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Title: The Color of Red
Fandom: Firefly (Wash, Kaylee)
Characters: River, Simon (talking about Kaylee, Wash and Jayne)
Prompt: 011. Red
Word Count: 708
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: Er, I hope this is in the rules. My picks are the ones the story is about but they're being talked about by River and Simon.
Simon had spent the better part of an evening ripping apart the Infirmary, cleaning it with a fervor he had not felt in some time. Anger and hurt raced through his veins every time he thought of what Jayne had done, no matter the promise that he had given the other man and he doubted very deeply if he would ever forget what had happened..
He bit his tongue, curse words that would have had Kaylee laughing at him wanting to come forth.
"He isn't inbred you know," River said suddenly, stepping through the opening doors with the eerie grace she had.
Simon jumped and dropped a couple of instruments, sighing as they clattered to the ground. "Mei-mei, I wish you wouldn't do that," he grumbled, quickly picking up the mess. It would all have to be cleaned again now.
She grinned at him and he was reminded, painfully, of how much of a brat she could be and oh, how he missed it. "Brothers shouldn't fume so loud as to not hear their little sisters coming," she said in a sing-song way.
"Yes, well..." Shaking his head he allowed himself a laugh.
"He's still angry with you," she interrupted, going over to the side to play with a microscope.
"Who is?"
"Jayne, of course, dummy."
Resisting the urge to roll his eyes took quite a bit of effort. "All things considered, shouldn't I be the one who's still angry at him? He tried to turn us over to the Alliance, River! He's safe under my knife but it does not mean I'm any less angry at him."
"Big, loud, mean sometimes, heart made of semi-precious metal..." River shrugged. "Reminds me of our neighbors guard dog, the one that chased you when you were small. Protecting what's his comes natural even when he doesn't really know what he's doing."
It was obvious to him by know that his sister saw through people the way others saw through thin, wet tissue paper. It paid to listen, even during her worst episodes because sometimes the nonsense made perfect sense.
"What do you mean?"
"Did you mean it, back then, that you would let Kaylee die?" River asked suddenly, tilting her head to watching as he paled.
Simon hesitated, caught completely off guard. He hadn't really allowed himself to think of that day, the shame of it still cut him deeply. "I...I don't know. It was so long ago. Now, I wouldn't but you had to come first--you still have to." Even if it meant putting whatever he was possibly feeling towards Kaylee on the back burner.
"No forgiveness, no forgetting, no matter what his little sister says, no matter that she's not his little sister. Puts it away, stores it, guards it like his guns, and lets it build. I hurt him and it reminds him of what you did, decides to be rid of us both before we hurt him or her again."
Simon leaned against the counter and frowned down at the floor.
"When you were patching her up," she continued, eyes half shut, "he watched, never moving until you were done. I spy with my little eye something that's...red. Blood, fury, hatred, warmth, happiness, sun..."
"River..."
"No! He and Wash, always smiling but not then, took turns watching her while she healed. So many brothers but no blood to bind them, except blood on the floor, in her hands, on theirs as they carried her. Wash always playing, moving, talking was silent and still for her until she woke."
River whimpered and clutched at her hair not even noticing when Simon slide his arms around her to support her. "Red, so much red, but none of it connected except to her. Red like autumn, like death, like rebirth. Would die without the red blood cells in our body, giving us life, giving us oxygen, like she does to the crew. Gives them life, purpose, like spring breeze."
"Shhh, mei-mei, let's go get you some medicine," Simon murmured, tucking away all he had heard. He had learned a lot this evening, about himself and possibly the crew that he looked after.
River sighed and whispered against his shoulder, "I wish to be the color of Kaylee's red."
Title: The Great Escape
Fandom: Firefly (Wash, Kaylee)
Characters: Wash, Kaylee, Mal, Zoe, Simon
Prompt: 097. Writer's Choice: Freedom
Word Count: 1,742
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: While recovering from her wounds, Kaylee's hit by a bout of boredom so Jayne and Wash take steps to fix that.
The hallways were surprisingly empty and quiet as Wash made his way down to the crew's quarters. Which was just as well since for all of his sneaking around he stuck out like a sore thumb, the combination of red hair and Hawaiian shirt did not make concealment easy.
But either he hadn't realized this quite yet or he simply didn't care, coming to a stop outside of Jayne's bunk. Looking back and forth as if he half-expected his wife or the captain to pop out from the walls in any minute.
Knocking softly, Wash called out, "Jayne? You there?"
There was a grunt from the other side and he took that as a "Why yes my good fellow, please come down to visit". Grinning, he popped open the door and leaned in, just sticking his head through the opening.
"What in the gorram hell do you want, little man?" Jayne glared at him from the bed, Verra in his hands in obviously a mid-clean ritual.
