River had let Simon treat her that way more than a little though.

The last while, shipwrecked planet side like they were, no one but River for Kaylee to count on, it was obvious that people, her included maybe, hadn’t given River Tam enough credit. Or reckoned on just how strong she was. Not strong in a mussels way, though she obviously was in really good shape, athletic lookin’ and everything, but strong in a… soul kind’a way. Like, all those horrors she must’a seen, that they couldn’t really touch her, not in the ways that mattered.

She turned on her side so she was looking into River’s sleeping face and a little of a smile came to her lips. ”I seen you, River. You just shine inside, don’t you?” She said softly, brushing a little hair from the woman’s face. River made a soft little sleeping sound and moved her cheek into the touch a little in sleep.

Kaylee felt a little flutter of something inside her and yanked her hand away, looking at the hand she’d touched River’s face with and wondering at why she’d snatched her hand away like that. She lay on her back again and looked up at the ceiling. ”Right then.” She said to herself, sitting up and softly crawling out of bed.

Twenty or so minutes later, she’d pretty much got breakfast put together, when she started to hear sounds coming from the bed.

”Mmnnn, uuuh!” She looked over at the sound and saw River sitting up in bed, looking off into the room blankly. Kaylee put down the pan of tofu stakes she’d been taking off the cooker and went over to the bed.

River was wiping the sleep from her eyes. ”You alright there?” She asked, concerned for some reason having to do with the quality of River’s startled moan.

”Bad dreams.” She said softly.

”Have those a lot?” Kaylee asked.

River just nodded ’yes’.

”Huh, I must be more of a sound sleeper than I thought, not to have noticed ’fore now. What do you dream about?” She asked.

”…the bad times. And I don’t…” River trailed off, looking up and meeting Kaylee’s eyes.

”Don’t what?” Kaylee asked.

River looked at her forehead and pointed there, touching the center with her finger. ”You have a dream fairie living in you, Kaylee Frye. One that likes me very much I think.” She said, falling back on her back on the bed and staring up at the ceiling, much like Kaylee had done not long before.