BLUE SUN ROOM FAN FICTION - GENERAL

CBSTEVE

The Dr. Tam Journals - Part 11 - Trash
Sunday, November 11, 2007

Kaylee contemplates the future away from Serenity and examines the past as she reads about the return of Mal's wife.


CATEGORY: FICTION    TIMES READ: 2126    RATING: 0    SERIES: FIREFLY

The Dr. Tam Journals – Part 11 – Trash

Kaylee, Simon, and River stood at the foot of the cargo bay ramp, their luggage at their feet, looking up at Mal, Zoe, Jayne and Inara. The dreaded moment had arrived and Kaylee had a lump in her throat, unable to say what she wanted to say to them.

“It’s time,” Simon finally said to her. “Our ship leaves in thirty minutes.”

“I hate saying goodbye,” she replied, afraid she’d start crying. She was looking at them all, especially her Capt’n, her big brother, her hero.

“It ain’t goodbye,” Mal said. “We’ll be seeing you again, little Kaylee. I can promise you that much. Take care.”

With that he turned and walked inside and the others followed, not a word to those left behind. Kaylee felt it was all wrong, something terrible was wrong, and then Serenity took off. But wait, who was piloting it? Who was looking after the sick and injured? Who was taking care of the engines? No one was! She started running after the ship, Simon and River chasing her, their voices lost to the noise of the engines and then Serenity was high in the sky and Kaylee felt sick at heart. Suddenly there was a tremendous explosion as Serenity blew up into a million pieces, raining metal and death all around the Eavesdown Docks of Persephone.

Kaylee screamed “NO!” over and over again and then fell to the ground and covered her eyes, not wanting to be alive anymore, knowing it was her fault Serenity blew up ‘cause she wasn’t there to look after her. After a long while the noise of the explosion disappeared and Kaylee opened her eyes and stood.

She wasn’t on the Eavesdown Docks anymore, but in a bedroom and a baby was crying. She went to a crib in a corner and saw the most beautiful baby girl in the verse and knew she was hers. The baby had captivating green eyes like hers and lovely brown hair. She picked her up and cuddled her and sat in a rocking chair by an open window and hugged and loved her daughter. She closed her eyes, sang a lullaby and fell asleep with her baby in her arms.

When she woke up she was outside, on a dusty street in a small town, surrounded by Alliance soldiers. They had Simon and River handcuffed and were dragging them away.

“Kaywinnet Lee Frye, you are bound by law for aiding fugitives and marrying a wanted man!’ said a voice and she recognized it instantly.

She turned and looked into the lawman Dobson’s face. “But I love him!” she shouted and Dobson and everyone else laughed at her. Kaylee spun around and yelled “stop it” over and over but they wouldn’t. She put her hands to ears to block the noise but one voice came through and she knew that voice, too.

“You got my money?” said the voice and Kaylee turned cold inside as she saw Jayne standing next to Dobson.

Dobson handed him a large bag. “It’s all here.”

“Nice doing business with you all,” Jayne said as he took the bag and grinned his evil leer. He looked at Kaylee for an instant and she could see the shame on his face. “Sorry. Never meant to hurt you, Kaylee. Just, the money was too good.” Then a red dot appeared on Jayne’s forehead and he fell to the ground dead. All turned to chaos as shots rang out, soldiers fell dead and Dobson screamed, “Not again!” as Mal shot him over and over.

“He dead?” said Zoe as she finished the last soldier.

“Most definitely this time,” said Mal and Kaylee ran to him and jumped into his arms.

“Told you I’d be seeing you again,” he said as he smiled in his devilish way. Zoe freed Simon and River as Mal walked up to Jayne’s lifeless body.

“And I told you I’d find you if you ever ratted them out again,” and he reloaded his gun and emptied it into Jayne.

“Time to go, sir,” said Zoe and in the distance a large Alliance troop ship could be seen approaching. All of them ran to Serenity and as soon as they were on board River ran to the bridge and then they were in the air.

Then Kaylee remembered. “My baby! I forgot my baby girl!”

