Work Text:
Zoe had never had a cut so deep before. It wasn't in a particularly dangerous spot; a gouge in her forearm that came from some sort of slow-moving ammunition that Zoe really didn't have the time to think about. All that mattered was wrapping it well enough to finish the firefight and get back to the ship so she could take advantage of the fact that her unstable best friend had picked up a top trauma surgeon during their travels and kept him around like he was a particularly interesting looking rock.
"Sir, you're gonna have to drive the mule," Zoe hissed as she felt an unusual twinge in the wound while they were sprinting back to the vehicle. He pulled ahead of her and flung himself into the driver's seat and they were practically moving before they were all sitting down.
"What happened?" Jayne asked, pointing at her arm once they were speeding away from town. Zoe looked down and undid her makeshift wrapping. For a moment, she inspected her wound, not entirely sure what she was looking at, but after testing out the range of movement in her fingers, she suddenly realized she was watching her muscles and tendons move. She stared at it for a moment, transfixed, and then held it out for Jayne to watch.
"Malfunctioning rifle, I think. Look."
"Augh, don't show me that shit."
Zoe pulled her arm back and focused on breathing. Her cut wasn't bleeding all that much, and she'd definitely had more serious injuries over the years, but it still hurt like a bitch and it was still something that would require stitches and probably careful monitoring to ensure she could maintain control of her hand the way she was used to.
Mal pulled the mule up the ramp and as close to the door that led to the medbay as he could and stopped short of helping her out of her seat. He commed Wash to get them the hell out of there while Zoe made her way to see Simon.
The doctor had taken to waiting at that door when the crew was on their way back from jobs planetside, ready to assist with whatever medical emergency whoever had come back with. There was never a better time to be grateful for his calm preparedness than now, as he guided Zoe to the medbay, his appraising gaze on her wound without a trace of panic or fear. He set about adjusting his usual bullet-removal routine for Zoe's cut and she'd been injected with local anesthesia and her wound was being cleaned and stitched up before she even knew it.
This sort of medical service on a smuggler's ship was something no other crew had; the old Browncoat contacts that she and Mal still had usually did their own medic work, just as she'd done before Simon came on board. She tried her best to pay attention to how he treated wounds just in case one day she had to return to her medic position, and she thought she'd done a bang up job with the bullet in Simon's leg. Still, she was grateful that they had an expert on hand. Simon worked quickly while Zoe replayed the fight in her head and tried to note down how exactly the Hammond Gang organized themselves so it wouldn't happen again. She kept her eyes closed until she felt the telltale tug of a final stitch and then the noise of Simon shucking off his gloves.
"Try and keep everything immobilized for now," Simon told her. "It isn't very serious, but still…you know. It's best to err on the side of caution. Once it's started to heal we can explore exercises you can do to maintain range of motion."
"Sure thing, doctor," Zoe said, and swung her legs off of the bed, ready to get back to her bunk and her husband and a nice long nap.
"Can I talk to you about something, actually?" Simon wondered. His eyes were nearly unreadable and his shoulders were very purposefully set, which (combined with how quickly he'd asked the question) told Zoe he'd been trying to gather his courage to start this particular conversation for a while now.
"About me?"
"No, not about you."
"About you?"
"Not really," Simon said. "It's uh. About some interpersonal dynamics on board."
"You have an issue with another crew member?"
"No, no, not really," Simon shifted under her gaze. “It’s about Kaylee. Kind of. It involves her, at least.”
“You want relationship advice?” Zoe asked, feeling her mouth start to curl into a smile. “I can go get my husband—he’d be chomping at the bit to dish out some man to man talk.”
"No, it's not that, either," Simon said, wringing his hands. He was a nervous man by nature, Zoe knew that, and so when he suddenly stepped up his fidgeting and his wide, anxious eyes started darting around all over the place, it looked almost comical.
"What's going on?"
"Uh…listen. I know that Kaylee is very important to everyone on board Serenity," Simon said. Zoe raised an eyebrow.
"Of course. You're waiting for the shovel talk?"
"No, no, not that."
"Okay, well. I had a bit of a busy day, doctor, so if we could get the point across—"
"Just…uhm…have you ever noticed…that…she seems especially important to Inara?"
Zoe didn't respond right away. Instead, she crossed to the infirmary door and pulled it closed before whipping back to him.
