Disclaimer: Joss owns it, I play with it, end of story.

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Kaylee sat in her hammock in Serenity's engine room, staring at all of the moving parts that kept the ship going. Everything was in working order, maybe not perfect working order, but it still worked. Unfortunately, this meant that Kaylee had nothing to do to keep herself occupied. She had gone into the cargo bay, but there Jayne was working out and talking to Shepherd Book, and Kaylee didn't want to interrupt their manly bonding time. She had gone up to the bridge, but there Wash was having a discussion with Zoe and Kaylee didn't want to intrude on their husband and wife time. She hadn't seen the captain in a while so she assumed that he was busy somewhere. Inara had stayed behind on Beaumonde with a client and they weren't picking the woman up for another few days yet. Kaylee had stopped by the infirmary as well, but Simon was preoccupied with River, as usual.

Seeing that there was nothing for her to do, no one for her to talk to, Kaylee had come back to the engine room to think. She lay back comfortably in her hammock and stared up at the ceiling, hearing the comforting hum of Serenity's engine in the background. As she listened to the familiar sounds of the engine, Kaylee thought back over the past little while. Her thoughts mixed around for a while until they finally settled on a happy memory. She remembered the night she and the captain had gone to the ball with Inara and Atherton.

Kaylee thought back to just before she had left for the ball with the captain. She had been in her bunk, putting on the dress he had bought for her as a peace offering, and was having a bit of a hard time. Thoroughly annoyed with the zipper that she couldn't reach at the back, Kaylee had to find someone to help her zip up the dress. She bunched it all up so that it didn't get caught on the ladder or the screws in the walls around the ladder as she climbed up and out of her quarters. Looking down the hallway she saw no one. Inara had already left and Kaylee's next choice of help would have been Zoe, but she hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the woman, or come to think of it of the woman's husband, since early afternoon. Kaylee decided to see if she could find River alone to help with the dress.

As she walked down the hallway, Kaylee was careful not to run into any of the men on board. She didn't want anyone to see her until she was zipped up and looking decent. For the time being, because of the weight of all of the frills of the dress and the gap between the two sides of the fabric from her shoulder blades down to her tailbone, Kaylee's dress was slipping off of her shoulders and the neckline was plunging, revealing a little too much skin for her liking. She snuck discreetly down the halls, checking around corners before hurrying on, until she finally reached the guest quarters. The door to River’s room was slightly ajar and Kaylee peeked in, seeing the girl sitting on her bed, staring at something out of Kaylee's line of vision.

Kaylee slipped the door open quickly and stepped into River's quarters. She was about to take another step towards River when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head slowly, Kaylee saw that Simon was standing in the corner of the room, preparing a syringe full of something for a fairly harassed looking River. She stopped dead in her tracks, not wanting Simon to see her in a state of disarray like this. She was about to turn around and leave the room when Simon’s soft voice caught her attention.

"Kaylee," he said curiously. "Is there something you needed?"

She could feel herself going bright red. She knew that Simon's eyes were roaming over her, taking in everything from the bright pink fabric of her undergarments that just peeked out from under the dress where the zipper rested at her tailbone to the peachy skin of her shoulders where the dress had slipped down and rested at her upper arms. This was just shiny. Kaylee averted her gaze, smiling brightly as she usually did but not wanting to look Simon right in the eyes as she spoke.

"Yeah, I just came in here to ask River to help me get this dress all zipped up but if you're busy then I can go ask someone else," she replied.

Simon looked at Kaylee and then over at River, who was in a pretty much catatonic state after her latest nightmare. He looked at the hypo in his hand and then at Kaylee again with a shake of his head.

"She won't be of much help to you," he said lightly. "I'll just give her a smoother to help her calm down and then I can help you with that."

Kaylee gaped at him for a second, her heart fluttering. She nodded her assent and then stepped backwards, walking out of the room and waiting just outside the door for Simon. She tried her best to keep the gown from slipping any more and to get it back up a bit but it wasn't working.

Simon watched Kaylee back out of the room and smiled lightly to himself. That dress was a crime against fashion but Kaylee made it look perfectly respectable. It was perfect for her, very flamboyant. He quickly gave River a shot of something to help her sleep and made sure she was laying down comfortably in her sleep before leaving the room. He found Kaylee standing outside, struggling with the dress.