Simon looked at her with puzzlement. “Kaylee, we don’t have a baby. Remember? You can’t have children.”

“No! That’s not true! How can you say such a terrible thing?”

“But I’m a doctor. Of course it’s true.” He was so cold and clinical.

“I want my baby!” she screamed again and again.

“Kaylee, Kaylee!” Simon said, and she felt him touching her shoulder, and then she knew it wasn’t real, it had all been a dream, a nightmare. She gasped as she awoke, the images so vivid, the feelings of despair gripping her soul.

“You’ve been dreaming,” Simon said as he hugged her. “Take a breath, it’s OK, I’m here.”

“Oh, God, Simon, it was awful,” she began. “Serenity blew up and then Jayne told Dobson where we were, an Alliance cruiser was chasing us, and then, then you…” She stopped and looked at him.

‘What? What did I do?” he asked.

“Said we couldn’t have babies,” and her face shown all the sorrow in the verse as if that part were true.

“It’s, it’s just a dream. Of course you can have babies. You’re only 21, you’re healthy, wonderful woman who is going to have lots of babies and make a wonderful mother.”

“Really? Can we….check to make sure?” she asked.

“You mean…now?”

She nodded and was already getting out of bed. Kaylee grabbed his blue robe and tossed it to him as he stood also. He stretched, rubbing his face and stifling a yawn.

“It won’t be thorough,’ Simon said as he put on his robe. “I haven’t got the equipment. I can examine you but any tests would have to wait till we reach Persephone.”

She took his hand. “I need to know for sure. As much as you can tell me.”

“Of course,” he smiled and Kaylee felt better and led the way out of their room to the infirmary.

Kaylee lay on the examining table and Simon got the internal scanner. “Lift up you nightdress,” he said and Kaylee forgot her fears for a second and felt a little aroused as she followed his orders and then he stood over her, very close, and ran the scanning device over her belly.

“We didn’t make love yesterday,” she said, a hint of disappointment in her voice.

“I know, too much drama,” he said but he was distracted, concentrating on the image scanner on the wall. “Everything seems in the right place. Ovaries look healthy, womb, too. That bullet missed your reproductive system, so no worries there.”

“Simon, would you leave me if I couldn’t have a baby?”

He was stunned by her question and just stood looking at her. “Kaylee, I love you. I will love any children we have. But if we can’t, medical science will help us. If we still can’t there are plenty of children in the verse that need a mother and father.”

‘You mean…adopt?”

“Most certainly. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’m no expert at gynecology or obstetrics but you are in perfect health. But…” he stopped as he suddenly thought of something.

She was instantly worried. “What? What is it?”

He looked at her gravely. “Kaylee please don’t be mad but I need to ask this. Have you ever had an abortion?”

Kaylee answered very calmly. “No, always been real careful. My mommy and daddy didn’t raise no dummies.”

He signed with relief. “That’s good. If a woman has an abortion before her first baby there could be complications.”

He put down the scanning device, turned off the machine. “When we get to Persephone or Boros we’ll take some blood and do some tests. That’s all I can do for now.”

“No, it’s not,” she grinned and took his hand and dragged him to her side. She reached inside his robe and Simon gave a little start, looked around at the windows as she felt him becoming aroused.

“Kaylee, we don’t have much privacy here.’

“I know, makes it more exciting. Have you ever, you know, done it in the OR or examining room?”

“No…but…”

“Always wanted to?”

He gulped as she continued to touch him. “Yes,” he managed to get out and then he quickly went to the door, closed it and turned off the lights. The glow from the passenger lounge lights provided some lighting as he made his way back to Kaylee, bent over her, kissed her, and let the passions of the moment carry them away. It was fast and exciting, both giggling as they tried to keep quiet, Simon looking up constantly for signs of someone but no one came. He had to kiss her to keep the noise of her passion from echoing through the ship, even with the door closed, and finally when both were sated they quickly made their way back to their room.

“The engine room is next,” Kaylee said as they collapsed into bed together and he grinned.

