Author’s Notes: This just came to me and I needed to get it out of my head, partially to see if I could get it to sound good enough as a stand alone, and partially to jump start my muse into wanting to finish the sequel to 'On the Edge', tentatively titled ‘Broken Wings’. I'm completely stuck on that, and so, the below will have to suffice until I can get going on that one again.

This was originally written as a 4 page short story and turned into a 26 page story with 5 parts. The below is Part 1. Story notes: The movie doesn't happen here. And so the below scene takes place after the series end. Book and Inara have left the ship already.

Rated: R for brief description of adult activities.

Thanks to Mal4Prez for the beta.

It was the dead of night, but Simon Tam couldn’t tell, not with the constant bombardment going on outside the city. Flashes of light so bright it looked to be midday pulsed through the cracked windows. He'd gotten used to it, along with the resounding quakes that rumbled through every time a mortar struck ground. Maybe it was his exhaustion that made him numb to the sights and sounds of warfare.

Serenity had landed three days ago on this backwater world to finish a simple job, and had managed to land right in the middle of a civil war that seemed to have engulfed the entire planet. They'd been in town when the first bombs lit up the sky, and they hadn't been able to get out of it since. All access, roadways, and airspace had been cut off, and as the town's hastily formed militia had surrounded the area, Serenity's crew had found themselves boxed in. They'd all managed to keep themselves occupied and relatively unhurt during the battle that was expected to last only a few hours - but had now extended into a third day. Both sides refused to negotiate, had refused an impartial arbitrator, and the Alliance couldn't be bothered to travel all the way out to the Rim to settle some territorial dispute.

Luckily, most of the bombs had landed outside the city proper, away from the medical center, with the exception of a few that fell far too close on that first day. It was clear the insurgents didn’t want to damage anything too important to the relative survival of the innocents caught in the middle. Simon had, as expected, found himself one of the few doctors available to work in a medical center that had not been built to handle so many sick and injured, and he'd been working almost since the first bomb had landed. They had enough supplies - for now. What they didn't have were enough well-trained personnel. He briefly wondered how Serenity fared, parked on the city’s outskirts. But he hadn’t had much time to think about the hunk of metal he’d begun to call home when so many people needed his aid. "Cap sent me to make sure you actually got some shuteye this time." Simon heard exasperation in the words, but he didn’t look up. This hadn’t been the first time Kaylee had come to inform him he needed some sleep. "I can't." He finished suturing the nasty cut then lifted his head to briefly regard Kaylee before allowing his eyes to flit around the room – still overflowing with people who needed bones set, cuts stitched, concussions tended. He knew more waited in the room next door. The line was never-ending. He depressed a hypo into his patient’s neck with a heavy sigh. "There are so many people that need -" "An' there are other docs can help them while you get some sleep." Ire welled instantly in his chest but it didn't reach his drooping eyes. He was exhausted. He knew it, and Kaylee knew it. Hell, anyone who looked at him knew it. But there were only three doctors here and, while they were all equally as tired, more patients arrived every hour to be treated for various injuries. They were too busy to try and set up any sort of rest rotation. They’d get a patient stabilized and another three would come in to take that one’s place. When Simon's gaze fell on Kaylee, her eyes still bright despite all of the death that surrounded them, he felt his entire body lurch forward as if drawn by some invisible magnetic pull. She was alive and healthy – as far as his tired eyes could see – and as desperately as he wanted to continue working, he knew it would be safer for his patients if he did get a few minute’s rest. He glanced down at her hand as it encircled his wrist. A wry smile tugged at his lips and he knew that she wouldn’t let go until he’d left the medical center. He snapped off his gloves and followed wordlessly, eyes locked on her hand as it slid from his wrist to twine with his fingers.

Simon wrinkled his nose as the stench of burning and destroyed buildings reached his nostrils. Even the few bombs that had made it into the interior of the city had done a great deal of damage. Overhead, flashes of light, this time accompanied by loud booms of thunder, rattled the surrounding structures. They made their way quickly across the street, dodging the large drops of rain that began to fall from the sky.

