Chapter 1 and 2: http://www.fireflyfans.net/bluesun.aspx?bid=14567

*****

Simon Tam had made a big decision: sex was good. He’d always been so focused on his career, and then on River, that he’d never gotten a chance to do what he wanted to do. Kaylee was the girl he had never dreamed of, at least not while he was on the central planets, so it felt a little bit wrong that a doctor, and a damn good one, was sleeping with the mechanic. But, really, he had been on Serenity too long to give a damn about laws anymore. “Evenin’ hansum.” Kayllee said, smiling broadly as she climbed down into her bunk, now their bunk. (Simon had given his to River.) “Hello.” He kissed her. Oddly, or perhaps not so much, it may have only been the third or fourth kiss he’d ever had. “I’m gonna take a shower.” She said to him, hinting. Simon didn’t pick up on it. It had been a long day, she was tired and sweaty, he could understand that she didn’t want to have sex right now. “Okay, I’ll be waiting.” Kaylee laughed a little bit and grabbed him by the arm. That hint, Simon picked up on.

*****

At dinner, Jayne was ready for a job, and he told the Captain so. “G’damn it Mal. I need to get of this boat and shoot something.” “No, not right now.” Mar said calmly, not making eye-contact with Jayne. “When the dust settles and we see who’s on top, then we’ll start to take jobs again.” “Mal, it ain’t gonna be the independents.” Jayne said, making a valid political point, perhaps the first of his life. “I know.” Mal did know, but he hadn’t stopped hoping. The Operative had told him that there were still some Browncoats in parliament, and that those were the guys he’d be dealing with. Mal hoped that maybe he’d see a familiar face on a newswave. “It don’t matter if we were looking for a job, Jayne.” Zoe said, looking up from her quiet reverie. (She’d been having a lot of those lately.) “That Operative killed all of our prospective clients.” “I ain’t to worried about the money side of it right now. We got enough from Mr. Universe to keep us in the sky for a while.”