It was two days and some later now. The sky had patchy white clouds in it that were right now covering the sun above them. The air smelled sweet in one of the many ways it only ever did on an honest to goodness planet with trees and lakes and waterfalls and such. And at this particular moment, Kaylee found herself backed up against one of those trees thinking about none of those things at all as she and River kissed.

River’s hands were gently but firmly holding her forearms to the tree, their bodies were so close that the heat between them felt almost like a fire, and Kaylee was in no mood at all to call a halt to it. In fact, she wasn’t sure if she’d ever enjoyed kissing someone quite this much her entire life. It was making her feel a little dizzy, to be honest.

When River finally stopped, her lips still just a breath away, Kaylee was kind of struck trance-like for a moment, until her brain kicked itself into workin’ again. ”Why’d you stop?” She asked softly, shivering just a little at the sound of her own voice.

Their eyes met and River smiled a little in that knowingly confident way she sometimes had about her. ”No reason.” She said back simply, moving in to kiss her again, letting go of Kaylee’s arms, her hands sliding, one up, the other down to Kaylee’s waist, then up to her ribs.

Kaylee kissed her back, almost on auto-pilot. They’d been doing this off and on since that night when they’d danced. Afterward, they’d talked a little and… ended up kissing – she still wasn’t sure who’d started it. It had been kind of a surprise to her (this was the first time she’d done this sort of thing with another woman, after all), but one she was actually starting to really get used to.

Her sister back on Isis had only ever liked girls. Last she knew, she was married to one in fact. Chelsea Isaacs was her name – pretty, with dark red hair and intense dark brown eyes. Not long on words and not anything like a social butterfly, but, her sister had assured her once, fantastic in bed. For Kaylee’s part though, she’d never found herself having eyes for another girl like that, only boys. It hadn’t been that she’d thought one was better than the other, just, she was attracted to who she was attracted to, just like her sister was. Now, she was definitely feeling attracted to River, and, in fact, was wondering if River’d be as fantastic in bed as Chelsea Isaacs was. Though… she wasn’t quite sure she was ready to find out just yet somehow – which was baffling to her, honestly. She’d never exactly been hesitant in that area before, when it came to the love interests in her life. Why now? Was it just because River was a woman? She didn’t know why that should matter, but, well, maybe it did sometimes.

It was a couple weeks and some later. Kaylee was feeling in much better sorts. River’s doctoring and the meds from the shuttle’s emergency kit had worked their ways on her to where she was just sore and not quite rosy yet.

Today, like yesterday, she was in the bowls of the shuttle again, looking over things and feeling worse and worse about the chances of the shuttle flying again… ’least not without the right tools and spare parts, of which she had not anywheres near what she’d need for it. Maybe she’d be able to get it done with what she’d had on Serenity, not here though. She lay back, defeated, and thought about River and how they were getting along and everything. River still made her a bit nervous now an’ then, no denyin’, and there was still something that made her feel not completely secure around her, but the girl was much more familiar to her now… it felt like River had become much more a part of her life. Like she understood her more now, so much so that she thought it would feel a little strange if they were separated. It was kind of like how she’d felt about her sister back on Isis, a sense of camaraderie and them being the only two, except it was different than that. And maybe just all in her head.

River poked her head in just then. ”Has the expedition met with any luck?” She asked her.

”Only if you mean the kind that’s backwards and ornery.” Kaylee told her. ”Lost cause for sure, I’m thinking. What are you up to?” She asked. ”You got a look.”

”I always look, except when my eyelids interfere.” River told her. ”That doesn’t matter now though. Come play in the falling water with me?” She asked hopefully.

She meant the waterfall at the lake nearby. ”Sounds shiny to me.” Kaylee decided. She felt grimy and smelled of grease and smoke residue from the fire that’d happened a while ago, so a wash sounded heavenly. ”No sense dwelling on this mess at least. Might was well be enjoyin’ myself.” The thought of being out of where she was an in the fresh air under open sky again being a happy one to her about then too.

In case you’re wondering why I deleted this story and posted it again, there was some kind of problem with the site’s new editing method and apostrophes in book titles that wouldn’t let me post or edit chapters. I deleted it becasue the story got messed up when I was trying to figure out what to do. I did finally figure it out by trial and error though, and now the story’s back with new content. Also, I combined chapters together so the chapters are much longer now.
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What you might want to know about Firefly’s back-story before you start reading:
1.) It’s set in a solar system with lots of inhabited planets and moons sometime far into the future. No aliens though, just humans.
2.) There was a war for independence form a big brother type government, and the opposition lost.
3.) River Tam was a genius prodigy that this shadowy government abducted and experimented on. It left her kind of scattered and scarred mentally, but even more brilliant than she was previously, and capable of doing some amazing (and not entirely understood) things outside the province of usual human abilities.
4.) River’s brother, Simon, a doctor, risked everything to free her and escape.
5.) River and Simon booked passage on a ship called Serenity that took odd jobs (strictly legal ones or not, but always with morality).
6.) Kaylee Frye is the cheerful engineer aboard Serenity. She and River became friends.
7.) Reavers are crazy, insane people (the unintended result of another government experiment) that roam the outer fringes of space bringing chaos and death with them. They are very scary.
That should about cover it, but if there’s anything I missed and you want to know, just ask.
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”You do know how to fly this thing. Right?” Kaylee asked nervously, her eyes fixed on the cockpit portal and the atmo rushing by at much too high velocities for her liking.

”Not flying, falling. Mass plus velocity. What goes up must come down. Timing is everything. I have hopes.” River replied, her hands on the steering controls, them and the whole shuttle shaking and jittering like it was about to come apart at the fastenings any second.

”Yeah, hopes… Those are good. Good to have hopes…” Kaylee’s gaze went from River’s hands, almost blurry now from the vibrations, to the window as they broke cloud-side and the ground came clear and ominous in view.