"Here, let me get that for you," he said warmly.

Simon stepped up behind Kaylee and reached for the zipper at the bottom of it. He grasped the end, the backs of his fingers brushing against Kaylee's bare lower back. He noticed that she had a tattoo in the middle of her lower back; the symbols for serenity. He smiled lightly. It fit Kaylee perfectly. Simon's free hand, the one not already on the zipper to Kaylee's dress, came up and his fingertips lightly brushed over the characters for a moment before he quickly did what he had set out to do and zipped her dress up, being careful not to get any of her hair caught in it.

"There you go, you're all ready," Simon said softly. "Nice tattoo, by the way."

"Xiexie," Kaylee replied, her cheeks reddening a little.

She had felt Simon's fingertips gently caress her skin for a moment. She had forgotten all about the tattoo! She had gotten it once when the crew had all gone out and gotten drunk after a successful mission. She blushed as he slowly zipped her dress up, feeling tingles up all the way along her spine where his fingertips touched as the two pieces of fabric came together. Once the dress was zipped up, Kaylee turned to look at Simon with one of her usual bright smiles pasted into place. She was about to say something when she heard Mal calling for her, already yelling at her for taking too long. She rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Well that'd be the cap'n callin'" she said lightly. "Looks like I'm off to the ball. I guess I'll see you later then."

With that Kaylee turned and bunched up her dress at the sides a little so she could walk without having to worry about tripping over the frills at the bottom and walked away. She spent the evening talking to people at the ball, sampling the buffet and dancing, all the while still feeling the tingle’s from Simon’s fingertips along her back.

Kaylee snapped out of her reverie, realizing that she had lapsed into a daydream sort of state as she recalled the events from the ball a few months prior. Smiling, Kaylee closed her eyes again. It was peaceful now, the ship perfectly quiet save for the hum from Serenity's engine. She thought a nap might be nice. Kaylee snuggled into her hammock comfortably and soon found herself drifting off to sleep.

The room looked familiar. Kaylee looked around as she stood in the doorway, taking in the sights. It all looked familiar; the buffet table, the girls in beautiful dresses dancing with their men, the mysterious hovering chandelier. Kaylee looked at the dancing girls as they passed by not too far from where she stood. They were so beautiful. She smiled as she saw Inara pass by with Atherton. The ball. She was at the ball! Where was the captain?

Kaylee was about to take a step into the room when she felt a warm arm wrap around her own to escort her. She was sure it was Mal. Kaylee took a step forward with her escort and felt her silken dress ruffle around her legs. As they entered the room, Kaylee heard a voice announce their arrival.

"Ms. Kaywinnit Lee Frye and escort Dr. Simon Tam," the voice announced.

Kaylee gasped slightly in surprise. This couldn't have been the same ball. She wasn't with Mal, she was with Simon. Kaylee turned her head and smiled lightly as she met the doctor's gaze. Wow, this was like the date of her dreams.

She felt a light tug on her arm and realized that Simon was pulling her along further into the room, onto the dance floor. Kaylee panicked a little. She was a pretty awful dancer. She had never been ladylike or good at that sort of thing, and the one time Inara had tried to teach her to dance had been interrupted when there was some problem with the compression coil.

She had no more time to panic as Simon placed one hand on her hip and took her opposite hand with his free one to dance. Kaylee swallowed thickly and tried her best to follow along without stepping on his feet. She wanted him to think she was a good dancer, that she could be high society just like the rest of the women there, like the women he was used to. She wanted to impress him.

Kaylee was still nervous and she winced, apologizing each time she stepped on Simon's foot. He only smiled back at her and told her she was doing fine.

"It's easy," he said softly. "Just listen to the music. You have to relax and get close to your partner; close enough to feel their heartbeat. Just follow that."

Kaylee nodded wordlessly. Simon really had a way with words. She tried to do what he told her, to just listen to the music, to get close. The getting close part was easy enough but she found herself trying to dance too fast, dancing to the tempo of her own racing heart rather than Simon’s. Thankfully the song ended soon.

