Title: Coming Together (9 of 10) Rating: pg-13 to be safe Fandom: Firefly Pairing: Jayne/Kaylee Word Count: 2866 Summary: Reavers!! Warning: Sequel to story 'Pulled Apart'. Characters and places do not belong to me.

Authors note: Thanks to squish_67 for betaing. She rocks so, so much. If you want to read Pulled Apart or the previous chapters in this story, check out my journal, they're all there. After much writers block, here you are!!!!

Only one more piece after this!

81. Aggravation

Mal could have hit something. As it was, he’d already gone through every curse word in Mandarin he knew. "I need options, Wash?" Mal said. "They’re comin’ up on us mighty fast."

"We could go for full burn, try and make for Whitefall," Wash suggested. "There isn’t a guarantee we’d make it and even if we did, don’t really know what we would do once we got there if they’re still hot on our tail.

"We need Kaylee," Mal said moving for the comm. "Kaylee, need you on the bridge, pronto." He hung up the comm and turned to Wash. "How long we got?"

"Not long," Wash said.

"Cap’n?" Kaylee’s voice came from the doorway.

"Mei mei, tell me how our fuel cells are lookin’," he said as his mechanic stepped in through the doorway.

"Little more’n half."

"How far would we get on full burn?" Mal asked. Kaylee looked at the navigation system, seeing where they were before looking back at Mal.

"Most of the way t’Whitefall. Maybe a quarter of the way if’n you’re headed for the next moon out. But that’d be burning every cell we got, we’d be dead in the water after that," she said. "What’s goin’ on, Cap’n?"

"Got ourselves a little situation is all. Need you to prep Serenity for full burn and wait for my signal. Now get to it," he ordered, turning away from her. Kaylee nodded and took off for the engine room. Mal looked at Wash and cursed again. He didn’t know if they would make it out of this one.

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82. Joy

Jayne paced back and forth in the lounge. He didn’t really know what he was doing there except maybe waiting for Kaylee to read his letter. She sure was taking her gorram time. He hoped that was good. She’d liked the sign, and she didn’t seem angry with him. Still, women were puzzling and Kaylee more than most. Maybe he shouldn’t have written a letter. The preacher had thought it was a good idea, but Jayne hadn’t been troubled with all that much schooling. Maybe little Kaylee had read the letter and was still in fits of giggles about how stupid it sounded. No—Kaylee wasn’t the type to laugh at something like that.

"What’s the matter son?" Book asked, standing in the doorway that lead to the cargo bay.

"Just waitin’," Jayne said with a shrug.

"On Kaylee?" Book inquired further.

"Yeah, That’d be the one. Gorram girl’s takin’ her time readin’ that letter you told me I should write," Jayne said bitterly. Book just smiled. "What?" Jayne asked.

"Jayne, may I ask you something?" the shepherd inquired.

"Shoot preacher," Jayne replied.

"Kaylee…does she make you happy?" Book asked, watching the mercenary carefully.

"Guess you could say that," Jayne shrugged.

"You guess?"

"What, you didn’t get ‘nough of all that gorram fluffy talk last night?" Jayne snapped, his voice edging on annoyance. "Yah, she makes me happy."

"Then I think it will be worth the wait when she finally comes to you. Kaylee is a special girl, we both know that, full of love and joy. I believe you hold a special place in her heart that will not easily put off. Be patient with her; it is a virtue after all. While you’re waiting though, would you like to lift some weights? I hear it is very therapeutic." Book waited for Jayne to nod before the two men headed into the cargo bay.

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83. Television

"Bring up the rear view camera," Mal said. Wash nodded and a picture came in, showing mostly space. In the distance a small ship could be made out. Only small now because of how far away it was. The fact that the camera had already picked up on it meant it was closer than Mal would have liked.

"Think they have a visual on us?" Wash asked.

"Probably. Send out the crybabies anyway. Maybe it will throw them off," Mal said, moving away from the screen. He rubbed his head and tried to think what his next step should be. There was no mistaking the reading on the ship; they were going without core containment. Only people crazy enough to do that were Reavers. If you could even call them people.

"Sending out the crybabies," Wash said, flipping a few switches. They waited, holding their breaths to see what the ship would do. Mal stared down at the screen, hands braced on either side of it, willing the Reavers to switch course.

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84. Newspaper

Kaylee finished setting Serenity up for full burn and sat down in her hammock. She let out a long breath and looked around her engine room. She wished the captain had been more forthcoming about what was going on, but for now she’d just have to trust him. Her fingers went to the paper in her back pocket. Already it was worn out like her pa’s old newspapers. She must have read the letter ten times by now. Her eyes went over the coarse letters spelling out her name, smiling at each and every one.