When they reached the building the crew had been using to sleep, Simon realized he'd been in there only once – and he wasn’t sure if it was even to sleep. When Kaylee led him into a small room and shut the door, he simply stood, staring down at the bed as if it was some kind of foreign object impeding his path. "Ya need some rest, Simon." Kaylee's voice was distant to his ears, even though she was standing right in front of him. "I -" His feet ground to a halt and when she pursed her lips at him, he struggled to remember what he'd been going to say. So many things, disjointed and non-sequiter in his exhausted mind, screamed at him. His eyes swept down her face, lingered on her lips, and then continued down her neck and the rest of her jump-suit clad body. For some reason he couldn’t explain, a primal need spread quickly throughout his body; a desire so intense that he couldn’t even form the words to warn her – or to stop himself. "Simon?" Kaylee's eyes went wide when he stepped into her personal space and wrapped his hands around her cheeks. "Oh," was the last word she said before his mouth covered hers. His head swam with exhaustion, and his body moved only out of a deep seeded need to touch something warm, alive; to feel the blood pulsing hotly beneath smooth skin instead of congealing, cold and clammy, on the outside of a dying body. He barely registered removing his clothes, and hers. His hands were everywhere, and no where; he couldn't tell where his began and hers ended. All he could feel was her warm body beneath his, her mouth as welcoming and warm as her skin and the elation, mixed with a sudden realization of what was truly happening - and with whom - that flooded him as he sank quickly into her. Dimly, he could hear her short puff of air against his ear with each downward motion, and the groan and whimper with every succeeding one. He wasn't in control of this. If he had been, it wouldn't have happened. Not this way. But his exhausted mind couldn't control the needs of his body. He was wound so tightly, he couldn’t stop himself. He needed this release. It was over far too soon, this desperate effort to feel alive, and he collapsed into her arms, panting, skin slick with a thin sheen of sweat. His eyes fluttered closed when her fingers sank into his damp hair, massaged his scalp before sliding over his shoulders and down his back. He groaned, wanting to speak, but words failed him – not entirely something he was unused to where Kaylee was concerned. He didn't dare lift his head. He couldn't bear to see the hope, and the shock, and the - he didn't know what else, swirling in her expressive hazel eyes. He couldn't think, he couldn't string enough words together to apologize to her for behaving this way. He’d used her and the shame of that knowledge kept him frozen in place. Instead, he simply pressed his lips to her soft neck and whispered, "I'm sorry." His mind unable to process anything more profound. An indeterminate amount of time later, as he was surrounded by warmth and heat, he heard her whisper, "Sleep, Simon." Her soft, strong hands continued to touch him, massage the guilt away, at least for now, and his eyes dropped shut. Before he could frame a response, his body relaxed, and the dark blackness of sleep claimed him.

~*~ The sound of a missile whirling overhead woke him from a sated sleep. His eyes popped open and he inhaled deeply, briefly wondering what had happened, until the night's events rushed into his mind like a rising ocean tide. He glanced down at Kaylee, who was slumbering peacefully, her eyelashes fluttering every so often, her mouth turned up at the sides into the beginnings of a familiar smile that always made his heart flutter. She'd curled herself around his side sometime in the night and wrapped a possessive arm tightly around his waist.

Simon swallowed nervously, uncertain how to right this pleasurable and yet highly uncomfortable situation. He was prevented from further thought as a bomb exploded nearby, shaking the ground - and Kaylee - awake. He briefly wondered at the sound being so close, but was too distracted to think much more on it. He held his breath, every muscle tensed, as Kaylee stretched like a cat against him before glancing around the small room. She blinked back what Simon could easily tell was confusion as she propped herself up on an elbow and stared down at him, hazel eyes wide.

After taking a moment to recall what had happened, he watched as her lips turned up and parted into one of the most brilliant smiles he'd ever seen. His heart ached when she leaned forward and sultrily whispered, 'Mornin,' and that simple word stirred desire he didn't have the right to feel. "Kaylee -" he began, a bit hesitantly. "I - don't." He swallowed nervously as he tried to frantically think of something to say. She leaned back a bit to stare down at him, the smile in her eyes dimming. "I'm - sorry." He looked away. "I didn't mean to use you like that. I just - I couldn't – I needed –" "Everyone needs a warm body sometimes, Simon. Ain't nothin' to be sorry for."

He could hear the emotion drain from her voice and he could feel her body tense. When his gaze snapped back toward her face, he thought he saw hurt flash in her eyes for a moment before she offered him a clearly fake smile. His blood ran cold at the thought of dimming that ever cheerful nature, and when she began to pull away, he lifted his arms to encircle her, to keep her from leaving the small bed. "No. That's not what I mean." He shook his head. Was it? He was sure he didn't regret taking her to bed. No. It was how he'd done it that disgusted him. He'd been brought up better than that. Kaylee's features softened and he could see her clinging desperately to his next words. His heart thudded sharply against his ribcage, so sharply he knew she must have been able to feel it. He needed to speak, to say something, anything, to reassure her that he didn’t regret what they’d done. But he did, on some level. And he was at a loss as to how he could explain it without upsetting her further. A rush of remorse coursed through his body as he remembered all the times he’d said something to hurt her. That couldn’t happen again. Not this time. Not after last night. He blushed furiously as her fingers absently brushed across his abdomen, fueling an already growing desire to make up for the quickness of last night's coupling. He was certain she didn’t even realize she was doing it. "I -" He hesitated. "Last night was -" He fumbled for the words but instead could only stare back at her, helpless to voice them. "Fun?" Kaylee offered hesitantly with a shrug of slim shoulders. Her fingers stopped their motion, but that had done nothing to temper the blood pooling in his groin. He offered her an embarrassed, wry grin. "Quick." When Kaylee smiled knowingly, a bashful look cleverly disguised beneath pale eyelashes, Simon could feel the tension rush out of his body. She leaned down, her eyes glinting with that hint of playfulness and mischief. "Yeah. A bit." Simon licked his suddenly dry lips. "I'm sorry." His hips twitched when her hand traveled down from his abdomen. "Can try it again." His hips weren't the only thing that twitched when she leaned down and whispered hotly into his ear about just how he could make it up to her. He was too tired to offer up another suggestion; though the sleep he’d actually gotten had been amazingly relaxing, and too aroused to even think too hard on how drastically this would change their friendship. "I'd - uh, like that," he whispered moments before one of her hands reached its destination and firmly took control, while her mouth found his and silenced any further words before they could pass his lips.

He briefly wondered just how they were going to go forward with their lives, their friendship, after taking this very unexpected step; one he didn’t feel ready to take, but further thought was lost in the warmth of her mouth and the confident strokes of her fingers.

TBC

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