Mal was trapped. There was no escape in a spaceship out in the Black and at least a week away from any inhabitable planet or moon.

SHE was there all the time and his only escape was his bunk at night and only then because he locked the hatch. He was sure though that she could open it any time she wanted.

It had started innocently enough, little glances his way through the long, dark hair. She thought he hadn't noticed but they were sort of hard to hide, them being together a lot of the time. Then the outright oggling. That was mighty terrifyn'.

When ever he's in the vicinity she has a silly, crooked, school girl grin on her face. She shifts her weight from foot to foot and absently twirls her long hair on a finger and looked at him with stars in her eyes.

The long days became torture because he had no idea how to handle this. Fighting, captaining, and stealing he knew. Relatively newly sane seventeen year old girls with raging hormones and a fixation on her substitute father were as foreign to him as high tea on Londium. Escape to his locked bunk was his only option.

The crew didn't help any. Jayne just stood there and sniggered when ever he saw the moon brain mooning over her Captain. Jayne seemed glad that River had, in her genius way, picked Mal instead of him. His amusement increased as Mal became more and more uncomfortable in River's presence.

Zoe kept giving him knowing, yet sympathetic smiles. Kaylee was as sunny as usual. She was in love, so all the world was in love and she was no help at all. She kept Simon occupied most evenings, not that any one was listening and Inara had left again.

Not that River couldn't turn a man's head. Oh, no. Her slim,lithe body and dancer's grace drew him in like an moth to a flame. And it would be just as combustible. She'd trap him in a web and he wouldn't want to get out it, never ever.

He shook his head to get the erotic visions out of it. He was at least twice her age; she was young enough to be his daughter; she was going through a natural psychological process; Simon would kill him, very, very slowly and painfully. The list grew as he tried to convince himself that it wasn't worth it.

But as always, his nether regions thought otherwise and he took care of it as best he could. It was going to be another long night, just like last night and the ones to come.