CHAPTER 2

FRANKIE:

“Simon, how’s she doing?” Kaylee stood by the door, on her way to the commons. “She’ll be fine, the bullet grazed her head and she’s lost a lot of blood, but she’ll be fine.” He looked down at the girl that had saved River and Kaylee. They had managed to get some information out of River and Simon had discovered that she had been raped. He had only told the Captain and had never seen him angrier. She came to slowly, first smell, then hearing and finally she opened her eyes a little and quickly shut them again. She could hear someone moving around behind her so she took a chance and opened her eyes again. She had no idea where she was, thought it might be the hospital, but looked too new and clean. Someone was coming up beside her, so she closed her eyes and peeked out. She didn’t know who it was, but she heard him tell someone that she was waking up and that they should come on down. In an instant, she made up her mind and looked for a weapon. She spied a small knife on the counter and tensed her muscles to be sure they would all work, she slowly got up and reached for the knife. She grabbed it and the man at the same time, just as another man came in thru the door. “What the hell!” The Captain yelled. “You stay back.” She pulled the man she held a little closer and stumbled backward. “What the hell did you do to me?” “Nothing, just sewed up your head.” Simon looked at Mal. “Where are we? I want to go home.” She kind of slumped back against the counter and pulled the man with her. “Just let me go.” “Go on then.” Mal just stepped back out of the room. “Just be careful when you open the air lock, there’s kind of a whoosh when the air sucks out.” “What? Where are we?” “You’re on my ship, Serenity. We brought you on board after the gun fight.” “Serenity? Are girls ok?” “They are fine, mind letting my doctor go?” “Just want to go home, that’s all.” She held the knife closer to the doctor’s neck. “Figure he’s my ticket.” She used him to stand up and held him in front of her as she walked towards the door. Jayne was in her way, she almost dropped her knife at the sight of him. “See I’m not the only one that wants to take a knife to the good Doctor.” Jayne grinned at her. “You look a lot better now then when we found you.” He walked passed her and washed his hands. “Doc, you gonna look at this or what.” He looked behind him where Frankie stood, with a confused look on her face. “Little busy, Jayne. Could you wait a few minutes?” “Frankie, think you could let him go long enough to fix my arm?” Mal and Simon had bewildered looks on their faces, Jayne hadn’t told them that he knew the girl they picked up. Frankie dropped her arm and Mal pulled Simon out of the way as she slid to the floor. Jayne picked her up and placed her back on the table. “Care to tell us how you know her name? River and Kaylee didn’t know it.” Mal let go of Simon, who ran over to check her head. “She’s the girl I spent the night with.” Jayne sat on the stool as the Doctor came over to look at the wound on his arm. It wasn’t something Jayne usually had Simon look at, but he didn’t want Mal to have to hurt Frankie, so he had distracted her. “She’s a whore?” Simon looked at the girl on the table. “Why, that a problem Doc?” Jayne angrily looked at him. “No, she just doesn’t look much older then Kaylee.” “Don’t think she is. You done yet?” Jayne grumbled, jerked his arm away from Simon and left the infirmary. Mal looked at Simon. “You sure there’s no problem? Girl did save River and Kaylee from God knows what” “No, there’s no problem.” *** “Time for dinner, Simon.” Kaylee looked at the girl on the table. “She awake?” “No, she’ll be out for awhile.” He walked over to Kaylee. “What’s for dinner?” He led Kaylee to River’s room. “Not sure what Book was able to get. You know with…” Kaylee felt so guilty about River getting away from her. “It’s not your fault, Kaylee. River has a talent with wandering away.” He smiled at River, but she had been very subdued all afternoon. Simon was worried about how much she knew. Dinner was a quite affair, everyone knew how close Kaylee and River had come to harm, only Mal and Simon knew the cost of their safety. She woke with a start, this time she knew where she was and why she was strapped down. Table was built for a larger person and she was able to work her fingers under the straps and loosen them.

JAYNE:

“She hurts.” River quietly said. “He shot her, of course she hurt.” Jayne muttered under his breath. “Moon-brain.” River shook her head. “No, she took the pain meant for me.” Her voice was very quite. “What do you mean pain?” Jayne looked between River, Simon and Mal. He didn’t like the look on anyone’s face. “Jayne, come here.” Mal walked away from the table, he didn’t want the others to hear. For once, Jayne complied with out argument.

FRANKIE:

She looked in the dining room, Jayne was not there. He had been a dream. She knew she had to get to the bridge, she needed to go home. She headed down in the hopes of finding it.