Simon smiled as the song ended. Kaylee may not have been the world's best dancer, but she was still perfect in his eyes. He led her off of the dance floor and off to the side of the room, a secluded area where few eyes felt the need to wander. He knew it wasn't the proper thing to do, a public display of affection, but Simon leaned slowly towards Kaylee, running one hand through her beautiful hair before leaning in all the way and gently pressing his lips to hers.

Kaylee walked off of the dance floor with Simon slowly, wondering why they were walking away from all of the people, the debutantes there. They were in a small, secluded area and Kaylee looked up at Simon just as his hand came up and stroked her cheek, his fingers brushing through her hair. She knew what was coming. She had waited so long for this. Kaylee's eyes fluttered closed as she felt Simon's lips gently touch hers in a soft kiss...

Kaylee awoke with a sharp intake of breath. She sat up quickly in her hammock, almost falling out of it. A hand came up to her lips, her fingertips tentatively brushing over them, still feeling a phantom tingle of the dream kiss. Kaylee smiled, her heart fluttering. She had kissed Simon Tam. Sure it had been in a dream, but it had felt so real.

Kaylee was about to get out of the hammock to head to the galley for a drink when Serenity suddenly gave a violent lurch. Alarm bells suddenly started going off in Kaylee's mind. She was out of her hammock as if someone had lit a fire under her, heading for the comm. unit on the wall to call Wash. Before she'd reached it, the comm. unit buzzed to life on it's own and Wash's voice floated into the engine room. Kaylee listened to what he was saying over the cursing she could hear in the distance down the corridor.

"Asteroid just hit off the hull on the port side," Wash called. "Might have damaged a primary buffer panel. Kaylee, we need full burn, we're going to break atmo and land this bird on Greenleaf in a few minutes!"

Lashi! If they had damaged a primary buffer panel, they might never make it out of this alive. Kaylee rushed about the engine room, hitting switches and pulling levers to get Serenity as stable as she could for breaking atmo from a wide orbit. As she squeezed between a protruding part of the engine and a nearby wall to get to a switch, Serenity gave a violent lurch and Kaylee was thrown against a rather sharp piece of the engine. She cursed loudly as the part she got caught on dug into the flesh of her back, sending a shooting pain throughout her body.

She ignored the pain and continued working. Kaylee had brought Serenity into full burn so they could make a relatively safe landing just in time to see that the captain had entered the engine room.

"We going to make it this time, little Kaylee?" He asked.

"I hope so, cap'n," she replied. "I put 'er into full burn but the rest is up to Wash."

Kaylee watched Mal nod in that satisfactory way of his and then turn and leave the engine room. She was alone again with nothing to do but wait and see whether or not she would live to see another day. Kaylee sighed and walked to her hammock again, collapsing into it and realizing that her back hurt like hell. She hadn't noticed it in the past few minutes but that was probably because she was running on adrenaline. Now it was aching again.

Kaylee sighed and decided to try and ignore it. She might not have to worry about pain for too much longer anyway. For the time being she just lay back in her hammock comfortably, waiting for what was going to happen. If they made it to Greenleaf safely and her back still hurt, then she would ask Simon about it. For now however, she couldn't leave her baby. She couldn't leave Serenity, the very heart and soul of the old girl, alone while she was in trouble like this.

Kaylee closed her eyes and braced for landing as soon as she felt the familiar heavy pull of gravity as they broke atmo and entered Greenleaf's gravitational field. She relaxed in her hammock, knowing at least that if she died, if they all died in this, she would be at peace with Serenity at her old girl's heart. She smiled softly and waited the few minutes before feeling a light, familiar thump. They had landed. It was a bit of a heavier landing than usual, but they had landed. They were alive.

Kaylee was extremely relieved, truth be told, and only then let out a breath she hadn't realized she’d been holding. Kaylee reached out a hand and placed it on a nearby wall, feeling the cool from the metal seep into her fingertips.

"Good girl, Serenity," she cooed softly. "I knew you had it in you."

At that very same moment, Simon entered the engine room. He had been worried about Kaylee since the moment the alarms started going off. He knew how much Kaylee cared for the ship and he imagined that she would be heart broken now, knowing that Serenity was falling apart. He had decided to check on her as soon as they landed, which was how he had wound up in the engine room. He leaned against the doorframe and watched her in her hammock as she talked to Serenity.

"She's a good ship," Simon commented. "I'll bet this won't be the last time she gets us through something like that in one piece."

