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Dec. 26th, 2005 11:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
indiana_jTitle: Interruptions
Fandom: Firefly (Kaylee, Wash)
Characters: Kaylee, Mal, Zoe, Wash, River, Simon, Book, Inara, Jayne
Prompt: 98. (Writer's Choice) Mornings
Word Count: 3,336
Rating: G
Summary: Kaylee manages to interrupt everyones normal morning routine but since it's in the name of Christmas, they might be able to forgive her.
Author's Notes: Merry Christmas and happy holidays, guys.
Malcom Reynolds was far past the age of expecting some half-drunk man dressed in a red suit to be sliding down his chimney with a sack of goodies. Christmas Eve, a celebration that really was only found these days on the Rim since the Alliance didn't hold stock in that celebration, had been noted with some extra money shoved into his crew’s payments (from his own cut, though he hadn't mention it to anyone just yet) and an early night.
Besides, the last time he checked Serenity wasn't exactly fixed with a chimney and they weren't exactly in a port. This may have been more than a little deliberate on his part. Combining a cranky old man and a sincere wish not to have to pour Jayne into his room after a night of 'celebrating' with the local ladies had meant that they had left ground two days ago, despite some puppy dogged looks from Kaylee and some good natured groaning from the rest of the crew.
So it was with great dismay that he found himself drawing his gun as someone—and that someone certainly wasn't a fat old man cheerfully crawling down the ladder--woke him at an ungodly time of the morning. Half-asleep, more than half-irritated, the only thing that stopped him from shooting off a warning shot ('Into their neither regions,' he thought to himself) was the smell of vanilla and engine grease that crossed his nose.
Groaning, Mal fell back into his bed, sliding the gun back under the pillow where it belonged. "Mei-mei..." But before he could get anything more than that growled out of his mouth, he suddenly had the wind knocked out of him as his mechanic jumped off the ladder to fly through the air, landing right on his bed.
And on top of him in a mess of limbs and cursing.
"Merrychristmascap'n!"
Mal stared up at Kaylee, all decked out for the gorram season, as he struggled to get enough breath in his poor, abused body to yell at her. She beamed down at him from her perch on his stomach, with an arm pinned beneath them, and his gaze went up to the bobbing red hat on her head.
Red hat, white trim. Red overalls, white trim. Red...
Where in the gorram 'verse had she gotten red fuzzy shoes like that?
"What're you supposed to be?" he finally got out, resisting the urge to shift and send her flying to the floor. He didn't even know what was down there right now and he didn't exactly want to explain to anyone why Kaylee had been injured falling from his bed.
Kaylee's grin just got wider. "Who do ya think I'm supposed ta be?" she asked, rolling her eyes at him as she poked him in the chest. It was a good thing he had worn pants to bed last night...
"My mechanic? The one who's supposed ta be fixin' my ship and not jumpin' her captain?" He paused and scowled. "In his own bed?"
She pouted a little bit. "But I jus' needed ta wake you up to show you..."
He really was going to regret asking this. "Show me what?"
She leaned closer and Mal's eyes crossed as the bobbly part of the hair bonked him on the nose. "It's a surprise, silly, got ta come up ta the kitchen ta find out! But ya need ta wait outside of it!"
And just like that, she was gone, leaving him staring up at the opened hatch to his room and cursing her name even as he dragged his carcass out of bed to find a shirt.
Something that wasn't red.
~~~
Jayne had been awake for about an hour and a half and confused for nearly most of that time. Along with Kaylee and the Shepherd he was one of the early risers on the ship, more due to habit than anything else. Eldest son got the bulk of the chores back at home, especially with no pa around to help, and it wasn't anything that bothered him much.
Normal routine was actually kinda nice, if he let himself think on it much. But Jayne was never one that was fond of thinking much and so it never occurred to him that if it was gone he'd miss it.
Wake up, clean his guns, find Kaylee in the kitchen with coffee ready for the crew, have breakfast with her (talking or no talking, either was fine for them both), come back, clean guns. It was a good way to start the day.
