It felt dreadfully selfish, but somewhere she thought this might work out really well. It would be good for him as well, but Kaylee wasn’t too big to cop to an ulterior motive. She wasn’t too big to feel awful and elated at the same time, either. Simon just looked so worried—so much more worried than usual—and Kaylee felt really bad for him. “And she’s really all right?” he asked for the third time in as many minutes. On the commscreen, Inara was patience itself. “Yes,” she reassured Simon, also for the third time. “Your sister is fine—she seems to be having the most fun I’ve seen her have for quite some time, even.” She looked away from the screen for a second. For an instant, her expression betrayed her irritation, but she remained patience itself. “Right now, she’s trying on my wardrobe. And blowing her nose in it.” “Thank god,” Simon breathed, running a hand through his hair. He’d reached the conclusion that River was really nowhere to be found on Serenity a good twenty minutes before Inara’s call, and it was taking obvious effort for him to calm down from his state of panic. “When can we expect you back, Inara?” Book asked, the voice of reason. “Yes! We can fly out to meet you. That should more than cut your extra travel time in half.” Inara frowned. “You don’t seem to understand—I *can’t* come back now. I have to make this rendezvous, or else… Well, I’m sorry, but this is not something I can get out of. I’ll bring River back as soon as I can, or if you can persuade Mal to fly to New Canaan you can come get her yourself. But in the meantime, River will have to be my personal guest at the Chapterhouse. I promise you she will be treated well.” “But,” said Simon, “this is River we’re talking about. She’s… she has special needs.” “Guild Chapterhouses have medical facilities on par with what any Core hospital has to offer. If you tell me what medication she’s taking, I’ll make sure that she gets it. And don’t worry about the Alliance—they wouldn’t dare enter a Guild Chapterhouse without permission even if they did have reason to suspect anything. The scandal would be enormous.” Simon did not look at all reassured. “Inara…” he tried one more time. “I’m sorry, Simon, but what is, is. Can I speak to Mal for a moment?” Kaylee winced. She leaned forward, into view of the camera. “The captain kinda… When your call came in, he suddenly remembered some urgent business in the dining area. I think he’s cleaning his gun.” Inara’s face clouded over. “So that’s how it’s going to be,” she muttered. She sighed deeply, and restored her serene expression on her face. “I’d better go—my ride will be here soon. Simon, send River’s prescription, and anything I need to know, to my Cortex account. River will be fine. I give you my word.” Calmed down considerably, Simon nodded. “You’ll have it before you arrive on New Canaan. Can I speak to River?” “Hold on.” Inara called out to River, and after a moment moved out of frame. When she came back, she gave Simon an apologetic look. “I’m sorry—she won’t come here. I think she know she understands that she isn’t supposed to be here—” “—And she’s never wanted to face up to anything bad she’s done, ever since she was a little girl,” Simon nodded. “She was always afraid she’d be punished. Just… just tell her I love her, will you?” “Of course.” And Inara terminated the connection. Simon sat back, deep in thought—undoubtedly running all sorts of nightmare scenarios through his head. Kaylee was still feeling a strong sympathy-sadness, and she didn’t like it one bit. She was the chipper one. Everyone knew that. “C’mon, Doc,” she said, hooking an arm through Simon’s and dragging him from the seat in front of the commscreen. “It won’t be for long. And honestly, it will do you good to have a break from looking after River twenty-four hours a day.” “Yes,” Book joined in, surprisingly, “we’ll go talk to the captain immediately. I’m sure he’ll see that we have to set course for New Canaan as soon as possible.” “You think?” Simon cheered up visibly. Kaylee punched him in the shoulder. “Oh, you know the cap’n is just a big old softie inside. And besides, we don’t dare get any jobs in this here sector anyway, with Grant’s maniacs still after us. Maybe the cap’n’ll think it’s safe enough closer to the Core. First time for everything, I guess.” With Wash wishing them luck—he obviously didn’t have as much faith in Mal’s susceptibility to reason—the three went looking for the captain. He wasn’t in the dining area, though they found his gun in pieces on the table. Kaylee frowned. It wasn’t like the captain to leave that thing like that—it was one of his few prized possessions, and as he’d told her once himself, he needed it far too often to part with it when he didn’t absolutely need to. Instead, they found the captain in the engine room, deep in thought as he watched the engine turn. Without warning, the