JAYNE:

“Raped her!” Jayne yelled loud enough for every one at the table to hear. Mal just shook his head and looked Jayne in the eyes. “Was trying to keep this between us.” Kaylee looked shocked. “When did that happen?” “It was supposed to be me.” “It’s Ok, River.” Simon made her sit back down. “What the hell you mean it’s Ok?” Jayne stared at Simon. “Oh, that’s right she’s just a whore so it don’t matter.” “Jayne!” Mal yelled. “I meant, it could have been worst.” “How?” “It could have been River!” Simon yelled back. Everyone looked at him. “And why would that be worst????? How?” “It’s what she does for a living, Jayne. I’m sorry she had to go through it, but…” “But what, Simon, she’s use to it?” “Yes Jayne, probably like being with you!” Simon grabbed River and stood to leave. The ship lurched and groaned as it tried to turn too fast. “Wash! What the hell?” Mal yelled as he tried to keep himself and Inara upright. The rest of the crew found themselves on the floor. “It’s her time to fly.” River smiled. As the ship settled down the crew headed for the bridge, only to find the hatch locked. “So if we’re all here, who locked the hatch?” Wash looked around at everyone. “Simon, I thought you drugged her?” Mal looked accusatorily at him. “I did, she shouldn’t have been able to get up for hours.” Simon ran down to the infirmary. “Other way locked?” He looked at Kaylee and Wash. “I’ll try the cargo entry.” Wash ran down the stairs. “She’s gone.” They heard Simon on the intercom. “Can we talk to her?” Jayne looked a little worried. “You think you can get her to open the door?” “I don’t know.” He went down to the kitchen and called on the intercom. “Frankie, you there?” “Jayne? Thought you were a dream.” Her voice was small and scared. “Dream? Most people think of me as a nightmare. Frankie, can you open the door.” “Need to go home.” “Sheriff knows you killed his man, you go home they’ll arrest you.” “Only place I belong.” “You saved Kaylee and River, Captain will let you stay here as long as you want.” Jayne looked at Mal as he offered Frankie a new home, Mal nodded. “You sure, Jayne?” “Yeah, I’m sure. Open the hatch so Wash can get us back on track.” They waited a few minutes and were relieved when they heard the hatch open. Jayne ran up to the make sure Zoë didn’t hurt her. She stood to the side while Wash slowed the ship down and contacted Kaylee to see if there was any problem, before he corrected their directions. Mal watched Jayne, as he led her down to the kitchen.

FRANKIE:

She had her own room, she had never had her own room before. When she was little, she had to share with her sisters. After the fire, she had to share her hospital room and then when she was forced to work at Marne’s to pay off her parent’s debt, she still had to share. She even had to have a roommate when she moved out. She had been on the ship for a few weeks, was helping with the cooking and cleaning. Things were going well, except that Jayne was avoiding her, she knew she hadn’t been his first choice that night, but still she thought he had enjoyed himself. Now he would hardly even look at her.

JAYNE:

Jayne kept stealing looks at her, remembering what the Captain had said when he first came onboard, about the women on the ship being off limits. Was so hard, her being right there and not being able to touch her.

FRANKIE & JAYNE:

After dinner, everyone settled in the commons area for the last of the real coffee. “You sure we can’t get anymore of this?” Wash asked over his cup. “I’d be willing to give up eating for more of this.” “Sorry Wash, we can pick some more up when we hit New Seattle again, but until then this is the last of it, so you better enjoy it.” Frankie smiled. The proximity alarm sounded and startled everyone, it scared Wash so bad he spilled the rest of his coffee on himself. “What the gorram hell is going on Wash.” Mal had barely kept his coffee in his cup. Wash stood and brushed the hot coffee off his lap. “I’ll go see.” He muttered to himself the whole way to the bridge. He was only there a few seconds before he yelled to the others. “Reavers, we have Reavers coming straight at us.” Mal and most of the crew ran up to the bridge. “Where?” Mal asked. “We gotta run Wash.” Jayne saw the ship in the new long-range scanner and stood against the lockers shaking. “Do something.” “Are they turning Wash?” Zoë put her hand on his shoulder. He checked the radar. “They’re too far out to tell, won’t know for at least 10 minutes.” “Let me know if they change direction.” Mal left the bridge to find Inara. Kaylee watched him leave and then headed for the infirmary and Simon. Jayne grunted and headed for his bunk and Vera. Book headed for his Bible. They had all headed for where they felt safest. Frankie watched Jayne head to his bunk and made a decision. She followed him down the stair and he didn’t even notice. When he removed the fabric form the wall and exposed all the guns Frankie gasped, he jumped, turned around, grabbed her and tossed her on the bed. “What the hell?” He got off her. “You trying to get yourself killed?” “No… I…” She stood in front of him. “Spit it out girl, I ain’t got time to play games.” He grabbed one of his shotguns and started to load it. “Zoë told me what Reavers would do to us, I…” She took a deep breath. “I don’t want my first… non-working…. time… to be with a monster like that. I thought maybe we could pass the time…” She took a step between his legs and ran her hand over his face. “You know.” He had a grin on his face and took off his shirt. She was surprised at how mechanical he was going about it, granted she wasn’t expecting hearts and flowers, but he just striped and cleared off the bed. “Ain’t you gonna take your clothes off?” He laid down and started to stroke himself. Frankie felt a little self-conscious, but after all this had been her idea and not knowing how much time they had left, she quickly stripped. She walked over to the bunk where Jayne had aroused himself and smiled, she was ready herself, maybe not as ready as he was. She moved his hand out of the way and took over for him, slowly she straddled him and lowered her self down. God he filled her so completely, she was afraid to move, afraid she would finish before they had really started. After a few deep breaths she started to move, slowly she rocked. He had her breasts in his hands, his eyes closed and muttered nonsense to himself. He wanted to roller her over and just fuck her hard and quick. When he tried, she moaned and he stopped, it didn’t occur to him what power this little girl had over him. After what seemed like forever, she finally let him roll her over and it was incredible, he completely forgot about the reavers. They finished just as Mal’s voice came over the intercom and told them that they were in the clear. Jayne quickly got up and dressed, he tossed Frankie her clothes to hurry her up. He grabbed a small gun and pushed her up the ladder. Just as he feared, they ran into Mal. “What’s going on?” Mal glared at Jayne. “Frankie came looking for a weapon.” He handed her the gun. “Next time we land I’ll show you how to use it.” He smiled at Mal and quickly turned and headed to the kitchen. Mal looked at Frankie. “So a weapon, huh?” Frankie smiled and slipped the gun into her pocket. “Yes Captain, I seem to have lost mine.” She smiled and followed Jayne into the kitchen. Mal shook his head and watched them walk off.