"Oh, it isn't really what I want," he responded, grinning like an idiot, ignoring the blood rushing to his head. "It's what Kaylee wants. Or, well, needs."
"...ain't you already got a woman?"
"Hey, I'll have you that I have not got any such thing--she has me. I really don't think I could have Zoe because she'd just do the strong, Amazon woman-y thing and toss me over her shoulder or..." He stopped and shook the rag that Jayne had thrown at him off his face.
"Either you get on with it or Zoe's gonna have to pull your body down from the ceiling."
"Kaylee it would seem is a might bored. Actually, that's probably a bit of an understatement. Bored out of her ever loving mind is more like it."
Though the response to that was "Yeah, and?" Wash knew he had Jayne's attention. He always had Jayne's attention when there was some trouble to be stirred up. Even if that trouble didn't involve gun play.
"So, how do you feel about planning a break out of our little mechanic out of the Infirmary?"
"Ya think this'll get the new doc's panties in a twist?" The way Jayne was rubbing his chin was a sure sign that he was in.
"I suppose if a patient just upped and disappeared, he would get awful upset," Wash said slowly. Kaylee had forgiven Simon for what he had done, or almost had done, and he was not a man for violence if he could avoid it. But even he couldn't resist taking a shot at him if it meant that hijinks would ensue.
"Why the hell didn't you say so? Let's go stage us a jail break, little man."
~~~
The ceiling had forty-five full tiles, four corner tiles and a few half-tiles. With a sigh, Kaylee squinted up at the Infirmary's ceiling and started over. It was real nice of Simon to want to make sure she was stabilized enough to move but this much stillness got a body itching to do something.
Even if it was staring at another part of the ship because at least it would be different. Her stomach didn't hurt, much, and she missed the engine room something fierce.
The gentle swish of the doors opening caught her attention and she perked up her head to see who was coming in. She blinked, mouth hanging open slightly before biting back a sudden case of the giggles.
Wash and Jayne carefully crept along, one keeping watch as the other one slide through. Jayne reached through the doors to yank Wash in after him.
"What in the 'verse are you two doing?" she demanded, trying to sit up. And they looked...ridiculous. Jayne was sporting that hat he wore in the wintertimes with some camouflage shirt and pants and Wash had obviously borrowed the jacket from him as well.
"Shhh, girl, don't you know a rescue when you see one?" Jayne hissed, rolling his eyes. "Gorram women folk don't appreciate a good rescue these days."
"A rescue?" Oh, wherever this was going it was going to be fun. She restrained herself from bouncing, not willing to push the stomach feeling better anymore than she had to.
Wash grinned and peered out the window of the doors. "Yep, figured you could use a change of scenery, so we're here to break you out, nice and quiet like. Coast is clear so let's go while we can!"
Barely managing to stifle the giggles this time, Kaylee didn't protest when Jayne gently swung her up into his arms like he did when she needed to fix the engine. Arms wound around his neck, she grinned against his shoulder. "What're we waitin' for then?" she demanded, pointing to the door. "Adventure awaits!"
"Or death and destruction but, hey, let's look on the bright side!” Wash responded, sneaking out the door with the two close behind.
~~
It was in the stairwell leading to the kitchen that they ran into their first hitch. Wash had stuck his head out to make sure no one was in there and he'd scrambled back out, bumping into the other two.
"Hey! Watch where you're...!"
"Sssshhh!" He flapped his hands at them and pointed towards the door. "Mal and Zoe are coming this way! Hide!"
"Hide?” Kaylee squeaked, staring at him. "Where are we goin' ta hide, we’re in a hallway!"
"Hush and leave all the thinkin' ta us," Jayne growled, getting as flush along the wall as he could with her in his arms.
"...so we should surrender now, right?" Wash asked, sucking in his stomach as he could as he followed the other man's lead.
The giggles were starting to get too much to hold in, no matter how much she bit her lip. Pressing her face against Jayne's shoulder helped to muffle them a bit but not enough it would seem.
"Gorram it, you giant giggle head," was the exasperated response to that, despite the goofy grin on his face, which only served to make her laugh harder.
Thankfully, Wash was always thinking, though it was normally either about flying or about various parts of Zoe's anatomy. In this case, though, he reached up and plucked Jayne's hat right off of his head.
"Hey!"
With deliberate care, it was very gently dropped over Kaylee's head, helping to muffle the giggles.
Seconds ticked by slowly as they heard Mal and Zoe finally enter the kitchen and then head back out of it, their voices trailing behind. Cautiously, they investigated and were pleased to find no one in the kitchen.
"Next stop, freedom!"
"Freedom?"
"Or, well, the cockpit which is now known as Freedom."
"To Freedom, then!"
~~~
"Sir?” Zoe tilted her head at him as they paused near the engine room. "Do you think we should let them know that we know?"
