Title: Trapped Chapter: 1 Pairing: Simon/Kaylee Rating: Pg-13 Word Count: 1271 Warnings: Not betaed Disclaimer: I do not own

Author’s note: Check out the prequel here _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kaylee spun in a small circle, the dress she was wearing fanning out as she did. That was her favorite part of a dress, the way they flew out if you turned quick enough. That and the ruffles. She loved ruffles the way she loved new compression coils or grav thrusters.

Giving one last turn for good measure, Kaylee climbed up out of her bunk to show off to the awaiting Simon. He smiled when he saw her. She loved when he gave a full mouth smile like he was, teeth showing and all. The doctor could be so reserved at times that all you could get out of his was a smirk.

“Do you like it?” he asked. Kaylee gave a quick spin to show off before nodding.

“It’s ‘bout the prettiest dress I’ve ever worn. Well ‘cept the dress the cap’n bought me for that fancy party, but you can’t wear a dress like that out just anywhere,” Kaylee gushed, running her hands over the smooth fabric that covered her. “You really didn’t have t’buy this for me, Simon.”

“You seemed to like it so much, I guess I couldn’t help myself,” he smiled. Kaylee returned his smile with one of her own. It hadn’t been often since Miranda that anyone on the ship smiled much. But folks were beginning to heal and slowly things were returning to normal.

“Well I love it, thank you Simon,” she smiled, leaning up and pressing her lips to his cheek. His face flushed a bit, public displays of affection always had that affect on him, especially if other folks from the crew were watching. Simon offered his arm and Kaylee smiled brightly, lopping her hand into it.

“You ready to go then?” he asked.

“Sure am,” Kaylee replied.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She felt like a princess in the fancy new dress Simon had bought her, even if it was covered a bit with her jacket. Mal had raised an eyebrow when he had seen her walking down the ramp, hand holding onto Simon’s arm; but one stern look from Zoe kept the captain’s mouth shut tight. Not that anything Mal said could have put her in a bad mood at that moment.

“Alright, Kaylee,” Mal said, tossing her a comm. “You and Simon pick up the supplies on that list I gave you. If you run into any trouble, you call.”

“Sure thing, cap’n,” Kaylee smiled, taking the comm. and handing it to Simon to hold in one of his pockets. Mal gave her a pointed, ‘you better behave’ look before heading off with Zoe towards a meet. Once the captain was out of ear shot Kaylee whirled on Simon, spinning around him and pressing her lips to his. He laughed and wrapped his arms around her waist bringing her closer to him.

“I ought to buy you things more often,” he mused to himself, his lips brushing hers as he spoke.

“I’ll second that,” she giggled and pulled back. Letting go of his arm, she linked hands with him and started into town. The clouds above the city were gray and low. She paused in her walking to stare up at the sky. “I think…”

Her voice trailed off as snow flakes began to fall to the ground. It was slow for a moment before they started to come in a heavy flurry. “We should hurry,” Simon suggested, holding her hand tightly and picking up his pace as they headed for town. They walked at a brisk pace, Kaylee pausing to tilt her head up every few moments and catch snow in her mouth. The ground was already lightly powdered by the time they reached the general store. Simon reached and pulled open the door, motioning for Kaylee to go in.

“Dr. Simon Tam?”

Kaylee and Simon froze when they heard Simon’s name. Slowly they both turned in the direction of the voice to look at the person who had said it. “I think you got the wrong fella, sir?” Kaylee said when she saw the alliance gear the man wore.

~*~*~*~*~

Her teeth chattered as she wrapped her coat tighter around Simon, holding him carefully in her arms. Body heat was supposed to help, though she couldn’t remember where she had heard that from. Simon’s body had lost so much blood; his lips were already turning blue from the cold. She looked towards the entrance of the cave, the snow already building a wall that would block them from coming out. Kaylee had heard of snow storms that left yards of snow in their wake over night, but she’d never been in one this bad before. If Simon was awake she might have suggested they go out, brave the weather and try and find their way back to Serenity before the cave was buried under the massive amounts of snow. Of course even if Simon was awake, there was no guarantee he would be in any condition to travel, especially not through a storm.

The doctor rustled in his sleep, his eyes opening for a moment. “Kaylee?” Simon shivered. She pulled him tighter to her in an instant, pressing her lips to the cold skin of his forehead.

“I’m right here,” she whispered.

“It’s cold,” he observed.

“I know, just try and get some rest. Cap’n and the rest of ‘em will find us soon,” she said as optimistically as she could.

“Y-you contact th-them?” he asked, his eyes becoming slightly more alert.

“Not exactly, can’t get any kind o’signal in here. But Jayne’s a tracker an’ I know Mal’ll be out lookin’ for us,” she reasoned, her own teeth clicking together as she talked.

“You got to…you got to go out…f-find a s-s-signal for the comm,” Simon’s teeth chattered as he tried to get the words out.

“What?” she asked, her eyed widening a little. “Simon you’ve been shot and you’ve lost a lotta blood, can’t leave ya here.”

“I-I’m a d-doctor, Kaylee. I c-c-can take care of m-m-me,” he breathed out.

“Simon—“

“Please, y-you’ve got to get help,” Simon pleaded, his eyes lids growing heavy again. Kaylee looked between the entrance of the cave then back at the shaking, sweating Simon. She grabbed up the comm and turned it on again, searching for any channel that would come in clear. After ten minutes of unsuccessful tuning she was ready to throw the thing against the wall in frustration. She had to go out; she didn’t see any other way.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mal paced back and forth on Serenity’s small bridge. He paused to look down at Zoe while she attempted to contact Kaylee through the communicator. Setting the small device down, the first mate cast a look up at Mal. “No response, sir.”

“Jayne still out there?”

“Yes, he checked back in a few minutes ago. Whatever blood trail he had been following the snow covered it up to quick. Ain’t seen a storm like this in a long while,” Zoe admitted.

“Not since before the war,” Mal agreed. The two were quiet for a long moment, neither knowing what to say.

“Has River woken yet?” Zoe asked, finally breaking the quiet in the small room.

“No, she’s still under, got a couple more hours at least ‘fore the medicine wears off. Didn’t see any other way, bullet woulda killed her if we didn’t take it out. Couldn’t keep the girl awake long ‘nough t’get a coherent sentence out of her ‘bout where her brother and Kaylee might be neither,” Mal sighed.

“Bullet still might kill her, sir. We need a doctor,” Zoe said firmly.

“I know,” Mal said solemnly.