Disclaimer: all things Firefly/Serenity are the property of Whedon et al. I'm not making any money off this, just playing with the toys.

“So you let him walk over a mile back to the ship? With blood pouring out of him?” Simon kept shaking his head as he stitched and bandaged the Captain’s hand at the counter in the infirmary.

“Didn’t think ya’d have such warm hearted feelin’s for the man, Doc?” Mal smiled.

Simon glared. “My own personal feelings don’t keep me from doing my job, Captain. A job,” he cut the thread, “that you made more difficult.”

“Look, Doctor, it weren’t like there was a waterfall of blood and Jayne was walkin’ just fine.”

Simon raised a doubtful eyebrow. “He didn’t say anything?”

Of course Jayne had yawped. Told Mal to slow down some or maybe get the mule so they wouldn’t have to walk. But that had just been Jayne being Jayne - full of complaint about whatever the Captain decided and exaggerating the tiniest of cuts.

“You done?” Mal snapped.

Simon gave a final tug and snip and answered yes. “Come back in a couple of days so I can change the dressing.” He yanked his gloves off and turned his back to Mal, examining Jayne’s vitals.

Mal scratched his ear. Since Miranda, he had noticed a change in attitude from the good doctor in regards to the mercenary. Though he doubted Simon liked Jayne any more, he sensed that Simon felt a sort of respect for the efforts Jayne had undergone to protect the crew during the reaver battle. Even Jayne had limited his insults towards the doctor and not once had he called River crazy.

With a huff, Mal pushed off the counter and strode out to find his crew waiting to ambush him.

“You really are a mean old man,” Kaylee announced, coming face to face with her captain. “Lettin’ Jayne walk when he was hurt so bad.” She huffed and crossed her arms.

“Jayne’s a big boy who’s been through heaps worse. He don’t much take to fussin’.” He looked to his first mate and found her expression unhelpful. Sidestepping his mechanic, Mal headed for the stairs to the crew quarters.

Kaylee bit her bottom lip then went into the medical bay to see if Simon needed any more help.

Zoe was rooted at the window now, fingers tightening around her arms as images burned through her brain of another man with bits of wood in his chest.

“Not fair,” River said quietly, not looking up from the book she had pulled from the shelf behind the couch. “His stick was bigger.”

The first mate swallowed.

“If wishes were horses...” River continued.

“We’d all be eating steak,” Zoe finished. She looked to River, still engrossed in her reading. “He really going to be alright?”

The girl nodded.

Taking a deep breath and straightening, Zoe headed to the bridge, feeling a need to spend some time with a few dinosaurs.

Lifting her head from her book, River regarded her brother and Kaylee, watching as they smiled and brushed hands around each other. She felt their emotions rise and their energies focussing around each other. It was sweet and sexual. She giggled. Lucky for Simon that Jayne was unconscious; she knew how much her brother hated an audience.

Letting her mind wander, River went to Mal’s room and blinked hard. Guilt was a new emotion from the Captain and he was unsure how to deal with it. The broken reading lamp on the floor bore the brunt of that frustration. She pulled back, not wanting to become overwhelmed by him.

Stretching her legs, she planted her bare feet on the floor and smiled at the familiar rhythm of Serenity underneath her. Even more than Simon’s medical cocktails, this ship gave her the balance and stability she needed. That made it beautiful to her.

River’s stomach rumbled. She rose and wondered if there might be any steak in the galley.