A few hours later, Kaylee pulled herself out from under Serenity’s engine and stood up, wiping grease on her coveralls. She never seemed to manage to get all of it off that way though, as evidenced by the black streaks that always seemed to adorn her face.

As she replaced her tools, she thought about the captain and their earlier encounter. Moving around the ship she hadn’t caught sight or sound of him all day, which was highly unusual. Kaylee frowned at the realization. Normally he was all over the place, checking on work being done (and complaining about work that needed to be done) and doing the “captain-y things” he insisted were important and needed doing. It made her wonder if he was deliberately avoiding her so they didn’t have to work out whatever it was that had come between them.

“Ni tama de tianxia suoyou de ren duo gaisi!” she muttered out loud in language more colorful than she usually chose.

“Whoa there, girl. Quite the mouth you got on you today.” Jayne observed with more than a hint of approval. He poked his head through the doorway and continued, “Come down to tell ya there’s eats on the table.”

“Xièxie, Jayne.” Kaylee returned evenly. “Captain there already?”

He looked at her funny. “Ain’t seen the cap around all day. You know, you two’re doing a damn fine job of avoidin’ each other. What, he tetchy at you, having to stay behind and hunt for yah in the middle of the Reaver alarm back on Paquin?”

Kaylee looked stricken. “What’re you talking about?”

“Hell, little Kaylee, how drunk were yah that night? Came back from the job and townsfolk were scatterin’ on account someone said there was Reavers comin’. Mal sent us back to the ship and stayed back to look for ya. Found you all by your lonesome in that bar and nearly wore himself out carrying you back to the boat. Anyway,” Jayne continued after pausing to take a huge bite out of the protein in his hand, “food's there if you want it.”

Listening to Jayne relate what really happened in Paquin City, Kaylee didn’t know quite what to do with her emotions. On the one hand she was grateful to the captain for saving her life (again), but on the other…she was angry with him for lying to her about it. Forgetting the notion of dinner, she spun on her heel and headed for where she knew Mal would be.

~*~

Mal changed the security code on his private brooding area every couple of weeks, but Kaylee always knew what it was. The ship’s mechanic needed access to every part of the boat at all times. As such, it didn’t give Mal much warning that she was about to discover him. Not that it mattered, seeing how he was sprawled in the pilot’s chair, fast asleep.

Looking at him there, arms and legs akimbo and seeming more at peace then he ever did when he was awake, Kaylee felt her resolve begin to soften. She clenched her fists and willed herself not to back down. There were things that needed saying and she was going to say them, no matter what. When she felt steely enough to keep going, she placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Cap’n?” she whispered.

Mal started, making a few unintelligible sounds as his eyes flew open and struggled to make sense of the world again. When his gaze finally settled on her, his whole body visibly relaxed. “Aiya, Kaylee! Don’t you know better’n to go sneaking up on a man like that?”

“Weren’t my fault you fell asleep in here," she replied shortly.

“S’pose it’s not,” he relented, eying her curiously at her curt remark.

“Lied to me,” Kaylee accused him, not willing to pull any punches until her anger with him was satisfied.

“Seems to me I’d remember doing somethin’ like that. Takes thought and planning to be all devious-like,” Mal commented casually.

“There was Reavers on Paquin.” Kaylee continued to fix him with a fierce stare.

A flash of guilt played across his face before he could stop it. Still, he worked back to his hard, emotionless captain face before he answered her. “Alright. I did lie ‘bout that,” he admitted. “Didn’t mean for you to find out the truth. Didn’t think it would do no good. And judging by that look on your face, I wasn’t wrong.”

“You got no right to be lying to me like that.” Her anger was taking full hold of her now.

“I got every right. I’m the captain and I do what’s best for my crew by my determination. Not theirs.” Mal was getting angry now, the clench of his jaw gave him away. “Didn’t see any reason to add more guilt or hurtin’ to your conscience.”

At that, her anger turned to childish petulance. “Ain’t little. Don’t need shieldin’ from things. You shoulda told me the truth and let me deal with things my own way.”

“Tell you what. In the future I won’t be makin’ that mistake again.” Mal’s words were cold, and they sounded extremely harsh to Kaylee’s ears. She looked stricken at the turn their talk had taken. For his part, Mal was desperately struggling to maintain his stern exterior. Only the most observant person would’ve noticed his lips firmly pressed together, which suggested he felt a whole lot different on the inside.

