Sleep Tight.... Please leave feedback*

It had been a long time since they have been off the ship and able to shop around. Kaylee and Simon were holding hands as they walked. It was nice that they finally had a relationship. Simon always had liked Kaylee, the way she was always so happy and saw the brighter side of things. After the whole Miranda affair he realized how much he wanted her and how he regretted never telling her or showing her, for that matter, how he truly felt about her sooner.

As they walked he made sure that River was still in view and smiled as he saw her look in awe at a man breathing out fire through his mouth.

"Oh, look at that," said Kaylee pointing to a bag of strawberries, her mouth watering for just one. Simon thought really quickly how much he had from the job they last pulled. He wished he could have bought her some, but he knew that they wanted quite a bit of money. Then he saw something right next to the stand that caught his eye.

"Can you keep an eye on River?" Simon asked already letting go of her hand and heading out to the other stand.

After he had made his purchase he headed back to where the girls were, River now concentrating on something else. Simon approached Kaylee with a questioning look as to what his mei-mei was up to now.

"Counting the pebbles as she walks," said Kaylee with a big smile, "she's up to 178." Simon smiled back at Kaylee handing her what he had just bought.

“I got this for you.”

Kaylee squealed with delight and hugged him as she stared at the strawberry patch.

"Thank you! It's shiny!" said the very happy Kaylee, "I know exactly on which jumper I'm going to put it on." She smiled a big smile, until the worst scream imaginable was heard.

"REAVERS!"

Simon filled with fear, grabbed Kaylee closer to him and looked for River, but couldn't see her as the crowds of people were pushing against them. The next thing he knew, Kaylee was pushed away from him by the crowd.

"Kaylee!" he cried.

Trying to gain his control he looked and screamed, "Kaylee! River! Kaylee! Riv--" he could barely finish when he saw to the left of him River being held down by Reavers. As he started to make his way to her he grabbed a gun from a guy dead on the ground, then he heard another familiar voice...

"SIMON!!" He turned and saw Kaylee being held by two Reavers.

His mind whirled at the sight and at the predicament he found himself in. He could only save one if at all that. He knew he would probably die in the process since he was never much of a fighter, but he would at least try. If only Mal or Zoe were here with him, they'd all be saved. He would even settle for Jayne to help him, man was untrustworthy, but sure could fight. Realizing he was all alone, he tried to figure out what to do, and he had to think fast. He knew he couldn’t get to both of them without one of them getting hurt to the worst extent possible. Who was to be saved? Kaylee, the woman he loved. The one who, no matter how clammed up he would get when trying to express his feelings to her, would always look at the brighter side of things; or his sister River who loved to dance. She’s just a kid! I gave up everything to save her and swore to protect her. Simon made up his mind and hated the fact that because of his choice someone he loved would die.

"River...." he cried, heading over to her....

1.2..3...Wake Up! Simon woke up, shaking with fear of the tremor he had. He sat on his bed trying to breathe normally, and reassure himself it was just a dream. He rested his head on his knees with his hands covering his head.

"What a nightmare." he said to himself. He couldn’t believe that the method his father taught him worked. When he was younger he used to get tremors all the time and his father told him that all he had to do was say “1.2..3…wake up.” To this day that was probably one of the only things his dad ever helped him with.

Thinking back on the dream, he wondered how he could have made such a drastic choice. What bothered him still was that if he was in such a situation where he had to make that decision, what would he do?