A/N: Well, I woke up this morning with this little conversation in my head and thought I'd share. Just a little break from writing my longer S/K fic, which looks to be about eleven chapters plus epilogue. I've got about six written, and I'm looking for a beta reader if anyone is interested. Anyway, enjoy this and please comment, though bear in mind I wrote this in about twenty minutes. xxxx

Happy Ever Afters

“Look at that,” Mal said gruffly.

He needn’t have said it, the three of them were already watching as Kaylee smiled flirtatiously at a potential passenger, flicking her hair back over her shoulders as it glistened cheerfully in the Persephone sunlight. It was something Simon had been wondering for a while now; did Mal always choose Kaylee to act as a barker for Serenity? As a group of passengers collected in the cargo bay, he had to concede she had a natural aptitude for it.

“Look at that!” Mal repeated. It was about the fifth time he’d said it. “Look at her, I think she’s more into him than that last guy!”

Inara rolled her eyes. “She’s just being friendly, Mal.”

“Like hell she is. On several planets, that is an out an’ out sex invitation.”

Sighing, Inara shot Mal an unreadable look. “I’m sure she doesn’t even realise what she’s doing.”

Mal snorted. “My pi gu she doesn’t. She’s using wiles.” He looked at Inara, angrily. “You’ve been teachin’ her wiles!” he accused.

Inara smiled softly. “All women have wiles, Mal. We’re born with them.”

Folding his arms, Mal turned back to watch as the girl he half thought of as a daughter as she brushed some imaginary dirt of a young man’s shoulder. He felt Simon stiffen beside him, but ignored it. “Whatever you say. I’m thinkin’ if’n lil’ Kaylee had been born in the core, she’da ended up like you.”

“Like me?”

“You know, a fancy lady. With wiles. Attracting rich young men with stamina.” Like Simon here, he added silently.

“You think Kaylee would make a good companion?” Inara asked, sounding as though the thought had never occurred to her before.

“’Course,” Mal said, “look at her! She’s got every one of them hooked. Now she just has to reel ‘em in.”

“It doesn’t work like th-”

“I don’t think so,” Simon interrupted Inara, speaking up for the first time. He hadn’t taken his eyes off Kaylee for this entire exchange, and his expression was glaringly clear to Inara; one of longing.

“Kaylee seems so…idealistic,” Simon continued. He looked sideways at Inara. “No offence, Inara, but I think she’s looking for a happy ever after.”

Inara smiled. “None taken, Simon, I think you’re right.”

Mal cocked his eyebrow at Simon. “You a psychologist now?”

“Mal,” Inara said deploringly, “you hardly need to be an expert to see that Kaylee isn’t cut out for the Guild. She’s too open. To be a companion, you must practice a certain level of …control.”

“Kaylee wears her heart on her sleeve,” Simon added.

“She falls in love too easily,” Inara said, almost to herself. As one, she and Simon turned to gaze at Kaylee, very different expressions on their silent faces.

Mal rolled his eyes. “Well, I weren’t planning on suggesting a career change.” He nodded over at the cheerful mechanic. “Jus’ saying she’s got wiles, is all.”

He turned to Simon. “An’ you can stop gawpin’ at her like that,” he added.

Simon blushed. “I’m not…”

“Sure you ain’t,” Mal said disbelievingly. “I’m tellin’ you, that girl is like a little sister to me, an’ if’n you lay one finger… or, er, any other body part… on her, I’m gonna…”

“Throw me out the airlock?” Simon asked.

Mal looked nonplussed. “Well…yeah.”

Simon gave Mal a long suffering look and, turning back to Kaylee, didn’t respond.

Muttering heavily. Mal walked away, barely acknowledged, as Kaylee let out a high pitched giggled. Simon found himself frowning and quickly shook the expression from his face. An unpleasant feeling was unfurling in his gut, seeming to intensify at every move Kaylee made. The only logical solution, Simon decided, was to leave.

“She doesn’t think, you know,” Inara said softly, interrupting his thoughts.

“What do you mean?”

Inara nodded towards Kaylee, who was patting the arm of her current target. “She isn’t calculating each move, like Mal seems to think. She’s just… incredibly friendly.”

Simon thought back to the way she smiled at him the first time they’d met. For a second, he’d felt like the only man in the ‘verse.

“Right,” he said dully, getting to his feet. “She’s that way with everyone.”

“Simon,” Inara said quickly, and he turned back to face her.

“What if you were her happy ever after?”

The words hung in the air as Simon gaped at her, speechless. “I…I…”

“It’s just a thought,” Inara said, barely covering her amusement at the young doctor’s reaction.

Simon glanced over his shoulder at Kaylee, who was taking a spare moment to glance up at the blue sky. Her eyes danced in the sunlight and she let out a happy sigh, stretching out her arms as if to catch a few stray drops of light. A peculiar twisting feeling in Simon’s stomach threatened to envelope him as he watched her.

His thoughts turned dark and he turned back to Inara. “If I am… then God help her. Because from where I’m standing, my ‘ever after’ doesn’t look particularly bright,” he muttered bitterly, and with those words, he strode from the cargo bay.

Inara turned back to Kaylee, who was now ignoring the man before her, and staring over her shoulder after Simon, a mixture of longing and hope colouring her features. Excusing herself politely from the newest passenger, she stepped over to where Inara sat, and perched down beside her.

“Well?” she asked quietly.

Inara lowered her eyes.

“Oh mei mei,” she said softly. “I think it worked a little too well.”