"Eat up, everyone." Jayne thumped the big bowl of stew onto the old wooden kitchen table.

"No veggies, Jayne?" Malcolm asked, half jokingly.

"Do I look like a gourmet chef to you?" he asked. River, who was being led into the kitchen by Simon, shook her head but no one noticed. Jayne brought a bowl of floppy-looking asparagus to the table. "Well, guess what? I am."

Everyone chuckled and dug in as Simon and River their seats. "I got this from my last client," Inara said, gesturing towards the bowls. "It was a kindness."

River tugged on Simon's sleeve. "Look, Simon. Asparagus officinalis."

"Do you want some?" he asked. She nodded and he spooned some onto her plate. Kaylee took the spoon from him when he was done, smiling at the siblings.

"How are you doing, River?" she asked.

River didn't reply, stabbing her asparagus with a fork and separating the stalks from the tips with a knife.

Simon answered for her after a moment of awkwardness, "She's been doing somewhat better. I think we've found the right ratio of the meds, just not the specific dosage amounts."

Kaylee grinned. "That's wonderful!" She reached across the table to grasp Simon's hand, but a sharp slap from River stopped her. The others stopped their conversations, looking at River, holding their breath. She took the hand Kaylee had been about to grab and put a spoon in it. Then she made Simon scoop up the stalks from her plate and put them on his own.

"They don't like the tips," she said by way of explanation. "They're mortal enemies." She put the spoon back in the bowl, letting go of Simon's hand.

"I'm sorry, Kaylee, she…" Simon looked at River obliviously munching on the asparagus tips and smiling at him and Kaylee.

"No, it's fine," Kaylee said, and though her hand was turning red, they could tell she meant it.

Under River's watchful gaze, he ate every last one of the stalks. She smiled.

A/N: I feel like I made Kaylee sound like a whore =w=;; Sorry~