A/N: Thanks to all who have stuck with me through this series ... we've still got a bit of a ways to go so I hope you can hang in there a bit longer.

After this story, I have about three multi-chapter stories ready to post, as well as a fourth currently underway. Plus, I have a few one-offs, and mini-stories ... so needless to say, I'm not going anywhere, hope y'all don't mind!

Thanks again to Leiasky for the great beta!

***

A NEW DAY, ch. 26: Home

***

As Simon and River slowly moved up the path and towards the quiet house, Kaylee came running. She had been watching nervously from the front room and at the sight of them, had been unable to stay inside.

Meeting them on the path, Simon pressed a kiss to his sister’s temple, before pulling away from her and enveloping his wife in a huge embrace. River smiled at them, knowing that her brother would be okay now, and then she made her way back inside and upstairs, finding Jayne already lying down in their room.

As she opened the door and entered, he greeted her. “Hey. Sorry I din’t wait down there, my arm was –“

River cut him off by crawling on the bed towards him and giving him a long, passionate kiss. Unable to do anything, but return it, Jayne brought his good arm and up and around to the back of her head, pressing her lips against his. With the release of Simon’s forgiveness, River felt lighter than she had in months, and so it was with a few more passionate kisses that she lavished this newfound feeling on her husband.

When they were forced to part for air, River laid her head on his chest, making sure she could see him, as he ran his fingers through her hair. “That was a pretty good greetin’,” he murmured, smiling wickedly.

Returning the grin, River could only murmur, “Mm-hmm.”

“Everythin’ go okay, with Simon?” Jayne asked, watching as her eyes, once again peaceful and calm fluttered closed.

Nodding once, River told him, “Yes, everything went fine.” Opening her eyes to him again, she reached out and put a hand to his cheek. “I think we’re going to be okay, Jayne. Really.”

Smiling at her, he turned his face into her hand and kissed her palm. Lying like that for another minute, River begrudgingly got up and stripped out of her clothes, donning her pajamas. Not turning to face him, she asked, “Did you take your medication?”

As River rummaged for it, she realized he hadn’t answered her and turned to face him, an annoyed look on her face. “Jayne? Did you-“

She stopped mid-sentence and could only smile as he had fallen asleep and of course, just begun to snore. Working off his big boots, River did her best to make him comfortable and then slid in beside him, she herself almost asleep in minutes.

***

Simon pushed open the door to Rylee’s room with the twins and entered quietly, heading first to the crib in the corner and then over to sit at Rylee’s side. Placing a light hand to her back, he leaned down to kiss her forehead, looking to Kaylee who was standing patiently, waiting for him to be done.

After a particularly long embrace outside, Kaylee had told him that she had promised both Danny and Ry that he would kiss them good night and he wasn’t about to break any promises – not anymore. After kissing Danny, who had not even stirred, he was glad to say good night to his daughter and then go to bed with his wife.

Rising, he headed for the door, but was stopped by Rylee’s small voice. “Daddy?”

Turning back to her, Simon smiled, and sat beside her again. “Yes, sweetheart. Go back to sleep,” he whispered, placing another kiss to her cheek.

“It’s gonna to be okay, daddy. We’re all gonna be okay,” she murmured to him before she was quickly asleep again.

Smiling at her even more, Simon rubbed her back once more and then met Kaylee at the door. She reached for his hand, which he gave her gladly and drew him back down the hall to their room. Once the door was closed and they had both moved in silence to change into their night clothes, they met again in bed. Neither of them knew where to begin, so they just sat there, looking at each other for a long while.

Finally it was Simon, knowing he had the most to apologize for, who began. Reaching out to brush some of Kaylee’s hair behind her ear, he whispered simply, “I am so sorry, bao bei.”

Glancing to him with teary eyes, Kaylee asked, “For what, Simon?”

Frowning at her, Simon told her honestly, “Take your pick, Kaylee. There are a myriad of ways in which I have failed you and our family and I’m sorry. For everything I haven’t done, for every time I made you doubt me or us or our safety or …”

Taking the hand he’d laid against her cheek, Kaylee met his sad eyes with a look of fierce determination. “Listen here, Simon, you know you ain’t done nothin’ to be sorry for.” Scooting a bit closer to him, she lowered her voice and said, “An’ I can’t stand you thinkin’ you have.”

Smiling sadly at her, Simon told her quietly, “Well, I don’t know how successful you’ll be at changing my mind.”

