It Isn't Their's

"This is the job people. Don’t want the plans t’go awry, so stick to it," Mal said, opening the cargo bay as he spoke and moving over towards his mule. Kaylee looked up at the captain and smile. He was going to be picking up a compression coil, all shiny and new. Well, less used then hers. She had wanted to go herself, maybe tour the junkyard for some gems, but the captain hadn’t liked the idea much. Whitefall was a rough planet and he didn’t want her traipsing around where should could get hurt. With Jayne and Zoe on the job with him, there weren’t anyone else he trusted could look after Kaylee. So he offered to buy the part himself. Kaylee had shown him what it looked like in the engine room, showing him how worn it was and what to look for.

"Don’t forget cap’n," Kaylee called. "Serenity will be dead in the water in a matter of hours if we don’t get that coil." Captain hopped on the mule, Zoe and Jayne behind him and waved Kaylee down.

"I got it, meimei," he told her, gripping the drive shaft and taking off out of the cargo bay. Kaylee watched them go and smiled to herself. She just hoped the captain could get the right part. Kaylee closed up the cargo bay and turned to head back to the engine room to check on her girl. She nearly jumped a mile high when she was met face to face with River’s cold stare.

"They wait for the slip, to take what isn’t theirs. But they can’t have it," River said, staring blankly ahead. Kaylee looked at River and chewed on her lip. Was she talking about the captain? They job they were getting ready to do….well it weren’t exactly legal. Before she could ask though, River turned and left. Kaylee scratched her head for a moment and finally shrugged. It would be just the three of them for a little while, her Simon and River. Inara had been dropped off at a nearby planet. Mal had been touring the rim lately and she was desperate for clients. So just the three of them. As much as Kaylee liked River, she wished it was just her and Simon. The two of them were sort of an item. It was hard getting any moments to themselves though, someone seemed to always be watching what they were doing. Especially River.

Humming to herself softly, Kaylee headed up the steps and towards the engine room.


~*~*~*~*~


"I don’t understand, Sir," came Zoe’s calm, but firm voice. "The meet was to be twenty minutes ago. Where is he?"

"Don’t know," Mal said absently. He let out a long breath and looked around. Why would anyone call a meet for a job like this one and then not show up. There were rougher types then his, types that would not be so kind about being dragged out to the rim with hope of work, and then getting stood up. It wasn’t right. Something wasn’t right.

"We go into town, get the part and go back to the ship. Way I see it, at best, Frankie lost track of time, at worst, this is a trap. Don’t know what the trap would be for since ain’t no one laid and ambush on us. Don’t think we have anything they would want anyhow," Mal said, shaking his head.

"’Cept the ship," Jayne said with a shrug. Mal’s eyes widened at the realization. Serenity. His ship. He wasn’t about to let anybody get his baby.

"Forget the part, we’re heading back to the ship now. Radio ahead to Kaylee, have her ready to ship," Mal said, hopping on the mule and starting her up. Zoe and Jayne mimicked his urgency, jumping onto the mule as well so Mal could get them back to the ship.

Zoe used her communicator to try and get ahold of their young mechanic, but there was no answer, just static on their end. "Communicators are jammed."


~*~*~*~*~

"They’re at the meet," the voice said over the squakbox.

Frankie nodded and stretched his arms a little. He looked over at the plump man who was hunched over a small screen. "You have the voice prints ready?" he asked. The man nodded. "Alright, Serenity is on channel 24.2, get them to open the ship up."

The chubby little man nodded and picked up a small silver device. He pressed a button and let the voice print play, sending a message over the Serenity communications system. "Someone opened up the gorram hatch, Zoe’s been shot!" the print said. The man smiled to himself as his own work. Not even captain Malcolm Reynolds himself would have been able to tell the difference.

"It’s done, sir," the man replied. Frankie nodded to himself and tossed a bag of coins the man’s way before heading for the ships entrance.

~*~*~*~*~

Kaylee tightened the bolts up and looked back at the engine again. The auxiliary life support was down, so if the captain didn’t get the coil and theirs busted like she was guessin’ it would, there would be a repeat of what happened the last time they engine stopped and they were left floating in space. Not something she was looking forward to. She had argued with Mal that they needed to get a second coil for the auxiliary, but he had told her one thing at a time. Long as the Serenity was running, they wouldn’t need the back-up. Least it could wait until they got paid. So she had to wait for that.

