We're getting up there in terms of content rating folks. This is rated NC-17 in terms of situation, which is disturbing in nature. You've been warned.

As always, feedback feeds the starving author!

And again, thanks to my beta, Mordsith.

She stared at him for a long moment; sizing him up, deciding if he could be trusted. “Guinevere.” She answered simply. Jayne rolled his eyes and grumbled. Or course she had to have a ruttin’ name like that. Couldn’t be somethin’ simple, had to be something that twisted his tongue every time he thought it. “Ya got it through your head I ain’t gonna hurt you?” “I suppose. Although, I imagine that your rather brash manner would cause be enough pain as it was.” She reminded him of Inara, the way she spoke, the way she looked at him as if he weren’t quite good enough to even be talking with her. Guinevere was still upset, but her breathing was evening out and her stance had relaxed somewhat. “Can ya tell me where those men had ya?” Pleasantries aside, Jayne’s mind had returned to his task. If he could get some useful information out of her, then this whole encounter with the screechin’ hellcat wasn’t as worthless as he was beginnin’ to think. “I don’t know, this whole planet looks the same to me. “ She slipped her arms into Jayne’s jacket, the whole time wrinkling her nose. It occurred to Jayne that perhaps he didn’t smell quite so good at this point. But there was nothin’ to done about it now. Jayne was exasperated. “You didn’t notice nothin’? No building, no special tree, no—“ Guinevere cut him off. “No, I was too busy wondering how much longer I had to live to take note of any landmarks.” She shot him a look as if she was contemplating how anyone could be just that stupid to suggest she observe her surroundings. Jayne had had enough, and every second he spent talking to this girl was another second she spent away from Kaylee. “So help me girl,” his voice was quiet, and Guinevere could tell that if this man in front of her lowered his voice, then she was in trouble. “I will leave you stranded here in a heartbeat if you get in my way.” She was instantly panicked. “You cannot leave me here! I was only supposed to stop on Persephone, I was on my way to home, and I have to get there!” “How did you get yourself away?” He needed any sort of information from her. Guinevere’s expression sobered. “They found another girl. They lost interest in me when they could torment her instead.” “Did ‘ya see her?” Jayne grabbed her shoulders again and shook her, staring straight into her face. “She’s still alive?” “I don’t know for how long.” Guinevere averted her eyes from Jayne’s face. “You care about her don’t you?” Jayne didn’t answer. That was still mixed up enough in his own head, he feared if he said anything out loud he would ruin in completely. It seemed at that moment that Guinevere took pity on him. “You don’t have to say it. I can tell by your face that you do. We’d better find her quickly.” She extricated herself from Jayne’s grasp and pointed. “I ran from that way. That’s the last place I was with them.” She looked back at him again. “Come. We must hurry.” “Oh ruttin’ hell!” She thought she was coming with him! It would slow him down tremendously to be trackin’ with a girl. “You stay here. I’ll fetch ya on my way back.” “And if they kill your little friend and come for me again? How exactly do you expect me to defend myself?” Guinevere saw Jayne blanch, and was immediately sorry. “I believe I can help you find them. And besides, when we do find them, I can serve as a distraction.” She did have a point there. “Fine.” Jayne conceded. “But if you slow me down or throw me off in any way, you’re gone.” Guinevere nodded, and they moved in the direction that she had pointed. Kaylee was grabbed roughly and thrown over someone’s shoulder. She jolted back to consciousness and tried to reorganize her thoughts. “They’re on the move again.” She heard the one carrying her call back to the other one. She couldn’t tell the two of them apart, but she hadn’t really paid that much attention. “They?” It took Robert a second, but he realized that they were now talking about more than one person. “He’s with the girl now.” Bill wasn’t looking at anything in particular, but Kaylee could tell that his brain was racing. Her interest was piqued. She hadn’t seen much of the girl that was there before, but she had heard her, screaming and swearing at their captors. But they had soon focused their attention on Kaylee and the other girl had taken off. After some debate they had decided not to go after her, muttering something the whole while about the plan. It did Kaylee some good to know that the girl had found Jayne; at least she wouldn’t die alone out there. And it meant that Jayne indeed was headed their way, maybe she could even help him find her. Bill stopped abruptly and tossed Kaylee roughly to the ground. She was been hurt so severely, that she was numb, and welcomed it. She couldn’t however, stop the tears from streaming down her face. Bill loved it. “Well lookit here, Robert.” His face was full of malice. “Little girl’s crying. What should we do ‘bout it?” Robert joined Bill, staring down at Kaylee with a hatred that made her skin crawl. “Maybe we give her somethin’ to cry about.” “Please… don’t