“Let’s make it in the dead of night,” he said and suddenly they both realize today was their last full day on Serenity. If River’s calculations were correct, and there was no reasons for them to not be since she was always correct, they would land at the Eastdown Docks of Persephone at 9 am local time tomorrow morning.

“Today is the last day,” Simon said.

“I just remembered,” Kaylee replied quietly. They were silent for a long moment, both reflecting on the meaning of this. “I still have to finish the checks but today is the last day out here, in the black.”

She sat up and then looked at him. “Let’s go to the bridge and take a look at the stars.” And before he could speak she was up and changing her clothes. As Simon dressed too, Kaylee took one of her green birth prevention pills out of its package. Suddenly she felt like she didn’t want to take it. Simon pulled on his sweater and notice she was standing holding it in her hand, looking at it. They looked at each other, her face telling him everything she wanted. He nodded and walked to her, took the pill from her hand and placed it on the desk.

She took a deep breath as her hugged her. “Oh, I want to be a mother so badly.”

“You will. No matter what happens, you will.”

After a quick trip to the washroom for both of them they made their way upstairs. Kaylee checked the engine and set the power settings for the day. To their surprise Jayne was in the kitchen making breakfast.

“Morning,” he said. “Be ready in a minute.” He was cooking some porridge and making toast from the remains of last night’s bread Kaylee had made and had a bunch of eggs sizzling on the grill. He looked at them and Kaylee could feel the tension level rising again.

“Good morning,” Simon said.

“Morning,” Kaylee said. “Sleep well?”

Jayne grinned. “Yeah, having a clear…what ya call it…conscience helps.”

It was polite conversation but that’s all it was, said because they were together and it was better to be polite than be anger at each other, at least Kaylee felt so after yesterday’s dramatics. Kaylee never stayed mad long at anyone and she could already feel her anger toward Jayne disappearing. She suddenly had a strange feeling of guilt for having put Jayne through all the drama of yesterday and placing him in a position where everyone questioned his trust. He had deserved it, but he had saved Simon and River in the end, and fought for them many times and had been a rock in their weak wall of defenders in the Reaver fight. She couldn’t help the thoughts and knew she had to say something. Kaylee came up to him and he stopped what he was doing and Simon and Jayne both tensed up, probable expecting more fireworks from her, she thought.

“Jayne, sorry about yesterday. Just…I had to say it.”

Both Simon and Jayne were surprised and she felt them both exhale at the same time. The big man struggled for the right thing to say. “Ain’t no need to, ah…be sorry…I deserved it. I’m one who messed up. Shoulda told you all long time ago.”

“I hate to leave any bad feelings behind.”

“No, you was right to call me out on it. I never shoulda said I didn’t do it.”

“We’ll be leaving soon and don’t what this hanging over us,” Kaylee said. “That’s all.”

Jayne finished flipping some eggs. “Don’t tell me where you’re going. Don’t wanna know. Might get some crazy ideas again.” He wouldn’t look at them as he said this.

“We understand” said Simon and Kaylee hesitated, seemed to want to say more, and then came to Simon’s side and they made their way to the bridge.

River was sitting the pilot’s seat, checking the navigation charts and they were surprised to see her.

“How long have you been awake?” Simon asked his sister.

She didn’t even look at them. “You two should have sex in your room. The infirmary is supposed to be a sterile place.” Simon and Kaylee looked at each other in shock wondering if she had seen them or had read their minds. Kaylee was hoping it was the latter. Before they could say anything River was up and moving toward the dinning area.

She stopped and turned. “Oh, and on Boros, there are a few towns in isolated areas. They’d be perfect. Let’s eat.”

Again Kaylee and Simon were surprised, that River knew where they wanted to go but not that much. Kaylee knew she had read their minds and had probably done so yesterday but she had said nothing. She had to keep remembering that there was no point hiding things from River.

