Disclaimer: all things Firefly/Serenity are the property of Whedon et al. I'm not making any money off this, just playing with the toys.

Set: during the series and movie.

A/N: someone challenged me to write a story where Simon and Kaylee don't break up. Though I've already done one, this just sort of hit me today. Not beta'd.

He touches people all the time. Cleans their skin to prepare for a needle. Brushes his hands over arms and legs looking for broken bones. Even gets close to their mouths in taking a temperature with the archaic thermometer on Serenity.

But for all his touching, Simon Tam seems incapable of contact.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to. In fact, if he was honest with himself, contact is the one thing he is desperate for out in the Black. Touch is something and the Black is nothing. In his one venture into space with River looking wide-eyed and enthralled at the expanse of nothing, Simon is petrified. One bad clip or tear and he would watch his brain ooze from his ears. Bits of plastic keeps him from nothing and it terrifies him to his core.

And that keeps him from acting. He knows full well that the sunshine of the ship is directing her energies towards him. Knows every time she smiles at him that it’s just a little different than the one she gives to the rest of the crew. She comes and visits for no other reason than to say hello when the others only come when they needed to stop bleeding. She is always there, edging closer to feel him and have him feel her.

River was a convenient excuse, a safe one, to prevent him from acting on the impulses he felt towards Kaylee. Working on new medications or keeping close tabs on her dirtside were handy diversions to keep his mind off thoughts of contact with Kaylee. Say the wrong thing once too often, pull the suit too much, and that will end everything. He could almost see the brains.

Then Miranda happened. His blood rushes to his head, his hands, his chest as he says the words to Kaylee that have been growing for months. He hears the inhuman screams, but smiles in spite of it all. He hasn’t torn the suit too much because she wants to live.

And they do and he knows he can’t go back.

Simon sees Kaylee cranking the bolt that won’t loosen. Sees her bare shoulders with a sheen of moisture that he wants to wipe away. He grabs the wrench from her hand, keeping her fingers under his that moment longer than needed, telling her without words what he wants. She smiles that special smile for him. He won’t feel afraid again.

The Black is banished.