Returning the sad look with one of her own, Kaylee blinked away tears as she dropped her gaze to her lap. “I know, ‘cause it’s my fault you’re feelin’ so bad.”

Confused, Simon cupped her chin in his hand and brought her eyes back to his. “What?” he asked breathlessly.

“I did this, Simon, I started all the blamin,’” she told him quietly, her voice hiccupping a bit as she tried to swallow back a sob. “I accused you of a whole bunch o’ things that weren’t true, sayin’ you’re always lookin’ after River ‘fore me and the kids, blamin’ you for the bad stuff your pa’s done.” She paused and looked into his blue, blue eyes and her breath caught in her throat. She could see his concern there and his love for her and she couldn’t take it. She didn’t deserve it.

Pulling away from his touch, she quickly laid down and rolled onto her side away from him so that he wouldn’t see her tears flowing freely now. “’Night, Simon,” she tried to get out. But her voice betrayed her as it was shaken by sobs and Simon heard it.

Lying down behind her, Simon propped his head up on his hand, while he placed the other one against her shoulder and rubbed gently. “Kaylee, look at me.”

She shook her head fiercely, having to bite her lip hard before another sob escaped. Frowning at her, Simon placed a light kiss to her cheek and whispered against her skin, “Kaylee, please.”

With a sigh, she rolled towards him and Simon’s heart broke at the sight of her conflicted features. Placing a hand to her cheek, he wiped at some of her tears and told her quietly, “You didn’t do this, Kaylee. I’ve been blaming myself for a lot of things for a very long time. Things that were never and have never been in my control.” Swallowing down the lump that had risen in his throat, he continued to caress her cheek as he said, “When you said those things, about me endangering you and my father being so messed up, I wasn’t mad at you because you said them, I was mad because they were true.”

Kaylee shifted to more fully face him now, rolling back towards him and Simon managed to smile at her, even as his own sadness colored his features. “It’s very hard to learn, even as an adult, that your parents, the people you thought you could trust, were never worthy of your loyalty, never deserving of your love.” Swallowing hard again, Kaylee watched as he fought to put his thoughts into words, and while she still did not believe that she wasn’t partly to blame, she knew that Simon needed to admit this. Resting her hand to his cheek, she whispered, “It’s okay, just tell me.”

Sighing heavily, Simon lied down on his side and started quietly. “When I got River out of the Academy all those years ago and my father disowned me, it hurt, a lot. But what I could never have guessed was that he would be capable of rendering so much destruction. It wasn’t just that he sent River to that place, he sent her there knowing full well what they would do to her,” Simon said softly, his voice cracking with the weight of the memory. “And because I couldn’t see or didn’t want to see that my father was really that cruel, I blamed myself for her pain instead. I convinced myself that I could have stopped it, if I’d just been more attentive, if I’d just been a better brother-“

“If you’d just been there when she needed ya,” Kaylee finished, completing the admission Simon had made to their daughter no more than a week ago when she had again awoken from a nightmare.

Nodding once, Simon said, “So from that moment on, from the minute I got River out of that place, everything became about healing her, because she was my responsibility. Not just in the way that I was her guardian, but in the very real way that I was responsible, in least in my own mind, for what had happened.”

Kaylee blinked back more tears as she told him quietly, “Simon, but you gotta know that ain’t true? Some things can’t be stopped, no matter how bad we wish they could.”

Sighing heavily, Simon closed his eyes and told her, “I know, but when someone you love is suffering, you’ll do everything you can to take their pain away, even if it means taking it into yourself.”

“You don’t think I know that?” Kaylee’s question, whispered softly caused Simon to reopen his eyes. Her gaze was steady, but she was still crying and he again reached out to brush some of her tears away. “You don’t think there isn’t anythin’ I wouldn’t do to help Ry? To take her pain away? To take away them nightmares? But there ain’t, Simon. There’s only you and me our love for her, an’ I gotta believe that’s enough.”

She was crying harder now and Simon wanted to stop her tears. Leaning towards her, he kissed her lightly and when he pulled away, answered, “It is, Kaylee. It is.”

“Then see?” she asked him, her voice again taking on a sharper tone. “If you can lie there an’ tell me that I got everythin’ I need to help her, then you gotta believe you do too.” Narrowing her eyes at him, Kaylee said, “And if’n you’re gonna blame yourself for Ry getting taken, than so am I.”

Shaking his head quickly, Simon said urgently, “No, Kaylee. That’s not what I want for you. I don’t want you to live with that kind of pain, that kind of guilt.”

