Title: Serenity Comes to Those Who Wait, Ch. 2 Author: EvilGenius Summary: Kaylee needs some cheering up and some advice as well. Pre-BDM, maybe after the infamous “cow in a jar” scene.

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Loud clanging noises reverberated throughout the ship. Very loud clanging noises, Mal thought with a grimace. He was going to have to go in there…but he really didn’t want to. Snippets of some bit of writing from Earth-That-Was came back to him, nagging at him as sure as that feeling he got whenever a job was about to go south. It had something to do with hell and a woman scorned.

Loud clanging noises.

He took a deep breath and headed for the engine room. “Kaylee! You tearin’ my boat apart in there?!”

Silence…and then one last loud clanging noise. “No, Captain,” came the sullen reply.

Mal could tell by her voice that she was angry, probably hurt too, else she wouldn’t be takin’ it out on her girl. He hung his head around the corner, checking to make sure there wouldn’t be any flying debris. Once it appeared to be safe, he braved a step inside, thinking that he’d rather face a whole platoon of young Alliance federals than one girl mechanic who’d just had a fight with her...well whatever the doc was to her.

Kaylee was lying on her back under the engine housing, knees drawn up and feet flat on the floor. Mal could see the little teddybear she had stitched on her coveralls to hide some tear she’d gotten there. He cleared his throat and she slid out, sitting up to lean against the engine. Mal had to suppress a grin at the sight of her; girl was cute as a newborn calf when she was covered in grease.

“Hey, Cap’n,” Kaylee said, sounding more sad than sullen now.

“Kaylee. Had another fight with the doctor, huh?”

“Could you tell?” she said wryly.

“Yep. I’m just perceptive that way,” Mal grinned a little at her, trying to lighten her mood.

It worked and she grinned sheepishly back. “Weren’t really hurtin’ nothin’, Cap’n. Had to break loose the secondary piston. It keeps stickin’.”

“Uh huh,” he said, not wanting to let her use the opportunity to guilt him into buyin’ some new part. Women had wiles after all, even Kaylee.

“You want me to shoot him?” he said hopefully.

“You ain’t gonna shoot nobody, Cap’n.”

“Pro’ly not, but I could make him clean out the septic vat.” Mal was relieved when she laughed at that.

Kaylee tossed aside the hammer she had been holding, letting her frustration show with the action. “Why’s he gotta say those things, Cap’n? I think he likes me some, he near as said as much once. But then I get a little close to him and he gets all nervous and says stuff.”

Mal grimaced again. Young Alliance federals would be a whole lot easier. He took another breath as though preparing for battle. Kaylee needed someone to talk to and he needed her to keep his boat in the air, so he figured he’d better do this.

“Kaylee, boy like the doc, well he’s got a whole different set of rules to live by. Hell, on a good day he’s a damn sight twitchier than most. You gotta back off from him at bit.”

“You think I been throwin’ myself at him, don’t you?” Kaylee said, her temper returning at the implications.

“Now, Kaylee, I didn’t say that,” Mal raised his hands in surrender, hoping to calm her down before she used that wrench she was gripping.

“All I mean is that, with a man as twitchy as the doc, you gotta give him some space. Let him relax a bit, get used to his environment.”

“He’s been on the boat six months, Cap’n!”

Mal let out an exasperated sigh, he wasn’t sayin’ this right. Maybe another tactic would work.

“You been around horses much, Kaylee?”

She blanched at the quick change of topic. “Just a bit, Daddy got us a pony when we was little, but it took sick. Daddy said it was grass poisoning or somethin’.”

Mal nodded, “Founder. Happens to ponies from time to time.” Mal moved to sit on the floor beside her.

“Well, I been around horses all my life. One time, my momma bought this horse. Oh, he was a dandy--big horse, so grey he was almost white.”

Kaylee looked at him with awe, hardly believing the captain was gonna talk to her about his life before the war. He never talked on that, not with no one.

Mal glanced at her. “He was a racer, this horse, and a pretty good one too. Fast as the devil they said.”

“Your momma bought a racer to work cattle with?” Kaylee said skeptically. Even she knew that wasn’t what you did with a racer.

He smiled. “Not as such, no. Mostly he was gonna spend his time makin’ babies to work the cattle.”

“Oh sure, a daddy horse.”

“Yep, only this horse, you see, he’d never hardly done anything ‘cept racin’. He’d spent nearly every day in a stall getting fed and groomed, then every few weeks, he’d go race and then be back in his stall.” Mal hoped she could see where he was going with this.

“Then one day, my momma up and buys him and brings him home to the ranch. Now my momma didn’t believe in coddlin’ nothing, ‘specially not a horse. So she threw him out in the pasture with all the other horses, mainly broodmares and such.”

Kaylee nodded at him, hoping he’d keep going with his story.

“Well, that horse just about had a nervous breakdown. Was scared of the other horses and even scared of me an’ the other ranch hands. Was almost a whole year before we could handle him proper. Spent another six months, just gettin’ him to let me ride him.”

“How’d you manage that, Cap’n?” Kaylee asked wide-eyed. She couldn’t imagine trying to ride some big racehorse who was scared of everything.

“Just had to take my time with him, Kaylee. Brushed on him, talked to him, moved real easy ‘round him. Weren’t long before we were good friends and he was likin’ the mares we had waitin’ for him.”

Mal looked over at Kaylee and she was nodding along with his story as if she understood. “So you see what I’m saying ‘bout Simon then?” he asked nervously.

“That he’s a stud and I gotta spend some time groomin’ on him?” Kaylee grinned teasingly at him.

Mal let out a noise that sounded like he’d been shot. “That…ain’t what I’m saying!”

Kaylee was laughing openly at him, her bad mood vanquished. “Aw, it’s okay, Cap’n, I understand what you mean. Simon grew up livin’ in one kinda world, protected and the like, and now he’s been thrown out here and it’s hard for him. And I just gotta take my time with him and he’ll settle down and quit bein’ so nervous ‘round me. That about right?”

Mal let out another sigh, this time filled with relief. “That’s about the gist of it.”

He rose to his feet and Kaylee realized the conversation was over. She wished it wasn’t, she felt proud somehow that the captain had shared his life with her. She doubted it would happen again.

She stopped him as he stepped through the door. “Why’d you just tell me all that, Cap’n? I mean, ain’t like you approve of shipboard romances or nothin’.”

Mal tossed his answer over his shoulder as he continued walking. “You was tearin’ my ship apart, girl! Had to stop you somehow.”

Kaylee grinned again, thinking that her captain wasn’t as mean as he’d like everyone to believe. Now she just had to come up with a new plan for Simon.