Hell, leave it at that, it was a good day.
But he'd taken no more than two steps out of his bunk when he had nearly been knocked down the gorram ladder again. And by his normal breakfast partner at that. Wearing the oddest outfit he had ever seen her in.
And that was saying a lot.
Kaylee had wished him a merry Christmas and then forced him back where he had come, wheedling and begging him not to go into the kitchen just yet. She'd given him something to tide him over while she did...whatever it was she needed to do.
Jayne had been half tempted to cross her and see what Kaylee had been messing around with, even with the dire warning of no fresh fruit hanging over his head.
But his Ma had taught him that it wasn't nice to make girls cry and he had a good feeling that's exactly what she would have done, too. Besides, he tended to follow what she said or suggested, even if he made fun of her something fierce. Her ideas were usually good ones, even if they did tend to be, you know, girly ideas.
So, Jayne sat and cleaned his guns, unconsciously cursing the loss of his routine. The second that Kaylee popped her head back into his bunk and told him it was all clear and to get his butt to the kitchen, but just outside of it, though, he had cleared the stairs and hallway in less time than it took her to scramble backwards and get out of her way.
~~~
Book had just finished his morning prayers when a soft, but clearly restrained as if the person didn't want to do it softly, knock at his door roused him. He smiled and thought about delaying answering for a second, pretending to still be deeply within his prayers. After all, while Kaylee had supplied him with his normal morning tea and a note begging him to stay in his room until she came for him, he had been...
Well, curiosity wasn't good for a man of his age, he thought with a chuckle.
"I'm coming," he called out. Well, he wouldn't delay answering but he would take his sweet time in getting there. The delivery of the tea had been a pleasant surprise in the morning but curiosity had started to get the better of him. A part of him had also been surprised that Kaylee had known exactly which tea he preferred in the mornings and how he took it.
Then again, Book chided himself, nothing about that girl should surprise him.
Though as he opened the door and found her bouncing on the balls of her feet, hands clasped behind her, decked out in what had to be the most festive gear he had seen since before his days at the monastery...
Book suddenly realized that Kaylee had a fantastic ability of doing just that.
~~~
Inara's mornings started off more sedately than the rest except during the mornings when she had a client with her. But she never considered those mornings hers and, therefore, they didn't count. While she ate lunch and dinner with the crew, breakfast and mornings were her time to unwind and relax. Kaylee was probably the only one that she allowed in during that time and even the younger woman knew that while she was always welcomed, sometimes it was better to come later.
Tea, a bit of food, perhaps some light reading and then a good hour of doing nothing more than lounging around in her bed. Completely indulgent, she knew, but she didn't care. The morning was hers to do with as she pleased and she was normally very pleased to be self-indulgent.
Though Mal might argue otherwise, it was not something Inara found herself able to do much, if at all.
The silks on the bed might have originally been purchased because in the mind of most buyers silk meant luxury; luxury meant wealth; wealth meant being able to afford a Companion. But over the years, she'd grown to enjoy the texture and feel of it so that it no longer felt like a trapping of her trade but something she actually liked and wanted for herself.
A quick rap at her door caught her attention and she lifted her head, a small smile flickering. It certainly wasn't Mal, that man never knocked and it had been too light to be Zoe or the men...too hard too have been River.
"Ching jin, Kaylee," Inara called, sitting up but not bothering to get out of bed.
The sight of her friend, one of the only crew members that she truly thought of that way though she cared for the others in her own way, dressed like she was, and running toward her at full speed pulled a laugh from Inara.
This morning might mean a break of tradition but maybe, she thought, catching Kaylee in her arms, she would not mind this once.
~~~
Zoe had already been awake that morning, far before anyone else (even Kaylee and her determination to shove something edible, or as close as they could get sometimes, down people's throats first thing in the morning) had even thought of stirring. As always, she'd slipped out of Wash's arms--he'd stirred briefly before falling into a deeper sleep--and done a complete circuit of Serenity.