Mal grinned at her. "Aw, and ruin their fun?"
She gave him a calculating look. "You just want to be there when Simon finds out she's gone."
The most innocent look that Malcolm Reynolds could muster was firmly put on display. "Now, Zoe, would I do such a thing like that?"
"Always, sir, always."
~~~
Studying the latest read outs from the blood drawn from Kaylee, Simon walked into the Infirmary, muttering to himself. "Right, looks like we should have you out of here in a day or two. There does not seem to be an infection so..."
The empty silence was what made him pause and look up, nearly dropping the notes in his hands. Where Kaylee would have been normally giving him a brilliant smile--that would always fluster him--was an empty, mussed up bed.
Rubbing his eyes, Simon forced himself to look again. Yes, still empty and he needed to shake himself out of his shock before...
"Where in the 'verse is my mechanic?" Mal demanded from behind him, causing him to jump and completely drop the notes to the floor.
"Oh! Captain...I...um. I don't know?" Lame, he thought, very, very lame.
Scowling, the captain came up and stood nearly nose-to-nose with him. "Find her or it'll be you on that table, understand me?" he growled.
Not even answering, Simon fled, muttering to himself about the insane ship he had found himself on. Zoe poked her head in and gave him a look.
"You think you're funny, sir."
"Oh, no, I know I'm funny," Mal responded with glee.
~~~
It took Simon well over half an hour to find Kaylee. He'd been all over the ship, from her room to the engine room and everywhere in-between. It had been on Book's gentle directions that he had trudged up to the front of the ship.
He stared in, mouth slightly open, at the scene in front of him.
Kaylee was very happily curled up in the pilot's chair, munching on something that she probably shouldn't be eating, not in her condition. Jayne and Wash were sprawled on the floor, reenacting some sort of scene with the pilot's collection of dinosaur's, much to the delight of their audience. Zoe was watching her husband with amusement as she tugged the blanket around Kaylee, making sure she was comfortable.
And Mal...
Mal was grinning at him like a fool. "Fancy meetin' you up here, Doc," he said, messing up his mechanic's hair in a display of affection. "You went and missed the best part of the story..."
"Can I do it again?" Jayne asked.
"No, because I now have two of my dinosaurs in positions nature never intended," Wash said, clutching them to his chest.
"Well, made Kaylee laugh," he protested.
"I...see," he said, slowly, taking it all in. "Well, yes, um, Kaylee, how're you feeling?"
"Oh, I'm just shiny, Simon!" she assured him, pushing up the hat that Mal had knocked loose, grinning at him from under it. "Ain't they sweet, plannin' a big escape for just little ol' me?"
The smile was infectious and he found himself smiling back.
Jayne puffed up his chest something fierce and proclaimed, "Yeah, we were like ninjas or something."
"Fierce, evil ninjas!" Wash chimed in.
"With our own theme song. We should sing it again."
As one, Mal and Zoe both looked horrified and shouted, "No!"
"Awww, bunch o' sticks in the mud."
'I'm on a crazy ship,' Simon thought, not for the first time and probably not the last time, either. But maybe this kind of crazy wasn't so bad.
Title: No Regrets
Fandom: Firefly (Wash, Kaylee)
Characters: Kaylee, Mal
Prompt: 086. Choices
Word Count: 1,204
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: Spoilers for the Big Damn movie ahead! Kaylee and Mal have a heart to heart.
The new piloting chair was not, Mal decided as he shifted in irritation, all that comfortable, no matter what the seller had promised him. In fact, it was distinctly uncomfortable, didn't swivel as much as he wanted it to and it smelled. Well, maybe it didn't smell all that much but there was a distinct odor that he certainly didn't like.
If he really thought hard about it, the reason that he didn't like the new chair probably wasn't because of the new chair. It probably had more to do with Wash' death and how things used to be. But he really didn't want to think all that hard about it. Mal much preferred to think about how uncomfortable and smelly the new chair was.
The sound of bare feet behind him drew him out of his thoughts and he turned his head. "What're you doin' up so late?" he asked, frowning at Kaylee as she shuffled up next to him, wrapped in one of those comforters of hers that her Ma tended to send.
"Hey, Cap'n. Couldn't sleep an' I remembered that you were watchin' the ship tonight." She yawned and blinked down at him. "Scoot over, wouldja?"
Mal blinked up at her. "What...hey!" The protest he gave her as she pushed and prodded him to move slightly in the chair was really only a token one at best. He gave up half way through and let her settle herself down between him and the side of the chair, helping her pull her legs over his lap when she nearly fell off. He did, however, roll his eyes at her when she was finally finished. "Comfortable?" he grumbled, hitching his own legs up on the consol.