"Okay, I said that to Wash once, but he didn't believe me."
"But it's there!" Simon exclaimed, excitement plain on his face. "Right?"
"Right," Zoe confirmed. "No, absolutely."
"I've mostly just heard Inara's side of it," Simon said. "Not that she's outright said anything, but it's in the way she talks about Kaylee…all the longing glances. I don't entirely know if Kaylee…I mean, I know that Kaylee likes spending time with Inara—“
“Oh, Kaylee has been pining for that woman since Inara first rented the shuttle,” Zoe revealed, relief flooding through her that someone else had finally noticed. She shouldn't really have been all that surprised that it was Simon; it was certainly never going to be Wash. Even after Zoe had pointed it out, he'd made a goofy face and told her that just because people shared a living area on a spaceship didn't always mean they'd fall in love like she and him had, and that just because two people were best friends didn't mean they wanted to be anything else, just take her and Mal, for example.
Sure, Zoe had thought. But I've never kissed Mal on the forehead and looked at him all gooey-eyed.
Mal himself was also out of the running for being the second person on board to catch on to the two women crushing on each other. Mal, for all he knew that Inara took female clients and that she spent plenty of time with Kaylee, seemed to not really register Kaylee as a sexual being whatsoever, despite how he'd first encountered her. He had slotted her neatly into a mèi mèi size space in his life without a second thought and that was that. Even her constant defending of Inara had never seemed to catch his attention.
It was possible Shepherd had noticed something; he was more observant than anyone really gave him credit for, though Zoe would not have been surprised if the idea simply hadn't occurred to him. She'd had a few uncles who never seemed to understand that the new people who showed up to family dinners were dating Zoe's cousins.
And Jayne…well, maybe it was best Jayne not pick up on it.
River certainly knew. If Simon knew, then River knew, and she'd probably picked up on it long before he had and just chosen to keep it to herself.
“Okay, good,” Simon said. “I mean, I sort of figured, but Kaylee is just so affectionate with everyone it’s a little difficult to tell. But Inara…well, I’m sure she went through plenty of training on how to keep her emotions in check, so when it bleeds through, it’s fairly obvious.”
"I…you seem to be taking this rather well, doctor."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know how many men would be so level headed about their almost-girlfriend pining for someone else, let alone encourage it. Well, unless I need to lower my opinion of you, but that doesn’t sound like something I would expect from what I’ve come to know of Simon Tam."
“It isn’t,” Simon said firmly, with no hint of defensiveness.
“Then what about you?”
“Not important. I want what’s best for the ship, and if this keeps the most people happy, why not encourage it, right?"
"Your own happiness isn't…irrelevant, Simon. We have to make the most of what we've got out here."
Simon waved a hand dismissively.
"I'd be happy if they were happy," he assured her. "Together."
"Every woman is your mèi mèi, huh?"
"Not you," Simon told her. "I wouldn't insult you like that."
"I appreciate it," Zoe said, and refocused on the apparent task that Simon was proposing. "So. What are we going to do about this?"
"I haven't figured that out yet," Simon admitted.
"Planned how to rob St. Lucy's hospital within the span of an afternoon and you don't have a plan for this?"
"Well, I wasn't sure if I was going to have an accomplice until this conversation," he defended.
"Accomplice, huh? Well, it does seem like it's going to have to be a long con, Dr. Tam."
"It will be worth it," Simon said immediately. "I'll start brainstorming."
"Me too," Zoe said, opening the medbay doors. "After all, I think I'm due for a bit of a lie down."
"Yes, of course. Take care of yourself, Zoe."
"Will do, doctor. Keep those cogs turning."
Zoe found that Simon thrived on having a task assigned to him, which she could respect. He was clearly keeping one eye on Inara and Kaylee whenever they were quietly playing board games in the lounge or took a few hours on a slow day flying through the black to spend in Inara's shuttle. He deliberately took places at the dining table to get the two of them next to each other and Zoe tried her best to do the same. It wasn't always possible, but it happened far more often now that both she and Simon were paying attention, and Zoe felt a lightness in her heart whenever Inara and Kaylee lingered after meals to clean up together if one of them was on dishes duty or just sitting at the table for a while to talk. She knew that look in their eyes well; she'd seen it in Wash's for the months he'd been pining after her before she'd been ready to give him a chance. Sometimes there'd be a handhold, just for a moment.