"Someone opened up the gorram hatch, Zoe’s been shot!"

Kaylee jumped when she heard the voice over the comm. She pulled out from under Serenity’s engine and started running for the cargo bay. She hit the button to open the hatch, hitting out a deep breath as she did. Simon came running from upstairs, stopping at the bridge over the cargo bay, River behind him talking a mile a minute.

"They can’t have it, it’s not theirs!" she shouted. "They’ve come to take what isn’t theirs. The birds fly and the fish swim but the birds don’t swim."

"What?" Kaylee asked, turning to look at River.

"I think she’s talkin’ ‘bout us girly. But she’s wrong, dead wrong," a man said, stepping on the ramp leading up to the cargo. Kaylee moved to hit the button to close the hatch, but she head the clicking of the safety on a gun and froze.

"Back up, princess," he said. Six other men came up the ramp, guns aimed on Kaylee, River and Simon.

"Frankie, I say we just take them all out," one of the men said, nodding towards them.

"You’re Frankie!" Kaylee excalimed. "Cap’n just left t’meet you, you’re supposed t’be givin’ him a job," she said, shaking her head. The six men rushed past Frankie, gun still trained on the three of them. The first two reached Kaylee and grabbed her ahold of her, gun pressed to her temple. The other four headed up towards River and Simon. Simon moved to his sisters side, taking her hand.

"Yeah I’m Frankie, smart girl you are. If your really smart, you’ll just listen t’everything I say. We ain’t here to hurt no one, just want your ship. You don’t hurt that girl none if you can help is Jerome," Frankie said. The man nodded reluctantly and headed up the stairs.

"Alright little girl. Just gonna tie you up so as you can’t go messing with our plans is all," one of the men said. River screamed and crouched down on the floor, covering her ears and rocking back and forth.

"Pain is skin deep. You can’t have it, it isn’t yours!" she shouted. Simon dropped down beside her, but the cocking of a gun and the man’s slow voice had him rising once more.

"Careful boy, wouldn’t want t’have no reason t’blow your brains out," Jerome said. Simon straightened and raised his hands in the air. Jerome lowered his weapon and grabbed the plastic strips from his belt. He took Simon’s hand and pulled them behind him while he pulled the plastic ties around his wrists. Once he was secure, Jerome’s gun was back out and trained on Simons head. One of the other men did the same with River. She was harder to get ahold of, wiggling out of his graps and crying out random things.

"She isn’t well," Simon tried to explain.

"No I don’t think she is, but that ain’t none of our concern. Right now we don’t give an alliance credit ‘bout the two of you," Jerome said softly. "You do as your told, you’ll get off this boat in one piece."

"Two of us?" Simon asked, his eyes moving towards Kaylee who still had a gun pressed against her head.

"We need the mechanic t’get this boat running. Once we have the boat running and we’re far enough away, we’ll drop her off on a nearby planet. We ain’t murders, not when it ain’t necessary. Just want your ship."



Simon wanted to protest, trade places with Kaylee, offer to stay with Kaylee, but he couldn’t leave River alone. She wasn’t having a very lucid day as it was and being left stranded on a planet didn’t bode well for her. The captain would come back eventually, but there was no guarantee that he would have found River, no guarantee she wouldn’t get lost or get herself into trouble. He had to watch out for her, had to take care of her.

"They can’t have it, it isn’t theirs," River said, her voice breaking Simon’s concentration.

"Meimei, just listen to what the man says so they don’t hurt you," he told her quietly. One of the men pushed him forward and Simon began to walk. He lead the way, going down the steps and down the ramp.

"Simon?" he could hear Kaylee’s desperate voice. Her eyes watched him as he was marched off the ship, River behind him. River turned her head and smiled at Kaylee. "Simon!" Kaylee called again as Frankie hit the button to close the hatch.

The men pushed River and Simon the rest of the way down the ramp before running back up it before it closed. The loud thud of it finally closing pierced Simon’s heart, but he had River to think of.