They didn’t want to eat, not yet anyway, and sat for a long time and stared out at the stars. The blue sphere in the distance was Persephone, getting bigger as they got closer, smaller ones nearby her moons, some settled, others not. They even spotted the blinking nav lights of a large passenger cruiser off in the distance, heading away from Persephone. They took turns trying to guess the names of the moons and stars, looking at the star charts when they had a dispute. It was fun and it might be their last chance to do so for many years, Kaylee thought with sadness. She was going to miss the black that was for sure.

Then both were hungry and went to the dining area. Everyone was up and just about finished eating. After quick hellos and more nods and knowing grins between Kaylee and Zoe toward Inara and Mal, breakfast ended and Mal called for a ship’s meeting. Everyone sat with their coffee or tea as he stood and spoke.

“Last day of the trip. Time to think about the next part. How long to finish the inspection, Kaylee?”

“’bout two days, Capt’n, on my end. Then need to have the inspector come aboard and then have to do a test flight for finally inspection.”

Zoe raised a point they all seemed to be thinking about. “Is this really necessary, sir? We’ve flown for years without an inspection sticker. Serenity is a known ship to the Alliance. Asking for an inspection seems kinda….”

“Nuts,” finished Jayne.

“Figure you’d bring that up,” started Mal. “I got a contact on Persephone, gonna make sure things run smooth and no Alliance need know about us. He guarantees we’ll have no trouble. About time Serenity joined the legit ranks of space transport.”

“Who is it?” asked Inara and he looked to her and smiled.

“Old friend of ours, Warrick Harrow, of the red sash.”

“And the stinking cows,” added Jayne and Mal gave him one his looks.

“Harrow is very powerful on Persephone. I’m sure we’ll be fine,” said Inara.

“Harrow? Is that who the cargo is for, sir?” asked Zoe.

“Yup, he and his friends got refined tastes.”

Simon shifted in his chair. “Uh, hate to raise another point, but didn’t you say Badger claimed you couldn’t do business on Persephone without his say so.”

Jayne snorted. “Last we saw likes a him his men were taking a dirt nap and he was taking a long walk in the wilderness.”

“That he was. Still like to take some skin off his hide for setting us up with Dobson at Sturges. Suppose he feels the same. If he’s still alive and operating he’s gonna be mighty sore at us, too. Like to avoid any trouble that’d attract Alliance eyes and ears. So we’re gonna stay away from the Eavesdown Docks.”

Mal pulled a computer chip from his pocket and then passed it to River.

“New coordinates. Upload them for tomorrow’s landing.”

“Aye, Captain,” said River and she stood and went to the bridge.

Kaylee and Simon looked at each other, a bit worried. “Capt’n, we was hoping to find passage off Persephone at the Eavesdown Docks.”

Again his face betrayed his sadness. “I figured as much. After we finish inspection I’ll get you some transport over there. Any ideas where you’re going yet?”

“No,” said Simon quickly, too quickly, and he looked to Jayne. The subtext was not lost on the others, but not in the way they thought.

Zoe looked at them. “When you get settled make sure you wave us.”

‘We will,” said Kaylee. Again a sense of sadness invaded the ship and Kaylee felt bad for leaving them.

“Rest of you, finish any jobs need doing today before we land tomorrow. Then take it easy, get some rest ‘cause we got lots to do on Persephone. Simon, how’s Jayne’s shoulder?”

“It’s fine…” started Jayne but Simon interrupted.

“Stitches should come out tomorrow. Then no heavy lifting for a few more days.”

“You said three days!” Jayne complained.

“Well, it’s going to be a few more.”

“Listen to the Doctor, Jayne. Don’t need you laid up anymore than need be.”

“Just getting soft, is all,” Jayne added.

“I’m sure you’ll be back in fighting form in no time,” said Mal. “Ok, that’s all I have to say.”