However, Kaylee was still making overtures towards Simon; angling for kisses and dates and he occasionally slipped up with trying to balance how to handle that.
"I've never done this sort of planning," Simon confessed one afternoon as he and Zoe organized the medicine from a take, and then frowned. "Though I'd never robbed a hospital before, either. This whole thing with emotions of close friends just feels more delicate."
"I know what you mean," Zoe commiserated. "All my special operations have involved slitting people's throats. Usually if something went wrong I didn't have to stick around to deal with fallout."
"I'm trying to make myself as unavailable as possible without coming across as outright rude to Kaylee, and it isn't easy. I feel like it wouldn't come across very well to outright point out the mutual attraction." He looked up at Zoe from where he was sitting on the floor. "Unless you think it would be a better angle."
"I really don't know, doctor. I know that I would not have liked it if someone had told me I was in love with my husband before I was ready to admit it. I can't entirely speak for Inara or Kaylee, but it's definitely a risk we'd be better off not taking."
"I figured as much," Simon muttered.
When they found a job on Arvad's Helm, Zoe knew that Kaylee would be interested in the natural hot springs. Zoe herself had made plans to go there with her husband, and she heard Kaylee chatting excitedly with Wash about what sort of food would be in the area and if she should bring reading material and if Simon could borrow a swimsuit from Wash because she was certain that Simon had not packed one.
Zoe had to agree. It would have been hard to fit a swimsuit in amongst all those silk vests.
However, by the time they were actually on Arvad's Helm, the plan had changed. Inara had taken over planning for the trip with an odd panicked energy. She pulled Simon aside and told him she wanted to treat Kaylee to a girl's outing and hoped he would understand. She lent Kaylee a floral chiffon coverup. She slipped a packet of candied coconut into her woven straw bag as a treat. She pulled Kaylee down the ramp and helped her onto the mule and waved at Simon with a smile that said stay there. It all felt very sudden and Zoe was on the mule with Kaylee, Inara, Jayne, and the Shepherd before she really knew what was happening.
"Simon and River didn't want to come?" Zoe wondered. Mal had already expressed disinterest in the concept of the hot springs, and Zoe hadn't bothered wasting energy trying to convince him otherwise. Kaylee frowned.
"No, I guess not. Simon said he had inventory to do, and River just sort of wandered off when I mentioned it."
"It will still be a fun time," Inara assured her quickly. "And maybe we'll stop here again one day and they can come along."
Zoe tried her best not to think about it too much: after all, there was a hot spring and a shirtless husband that demanded her attention. From the few glimpses she caught of the girls' day, it seemed to be going very well; they were sharing a deli sandwich and Inara appeared to be reading the book Kaylee had brought over Kaylee's shoulder. Before everyone loaded back onto the mule, they made sure to buy a few mango juices for Simon and River (and Mal, if he felt like enjoying himself at all).
By the time they got back, Zoe was more than ready for a nice long nap before dinner, but she swung by the passenger dorm to see how the Tam siblings were doing. There was evidence of them having played some sort of card game involving three separate decks in the lounge (it was possible Mal had participated too) but she eventually found them both reading while tucked next to each other on Simon's bed.
"How was the spring?" Simon wondered. Zoe set down two of the cans of mango juice on his nightstand.
"It was wonderful. I'm sorry the two of you weren't feeling up to it."
"Tams don't tan," River said. "We catch on fire."
"Wash is like that," Zoe said. "Next time let him know; he's got sunscreen."
"I also figured if I wasn't there…" Simon trailed off, and Zoe nodded.
"Yeah, not a bad call, though…you really don't have to keep yourself from having fun just to let Kaylee spend time with Inara."
"Inara seemed like she didn't want me to go," Simon said, apparently just as confused as Zoe. He put a marker in his book and set it aside. "She wasn't mean about it or anything, but she was very firm that she be the one to take Kaylee to the hot springs."
"I told Inara I had a vision Kaylee would drown in the hot spring if she went there with you," River said.
Zoe and Simon stared at her.
"You can't scare Inara into taking Kaylee on a date," Simon scolded once he'd gotten his voice back.
"Why not? Fear is an excellent motivator."