The words had to be Book's, Kaylee had trouble hearing Jayne write anything like this. 'Cept for the part where he'd said she was good in bed. Kaylee pictured the shepherd telling Jayne to compliment her and smiled to herself. Even if the shepherd had prompted him, it was still sweet. It wasn't the prettiest, most romantic thing anyone had ever said to her, but she knew it had been hard for him to write and it came from the heart. She loved Jayne and he loved her enough to apologize for the way he had been acting. It meant a lot to her and it also meant they could fix what had happened between them. She felt like a huge burden was dropping off her shoulders. Her and Jayne were gonna be alright.

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85. Odd

"It isn’t working," Wash said, shaking his head. Mal swallowed and closed his eyes for a moment.

"How long before they’re on top of us?" Mal asked.

"Not long. We can go for full burn, but I don’t think we’ll make it." Wash glanced at Mal and Mal knew that look. Wash was expecting his captain to come up with some brilliant plan to get them out of this.

"Alright. We go for full burn--try and outrun them to Whitefall. Once we get there we power down and hopefully they won’t be able to lock on to us." It was a flimsy plan at best, but Wash nodded, pressing the comm for the engine room.

"Kaylee, we’re going for full burn," Wash announced.

"Gottcha," the chipper mechanic called back over the comm. "We’re good."

Wash pushed the ship forward setting a course for Whitefall and looking at Mal. Mal wasn’t looking at the pilot though. His eyes were focused on the rear view camera screen. "It’s odd," the captain said after a few long moments of silence.

"What’s that, sir?" Wash asked nervously.

"We’re goin’ for full burn and I’ll be damned if that Reaver ship isn’t closing in on us even faster than before." Wash looked at the screen and Mal shook his head.

"They wanted a chase," the captain mumbled "And we just gave them one."

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86. Anxious

There was nothing that could be done at this point. It would be only minutes before the Reavers were on them. They weren’t going to make it to Whitefall. "Wash, find your wife and your baby and grab anything you will need for them and put it on Inara’s shuttle. She’s gonna have to take care of Sky for the time being, I need my pilot and first mate if any of us are gonna make it out of this." Wash nodded and rose from his seat, taking off for his bunk before the captain could say another word.

Mal reached for the comm, calling up the engine room quickly. "Kaylee, need you to prep shuttle two for take off. Set her for auto pilot away from Whitefall."

"Away from Whitefall? Cap’n, where’re takin’ the shuttle?" Kaylee asked.

"No one is taking the shuttle. She’s flyin’ off all by her lonesome," Mal sighed.

"Cap’n?"

"We got Reavers on us, mei mei. I need you to stop asking questions and prep shuttle two. Sending her off as a decoy. Now be quick." There wasn’t a response, Kaylee must have already hopped off like a bunny to go get shuttle two ready. Mal took a deep breath and pressed the comm for the whole ship.

"This is the captain. Good some bad news folks, seems we grabbed the attention of a Reaver ship at some point, won’t be long now ‘fore they’re on us. I need everyone to get to a weapon and be ready to fight." Mal hung up the comm, not being able to think of anything more to say.

Footsteps approached the bridge and Mal wasn’t surprised to see Inara approaching him quickly. "Mal?" she started. Her voice was edged with concern as she looked up at him.

"I’m gonna need my first mate and pilot, ‘Nara, so I need you t’take Sky and River to your shuttle. Keep ‘em there. Things go wrong, I want you t’take off for Whitefall." There were footsteps coming up behind Inara and Mal could see Jayne just out of the corner of his eyes. The captain looked up and nodded towards the air hatches Early had come through.

"They’ll be comin’ down that way, fortify the ship best you can. Don’t want them gettin’ past to the cargo bay, that’s our fallback area." Jayne didn’t say anything, just took off to do what he could. Mal returned his attention to Inara.

"Mal, you fighting them…it’s sucide," she protested.

"Ain’t any other way, darlin’. Wish there were. We take off in the shuttles, they’ll just come after us there. This is th’only way," Mal said. He waited for the former companion to protest again, but all she did was nod. There was a quiet moment between the two before Inara took Mals face in her hands and leaned up to kiss him.

The captain wrapped his arms around her waist, drawing her in for a moment, before finally pulling back. "Get River and Sky and get to your shuttle." There was a noise overhead and Mal swallowed thickly. This was very, very bad.

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87. Sick

Kaylee held her stomach as she programmed the coordinates in. She felt like she was gonna be sick, especially after the captain’s announcement. Kaylee’s mind kept going back to the campfire stories she’d heard as a girl, the things that Reavers did to people…she couldn’t think about it no more.

With the coordinates set, Kaylee set up a take off initiation sequence. It would give her enough time to get off the shuttle before it actually took off. Now she just had to wait for the word from the captain. Her hands shook nervously, she couldn’t get them to stop. A loud noise coming from somewhere within Serenity told her the Reavers’ ship must have gotten her girl in it’s hold. What were those monsters gonna do to her baby.

