of him in, rubbing the underside of his cock with her tongue and letting the roof of her mouth slide across the head. All the while, she focused on the way his mouth felt on her, his tongue inside her opening, lapping at the sensitive flesh. Before Simon, she had never been with a man who was so enthusiastic about going down on her, and knowing that he enjoyed it just made the sensations even more intense and pleasurable. He wasn't going to last much longer, she could tell. Her own orgasm was building rapidly, something inside her tightening with every thrust of his tongue. His hips were moving, pushing his cock deeper into her throat. She shivered happily, loving the way he lost control with her. His length swelled in her mouth and she felt him tensing, seconds away from climax. Needing to taste him and hear him shouting her name, she took his full length in, scraping his skin lightly with her teeth. As if on cue, he bucked under her and released himself. She moaned with satisfaction, letting the hot, salty fluid fill her mouth and flow down her throat. She kept sucking on his cock lightly until it softened. Simon kept working at Kaylee even as his orgasm shook his entire body, lapping at her folds and clit while her skilled mouth drained everything he had to give. Just as she let his length slide out between her lips, he brought one hand up to pinch her clit, just as his tongue hit a sensitive spot inside her. She reared back, crying out his name. Her muscles clenched, dousing him with her juices. He kept licking her, not letting a single drop spill, until she collapsed, her head resting on his thigh. Panting heavily, she turned around and crawled back up, slumping over Simon. "Wo de ma, Simon." She whispered, nuzzling his throat. "That was incredible." Simon murmured, instinctively wrapping his arms tightly around her. "So are you." Kaylee giggled. She pushed herself up and kissed him lightly, still catching her breath. "I love you." "I love you, Kaylee." Simon replied. "Are you sure you're not disappointed about the wedding?" "I'm a little disappointed." Kaylee admitted. "But it's okay. I waited eight months just to kiss you. I can wait another week or two to be your wife." Simon ran his hand through her hair. "I wish I didn't have to keep you waiting so much." "You're so worth waitin' for, though." Kaylee assured him, kissing his chest, right over his heart. "It's all worth it." _______________________ "What changed your mind?" Mal jumped at the sound of Inara's voice. "Woman, how many times do I have to tell you about sneaking up on me?"

"I'll take my chances." Inara replied, sitting down beside him at the table. "You asked what her last name was. What does that have to do with anything?" "A lot of folks from Bayou fought for the Independents." Mal explained, knowing he couldn't get anything past her. "See, when a Browncoat died, they died knowing their friends would look after the folks they left behind, any way they could." Inara nodded, absently laying one hand over his. "Go on." "I knew a fella by the name of Antoine in the war." Mal said. "From Bayou. He had a daughter he talked about all the time, Penny. Her name was one of the last words he managed to say before he died in the Battle of Sturges." "And you think it's the same girl?" Inara asked. "Don't rightly know." Mal admitted. "But I aim to find out." "You would have gone anyway." Inara said after a moment. "Excuse me?" "You heard me." Inara replied. "All that talk about a trap, did you really think you were fooling anyone? You were never going to just turn off the wave and forget about it." "Well, no." Mal chuckled. "But don't go spreadin' it around, I got a reputation to maintain." He stood up and leaned down to kiss her cheek. "Besides, you were right. Since when has a trap stopped me?"

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