“An’ I don’t want you to neither,” she told him, her hand against his cheek, forcing their eyes to meet. “Don’ you get it? I love you an’ that means I would do anythin’ to take your pain away too.” Lowering her voice, she repeated his own phrase to him from only a minute before. “Even if’n it means takin’ it into myself.”

Simon stared at her for a full minute, shocked not only by the conviction of her statements, but by her constant ability to render him speechless. “You really don’t blame me,” he breathed, more to himself, but the words only caused Kaylee to cry harder.

“No, you boob,” she told him, smiling through her tears at him. “I done tol’ you, I never did.”

Simon held her gaze for another minute and then wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing her to him, feeling the warmth of her and delighting in how good she felt in his arms. “I don’t deserve you,” he whispered into her hair as he held close.

“Well, I don’ deserve you, so here we are again,” she teased, tilting her head up and meeting his gaze. “How’s about we just agree to love each other and be happy? We can figure the rest out as we go along.”

Looking down to her with more love in his heart than he had ever thought possible, Simon brought their lips together and kissed her, working his mouth over hers and communicating his desire and his need for her as he allowed his tongue to roam her mouth, tasting her.

Kaylee returned the passion of the kiss, her arms working up and under his so she could press him to her even more tightly. When they parted for air, Kaylee began to work a wet trail of kisses to his ear, nibbling on the skin there and getting the requisite groan from Simon. Darting her tongue out, she whispered hotly, “You still haven’t answered my question.”

Pulling his head up from where he had begun to work a line of kisses down her shoulder, he gave her his best swai grin and asked, “Oh, about loving each other?”

She nodded once and then her eyes widened with desire, as she felt one of his hands slide lower. “That’s what I’m doing,” he answered with a devilish grin.

And with a sigh of content, Kaylee again brought her mouth to his, unable to think of anything for the rest of the night other than her loving and incredibly sexy husband.

***

“Ow! Gorramit, Simon, I thought we was past the point o’ you tryin’ to hurt me!” Jayne’s harsh scowl only caused Simon to smile and River to suppress a laugh. They were back in the clinic, Simon reexamining Jayne’s wound after he had performed a few more scans on it.

“I apologize, Jayne, I had no idea you would be so sensitive,” Simon intoned, his voice thinly veiled with mockery.

“Oh, he’s very sensitive,” River murmured, leaning forward and placing a kiss to her husband’s lips, even as he continued to grimace.

His face immediately paling, Simon muttered, “I don’t need to know that,” before turning back to regard his readouts and charts.

River could only smile wider as she enjoyed this easy banter they had once again found. She and Jayne had been on Aberdeen for a few days and after that initial awkwardness of their first day, things had been so much better. It was almost like old times and while River did not want to get her hopes up, she could feel the tension that had consumed them fading a bit more each day and it only served to make her feel lighter and happier than she had for some time.

Looking back to Jayne, she gave him a sympathetic look, and ran her hand down his cheek. “Poor Jayne, all hurt,” she told him softly, her eyes widening as he reached up with his good hand and grabbed hers from his face, kissing it.

Pulling her towards him, he grumbled low, “Yeah, well, I ain’t all hurt.” Then he proceeded to kiss her along her cheek and neck, only stopping once he heard Simon give a very annoyed “Ahem.”

Turning to her brother with a sheepish grin, River stepped away from her husband and jumped up onto the exam table next to him. “So, what’s the prognosis, doc?”

"Well," Simon said with a very heavy, very dramatic sigh. "I'm afraid the arm cannot be saved." Matching his sigh, River looked to her husband, even as Jayne's eyes threatened to bug out his head. Looking back to Simon with a small shrug, she said, "That's okay, I don't mind a one-armed husband." Simon did his best not to grin, but the look of sheer terror that had just passed across the big man's face and his sister's obvious goading made it impossible. As soon as his face broke into a wide smile, Jayne caught on and the scowl he'd been sporting for most of the day deepened. Looking between the two siblings, he grumbled. "Oh, yeah, very funny. Pick on the guy with the gunshot wound." "But honey," River told him, running a hand through his hair, "You're such an easy mark." As Simon was about to make a comment about no longer being accused of that trait, River looked back to him with a smirk and added, "You still are, it's not like there's a cure." "Not that I ain't thrilled you two is seein' eye to eye again," Jayne interjected, no evidence of thrill in his tone. "But can we maybe get back to my throbbin' arm?"

