Disclaimers: Characters and situations were created by Joss Whedon and are owned by Mutant Enemy, 20th Century Fox (a little bit), and (I think) Universal has movie rights. Something like that. Anyway, no copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Notes: CSI? That's a crime show on CBS or one of those other networks that doesn't show anything cool, right? :) Genfic. Rated G. Spoilers for Objects in Space, which was (chronologically) the last episode aired, though it aired the week before the pilot (bad Fox, no cookie!).
She flowed away. Melted into the ship.
Except she hadn't. She had just scared him. He sits up, the twinge in his leg telling him standing isn't such a good idea. The doctor inside him tells him it's probably a bad idea to leave the infirmary. The brother inside him has other ideas. He blinks in the semidarkness of the room, noticing a still form lying on the other bed.
River.
Kaylee had bustled her off earlier, taken her to play in the cargo bay while he directed Zoe's extraction of the bullet in his leg.
But River's nearby now, sleeping under a blanket kicked down to her knees. Simon pivots onto his good foot. A quick tolerance test tells him the leg with the wound isn't ready for walking on, so he hops on the good foot a few feet to her side. He pulls the blanket around River's shoulders, brushing a stray lock of hair away from her eyes and behind her ear.
River opens an eye sleepily. "You're supposed to be mending."
"I'm fine, mei-mei." Simon caresses her hair again.
River pushes herself into a sitting position. "You would've been but you wouldn't trust the crazy girl."
Simon rolls his eyes. "My mistake." He pauses, wondering at River's sleepy coherency. The meds he's been giving her must be working this minute. He never knows when they will and when they won't.
River gets up and pushes him to the infirmary bed. "Flesh needs to knit and skin needs to close. A million bacterial colony forming units are out here looking for an advantage. Probably some mold spores too. Don't give it to them."
"Call if you need me," Simon says, squeezes his sister's hand, and then allows himself to be pushed onto the bed.
"I'm not the one who got shot," River says, she leans over him, giving him a tight hug.
Simon hugs back, feeling tension leave him as, finally, he feels that his sister is really here, and not some illusion. Lost to Early, or Serenity or....
River finally pulls away, retreating to a cabinet and taking out a spare blanket.
She pulls the blanket over him, tucking it around his shoulders. "Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite. Wake me up if you need something. Otherwise-- dream of Kaylee."
"River," Simon says warningly.
River ignores him, gives him a final peck on the cheek, and then bounds back into the extra bed, pulling the blanket around her and going back to sleep.
The End