"Right as rain!" Kaylee replied, pillowing her head on his chest and shoulder as she scrunched up to get comfortable.
"Well, if you were 'right as rain', mei-mei, wouldn't you be in your own bed?"
"Hush. Ain't nothin' wrong when a body can't sleep."
The look he gave her was piercing. "'Cept when it's been known that a body can't sleep when a body's stressed. Like you were after Jubal Early."
She didn't respond for a second, just pressed her head to his chest and listened to the sound of his heart. "I miss him," Kaylee whispered soft enough that Mal had to strain to catch it.
He knew instantly who she was talking about and it certainly wasn't Early that was keeping her from her rest this night. Not this time, anyway. Turning his head, he rested his chin on top of her head, breathing in that familiar, unique scent that was so Kaylee. Vanilla and engine smell that were so entwined that whenever he smelled them his thoughts went to both her and Serenity.
"So do I." Mal's voice was rough and as low as hers as he shut his eyes against the stars in the window and the lights from the panel in front of him. This was the first time he had voiced that fact since they had lost Wash. At first, there had been no time thanks to Reavers and the Alliance, everything had been moving too fast. But after that he had just never found the time or the place to say it and Zoe had her own grief to deal with.
Kaylee smiled against his shirt. "'member when they was married?" she asked, tugging on the blanket that was caught up around her.
He snorted, hands going where hers went to help spread it out over both of them, warmth spreading over him along with the scent. "Hard ta forget, I did walk Zoe down the gorram aisle."
"After I yelled at ya," Kaylee reminded him, shifting slightly to get more comfortable.
Mal swatted her legs. "Get settled already, woman." He made a face at her. "Weren't really a yellin', I was already going to do it."
"But you were draggin' yer feet somethin' fierce, Cap'n. You never did like the notion o' them hooking up like that."
"Or at all," he corrected, earning a laugh from that.
"Or at all, have it your way. It's why I yelled at ya like I did. They deserved ta be happy and Zoe needed someone ta walk her down the aisle and it gorram well wasn't gonna be me." Kaylee grinned at the happy memory. "I was the flower girl, after all."
"And the maid of honor and the ring bearer...you're a wearer of many hats, Kaylee."
"Well, I do try. Why were you so set against it?"
Shrugging carefully so as not to toss Kaylee off, Mal responded, "Ship romances get messy, too emotional."
"Regret them doing it?"
"Never. Wash was...good for Zoe, better than I thought he was gonna be that's fer sure." He shifted. "You didn't hear that from me, you hear?" At her snicker and nod, he continued. "She was good for him as well. Stupid in love, that's the best term for them."
"I used ta sneak up here some nights and sit with Wash," Kaylee mused, "and we'd just talk and talk fer hours. Especially those nights when y'all were on a job somewhere, before and after Simon and the rest came on board. When he'd talk about her, Cap'n, you should have seen his eyes light up." Her throat caught at the idea that she'd never have those nights with Wash again and she burrowed further into Mal's chest. "Hurts, ya know?"
He tightened his arm around her and nodded. "I know. Always expected somethin' ta happen on a job. We ain't exactly living a safe life but never thought it'd be Wash. Jayne or Zoe or, hell, even myself. But he was on Serenity and supposed ta be safe." Like Kaylee was supposed to be safe.
Wash's death had opened fear in his heart again because those that stayed back, stayed home, were supposed to be untouchable. "Away from the tyen-sah duh uh-muo," Mal muttered into Kaylee's hair. It had hit him harder than even he had known, drudging up old fears he had thought were laid to rest.
Leaning as much as she could against him, she blinked back her own tears at the fear in his voice. She'd always been real good about reading people, they were just kind of like another machine, especially the closer she got to them. And reading Mal came as naturally to her as fixing the engines on their ship.
"Can't promise that I ain't gonna die because we both know tha' I can't," Kaylee said, words muffled slightly by Mal's shirt and neck. "But whatever happens, I don't regret a thing."
"You ever regret coming on board with us? With me?"
"Of course not," she huffed, offended enough to poke him in the ribs. "Best decision I ever made."
"Best, huh?" Mal teased, easing up his grip on her just a tad.
"Yup, best ever," Kaylee said, firmly, yawning half-way through the words. "Want me ta move?"
"Nah, your good...even if I can't feel my arm anymore."
"Ya got two," she argued, sleep slipping over her faster than she expected.
"Kaylee, shut up and go ta sleep."
"G'night, Cap'n."
"Night, mei-mei."
tyen-sah duh uh-muo: Goddamn monsters
Fandom: Firefly (Wash, Kaylee)
Characters: River, Simon (talking about Kaylee, Wash and Jayne)
Prompt: 011. Red
Word Count: 708
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: Er, I hope this is in the rules. My picks are the ones the story is about but they're being talked about by River and Simon.
