Firefly: The Quest for Happily Ever After (1/5)
Title: The Quest for Happily Ever After
Fandom: Firefly/Serenity
Disclaimer: My name is not Joss Whedon therefore I do not own Firefly.
Characters/Pairings: Simon/Kaylee, Jayne/River
Warnings: Spoilers for series and movie. Also tiny references to Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Chuck and Independence Day.
Rating: PG-15
Summary: Simon has a terrible nightmare and upon waking up finds that River has decided to take his nightmare and make it a reality. Too bad Jayne doesn't agree with her plan for future happiness, but hey, it's not like his opinion matters anyway.
Chapter One: In which Simon Has a Nightmare
In the end, Simon had no one but himself to blame when he ended up with Jayne for a brother-in-law.
Not that he didn't try to shift the blame onto Mal at the first opportunity. Simon'd sulked for days after the captain told him to shove it -- but that was nothing compared to the sulk that came after Kaylee started denying him sex for being mean to poor Jayne.
If Simon had never had The Dream it would never have led to the abomination that was his mei mei's marriage; and Simon would have been able to get away with pretending that his darling little mei mei would never ever have sex and would stay by his side playing with astrophysics for the rest of her life, or at least until she was thirty and by then, he could marry her off to some nice man who would be perfectly content sleeping in separate rooms at the opposite ends of the house. Unfortunately for Simon, he did have The Dream and its effects were catastrophic.
The Dream started out innocently enough. Simon was in a very bright living room. The type with light mauve and white striped wallpaper and a baby blue sofa set with lace curtains wafting in a gentle breeze.
"Simon?"
Simon spun on his heel to see his mei mei, loaded down with a silver tray piled high with foot-long sandwiches. Dressed in a pale yellow sun dress with her hair brushed away from her face, Dream River looked put out that Simon was there if the way she slammed the tray onto the coffee table was any indication.
"What is the purpose of this unannounced visit?" She smoothed down the front of her dress. "Did Kaylee throw you out again for being a boob? Really Simon, is it that hard to compliment a woman on the colour of her irises without slighting the shape of her earlobes?"
Simon started to answer only to be drowned out by the sound of laughter. "What was that?"
River rolled her eyes. "The canned laughter attached to any "funny" line in a sitcom comedy to inform the audience that that line was most humorous and they may laugh now without feeling uncomfortable because as we've just observed they've been accompanied by the laughter of millions." She frowned. "Unfortunately, the editors are not always very gifted and there are times when the next line is completely drowned out by their attempts to demonstrate to the viewer where they may laugh."
"Um, what?"
Laughter.
Simon frowned. How in hell was that funny?
"It just is." River answered his unspoken question. "Try not to think about it too much. It gives me a headache."
More laughter.
River's head snapped around and she glared at an unseen source. The laughter ended with an abrupt screech. River smirked.
"This is a strange dream," Simon commented, falling back onto the couch and grabbing a sandwich.
His sister's eyebrow twitched. "You know... There are better times to visit. Especially when one's sister's zhang fu is coming home after spending thirteen days, four hours, nine minutes and thirty-two seconds reviewing John Critchon's mission report. If he wanted to know so much about worm holes, zhang fu should have just stayed home." She pulled out a piece of paper from the pocket of her dress. "It only took me two hours and thirteen seconds this morning to come up with a working formula."
"That's nice, mei mei," Simon supplied.
"Although, I will admit to being excited to be experiencing welcome home after two weeks copulation. I wonder if it's any different from welcome home after a day at work copulation."
Simon choked on his sandwich. After a few moments of hacking and slamming his fist into his sternum and listening to non-stop laughter, Simon was finally able to demand an explanation of his sister.
River ignored him and flopped down onto the couch. "Do you think he'll jump me faster if I tried for "kick-ass assassin wife loaded down with hidden weapons" instead of "perfect little woman who can kick his ass whilst making a roast"?"
Simon decided at this point that he should really be thanking God that this was just a nightmare and that his real mei mei wasn't even interested in sex or boys or marriage (except for that one creepy moment when she tried to get the Shepherd to marry them. Simon tried not to think about that too much. It wasn't good for his blood pressure).
"Y-you're beautiful just the way you are, River."
The girl beamed and reached over to pat him on the head. "See, Simon! You can compliment a woman! Good job!" She glanced at her watch. "Besides, zhang fu should be home any minute and I wish to be jumped the moment he walks through the door." She looked pointedly at Simon.
