All comments and disclaimers in full in Ch 1 (Simon), it's the usual fare: not mine. Comment or send feedback, wily_one24@yahoo.com.au

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"That's the way it's always been. It all comes down to creating time. We don't always have to make it right. We'll all drive by in our hybrid lives. Chances are... chances are... We'll make it back." - Sheryl Crow.

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It was almost midnight and she could feel her eyes droop heavy, there was so much to do before Serenity was running at top form again, the engine hummed and whirred around her, pulsing in the near darkness, she picked up the wrench and weighed the shining metal in her hand, she’d been just about ready to close the lid on her tool box when she’d been called out of her reverie.

Kaylee looked up at the hammock hanging in the corner of her engine room and thought about all the times she’d worked here so late into the night that she’d ended up just falling asleep right here and never even made it to her bunk. No one had really noticed or particularly cared, as far as she’d figured, past the looks she’d get at breakfast when she’d turn up in the same clothes as the day before, looking all rumpled and not quite right. Inara and Zoe would wear that same expression of mild concern and Mal, probably the only one of them that cared about Serenity as much as she did, would nod at her in sympathy, but they hadn’t really said anything about it.

It was nice, in ways she’d always kind of ached for but never really understood, to have someone that would notice, that would come looking to find her if she didn’t eventually drag her sorry carcass to her bunk and get some real rest. Nice, even, to have to ignore her ship in ways previously unforgivable to her so that she could make Simon smile, so that Simon could make her smile. And they both did it so well.

The nicest part, Kaylee knew it, was that she finally understood her role in the crew more than she ever had before, maybe more than anyone on the ship besides River.

It hadn’t been easy, in no way would she call the weeks that had followed easy, because she could remember the heavy silences, the fear of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, the watchfulness they all had. The guilt that they were here and Book and Wash weren’t. The absolute horror of the futility and uselessness of their deaths, of all the deaths that had happened.

Eventually, though, because not even death could stop the life left behind, there had been times when something would spark someone’s interest and they’d laughed or smiled. Kaylee could remember the stone silence that would happen when Zoe would walk into the room.

Then, one day, as she and Simon had been sharing laughter over something that Kaylee couldn’t even remember now, Zoe and Mal had walked in. They’d both stopped suddenly, guiltily, but Kaylee had caught it in Zoe’s eyes, a deep and desperate hunger.

The next time she’d laughed, she’d caught Zoe’s eyes and hadn’t stopped. She’d reached out and grabbed Zoe’s hand and brought the woman, usually so protective and hard turned all supple and complying, over to look at the strange conglomeration of food Simon had tried to present. Zoe hadn’t laughed, but there was a glint in her eye and a reluctant twitch at the corner of her mouth. A promise for a future much needed.

Kaylee had realized then why they all rallied around her, that when Mal had voiced his concern about her even picking up a gun he hadn’t been babying her because he thought she couldn’t handle it, but because he’d been afraid she could. That when Jayne needled her about bein’ a girl and made comments about how damned sunny and shiny she was, it was mostly ‘cause he wanted to keep her that way and wasn’t able to say it like that.

She was Serenity’s good mood and even if that responsibility was very heavy right now, Kaylee planned to live up to it.

“You’re not going to stay in here all night, are you?”

She looked up at Simon and grinned as he poked his head around the door. It was awfully nice to know that someone was waiting for her, that even if she did stay here for hours, she could crawl into bed and press up against his warm body. Sometimes he didn’t even wake up, just moved around a bit to accommodate her, stretching his arm under her head and bringing it around to hold her against him. It made her warm to think about it.

“Just gotta finish putting these tools away.” She gave him a wink and he grinned at her in that evil, evil way that meant she better hurry or she’d pay for it. “You just go make the bed warm for me, ‘kay?”

It was almost midnight and Kaylee could feel her eyes droop heavy, there was so much to do before Serenity was running at top form again, the engine hummed and whirred around her, pulsing in the near darkness, she picked up the wrench and weighed the shining metal in her hand, she’d been just about ready to close the lid on her tool box when she’d been called out of her reverie.

*** End Ch 3.