Simon had spent the better part of an evening ripping apart the Infirmary, cleaning it with a fervor he had not felt in some time. Anger and hurt raced through his veins every time he thought of what Jayne had done, no matter the promise that he had given the other man and he doubted very deeply if he would ever forget what had happened..
He bit his tongue, curse words that would have had Kaylee laughing at him wanting to come forth.
"He isn't inbred you know," River said suddenly, stepping through the opening doors with the eerie grace she had.
Simon jumped and dropped a couple of instruments, sighing as they clattered to the ground. "Mei-mei, I wish you wouldn't do that," he grumbled, quickly picking up the mess. It would all have to be cleaned again now.
She grinned at him and he was reminded, painfully, of how much of a brat she could be and oh, how he missed it. "Brothers shouldn't fume so loud as to not hear their little sisters coming," she said in a sing-song way.
"Yes, well..." Shaking his head he allowed himself a laugh.
"He's still angry with you," she interrupted, going over to the side to play with a microscope.
"Who is?"
"Jayne, of course, dummy."
Resisting the urge to roll his eyes took quite a bit of effort. "All things considered, shouldn't I be the one who's still angry at him? He tried to turn us over to the Alliance, River! He's safe under my knife but it does not mean I'm any less angry at him."
"Big, loud, mean sometimes, heart made of semi-precious metal..." River shrugged. "Reminds me of our neighbors guard dog, the one that chased you when you were small. Protecting what's his comes natural even when he doesn't really know what he's doing."
It was obvious to him by know that his sister saw through people the way others saw through thin, wet tissue paper. It paid to listen, even during her worst episodes because sometimes the nonsense made perfect sense.
"What do you mean?"
"Did you mean it, back then, that you would let Kaylee die?" River asked suddenly, tilting her head to watching as he paled.
Simon hesitated, caught completely off guard. He hadn't really allowed himself to think of that day, the shame of it still cut him deeply. "I...I don't know. It was so long ago. Now, I wouldn't but you had to come first--you still have to." Even if it meant putting whatever he was possibly feeling towards Kaylee on the back burner.
"No forgiveness, no forgetting, no matter what his little sister says, no matter that she's not his little sister. Puts it away, stores it, guards it like his guns, and lets it build. I hurt him and it reminds him of what you did, decides to be rid of us both before we hurt him or her again."
Simon leaned against the counter and frowned down at the floor.
"When you were patching her up," she continued, eyes half shut, "he watched, never moving until you were done. I spy with my little eye something that's...red. Blood, fury, hatred, warmth, happiness, sun..."
"River..."
"No! He and Wash, always smiling but not then, took turns watching her while she healed. So many brothers but no blood to bind them, except blood on the floor, in her hands, on theirs as they carried her. Wash always playing, moving, talking was silent and still for her until she woke."
River whimpered and clutched at her hair not even noticing when Simon slide his arms around her to support her. "Red, so much red, but none of it connected except to her. Red like autumn, like death, like rebirth. Would die without the red blood cells in our body, giving us life, giving us oxygen, like she does to the crew. Gives them life, purpose, like spring breeze."
"Shhh, mei-mei, let's go get you some medicine," Simon murmured, tucking away all he had heard. He had learned a lot this evening, about himself and possibly the crew that he looked after.
River sighed and whispered against his shoulder, "I wish to be the color of Kaylee's red."
Title: The Great Escape
Fandom: Firefly (Wash, Kaylee)
Characters: Wash, Kaylee, Mal, Zoe, Simon
Prompt: 097. Writer's Choice: Freedom
Word Count: 1,742
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: While recovering from her wounds, Kaylee's hit by a bout of boredom so Jayne and Wash take steps to fix that.
The hallways were surprisingly empty and quiet as Wash made his way down to the crew's quarters. Which was just as well since for all of his sneaking around he stuck out like a sore thumb, the combination of red hair and Hawaiian shirt did not make concealment easy.
But either he hadn't realized this quite yet or he simply didn't care, coming to a stop outside of Jayne's bunk. Looking back and forth as if he half-expected his wife or the captain to pop out from the walls in any minute.
Knocking softly, Wash called out, "Jayne? You there?"
There was a grunt from the other side and he took that as a "Why yes my good fellow, please come down to visit". Grinning, he popped open the door and leaned in, just sticking his head through the opening.
"What in the gorram hell do you want, little man?" Jayne glared at him from the bed, Verra in his hands in obviously a mid-clean ritual.
"Oh, it isn't really what I want," he responded, grinning like an idiot, ignoring the blood rushing to his head. "It's what Kaylee wants. Or, well, needs."
"...ain't you already got a woman?"
"Hey, I'll have you that I have not got any such thing--she has me. I really don't think I could have Zoe because she'd just do the strong, Amazon woman-y thing and toss me over her shoulder or..." He stopped and shook the rag that Jayne had thrown at him off his face.