JAYNE: Jayne looked over to where Frankie was and smiled to himself, they had been getting together every couple of nights since the last Reaver scare. He had told her not to tell anyone, but not the real reason why. He was afraid if she knew it was against the Captain’s rules she would stop. He had found himself staying longer and longer, even woke up there one morning and as nice as it was to wake up with her in his arms, he was afraid that things might turn serious, so he had been trying not to go quite as often. He knew he had to be careful, he didn’t want to get too attached to anyone else.

FRANKIE:

Frankie and Book where playing chess in the commons when they heard the commotion in the cargo bay. Wash followed them to the door and saw Mal, Zoë and Jayne with what they assumed was their local contacts. The locals had the trio at gunpoint and one was gesturing to another to check out the ship. Book and Frankie exchanged looks, it was all Book could do to keep Wash from giving them away. “Wash, go up to the bridge and lock yourself in.” Frankie whispered to him, rather surprised that he did with out question. “Book, go tell Kaylee to find River and Simon and lock themselves in the engine room.” She pulled out the little gun Jayne had given her, he had said he would give her lessons later. “What are you going to do with that?” Book pointed at the tiny gun. “You have any other weapon?” “I should do that, you go find Kaylee.” Book reached for the gun. “Shepard, I think I have a better chance, I’m less threatening then you are.” “I know where Jayne hid a gun in the kitchen, you stall for as long as you can. I’ll be right back.” Book ran to find Kaylee and the hidden gun. She took a deep breath and headed into the cargo hold. “You guys ready for lunch yet?” She walked towards the unknown men. “These our local contact? Hi, I’m Molly. Welcome to Serenity.” She saw the look on Mal’s face and the fear that ran across Jayne’s. She stopped midway and in all the innocence she could muster. “What’s going on?” She took a step back as the leader took a step towards her. “You alone?” The man took another step towards her. He ignored the grunt that came from Jayne as he was knocked to the ground. She took another step back, matching the one he had taken. “Ron, go on up to the bridge and see who’s there.” He turned back to face Frankie. “OK pretty lady, thinking you need to take me on a tour of my new ship.” He smiled at her and holstered his gun. It was what she had been waiting for, she saw Ron head for the stairs and knew she had to keep them all down here. She pulled the gun out of her skirt. “Thinking this is all of the ship you are going to see.” She aimed the gun at the leader and took a step forward. The man laughed. “You gonna shoot me with that little thing? Go ahead. That little toy ain’t gonna hardly break the skin.” Frankie took another step and placed the gun in the man’s eye. “Well, if you insist. I was kinda hoping your men would just walk on down the ramp. It might not break the skin, but I’m sure it will go thru your eye and bounce around the inside of your skull. I wouldn’t move quite so much, gun has a real light touch.” The man paled and waved his men out of the ship. Zoë and Mal picked up their weapon and Frankie lowered her gun. “Why the hell didn’t you just shoot him?” Jayne asked as he got up off his knees. “You never gave me any bullets.” She started to shake.