(no subject)

[e_delmar]

Ain't nothin' but a normal room. Pretty one, too, if'n you don't think too hard on what's goin' on in there. Ennis' sleeping more now, at least -- the drugs help with that -- but he's still awake a lot (and damn grumpy about it, too. But he ain't no less grumpy about the sleep, neither).

But he's there, and at least that's something.

Comments

[gonna_live]

"If she is...you let me know."

There's a smile.

"Be more'n happy to set her straight."

[e_delmar]

Ennis nods, a smirk forming on his face where there weren't nothing but pain before. He motions Kaylee over, tryin' half to get comfortable and half to sit himself up in the bed.

"You been keepin' care of yourself?"

[gonna_live]

"Oh, shi a." She sits in the chair next to the bed and watches him, trying to hide the worry. "Don't string yourself out on my account."

[e_delmar]

The smile falls into something a little ... less.

He wants to say "I'm fine," but seems stupid, given all of this.


"Ain't nothin'."

[gonna_live]

Kaylee doesn't say anything to that. Knows better.


"Nice thing about bein' on the ground is that I finally got time to get work done I can't while we're flyin' -- and that's the part's gonna be causin' us trouble, accordin' to what Wash ran before he left."

Change of subject. She knows it's obvious. She doesn't care if he knows.

[e_delmar]

Ennis don't care, if he notices -- and it's hard to tell if he does.


"Gonna be able to take care'f 'em?"

Not that he thinks she won't. But it's something to talk about.

[gonna_live]

Kaylee nods. "There's still stuff it won't be a good idea for me to do, but -- River'n Kitty both know what's what, and I figure we can rig up a capture, let me see what's goin' on, and then get 'em to fix it that way. It'll take a hell of a lot longer, but...rather spend the time down here than be dead in the water up there."

[e_delmar]

"Can't have you floatin' up in space."

And it's meant light-hearted, but the worry's there anyway.

[gonna_live]

"Well." Smile's a little crooked. "Floatin's fine, so long as we don't got problems with the life support and the thrusters."

[e_delmar]

Ennis nods, understanding, and opens his mouth to say something. Before he can, the coughing starts, and he winces, turning away from Kaylee so's she can't see his face.

[gonna_live]

She reaches out and touches his arm, lightly, hesitantly.

[e_delmar]

He yanks his arm away, right quick, then puts it down softer, like an apology. He's shakin' his head about something, but it's a while before he gets his breath back, and when he does, he ain't meeting her eyes.

[gonna_live]

"This ain't nothin' to be ashamed of."

[e_delmar]

He knows. (It ain't always as easy to remember as it is to know.)

"Ain't nothin' needs to be all on everybody else, neither."

Blustering his way through a slow sentence, words soft and labored.

[gonna_live]

"Until I'm the one doin' it, ain't on me at all."

[e_delmar]

There's a grunt, a grumble of somethin' under his breath.

[gonna_live]

Kaylee raises her eyebrows.

[e_delmar]

He shrugs, seeming to have given in to whatever argument it was he was havin' there with himself (or with whatever it was he was seein' there -- ain't entirely out of the question).

[gonna_live]

Kaylee settles back in the chair, tucking a leg under her.

Quiet: "You want me to smuggle in anything?"

[e_delmar]

Whiskey. Cigarettes. Food.






Truth is, he don't really much feel like any of that anymore. Only thing he wants ain't something she can smuggle, anyways. He shakes his head and instead offers her a hand.

[gonna_live]

Kaylee takes it in both of hers.



She's no good with silence. But she guesses it's something you have to get used to, with something like this.

It's just that emptiness wants to be filled.

[e_delmar]

Ennis is used to the silence of the outdoors. The kind that wraps you up like a blanket and brings you home. The silence filled with the little things, like the running water of a creek and the distant howl of a coyote.

This silence, the one caused by discomfort, this one he don't like none at all.

"'s Jack holding up?"

He knows how Jack acts in front of him. He knows it ain't necessarily how Jack is.

[gonna_live]

Jack's a tough egg to crack. Kaylee doesn't say that.

"Could be a hell of a lot worse," is all Kaylee says.

[e_delmar]

Ennis nods. He knows Jack well enough.




"Gonna need takin' care of."

[gonna_live]

"We will." That's soft. "Promise."