Still grinning, Simon consulted his notes once more before looking to first his sister and then to Jayne. Unable to not feel buoyed by the light he saw in her eyes, Simon said, “Well, Doctor Yang did a decent job of removing the bullet and closing the wound, but he didn’t pay any attention to the nerves and muscle that were affected.”

“So, you tellin’ me it’s gonna hurt like this forever?” Jayne asked, his eyes pleading with Simon to contradict the question.

Shaking his head, Simon told him, “No. Based on what I’ve seen, I think there’s a good chance I can go back in there and repair some of the damage. But chances are it’ll take a few surgeries and it will be more painful, before it’s not.”

Jayne’s face blanced at the idea and River squeezed his hand. Looking to her brother, she asked, “What’s the alternative?”

Sighing once, Simon turned to drop the chart on the table behind him and then looked back to them. “We can leave it as is, let it heal on its own, but the chances are pretty good you’ll never be able to lift that arm back over your head. The muscles just aren’t going to be able to move that way anymore.”

At this assessment, Jayne’s eyes widened and River could only lean against his uninjured side. “What do you want to do, Jayne?” she asked him quietly, turning to balance her chin on his shoulder. “It’s your arm.”

Jayne swallowed hard once and then looked back to Simon. “You really think you can fix it?”

Nodding once, Simon told him confidently, “I do.”

With a sigh, Jayne waved a hand and muttered, “Well, this must be your lucky day, doc. I guess you’re gonna get to cut on me some more.” Throwing the man a hard look with no real menace behind it, Jayne leveled a finger at him and warned, “Don’t say I never got you anythin’.”

Chuckling lightly, Simon said, “Trust me, Jayne, there was once a time having your life in my hands would have made me giddy. But now …” Simon’s voice trailed off as his eyes drifted to his sister and the adoring way she looked to the man-ape. Shifting his eyes back to Jayne, he finished, “Let’s just say, it’s very important to me to keep you healthy.”

Jayne returned the grin and was about to ask something else, when the door to clinic opened and a woman entered, a child in her arms and another one clinging to her skirts.

Simon looked up at her entrance and smiled, moving towards his visitors. “Well, hello, Mrs. Wu. How are you?”

“Oh, just fine, doc,” the woman answered, her voice containing the normal drawl of most rimworld folk. Looking over Simon’s shoulder to River and Jayne, she blushed quickly and said, “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“We were just finishing up,” Simon assured her. Kneeling down to address the little boy at her side, Simon said, “And Tim, how are you?”

“M’okay, Doctor Simon,” the boy answered quietly, immediately turning his face away as his shyness got the better of him.

With a wide smile, Simon ushered them into the room and over to the exam table as River and Jayne got up and moved to leave. “I’ll see you both later and then we can discuss dates for the surgeries.”

Muttering something decidedly crude, Jayne turned to go as River dragged him from the room. Once the door was shut behind them, Simon turned his full attention back to his three patients. “So, what brings you by today?”

***

Inara sat up slowly, her back muscles protesting the motion as they again tried to adjust to the excess weight of her pregnancy. She was already well into her sixth month and while she did not remember being this uncomfortable with Mimi, she was certain that she also hadn’t been this big either.

Glancing down to her overly round belly, Inara grimaced at the size of herself. Placing a hand behind her on the bed to push herself to her feet, she murmured, “This baby had better be huge.” Considering the statement as she stood, she amended, “No, this baby had better not.”

“Talkin’ to yerself now, are ya?”

Mal’s teasing tone reached her, and she turned to regard his amused expression from the door. Before she could form a retort, he had entered the room and added, “See, that’s just a sign of your crazy pregnancy dementia, makin’ ya’ll paranoid. Breaks the heart.”

Even as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her lightly, Inara smirked to him and said, “Well, keep in mind you’re responsible for my dementia, paranoia and all.”

Pulling back to grin devilishly at her, he murmured, “That is something I will take full credit for, any time, ai ren.”

Smiling to him again, Inara sighed as he brought his mouth to hers and kissed her deep. She had seen Mal more in the past few months, as he and Zoe had agreed to take jobs closer to Harvest, not keeping them off planet for as long, and she was glad. Besides the excess weight she’d gained, she had also had more troubles with her morning sickness, cravings and mood swings, and while she felt guilty at times for hurling things in Mal’s direction – although she almost always missed – she was also very grateful that he was there to experience it with her, just as he had been with Mimi.

Leaning back from him, Inara placed her head to his shoulder and asked, “Got a job today?”