The captain broke up the meeting and everyone went to do what needed to be done. Inara and Kaylee cleaned up the breakfast dishes as Mal sat at the table and went over the ship’s papers, complaining about all the regulations, seconding guessing his plan to try to make Serenity a legitimate cargo carrier. Zoe decided to take a shower and then do her laundry. Jayne and Simon went to the infirmary to change his bandage one last time and River followed Kaylee to the engine room when the dishes were finished and sketched her lying in her hammock. They chatted about the future on Boros, and what they hoped to do and Kaylee’s desires for children. River said she’d like to go to school or university if they had one or become a dancer. But when she talked about Serenity and leaving, Kaylee got the feeling River’s heart was more on the ship than with them coming to Boros.

After the sketch was finished, beautiful as usual, River went to the bridge to check on the new coordinates and calculate their new time of arrival. Since Kaylee had no tasks except routine checks on the engine, which she quickly dealt with, she decided to read some more of Simon’s journal. The after breakfast meeting had reminded her a bit of the time they had planned to dupe Saffron when they pulled the Lassiter caper and she knew that was coming up in the journal. Simon and River hadn’t done much during that caper but it was when he had learned of Jayne’s betrayal so she wanted to see just how he had reacted to that bit of news.

Kaylee entered their room and looked at all their stuff that was placed in every nook and cranny, clothes in piles here and there, Simon’s medical books and other reading material on the desk, all the charts on River, Kaylee’s few cosmetics she owned and their toiletries on a shelf, her umbrella, her work clothes and boots, and of course her pink dress from the ball, all wrapped in plastic.

She smiled as she looked at it and it reminder her of that time. Hanging next to it, also in plastic, was her white wedding dress that had also been her mother’s so long ago. Kaylee felt a tug of sadness as she thought on her mother. It had been almost three years since she passed and sometimes Kaylee still couldn’t believe it. Her father was all alone and as she thought on him she knew she and Simon had to settle down, have a family, and bring her father to see them or stay with them, for however long he liked. All doubts about leaving Serenity, doubts brought into sharper focus by her dream, were now gone and she knew she was going to leave.

The journal was in its place and Kaylee took it and curled up on the bed, opening to where she had left off. Simon had been describing the wounds Jayne and Zoe had received on Niska’s Skyplex. And then he went into long detail how he had reattached the Capt’n’s ear. Kaylee always felt a bit squeamish when she read these parts and often skipped them but this time she read it and felt a little proud of her man.

There were more little notes about her and his feelings for her. “Kaylee smiled at me this morning and it was like a ray of sunshine.” “I can’t help but stare at her everything time she’s around me. I get choked up and have trouble speaking sometimes, too. Still putting my foot in my mouth.” That was for sure!

Then there was one of those times when it almost seemed they would connect. “Kaylee and I cooked dinner together and she teased me about my lack of culinary skills. I said I’d make a terrible husband and she got a funny looked and said no, I’d probable make a great husband. And I said she’d make a great wife and mother. We both felt something pass between us again and I wanted to kiss her but then someone entered the kitchen and interrupted as always.”

So many times that had happened! Just as she and Simon seemed to be about to…someone turned a corner, entered a room, yelled for him or her over the intercom, or River was troubled, or, or….it had been so maddening, almost as if there had been a conspiracy to prevent them from being together. Of course, it was all in her mind and she kicked herself now because she should have just thrown herself into his arms and to devil with the consequences.

“Since the Skyplex fight River is more distant from the crew. Something happened between her and Kaylee and when I asked she wouldn’t explain and I don’t feel Kaylee would tell me either. Also, River has been making cryptic comments about Jayne and how he isn’t that big a hero. It all makes no sense to me and I wonder if it is more psychosis or problems with the medication I am giving River.”

It all made sense to Kaylee though, the coldness between her and River was Kaylee’s fear of what River had done in the Skyplex fight and her cryptic comments about Jayne were related to his betrayal of them on Ariel.

“We’ve just finished delivering a load of wobbly head geisha dolls to Kitan.” Kaylee felt a giggle building and then let it out as she remembered. There was a yearly festival on Kitan, a planet near the Core with an unusually high population of Orientals, and the central point of the festival was the giving of wobbly headed dolls as a token of friendship. The dolls came in all shapes and sizes and the more elaborate and expensive the dolls the more the friendship meant. It was a sign of love even or a desire to enter a business relationship and there were mystifying rituals, at least to outsiders, as to the exact meaning of the wobbly headed doll ceremony.