"Either you get on with it or Zoe's gonna have to pull your body down from the ceiling."
"Kaylee it would seem is a might bored. Actually, that's probably a bit of an understatement. Bored out of her ever loving mind is more like it."
Though the response to that was "Yeah, and?" Wash knew he had Jayne's attention. He always had Jayne's attention when there was some trouble to be stirred up. Even if that trouble didn't involve gun play.
"So, how do you feel about planning a break out of our little mechanic out of the Infirmary?"
"Ya think this'll get the new doc's panties in a twist?" The way Jayne was rubbing his chin was a sure sign that he was in.
"I suppose if a patient just upped and disappeared, he would get awful upset," Wash said slowly. Kaylee had forgiven Simon for what he had done, or almost had done, and he was not a man for violence if he could avoid it. But even he couldn't resist taking a shot at him if it meant that hijinks would ensue.
"Why the hell didn't you say so? Let's go stage us a jail break, little man."
~~~
The ceiling had forty-five full tiles, four corner tiles and a few half-tiles. With a sigh, Kaylee squinted up at the Infirmary's ceiling and started over. It was real nice of Simon to want to make sure she was stabilized enough to move but this much stillness got a body itching to do something.
Even if it was staring at another part of the ship because at least it would be different. Her stomach didn't hurt, much, and she missed the engine room something fierce.
The gentle swish of the doors opening caught her attention and she perked up her head to see who was coming in. She blinked, mouth hanging open slightly before biting back a sudden case of the giggles.
Wash and Jayne carefully crept along, one keeping watch as the other one slide through. Jayne reached through the doors to yank Wash in after him.
"What in the 'verse are you two doing?" she demanded, trying to sit up. And they looked...ridiculous. Jayne was sporting that hat he wore in the wintertimes with some camouflage shirt and pants and Wash had obviously borrowed the jacket from him as well.
"Shhh, girl, don't you know a rescue when you see one?" Jayne hissed, rolling his eyes. "Gorram women folk don't appreciate a good rescue these days."
"A rescue?" Oh, wherever this was going it was going to be fun. She restrained herself from bouncing, not willing to push the stomach feeling better anymore than she had to.
Wash grinned and peered out the window of the doors. "Yep, figured you could use a change of scenery, so we're here to break you out, nice and quiet like. Coast is clear so let's go while we can!"
Barely managing to stifle the giggles this time, Kaylee didn't protest when Jayne gently swung her up into his arms like he did when she needed to fix the engine. Arms wound around his neck, she grinned against his shoulder. "What're we waitin' for then?" she demanded, pointing to the door. "Adventure awaits!"
"Or death and destruction but, hey, let's look on the bright side!” Wash responded, sneaking out the door with the two close behind.
~~
It was in the stairwell leading to the kitchen that they ran into their first hitch. Wash had stuck his head out to make sure no one was in there and he'd scrambled back out, bumping into the other two.
"Hey! Watch where you're...!"
"Sssshhh!" He flapped his hands at them and pointed towards the door. "Mal and Zoe are coming this way! Hide!"
"Hide?” Kaylee squeaked, staring at him. "Where are we goin' ta hide, we’re in a hallway!"
"Hush and leave all the thinkin' ta us," Jayne growled, getting as flush along the wall as he could with her in his arms.
"...so we should surrender now, right?" Wash asked, sucking in his stomach as he could as he followed the other man's lead.
The giggles were starting to get too much to hold in, no matter how much she bit her lip. Pressing her face against Jayne's shoulder helped to muffle them a bit but not enough it would seem.
"Gorram it, you giant giggle head," was the exasperated response to that, despite the goofy grin on his face, which only served to make her laugh harder.
Thankfully, Wash was always thinking, though it was normally either about flying or about various parts of Zoe's anatomy. In this case, though, he reached up and plucked Jayne's hat right off of his head.
"Hey!"
With deliberate care, it was very gently dropped over Kaylee's head, helping to muffle the giggles.
Seconds ticked by slowly as they heard Mal and Zoe finally enter the kitchen and then head back out of it, their voices trailing behind. Cautiously, they investigated and were pleased to find no one in the kitchen.
"Next stop, freedom!"
"Freedom?"
"Or, well, the cockpit which is now known as Freedom."
"To Freedom, then!"
~~~
"Sir?” Zoe tilted her head at him as they paused near the engine room. "Do you think we should let them know that we know?"
Mal grinned at her. "Aw, and ruin their fun?"
She gave him a calculating look. "You just want to be there when Simon finds out she's gone."
The most innocent look that Malcolm Reynolds could muster was firmly put on display. "Now, Zoe, would I do such a thing like that?"