She'd been prone to doing that once or twice a week but that had been before Jubal Early and his assault on the ship. Since then, she'd taken to a quick check in the early morning before going back to bed with her husband. The disturbance in her sleep hardly meant she'd have any trouble falling back into it again. During the War, you learned to sleep where you could, when you could.
And there was something about getting back into a warm bed with a warm, loving husband even if he did snore. If Zoe were sentimental, which she wasn't, she'd say something about being wrapped in love or something like that. She'd have to ask Inara, she’d have a proper term for it. As it was, she liked the fact that sometimes he would wake up and then they'd stay awake together or he kept on sleeping and she would follow suit.
She liked not knowing.
What Zoe didn't like was the fact that this morning Kaylee had not only been awake during her search but had actually ordered her out of the kitchen. And she didn't like the fact that she had listened...possibly due to the fact that she had been trying not to laugh at the outraged mechanic stomping her foot in the hallway. But listened she had and she'd crept back into bed far earlier than she had expected too and drifted off to sleep, trying to ignore the feeling that she had enjoyed breaking her routine for once.
She also didn't like the fact that she was now slowly waking up but it wasn't due to Wash or an emergency beacon (or, thankfully, screaming). One eye opened as something soft landed on the bed, bouncing off of the pillows and onto the floor. Zoe blinked as something else followed suit.
Socks.
Colorful socks were being thrown at them.
"Husband?"
"Yes oh darling wife of mine?" Wash asked, determinedly ignoring the socks, seeing as his eyes were tightly shut and he was burying his way into her shoulder. His morning routine was by far more simple than hers. Sleep, sleep, sometimes sex, sleep some more and then devour breakfast, no matter what it turned out to be.
"There are socks being thrown at us."
"Are there?"
"Yes." She watched in amusement as one bounced off his head.
"...Kaylee?"
"Well, I'm not tryin' to shoot her, so, yes," she responded, and then sighed. "I think that's our signal to wake up."
"When did socks become our signal to wake up?" he asked, grumping. "Why not breakfast in bed...on a remote island with just you and me and some..."
Zoe kissed him. "Get up, dear, and let's see what she's up too."
~~~
It was no surprise to Kaylee to find River waiting for her, bouncing nearly as much as she was. The younger girl threw herself at the mechanic and they both giggled softly, keeping their heads close so they could keep their laughter to themselves.
"Red and white and green and..." River grinned. "Busy, busy bee."
Kaylee giggled against her shoulder as they edged closer to Simon's door. "Important ta celebrate," she responded.
Sad eyes regarded her for a second. "Busy busy busy hiding and covering and ignoring..."
"River."
"It's good to celebrate but not good to hide."
Kaylee bit her lip as she opened the door, both girls going silent as they snuck in.
~~~
Simon was partially awake as he turned over, pulling the blanket tighter around himself. The noise had to have been River since she tended to flit in and out during the mornings, never going very far, until he woke. The lack of noise would have bothered him more, meaning she'd wandered again and possibly gotten herself into trouble.
They had always been like this, he mused, sinking further into his pillows. River had been the morning person, he the night owl. His work called for it, demanded it and he had always been more inclined to be that way. Late to bed, late to rise.
Aboard the ship, he forced himself to find things to keep his hands occupied until he felt it was right to go to sleep. It allowed him the time to think, the time to himself that he so desperately needed. And it allowed him time to just be. When the lights on the ship dimmed and everything dropped to a light hum instead of a dull roar, after he watched everyone drift away...that was the time he liked the most.
When he peered up after hearing a noise closer than he had expected, it came as quite a shock to find not only River bending over him, since he had grown used to that, but Kaylee as well, both grinning like complete loons. With a shout, he jerked away from the two girls, getting caught up in the sheets enough that he tumbled to the ground.
Seeing stars, and lots of red though that was thanks to Kaylee’s outfit, he stared up at them again, both clasping hands over their mouths as they stifled their giggles.
Not very well, of course.
Kaylee barely managed to get "Kitchen!" out before she bolted, the laughter spilling behind her like the oil she sometimes trailed around the ship after working on a project.
