Title: Coming Together (4 of 10) Rating: Pg to Pg-13 Pairing: Jaylee, some Mal/Inara Warning: Characters and places do not belong to me and are property of Joss Whedon, Fox, Mutant Enemy, & Universal

Authors note: story takes place post series, movie will not be happening. Prompts 31 to 40. I'm having a bad day, so if you like it, please comment. Might cheer me up some. Hope you enjoy.

Click on my name to get back read Pulled Apart 1 through 5 or Coming Together 1 through 3.

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31. Fountain

Kaylee sniffed and wiped her nose. She couldn’t stop crying and it was giving her hiccups. Mal sighed and rubbed her back. He’d known this was coming for awhile. The fountain of tears falling down her face was almost too much for the captain to take.

"You did the right thing," he reminded her.

"I know that, Cap’n, but maybe if I just waited, Jayne woulda showed up and maybe nobody woulda had t’die." She sniffed again and leaned her head on his shoulder. Kaylee was perched up on the infirmary bed with the captain standing next to her. She had been in the infirmary for the last week and Mal had come to help her move her things back to her bunk. She’d been okayed by Simon to go up and down the ladder, as long as she took it easy.

"And what if Jayne hadn’t come? We would have been sold to slavers and you think they would have put you and River to hard labor? Right now you’d be someone’s whore and I ain’t sayin’ this t’scare you. You did good, Kaylee." He kissed her forehead and listened to her cry for another few moments before nudging her arm.

"Let’s get you down to your room and rested up. Soon as you feel up to it, we could really use your help getting Serenity up and running." Mal rubbed her back and helped her to her feet.

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32. Elevator

Inara wiped her eyes and headed down the hallway. She could see her escape up ahead. The companion didn’t know where the sudden need to flee had come from, Mr. Gadwah hadn’t been pleased when she had said she needed to leave. She offered to refund his money and reschedule him with another companion, but she hadn’t stayed long enough to iron out the details.

As she reached the end of the hall, Inara pressed the button. She loved this hotel, but she felt like she was suffocating. It took so long for the elevator to finally arrived. The glass doors opened and Inara stepped in, pressing the button for the lobby. When the door finally closed behind her, she let out a long breath.

She wanted to yell and scream at the top of her lungs. She had thought leaving would make the feelings go away. Instead she had grown a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. This was all Mal’s fault. He just did things to her, things she didn’t understand. This was the second client she had left. She had thought the first time it was a fluke, maybe she had just been homesick. Inara had gone on vacation to try and clear her head, but still all she could see was Mal’s face. It hadn’t been like this on Serenity. She’d been fine, been able to separate her work from her feelings, but she couldn’t do it anymore.

The doors to the elevator opened and Inara stepped out into the rotunda.

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33. Marble

As Inara stepped out of glass elevator, her hands ran along the smooth marble walls. There wasn’t a crack to be seen in the beautifully kept hotel. That was how she used to view herself. Beautiful marble, smooth and welcoming, but with a cool exterior. Not malleable. Somewhere along the line the captain had turned her to wood—she was pliable. She didn’t like the feeling, didn’t like being wood. Wood could burn and her relationship with Mal was like tinder. Something had to give.

"Leaving so soon, Ms. Serra?" the consignor asked. Inara nodded quickly, pulling on an emotional mask as best she could manage.

"Yes, if you could inform my house I should be arriving shortly I would appreciate that greatly."

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34. Breathe

Kaylee sat up with a start, hyperventilating as she tried to calm herself down. Captain told her they would come—the dreams. Said that she’d most likely be seeing Jed’s face in her dreams for a long while. Kaylee just hasn’t expected them to be so vivid.

She was in the cargo bay again, holding that gun in her hand. Only this time Jed wasn’t threatening her. He was begging her not to shoot him. But she pulled the trigger anyway. And when he fell to the ground, everyone was just staring at her. Asking her why she’d done it.

"Shhhh, Kaylee, just breath." Kaylee felt a hand on her back and turned to see Jayne sitting next to her on her bed. Where had he come from. She felt his hands on her face, wiping the tears away. She didn’t even realize she’d been crying. She gave him a small smile and took a big breath. With Jayne there, she knew she’d get through this.

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35. Fog

"I don’t understand it, Anya. This is the forth time in a row. It’s been weeks since I left Serenity. Why can’t I get him out of my head?" Inara let out a long breath

"Because you love him," Anya said.

"It never made a difference on the ship. I could do my work and I was fine. What changed?" Inara leaned back into the plush couch and looked at her friend.

"I don’t know, Inara."

"I’m on probation with the guild until I’ve spoken with a therapist. I don’t know if I can do it though. I think I’m afraid of what they will discover. I’m so lost, Anya." Inara felt her throat tighten.

"Perhaps this is something you should explore, Inara. These feelings are so strong that they are affecting your work, maybe you shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss these feelings." Anya reached out at took Inara’s hands in her own. "Consider it, Inara."

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36. Fantasy

Mark stared down at the file in front of him. She was a pretty little girl, that Kaywinnet Lee Frye. The file didn’t say much about her, mentioned her home planet, but that didn’t help much. When that huge mercenary had said their little girl mechanic had been the one to take Jed down, Mark had been stunned. He’d always put his brother on a pedestal. To him, Jed was stronger and smarter than anyone else he knew. Some little mechanic girl who had been banged up in the crash had been the one to put four bullets in his brother.

