Author: Rawles {rawles[dot]marie[at]gmail[dot]com} Type: Het Genre: Drama/Romance Characters: Kaylee. Simon. Author’s Notes: This was written for Eep1313 for the Fandom Aid project where it was archived exclusively until March 14th, 2005. It was also the first time I'd written Simon/Kaylee in months and months. I sorta think it shows.

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Simon danced just like he spoke. With measured care, technical perfection, and a vested interest in not embarassing himself. The major difference lie in the fact that though he sometimes failed on that final count when he spoke, he had not yet done so in his dancing.

To Kaylee's way of thinking, this was nearly perfect. Certainly, when she had first stepped into the party on Persephone in her new dress, her version of perfection was slightly different. It involved her actually wearing said dress and twirling among other wonderfully dressed people, on the arm of one of the many young men (some of whom were almost as handosme as Dr. Tam himself), and underneath the floating chandelier. However, the Captain's penchant for finding trouble had made that impossible and she was "escorted" back to the ship by Badger and his goons before she'd even had a chance to actually step onto the dance floor.

Later, when the danger had passed and she had stowed her dress in her bunk, she puttered about in the engine room, her normal coveralls in place, and any trace of her visit to the upper class faded away. To say that she was pleased when Simon tapped politely on the doorframe (he was the only person she ever met who would knock when a door was open) would have been quite a severe understatement.

It had not been her original intention to ask him to dance with her, or even imply that she wanted to do so. Not really. It grew organically from their conversation, because he asked about the party before she even got a chance to tell him. There were a few pregnant pauses between when she lamented that she had not actually danced and when he finally offered. It was all the same to Kaylee, however, since she found his bashful streak endearing and did not really mind waiting a few more minutes.

He took one of her hands and placed it on his shoulder, held the other in his own, and placed his remaining hand gently on her hip. He started, slowly, and she followed to the best of her ability, though she noticed that her movements were much less reserved than his. Kaylee knew that she should probably look down at some point to watch the careful steps of his feet, but he was softly speaking the steps as well, and she much preferred to look into his eyes.

He had beautiful eyes, even when they were sad and, like now, told a story of unhappiness that she did not want to hear.

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Kaylee danced just like she smiled. Naturally, unreservedly, and with no concern for anyone who might be watching. In fact, Kaylee did everything in that same manner and Simon, honestly, really did not know how to process it sometimes. Reserve and a rigid adherence to convention were all that he had known. That was what had defined his world, which was why it seemed so odd to him, to see her dressed up to go off to a party that was probably exactly like a thousand parties he had attended in his life. Kaylee was pretty and she was sweet, but he worried when she left, because girls that were sweet like Kaylee were the kind that the girls that he had known took special pleasure in tearing down.

She had returned however, none the worse for wear, despite the company she was in. While they were planning to save the Captain's life had not been a particularly fortuitous time to inquire about how her outing had gone. Later, he wondered why he cared so much and was forced to admit to himself that it was not just Kaylee's emotional well-being in the face of the horrors of mean rich girls. It was eerie to him, almost morbid. There was his life, the life that he had lost entirely not so long ago intersecting with his new life and he could not go near it. Simon had never been especially attached to parties or anything that involved large groups of people that might expect him to do something besides save someone's life, but it was still there, an option, a right. No longer. And the absence bothered him more than he liked to admit.

As they danced, and her lively steps made him grin slightly, Simon, somehwat guiltily, tried to capture a little bit of who he had been. There was something lost, something not particularly cherished when he had it, but still it was gone and could not be regained. There were things about his new life that he actually liked. There were some things in particular that he liked quite a bit, one of which he happened to be holding in his arms. But sometimes that did little to alleviate the pain of knowing what it was that he had left behind.

He was still whispering the steps to her, though she had picked them up by now, and when the dance concluded, for some reason, neither of them moved. There was a tiny bit of kohl still by Kaylee's right eye and with his thumb, Simon gently wiped it off. She was part of what he had now and she was standing in for what he had lost. He started to speak, but Kaylee shook her head slightly, and Simon thought that maybe she understood.

"Once more?" she asked, and he nodded his assent.

He wasn't quite ready to let go of either quite yet.