~~~
Mal sighed and forced his way through his crew as they milled around in the hallway that linked to the kitchen. It was like trying to herd retarded cats, he thought, cheerfully shoving Jayne out of the way. He stopped and looked quizzically at the doorway to his kitchen. Normally, one was able to see right through to the other side but right now there was a silver fabric covering the door, blocking the sight.
And entry.
He'd had enough.
"Kaylee!" he bellowed, all chatter around him stopping.
The small, brown head, still decked out in that ridiculous hat, popped out from under the fabric and blinked at him before quickly sliding the rest of the way out. "Yes, Cap'n?" she asked, innocently as she could with a huge grin on her face.
"What in th' name of the 'verse is goin' on?" he asked, hands on his hips.
With everyone watching her intently, Kaylee suddenly seemed to catch a case of the shys. "Well, I jus'..." She stopped and chewed her lip. "I jus' wanted ta celebrate Christmas, tha's all! An' I knew you wouldn't have let me if'n I'd asked so I'd figured I'd asked forgiveness later when you saw it and..."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, little girl." Mal was slightly terrified a lung would pop out at the rate she was going. "Show us what?"
Turning around, Kaylee snatched the silver material from the doorway and pulled it away with a flourish. "This."
Cautiously, as if expecting to find Badger (or, God help him, Saffron) on the other side, Mal stuck his head in and stared. "Shun-sheng duh gao-wahn," he breathed and then cursed as everyone behind him got impatient and 'helped' him the rest of the way in and then everyone was staring.
The kitchen had been, in one word, transformed. Tinsel and festive lights hung from every open spot. Candles had been lit to add a warm glow to the room, along with several old fashioned lanterns. A tree--a gorram tree--stood haphazardly in the corner, decorated within an inch of its life, guarding a small stack of colorful gifts. The smell of food, hidden by the amount of burning candles while they had been waiting, hit them as they stared at the set table. The food was nothing fancy but there was a lot of it.
Everyone burst into excited talk around Mal, getting louder and louder to the point that he suddenly wished he had hired on a crew of mutes.
"Nee mun doh bee-jway!" he snapped, turning to look at the culprit, who was attempting to hide behind Jayne as he poked through some hastily set up stockings.
"It's got my name on it!" Jayne said, beaming. "Wonder if there's a gun in there..."
"I think the tradition is more chocolate than weaponary," Wash replied, peering into his own with some glee.
Jayne thought that over. "Chocolate’s good, too."
"Um." Kaylee peeked around the mercenaries large bulk. "Merry Christmas?"
"You set this up all on your lonesome?" Mal asked.
"Yep, all last night after you all went to sleep."
He stopped and then peered closely at her face. The bags that had been there since Jubal Early were still there, though lighter in color despite the fact that she must have been up all night. Her skin was still pretty pale and she still looked...skittish. But.
This was probably the most relaxed he had seen his little Kaylee since the attack and something clenched hard inside of him. Mal reached around Jayne and pulled her to him, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. This was a band-aid fix at the most but maybe now he could actually get her to open up about it, take some of that burden off of her shoulders. Stop those nightmares from coming at night and stop those shadows from being so scary.
"You ain't mad?" she asked as the others took that as a cue to start poking around at what Kaylee had set up.
"Nah, ain't mad. Slightly irritated that I have a you shaped indent in my left kidney but I ain't mad." Mal sighed. "Wished you asked for help, though."
Kaylee grinned. "What? And ruin the surprise? Come on, Cap'n, everyone loves surprises."
"Everyone, huh?"
"Everyone, even ornery old Captains."
Maybe in a little bit he'd sneak back to his room and 'find' those gifts he'd been squirreling away but decided not to hand out at the last minute, feeling foolish. Right now, though, there wasn't much incentive to leave this room, full of laughter, wamrth, bright colors, and the smell of vanilla and machine.
Across the room, Wash's voice boomed out, "Look, honey, mistletoe!"
Nee mun doh bee-jway!: Everyone shut the hell up!