Kaylee jumped about a foot in the air, startled by Simon's sudden appearance. Her hand flew to her chest, laying over her heart as she caught her breath.

"Wo de ma, Simon! You scared me somethin' fierce!" Kaylee said breathlessly.

"Sorry," Simon said softly. "I just came to see how you were holding up. That was a pretty close call."

"I'm shiny, doc," she replied with a smile.

Kaylee sat up quickly and swung her legs over the edge of her hammock. She suddenly felt a sharp pain from where she had hit the engine part shoot up her back and she hissed in a breath, wincing slightly as her hand went to her back. She looked up and noticed that a very concerned looking Simon was striding towards her.

"Are you alright?" He asked worriedly.

Kaylee nodded lightly, still trying to play it down. She didn't want to make more work for Simon; she didn't want to act like she was making a big deal over nothing. It was just a bruise; it would heal on its own. However, Simon didn't seem as convinced. He knelt in front of Kaylee as she sat in her hammock and looked up at her concernedly.

"Are you sure?" He asked softly.

Kaylee wanted desperately to lie again and to say that she was just fine, but one look into Simon's worried eyes and she knew she couldn't lie to him. She sighed softly and shook her head, one hand wrapping around slowly to rest on her lower back.

"I hit my back on the engine before when we was landin'" she replied. "It still hurts."

Simon nodded and met Kaylee's gaze. At least he tried to. She still seemed to be avoiding his gaze.

"Can I take a look?" He suggested.

Kaylee sighed resignedly and nodded. She shifted around a bit so that Simon could see her back. She bit her lip lightly as she felt his fingertips brush the skin of her back as he lifted up her shirt. She knew his eyes were wandering over her back and a moment later she could feel his fingertips pressing into her skin. She hissed when she felt him hit a particularly tender spot.

"Sorry," Simon said softly. "Well it is bruised, but it looks intact otherwise."

Kaylee smiled lightly and nodded. She knew there had been nothing to worry about, but she also knew that if she hadn't let Simon see for himself, he wouldn't have given her a moment's peace until she did let him check it out. A moment later she heard Simon chuckle softly and felt his fingertips brush her back again, lower this time. She blushed when she realized what he was doing.

"I had forgotten you had this," he said lightly.

Kaylee knew his fingertips were brushing over her tattoo and she laughed nervously. She wondered what the doctor thought about tattoos. He obviously didn't mind them since he was being so endearing about them and all.

"Yeah, sometime I forget it's there myself," Kaylee said with a bright smile.

"I like it," Simon said softly. "It's very fitting. I think it's a nice way to show just how much a part of you Serenity really is."

Kaylee blushed lightly. Simon was right, of course. Serenity was like a child to Kaylee. The ship was her life force. It was what kept her hanging in through the hard times. Serenity was her greatest source of comfort, so reliable and solid. She was glad that Simon could see that, how much the ship meant to her. A moment later, Kaylee felt her shirt flutter down again as Simon let go and she felt the cool room air brush over her skin where his fingertips had been only moments before. She looked down to his level and smiled as their gazes met. Sure, Simon most often said the wrong thing, but he really did have his moments. Moments like these where he was just an absolute sweetheart.

"Yeah, she really does mean a lot to me," Kaylee replied. "Kinda like how River means a lot to you, doctor."

Kaylee looked at Simon and saw the small but heartfelt smile that crossed his lips. He didn't think that anyone could ever understand just how much he really felt for River, but Kaylee understood perfectly well. She gazed at Simon for another moment before seeing that he was standing up. She observed him as he took a step back.

"So everything else is alright?" He asked her politely.

"It's fine," Kaylee reassured him. "Really."

Simon nodded and smiled softly at her.

"I'll see you at supper then," he said casually.

Kaylee nodded with a smile of her own and waved him off, watching him as he left the engine room and headed to elsewhere on the ship. Kaylee sighed exasperatedly and lay back in her hammock, staring up at the ceiling, wondering why she hadn't found reason for him to stay, wondering why he hadn't found reason to stay. She knew he wasn't really the conversational type, but she would have enjoyed his company. She wanted to spend some time with the good doctor to really get to know him, but apparently this wasn't the time for that.

Maybe next time...