Please contact me if you would like to archive this fanfic.

Firefly is the sole property of all the wonderful people who created it. I don't own it. Just write silly stuff based on it.

Hope you enjoy. ----------

“So,” Zoe drawled as she slid into the seat Mal had vacated. She watched him calmly and began to eat. Wash sighed and sank into a seat across from her. She flicked her eyes at Mal’s bare chest and back up again. He hastily began buttoning his shirt.

“Yeah?” he said defensivly.

A slim brow arched delicately in mild amusment. “That’s what I’d like to know. What was that all about?” She looked in the direction River had gone with curiosity. Jayne snorted and opened his mouth to reply, but two equally murderous looks set him back a step. “Captn’s gettin’apieceof..,” he said in a unintelligible grumble.

“Jayne,” Wash said cheerfully. “Help me go move the cargo.” Wash stood and motioned for the lugheaded idiot to follow. He gave Zoe the “you’ll tell me everything later” look and headed for the door.

“But I wanna see Zoe tear the Capt…” Jayne protested. Mal shot the other man a dark look, his jaw tightening with irritation. More then likely because Mal knew that Zoe wouldn't let his disapperance rest.

“Jayne go help Wash with the cargo,” Mal said sternly.

Jayne rose grumbling from his seat, “Never get ta see the Capt’ get his hinny hole toasted,” he huffed and reluctantly followed Wash from the galley.

“You gonna toast my hinny hole?” Mal asked warily with a hint of his usual rougish smile.

Zoe shook her head. “Nope. So what was that all about,” Zoe repeated again.

Mal shrugged his shoulders, shifted restlessly, and then settled on crossing his arms. “What was what,” he returned with a deadpanned expression.

"Hm." Zoe continued to eat, letting an uncomfortable silence start to stretch. Mal tucked his shirt in with much grunting and swearing and turned to leave.

“Where’d you go?” Zoe said.

Mal stopped and turned back. “Out.”

“Out where,” she asked.

“I had to take care of something,” he said wearily. “Can we just leave it at that.”

Zoe looked at Malcolm, a frown tugging at her lips. She finally shook her head. “No I don’t think we can. Where were you?” When it looked like Mal wouldn’t answer she said persistently, “We were worried Mal. The note didn’t say anything...”

Mal turned and started to pace the length of the galley. “I stayed in the area like you said…” Zoe said softly. He avoided looking at her. Despite whatever River had done, his side was still throbbing with pain. “Are you gonna talk to me or what?”

“I got another lead on Kaylee,” he said quietly.

“WHAT!” Zoe yelled and surged from her seat. The fork she had been eating with clattered to the table. She watched Malcolm continue his pacing in disbelief. “No. Mal no. We’ve been through this. There is..”

“Now hold on just one gorram minute!” Mal snarled back.

“No Mal! You need to get a hold on it. Cause you’re losin’ it.” Zoe said angrily. “I thought we had decided,” she said almost pleadingly. Zoe clamped her mouth closed, lips pressed tightly together. When she spoke again, she had regained the composure to her voice.

“No disrespect sir.” she released a breath in disbelief as she looked at Mal. “But look at you.” She waved a hand at his appearance. “You look like hell.” Zoe shook her head and disposed of the food she hadn’t eaten. She didn’t feel much like eatting now anyway. She thought they had finally gotten past this, that everyone had put the matter to rest. But she should have known that Mal was to stubborn to let anything go. Zoe stood at the small kitchen island and watched Mal as he turned to face her. He grunted in what could have been laughter, but the grimace on his face showed it was a sound of anger.

“Well, thanks Zoe,” Mal said, voice tinged with sarcasm. She frowned and didm't reply to the verbal mockery. With a heavy sigh he stopped his pacing and slumped back into a chair with a sigh. “Inara will be glad someone’s takin’ an interest in my appearance,” he said numbly.

“So what did you hear,” Zoe asked quietly, trying not to get encouraged by this turn of events, even though Mal did look like he had been on the rough end of an earthquake.

“Badger contacted me,” he said stiffly.

“Ai ya,” Zoe swore softly.

“Yeah.” The word was laced with bitterness. “The hwoon dahn said he had info on Murphy. Help us find him.”

“And?” Zoe asked hopefully.

“It was an ambush.”

Zoe closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. Of all the stupid, idiotic things… “Well can’t say you didn’t get what was comin’ to you then,” she said lightly. She pushed away from the island and crossed to where Mal sat. She stopped and placed a hand on his shoulder. Hadn’t she found a gray hair last week? Zoe was certain it was because of Mal.

“Next time take some back up.” She squeezed his shoulder gently, a reminder that while she didn’t agree with his reckless actions, she was still glad he was safely back. She released him and headed for the door to go help Wash and Jayne.

“I did,” he said guardedly.

Zoe froze with one foot on the bottom step. She turned back towards Mal with feeling of dread. “Who…”

“Inara,” he snapped tersely.

“Ye Soo! So that’s where she went... we thought she was with...” Zoe gasped and took a step back into the mess. “Is she ok? Where is she?”

Mal lowered his head and looked at the dirt encrusted under his nails. “She won’t be coming back for awhile,” he said quietly. “She… she said she’d need to take care of some business first…”

Zoe looked at Mal’s bent head with incredulity that slow transformed into anger. “Ai ya... It’s one thing to loose a person through no fault of your own. It’s quite another to drive ‘em away,” she whispered harshly. Mal flinched like the words were a physical blow.