~*~*~*~*~

"We ain’t gonna hurt you little girl, just want you to get this ship up in the air for us. None of my men have been trained to fly one of these babies. Need you t’show us the ropes. You do good, we drop you on Athens or some other planet. You do bad, not even your mama or papa’s gonna recognize your body? Dong ma?" Frankie asked. Kaylee nodded her head. She let the men push her forward, coaxing her towards the bridge. A thousand thoughts ran through her head, all the things she could try and do to thwart them, but everything seemed to end with her getting a bullet in the brain and Frankie still getting the ship.

"You let me get Serenity ready an’ then you can just let me go, anyone can pilot a firefly who’s flown anything else," Kaylee pleaded.

"That don’t work for me, ài rén. See you’re a tricky little girl from what I hear. Want t’make sure you ain’t done nothing to this ship ‘fore we take off that could leave us impaired if you get my drift. We make our fate your fate an’ I have a pretty good idea that you’ll stick by your word." Frankie smirked and poked her in the back with his gun, pushing her forward again.

When they arrived at the bridge, Frankie pushed Kaylee into Wash’s old chair. Lately it’d been the captain and River who’d been sittin’ here. Captain had even shown her how to get Serenity up in the sky. They was still looking for a new pilot, but it was hard, no one could ever replace Wash’s shoes and Kaylee almost hoped they’d never find anyone.

"Alright, bâobèi. Show me how this girl runs," Frankie said. "Don’t play cute and try and stall. You have thirty seconds t’get her started before I put a bullet in your brain. So just do as your told and everything will be alright?"

"Hâo ba," Kaylee said. She turned the first few buttons, knowing how to get Serenity purring. She flicked on the engine switch and let her girl roar to life. It was a noise that just about broke her heart. "There, anyone can pilot her now," Kaylee said.

"Anyone can, but you’re gonna. You’re our collateral, Kaylee girl. That captain of yours thinks about coming after me, well it’ll be your life on the line. He’s got a sweet spot for you, so you’re my best protection from Mal. But don’t fret child. You be good, we’ll have you on good solid ground in no time." Frankie smirked to himself. "Now get this bird up into the air," he said. Kaylee nodded and put on the thrusters, taking Serenity up into the sky. She could have cried herself sick, but she didn’t see any other choice.


~*~*~*~*~

"Made! My ship!" Mal screamed. They were less than a mile out when he could see Serenity lifting off. It wasn’t more than a minute before the ship was rising out of the sky and leaving his site. Two figures in the distance caught Mal’s attention and he headed the mule in their direction. He brought it to a stop and hopped down.

"What the hell happened?!" Mal yelled.

"They took the ship. That man, Frankie. He took the ship. He took Kaylee," Simon said, swallowing hard.

"Chùsheng xai-jiao de xiang huo!" Mal shouted picking up and rock and throwing it as far as he could. "How’d they even get on the ship?"

"You send a message over the comm. You said Zoe had been shot. We opened the hatch and there he was," Simon shook his head.

"It isn’t his," River whispered, her eyes moving up into the sky, watching Serenity disappear out of the atmosphere.

"Any of you hurt?" Mal asked.

"We’re fine," came Simons strained reply.

"Good, not I’m gonna get my qingwa cào de liúmáng ship back," Simon said. "Get on the mule, we’re heading into town, gotta find a ship who’ll be willing to go on a little rabbit hunt."


~*~*~*~*~

Kaylee could feel her heart pounding in her chest. The men around her were laughing and sharing a good ale at their victory. Her presence seemed to have been lost to them. That was fine by her, gave her more time to come up with something she could do. So far she only had one plan, and even then she didn’t know if she could pull it off. It would take perfect timing and it would take Serenity breaking down during that perfect timing. How she would finagle that, she wasn’t sure.

Kaylee cleared her throat, not really wanting to bring attention to herself, but needing to figure some things out. The lounge had never felt so terrifying to her. Being surround by four men who looked like they would have rather chew nails then watch her. "Where we heading?" she asked, once she noticed a break in their conversation at her quiet interruption.

"What does it matter to you little girl?" one of the men asked. She thought his name was Markus, but she couldn’t be sure.

"Just wonderin’," she said softly, turning her head away. She had hoped they would have just answered the question.

"We’re taking this boat where that captain of yours won’t ever find it. The black is a big space. Once the coast is clear and he stops looking, then we can do what we can get back to regular business." Kaylee nodded to herself. Maybe just maybe her plan would work.