Mark had fantasized about getting vengeance for his brother’s death, but he knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere near that girl, they’d been awful protective of her when he demanded that she face him. When Mark had brought Jed’s body home, he had made some calls and tried to find out all he could about this Miss Kaylee. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

A message on Mark’s screen flashed, a wave intercept was coming over the cortex. Wherever it was the wave was trying to get it, it was getting bounced back. His system had managed to pick it up, it wasn’t encoded. Accepting the recorded wave, he watched as a woman came up on the screen. She was beautiful, young and looked upset.

"Mal, I’ve been trying to get through for sometime, but my wave hasn’t been able to reach you. I hope you get this. We need to talk, it’s important. I…I want to say this in person. Kaylee, mei mei, if you get this, I just wanted to let you know I miss you. Zoe, Wash, I hope you and the baby are fine. Give my regards to the rest of the crew. I will try again soon." The message cut out and Mark licked his bottom lip. Mei mei? An eye for an eye. Typing in a few keys he began a location trace on the wave.

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37. Field

"I’m leaving." Inara sat on the large quilted blanket and smiled up at Anya. It was a warm day for autumn and the two had found an open field to have a nice picnic. "Are you surprised?" the companion asked.

"No. I will miss you though," Anya said, a small smile on her face.

"I will miss you too, Anya. Do you think I am doing the right thing?" Inara brought the small china tea cup up to her lips and took a sip.

"Are you sure of your feelings for the captain?" Anya asked.

Inara laughed, "Goodness no. I’m not sure of anything at this point except that right now, I can’t continue to do this. I have to see him and find out what this is all about; why I can’t seem to close myself off from this flood of emotions."

"Then I think you are doing the right thing," Anya said. There was a moment of quiet between the women as the watched the sun set over the horizon. The cool breeze was coming back and the girls quickly began to pick up their things to head back to the guild house.

"I sent a wave, I’m still waiting to hear back," Inara said once their things had been pick up.

"They will come," Anya assured as they began their leisurely walk back.

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38. Rain

Jayne looked in on Kaylee’s room and frowned. It was early morning still, she should have been in bed resting. He headed down the hall and towards the engine room—not there either. He scratched his head and started for the galley. He stopped when he heard a loud noise coming from the ceiling though. Damn girl.

"Kaylee! You’re gonna hurt yourself!" Jayne yelled, moving towards the air hatch to find it opened. He climbed up the ladder and pulled himself up through the hatch over head. Kaylee was perched on Serenity’s hull, mask covering her face and blow torch going. Girl was gonna fall if she wasn’t careful; fall and probably land on that blow torch she was holding.

"I coulda done this," Jayne said, moving to sit near her in case she slipped on the wet hull.

"’S alright. Couldn’t sleep much. All of Serenity’s innards are workin’ just fine. Gotta get her space worthy though. She’s been down so long and we ain’t got the coin t’be sittin’ here much longer."

"You’re blow torching in the rain," he said.

"I can see that."

"And you’re still recovering from a bad injury," Jayne added.

"I can see that too," Kaylee said, finally turning the blow torch off and looking at Jayne.

"It can wait for tomorrow."

"It’s done now," she said with a triumphant smile.

"You’re soaked," Jayne said, looking her over. Her shirt was sticking to her in all the right places. He grinned to himself.

"So are you," she told him. Jayne looked down at himself, his shirt was soaked all the way through. He grinned again.

"Let’s get inside and out of these clothes," he told her with a raised eyebrow.

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39. Letter

"Just give me one second," Kaylee said from under the panel on the bridge. The screens on the cortex flickered and Wash gave a triumphant cry.

"It’s working! Navigation is up, everything is up," he said, flipping some switches and turning some knobs. Kaylee grinned and pulled herself out from under the panel. She dusted herself off and took a look at the screen for herself.

"Told ya it was just a kink in the system. Look, we got a wave," she pointed at the screen. Wash accepted the wave and looked a little shocked to see Inara on the other side.

"It’s ‘Nara!" Kaylee cried.

The message began to play. "Mal, I’ve been trying to get through for sometime, but my waves hasn’t been able to reach you. I hope you get this. We need to talk, it’s important. I…I want to say this in person. Kaylee, mei mei, if you get this, I just wanted to let you know I miss you. Zoe, Wash, I hope you and the baby are fine. Give my regards to the rest of the crew. I will try again soon." The screen went black and Kaylee and Wash exchanged looks.

"She loves him!" Kaylee exclaimed happily.

"How can you tell?" Wash asked, scratching his head slightly. "She just said she needed to talk."

"It was the way she said it, she even blushed a little. Play it again!" Wash obliged and played the message once more.

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40. Lake

Inara’s delicate hands broke off small pieces of bread as she tossed it down to the ducks near her. They hurriedly gobbled up the food, some even fighting for the precious morsels. She had spent the last three days staring at her cortex screen, waiting to see Mal’s face. She couldn’t take it anymore. Anya had suggested she go for a walk and so Inara had ended up at the lake, feeding the ducks and just enjoying the quiet around her. There were few people out today, the chill in the air keeping many bound indoors. Inara didn’t mind the cold much.

The ducks quacked at her for more and she graciously threw the rest back. It was all gone now. Dusting the crumbs off her hands, she turned to head back to the house, stopping when she noticed a man not far from her. It wasn’t so much the man she noticed as the gun he had pointed up at her.

"What are you doing?" she asked quickly.

"An eye for an eye," he whispered.