A Little Better All The Time- Firefly Fic
Written for dragonsinger's Variation on a Plot fic challenge (2!) In which the plot was...
Two characters who are attracted to each other but are in denial are confined in close quarters
Which resulted in...
Title: A Little Better All The Time
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Simon/Kaylee
Spoilers: Big Damn Movie. Specifically set between the end of Mal's fight with the Operative, and the very end of the movie.
Disclaimer: Fanfic is like playing Barbies with fandom characters. Except with words instead of plastic dolls. And while I do own Barbie dolls, I don’t own the stuff I write fan fiction about. At all.
Summary: An accident in the engine room strands Kaylee & Simon together, and they've got a lot to say.....
“Simon?” Kaylee says looking expectantly at the handsome young doctor. He stares blankly at her, and Kaylee rolls her eyes. “Simon? Are ya in there, or what?” She snaps her fingers right in front of his face.
That brings him back to reality. “Huh?”
“I’m fixing to need that wrench over there. Can you hand it to me?”
“Uh. Okay.” At his left side, there’s a box with several wrenches, of differing sizes. “Which one? Because, um, there’s a lot of fine tools here, and I’m not sure which one is technically the right one for this job.” He blushes, somewhat amazed that the tools to keep a ship like Serenity in the air are quite a bit more complicated than the contents of his medkit.
“The one with the little knobby thing on the end. That technical enough for you?”
“Quite.” He says, locating it easily. “One knobby wrench.”
“Thanks.” She says with a quick smile, shimmying underneath the engine and returning to the large task of repairing Serenity.
Everything’s changed now, in the midst of Miranda. It has taken time to heal- even with the medical assistance that the Operative provided, they all had a significant amount of physical injuries to cope from, save River. Emotions are taking a little longer, because there really isn’t a being in the ‘verse that can replace Wash, not at all. But they’ve started to repair Serenity now, getting her back to a semblance of normal. There’s a lot of damage to repair, but not one of the crew even mentions not taking to the sky again. Flying is what Serenity’s meant to do, and she’ll soar free again.
Simon had thought that this…awkwardness with Kaylee would disappear, or at least lessen after his declaration before the Reavers stormed in. He’d finally been able to admit to her, and to himself, that he wanted her. What he’d meant to say that day wasn’t exactly what came out of his mouth. Simon wanted to tell her how wonderful she made him feel and how much he loved her, but he didn’t say what he meant to. How do you take the next step when your first romantic overture is telling somebody that you want Gan tsao her?
“There we go.” Kaylee said, popping out from underneath the engine. “Now that’s shiny. One step at a time, and we’ll have the whole ship shining again.”
“Good.” Simon smiled. “Should we go see if Jayne’s eaten every scrap of food onboard, and hope in vain that there’s something left?”
“I could use a break.” Kaylee nodded, rising to her feet and leaning against the wall of the engine room. “And I know where Inara hid some fresh fruit.”
“She’s smart.”
“She’s been around Jayne for awhile.” Kaylee grinned.
Simon saw the wall start to give way a second before the sheets of metal began to fall. He whipped out and grabbed Kaylee, pulling her to safety. He had to react quickly, to escape the avalanche, and he twirled them out of the way, leaving the two of them in a heap on the floor.
“Aiya!” Kaylee muttered, struggling to sit up. “Serenity didn’t tell me nothing was wrong…Mal’s gonna blow a gasket.” She said, gazing at the debris that completely blocked the door to Serenity’s engine room.
“Mal can Chiu di yu for all I care.” Simon replied, looking at Kaylee with concern. “Are you okay?”
“A little shook up, I guess. A fair lot better than if I was under all that rubble there, I’d say.”
Simon smiled slightly. “That’s true. But does anything hurt? You need to be careful before you sit up, you could worsen your injury if you did.”
“You’re always a doctor, ain’t ya?” Kaylee smiled. “I’ll have you know that I’ve been a load of worse scrapes, Simon, even before you came on board. And I always heal up right fine.”
“I….I…just don’t want to see you hurt.”
Kaylee sat up, and finding no pain, quickly rose to her feet. “See? I’d say I’m a fair sight better than Serenity right about now.” She beamed down at him, before her attention was drawn to Simon’s sleeve. “And better than you too, apparently.”
“Huh?”
Kaylee kneeled beside Simon on the floor, and took his right arm in her hand. The sleeve of his white shirt was marked with a quickly growing spot of crimson. “You’re hurt.”
“I…” In his concern for Kaylee, Simon hadn’t thought of himself. It did hurt somewhat, quite a bit actually. “I don’t have my med kit here, and we can’t get out, and with everyone as busy as they are they might not notice that we’re missing for hours!” He babbled nervously. Simon felt pathetic. He couldn’t even be a hero without making an absolute mess of things.