Simon chose to ignore her and eat his sandwich.
River frowned, and then grinned. "This is a pretty dress isn't it?"
"Hmm..."
"It would be a shame for it to be ripped off in the throes of hot animal sex."
"GAH!"
"Perhaps it would be more beneficial if I were to greet zhang fu in the nude."
Simon cringed. "Ew!"
"Then again, nothing says I missed you like being ravaged."
"I cannot hear you. You are not discussing sex. You are not speaking, period. You are attempting to figure out how a worm hole works --"
River shoved her piece of scrap paper into his face. "Already figured it out."
"Fine. You're trying to make a black hole. And I am eating this sandwich and in no way does this dream have anything to do with sex."
His mei mei crossed her arms under her breasts. "Does this mean you aren't leaving?"
"Yup."
A pillow clobbered him in the face, while his sister screamed: "This isn't fair!" She smacked him once more with the sofa cushion before throwing herself face first onto the sofa. "I hate you!"
"That's nice. So, tell me about this dreamboat of yours. Is he a professor or politician?"
River lifted her head. "Simon? Is it possible that you have suffered blunt force trauma to the head recently?" She got up and began running her hands over his skull, frowning in thought. "Kaylee didn't hit you with a wrench again, did she? While perfect for getting the point across that you are once again up shit creek as zhang fu is fond of saying, there is such a thing as overkill." Her eyebrows furrowed deeper as her fingers were unable to discover any cracks or liquid dripping from her beloved brother’s head. “Simon? You really can’t remember my zhang fu?”
By this time, Simon wasn’t afraid to admit that he was curious to know just who this mysterious zhang fu was. If only to make sure that his real sister never ever met him.
“No. Sorry.” He tried to smile reassuringly at her, hoping that this version of his sister wouldn’t pick up on his real motive.
River glared at him before turning away to rub at her temples. Oops.
“Simon,” River’s voice was full of suffering and heartache and all those other emotions specifically designed to make him feel like an absolute heel and a horrible brother. He hated that voice. “We have been over this fifty-seven times, fifteen times without zhang fu’s fist being brought into the equation, and Mal has revoked your dental plan, do you really want to get into this with me again?” Her shoulders were drooped and her lip quivering. Simon wondered off-hand how many times she’d practised that look in the mirror. It made him feel even worse than the voice.
He reached forward and patted River’s hand. “I’m sorry mei mei, but I really can’t remember who you married. But if he makes you happy than who am I to disapprove?”
“AWWWWWWWWWWW...” Cooed the crowd of millions.
Simon blushed. River stared at him as if she’d never seen him before. There were tears in her eyes but she was beaming. She took his hand. “Kaylee finally smacked the stupid out of you.”
Simon grinned. “Well, he can’t be that bad can he? I mean, it’s not as if you would have married any uneducated and dirty ape considering this is my dream.”
River’s face fell. She extracted her hand from his. "This would be an opportune moment for a thunder clap and lightning flash."
"What?" Simon sat up straight in his chair. "Mei mei? What's that supposed to mean?"
The door slammed open, causing Simon to jump out of his chair and onto the floor hitting his head on the armrest, and River to squeal "Sugar Bear!" before taking a running leap into one Jayne Cobb's arms.
"Hey doll," Jayne said before latching his lips onto Simon's precious little mei mei's and slamming her against the wall. River purred, grabbing the hat of his uniform and chucking it across the room where its black brim hit Simon in the forehead.
Simon screamed. "What the hell are you doing? That's my mei mei!"
Jayne pulled away from River, causing her to whimper. He turned his head and glared at Simon. "Why's your brother here?"
River tugged on the back of his neck. "Kaylee threw him out again. Kiss now." She tugged on the collar of his navy blue uniform.
“No! No kissing!” Simon was having a heart attack and a stroke and possibly experiencing the first recorded case of spontaneous human combustion. In the background, a thousand voices roared in mirth. They sounded a lot like Mal, Wash and Zoë. And that quiet twitter was most definitely Inara.
Jayne and River ignored him; too busy shoving their tongues down each other’s throat to realize that Simon was dying. River extracted herself from Jayne’s mouth. “You are not - ah! Dying, Simon.” Jayne was now attacking her neck like the leech he was. “If you were…” She trailed off into a strangled scream.