Ching jin: Come in
Shun-sheng duh gao-wahn: Holy testicle Tuesday
Fandom: Firefly (Kaylee, Wash)
Characters: Kaylee, Mal, Zoe, Wash, River, Simon, Book, Inara, Jayne
Prompt: 98. (Writer's Choice) Mornings
Word Count: 3,336
Rating: G
Summary: Kaylee manages to interrupt everyones normal morning routine but since it's in the name of Christmas, they might be able to forgive her.
Author's Notes: Merry Christmas and happy holidays, guys.
Malcom Reynolds was far past the age of expecting some half-drunk man dressed in a red suit to be sliding down his chimney with a sack of goodies. Christmas Eve, a celebration that really was only found these days on the Rim since the Alliance didn't hold stock in that celebration, had been noted with some extra money shoved into his crew’s payments (from his own cut, though he hadn't mention it to anyone just yet) and an early night.
Besides, the last time he checked Serenity wasn't exactly fixed with a chimney and they weren't exactly in a port. This may have been more than a little deliberate on his part. Combining a cranky old man and a sincere wish not to have to pour Jayne into his room after a night of 'celebrating' with the local ladies had meant that they had left ground two days ago, despite some puppy dogged looks from Kaylee and some good natured groaning from the rest of the crew.
So it was with great dismay that he found himself drawing his gun as someone—and that someone certainly wasn't a fat old man cheerfully crawling down the ladder--woke him at an ungodly time of the morning. Half-asleep, more than half-irritated, the only thing that stopped him from shooting off a warning shot ('Into their neither regions,' he thought to himself) was the smell of vanilla and engine grease that crossed his nose.
Groaning, Mal fell back into his bed, sliding the gun back under the pillow where it belonged. "Mei-mei..." But before he could get anything more than that growled out of his mouth, he suddenly had the wind knocked out of him as his mechanic jumped off the ladder to fly through the air, landing right on his bed.
And on top of him in a mess of limbs and cursing.
"Merrychristmascap'n!"
Mal stared up at Kaylee, all decked out for the gorram season, as he struggled to get enough breath in his poor, abused body to yell at her. She beamed down at him from her perch on his stomach, with an arm pinned beneath them, and his gaze went up to the bobbing red hat on her head.
Red hat, white trim. Red overalls, white trim. Red...
Where in the gorram 'verse had she gotten red fuzzy shoes like that?
"What're you supposed to be?" he finally got out, resisting the urge to shift and send her flying to the floor. He didn't even know what was down there right now and he didn't exactly want to explain to anyone why Kaylee had been injured falling from his bed.
Kaylee's grin just got wider. "Who do ya think I'm supposed ta be?" she asked, rolling her eyes at him as she poked him in the chest. It was a good thing he had worn pants to bed last night...
"My mechanic? The one who's supposed ta be fixin' my ship and not jumpin' her captain?" He paused and scowled. "In his own bed?"
She pouted a little bit. "But I jus' needed ta wake you up to show you..."
He really was going to regret asking this. "Show me what?"
She leaned closer and Mal's eyes crossed as the bobbly part of the hair bonked him on the nose. "It's a surprise, silly, got ta come up ta the kitchen ta find out! But ya need ta wait outside of it!"
And just like that, she was gone, leaving him staring up at the opened hatch to his room and cursing her name even as he dragged his carcass out of bed to find a shirt.
Something that wasn't red.
~~~
Jayne had been awake for about an hour and a half and confused for nearly most of that time. Along with Kaylee and the Shepherd he was one of the early risers on the ship, more due to habit than anything else. Eldest son got the bulk of the chores back at home, especially with no pa around to help, and it wasn't anything that bothered him much.
Normal routine was actually kinda nice, if he let himself think on it much. But Jayne was never one that was fond of thinking much and so it never occurred to him that if it was gone he'd miss it.
Wake up, clean his guns, find Kaylee in the kitchen with coffee ready for the crew, have breakfast with her (talking or no talking, either was fine for them both), come back, clean guns. It was a good way to start the day.
Hell, leave it at that, it was a good day.