"It isn't nice," Simon said. "And now they think you can predict the future, which you can't."
"Maybe I can," River said. Simon raised his eyebrows at her for just a moment and she folded. "Okay, so I can't. But they had a good time, didn't they?"
"Try not to do it again," Zoe said. "We don't want Inara to realize she's been…ah, tricked sounds like the wrong word, but—"
"Encouraged," Simon suggested. "Subtly encouraged."
"Sure. But we don't want her to feel tricked and then pull back from Kaylee."
"Inara wouldn't," River insisted. "But I won't do it again."
Maybe they should have let River keep doing whatever she wanted, because it was hard to tell if their efforts were even working. The only metric was that Kaylee wasn't spending quite so much time with Simon, but even that was difficult to measure. Letting River pull her tricks would be an easy way out, most likely, but something about her plans rubbed Zoe the wrong way. She definitely had potential for cons, though and Zoe figured something a little more calculated would suit her. A bank heist or a museum robbery, perhaps.
"I don't really have that many ideas," Simon admitted after he and Zoe had sat at the dining table for nearly an hour one evening after dinner, attempting to brainstorm another event or outing or random situation they could concoct without raising too much suspicion. "The reality of what I'm doing is starting to become more absurd. You're sure we can't just tell them?"
"I thought about that too," Zoe said. "But the more I thought about it…I don't think Inara would appreciate it. Kaylee would probably just be embarrassed, but Inara might get upset."
Simon was quiet for a long time.
"I think I understand," he said eventually. He sounded defeated.
"You two plotting something?"
Zoe didn't jump at Mal's voice, but Simon did. Zoe turned slowly, hoping that her own steadiness would distract Mal. Simon got up, apparently not trusting himself to stay still, and began heating water for another cup of tea.
"Just having a chat," Zoe said.
"That right? About what?"
"It's private," Simon said, shuffling around through the galley storage. "Don't worry about it, Captain."
"You're sure it ain't something I need to be knowing about?"
"It isn't," Simon assured him before Zoe could even open her mouth.
"Sure," Mal said, eyes narrowed. He considered Simon for a beat, but didn't say anything else to him. "Zoe, we're confirmed for the meeting with Dekker when we hit Sweethome."
"Yes, sir."
"I'll have Jayne up on the ridge with a scoped rifle just like when we dealt with Patience," he continued. "I ain't letting Dekker get the jump on us like last time."
"Fair enough, sir."
Mal nodded and his eyeline returned to Simon at the stove, expression not angry nor suspicious, just considering. Zoe hoped he wouldn't push. She'd become practiced at ignoring Mal's needling questions over the years, but Simon had not, and Zoe knew he'd fold.
When Simon finished with his tea making and turned around, he had two mugs in his hands and held one out to Mal, who took it without thinking. Simon gave Zoe the slightest nod and left the galley. The captain watched him go.
"You're very lenient with that boy," Zoe observed. Mal whipped around to glare at her. She raised her eyebrows. "Well? Am I wrong?"
"He…ain't used to life out here," Mal said. "Needs a gentle hand."
"Hm. Yes, I suppose you never find strict bosses who yell at you on Osiris. Best to shield him from that."
"I'm firm with him when I need to be," Mal protested.
"Just like you're firm with Jayne?"
"Simon's different."
"I'm sure he is."
Mal didn't have anything to say to that.
Another job on Persephone saw them stopping on Xing Yun for a long over-due maintenance stop. It was a risky moon to land on, with an orbit so close to Osiris, but there were few other places with cheap dock spots for repair and if they flew to one of their usual spots, it was likely something would fail catastrophically. Kaylee worked efficiently as usual and made sure to take time to explore the rock as well.
"I don't think I should be walking around on Xing Yun," Simon said when Kaylee asked him if he'd like to go out wandering. "It's still in the Core, even if it is a moon."
"Oh…but it's got a little zoo right in the middle of town," Kaylee said. "They take care of all sorts of endangered birds there. You really think it's too risky?"
"I think so," Simon said. "And I think it would probably be a good day for an outing for just the two of you," Simon said.
"You're sure?" Kaylee wondered. It was the first time Zoe had heard her ask that question with so little genuine concern, like deep down she really didn't want Simon tagging along at all, and when she turned to River a few moments later as though checking on her hadn't occurred to Kaylee, Zoe was certain they were making progress.