“Ew.” Simon covered his eyes. “I’m not seeing this. This is just a dream. I’m not seeing this.” Something fell over his head. It was Jayne’s military jacket. “Stop! You two, stop right now!”
River looked up from extracting Jayne’s belt from his pants. Jayne quirked an eyebrow at him before returning his attention to River’s breasts. It was official: Simon was permanently scarred for life.
“That’s disgusting. Stop! Desist! Just stop!” He whined.
The horrific version of his beloved mei mei tilted her head. “Simon? Since when have I ever followed your demands?”
“You could this once.”
Jayne hoisted River up in his arms, causing her to wrap her arms and legs around his torso. “Face it, Doc. You’re her bitch.”
“Well - well so are you!” Simon instantly regretted letting his mouth open as Jayne leered and River licked her lips.
“And proud of it.”
As the two killers attacked each other’s mouths, Simon contemplated the idea of committing suicide. He’d always wondered if that old wives’ tale about dying in real life if you died in your sleep was true and this situation was quickly becoming an opportune moment to discover the truth. He’d make millions if he survived and if he died, at least he wouldn’t have to see Jayne pining his sister to the couch. And there was grinding of the hips. He threw up a little in his mouth.
“S-Simon?” River was panting heavily as Jayne sucked at her pulse point. “Could you perhaps vacant the premises? Your inner commentary is ruining the mood-“ She gasped. “Oooh. Do that again, sugar bear.”
A woman screamed. It was only after River threw one of her high heels at him, that Simon realized the identity of the woman.
“Doc, shut up will ya - you’re gonna wake the kids.” Jayne continued to touch River in inappropriate places as he ranted at the doctor. “We kinda wanted to fuck, if you get my meanin’. Dong ma?”
Kids? Oh no, no, no. The moment he woke up, Simon was going to introduce Jayne to his scalpel. Not that River would ever look at Jayne in real life, but still, no woman should have to be subjected to little Jaynes. He’d be doing the world a huge favour.
“It would appear you’ve broken my brother, sugar bear.” River was rubbing something with her foot that she really shouldn’t be. Next step after waking up: disinfecting the real River’s feet.
“Mmm.” Jayne of course, wasn’t objecting to where River’s toes were. Pig. “Let’s see what I can do to make that up to you.” He started to kiss his way down... there.
Simon decided that it was high time he reminded the duo of his presence. “I can see you both.”
“Good.” Jayne kicked off his dress shoes. “It’s about time you learned how to sex a woman.”
River beamed at her husband. “Zhang fu is so kind and generous,” she gushed. “This will save Kaylee a fortune in batteries.”
“Nightmare,” Simon chanted to himself. “This is a nightmare. Not reality. Just remember that Simon. None of this is real.” He hugged himself. “There, there. It’ll be all right. Just stay strong.”
The girl who claimed to be Simon's sweet little mei mei giggled as she tugged Jayne's dress shirt from his pants. "Sugar bear, let us away to the bedroom where we can play Major Mitchell and the Terminator from the future who has been sent back in time to protect the future saviour of man kind, but who has been discovered and sent to Area 51 for a thorough examination."
Jayne's eyes gleamed. "How thorough are we talking?" He brushed his hand up her back and grabbed the zipper of her dress. He tugged and the material parted.
"You will have to conduct many experiments to see how human my responses are and..." She leaned in close to whisper, but such was the nature of sitcoms that Simon could hear everything. "There will have to be an interrogation."
Jayne lunged and swung her up in his arms.
Simon responded the way any rational, sane person would. He slammed his head repeatedly against the coffee table. "WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!"
"Simon?"
Simon looked up into Kaylee's concerned face. He laughed. "A dream, it was just a dream, Kaylee."
Kaylee giggled and kissed his forehead. "You alright now bao bei?"
He nodded. "Yes. It was just a nightmare." He laughed and it came out high-pitched.
"Wanna talk about it?"
The doctor shuddered. "No. The sooner it's forgotten the better. Really, Kaylee it was nothing." He tossed the covers off his legs and stopping only to pull on a pair of sleep pants, went to the door. "I'm just going to wash my face. I'll be right back."
"Okay." Kaylee let out a jaw-cracking yawn and flopped back down on her pillow. Her eyes fluttered shut.
Simon opened the door of their bunk and promptly shrieked.
River beamed up at him. "The girl approves of her brother's plan for her future happiness." She offered him a thumbs up and winked. Simon tumbled to the ground in a dead faint.