~*~*~*~*~

Mal handed over the rest of the cash he had on hand to the captain of a boat named Quicksilver and gave him a nod of thanks. Forrest Wolfson seemed like a decent man and understood their plight. He also seemed to be a man who’d enjoyed this sort of chase since he had jumped at the chance of saving a damsel in distress, as he put it. In Mal’s mind, Kaylee weren’t no damsel, but she sure as hell was in distress. He turned back to Zoe, Jayne, Simon and River and nodded to them. "We got passage an’ access t’the cortex. We’re gonna contact our friend and see about getting our mechanic back." And his ship, Mal added silently. "We could only get passage for two of us though," Mal continued. "Jayne, you’re coming with me. Zoe, I need you to find a place t’stay to keep the doctor and River safe until we can figure out our next step."

"Yes, sir," Zoe nodded carefully. Mal could see she wasn’t liking the idea, but he still didn’t trust Jayne alone with the doctor and River and he needed a strong gunman if he was gonna get his ship back. With one more look at his crew, Mal motioned for Jayne to follow him and the two of the headed up the ramp of Quicksilver.



Zoe watched the hatch close, watched the captain and Jayne disappear behind the thick metal. She waited until the boat took off, flying out of the sky before she turned to her baby-sitting job. "I know a place we can lay low for awhile," she said quietly, but in her firm authoritative tone. Simon nodded and River seemed lost in though. As Zoe headed out away from the docks, the brother and sister following closely behind.


~*~*~*~*~

Mal smirked a little when he saw Frankie’s face on the other side of the screen, Frankie smiling at him lazily. "Why captain…I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon. Now tell me this, are you still a captain if you no longer have a ship? It’s an interesting question. Before we get started with the threats and the chasing, I’d just like to put out there that as long as I think you are following me, I will keep you mechanic hostage. We’ll keep her safe from harm, so there is no worry in that, but you try anything and I can’t keep that promise."

"Cào nî zûxian shí bâ dai," Mal said shaking her head. "Let the girl go, you can take the ship, just drop her off somewhere and we’ll pick her up."

"Not likely my friend. Not when I think she may be the only thing between you and tracking me down. I’ll bide my time and when I’m sure you’ve given up following me, then I’ll drop her off somewhere. Not before then."

"Why Serenity?" Mal asked through clenched teeth.

"She’s a solid ship, but more than that, she’s your ship. I had to do something to return that favor you paid me earlier," he told him. "The last four out of five jobs you have stolen right out from under my nose. I don’t much like losing work. Tends to make my crew cranky. So I killed two birds with one stone. My ship was on the fritz and I figured as long as you were no longer in possession of Serenity, there’d be no jobs you could steal from me. I think I’ve done good by my crew," he said with a smug grin. "And I didn’t even have t’kill anyone."

"Your beef is with me, Frankie, not that little girl you’re keeping hostage. You put her down and we call this even," Mal said evenly.

"Goodbye, captain Reynolds," Frankie said, as his picture disappeared off the console.

"Tamade!" Mal yelled, straightening.

"We got the coordinates," Jayne said, looking down at a different screen. "He ain’t too far from us. Headin’ far out into the black. Think he’s tryin’ t’lose us. There ain’t nothing out that way." Jayne shook his head and looked at Mal.

"We go in guns blazing and that man’s gonna kill Kaylee. I can see it in his eyes. Or at least hurt her, and I don’t abide by either. Promised her daddy I’d take care of her and I’m gonna stick by that promise. We gotta trail ‘em. Stay close, but far enough away they aren’t suspectin’ anything.

"Don’t think Forrest is much gonna like his ship just floatin’ out in the black once he starts getting calls for jobs," Jayne pointed out.

"We’ll cross that bridge when it comes," Mal sighed with a determined look.


~*~*~*~*~

As they floated further and further into the black, Kaylee began to wonder when the compression coil would finally give in. They were wearing her pretty think at the speed they were going and if she popped there was no telling if the catalizer would go as well. She tiredly slunk in her seat and closed her eyes. Bang! Thud! There was a loud explosion making Kaylee jump. She felt a gun suddenly placed at the base of her neck.