engine shuddered and slowed, and then jolted back to its regular rhythm. Kaylee winced—Serenity was not happy, and she was passing on the message more and more insistently. Out in the black, clear of any atmo or friction, a little hiccup in a vessel’s engines meant little—Kaylee was probably the only one on board who could even feel when it happened without looking at the instruments. But it was a clear warning sign, and Kaylee played a constant game of catching up on ever more intensive maintenance and repairs. “Captain?” Mal blinked, as if surprised to find them there. “Hey,” he said. “Captain, we have to set course for New Canaan immediately,” Simon started out. Shepherd Book quickly hushed him. “We’ve found the doctor’s sister,” he said. “Or rather, Inara has found her. She’s on her shuttle. Unfortunately, Inara has made it clear that she doesn’t have the time to return her. I’m sure you see it’s imperative that we go and retrieve River as quickly as possible.” Mal made a grimace and shook his head. “No,” he said. “But captain! We have to… River… I have to take care of her,” Simon finished miserably. “Would love to help,” Mal said, sounding like he meant it. “But can’t. Not even sure if Serenity’d get us there. No, it’s time I took off my blinders and started listening to what my ship and my mechanic have been telling me for months—we’re gonna find the nearest reputable dry-dock and we’re gonna settle in for as long as it takes to overhaul this here crate.” Kaylee almost squealed. That, she managed to contain, but she still gave her favorite captain a hug. She knew how difficult a decision it must have been for him to stop flying, to stop being free, even for just a while. “But, captain,” Simon stammered, bewildered, “for a ship this size… That could take over a month!” “And don’t I know it,” Mal agreed. “But there’s nothing for it.” Book looked particularly unhappy about this turn of events, but—after studying the captain’s face—he seemed to take the decision as undisputable. “Then we’ll have to arrange passage to New Canaan on another ship to pick River up. I’ll accompany the doctor—” “Taking the doctor here on another ship? With his face on the Cortex every other week it feels like? Same with River, even if any of us go get her leaving the doc here. Sure way to get yourself snatched by the Feds. It may shock you to know, but not all captains are such upstanding, law-evading citizens as I am. Anyways,” he continued in a reassuring tone, “you know Inara, doc, she’ll take good care of your sister, won’t let anyone or anything hurt her until we can figure something out.” “There must be something…” “I’m open to suggestions, preacher. Looks like you’ve got a month to come up with any.” He started to walk away. “Kaylee—make me a list of parts need replacing, things that need looked at. We better tell’em exactly what to do, or there’ll be no telling how we’ll get our Serenity back.” “Aye aye, cap’n!” Kaylee grinned ear to ear, but that quickly faded as she saw Simon’s expression as he went out of the engine room. She hurried after him. Plenty of time yet for that list—truth was, she pretty much had it in her head already. “Simon?” When he didn’t react, she stepped in front of him. “Honestly, Simon,” she tried to convince him, “she’ll be fine. I *know* it.” For a second, it looked like Simon was just going to ignore her, but then he looked up and gave her a look that made her want to give him a hug, too. “I know… I mean, I know that Inara will do everything she can, and I know how capable she is, and I know that she’ll undoubtedly have better medical facilities than I have here. It’s just…” “You won’t be there for her.” “Yes.” “Well…” Kaylee tried gently, “maybe it’s for the best…” At Simon’s shocked look, she quickly explained. “You can’t make looking after your sister your entire life like you have been doing, Simon. You have to have more. Maybe… maybe it’s a good thing that you’re being forced to take a break for a while. It’ll give you some time for other things… for other people.” Even for Simon—which was, admittedly, saying something—that hint must have been clear enough. From the awkward pause in the conversation, it certainly seemed like he’d gotten it. “Maybe,” he said finally. “Maybe you’re right and I have been obsessing over River too much—*she* certainly seems to think so, lately,” he added with the fakest laugh Kaylee had heard in a while. “I… I’d better go. I promised Inara I’d send her the list of River’s medication.” Kaylee kept standing there in the corridor until long after Simon had gone from her sight. There was time, she told herself. Time for Simon to work up the nerve to act on what they both knew they both were feeling—and this time, she resolved, if he gave her an inch, she was not letting go of it again. Time. More than a month of it.

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