Fandom: Firefly/Serenity
Disclaimer: My name is not Joss Whedon therefore I do not own Firefly.
Characters/Pairings: Simon/Kaylee, Jayne/River
Warnings: Spoilers for series and movie. Also tiny references to Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Chuck and Independence Day.
Rating: PG-15
Summary: Simon has a terrible nightmare and upon waking up finds that River has decided to take his nightmare and make it a reality. Too bad Jayne doesn't agree with her plan for future happiness, but hey, it's not like his opinion matters anyway.
Chapter One: In which Simon Has a Nightmare
In the end, Simon had no one but himself to blame when he ended up with Jayne for a brother-in-law.
Not that he didn't try to shift the blame onto Mal at the first opportunity. Simon'd sulked for days after the captain told him to shove it -- but that was nothing compared to the sulk that came after Kaylee started denying him sex for being mean to poor Jayne.
If Simon had never had The Dream it would never have led to the abomination that was his mei mei's marriage; and Simon would have been able to get away with pretending that his darling little mei mei would never ever have sex and would stay by his side playing with astrophysics for the rest of her life, or at least until she was thirty and by then, he could marry her off to some nice man who would be perfectly content sleeping in separate rooms at the opposite ends of the house. Unfortunately for Simon, he did have The Dream and its effects were catastrophic.
The Dream started out innocently enough. Simon was in a very bright living room. The type with light mauve and white striped wallpaper and a baby blue sofa set with lace curtains wafting in a gentle breeze.
"Simon?"
Simon spun on his heel to see his mei mei, loaded down with a silver tray piled high with foot-long sandwiches. Dressed in a pale yellow sun dress with her hair brushed away from her face, Dream River looked put out that Simon was there if the way she slammed the tray onto the coffee table was any indication.
"What is the purpose of this unannounced visit?" She smoothed down the front of her dress. "Did Kaylee throw you out again for being a boob? Really Simon, is it that hard to compliment a woman on the colour of her irises without slighting the shape of her earlobes?"
Simon started to answer only to be drowned out by the sound of laughter. "What was that?"
River rolled her eyes. "The canned laughter attached to any "funny" line in a sitcom comedy to inform the audience that that line was most humorous and they may laugh now without feeling uncomfortable because as we've just observed they've been accompanied by the laughter of millions." She frowned. "Unfortunately, the editors are not always very gifted and there are times when the next line is completely drowned out by their attempts to demonstrate to the viewer where they may laugh."
"Um, what?"
Laughter.
Simon frowned. How in hell was that funny?
"It just is." River answered his unspoken question. "Try not to think about it too much. It gives me a headache."
More laughter.
River's head snapped around and she glared at an unseen source. The laughter ended with an abrupt screech. River smirked.
"This is a strange dream," Simon commented, falling back onto the couch and grabbing a sandwich.
His sister's eyebrow twitched. "You know... There are better times to visit. Especially when one's sister's zhang fu is coming home after spending thirteen days, four hours, nine minutes and thirty-two seconds reviewing John Critchon's mission report. If he wanted to know so much about worm holes, zhang fu should have just stayed home." She pulled out a piece of paper from the pocket of her dress. "It only took me two hours and thirteen seconds this morning to come up with a working formula."
"That's nice, mei mei," Simon supplied.
"Although, I will admit to being excited to be experiencing welcome home after two weeks copulation. I wonder if it's any different from welcome home after a day at work copulation."
Simon choked on his sandwich. After a few moments of hacking and slamming his fist into his sternum and listening to non-stop laughter, Simon was finally able to demand an explanation of his sister.
River ignored him and flopped down onto the couch. "Do you think he'll jump me faster if I tried for "kick-ass assassin wife loaded down with hidden weapons" instead of "perfect little woman who can kick his ass whilst making a roast"?"
Simon decided at this point that he should really be thanking God that this was just a nightmare and that his real mei mei wasn't even interested in sex or boys or marriage (except for that one creepy moment when she tried to get the Shepherd to marry them. Simon tried not to think about that too much. It wasn't good for his blood pressure).
"Y-you're beautiful just the way you are, River."
The girl beamed and reached over to pat him on the head. "See, Simon! You can compliment a woman! Good job!" She glanced at her watch. "Besides, zhang fu should be home any minute and I wish to be jumped the moment he walks through the door." She looked pointedly at Simon.