"What was that?" James asked. James was the gun happy member or the crew. Kaylee might have said he was a lot like Jayne ‘cept that under all of Jayne’s layers of killin’ and drinkin’, he had some real feelings. James didn’t seem to know anything about feelings. His arm grabbed tightly onto hers and hoisted her out of her seat. "I said what was that?!" he repeated.

"It’s the compression coil. Captain was getting me a new one ‘fore ya’ll came," Kaylee said. She didn’t dare mention she had been wait for the damn thing to blow. With the engine stopped and the auxiliary off, they didn’t had anything they could do but leave the ship.

"You knew ‘bout this, didn’t you," he asked angrily. "Didn’t say nothing ‘bout it when we came on board."

"Figured you’d think I was lyin’ anyhow," she told him with an honest shrug. She felt the gun pull away from her neck, but only moments later the heavy metal slam across her face, knocking her down.

"Get up," he told her, reaching down and grabbing her up to pull her upright.. "We’re gonna go fix this ship, make sure she’s workin’ nice and shiny," he told her firmly. Kaylee nodded, wiping the blood from her split lip. She let him push her forward before she moved on her own towards the engine room. Kaylee looked down at the engine, the compression coil completely blown off. The catalizer was bent a little, but still useable.

"Ain’t nothing I can do without a new compression coil," she said, with a quiet shrug..

James grabbed her by the shoulder and shoved her up against the wall. "I want you t o fix this right now, ‘fore I blow a hole in that pretty little brain of yours."

"I wouldn’t worry so much ‘bout me," Kaylee said cryptically. "Our auxiliary was blown last week when we had t’make a getaway from a job gone sour. She’s been down ever since. Now the engine ain’t turnin’, that means the life support’s down and that means with the seven of us, we only got so much air ‘fore it gets real cold in here."

"Fix it, wúnéug de rén!" he yelled. Kaylee just shook he head.

"Can’t an’ that’s the honest truth. Ain’t nothing you can do but send out a signal and hope some kind soul might take pitty on you. But truth be told, I’m glad it broke. Serenity ain’t yours and she never will be. No way any o’you hack coulda taken care of her anyhow. Better this way."

"You pofù!" James shouted.

"What’s going on here?" Frankie asked as he walked by, hearing the commotion.

"Compression coil blew, and this little mechanic here won’t fix it?" James asked. Frankie narrowed his eyes at Kaylee who was very much frightened under Frankie’s stare. She had resigned herself to the fact that she might not make it off this ship, but she hadn’t given much thought t’what they could do to her while she was still living.

"And it can’t be fixed?" Frankie asked, his eyes still on Kaylee.

"No. We’re too far out t’even get a part, an’ the auxiliary is down," James said. "We should blast her ruttin’ brains out and dump her out the air lock for what she’s done. She knew all along the part was gonna bust. Mal was supposed t’be getting the part for her on our meet."

"You sure the auxiliary’s down, this ain’t some kinda trick?" Frankie asked. James walked over to an air vent and put is fingers in front of it.

"Ain’t no air coming outta this thing," James said, shaking his head.

"How much time do we have before the air runs out?" Frankie asked.

"Naught but a few hours. ‘Course the further Serenity drifts the further you’ll be out in th’black. You was tryin’ t’hide and it looks t’me like you succeeded," Kaylee said with a hint of triumph in her voice. "Further out we go, less chance a ship will find you. If you even wanted a ship t’find you." Frankie growled and reached out, grabbing Kaylee by the throat, closing his fingers around her windpipe. He slammed her against the wall and stared into her eyes for a long moment.

"We were gonna take right good care of you, little girl. Take you to a nice planet and drop you off there without a scratch on you. You should have told me ‘bout the part. But you wanted to play the hero. You know what heros are? They are the men and women who die for no good reason. You really think this ship is worth your life? Because it ain’t worth mine." He let go of her and Kaylee coughed in the air she had been denied moments earlier.

"Prep the shuttle. We ain’t dying for this ship. She’s sealed her own fate," Frankie said, turning and walking out of the engine room.

"Too bad we didn’t think t’bring no explosives. Blow you and this ship out of the water. Guess you get t’freeze t’death all by your lonesome," James said. He turned to leave, walking out of the engine room before he paused and turned back around. He brought his gun back up at her and pulled the trigger, piercing Kaylee in her side. She fell back against the wall, looking up at him in shock.