But he'd taken no more than two steps out of his bunk when he had nearly been knocked down the gorram ladder again. And by his normal breakfast partner at that. Wearing the oddest outfit he had ever seen her in.
And that was saying a lot.
Kaylee had wished him a merry Christmas and then forced him back where he had come, wheedling and begging him not to go into the kitchen just yet. She'd given him something to tide him over while she did...whatever it was she needed to do.
Jayne had been half tempted to cross her and see what Kaylee had been messing around with, even with the dire warning of no fresh fruit hanging over his head.
But his Ma had taught him that it wasn't nice to make girls cry and he had a good feeling that's exactly what she would have done, too. Besides, he tended to follow what she said or suggested, even if he made fun of her something fierce. Her ideas were usually good ones, even if they did tend to be, you know, girly ideas.
So, Jayne sat and cleaned his guns, unconsciously cursing the loss of his routine. The second that Kaylee popped her head back into his bunk and told him it was all clear and to get his butt to the kitchen, but just outside of it, though, he had cleared the stairs and hallway in less time than it took her to scramble backwards and get out of her way.
~~~
Book had just finished his morning prayers when a soft, but clearly restrained as if the person didn't want to do it softly, knock at his door roused him. He smiled and thought about delaying answering for a second, pretending to still be deeply within his prayers. After all, while Kaylee had supplied him with his normal morning tea and a note begging him to stay in his room until she came for him, he had been...
Well, curiosity wasn't good for a man of his age, he thought with a chuckle.
"I'm coming," he called out. Well, he wouldn't delay answering but he would take his sweet time in getting there. The delivery of the tea had been a pleasant surprise in the morning but curiosity had started to get the better of him. A part of him had also been surprised that Kaylee had known exactly which tea he preferred in the mornings and how he took it.
Then again, Book chided himself, nothing about that girl should surprise him.
Though as he opened the door and found her bouncing on the balls of her feet, hands clasped behind her, decked out in what had to be the most festive gear he had seen since before his days at the monastery...
Book suddenly realized that Kaylee had a fantastic ability of doing just that.
~~~
Inara's mornings started off more sedately than the rest except during the mornings when she had a client with her. But she never considered those mornings hers and, therefore, they didn't count. While she ate lunch and dinner with the crew, breakfast and mornings were her time to unwind and relax. Kaylee was probably the only one that she allowed in during that time and even the younger woman knew that while she was always welcomed, sometimes it was better to come later.
Tea, a bit of food, perhaps some light reading and then a good hour of doing nothing more than lounging around in her bed. Completely indulgent, she knew, but she didn't care. The morning was hers to do with as she pleased and she was normally very pleased to be self-indulgent.
Though Mal might argue otherwise, it was not something Inara found herself able to do much, if at all.
The silks on the bed might have originally been purchased because in the mind of most buyers silk meant luxury; luxury meant wealth; wealth meant being able to afford a Companion. But over the years, she'd grown to enjoy the texture and feel of it so that it no longer felt like a trapping of her trade but something she actually liked and wanted for herself.
A quick rap at her door caught her attention and she lifted her head, a small smile flickering. It certainly wasn't Mal, that man never knocked and it had been too light to be Zoe or the men...too hard too have been River.
"Ching jin, Kaylee," Inara called, sitting up but not bothering to get out of bed.
The sight of her friend, one of the only crew members that she truly thought of that way though she cared for the others in her own way, dressed like she was, and running toward her at full speed pulled a laugh from Inara.
This morning might mean a break of tradition but maybe, she thought, catching Kaylee in her arms, she would not mind this once.
~~~
Zoe had already been awake that morning, far before anyone else (even Kaylee and her determination to shove something edible, or as close as they could get sometimes, down people's throats first thing in the morning) had even thought of stirring. As always, she'd slipped out of Wash's arms--he'd stirred briefly before falling into a deeper sleep--and done a complete circuit of Serenity.
