Kaylee idly sits in her bunk, the gentle strains of the music washing over her like waves on the shores of a beach. Not that she's ever seen a beach, but she's seen pictures on captures and so an image has formed in her head of gentle orange sands and iridescent blue sea almost indistinguishable from a cloudless blue sky, the gentle whispering of the ocean waves the only sound in the peace of Kaylee's mind.

Ever since Miranda, things had been awkward between her and Simon... maybe he had expected more than she could deliver or maybe she had too many expectations of love that he couldn't keep up with. Either way, they had just sort of drifted apart in a slow, gentle kind of break up way, until when he finally confessed that he didn't love her anymore, it wasn't much of a shock to the jaded mechanic. Or at least that's what she told herself.

She sighs bitterly, the placid happy daze she'd placed herself in shattered by thoughts of the last tormented days of that relationship and the months of sad longing that followed...

She pulls herself out of her bunk and glances suddenly at a picture hanging on the wall of happier times. She and River had been out shopping, a job had gone well for once and Kaylee had used her cut to take River out on a pink and fluffy shopping trip. The two girls smiling happily at the camera held in Kaylee's left hand, Kaylee had one hand wrapped around River's waist and River had one hand on Kaylee's shoulder, both for all the world looking like a pair of normal human females on a shopping trip, rather than a crazed psychopath on a shopping spree and her psychic friend. Kaylee looks closely at the picture, taking it in her hands and a smile slowly spreading across her face.

The two of them look good together, like something out of a romantic movie or an old storybook and Kaylee quickly crushes the thought. Those kinds of thoughts are bad news, especially around River herself. Kaylee has a good friendship with the girl and Kaylee shudders to think what the enigmatic murderess would make of them. That is still something that scares Kaylee more than she cares to admit. River's easy proficiency with any weapon in the ship's arsenal is definitely frightening to the young mechanic who still hates the thought of killing and violence.

River is also relaxing in her own little world, sleeping in her own tiny little room that she had made up for her after Miranda... The crew were happy to acknowledge her newfound standing as a bona-fide member of the crew rather than just a passenger. Now she flies Serenity, enjoys her place in the rational world, snuggling up to it like a blanket after a long day.

River's dreams are happy dreams for a change, She is standing at the edge of the sea, looking out across the limitless void of the ocean before her. The waves whisper at her feet, and the sun is at her back, turning the sky red. River feels contented here, happy in her own little world.

Suddenly River feels a twinge of unease. The odour here is not the smell of sea salt but of strawberries and cream. The waves are oddly muted and the sand does not feel as sand should between her toes, what is against her feet just feels like very soft carpet pretending to be sand. River remembers her trip to the beach when she was twelve, the memory of her brother splashing her rich in her mind, the smell of sea salt thick in the air, the sound of the gulls calling in the sky...

River turns her head slowly to the left, seeing movement. She suddenly realizes this is not her dream, that she is just an interloper here. Kaylee is lying in the sand just a few metres away and River blushes furiously.

She doesn't like impinging on any of the crewmembers thoughts when she's asleep, more because of what she's scared she'll find than any genuine concern for thier privacy... the time she dropped into Jayne's mind was horiffic beyond belief and River was sickened by what she saw there. She can't help it though, as much as she tries she trawls through their minds more times than she can help. Just a sign that her previous life was more than a ghost and a memory.

River watches Kaylee luxuriating on the beach and River feels instantly jealous of this simple, kind girl that she can always feel unadulterated happiness, that she's always in a good mood, which is something that River herself has never been able to manage. River stiffens as a sudden ghost of her brother's visage dances across the dream and the dream suddenly goes fuzzy and grey, dissolving into static, but just before the dream completely fades, an image appears of herself and Kaylee locked in an embrace.

River jerks awake, looking around at her surroundings. Familiar walls, things exactly where they should be, exactly how they should be. River blinks slowly as she sits up in bed, pulling the covers up as she sits in bed. She'd got a brief ghost of a thought from Kaylee, a thought that intrigues and terrifies River.

She had of course watched her brother botch his relationship with the mechanic, had let the mechanic cry herself to sleep against River's shoulder, had gone with Kaylee on shopping trips, acting as a substitute for a friend, helping Kaylee eventually recover...

River had never ever considered the mechanic might just think of her as anything more than a friend, but that ghost of a thought, barely a second's worth was enough for her to perhaps reconsider her thoughts. River shies away from that notion however, since she knows people think wierd things when they're almost waking up...

Both River and Kaylee however are distracted from thier musings by a sudden call to the bridge for the entire crew.

(Sorry it's a bit rambly, I promise it will get more directed in future)