Simon chose to ignore her and eat his sandwich.
River frowned, and then grinned. "This is a pretty dress isn't it?"
"Hmm..."
"It would be a shame for it to be ripped off in the throes of hot animal sex."
"GAH!"
"Perhaps it would be more beneficial if I were to greet zhang fu in the nude."
Simon cringed. "Ew!"
"Then again, nothing says I missed you like being ravaged."
"I cannot hear you. You are not discussing sex. You are not speaking, period. You are attempting to figure out how a worm hole works --"
River shoved her piece of scrap paper into his face. "Already figured it out."
"Fine. You're trying to make a black hole. And I am eating this sandwich and in no way does this dream have anything to do with sex."
His mei mei crossed her arms under her breasts. "Does this mean you aren't leaving?"
"Yup."
A pillow clobbered him in the face, while his sister screamed: "This isn't fair!" She smacked him once more with the sofa cushion before throwing herself face first onto the sofa. "I hate you!"
"That's nice. So, tell me about this dreamboat of yours. Is he a professor or politician?"
River lifted her head. "Simon? Is it possible that you have suffered blunt force trauma to the head recently?" She got up and began running her hands over his skull, frowning in thought. "Kaylee didn't hit you with a wrench again, did she? While perfect for getting the point across that you are once again up shit creek as zhang fu is fond of saying, there is such a thing as overkill." Her eyebrows furrowed deeper as her fingers were unable to discover any cracks or liquid dripping from her beloved brother’s head. “Simon? You really can’t remember my zhang fu?”
By this time, Simon wasn’t afraid to admit that he was curious to know just who this mysterious zhang fu was. If only to make sure that his real sister never ever met him.
“No. Sorry.” He tried to smile reassuringly at her, hoping that this version of his sister wouldn’t pick up on his real motive.
River glared at him before turning away to rub at her temples. Oops.
“Simon,” River’s voice was full of suffering and heartache and all those other emotions specifically designed to make him feel like an absolute heel and a horrible brother. He hated that voice. “We have been over this fifty-seven times, fifteen times without zhang fu’s fist being brought into the equation, and Mal has revoked your dental plan, do you really want to get into this with me again?” Her shoulders were drooped and her lip quivering. Simon wondered off-hand how many times she’d practised that look in the mirror. It made him feel even worse than the voice.
He reached forward and patted River’s hand. “I’m sorry mei mei, but I really can’t remember who you married. But if he makes you happy than who am I to disapprove?”
“AWWWWWWWWWWW...” Cooed the crowd of millions.
Simon blushed. River stared at him as if she’d never seen him before. There were tears in her eyes but she was beaming. She took his hand. “Kaylee finally smacked the stupid out of you.”
Simon grinned. “Well, he can’t be that bad can he? I mean, it’s not as if you would have married any uneducated and dirty ape considering this is my dream.”
River’s face fell. She extracted her hand from his. "This would be an opportune moment for a thunder clap and lightning flash."
"What?" Simon sat up straight in his chair. "Mei mei? What's that supposed to mean?"
The door slammed open, causing Simon to jump out of his chair and onto the floor hitting his head on the armrest, and River to squeal "Sugar Bear!" before taking a running leap into one Jayne Cobb's arms.
"Hey doll," Jayne said before latching his lips onto Simon's precious little mei mei's and slamming her against the wall. River purred, grabbing the hat of his uniform and chucking it across the room where its black brim hit Simon in the forehead.
Simon screamed. "What the hell are you doing? That's my mei mei!"
Jayne pulled away from River, causing her to whimper. He turned his head and glared at Simon. "Why's your brother here?"
River tugged on the back of his neck. "Kaylee threw him out again. Kiss now." She tugged on the collar of his navy blue uniform.
“No! No kissing!” Simon was having a heart attack and a stroke and possibly experiencing the first recorded case of spontaneous human combustion. In the background, a thousand voices roared in mirth. They sounded a lot like Mal, Wash and Zoë. And that quiet twitter was most definitely Inara.
Jayne and River ignored him; too busy shoving their tongues down each other’s throat to realize that Simon was dying. River extracted herself from Jayne’s mouth. “You are not - ah! Dying, Simon.” Jayne was now attacking her neck like the leech he was. “If you were…” She trailed off into a strangled scream.