She'd been prone to doing that once or twice a week but that had been before Jubal Early and his assault on the ship. Since then, she'd taken to a quick check in the early morning before going back to bed with her husband. The disturbance in her sleep hardly meant she'd have any trouble falling back into it again. During the War, you learned to sleep where you could, when you could.
And there was something about getting back into a warm bed with a warm, loving husband even if he did snore. If Zoe were sentimental, which she wasn't, she'd say something about being wrapped in love or something like that. She'd have to ask Inara, she’d have a proper term for it. As it was, she liked the fact that sometimes he would wake up and then they'd stay awake together or he kept on sleeping and she would follow suit.
She liked not knowing.
What Zoe didn't like was the fact that this morning Kaylee had not only been awake during her search but had actually ordered her out of the kitchen. And she didn't like the fact that she had listened...possibly due to the fact that she had been trying not to laugh at the outraged mechanic stomping her foot in the hallway. But listened she had and she'd crept back into bed far earlier than she had expected too and drifted off to sleep, trying to ignore the feeling that she had enjoyed breaking her routine for once.
She also didn't like the fact that she was now slowly waking up but it wasn't due to Wash or an emergency beacon (or, thankfully, screaming). One eye opened as something soft landed on the bed, bouncing off of the pillows and onto the floor. Zoe blinked as something else followed suit.
Socks.
Colorful socks were being thrown at them.
"Husband?"
"Yes oh darling wife of mine?" Wash asked, determinedly ignoring the socks, seeing as his eyes were tightly shut and he was burying his way into her shoulder. His morning routine was by far more simple than hers. Sleep, sleep, sometimes sex, sleep some more and then devour breakfast, no matter what it turned out to be.
"There are socks being thrown at us."
"Are there?"
"Yes." She watched in amusement as one bounced off his head.
"...Kaylee?"
"Well, I'm not tryin' to shoot her, so, yes," she responded, and then sighed. "I think that's our signal to wake up."
"When did socks become our signal to wake up?" he asked, grumping. "Why not breakfast in bed...on a remote island with just you and me and some..."
Zoe kissed him. "Get up, dear, and let's see what she's up too."
~~~
It was no surprise to Kaylee to find River waiting for her, bouncing nearly as much as she was. The younger girl threw herself at the mechanic and they both giggled softly, keeping their heads close so they could keep their laughter to themselves.
"Red and white and green and..." River grinned. "Busy, busy bee."
Kaylee giggled against her shoulder as they edged closer to Simon's door. "Important ta celebrate," she responded.
Sad eyes regarded her for a second. "Busy busy busy hiding and covering and ignoring..."
"River."
"It's good to celebrate but not good to hide."
Kaylee bit her lip as she opened the door, both girls going silent as they snuck in.
~~~
Simon was partially awake as he turned over, pulling the blanket tighter around himself. The noise had to have been River since she tended to flit in and out during the mornings, never going very far, until he woke. The lack of noise would have bothered him more, meaning she'd wandered again and possibly gotten herself into trouble.
They had always been like this, he mused, sinking further into his pillows. River had been the morning person, he the night owl. His work called for it, demanded it and he had always been more inclined to be that way. Late to bed, late to rise.
Aboard the ship, he forced himself to find things to keep his hands occupied until he felt it was right to go to sleep. It allowed him the time to think, the time to himself that he so desperately needed. And it allowed him time to just be. When the lights on the ship dimmed and everything dropped to a light hum instead of a dull roar, after he watched everyone drift away...that was the time he liked the most.
When he peered up after hearing a noise closer than he had expected, it came as quite a shock to find not only River bending over him, since he had grown used to that, but Kaylee as well, both grinning like complete loons. With a shout, he jerked away from the two girls, getting caught up in the sheets enough that he tumbled to the ground.
Seeing stars, and lots of red though that was thanks to Kaylee’s outfit, he stared up at them again, both clasping hands over their mouths as they stifled their giggles.
Not very well, of course.
Kaylee barely managed to get "Kitchen!" out before she bolted, the laughter spilling behind her like the oil she sometimes trailed around the ship after working on a project.