River was right. He was too stupid to live.
“Relax.” Kaylee said, tearing the sleeve away from his arm. “We can take care of this.”
“How?”
“Believe it or not,” Kaylee said, taking the sleeve she’d just torn off and pressing it against the wound, “Mal’s habit of getting fearsomely hurt predates you getting aboard Serenity. Hold that.” She said, and Simon put his other hand on top of his ruined sleeve, keeping the pressure steady.
Kaylee reached up in her hair and pulled out the fabric covered elastic scrunchy she kept it up with while working. Her hair cascaded down around her shoulders. She looked beautiful, Simon thought, as she shook out her curls into the air. Kaylee wasted no time in taking off the loose vest she wore buttoned over her shirt. In a sweeping move, she wrapped it around Simon’s arm, and used the scrunchy to keep it attached.
“See?” She said with a pleased smile. “It ain’t fancy doctoring, but with guys like Mal and Jayne onboard, who always seem to just be itching to get in trouble, ya gotta learn a little bit of First Aid.”
“I guess.” Simon laughed. “I..I don’t know how to thank you.”
“You don’t always gotta be so polite, out here in the black, Simon. ‘Sides, if my Momma taught me one thing, it’s that you take care of those you care about.” Realizing what she said, a blush rose to her face. “Because we all care ‘bout another, don’t we?”
Simon’s mouth went dry. Could he really tell Kaylee how he felt and not mess it up?
At least, he figured, if he did screw up, no one besides Kaylee would know.
“Kaylee?”
“Yeah?”
“I....I uh, meant what I said.”
“I told you, it’s not a big deal, Simon.”
“I t is a big deal.”
“You reckon so?”
“Your face…that day when you were acting like the barker? That was the first friendly face I’d seen in quite some time, really. For so long everything had just been about River- getting River, saving River. And you were smiling with that parasol, and…that smile made me choose Serenity, because a place with a smile like that, well, that had to be a good place, right?”
“You like my smile?” Kaylee grinned.
“I like everything about you.” Simon gulped. “Fact is, when it comes to you I get a scary feeling that feels an awful lot like love. And I…I shouldn’t have put it so crudely before, but I want you. In my life, In a relationship, in my bed.”
“You do? I thought that after everything you’d changed your mind…or maybe it was just your last coulda shoulda woulda before you were gonna die.” Kaylee leaned in closer to him. “I mean, it kinda motivated me to live, but after all that I thought you….”
“The only thing I’d change is not being able to say it sooner. And more politely. You deserve better. You deserve better than me…”
“ I deserve you.” Kaylee said, cupping his face in her hands. “I’m no angel.”
“And I’ll never see you as anything but.” Simon said, leaning closer to her and snaking his arms behind her back.
They met in the middle, a kiss a million and a half blunders and mistakes in the making. Suddenly the past didn’t matter, nor did the fact that they were stuck in the engine room for goodness knows how long- probably till River got antsy or Mal got curious about how repairs on Serenity were going.
They kissed, passion meeting passion. Soon, Simon ceased worrying about his arm, and Kaylee stopped thinking of how Mal would react when he saw the ruined engine room. They were together, finally together, complete, whole.
________________________________
“Kaylee’s not here.” Inara worried, looking around the mess hall.
“So?” Jayne said mid-swallow. “More food for me.”
“I’m concerned!”
“Oh, she’s probably fiddling around with something down in the engine room.” Jayne replied with a wave of his hand. “You know her, she’s always busy with something down there.”
“I’m still worried.”
“Jayne’s right.” River said absently, reading Kaylee’s feelings with her mind. “She’s in the engine room.” She volunteered no more information
“Hey, have you seen the Doc?” Zoe said, stepping into the room, cradling her hand. “It turns out that letting Mal handle a blowtorch was a bad idea.”
“It slipped!” Mal exclaimed behind her. “I told you to be careful. ‘Sides, it’s only a surface wound. You got worse in combat.”
“That.” Zoe said coldly. “Was combat. When we didn’t have our own doctor traveling around with us. Being that we do now, I’d like to take advantage of the fact.”
“Simon…he’s busy.” River said with a devious smile. “And he won’t be done for quite a while.” River stood up slowly and skipped out of the mess hall, turning and talking to Mal on her way out. “Prepare for a big shock.”
“Okay.” Mal said after River retreated. “That was just mildly creepifying. Things really are getting better." He paused slightly, a bemused expression on his face. "Huh.”
