Fandom: Firefly Title: Shattered Author: mordsith (Dani) 30_angsts Theme(s): 1. Broken (~Killing for the sake of Killing) Pairing/Characters: Jayne/Kaylee Rating: PG Disclaimer/claimer (if needed): Post BDM, I do not own any of it. Also, not betaed. I was just anxious and jumping the gun on this. Please forgive me. Summary: Jayne tries to cheer Kaylee up after her and Simon's fight. Not as angsty as I usually write (ironic my angstiness isn't on very high when I'm posting for 30_angsts) Word Count: 701

Kaylee kicked her feet some, the stools at the bar were just a little too tall for her, her feet didn’t touch the ground. The mechanic knew she should be having a good time right about then but her head was too in the clouds. Jayne had been nice enough to offer to take her out on the town, cheer her up some. Kaylee couldn’t stop thinking about her and Simon’s fight though. It was near a week ago and the two of them had been yelling at each other for an hour. Funny thing was she couldn’t even remember exactly what it had been. All that she could really remember was in the heat of everything Simon had called it off between the two of them. Kaylee had been so upset she ran to her bunk and didn’t come out the rest of the day. Cried something fierce that whole night too.

When things had cooled down, Simon came and apologized for yelling, but thought maybe it was for the best, them not being together. Things between them were tense. The more time she spent with the doctor, the more confused and out of the loop she felt. A lot of his words were over her head and she always felt like a child when he explained things to her. And the two of them being together hadn’t changed the fact that Simon was better at fitting his whole gorram foot in his mouth than any man Kaylee had ever met. He didn’t mean nothing by the things he said, but he still said them. Sometimes Simon would joke with Inara and Kaylee couldn’t help but notice how things just seemed to click between the two of them. It wasn’t anything romantic, they just understood each other. Simon didn’t understand Kaylee and Kaylee certainly didn’t understand the doctor. He was so…complicated. She liked things simple.

"You gonna drink that, Kaylee girl?" a voice beside her asked. Kaylee was snapped out of her reverie and turned to pass the mug of beer over to Jayne. He had bought it for her, someone might as well drink it.

"Maybe this wasn’t sure a good idea, Jayne," she told him, shaking her head.

"You’ve been moppin’ ‘round the ship near a week now. Doc ain’t worth puttin’ yerself through all this," the mercenary said, taking the mug and drinking it down.

"It’s more’n just that, Jayne. I feel like somethin’s missin’ now, like I’m broken deep down inside. I’m still in shock th’whole thing is over, ya know?" She sighed and stood up from the stool. "When Book and Wash died, I could hardly stand it. But at least I had Simon, I had someone t’hold onto. Someone t’pick me up when I was too upset to try. I don’t got no one no more and I just feel shattered into little bits. Don’t know how I’m gonna put myself together again."

"That’s a bunch of go se, got a whole ship full of people there for ya," Jayne said, turning in the stool to face her. "Aw, hell. I ain’t the kinda person you wanna be talkin’ ‘bout this to. Your crazy girly emotions don’t make sense. All I know is when I’m in a rut a good beer and a good whore usually cheers me up."

"Jayne!" Kaylee cried, blushing some.

"What?" he asked, slightly confused.

"Well that ain’t the way t’cheer a girl up," she shook her head.

"Want me t’kill him?" Jayne asked, raising an eyebrow. Kaylee felt an unusual shiver go down her spine at the seriousness in his voice. H would have killed Simon without another though.

"You’d kill Simon just for the sake of killin’," Kaylee said, shaking the feeling off.

"Maybe," Jayne shrugged. "Wouldn’t think twice ‘bout killin’ that fancy Doc for you though."

"Why’s that?" Kaylee asked with a raised eyebrow. Jayne eyeballed her for a moment before turning and facing the bar again, silently ordering another drink.

"There gotta be a why?" he asked, not looking at her. Kaylee licked her lips and moved to sit down on the stool again.

"I think I’ll take that beer after all," was all she said.