~~~
Mal sighed and forced his way through his crew as they milled around in the hallway that linked to the kitchen. It was like trying to herd retarded cats, he thought, cheerfully shoving Jayne out of the way. He stopped and looked quizzically at the doorway to his kitchen. Normally, one was able to see right through to the other side but right now there was a silver fabric covering the door, blocking the sight.
And entry.
He'd had enough.
"Kaylee!" he bellowed, all chatter around him stopping.
The small, brown head, still decked out in that ridiculous hat, popped out from under the fabric and blinked at him before quickly sliding the rest of the way out. "Yes, Cap'n?" she asked, innocently as she could with a huge grin on her face.
"What in th' name of the 'verse is goin' on?" he asked, hands on his hips.
With everyone watching her intently, Kaylee suddenly seemed to catch a case of the shys. "Well, I jus'..." She stopped and chewed her lip. "I jus' wanted ta celebrate Christmas, tha's all! An' I knew you wouldn't have let me if'n I'd asked so I'd figured I'd asked forgiveness later when you saw it and..."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, little girl." Mal was slightly terrified a lung would pop out at the rate she was going. "Show us what?"
Turning around, Kaylee snatched the silver material from the doorway and pulled it away with a flourish. "This."
Cautiously, as if expecting to find Badger (or, God help him, Saffron) on the other side, Mal stuck his head in and stared. "Shun-sheng duh gao-wahn," he breathed and then cursed as everyone behind him got impatient and 'helped' him the rest of the way in and then everyone was staring.
The kitchen had been, in one word, transformed. Tinsel and festive lights hung from every open spot. Candles had been lit to add a warm glow to the room, along with several old fashioned lanterns. A tree--a gorram tree--stood haphazardly in the corner, decorated within an inch of its life, guarding a small stack of colorful gifts. The smell of food, hidden by the amount of burning candles while they had been waiting, hit them as they stared at the set table. The food was nothing fancy but there was a lot of it.
Everyone burst into excited talk around Mal, getting louder and louder to the point that he suddenly wished he had hired on a crew of mutes.
"Nee mun doh bee-jway!" he snapped, turning to look at the culprit, who was attempting to hide behind Jayne as he poked through some hastily set up stockings.
"It's got my name on it!" Jayne said, beaming. "Wonder if there's a gun in there..."
"I think the tradition is more chocolate than weaponary," Wash replied, peering into his own with some glee.
Jayne thought that over. "Chocolate’s good, too."
"Um." Kaylee peeked around the mercenaries large bulk. "Merry Christmas?"
"You set this up all on your lonesome?" Mal asked.
"Yep, all last night after you all went to sleep."
He stopped and then peered closely at her face. The bags that had been there since Jubal Early were still there, though lighter in color despite the fact that she must have been up all night. Her skin was still pretty pale and she still looked...skittish. But.
This was probably the most relaxed he had seen his little Kaylee since the attack and something clenched hard inside of him. Mal reached around Jayne and pulled her to him, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. This was a band-aid fix at the most but maybe now he could actually get her to open up about it, take some of that burden off of her shoulders. Stop those nightmares from coming at night and stop those shadows from being so scary.
"You ain't mad?" she asked as the others took that as a cue to start poking around at what Kaylee had set up.
"Nah, ain't mad. Slightly irritated that I have a you shaped indent in my left kidney but I ain't mad." Mal sighed. "Wished you asked for help, though."
Kaylee grinned. "What? And ruin the surprise? Come on, Cap'n, everyone loves surprises."
"Everyone, huh?"
"Everyone, even ornery old Captains."
Maybe in a little bit he'd sneak back to his room and 'find' those gifts he'd been squirreling away but decided not to hand out at the last minute, feeling foolish. Right now, though, there wasn't much incentive to leave this room, full of laughter, wamrth, bright colors, and the smell of vanilla and machine.
Across the room, Wash's voice boomed out, "Look, honey, mistletoe!"
Nee mun doh bee-jway!: Everyone shut the hell up!
Ching jin: Come in
Shun-sheng duh gao-wahn: Holy testicle Tuesday