“River? Are you gonna be fine with having to stay on board, too?” Kaylee asked.
“Yep,” River said. “I’m making dumplings with Book.”
"Well, alright, then. We'll bring you back something," Kaylee promised, and then she smiled at Inara and started towards the cargo bay door.
For the first time, Inara remained there for a moment, looking at Simon with a long, considering look. Zoe couldn't see Simon's face, but she saw when Inara's gaze softened and she turned away, apparently lost in thought.
As soon as Inara and Kaylee were down the ramp, Simon turned to Zoe and grinned, and for a split second, they were children at a sleepover.
It was probably the biggest win so far, and yet it still wasn't enough.
"Maybe they don't actually want to date each other?" Simon suggested that evening as he finished his half of the custard tart Kaylee had brought back for him and River. "Maybe it's just a…a really, really close friendship. They just look so…in love. To me, at least, but I think everyone knows I'm not the most perceptive person. Emotionally."
"I think Inara is almost there," Zoe told him. "The way she looked at you before she went out was different. Besides, Wash said she had a wave call with House Madrassa last week that lasted two hours and then downloaded a bunch of files to her Cortex unit in the shuttle. I think that's possible indication she's interested in asking the house to formalize a personal relationship. She doesn't call Sihnon folks very often at all, but she does still have the affiliation."
"Can Wash see what the files were?" Simon asked. Zoe gave him a sideways look.
"He could," she answered. "But that feels a little invasive, don't you think?"
"Oh. Right. Of course, sorry. I wasn't thinking—"
"Natural to get antsy and curious," Zoe said. "Don't worry about it."
Business kept moving along. There were jobs on New Melbourne and Splendor and one they almost took on Jiangyin before a better one came through on Steele. While on Steele, they got wind of a job on Londinium, someone looking for a discreet transport crew who had turned down everyone else they'd met with.
"She's sorta difficult," Monty told Zoe as his first mate scrawled down the contact information for her. "But you and Mal work with all sorts of folks that wouldn't look twice at me, so maybe you can make it work."
They met with a Lorraine McLaughlan at a bar on Londinium. She was the engineer behind some sort of newfangled ship parts and also happened to be Zoe's exact picture of a Core world eccentric. She'd considered Inara one at first (rich Sihnon girls did not often rent shuttles on smuggler ships), and then figured Simon fit the image better (a quick glimpse at fashion magazines from Osiris showed that it was apparently only Dr. Tam who loved brocade vests that much), but Lorraine blew them both away. A ship engineer with clear control issues who wore head to toe red, from her nail polish to her eyeglasses to the briefcase she had all her documents in, she was offhandedly mentioning government contracts while also being insistent on transporting this specific make and model via a smuggling ship. Zoe desperately wanted to ask why, because they really needed to start asking questions, but Mal had his guidelines and just nodded and talked shop and explained his routes and fees. Miss McLaughlan listened quietly, her eyes magnified by her glasses, and then sighed.
"I do think you sound like an efficient crew, but I want someone who fully understands the sort of parts that I need transported," she explained. "So I'm going to have to keep looking for another crew that—"
"Sorry to interrupt," Zoe said. "But we have an incredibly knowledgeable mechanic on our crew. She would be more than capable of understanding how crucial these parts are and how they need to be transported in order to prevent damage."
"Knowledgeable mechanic, hm?"
"She's rewired the engine before while we were still in the air just to make the grav thrust more efficient," Mal chimed in. "She's reset navigation systems after deliberate sabotage efforts, and she keeps up to date on the systems of other popular ships too."
"Is that right?" Miss McLaughlan asked. "I'd like to meet her, then."
"Certainly," Mal told her. "Name your time and place."
"I think the best place for the next step in a business arrangement like this would be something a little more formal," Lorraine decided, and launched into explaining the details of some ball or gala or something or other that Zoe would ordinarily just let wash over her, but the idea that Lorraine wanted to meet Kaylee specifically had the possibility of Inara taking her to the party percolating in Zoe's head.
Mal was grumbling as they left the bar and Lorraine behind.
"More fancy nonsense—"
"Inara can take her," Zoe said, practically buzzing with anticipation. "You don't need to drag yourself to another one of those parties."