touch me.” Kaylee’s voice was scratchy from crying. It was the first thing that she’d said throughout the whole ordeal. She didn’t really think that asking would do any good, but she couldn’t just lie there and let it happen. Bill’s face broke into a full smile. “That’s right little bitch.” He laughed at her and Kaylee feared that she might vomit. “We like it better when you beg.” Back on Serenity, River was anxiously pacing the corridors. She was muttering to herself as she so often did, but she seemed more agitated than usual. “Girls screaming, running. Two by two they came and broke her. Lost mechanic and she came tumbling after.” “Somethin’ wrong there little one?” Mal came up behind her, not really paying so much attention to her ramblings, but noticing that she was quite upset. River turned to him and said simply “Kaylee’s in trouble.” Mal thought on this for a moment. River did not often speak so plainly, but when she did, he had learned to listen. But it did occur to him that River might just be missing her friend. “Now I know Kaylee and Jayne are late…later than I’d like for certain. But they probably just got held up. Kaylee probably found an old junker or somethin’ and she’s pickin’ it apart.” Mal was trying to convince himself as much as her, and his ploy was quite evident. “NO!” River was adamant. “We have to go to them. She’s not what she says.” Mal sighed and leaned against Kaylee’s doorway, as if trying to garner support. “I know, River. It just ain’t gonna go smooth, is all.” “Never does Cap’n.” And with that, she hurried off, presumably to gather the rest of the crew. The Captain never knew her plan, exactly, but with a sigh he trailed after her, trying to decide how to tell everyone else that Kaylee was missing. Guinevere held up her hand to silence Jayne. “They’re near. I can hear them.” Jayne was briefly surprised that he hadn’t heard them first. He couldn’t see them, thanks to a rather annoying gathering of tumbleweeds, but she was right; he could hear two distinct male voices, and a sob that was most certainly Kaylee’s. The choices raced through his head, he could barge in shooting, but he might risk hitting Kaylee. He could try to take one out from a distance, but then Kaylee’s life would be forfeit for sure. Before he could decide anything, Guinevere pushed his jacket from her shoulders letting it fall in a heap in the dirt. “I brought him boys.” Completely naked and entirely too confident, she strode over to Robert and wrapped her arm around his waist, pressing herself against him. “Oh, look at you,” she said, glancing down at Kaylee. “I’m absolutely astonished you’re still alive. Just as well, you can watch us kill your brave protector before these two rape you to death.” Jayne was dumbstruck. His brain reeled with this abrupt betrayal. It never for a second occurred to him that Guinevere was anything other than exactly what she seemed. Deceiving somebody about every day of his life, he was usually among the first to be able to pinpoint dishonesty in someone else, but she hadn’t let on even a little. Although, to be truthful, he had been so busy trying to get to Kaylee; he hadn’t paid her the attention that he should have. And now he saw her clearly, looking down at Kaylee like she was no better than space trash. She was the brains behind the whole thing, and Jayne had allowed her to lead him by the hand right into the middle of it. Jayne allowed himself a glance at Kaylee and wished that he never had. It just made everything that much harder with that image of her lying in the dirt burned in his mind. Her hair was matted and full of stray pieces of brush. She was covered with scratches and bruises, with one eye mostly swollen shut. Her clothing was torn and hardly covering her, and it was clear she had suffered some more personal assault, but Jayne couldn’t tell the extent of it. “Jayne?” Kaylee’s voice was thick with tears. “Might as well come over here. You’re going to be dead soon anyway, ya don’t want to look at her first?” Bill spoke plainly, as if they were conducting a business deal, not discussing his imminent death. “You all right?” Jayne focused his question at Kaylee, but didn’t take his eyes off the other two men. “They hurt me real bad, Jayne.” Her voice was sullen; beaten. It didn’t hold anything that sounded of Kaylee. “I know, Kaylee. You just hang in there, a little bit longer.” He wanted so badly to go over to her, to look her over for himself, but he knew that if he so much as took a step in her direction, then he would die for sure. “That’s a kindness, you know, encouraging her to live.” The tone in Robert’s voice made Jayne want to snap his neck. “But I’m thinking that if you knew what we got planned for her, you’d be thinkin’ she’d be better off dead.” Jayne spat into the dirt. “Don’t go plannin’ overmuch, since I’m not thinking you’ll get to touch her again.” “And I’m not thinkin’ you’re really in a position to carry that out.” Bill’s gun was immediately cocked and pointed directly at Jayne. For once he had to agree with him. “You’re right. I ain’t a moron. I make one move for my gun, and you have me laid out ‘fore I can get to it.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kaylee blanch. “There ain’t nothin’ I can do to save her.”