“Mal… I know you feel responsible… but ,” she faltered and then sighed. “You're making this whole situation harder on everyone. You need to let it go.” Zoe didn’t wait for a reply. She turned and left the mess quietly.

Mal slowly relaxed his clenched fists where they sat trembling in his lap. He lsighed and sat shaking in the cheerful light of the galley. The bright flowers that decorated the room seemed to mock him. He had almost painted over them a number of times, but couldn’t bring himself to erase the bit of Kaylee left behind. Mal groaned and ran a hand through his hair. It felt like whatever magic River had wrought was long gone. He dug his thumbs into his closed, gritty eyes, trying to block out the sight of those whimsical petals.

‘Please Captain… please please please please ples..” Kaylee pleaded.

“Alright! We’ll go!” Mal said in exasperation.

“Yes!” Kaylee yelped and wrapped an arm around Simon’s neck for a quick hug. “We’re goin’. I told yah I’d go.” Everyone else at the dinner table that night chuckled at her exuberance. Simon grinned back and placed a kiss on Kaylee's brow.

Mal opened his eyes, a faint, sad smile tugging at his lips. He looked towards the spot where he last remembered her sitting.

“But we ain’t stayin’ long. Gonna open the door and boot your ass out. Takin’ my mechanic for a whole three month,” Mal grumbled half-hearted around a mouthful of bread. There was no real heat behind the words. He couldn’t deny Kaylee the pleasure of attending the mechanic course she’d been offered.

“Ill be back before you even know I’m gone,” Kaylee said confidently. “An’ just think how much more help I’ll be on Serenity.”

He remembered how dazed and happy she had looked the day Badger had contacted them. They were on Persephone to drop a load of goods. Mal had been in the hold when Badger wandered up. The tiny Kingpin said a man named Phillip Murphy wanted Kaylee to come train a couple of his workers for mechanic’s positions. He was even offering to put her through an advanced electrical theory class.

Mal stood and exited the galley. It was too quiet and too full of memories for him to stay there any longer. He walked slowly into the hull of Serenity. His hands caressed the railings that made up the bones of his baby. He stopped and watched Wash and Jayne hiding the cargo they had brought aboard.

“Who the gorram is Phillip Murphy,” Mal asked in confusion.

“You know…” Kaylee said a look of exasperation on her face.

“Noooo. I don’t know…” Mal drawled. “I ain’t lettin’ my mechanic go nowhere with no one if I don’t know the fella.”

“He was the guy at the ball.” Silence greeted this revelation. Kaylee sighed in disgust. “Inara? With the go se that was bein’ possessive.” Mal waved a hand in the air and continued to look clueless. “You fought a duel!” she exclaimed.

“Oh! Right. Right! Now which one was Murphy?” Mal asked.

Kaylee growled and slugged Mal in the arm. “Ouch!” Mal yelped, looking offended and rubbing his arm.

“He was the older gent talkin’ to me.” She said with a touch of shy pride. “Rescued me from some uppercrust tchen wah that was pickin’ on me.” She shrugged like it was of no consequence while hope and excitement radiated from her eyes. “I guess I made an impression.”

“Hmm,” Mal said noncommittally.

“Well? The girlie grease monkey gonna play?” Badger asked.

Mal remembered that he had tossed the foul little beast out after promising to get back to him.

Wash had spotted him and by the look on his face Zoe had told him what happened. Mal didn’t know what he hated worse, the pity or the confusion he saw on his pilot’s face. Jayne seemed unconcerned as usual by the turn of events. When he shoved a crate into the tiny hiding spot with more force then necessary, swearing like an Independence sailor, Mal knew that his actions had even affected the usually undaunted mercenary.

Even from the beginning Mal hadn’t liked the idea. For one thing it left Serenity without a mechanic. More importantly Kaylee would be planet-side, out of his sight, and who knew, into what kind of trouble. He couldn’t help being protective. She was like a sister to him, but as Zoe, Kaylee, Inara, and even Wash had quickly reminded him, Kaylee was a grown woman. She could do what she wanted.

So they had went to Persephone, one of the more slummy areas, Mal had meet with Phillip Murphy, then Kaylee had gotten her gear, and left. She had made sure to hug each of them in turn, leaving Wash with a notebook full of instructions. Just in case anything went wrong with Serenity.

Mal’s hand’s tightened on the railing under his hands as he remembered Kaylee waving cheerfully good-bye. “I’ll see yah all really soon. Take care of my ship,” she said sternly.

One month went by. She wrote every week. Said she was loving all the fresh fruit.

Two months went by. She wrote about her students and the amazing things she was learning. All the plans she was making to improve Serenity.

Three months went by and they went to get her. But she wasn’t there. And neither was Murphy.

Four months had passed in a series of agonizingly weak leads, false hopes, and finally the inevitable decay of hope. They had each slowly begun to think that they would never find her. Not sure, but dreading that she was dead, enslaved, or worse.

Anytime they got word of a lead, he would persue it. It was hard on the crew. They all loved Kaylee. It was chipping away at them to go out and yet never bring her back. For Mal it was the worse. He had let her down by not protecting her and it ate at him. He had agreed with Zoe that they would proceed more cautiously from now on. Not run off at the first hint of a clue. Which was exactly what he had done a week ago. Which was why Zoe was upset with him.

“I think it’s time we talked,” someone said behind him.

Mal turned and saw Book standing there. “Ain’t nothin’ to talk about,” he said curtly.

“I've been in contact with Kaylee,” Book said quietly.