Translations:
Gan tsao- to have sex with
Aiya!- damn
Chiu di yu- go to hell
Two characters who are attracted to each other but are in denial are confined in close quarters
Which resulted in...
Title: A Little Better All The Time
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Simon/Kaylee
Spoilers: Big Damn Movie. Specifically set between the end of Mal's fight with the Operative, and the very end of the movie.
Disclaimer: Fanfic is like playing Barbies with fandom characters. Except with words instead of plastic dolls. And while I do own Barbie dolls, I don’t own the stuff I write fan fiction about. At all.
Summary: An accident in the engine room strands Kaylee & Simon together, and they've got a lot to say.....
“Simon?” Kaylee says looking expectantly at the handsome young doctor. He stares blankly at her, and Kaylee rolls her eyes. “Simon? Are ya in there, or what?” She snaps her fingers right in front of his face.
That brings him back to reality. “Huh?”
“I’m fixing to need that wrench over there. Can you hand it to me?”
“Uh. Okay.” At his left side, there’s a box with several wrenches, of differing sizes. “Which one? Because, um, there’s a lot of fine tools here, and I’m not sure which one is technically the right one for this job.” He blushes, somewhat amazed that the tools to keep a ship like Serenity in the air are quite a bit more complicated than the contents of his medkit.
“The one with the little knobby thing on the end. That technical enough for you?”
“Quite.” He says, locating it easily. “One knobby wrench.”
“Thanks.” She says with a quick smile, shimmying underneath the engine and returning to the large task of repairing Serenity.
Everything’s changed now, in the midst of Miranda. It has taken time to heal- even with the medical assistance that the Operative provided, they all had a significant amount of physical injuries to cope from, save River. Emotions are taking a little longer, because there really isn’t a being in the ‘verse that can replace Wash, not at all. But they’ve started to repair Serenity now, getting her back to a semblance of normal. There’s a lot of damage to repair, but not one of the crew even mentions not taking to the sky again. Flying is what Serenity’s meant to do, and she’ll soar free again.
Simon had thought that this…awkwardness with Kaylee would disappear, or at least lessen after his declaration before the Reavers stormed in. He’d finally been able to admit to her, and to himself, that he wanted her. What he’d meant to say that day wasn’t exactly what came out of his mouth. Simon wanted to tell her how wonderful she made him feel and how much he loved her, but he didn’t say what he meant to. How do you take the next step when your first romantic overture is telling somebody that you want Gan tsao her?
“There we go.” Kaylee said, popping out from underneath the engine. “Now that’s shiny. One step at a time, and we’ll have the whole ship shining again.”
“Good.” Simon smiled. “Should we go see if Jayne’s eaten every scrap of food onboard, and hope in vain that there’s something left?”
“I could use a break.” Kaylee nodded, rising to her feet and leaning against the wall of the engine room. “And I know where Inara hid some fresh fruit.”
“She’s smart.”
“She’s been around Jayne for awhile.” Kaylee grinned.
Simon saw the wall start to give way a second before the sheets of metal began to fall. He whipped out and grabbed Kaylee, pulling her to safety. He had to react quickly, to escape the avalanche, and he twirled them out of the way, leaving the two of them in a heap on the floor.
“Aiya!” Kaylee muttered, struggling to sit up. “Serenity didn’t tell me nothing was wrong…Mal’s gonna blow a gasket.” She said, gazing at the debris that completely blocked the door to Serenity’s engine room.
“Mal can Chiu di yu for all I care.” Simon replied, looking at Kaylee with concern. “Are you okay?”
“A little shook up, I guess. A fair lot better than if I was under all that rubble there, I’d say.”
Simon smiled slightly. “That’s true. But does anything hurt? You need to be careful before you sit up, you could worsen your injury if you did.”
“You’re always a doctor, ain’t ya?” Kaylee smiled. “I’ll have you know that I’ve been a load of worse scrapes, Simon, even before you came on board. And I always heal up right fine.”
“I….I…just don’t want to see you hurt.”
Kaylee sat up, and finding no pain, quickly rose to her feet. “See? I’d say I’m a fair sight better than Serenity right about now.” She beamed down at him, before her attention was drawn to Simon’s sleeve. “And better than you too, apparently.”
“Huh?”
Kaylee kneeled beside Simon on the floor, and took his right arm in her hand. The sleeve of his white shirt was marked with a quickly growing spot of crimson. “You’re hurt.”
“I…” In his concern for Kaylee, Simon hadn’t thought of himself. It did hurt somewhat, quite a bit actually. “I don’t have my med kit here, and we can’t get out, and with everyone as busy as they are they might not notice that we’re missing for hours!” He babbled nervously. Simon felt pathetic. He couldn’t even be a hero without making an absolute mess of things.
