The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, but there was certainly plenty of tension on Serenity. Simon spent most of the time in the infirmary, trying to stay busy with his new equipment. Kaylee checked on Jayne every so often, but neither one of them was willing to say much.

Inara was in her shuttle as the day was coming to a close, looking over a list of potential clients, when Kaylee knocked on her door.

“Yes?” Inara asked.

“It’s me,” Kaylee answered.

“Oh, mei-mei,” Inara said. “Come in, please.”

“Thanks,” Kaylee said. “I’m having a little trouble.”

“The doctor.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Between Simon and Jayne, I’d say there will be more than just a little trouble soon.”

Inara sat on her bed, and Kaylee sat on the floor next to her. “Why do men have to make these things so complicated?” Kaylee asked.

Inara smiled. “Relationships are complicated. That’s what makes them interesting.”

“Has Jayne really been after me this whole time, and I haven’t noticed it?”

“Subtlety is not usually one of Jayne’s strong points,” Inara said, “but in this case, he has managed to keep pretty quiet about it.”

“So you think so too? Jayne’s jealous of Simon?”

“I think you need to consider what Kaylee wants out of this.”

“I’m perfectly happy with Simon,” Kaylee told her. “Most of the time anyway. I’m just worried about Jayne.”

“Jayne’s a big boy, he’ll be fine. You just need to be honest with him.”

“And tell him what?”

“Tell him how you feel.”

Kaylee hesitated. “I don’t know how I feel.”

“Well, that certainly does complicate things.”

“It’s weird to think that all this time I was wanting sex, and I didn’t even realize that Jayne was interested. I thought he was just being Jayne.”

“I don’t think sex is the issue anymore, though, is it?”

“No, not anymore.”

“You need to find out what you want,” Inara told her. “Figure out what will make you happy. Everything else will fall into place after that.”

* * *

Simon didn’t make his usual appearance at Kaylee’s bunk that night. She wasn’t sure if he actually went back to his own bed, or if he spent the whole time in his infirmary. She didn’t really feel comfortable in her bed without him, so she slept in the hammock she had hung in the engine room. If you could call it sleep. It was more like torture.

Her mind was racing through all the things Jayne had done since they met. Why hadn’t she noticed before that he was interested in her? Why hadn’t he said anything?

And was this really Jayne she was thinking about? The big brute that was there just to be intimidating?

He did have his good points though. On occasion he had let his guard down a bit, and his emotional side started to come out. Whenever someone started to show that they cared for him, he genuinely returned it. He really did care about those Mudders that looked up to him so much. He had a lot of respect for Mal, probably because Mal had respect for him. And Jayne obviously cared for his own family, especially his mother. It’s not that he wasn’t capable of caring for people; it’s just that he wasn’t always given the chance.

And somehow he had set his heart on her. River was probably right that Jayne didn’t like Simon just for that reason. It certainly explained a lot.

But what could she do about it? No matter what happened, someone was going to get hurt. And Kaylee certainly didn’t want to be the reason for someone else leaving the ship.

* * *

Jayne woke up early the next morning to find that no one else was awake yet. Well, besides River, who didn’t seem to ever sleep anymore. He was feeling quite a bit better, and after having slept for most of the last day, it was difficult to stay in bed any longer. He went to the bridge and sat in the chair behind River.

“How long till we hit atmo?” he asked her.

“About six hours,” she told him. “Unless Mal decides to stop and see what this distress signal is about.”

“Distress signal?” he asked.

“I picked it up about thirty minutes ago,” she said, “we’ll go right by them in about an hour.”

“Mal still sleepin’?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna have to wake him soon.”

Jayne stood up and grabbed the microphone. “Mal,” he said. “We got a distress call comin’ in.”

The response didn’t really come very quickly, but finally Mal said “All right.”

Jayne hung the microphone back up and sat down again.

A few minutes later Mal came into the bridge, still buttoning his shirt up. “You feelin’ better?”

“Yeah,” Jayne said. “I’m fine.”

“That’s what you said before,” Mal reminded him.

“Really,” Jayne said. “I’m doin’ a lot better already.”

“Good,” Mal said. “So what’s this distress call?”

River didn’t look away from the flight controls. “It’s automated, sir. No details, really.”

“How far away is it?”

“A little less than an hour.”

“How long till we can raise them on the comm?”

“About twenty minutes,” River told him.

“Well, I’d better go check on Simon,” Mal said. “I don’t know that he ever went to bed last night.”

“He’s in the infirmary,” River told him.

“All right,” Mal said as he left the bridge. “Just let me know when you can raise them.”

“Duhn ruhn,” River said.

Mal found Simon in the infirmary, just as River had said. Simon had obviously just woken up.

“You gonna be all right?” Mal asked him.

“Yeah, I just…” Simon stuttered. “I just didn’t sleep very well.”

“I would imagine not,” Mal said, looking at the blankets on the floor. “That probably wasn’t too comfortable.”

“Yeah,” Simon said. “I just…”

“I need a doctor on my ship,” Mal told him. “Can’t have you operatin’ on people if you’re half asleep.”

“Yes, sir,” Simon said.

“River’s pickin’ up a distress beacon,” Mal told him. “Could be some injured folk there.”

“Yes, sir,” Simon said again. “I’ll… I’ll get things ready.”

He turned to see Zoe standing right outside the doorway of the infirmary. “Distress beacon, huh?” she asked.

“Yep.”

“And we’re stoppin’?”

“Probably,” he said. “We ain’t been able to raise ‘em yet.”

“I’ll get the gear together then,” Zoë said.

“Good,” Mal said. “I’ll be on the bridge.”

As soon as Mal came through the doorway, Jayne stood up. “We been tryin’ to reach ‘em, but they ain’t respondin’.”

“Keep tryin’,” Mal said as he sat in the pilot’s chair. He didn’t take the controls; he just looked at the display with the distress signal. “Is that a passenger ship?”

“It looks like a Peregrine class,” River told him. “They usually carry about 80 people, besides the crew.”

“That’s a lot of people,” Mal said. “You’d think one of them would respond.”

“Unless they can’t,” Jayne said.

“Yeah,” River said, “or it’s a trap.”

“We goin’ into another trap?” Zoë asked as she came onto the bridge.

“It would appear so,” Mal said.

“They’re waiting for us,” River said, “like spiders waiting for their prey to fall into the web.”

“Well, that just sounds like all kinds of fun,” Jayne said. “I’ll get Vera.”

“How many of them?” Mal asked River.

“Eleven,” she said. “One of them is looking for you, Mal.”

“What?”

“He’s angry because you lost his war.”

Mal didn’t say anything.

“He’s been waiting for you.”

Mal suddenly looked as if he understood. “Jacobs.”

“You sure this is a good idea?” Zoe asked him.

“Probably not,” Mal said. “But we’re doin’ it anyway.”