"You think so?"
"I think if anyone can handle themselves and a guest at a thing like that, it would be Inara."
"I guess you're right," Mal agreed, and when they were back at the ship, he headed for the engine room, likely to tell Kaylee about the plan. Zoe watched him go and then headed towards the medbay and passenger dorm.
"I've got it," Zoe said as soon as she was through the medbay door. Simon looked up at her from where he was writing something in his journal. He looked like a startled meerkat.
"Got it?"
"I have a plan that I believe will have the biggest chance of success," she told him. "When it comes to Inara and Kaylee, I mean," she added.
"Oh!" Simon's eyes lit up. "Perfect! What is it?"
"Contact wants to meet with our mechanic in order to make sure we fully understand how important the parts are that we're transporting, and one of the events she suggested was a party here on Londinium."
"A fancy party?"
"A party so fancy that if anyone aside from you or Inara attended, we'd look wildly out of place. So the only way it's going to go through is if Inara escorts Kaylee there."
"And you think everyone will agree to it?"
"Captain already thinks it's a good plan," Zoe said. "So really it all hinges on Inara."
"Okay…well, there's no reason she wouldn't agree, is there?" Simon asked.
"Unless the captain pushes her buttons enough to get her too angry to agree to anything," Zoe pointed out. Simon winced.
"Right." He paused, looking lost in thought. "I'll see what I can do."
"What you can do?"
"Yeah. I'll see what I can do," Simon repeated.
Zoe wasn't sure what exactly Simon did, if he even did anything at all, but she did have to admit that when Mal spoke with Inara, he seemed civil at the very least.
"I figure you're a better partner to have at a party like this," Mal said, after explaining the outline of the job and what the circumstances were.
"I'm certainly less likely to punch someone," Inara agreed. "I'd be happy to take Kaylee to the event. She's supposed to meet the contact there? Or will it just be someone be telling her about the actual meeting elsewhere?"
"Should be meeting her there. The contact is real snooty about the cargo. You'd think she'd be contracting a registered company, but I ain't complainin'."
Zoe didn't pay much attention to Inara's and Kaylee's preparations for the party. She was well aware of the location, and she'd be the second one to go out and sit on the mule down a nearby alley just in case something went terribly wrong and Inara and Kaylee needed to get out of there. Besides that, it was out of her hands. The next she heard about it was when there was a bit of commotion a few days before the event when a courier service delivered an enormous box with a fine geometric pattern on its smooth cardboard that turned out to hold Kaylee's new dress for the party. Kaylee whisked the dress into hiding in her bunk, but left the box in the cargo bay for disposal. River took an experimental nap in it before dragging it to her dorm and repurposing it as her new dresser.
The meeting with the contact went swimmingly. After a mind-numbingly boring two hours in an alley, Zoe handed off the last shift on the mule to Jayne and returned to her bunk. Kaylee's rundown in the morning was delivered entirely through a wide grin, and once she'd finished reporting that Miss McLaughlan wanted them to go through with the job and handed over the pick-up details written neatly on monogrammed stationery, Mal was smiling back at her.
Pick-up of the parts wasn't even on Londinium: the manufacturing plant was on Priam, so Wash plotted a course and they started heading for the Georgia System.
Zoe only saw Simon and Kaylee having a conversation alone together once during the voyage, and it looked both private and serious, so she turned on her heel immediately and left them to it. Aside from that one moment, Kaylee spent most of her free time on the journey in Inara's shuttle, and Zoe was pleasantly surprised to see Inara curled up in Kaylee's engine room hammock more than once as the mechanic made some mid-flight repairs.
"Did Kaylee tell you?" Mal asked once they were on Priam, getting ready to go to the factory and double checking their guns.
"Tell me…?"
"'Bout her and Inara." He started walking and Zoe fell into step alongside him.
"No, what happened with her and Inara?" Zoe wondered. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, everything's dandy," Mal said. "They're girlfriends now."
"They're what?" Despite all of her preparations and plotting and hoping it would work out, she was still a little startled by the news. Maybe it was the way Mal had dropped it on her, casually and without any hint of anger.
"Girlfriends," he repeated.
"That right?"
"Yep."
"So, when are they getting the captain blow-up speech about complications and split loyalties and distractions? Or did that already happen?"
