A.N.: Have fun with this part... apparently it made my beta cry, so... *holds out a tissue box, just in case*

"Kaylee!!" River sobbed, clinging to Inara as though her life depended on it. The startled Companion tried to hold the distraught girl while trying her best not to let herself panic. “Shhh, River, its okay, Kaylee’s fine, she’s with Simon, she’ll be okay.” Inara tried to soothe her, but River would have none of it. “No... a splash into the glow... lifeless... Kaylee...” River sobbed, trying to pry herself from Inara’s grip. The Companion tried her best to calm River down, but the young girl’s words were startling her more and more. Most of the crew had come to trust River’s instincts, if that’s what they were called, or at least know that when she carried on like this that something was definitely wrong. Inara’s heart was pounding in fright, wondering if Kaylee was okay.

****

“Simon! I just saw a fish!” Kaylee exclaimed, leaning further over the rail and pointing below her, where a fish had leaped out of the water. The glowing water made fish hard to spot until they were at the surface, but this one had jumped. Simon laughed over by the picnic area, just finishing packing everything up. He turned to see Kaylee leaning with all her body weight against the guard rail, and to his dismay it seemed to be leaning a bit with her. “Kaylee, maybe you shouldn’t lean on that rail so heavily..” Simon called to her as he began to walk to where she was. She didn’t hear him; she was too busy scanning the water for more fish. “Kayl--” he was cut off when a sudden loud cracking noise shot through the air, and he was horrified to see the guard rail she was leaning on suddenly snap. The sudden absence of support sent Kaylee headfirst into the rocks below with a terrified scream. “KAYLEE!” Simon yelled in panic, racing to the platform and watching with a sickening feeling in his stomach as she bounced off the rocks three times, hitting her head and cutting up her body. Simon’s heart beat painfully fast as she hit the water, waiting for her to surface. A moment later he saw her body float to the top, but it was face down and lifeless, her hair fanning out around her head. Yelling wordlessly in panic, Simon shed his outer coat, knowing it would weigh him down and took a running leap off the platform, praying the water was deep. It was, and he landed with a splash and fought his way to the surface, swimming as hard as he could over to Kaylee. When he got to her he pulled her head out of the water, and was not encouraged to see that she was completely unconscious, and as of that moment, not breathing. Thankfully it didn’t take long for him to pull her through the water. Her weight was dragging him down, but his body was pumping adrenaline, and his only thought was to get Kaylee the hell out of the there. His feet hit solid ground and pulled her up the shore and partially out of the water. He lay her down gently, most of her body still in the water, and knelt beside her, not daring to take more time by pulling her out all the way. His priority now was getting her to breathe again. Simon tilted her head back, blinking water out of his eyes as it ran from his hair. He plugged her nose and leaned in, breathing into her several times before moving to her side. He set his palm on her chest and clasped his hand with his other, trying desperately to fight off panic so he could do this properly. One, two, three times he did CPR before going back and giving her a few more breaths. “Come on, Kaylee..” he pleaded as he desperately pumped her chest. On the last thrust before he was going to give her breaths again, she suddenly coughed, startling Simon and making his heart leap into his throat. One cough lead to another and soon she was coughing up the water she’d swallowed, gasping for breath. He knelt at her side, stroking her forehead, his hand shaking as she fought to regain her breath. “Its okay, you’re gonna be okay..” Simon told her, trying to keep the shakiness out of his voice. Her skin was cold from the water, and he himself was shivering as well. She’d stopped coughing and was breathing heavily, but her eyes hadn’t opened yet. Simon stood and pulled her the rest of the way out of the water, onto the soft grass and knelt beside her again. He noticed her head starting to loll and panicked again. “Kaylee, stay with me.” he said firmly and loudly, squeezing her shoulder, trying to anchor her to consciousness. It didn’t work, and Simon watched helplessly as her body went limp. At least she was breathing now. Simon took a moment to look over her. Her soaked silken clothes were clinging to her body, and Simon could see many rips in teh fabric, and cuts beneath the rips. But his primary concern was the gash on the side of her head. It was long, from the middle of her scalp just above her ear and curved down over her cheekbone, just missing her right temple. It was bleeding profusely and Simon quickly unbuttoned his vest, shrugged it off, balled it up and held it against the cut, trying to stop the blood. His other hand stroked her cheek, looking sadly down at her lifeless form. He was sure she would be okay, but he was still scared. He knew he had to get her back to Serenity.

******

“River, calm down!!” pleaded Inara, close to tears as the girl carried on, still yelling about Kaylee. Inara wanted to go and see Mal about maybe going to find the two of them, but she couldn’t leave River alone when she was this upset. Inara suddenly heard Mal’s voice, heard the shuttle door open. “What in the ruttin’ hell is she going on about?!” he asked incredulously, coming into the room. River chose that moment to scream again, briefly deafening Inara, who was still trying to hold her. “KAYLEE!” River half-screamed, half-sobbed. Mal suddenly snapped to attention. “Kaylee? What’s wrong with Kaylee?!” he asked quickly, looking at Inara. The Companion shook her head hopelessly. “She keeps saying things about glowing... I don’t---” Suddenly something occurred to Inara. “The bioluminescent lake! I bet that’s where they went...” she said, suddenly understanding the “splash into the glow” and “lifeless” comments. Inara began to panic. “Oh God, Mal... she’s trying to tell us that Kaylee’s in trouble, I think she’s drowning!” River wailed, as though confirmation, and Mal immediately sprang into action. “Inara, try’n keep her calm. I’ll go and find 'em.” Mal left without saying another word, and ran up to the bridge. “Wash, I need you to start the mule.” he told him in his no-nonsense captain-y voice. “What? Mal, what’s--” “I said start the mule!” he snapped, already retreating down the ladder to find Jayne. Wash hastened to obey, not liking the note of anxiety clearly evident in the captain’s voice. Mal found who he was looking for in the kitchen, gorging himself. “Jayne, c’mon, we have an emergency.” Jayne gaped at him. “What?” “Come, NOW. We have to go.” Mal shouted, losing his patience, his mind on Kaylee. Jayne understood Mal’s tone and stood. “Do I need a gun?” he asked. “No.” said Mal shortly, and hurried from the room, Jayne at his heels. They ran down to the cargo bay, and Mal was glad to see that Wash was waiting, the Mule idling, ready to go. He and Jayne leapt on, and Wash drove out the door.