"They’re in, Kaylee, they’ve breached the airlocks, send the ship off and get to Inara’s shuttle!" Mal yelled over the comm. Kaylee set the sequence to go and hurried out of the shuttle, closing the door behind her. She could hear the gunfire and snarling, sub-human sounds that were coming from the other side of the ship.

Kaylee looked across the cargo bay, seeing Inara with River and Sky. River was covering her ears and practically being pulled along by Inara. "They don’t speak, just kill," River groaned out.

"Kaylee watch out!" Inara screamed.

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88. Death

Kaylee’s head whipped to the side, she felt a scream catch in her throat as a Reaver lunged at her. The mechanic jumped back and ran for the stairs since the reaver had blocked off the catwalk. She felt her heart pounding in her chest all the way up to her ears. She could hardly hear anything else. All Kaylee could see was the staircase that lead up to Inara’s shuttle. Something dropped into her path before Kaylee she could reach Inara.

The mechanic looked up in shock as the Reaver had jumped from the catwalk to right in front of her. Kaylee slid to a halt, her feet coming out in front of her and landing her on her ass. The Reaver jumped at her again as Kaylee scrambled to get back on her feet. I’m dead, oh god I’m was gonna die. A scream erupted out of her throat as she dodged the Reaver, crab walking back and kicking her foot into his shin to knock him off balance. It gave her enough time to get back on her feet to try and make a run for it again.

She was steps away from the staircase when the Reaver’s inhuman cry pierced her eardrums and she felt an arm grab her around the waist, pulling her to the ground. She really was gonna die. "’Nara! Jayne! Someone help me!" she cried out.

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89. Familiar

Jayne had done what he could to fortify Serenity for battle. She was a transport ship though there wasn’t a whole lot you could do, especially when you only had a few minutes to do it. Jayne had loaned out some of his best girls to Simon and Book. Had even given the doctor a quick shooting lesson before those gorram Reavers had busted through the airlocks on the hull of the ship.

Everything happened so fast after that. Seemed like for every Reaver they shot, another Reaver was there to take its place. And the sons of bitches didn’t go down easy neither. Sometimes it was five or six shots before the big ones finally stopped twitching. Jayne was trying hard to keep track, keep the Reavers from pushing back on them, but there were so gorram many of them.

"One got by me!" Wash shouted. Jayne growled to himself. Inara and the girls would have to hold out for a minute until he could move back and kill the damn thing. They better have that shuttle locked up tight.

"Kaylee watch out!" Inara’s scream echoed out of the cargo bay, even over the loud gun firing. Jayne felt his blood freeze. Gorram women weren’t the shuttle! Jayne slowly started to back his way up. Firing, then backing up. He had to get to Kaylee, help her out, but if he stopped firing there’d be twenty reavers exploding into the cargo bay. He just had to keep them at bay.

That was when he heard it. That familiar voice, screaming so loud it made his blood run cold. "Cover me preacher!" Jayne shouted. He could be taking baby steps no more. He ran for the cargo bay.

"’Nara! Jayne! Someone help me!" Kaylee yelled as a reaver grabbed her around the waist and threw her to the ground to jump on top of her. Jayne fired without hesitation and didn’t stop until the Reaver was on the floor in a puddle of his own blood. Jayne ran to Kaylee’s side and helped her up. She looked dazed, but he didn’t have much time to try and comfort her, he had to get to the front line again. Grabbing Kaylee around the waist, he pulled her close, his crushing her lips against his. Her mouth responded to his, her lips parting. Good sign, he thought to himself. Jayne ended the kiss quicker than he wanted to, but he had to get going. Looking her square in the eye he spoke.

"Don’t go scarin’ me like that again, Kaylee girl," he scolded. Kaylee nodded wordlessly. "Go with ‘Nara, now," he told her, leading her towards the stairway that headed up to the former companion’s shuttle and smacking her ass to get her moving. Jayne had some more Reavers to kill.

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90. Distant

Inara reached out and took Kaylee’s shaking hand and pulled her into the shuttle where River was waiting with Sky. As soon as the Reavers had shown up Inara had put Sky in River’s arms and pushed them both into the shuttle. By the time Inara had grabbed her bow and come back on the catwalk, Jayne was there, killing the Reaver where it stood.

"Are you okay, mei mei?" Inara asked, checking the girl over for wounds. She had a small cut on her arm, bloody, but not too deep. "Let’s get inside." Inara lead the mechanic into her shuttle and sat her on the couch. She turned back towards the door and listened. The gunfire was slowing down. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she wasn’t certain if that was a good sign of a bad sign.

"It’s quiet," River said in the distance. She was right, Inara hadn’t heard a gun shot in almost a minute.

"River?" Kaylee asked, swallowing thickly.

"Gone, they’re all gone," River replied, her eyes going wide as she held Sky tightly to her.