With over 40 million of the dolls sold each year it was a great business opportunity but the trade was strictly control by the people of Kitan who made all dolls on planet and jealously guarded against smugglers, even paying the Alliance a large fee to provide some cruisers in the days leading up to the festival. Serenity had been contracted to smuggle the wobbly headed geisha dolls made on Greenleaf into Kitan to an unscrupulous local who wanted to avoid paying the local government tax on each doll made and sold. The crew had laughed when they had seen the cargo and the Capt’n had been a bit angry at the levity the crew had for the assignment. Kaylee had taken one for her room, Wash had placed one on the bridge next to his dinosaurs, and one day they had found River playing with dozens of them on the cargo bay floor. That they had managed to make the deal without any problems and had gotten a good pay day seemed to stress even more how easy the whole thing had been, despite the Capt’n’s worries.

“To our great surprise, Saffron, the captain’s ‘wife’ who tried to steal the ship and kill us a few months ago, is back on board Serenity. River and I are now being forced to remain in our room as Mal is worried Saffron might recognize us and call the feds to collect the reward. There has been enough of that lately. River finally revealed what her cryptic comments about Jayne had been. We weren’t taken by chance on Ariel: he called the Alliance. I guess I shouldn’t be so shocked by this news. Jayne has his own self interest at heart at all times and he has never been friendly to us. Still, I was almost ready to believe he had changed and felt gratitude for him saving us on Ariel. Now that I think over what happened, his betrayal is all the more obvious. The soldiers were exactly where we walked, they knew our names immediately, and the men with the hands of blue, if River’s readings are correct, arrived far too quickly. The question now is what should I do about Jayne?”

What to do about Jayne. It was all out in the open now and Kaylee hoped he had learned his lesson. Maybe he hadn’t since he didn’t want them to tell him where they were going. Then again perhaps the man knew his own weakness, like an alcoholic who can’t go into a bar or be near someone who is drinking for fear of giving in to temptation.

“Another day has passed with more adventure. This time it wasn’t as dangerous and only one person got hurt, Jayne. The details of all that happened have just been told to me by Wash and Kaylee. Apparently, when we did a cargo run two days ago on an isolated moon, Mal ran into his old war comrade named Monty, who just happened to be the husband of Saffron now. Except she called herself Bridgett. It seems she has more than one alias and more than one husband.”

How many, they didn’t care to guess, thought Kaylee. Jeeze, she had enough trouble just snaring one man and this Saffron or whatever her name was had them all over the galaxy!

“After the captain revealed her past to Monty he decided that he’d have a quick divorce, of the abandonment on a lifeless rock kind. Mal, probably against his instincts, took her on board Serenity in one of our cargo containers. She made him believe that a lucrative job was in the works and she just hadn’t gotten around to telling Monty yet. Well, for once she wasn’t lying, because the job involved the Lassiter, the original laser gun built hundreds of years ago, of which she knew where one of only two surviving samples lay.”

The wench knew her merchandise that’s for sure. When they had finally managed to fence it, the Lassiter ended up fetching Serenity’s biggest pay day ever and the Capt’n gave them all a great bonus on top and bought the hovercraft Mule and redid Serenity’s interior and upgraded the engine. And then soon after it seemed as if all the luck in the verse left them and they fell on hard times again, barely getting by in the days before the events that led them to Miranda.

“The prize was in a floating island estate off the coast of Bellerophon, held by a man who also turned out to be an ex-husband of Saffron. Except he knew her by the name of Yolanda. The crew planned to dupe Saffron this time and laid out an elaborate scheme to counter every move she could possibly come up with. In the end it was lucky they did so, because she had been planning a double cross. Inara was part of the plan and she managed to beat Saffron to the prize after the crew had secured it. The only troublesome spot had been Jayne’s injury.”