"Always, sir, always."
~~~
Studying the latest read outs from the blood drawn from Kaylee, Simon walked into the Infirmary, muttering to himself. "Right, looks like we should have you out of here in a day or two. There does not seem to be an infection so..."
The empty silence was what made him pause and look up, nearly dropping the notes in his hands. Where Kaylee would have been normally giving him a brilliant smile--that would always fluster him--was an empty, mussed up bed.
Rubbing his eyes, Simon forced himself to look again. Yes, still empty and he needed to shake himself out of his shock before...
"Where in the 'verse is my mechanic?" Mal demanded from behind him, causing him to jump and completely drop the notes to the floor.
"Oh! Captain...I...um. I don't know?" Lame, he thought, very, very lame.
Scowling, the captain came up and stood nearly nose-to-nose with him. "Find her or it'll be you on that table, understand me?" he growled.
Not even answering, Simon fled, muttering to himself about the insane ship he had found himself on. Zoe poked her head in and gave him a look.
"You think you're funny, sir."
"Oh, no, I know I'm funny," Mal responded with glee.
~~~
It took Simon well over half an hour to find Kaylee. He'd been all over the ship, from her room to the engine room and everywhere in-between. It had been on Book's gentle directions that he had trudged up to the front of the ship.
He stared in, mouth slightly open, at the scene in front of him.
Kaylee was very happily curled up in the pilot's chair, munching on something that she probably shouldn't be eating, not in her condition. Jayne and Wash were sprawled on the floor, reenacting some sort of scene with the pilot's collection of dinosaur's, much to the delight of their audience. Zoe was watching her husband with amusement as she tugged the blanket around Kaylee, making sure she was comfortable.
And Mal...
Mal was grinning at him like a fool. "Fancy meetin' you up here, Doc," he said, messing up his mechanic's hair in a display of affection. "You went and missed the best part of the story..."
"Can I do it again?" Jayne asked.
"No, because I now have two of my dinosaurs in positions nature never intended," Wash said, clutching them to his chest.
"Well, made Kaylee laugh," he protested.
"I...see," he said, slowly, taking it all in. "Well, yes, um, Kaylee, how're you feeling?"
"Oh, I'm just shiny, Simon!" she assured him, pushing up the hat that Mal had knocked loose, grinning at him from under it. "Ain't they sweet, plannin' a big escape for just little ol' me?"
The smile was infectious and he found himself smiling back.
Jayne puffed up his chest something fierce and proclaimed, "Yeah, we were like ninjas or something."
"Fierce, evil ninjas!" Wash chimed in.
"With our own theme song. We should sing it again."
As one, Mal and Zoe both looked horrified and shouted, "No!"
"Awww, bunch o' sticks in the mud."
'I'm on a crazy ship,' Simon thought, not for the first time and probably not the last time, either. But maybe this kind of crazy wasn't so bad.
Title: No Regrets
Fandom: Firefly (Wash, Kaylee)
Characters: Kaylee, Mal
Prompt: 086. Choices
Word Count: 1,204
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: Spoilers for the Big Damn movie ahead! Kaylee and Mal have a heart to heart.
The new piloting chair was not, Mal decided as he shifted in irritation, all that comfortable, no matter what the seller had promised him. In fact, it was distinctly uncomfortable, didn't swivel as much as he wanted it to and it smelled. Well, maybe it didn't smell all that much but there was a distinct odor that he certainly didn't like.
If he really thought hard about it, the reason that he didn't like the new chair probably wasn't because of the new chair. It probably had more to do with Wash' death and how things used to be. But he really didn't want to think all that hard about it. Mal much preferred to think about how uncomfortable and smelly the new chair was.
The sound of bare feet behind him drew him out of his thoughts and he turned his head. "What're you doin' up so late?" he asked, frowning at Kaylee as she shuffled up next to him, wrapped in one of those comforters of hers that her Ma tended to send.
"Hey, Cap'n. Couldn't sleep an' I remembered that you were watchin' the ship tonight." She yawned and blinked down at him. "Scoot over, wouldja?"
Mal blinked up at her. "What...hey!" The protest he gave her as she pushed and prodded him to move slightly in the chair was really only a token one at best. He gave up half way through and let her settle herself down between him and the side of the chair, helping her pull her legs over his lap when she nearly fell off. He did, however, roll his eyes at her when she was finally finished. "Comfortable?" he grumbled, hitching his own legs up on the consol.
"Right as rain!" Kaylee replied, pillowing her head on his chest and shoulder as she scrunched up to get comfortable.
"Well, if you were 'right as rain', mei-mei, wouldn't you be in your own bed?"
"Hush. Ain't nothin' wrong when a body can't sleep."
The look he gave her was piercing. "'Cept when it's been known that a body can't sleep when a body's stressed. Like you were after Jubal Early."