"It’s a goodbye present for your troubles," he said simply. Kaylee’s hand went to her wound, trying to hold in the blood like Simon had taught her. James disappeared out of the room and she could hear the ruckus the men were making as they were leaving. Kaylee was stone still for a long time, wondering when it would be safe to leave. Already it was getting cold and it didn’t help having a big hole blown in her. Bracing herself against the wall, forcing herself to stand. It took everything in her to make her start walking towards the bridge. She had to get to the cockpit though, had to radio for help.

Leaning against the rail, she practically pulled herself along. Why did the engine room have to be so far from everywhere else? It took some time, but she found herself at the infirmary. Kaylee has spend enough time being Simon’s shadow, she knew she had to figure out how to stop the bleeding. She grabbed some gaze and some tape so she could wrap herself up, and continued on towards the bridge. When she made it there, she immediately dropped into Wash’s old chair. Her hands reached for the counsel and she typed out a distress signal. She lifted her shirt and grimaced at the blood. She grabbed the gauze and pressed it against the hold before taping it down with the medical tape. It was all she could do for now.

~*~*~*~*~

It had been hours that Mal had been staring down at that screen. He didn’t know what he might see if he looked at it long enough, maybe the genius plan that would free his mechanic and get his ship back. But no matter how hard he glared, nothing was coming to him.

"You keep starin’ at that thing like that an’ your eyes are gonna fall out," Jayne said, coming into the room with Mal. Mal just shook his head. "We’ve been following him for hours now Mal. Forrest is gettin’ anxious, thinks we should just over take them and go in guns blazing."

"You tryin’ t’get Kaylee killed?" Mal snapped angrily.

"No. Much as that kid is annoying with her sun shinny days, don’t wanna see her get hurt. But we can’t just trail behind this guy forever," Jayne said.

"What do you what me to do?" Mal asked, his voice low and threatening.

"I don’t know….wait," Jayne paused and looked down at the screen. There was a signal coming in from Serenity. "Think that’s Frankie? Think he knows we’re following him?" Jayne asked.

"Don’t know," Mal said, accepting the signal and waiting for picture to come up. When it did, he was shocked to see a pale faced Kaylee sitting in front of the camera.

"Cap’n?" she asked softly, confusion evident in her voice.

"Meimei?" Mal responded. "What’s goin’ on, you don’t look so good."

"They left. I let Serenity break down and they left. Air’s gonna run out soon though. They took the shuttle, left me here."

"We’re on our way. They hurt you any?" Mal asked, pushing Jayne to go tell Forrest it was time to overtake Serenity.

"Just a scratch. Hurry if ya can cap’n," she said with a long breath.

"Whadda you mean, a scratch, Kaylee?" Mal asked concerned.

"One of ‘em shot me. In the side. Couple inches from where I got shot by that fed. It hurts a lot, but I got some of Simon’s gauze and ‘em tryin’ t’stop the bleedin’," she told him tiredly.

"We’re on our way, bâobèi," he told her as the transmission ended. It would take time to over take Serenity. She had had a good start on them and they had been trailing pretty far behind as to not arouse any suspicion from Frankie. Now he wished they had been right on his tail. Jayne returned after a few minutes to say they were moving as fast as they could go. Mal nodded, just hoping it would be fast enough.

~*~*~*~*~

Kaylee sank into Wash’s chair, closing her eyes and trying to think about anything but the pain. Pain. Simon had medicine for this kind of hurt. She didn’t remember what any of it were called. She coulda gone back and checked the infirmary ‘cept she didn’t think she could drag her body that far. And if the captain called she wanted to be right there. So she waited. She had no idea how far away there were. Close enough to receive her transmission. They couldn’t be too far. Even when they got here though, Serenity would still broke. It drove her wild having her baby not working like she was supposed to, on account of her, but she didn’t see any other choice in the matter.

As the air got colder, Kaylee began to drift further and further away. She thought she could hear the captain’s voice in the distance, but she had to be dreaming. She had just talked to the captain, he couldn’t be here yet. Maybe he was calling her on the transmission. She opened her eyes a bit and saw Mal’s worried face on the screen. She reached out and pressed a button to respond.

"Hey cap’n," she said tired, but cheerfully.