*****

Kaylee still hadn’t woken up, and Simon had decided there wasn’t much else he could do for her out here. He ran up the hill and grabbed his jacket, and when he returned to Kaylee, he wrapped it around her shoulders, hoping to slow an onslaught of hypothermia that was sure to set in soon. He scooped her into his arms, laying her head on his shoulder and walked as fast as he could away from the lake, into the trees. He dully noted that they were both glowing softly from the lake’s bacteria sticking to them, and knew, with a jolt in his stomach, that Kaylee would have loved to see it. The thought spurred him on and he walked faster, lactic acid licking at his legs, burning his muscles. She wasn’t really that heavy, on any other occasion, but Simon’s adrenaline was starting to wear off, as much as he didn’t want it to, and he was growing tired. Still he pushed on, ignoring how cold he was, holding her tightly against him, hoping what body heat he had left would transfer to her. Finally he managed to get to the end of the trail and broke through the trees. He immediately heard the soft roar of an engine, and in the distance, by the light of the ship, he could see the mule racing towards them.

“There!” called Mal, pointing as he suddenly spotted a glowing figure emerge from the woods. Two figures, he saw, when he got closer, one in the arms of another. “What in the ruttin’ hell is that?!” Jayne asked, squinting at the glowing blue blob. “Kaylee..” Wash breathed as they got closer, realizing what was happening. Wash braked to a stop as they got near them, the headlights blinding Simon, and illuminating the two of them for the others to see. They were both soaked to the bone, and Mal’s heart skipped several beats as he saw the sizeable gash on Kaylee’s face. Jayne and Mal leaped off the mule and hurried over to them. Jayne gently took Kaylee from Simon and carried her to the mule, while Mal steadied Simon, who looked near collapse. “What happened, doctor?!” Mal asked urgently, helping Simon up onto the Mule while Jayne sat down carefully with Kaylee in his arms. “She fell... she was leaning on a guardrail and it broke.. she hit rocks on the way down.” he said numbly, shivering even more now that he wasn’t holding Kaylee. Mal dug a couple of blankets from the back of the mule and tossed one to Jayne, who wrapped Kaylee in it, and gave one to Simon, who accepted it gratefully. “How did you know?” Simon asked as he wrapped the blanket around his shoulders. “Your sister threw ‘nother fit.” Mal told him. Simon nodded slowly, once again wondering how she could possibly know these kind of things. Deciding now wasn’t the time to be wondering about that, he looked down at Kaylee as Wash turned the Mule around and raced back to Serenity. It only took a couple of moments and soon Jayne leapt from the Mule and carried Kaylee to the infirmary, Simon stumbling along behind him with Mal in their wake while Wash put the Mule away. Inara was in the passenger dorm area, having finally calmed River down and had put the exhausted girl to bed when Jayne stepped into view, carrying the inert Kaylee. “Kaylee!” Inara gasped, rushing forward as Jayne ignored her and set Kaylee down on the infirmary bed. Simon came in and shrugged off the blanket, ignoring the fact that he was still freezing cold. He had Kaylee to worry about first.. “Thank you.” he said to Jayne, who nodded gruffly and left the room. Inara was stroking Kaylee’s cheek as fearful tears ran down her cheeks. “Is she going to be okay!?” Inara asked Simon, who, she noticed, was looking decidedly paler than usual. "Yes, but I have to suture this wound." Simon said wearily, gathering together his supplies. Inara took one of Kaylee's hands in both of her own as the doctor set about suturing the long gash over the side of Kaylee's head, after he'd securely wrapped her in several blankets. It took a long time, longer than usual, as Simon hands were shaking because he was so cold, and because it was Kaylee that he trying to fix, someone that he cared so much about. Finally he finished, gave her a shot of pain killer to ease what he knew would be a pounding pain in her head when she woke and cleaned all the small cuts all over her arms and legs. Inara hadn't left, had stayed for the sake of all three of them, and now Simon turned to her, visibly shivering, despite the warm air in the infirmary.. "Can you get her into some dry clothes? I'm going to get changed as well." he asked her tiredly. She nodded and they left together, Simon veering to the left, and Inara to the right. Simon hurriedly peeled off his wet clothes and put on the warmest clothes he could find, a shirt and a thick sweater, as well as his warmest pair of pants and two pairs of socks. The warmth of the clothes took care of his shivers, though he still felt cold to the core. He returned to find Inara just finishing pulling a sweater onto Kaylee, and tossed aside the blankets that the water from her clothes had soaked into. He grabbed a few dry ones and gently draped them on her, examining the sutured wound. He'd been able to get to it fairly quickly, so he was confident it would mend well. He took a cloth, dipped it in warm water and began to gently wipe away the blood from her face and hair while Inara looked on sadly. "Mal told me what happened.." she said quietly, watching Simon's face. The doctor didn't answer, but Inara saw his features soften and become sadder, if that was even possible. "I'm sorry it had to go like this.." she said mournfully, looking down at Kaylee's closed eyes. "Yeah..." Simon said softly, pausing his ministrations to look at Kaylee sadly. "So am I."