You can read the other parts here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and last but not least Part 4.

*Joss is the greatest! I just borrow his awesomeness of Firefly/Serenity. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ When the girl returned, the intensity of her smile could’ve powered Serenity for a month. The sheer power of it lit up any room she walked into and the crew would later find her contagious optimism would infect even the most cynical person. The captain watched as she bounced into the cargo bay. She wore the same floral dress, apparently she’d packed her things quickly. A green backpack with small flowers all over it was slung over her right shoulder. He couldn’t help but wonder how someone stayed in such a cheerful mood on such a small planet.

“Nice to see you again, uh,” Mal suddenly realized he hadn’t even asked the girl her name, “I’m sorry, never did catch your name. My name’s Malcolm Reynolds.”

He extended his hand as she replied,

“My name’s Kaywinnet Lee Fry. But my friends call me Kaylee. It’s real nice ‘ta meet cha. She’s a real fine boat.”

Kaylee almost shook his arm off she was so excited, not to mention more ’n a little nervous. Mal was having somewhat of a hard time keepin’ up with her. He was used to Zoë’s collected matter-of-factly way of talking. “Make sure you tell Zoë that when you see her.” Mal replied with a smile. A look of confusion flashed across Kaylee’s face and Mal realized she hadn’t the faintest clue of who he was talkin’ about.

“Zoë’s, first mate. You can meet her in a few. Lemme show you to your bunk.”

Kaylee followed Mal. She let her eyes dance across Serenity’s passageways as they made their way through the ship. Then they stopped. Kaylee almost ran into Mal.

“Here we are,” Mal said as he pushed on a wall with a small ladder. Kaylee watched as the wall backed up and realized the small ladder traveled down into what was her new bunk. “I’ll let you get settled in a bit. Then I’ll give ya the grand tour.”

“Shiny.” Kaylee smiled as she started down the ladder. As Mal was walkin’ back to the cargo bay, he heard a thump come from behind him. He turned around peered down at Kaylee, who was layin’ on the floor of her bunk.

“You, okay?”

“Yea, I’m fine. Fell, is all.” Kaylee replied as she picked herself up. “I’m okay.”

“Ok, well, be careful. Last thing our new mechanic needs is a broken neck.” Mal told her. On his way back to the cargo bay, he couldn’t help but be reminded of Bester. His overuse of the word ‘shiny’ had run on Mal’s last nerves, not to mention his uncontrollable clumsiness. However, Mal felt oddly optimistic about Kaylee, but that bitter cynicism still kept the glass of milk from being half-full.

Serenity reminisced on the memory of Bester leaving in a huff earlier that day. He’d been about as loud as he could be on his way out. He finally exited the ship and disappeared into the early morning sun. Mal had offered to drop him off on a bigger planet, where he might find more work, but wasn’t too surprised to find that the boy had chosen to bite off his nose. ******* Kaylee began to unpack her backpack. It was mostly full of clothes, only a few personal items. She re-folded them and put them away in a small drawer in the room. Next, she pulled out a beautiful pewter jewelry box. Kaylee remembered the day her father’d given her that jewelry box. She’d received it as a birthday present for her 13th birthday. She’d never really owned anything so pretty. As she opened the jewelry box, a tiny dancer spun around to a melodic tune from Earth that was. She took out a small heart-shaped locket her mother’d given to her. It was the only piece of jewelry she owned, and it contained pictures of her folks. She gently placed the necklace back into the jewelry box where she knew it‘d be safe. Kaylee took a deep breath. She was going to miss her family. Kaylee ascended the ladder and was nearly knocked over by Wash.

“Well hello there…person…I…don’t…know.” Wash said as he ran a hand through his hair. “Who are you again?”

“My name’s Kaywinnett Lee Fry. But you can call me Kaylee. I’m the new mechanic.” “Hoban Washburne. I’d be the slightly confused pilot.” He shook her hand. He noted her firm handshake and glowing smile.

They heard footsteps and turned to see Mal walking towards them.

“Met our pilot already I see.” Mal interrupted. “Ready for that tour? I’d like to leave for Paquin as soon as possible.” Kaylee’s eyes lit up with enthusiasm as she answered him with a grin and a nod of her head. Her look of excitement mirrored Wash’s look of misunderstanding.

“You ok Wash?” Mal asked, observing Wash’s face.

“I thought we had a mechanic,” Wash said. “No offense.” He added as he turned towards Kaylee.

“Ya, a mechanic who ended up knowin’ less about boats than our ‘lil Kaylee here.” Mal told him. He was surprised at how smoothly his reference to Kaylee rolled off of his tongue.

“Gotcha. That would be the reason as to his upset tantrum this morning. Shiny. Well, I’ll be in the kitchen. Like to fly on a full stomach.” Wash walked past them on his way to find some food, or more appropriately, necessary nourishment. “Just make sure your full stomach don’t make ours empty.” Mal joked. Wash gave a thumbs-up sign over his shoulder and disappeared behind the wall.

“Well, shall we?”

*******

Zoë was in the living area downstairs cleaning her gun when she heard footsteps. She didn’t want to look up, for fear of the person being Wash, but her curiosity betrayed her. She glanced towards the stairway. Wash. Zoë took a deep breath that was barely audible and began cleaning her guns again. Wash was not daunted by her visible aggravation, he only became more determined to get her to talk to him. Even if she did end up insulting him. He was also in a rather cheery mood and up for a challenge.

“And how are you?” He asked. It was a safe question, to judge how she was really feeling by the tone she answered in. “Busy.” she answered, not looking up as she began to put away her weapon and cleaning supplies. Wash was instantly reminded of her terseness.

“I see.” He said, his hope of her being in a mood to put up with him was nonexistent.

“Well,” Wash was unsure of what to say next.

Zoë glanced up, waiting for him to finish his sentence. He could see the deep coffee colored irises and drowned in her eyes for what seemed like eternity until she finished his thought for him.

“Well I have a few things to check before we leave.” She walked to toward the stairs and brushed past him. He listened to her footsteps as they disappeared.

“That went great.” Wash quietly uttered as he made his way to his bunk, scolding his speechlessness the whole way.

******* Serenity’s engine twirled with enthusiasm as it gained power. Soon she lifted into the clear night sky. Happy to be airborne once more. As her altitude rose, her excitement rose; she’d made it off yet another world. As she broke atmo, that great black enclosed around her and she felt at Home once more. Serenity watched as Mal seemed to change also. It was as though the black suffocated his anxiety. She realized that he too, felt at Home.

******* It’d been a few hours since Serenity broke atmo. Most of the crew was sleeping now, but Wash was in the cockpit, makin’ sure everything ran smoothly. He still had yet to fully trust Serenity. Kaylee lay on her bed. Her treasured necklace was clutched in her left hand. Her head was rested on her right arm. A silent tear made its journey from her swollen tear duct to its final resting place on her bed sheets. She got up to place the necklace in the jewelry box and felt the damp circle of tears. Serenity felt sorry for the girl, but could do nothing to ease her sadness. Kaylee returned to her bed and pulled the sheet over her belly. To Serenity’s surprise she heard Kaylee whisper,

“You’ll be my home away from home, won’t cha?”

Seconds later, Kaylee’s breathing deepened as she drifted to sleep with a hopeful smile across her tear ridden cheeks.

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