Title: Moving Day Rating: PG Synopsis: River is moving. Timeline: Takes place 3 months after Serenity, the movie. Notes: Next part of a series beginning with : And So It Begins, Kiss Me, Coming Together, Tell Me, What’s Proper?, Tears ,Peekaboo, Impatient, Waking Up is Hard to Do, The Talk, I See You, Exhaustion,and Moving Day Disclaimer: This story is not meant to infringe on the copyright of any person or company related to the trademarked characters and situations depicted in the Serenity movie or Firefly series. I make no money from this. Only done for fun – and a desperate craving to have more stories told about this wonderful ‘verse Joss Whedon created.

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It was lunch time and Kaylee was hungry. It didn’t matter that she was probably hungry because she was spending her days under Serenity’s engine and her nights under Simon Tam.

She was exhausted but pleasantly so. It had only been a few months since she had finally gotten her man, but Kaylee already knew she was the happiest she had ever been in her life. And the smile on her face was as infectious as it had ever been, shining a slim ray of light into the lives of those who had been left behind after two beloved members of Serenity’s crew had died.

So distracted was she with her task, she didn’t see the shadow fall on the floor behind her. She gasped and then giggled when Simon’s arms wrapped around her from behind, pulling her back against his chest.

“Hungry, sweetie?” Kaylee tilted her head and held up a piece of fruit.

“Very much so.” Simon’s mouth came down on her neck and his lips traveled along her jaw before stopping at the corner of her mouth.

“Me too.” Kaylee turned in his arms, fruit forgotten and tossed onto the counter, and pushed her fingers into his hair, pulling him closer. When their lips met and clung, the very air sizzled between them until –

“I want to move into Kaylee’s room.” River was suddenly beside them, smiling disturbingly at her brother.

The couple parted quickly, startled by the younger girl’s silent approach.

Simon’s gaze shifted between Kaylee and River. A small smile tugged at his lips at the idea. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t spent every night in one another’s rooms anyway. “And have you asked Kaylee about this?”

River turned to Kaylee. “Can I move into your bunk?” Back to Simon, she said. “Yes.”

Simon rolled his eyes and wondered why River was asking about this now. But, as he should have figured, she plucked the thought right out of his head and pursed her lips at him.

“Because you’re too loud. I can’t sleep.”

Kaylee’s eyes widened at the implication and Simon closed his eyes and heaved a heavy sigh.

River continued as if her comments had no affect on her brother whatsoever. “So if I move in there, and Kaylee moves in with you, you can make her scream all night long and I don’t have to hear it.”

Simon choked on nothing and Kaylee giggled when he opened his mouth to refute his sister’s rather true statement but only managed a weak, choked gasp.

Kaylee took pity on her still far too proper doctor and nodded to River. “Yes, honey, you can move into my bunk. We’ll work on packing it up as soon as we have some free time.”

“I’m already packed.”

Simon groaned at his sister’s obvious enthusiasm to move as far away from him as possible.

“Well, sweetie, I have a few things to do before we can go pack my room, but –“

River turned to her brother. “You can’t have her until we’re done. Restraint. Remember, you told me I had to exercise it until the proper time.”

Simon’s mouth was still hanging open when River turned on her heel and walked out of the room.

Kaylee turned in his arms and kissed him, frowning when she felt him tense at her forwardness. “Well, she went an ruined the mood.”

Simon slowly looked down at her. “The knowledge that my baby sister can hear us having sex tends to have that effect on a man.”

“We won’t talk ‘bout the number of times she’s seen us, then,” Kaylee murmured.

~*~

Mal’s eyes narrowed as he stepped off the bridge to see River hauling a box, filled with something that looked incredibly heavy, up from Kaylee’s bunk.

“What’s doin’ lil’ Albatross?”

“Moving.” River lifted the box and started walking toward the passenger dorms.

“What?” Mal stared down the open hatch at the boxes littering what portion of the floor he could see, and then at River’s retreating back. “Moving? Where? What? Wait!” he hurried after her, nearly running over Inara when he reached the dining area.

Even with her arms full of – whatever it was – River could still move faster than any man he’d ever met. “River! Wait! What’s going on?”

River turned and smiled at Inara and then shot an exasperated look at Mal. “Told you. Moving.”

“Moving where?” Inara asked, genuinely curious. She had an idea.

“Into Kaylee’s bunk.”

“What?” Mal demanded, his eyes narrowing. “Somethin’ going on I ain’t aware of?”

“An if it is, can we watch?” Jayne leaned over the counter where he was spooning some rice into a bowl.

“No!” Mal and Inara coursed.

River frowned at Jayne. “I’m moving into Kaylee’s bunk so I can sleep at night.” Jayne grinned dirtily. “Why can’t ya sleep?”

River stared at him.

Inara tried unsuccessfully to hide a giggle behind a neatly manicured hand.

“And Kaylee is moving . . . ?” Mal trailed off with an expectant look.

“In with Simon, of course.” River rolled her eyes, giving him a look that made him feel as if he had all the intelligence of the bottom three percent of the tiniest life form.

Mal threw up his hands. “Why am I the last person to know these things? I’m only the Captain of this gorram ship.”

“We were going to tell you.” River sat her box down on the table and rubbed Mal’s arm. “After we were done.”

“Harder for him to tell you no, if you’re all settled, huh?” Zoe asked from where she leaned against the doorway.

River smiled brightly, happy that there was at least one intelligent person in the room. “Exactly.” She returned to her box and carried it out of the room.

Mal scowled at the girl’s back as Inara dissolved into a very un Companion-like fit of giggles.

~*~

“Come on, Simon!” River packed the containers with quick precision and dragged them to the hatch.

“You’re a little too excited about this, mei mei,” Simon’s packing was a bit more slow and methodical. And where was Kaylee anyway? Shouldn’t she be here supervising the removal of her things?

“Can’t wait to have a bunk of my own.”

“You have a bunk of your own already,” Simon insisted.

“Yes, but no peace and quiet.”

Simon rolled his eyes and fought the rising flush creeping up his neck. As much as he would miss River being so close, it would be nice not to have anyone nearby that could overhear him and Kaylee in the middle of the night.

“Not always in the middle of the night,” River droned, picking up on her brother’s naughty thoughts.

“You have got to –“ Simon trailed off as River held up a long, solid object.

“Simon?”

Simon swallowed apprehensively, hoping she wouldn’t ask him what the object was and what it did.

River tilted her head and examined it from every angle then looked at her brother. “Why does Kaylee have one of these?”

“Uh –“ Simon wasn’t sure what to say. Just because he’d had one conversation about sex with his sister, didn’t mean he wanted to have another one. “River – I don’t think –“

“She has you now. She doesn’t need this.” River tossed the object into the box and carried it to the hatch, oblivious to her brother’s fish-like gaping.

Simon closed his eyes and took a deep breath. If this sort of embarrassment was what he could expect when becoming a parent, he didn’t want children for a very long time.

As an afterthought, he turned and watched River carry that box up the ladder. He did, however, have a few ideas of what he could do with Kaylee’s former battery operated toy.

END