River was right. He was too stupid to live.
“Relax.” Kaylee said, tearing the sleeve away from his arm. “We can take care of this.”
“How?”
“Believe it or not,” Kaylee said, taking the sleeve she’d just torn off and pressing it against the wound, “Mal’s habit of getting fearsomely hurt predates you getting aboard Serenity. Hold that.” She said, and Simon put his other hand on top of his ruined sleeve, keeping the pressure steady.
Kaylee reached up in her hair and pulled out the fabric covered elastic scrunchy she kept it up with while working. Her hair cascaded down around her shoulders. She looked beautiful, Simon thought, as she shook out her curls into the air. Kaylee wasted no time in taking off the loose vest she wore buttoned over her shirt. In a sweeping move, she wrapped it around Simon’s arm, and used the scrunchy to keep it attached.
“See?” She said with a pleased smile. “It ain’t fancy doctoring, but with guys like Mal and Jayne onboard, who always seem to just be itching to get in trouble, ya gotta learn a little bit of First Aid.”
“I guess.” Simon laughed. “I..I don’t know how to thank you.”
“You don’t always gotta be so polite, out here in the black, Simon. ‘Sides, if my Momma taught me one thing, it’s that you take care of those you care about.” Realizing what she said, a blush rose to her face. “Because we all care ‘bout another, don’t we?”
Simon’s mouth went dry. Could he really tell Kaylee how he felt and not mess it up?
At least, he figured, if he did screw up, no one besides Kaylee would know.
“Kaylee?”
“Yeah?”
“I....I uh, meant what I said.”
“I told you, it’s not a big deal, Simon.”
“I t is a big deal.”
“You reckon so?”
“Your face…that day when you were acting like the barker? That was the first friendly face I’d seen in quite some time, really. For so long everything had just been about River- getting River, saving River. And you were smiling with that parasol, and…that smile made me choose Serenity, because a place with a smile like that, well, that had to be a good place, right?”
“You like my smile?” Kaylee grinned.
“I like everything about you.” Simon gulped. “Fact is, when it comes to you I get a scary feeling that feels an awful lot like love. And I…I shouldn’t have put it so crudely before, but I want you. In my life, In a relationship, in my bed.”
“You do? I thought that after everything you’d changed your mind…or maybe it was just your last coulda shoulda woulda before you were gonna die.” Kaylee leaned in closer to him. “I mean, it kinda motivated me to live, but after all that I thought you….”
“The only thing I’d change is not being able to say it sooner. And more politely. You deserve better. You deserve better than me…”
“ I deserve you.” Kaylee said, cupping his face in her hands. “I’m no angel.”
“And I’ll never see you as anything but.” Simon said, leaning closer to her and snaking his arms behind her back.
They met in the middle, a kiss a million and a half blunders and mistakes in the making. Suddenly the past didn’t matter, nor did the fact that they were stuck in the engine room for goodness knows how long- probably till River got antsy or Mal got curious about how repairs on Serenity were going.
They kissed, passion meeting passion. Soon, Simon ceased worrying about his arm, and Kaylee stopped thinking of how Mal would react when he saw the ruined engine room. They were together, finally together, complete, whole.
________________________________
“Kaylee’s not here.” Inara worried, looking around the mess hall.
“So?” Jayne said mid-swallow. “More food for me.”
“I’m concerned!”
“Oh, she’s probably fiddling around with something down in the engine room.” Jayne replied with a wave of his hand. “You know her, she’s always busy with something down there.”
“I’m still worried.”
“Jayne’s right.” River said absently, reading Kaylee’s feelings with her mind. “She’s in the engine room.” She volunteered no more information
“Hey, have you seen the Doc?” Zoe said, stepping into the room, cradling her hand. “It turns out that letting Mal handle a blowtorch was a bad idea.”
“It slipped!” Mal exclaimed behind her. “I told you to be careful. ‘Sides, it’s only a surface wound. You got worse in combat.”
“That.” Zoe said coldly. “Was combat. When we didn’t have our own doctor traveling around with us. Being that we do now, I’d like to take advantage of the fact.”
“Simon…he’s busy.” River said with a devious smile. “And he won’t be done for quite a while.” River stood up slowly and skipped out of the mess hall, turning and talking to Mal on her way out. “Prepare for a big shock.”
“Okay.” Mal said after River retreated. “That was just mildly creepifying. Things really are getting better." He paused slightly, a bemused expression on his face. "Huh.”
Translations:
Gan tsao- to have sex with
Aiya!- damn
Chiu di yu- go to hell