"Kaylee, we’re getting ready to doc, need you to let us in. You think you could do that?" he asked slowly.

"Yeah, cap’n," she replied softly.

"You can make it down there?" he asked, uncertainly.

"Yeah, don’t worry," she said, pulling herself out of the seat. She had felt numb all over before, but now a sharp pain soared through her body. She pushed it out of her mind and slowly headed for the hatch. For the most part she had stopped bleeding, or at least slowed it. She pulled herself along once more, surprised at her own strength. She reached the docking bay and pressed the hatch release. The door opened slowly and there like a knight in shiny armor stood Jayne, gun out and ready to fight.

"Ain’t no one here but me," she told him looking at her gun. Jayne gave her a grin and moved to her side.

"Come on, Kaylee girl. They got a nurse on this boat who can look at you," Jayne said, wrapping his arm around her. She could see Mal coming through the door and she smile up at him.

"Hey cap’n," she said. Mal didn’t say anything but moved and picked her up right out from Jayne’s arms.

"Come on meimei, someone’s here t’look at that scratch of yours," he told her softly.

"Shiny," she said, resting her head on Mal’s shoulder and letting out a soft sigh.


~*~*~*~*~

"I ain’t no doctor, so it’s the best I could do. Took the bullet out and sewed her up. She’ll hold for now, but you need a real doc t’look at her," the older woman said gruffly. Mal nodded and rubbed his chin.

"Anyone talk to Henry ‘bout that spare compression coil? It’s all we need t’get our boat running again." Mal rubbed his chin and looked the nurse square in the face.

The woman sighed and nodded. "I ain’t no mechanic neither, but Henry said he had a spare part he could give ya. He’s fixin’ it up right now. He’ll get your boat up and running in a matter of an hour or so. You can take your girl home then, there ain’t much more I can do for her anyhow," she said.

"I thank you for what you have done, Gracie," Mal said with a thankful nod. She nodded back and moved to go down the hall. He headed into the infirmary and saw Kaylee laying on the metal examining room bed. She gave him a small smile when she saw him.

"How’s my brave girl?" he asked softly.

"A little out of it," she admitted. "Nurse gave me some fancy pain medicine from Simon’s stuff. It works real nice. Feel sort of like I’m floating."

"Nurse said it weren’t much more than a flesh wound, that you’re gonna be fine," he told her. "Just gotta take it easy next couple of weeks."

"Sounds like a mighty fine idea," Kaylee said, reaching out and taking Mal’s hand in hers.

~*~*~*~*~

When Serenity landed back at Whitefall; Zoe, Simon and River were all waiting at the docks. Mal was anxious to leave the planet that had got his ship stolen and his mechanic shot up, so once everyone was on board and they had refueled, the captain set a course back to pick up Inara on Beaumonde.

Simon brought River to her room, but without another moments hesitation headed for the infirmary where he had been told Kaylee was. He had turned ghost white when he heard that she had been shot. All he could think about was how he had left her on that boat, left her there to fend for herself. As he entered the room, he was met by a bright smile. "Hey," he said softly.

"Hey," came her cheerful, but quiet reply.

‘I’m gonna take a look at you if that’s alright," he told her, moving close to her side.

"It’s always alright for you to take a look at me," she whispered softly. Simon sighed and kissed her forehead.

"Mal told me you’re gonna be fine, xin gan. I’m gonna take care of you and make sure of that. I….I’m so sorry that I left you. I should have done something or said something," he said softly, lifting her shirt so he could take a look at the wound.

"Ain’t nothing for you t’worry ‘bout," Kaylee said quiety. "There weren’t much you coulda done with a gun put t’your head and you couldn’t just leave River there. You did what you had to," she assured him. Simon wasn’t so sure he had, but he nodded his head anyhow. Checking over the wound, he was glad to see it wasn’t infected. The nurse had done right by herself in patching Kaylee up. A little sloppy and untrained, but she had done alright.

"I’m glad you’re back," he told her, leaning down once more and pressing his lips to hers. She responded an little, though she didn’t have much energy behind her kiss. When he pulled back, he cupped her face and smiled down at her. "I’m gonna give you some medicine to sleep. I’ll bring you back to my quarters and you can rest there for awhile. How does that sound?" he asked.

"Just shiny," came her tired reply.