Jubal Early was sent on a one-way spacewalk and everyone seemed to instantly forget that he ever existed. Not ten minutes after Mal closed Serenity up behind him and already the shepherd was spotting Jayne and Kaylee was grinning as she taught River to play jacks. Of course, Simon was in the infirmary…as the patient, which was a mite unusual. But if no one thought on that point, it seemed the bounty hunter was nothing more than a collective bad dream, brought on by a bad batch of engine alcohol.

Just the same, Mal kept busy as everyone else turned in for the night. One by one they went to sleep, leaving him to sit in the co-pilot’s chair and kept a sharp eye on the black stretched out ahead. That’s what happens when you get too comfortable. Defenses drop and the enemy has the perfect opportunity to catch you with your back turned. It unsettled him more than a little that he’d let it happen on his ship.

Every half hour, Mal rose from his chair and walked the same path around the ship. It all looked the same: dark, quiet, all as it should be. On his third trip around, he heard a noise coming from the engine room. His right hand immediately came to rest on his holster as he crept closer, prepped for more trouble.

He rounded the corner silently and found Kaylee crouched down the floor in the corner, crying her eyes out. Mal removed his hand from his gun.

“Kaylee,” he called out softly.

She tensed and let out a terrified whimper. Slowly, Kaylee stood up and turned around, backing away as she went. Her hands out in front of her like a defense, she refused to meet his eyes.

“Please don’t…” she begged.

“Kaylee,” Mal repeated, confused. “It’s me, mei mei.”

She looked up then and he saw a flash of wild fear cross her features before giving way to recognition. It twinged at his heart a bit that she’d look at him like that.

Kaylee swallowed and offered a weak smile through her tears. “’Course it’s you, Cap’n. Who else would it be?”

Mal studied her for a long moment. “You wanna tell me why my mechanic’s greasing the engine with her tears so late at night?”

“Dunno, just had some things to take care of earlier today and then I got…interrupted.” Her breath caught on the last word and she had to reach up a hand to wipe away a fresh pair of tears.

He took a step toward her, wanting to comfort her. Immediately she stepped backward again, eyes wide.

“Kaylee,” Mal said quietly, gently. “Something take place today that I need to know about? I know some real scary happenings went on around us, but everything turned out okay. No one’s here that shouldn’t be.”

“He…found me. I was in here working on the engine and I didn’t hear…” She put a hand over her mouth and trailed off, trying to control the hitching in her chest.

Mal took care to stay still; his watchful gaze never left her face. There wasn’t a need to rush her any. Something in him said he needed to hear all she had to say, and the only way to do that was to not push her. Besides, it was obvious that whatever she was keeping inside was poisoning her.

“Wanted to know where River was. Asked me if…if I’d ever been…raped...‘n he said that if I made a sound…he’d do it. Then he told me he was going to tie me up and I really thought…” Kaylee stopped.

She was struggling to get each word out through her sobs now, and her hands were up over her face as if to stop the awfulness from coming out. Mal broke a little inside watching her, in her teddy bear mechanic pullover, talk about such things. When she said that word he fought the urge to rip open the space hatch and go find and destroy what was left of Jubal Early with everything he had. The only thing he really knew for sure was that she needed to stop talking now. More words were just going to break her more than she was already broken. She’d said enough.

Carefully, he moved closer to her, murmuring unintelligible comforting noises. When he touched her, she tensed but didn’t move, allowing him to wrap both arms around her shaking body. Mal held her as she cried, stroking her hair and trying to somehow convey the sense of safety and protection that she’d been stripped of without saying a word.

A few helpless minutes passed while she held on to him for dear life. Eventually, Mal felt her knees start to give from exhaustion and he guided them both to the floor, never lessening his grip on her. He turned his eyes upward and willed the right words to come to him out of the black. There wasn’t anything he could do or say to fix it for her, and that killed him the most. Kaylee should only have happiness and cheerfulness and pure, untarnished optimism. Early stole that from her with only a few words. Mal tried to give a little of it back to her with the same brevity.

“Just breathe, bao bei. I’m here. You’re okay.”