“Ew.” Simon covered his eyes. “I’m not seeing this. This is just a dream. I’m not seeing this.” Something fell over his head. It was Jayne’s military jacket. “Stop! You two, stop right now!”
River looked up from extracting Jayne’s belt from his pants. Jayne quirked an eyebrow at him before returning his attention to River’s breasts. It was official: Simon was permanently scarred for life.
“That’s disgusting. Stop! Desist! Just stop!” He whined.
The horrific version of his beloved mei mei tilted her head. “Simon? Since when have I ever followed your demands?”
“You could this once.”
Jayne hoisted River up in his arms, causing her to wrap her arms and legs around his torso. “Face it, Doc. You’re her bitch.”
“Well - well so are you!” Simon instantly regretted letting his mouth open as Jayne leered and River licked her lips.
“And proud of it.”
As the two killers attacked each other’s mouths, Simon contemplated the idea of committing suicide. He’d always wondered if that old wives’ tale about dying in real life if you died in your sleep was true and this situation was quickly becoming an opportune moment to discover the truth. He’d make millions if he survived and if he died, at least he wouldn’t have to see Jayne pining his sister to the couch. And there was grinding of the hips. He threw up a little in his mouth.
“S-Simon?” River was panting heavily as Jayne sucked at her pulse point. “Could you perhaps vacant the premises? Your inner commentary is ruining the mood-“ She gasped. “Oooh. Do that again, sugar bear.”
A woman screamed. It was only after River threw one of her high heels at him, that Simon realized the identity of the woman.
“Doc, shut up will ya - you’re gonna wake the kids.” Jayne continued to touch River in inappropriate places as he ranted at the doctor. “We kinda wanted to fuck, if you get my meanin’. Dong ma?”
Kids? Oh no, no, no. The moment he woke up, Simon was going to introduce Jayne to his scalpel. Not that River would ever look at Jayne in real life, but still, no woman should have to be subjected to little Jaynes. He’d be doing the world a huge favour.
“It would appear you’ve broken my brother, sugar bear.” River was rubbing something with her foot that she really shouldn’t be. Next step after waking up: disinfecting the real River’s feet.
“Mmm.” Jayne of course, wasn’t objecting to where River’s toes were. Pig. “Let’s see what I can do to make that up to you.” He started to kiss his way down... there.
Simon decided that it was high time he reminded the duo of his presence. “I can see you both.”
“Good.” Jayne kicked off his dress shoes. “It’s about time you learned how to sex a woman.”
River beamed at her husband. “Zhang fu is so kind and generous,” she gushed. “This will save Kaylee a fortune in batteries.”
“Nightmare,” Simon chanted to himself. “This is a nightmare. Not reality. Just remember that Simon. None of this is real.” He hugged himself. “There, there. It’ll be all right. Just stay strong.”
The girl who claimed to be Simon's sweet little mei mei giggled as she tugged Jayne's dress shirt from his pants. "Sugar bear, let us away to the bedroom where we can play Major Mitchell and the Terminator from the future who has been sent back in time to protect the future saviour of man kind, but who has been discovered and sent to Area 51 for a thorough examination."
Jayne's eyes gleamed. "How thorough are we talking?" He brushed his hand up her back and grabbed the zipper of her dress. He tugged and the material parted.
"You will have to conduct many experiments to see how human my responses are and..." She leaned in close to whisper, but such was the nature of sitcoms that Simon could hear everything. "There will have to be an interrogation."
Jayne lunged and swung her up in his arms.
Simon responded the way any rational, sane person would. He slammed his head repeatedly against the coffee table. "WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!"
"Simon?"
Simon looked up into Kaylee's concerned face. He laughed. "A dream, it was just a dream, Kaylee."
Kaylee giggled and kissed his forehead. "You alright now bao bei?"
He nodded. "Yes. It was just a nightmare." He laughed and it came out high-pitched.
"Wanna talk about it?"
The doctor shuddered. "No. The sooner it's forgotten the better. Really, Kaylee it was nothing." He tossed the covers off his legs and stopping only to pull on a pair of sleep pants, went to the door. "I'm just going to wash my face. I'll be right back."
"Okay." Kaylee let out a jaw-cracking yawn and flopped back down on her pillow. Her eyes fluttered shut.
Simon opened the door of their bunk and promptly shrieked.
River beamed up at him. "The girl approves of her brother's plan for her future happiness." She offered him a thumbs up and winked. Simon tumbled to the ground in a dead faint.