Keeping his arms around her, Mal nodded and said, “Yeah, me an’ Zoe gonna leave in about an hour. We should be back in a day or two.”

They stood in each other’s embrace for a moment and probably would have for a good long while if their daughter hadn’t interrupted them.

“Ewww, you’re not kissin’, are ya?”

Turning with wide grins on their faces, Mal and Inara both regarded their daughter’s bright face, brown curls bouncing up and down as she bounded into the room and crawled up onto their bed. Walking across it so she was now standing between them, she rested one hand on each of their shoulders and told them seriously, “’Cause I think two kids is plenty.”

Pulling on the hand she’d placed on his arm, Mal wrapped her into an embrace, swinging her off the bed and kissing her face and hair over and over again, causing the girl to giggle incessantly. “Oh, you do, do ya? You munchkin,” he told her, proceeding to swing her around. Inara watched father and daughter interact her face lighting at the joy between them.

Resting a hand to her belly, she was about to say something about watching how close their daughter’s head came to the ceiling, when Inara felt a sharp kick that almost doubled her over. “Oh,” she said quietly, adjusting to the feeling as the baby did it again.

Noting her wide-eyed look, Mal placed Mimi on her feet and came to her side. “You okay?”

Smiling to him and trying to stymie his concern, Inara told him, “I’m fine, it’s just that your baby has decided to be awake.”

“Really?” The light that shone in Mal’s eyes as he covered her hand with his own was undeniable and Inara could only smile. They had felt the baby kick before, he or she was actually quite active, but Mal never seemed to tire of getting a chance to feel it firsthand.

“I wanna see,” Mimi whined, moving between them, and placing her little hand on top of her dad’s.

“Here baby,” Inara murmured, moving her own hand so her daughter could place her’s right on the fabric of her dress. “Feel it?”

With another kick, both Mimi and Mal’s faces lit and Inara could only chuckle at them. “Wow,” Mimi breathed, turning her wide eyes up to first her mother and then her father. “That’s amazin’.”

“It is at that,” Mal murmured, leaning forward and kissing his wife again. Pulling back he held her gaze for a minute and then said in a loud voice, “All right, who wants breakfast?”

Her little arm shooting up into the air, Mimi started jumping and down and shouting, “Me! Me!”

Scooping her up again Mal said, “Okay, Meems, breakfast for a munchkin. Comin’ right up.”

“Mal?”

Inara’s voice stopped him as he was almost out the door. Noting the semi-serious expression that had again colored his wife’s features, Mal placed their daughter back down and pushed her gently towards the hall. “You go and get the table set,” he told her, turning back into the room and moving to Inara’s side. “I’ll be right there.”

“Okay, daddy,” she called and then she was gone.

“What is it?” Mal asked as soon as her footsteps had receded. Inara didn’t look particularly upset, but there was something on her mind, that was as plain as day. And seeing how she was almost seven months pregnant, that had him just a tad concerned. Laying a hand back to her stomach, he asked quietly, “You okay?”

Blinking away sudden tears – ai ya, if she didn’t hate mood swings – Inara smiled at him and said, “Yes, sweetie, I’m fine. It’s just … well, I was thinking about when the baby’s born.”

Still not understanding where this was going, Mal muttered, “Uh huh.”

Taking the hand he’d placed against her, Inara squeezed it tightly and told him, “Well, I’d really like Simon to deliver it.”

Nodding once, Mal commented, “You don’t want Millie to?”

Smiling sadly at him, Inara already felt guilty enough, why did he have to bring this up? “It’s not that Millie isn’t a fine midwife, but Simon’s technically been my doctor for years now and he delivered Mimi.” Looking up to meet his husband’s blue eyes she added, “Plus, I just-“

“Miss them,” he finished for her, kissing the hand he held.

She nodded and said, “I do, Mal. I miss all of them so much.”

Pulling her back into a hug, Mal whispered against her hair, “Me too, ‘Nara, me too.”

“So, can we? Can we have the baby on Aberdeen?” Inara’s voice was so hopeful and truthfully, Mal didn’t see any reason why they couldn’t.

“Sure, me an’ Zoe don’t got any jobs lined up after the end of the month, so we can head out then.”

“And we’ve been saving, so it’ll be okay for us to stick around after the birth,” Inara told him, pulling back and smiling wide. “We’ll be able to spend some real time with them, Mal, with all of them.”

Returning her smile, Mal said, “We will at that.”

***