She didn't respond for a second, just pressed her head to his chest and listened to the sound of his heart. "I miss him," Kaylee whispered soft enough that Mal had to strain to catch it.
He knew instantly who she was talking about and it certainly wasn't Early that was keeping her from her rest this night. Not this time, anyway. Turning his head, he rested his chin on top of her head, breathing in that familiar, unique scent that was so Kaylee. Vanilla and engine smell that were so entwined that whenever he smelled them his thoughts went to both her and Serenity.
"So do I." Mal's voice was rough and as low as hers as he shut his eyes against the stars in the window and the lights from the panel in front of him. This was the first time he had voiced that fact since they had lost Wash. At first, there had been no time thanks to Reavers and the Alliance, everything had been moving too fast. But after that he had just never found the time or the place to say it and Zoe had her own grief to deal with.
Kaylee smiled against his shirt. "'member when they was married?" she asked, tugging on the blanket that was caught up around her.
He snorted, hands going where hers went to help spread it out over both of them, warmth spreading over him along with the scent. "Hard ta forget, I did walk Zoe down the gorram aisle."
"After I yelled at ya," Kaylee reminded him, shifting slightly to get more comfortable.
Mal swatted her legs. "Get settled already, woman." He made a face at her. "Weren't really a yellin', I was already going to do it."
"But you were draggin' yer feet somethin' fierce, Cap'n. You never did like the notion o' them hooking up like that."
"Or at all," he corrected, earning a laugh from that.
"Or at all, have it your way. It's why I yelled at ya like I did. They deserved ta be happy and Zoe needed someone ta walk her down the aisle and it gorram well wasn't gonna be me." Kaylee grinned at the happy memory. "I was the flower girl, after all."
"And the maid of honor and the ring bearer...you're a wearer of many hats, Kaylee."
"Well, I do try. Why were you so set against it?"
Shrugging carefully so as not to toss Kaylee off, Mal responded, "Ship romances get messy, too emotional."
"Regret them doing it?"
"Never. Wash was...good for Zoe, better than I thought he was gonna be that's fer sure." He shifted. "You didn't hear that from me, you hear?" At her snicker and nod, he continued. "She was good for him as well. Stupid in love, that's the best term for them."
"I used ta sneak up here some nights and sit with Wash," Kaylee mused, "and we'd just talk and talk fer hours. Especially those nights when y'all were on a job somewhere, before and after Simon and the rest came on board. When he'd talk about her, Cap'n, you should have seen his eyes light up." Her throat caught at the idea that she'd never have those nights with Wash again and she burrowed further into Mal's chest. "Hurts, ya know?"
He tightened his arm around her and nodded. "I know. Always expected somethin' ta happen on a job. We ain't exactly living a safe life but never thought it'd be Wash. Jayne or Zoe or, hell, even myself. But he was on Serenity and supposed ta be safe." Like Kaylee was supposed to be safe.
Wash's death had opened fear in his heart again because those that stayed back, stayed home, were supposed to be untouchable. "Away from the tyen-sah duh uh-muo," Mal muttered into Kaylee's hair. It had hit him harder than even he had known, drudging up old fears he had thought were laid to rest.
Leaning as much as she could against him, she blinked back her own tears at the fear in his voice. She'd always been real good about reading people, they were just kind of like another machine, especially the closer she got to them. And reading Mal came as naturally to her as fixing the engines on their ship.
"Can't promise that I ain't gonna die because we both know tha' I can't," Kaylee said, words muffled slightly by Mal's shirt and neck. "But whatever happens, I don't regret a thing."
"You ever regret coming on board with us? With me?"
"Of course not," she huffed, offended enough to poke him in the ribs. "Best decision I ever made."
"Best, huh?" Mal teased, easing up his grip on her just a tad.
"Yup, best ever," Kaylee said, firmly, yawning half-way through the words. "Want me ta move?"
"Nah, your good...even if I can't feel my arm anymore."
"Ya got two," she argued, sleep slipping over her faster than she expected.
"Kaylee, shut up and go ta sleep."
"G'night, Cap'n."
"Night, mei-mei."
tyen-sah duh uh-muo: Goddamn monsters
no subject
I think you need to write this theme song and maybe put a snippet of it into the next one. I love reading these stories!
no subject
*grins* Thank you, I'm glad I'm not driving some of my friends list crazy with all these stories. ;)
no subject
Have you heard the Jayne's Hat one??
http://www.audiostreet.net/artist.aspx?artistid=27731&mode=music&recordid=63957
go and enjoy - it will SO inspire you :)
GROOOVY fics!!!! Shiny voices - loved the 'jailbreak'
no subject
Aww, glad you liked. I think that's my favorite so far, followed by the Mal/Kaylee one.