Simon was all together too lost in thought to notice that someone had yelled his name, much less that someone was rapidly approaching him (he would wonder, afterwards, how he had lived so long on the run from the government and then remember his genius psychic sister). When Kaylee plowed into him he gasped in surprise and stumbled backwards, pushing her away and beginning to sputter out a question before he realized he knew the human-bullet that had just hit him. "Oh," he said, disoriented and a bit embarrassed, "Kaylee, I'm sorry, I didn't see it was yo--" which was when it clicked and he was back to gaping and taking another step back. "Wait, Kaylee? But you weren't...when did you get here?" he asked, staring at her as if she'd grown another head, expression not all together pleased. He had missed Kaylee of course, no one else could pull him out of his work the way she could, could make him laugh or translate his unintentional social gaffes into the words he'd meant to use, that conveyed what he'd wanted to say, even though she sometimes got offended herself. She was amazing that way, and that's why she deserved so much better than the constant war zone that was Lawrence. So much better than someone who can never really put her first, offer her any kind of life his mind added traitorously.
That was another thing, she'd hugged him just then as if... but that was impossible. In his time he'd just gotten done offending her for the thousandth time unintentionally. He had no reason to believe that she'd suddenly decided it didn't matter that he'd called Serenityluh suh or that he was a fugitive or that he was, as she put it, irritatingly polite, and decided against all reason and common sense... I must be the first person from home she's seen here, he decided she's just happy she's not alone here, she must not remember being here before, like the others who came back. He steadied his mug carefully in his hands and smoothed his face to blank politeness, his meeting-with-the-hospital-administrators face. "River will be pleased," he said carefully, "I think she's missed you."