Well, that and the fact that Saffron has sabotaged the ship again and it had taken Kaylee a good thirty minutes to get them to flying once more and another hour to undo all the mess she had made.

“To get the Lassiter out of the estate, which floats in the sky high above the ocean, they had to place it in the garbage bin at the bottom of the estate, which was reprogrammed by Kaylee to be flown to new coordinates after its drone recovery system was activated. Kaylee and Jayne had climbed out on the top of Serenity to get to the control panel on the garbage bin. At this time Jayne received an electric shock from the device and wrenched his spine badly. He was lowered into the ship and Book and I took him by stretcher to the infirmary.”

It had been a terrifying few minutes for Kaylee. The ship had been bucking and swaying, she and Jayne only held on top by secure lifelines, the wind blowing hard and cold, making it difficult to keep their footing and understand each other. She had tried to warn Jayne about the danger but it was too late. He got zapped and flew across the ship landing square on his back. Kaylee had struggled to move him and never would have gotten the heavy Jayne inside if Zoe hadn’t come to help her. Then Kaylee herself had been almost crushed by the drone coming to take the bin. She had barely got the reprogrammed gyro control panel back in place when Zoe’s steely grip dragged her down and as she looked up all she could she was metal and Zoe was screaming for Wash to get them out of there. Without a doubt, Zoe had saved her life. Again. She’d have to do something nice for her before she left.

“I gave Jayne an injection to prevent him from moving when he woke up, His spine wasn’t broken but he needed to lie still for some time to allow it to heal. When he awoke I told him I knew about Ariel. He denied it as I expected but I made him understand that no matter how much we disliked and distrusted each other, we had to live with each other and that as long as he was my patient I wouldn’t harm him. I actually think he was afraid. I now truly despise the man and all he stands for.”

“There was a piece of fun for the crew at the end of the job. Although I didn’t see it, Kaylee and Wash could not stop laughing as they described how they had found Mal without any clothes on, alone in the desert. Saffron had managed to take his gun from him and shuttle two and left him naked in the desert. He claimed it was all part of the plan but I think him losing his clothes wasn’t something anyone actually planned for or expected.”

Kaylee had a fit of giggles as she remembered how the Capt’n had been so cool about the whole thing, acting like he wasn’t even naked, walking around without a care in the world. Inara had also been so cool, seeing the Capt’n naked for the first time, at least Kaylee thought it had been the first time. Guess Inara seen more naked men than most women and one more was no big deal. Course, it was a man she had feelings for. Or did she at that time? Hmmm, something to ask her before they left the ship.

Simon walked in the room at that point and she still had a big grin on and he asked her why she was smiling.

“Just reading about the Capt’n naked in the desert.”

“Oh, yeah, that must have been quite a sight.”

“Just, he was so calm about it all, like it was no big deal,’ and she again started laughing.

Simon sat on the bed next to her and picked up the journal, reaching out and placing it on the desk. “I’m glad my writing is amusing you and not scaring you anymore.”

“Well, that time wasn’t as scary as some of the others,” she started but then remembered it had been dangerous. “I did almost get crushed by the garbage bin.”

All her joy left her face and she got cold inside and trembled a bit and Simon held her hand, touched her cheek, trying to comfort her. “Almost lost you before I knew…before I had a chance to….love you. The times when we almost….” But he didn’t finish, not wanting to say it.

“Been too many times,” Kaylee added. “For me and you and the others. And we all ain’t here anymore.”

They were silent for a moment looking at each other. “If ever I….” he started but she quickly put a finger to his lips.

“No, don’t say it. Don’t want to think about it. Too painful. You write what you want, put it in an envelope and seal it. I’ll do what it says if I can, but don’t tell me, I don’t want to think on it. I ain’t some innocent girl without a clue about the verse. People die and I’ve seen it and I know we all go eventually. But let’s not have dark thoughts clouding our happiness.”

“I agree. We won’t mention it again.”

They hugged and felt the warmth of each other as they couldn’t help but let their thoughts drift to that very subject they want to avoid.