"Didn't happen," Mal mumbled, still not looking at her. "Not gonna happen, neither. It's…fine. I'll tell 'em they owe you and Wash a round of drinks for softening me up."
"Yeah, it sure sounds like it."
"Yeah, alright, well. Let's do the thing."
The change in Inara and Kaylee's relationship was obvious nearly immediately after the news spread. Inara was the kind of woman who liked to show her partner off, and Kaylee was the kind of woman who had a soft spot for PDA, which most of the crew brushed off and Mal seemed uncharacteristically fine with (or at least he wasn't being mean about it).
They were wise to not do it too often in front of Jayne.
Zoe was also relieved to see that in the place of awkward flirting, Kaylee and Simon had started to settle into what was bound to become a more comfortable friendship. He did appear to have a few days of icy tension with Inara during their next long haul flight, but it petered out soon enough and the crew found their way around a new normal. Kaylee now got added to the rotation of people who want date night off the ship, and Zoe and Wash swapped with her on one day she'd planned to make some last minute engine checks so that she and Inara could attend a concert on Paquin and spend the night in a hotel. Zoe was finishing up her morning exercise in the cargo bay by the time Inara and Kaylee returned to Serenity.
"Hi, you two," Zoe said as they closed the door. "Good night?"
"Very good," Kaylee replied, beaming. "The concert was amazing, and there were these little pastries at the restaurant that looked like tiny baskets with strawberries in them."
"It was a wonderful night," Inara agreed. "Thank you for rearranging your and Wash's schedule to let Kaylee have the night off."
"Thank the captain," Zoe said with a shrug. "Glad you gals had fun."
"I ah…I didn't sleep all that much," Kaylee admitted, a hint of a blush creeping across her face. "So I'd like to get in a quick nap before I double check us for breaking atmo, if that's okay?"
"That's fine, Kaylee," Zoe said with a laugh. "We're scheduled to leave in about two hours."
It appeared that Kaylee fully intended on napping in Inara's shuttle, so Zoe wasn't sure how much real sleep she'd be getting, but decided she'd leave them to it. She headed back up towards the bridge to let whoever was there know that the girls had made it back, and found Simon in the galley, watching the kettle on the stove with drooping, exhausted looking eyes. He was also wearing a familiar dark red button-down work shirt. Zoe raised an eyebrow once Simon looked up to greet her and he blushed.
"He ripped all the buttons off of mine," Simon mumbled.
"You just want what's best for the ship, do you?"
"Well, it worked out, didn't it? Kaylee's very dear to me, too. I wanted to see her happy with a partner who suits her."
"Mm. And the fact that you could tell the captain would never take a second look at Inara once she was Kaylee's girlfriend or that he wouldn't touch you as long as Kaylee was interested in you didn't factor into this at all?"
"To be honest, I really don't think Mal was ever going to do anything but pick fights with Inara. And besides, doesn’t everyone want a captain who's more relaxed and less liable to bite your head off?"
"Mm. Very selfless of you," Zoe said with a laugh. Simon's eyes suddenly took on an expression of genuine alarm and she waved a hand. "I'm just ribbin' you, doctor. I can't say I wasn't teasing him about the special treatment he's given you."
"Was it obvious?"
"I've known the captain for a long time," she reminded him. "I think you're good for him. How does your sister feel about it?"
"She's been very ah…encouraging."
"Sounds about right. Jayne might have something to say about the new development, you know."
"Better he come up against Mal than bother Inara and Kaylee," Simon said as the kettle finally started to boil. He smiled as he poured it over the teabag. "Have you seen Kaylee's new coveralls, by the way?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Inara found someone who sells workwear in bright pink," Simon told her. "So she had some sent to House Koulu here on Paquin so she could pick them up. That's the kind of thing that should be the norm for Kaylee. Someone who thinks of things like that without having to be prompted."
"And you can't?"
"As far as I've seen from myself, no."
Zoe supposed this made sense coming from a man who had apparently interpreted being repeatedly punched in the face as flirting (and been correct).
"Alright, doctor. I can see where you're coming from. Now that we've wrapped up that ongoing plan, what do you say to looking at some bank blueprints we got from a contact on Varley?"
"Oh. Sure."
“Great. See you here in the galley right after we break atmo, then. Bring River."