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rivendellroseQuick little post, off a request/challenge from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
imeantosay_ - just a bit of Simon/Kaylee, a 'missing scene' from "Out of Gas." Written very quickly, and safe for all manner of puppies and kittens. ;)
”Sometimes a thing gets broke, can't be fixed.”
~ * ~
”I’m sorry, I just... It was my birthday.”
*
“Simon, wait!”
“Kaylee, I have to... I need my supplies for the shuttle, and Zoe’s still...” He closes his eyes for a moment. “We’re not coming back from this, are we? The captain...”
“He’s givin’ us the best chance we got.” Kaylee’s eyes hang low, refusing to meet his gaze. “Captain thinks we’ll have a better chance out there, with him stayin’ with Serenity. Wish I could stay with her, too. S’my fault.”
“It’s not your fault, Kaylee. How could you know?”
“It’s my job to know! S’like... s’like you not noticin’ one of us dyin’ right in front of you! You’d never. It’s just like that, only I did do it. I was so gorram caught up, I didn’t even see... and on your birthday, too. Real shiny present, huh?”
“Don’t be like this.” He reaches out to touch her hair, praying to everything he’s ever heard of that just this once he won’t say the wrong thing, just this once his words can come out how he means them, leave her with a memory that isn’t him bumbling along and ruining everything with his nervous over-explaining. “This might... I’m sorry, Kaylee. Sorry it has to be like this. I wish... I just wish it could be different.”
She catches his hand, squeezes it tightly, and for a moment her smile almost looks her own, almost like the cheery, bright girl he remembers from the docks so many months ago, the one with the bright parasol and the satin jacket. He catches himself wondering if she has either of those things in the battered green duffle-bag hoisted on her shoulder, or if they’ll be salvaged by strangers, weeks from now, when the ship is silent and dead, a graveyard of memories left behind in the hopeless rush to stay alive. The thought of someone else wearing that jacket makes him sick in a way he thought few things could anymore.
“Captain’ll get us back together, Simon. It’ll be okay.”
“If it’s not, though...”
“Don’t think about that.”
“But if it’s not.” He doesn’t want to depress her again, but this is important. Just one time, one time let me get it right. “If it’s not, I need you to know. I’m glad I came here.”
She blinks at him, stunned, and for a moment he thinks she’s going to say something, or maybe kiss him, and then the Shepherd is behind her shoulder, touching her arm and taking her duffle out of her arms, doing what he does best as he leads her away toward Inara’s shuttle. And then River is there, her tiny, cold hand slipping into his. Her coat is slipping off her shoulder, unnoticed in his sister’s usual dazed way of walking around the ship, but just before he turns to be the dutiful brother, he sees an edge of sky-blue satin peeking out of an overstuffed pocket, hanging just a bit off the Shepherd’s broad shoulders... and he sees Kaylee, taking one last glance back at him before she passes around the corner to the airlock and into the shuttle. For that instant, he’s back at Eavesdown docks, looking into the face of a bright girl who almost, just almost, makes him forget his troubles. Choosing his destiny. And he told the truth - he doesn’t regret a thing.
imeantosay_ - just a bit of Simon/Kaylee, a 'missing scene' from "Out of Gas." Written very quickly, and safe for all manner of puppies and kittens. ;)”Sometimes a thing gets broke, can't be fixed.”
~ * ~
”I’m sorry, I just... It was my birthday.”
*
“Simon, wait!”
“Kaylee, I have to... I need my supplies for the shuttle, and Zoe’s still...” He closes his eyes for a moment. “We’re not coming back from this, are we? The captain...”
“He’s givin’ us the best chance we got.” Kaylee’s eyes hang low, refusing to meet his gaze. “Captain thinks we’ll have a better chance out there, with him stayin’ with Serenity. Wish I could stay with her, too. S’my fault.”
“It’s not your fault, Kaylee. How could you know?”
“It’s my job to know! S’like... s’like you not noticin’ one of us dyin’ right in front of you! You’d never. It’s just like that, only I did do it. I was so gorram caught up, I didn’t even see... and on your birthday, too. Real shiny present, huh?”
“Don’t be like this.” He reaches out to touch her hair, praying to everything he’s ever heard of that just this once he won’t say the wrong thing, just this once his words can come out how he means them, leave her with a memory that isn’t him bumbling along and ruining everything with his nervous over-explaining. “This might... I’m sorry, Kaylee. Sorry it has to be like this. I wish... I just wish it could be different.”
She catches his hand, squeezes it tightly, and for a moment her smile almost looks her own, almost like the cheery, bright girl he remembers from the docks so many months ago, the one with the bright parasol and the satin jacket. He catches himself wondering if she has either of those things in the battered green duffle-bag hoisted on her shoulder, or if they’ll be salvaged by strangers, weeks from now, when the ship is silent and dead, a graveyard of memories left behind in the hopeless rush to stay alive. The thought of someone else wearing that jacket makes him sick in a way he thought few things could anymore.
“Captain’ll get us back together, Simon. It’ll be okay.”
“If it’s not, though...”
“Don’t think about that.”
“But if it’s not.” He doesn’t want to depress her again, but this is important. Just one time, one time let me get it right. “If it’s not, I need you to know. I’m glad I came here.”
She blinks at him, stunned, and for a moment he thinks she’s going to say something, or maybe kiss him, and then the Shepherd is behind her shoulder, touching her arm and taking her duffle out of her arms, doing what he does best as he leads her away toward Inara’s shuttle. And then River is there, her tiny, cold hand slipping into his. Her coat is slipping off her shoulder, unnoticed in his sister’s usual dazed way of walking around the ship, but just before he turns to be the dutiful brother, he sees an edge of sky-blue satin peeking out of an overstuffed pocket, hanging just a bit off the Shepherd’s broad shoulders... and he sees Kaylee, taking one last glance back at him before she passes around the corner to the airlock and into the shuttle. For that instant, he’s back at Eavesdown docks, looking into the face of a bright girl who almost, just almost, makes him forget his troubles. Choosing his destiny. And he told the truth - he doesn’t regret a thing.
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no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 07:17 am (UTC)And I think you mean "Out of Gas" not "Objects in Space." *patpat*
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Date: 2005-11-05 07:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 07:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 07:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 08:09 am (UTC)Very cool. :)
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Date: 2005-11-05 08:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 03:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 08:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 07:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 07:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 07:59 pm (UTC)