Author's Notes (again):

Takes place in the weeks following La Cienega Just Smiled (part two)

Warnings from the previous La Cienega Just Smiled stories:

Read with caution. There's some topical matter, namely who's paired with whom, that might be offensive. Feedback is always appreciated (kaylee@kikiroxxorz.com). This gorram story is growing exponentially—every time I write one chapter, another one follows it in my mind. It’s six stories long now.

Any problems can be directed to my dear and fluffy muse, Ryan Adams. He sings, I write.

"Now I hold you close in the back of my mind, feels so good, but damn, it makes me hurt

I’m too scared to know how I feel about you now

La cienega just smiles and says “I’ll see you ‘round.”

Now I hold you close in the back of my mind

Raise my glass cause either way I’m dead

Neither of you really help me to sleep anymore

One breaks my body and the other breaks my soul

La cienega just smiles and waves goodbye."

~Ryan Adams, La Cienega Just Smiled

Now he knows. He spent precious dollars and hours working to get his sister back, only to lose her again. He spent months treading carefully, learning what to say and what to do to get the girl he loved, only to lose her, too. He’s losing everything so fast that he can’t see what’s still in plain sight.

***

River isn’t speaking to Simon. In the three days since he literally dragged her out of Kaylee’s bunk, she hasn’t said a word to him. Neither has Kaylee, for that matter, so Serenity has become a very quiet ship. 'Damn shipboard relationships', Mal thinks, shoving his hands down into his coat and stalking off down the bridge. River can’t help hearing it. It makes her laugh.

***

For three days, not River nor Kaylee has said one word to me, and River refuses her medication. She has started sleeping in Kaylee’s bunk permanently. For three days, I have been shadowing River and Kaylee, searching for something, anything, to either prove or disprove my theory. But I know my sister, and I know that she will only tell me when she’s good and ready to talk.

***

The first time River kissed me was in the kitchen. She was helpin’ make dinner. Everythin’ was nice an’ quiet—peaceful, almost. She reached for my wrists and pulled me to her, pressing her lips against mine. When she finally pulled back, she still stood, stroking my wrists and starin’ out into the doorway. “He already knows,” she whispers, the answer to my unspoken question.