They both stared at one another, neither willing to continue the conversation first. Kaylee grabbed a bothersome strand of hair and tucked it behind her ear, biting on her lower lip as she did so. Mal straightened in his chair and ran a hand through his hair, not looking at her anymore. After a good, healthy pause, Kaylee finally broke their stalemate. One quick move and she was leaning over him, lips firmly attached to his. She grabbed the sides of his face as she probed his mouth, willing him to let her in. Mal brought a hand up, instinctively wanting to cup the back of her head and pull her closer. Instead, recovering his wits, he grabbed her firmly by the forearms and pushed her away.

“Whoa. Deng yimiao, little Kaylee. Wǒ bù zhī dào …” He flustered, still gripping her arms.

“No. No more holding on. No more pretending ain’t nothing here. No more wantin’ but not havin’.” Kaylee was practically yelling at him, something that shook him almost as much as what she was saying.

“Woman, not two minutes ago you were jumpin’ straight down my throat, ten kinds of angry. What the hell’s gotten into you?” There wasn’t a more confused man alive than Malcolm Reynolds.

She looked at him and shrugged. “You. Got under my skin right after I came on board and ain’t never left since. Been ignoring it for more’n a year now but it won’t stop eatin’ at me.”

Mal was stunned. She’d just taken thoughts straight from his brain and laid them right out on the table. “Don’t know what to say, mèimei. Ain’t nothing I ever thought about.”

“I ain’t your mèimei and you know it. Never really was. And you’re fibbin’ to me still. You think I can’t tell but I can.” Kaylee called him on his lies. The girl was sharp, and Mal knew he should’ve known better than to try to lie to her like this. So he switched tactics.

“I’m the captain, Kaylee. There’s things to be said about that. I gotta behave a certain way and it ain’t--”

She interrupted him before he could finish his excuse. “Stop talkin’, Cap’n. Nothing coming out of your mouth but lies and excuses. We’re gonna fix this nice and proper. Right now.”

Without waiting for his reply she turned and left the shuttle, sliding the door shut behind her. Mal, not entirely sure whether he was supposed to follow or not, remained sitting in dumbstruck silence. She hadn’t given the slightest hint what she was up to; for all he knew she’d locked him in there and changed the code so he couldn’t get out. Still, he was too jumbled up to do anything but wait for her to return.

~*~

A few minutes later she did. The mechanic re-entered the room carrying two small tin cups and a dark glass bottle. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, she laid out her bounty and beckoned him to sit down across from her. Mal did, warily, and waited for her explanation.

“Picked it up on Persephone last time we was there. 90 proof rim alcohol, best I could afford, which ain’t very good. But it’s stronger than most anything else.” She poured a shot for each of them and placed his in front of him.

“And what exactly you aim for me to do with this?” Mal picked his shot up and looked inquiringly at it.

“Well if you don’t know that Cap’n, we’ve got bigger problems than I thought," she replied. “We’re gonna have ourselves a little talk. A good, honest one. The alcohol here’s what you might call an incentive. Every time one of us lies or makes an excuse ‘stead of being honest…down the hatch.”

Mal couldn’t believe what he was hearing. "Júe duì bú shì. I ain’t takin’ part in this. It’s downright ridiculous.”

“You will, Cap. I locked that door and only way out of it is with the code…an’ I changed it so only I know what it is.” Kaylee didn’t smile. She just offered him a measured look that was obviously challenging him to play.

“O, zhe zhen shi ge kuali de jinzhan.” The captain said sarcastically. After a moment, he sighed. “Don’t know what you’re expectin’ to get out of all this, but I know enough that you ain’t gonna let me out, no matter how much I threaten, ‘till I humor you.”

“Your threats don’t mean nothin’ to me, Cap’n. I know you much better’n that.” She grinned at him. “Let’s have at it.”

~*~ END OF PART FOUR

Chinese Translations in order of appearance (courtesy of living_impaired’s journal)

Ni tama de tianxia suoyou de ren duo gaisi! = fuck everyone in the universe to death! Xièxie = thanks Aiya! = damn! Deng yimiao = hold on a second Wǒ bù zhī dào = I don’t know Mèimei = little sister Júe duì bú shì = absolutely not O, zhe zhen shi ge kuali de jinzhan = oh, this is a happy development