“Jayne said he wants to go the Southdown Abbey on Persephone,’ said Simon in a quiet voice.

“The Southdown….oh.”

“He wants to make sure the brothers know what happened to Book. Said he’d feel better knowing they knew and heard it from someone who knew him. It seems like he’s trying to make amends in a lot of ways, like he’s paying for his past sins.”

“That’s so nice of him.”

“He and Book were friends.”

“Suppose so,” she said. They were quiet for a while, holding each other, and final Kaylee looked at him and saw he was pensive.

“I’m worried about the next few days,” he confessed, noticing her look of concern.

“Me, too. Gonna be painful. I hate saying goodbye.”

“It’s not too late to change our minds,” Simon said and she looked at him and knew he didn’t mean it and knew he said it cause he wanted to make sure she was leaving cause she wanted to leave.

“No, we’ve made a decision and it’s the right one. Boros’ gonna be our new home, for a spell, at least till we find a way to get the Alliance off our backs.”

“I hope, some day. I didn’t want you to be a fugitive, too, Kaylee.”

“My eyes were wide open when I said “I do’ Doctor Tam.”

“I don’t deserve you.”

“Yes, you do. You’re a good man, an honest man, and there ain’t too many of them around. I’m the luckiest and happiest woman in the verse.”

He stroked her cheek and kissed her gently and then with passion and they both felt the desire building in them again, and they hastily started removing their clothes. Soon they were naked and they were exploring every spot on each others’ body with hands and lips and tongue.

“Make me a woman, make me a mother” she breathed into his ear, her voice heavy with lust. “Make me yours.”

And all the rest of the morning and afternoon Kaylee and Simon lay in bed, making love, talking, cuddling and making love again, trying everything they wanted to try, and no one disturbed them, no one knocked on the door or interrupted them and for once the ship was at peace and Kaylee had her man to herself uninterrupted for hours on end. They skipped lunch and no one came for them and by dinner time they lay asleep in peace and Kaylee dreamed of nothing but good things, of babies in her arms, of children going to school, of River getting married, of Simon and her father and their sons drinking and laughing together at a big table in a bright cheery home on a nice street in a quiet town, of her old friends coming to visit, telling their stories of adventure and asking Kaylee to fix that or tweak this. And then, at the end of her dreams, was a day she longed for, a day when she walked on the dazzling streets of Osiris with her handsome doctor on her arm, dressed in the finest fashions, doing what they wanted to do, and they didn’t have to look over their shoulder or worry about what they said or did, and all was right again in the ‘verse.

COMMENTS



POST YOUR COMMENTS

You must log in to post comments.

YOUR OPTIONS

OTHER FANFICS BY AUTHOR

River's Run - Part 19
Things come to a head on Londinium as the plan to win Mal's freedom begins to unravel.

River's Run - Part 18
Mal’s heading for a hangman’s noose. Will a rescue party come in the nick of time?

River's Run - Part 17
As the crew rests and heals, Shin and his confederates take a step closer to power, and Mal faces a new, deadly dilemma.

River's Run - Part 16
As Simon patches up the crew, Mal and his lawyer make plans, and Badger and his cousin have some unexpected visitors.

River's Run - Part 15
Mal finds a new friend on Londinium, his crew makes contact with River and Zoe, and events come to head on Whitefall.

River's Run - Part 14
Battle rages through Serenity as the crew tangles with an Alliance boarding party.

River's Run - Part 13
Shock and a sense of tragedy fill Serenity as the crew struggles to deal with Derek's betrayal. Meanwhile, the Operative comes a step closer to finding Serenity.

River's Run - Part 12
Mal strikes back at the Alliance, a little trip to the bank doesn't go as planned, and the Operative reaches out to River and Derek.

River's Run - Part 11
The Operative makes a plan to trap Serenity, escape plans are made, and those long separated are together once again.

River's Run - Part 10
Inara makes a date with Paulo Chase, Mal gets back his first love, and Shin plans the next move in the galactic chess match.