Fandom: Firefly Title: Gone Author: meimei42 (Dani) 30_angsts Theme(s): 2. Toys (~For when you die I'll be there for you) Pairing/Characters: Jayne/Kaylee Rating: PG Disclaimer/claimer (if needed): Post BDM, I do not own any of it. Summary: Kaylee is fighting a loosing battle Word Count: 682

Author's note: Thanks to Squish for betaing! There are two prompts in the post, they are companion pieces so I decided to post them together. Warning, character death!

***********************************************************

Men and their stupid, stupid toys, Kaylee thought. Her fingers were slick and wet with blood. It didn’t seem to matter how much pressure she was putting on the wound, Jayne’s innards were trying to spill out of him.

“Get outta here, Kaylee,” Jayne mumbled. “Don’t know if them men will be back.”

“Hush up,” Kaylee scolded, taking a deep breath and trying to calm herself. “Those boys ain’t comin’ back. Not when they’re thinkin’ the law might be on them for shootin’ a man.” Stupid boys and their stupid guns. Always trying to act like gorram heroes or try an’ be tough guys.

“Kaylee…”

“Cap’n is coming. I radioed him, he’s on his way,” she cut him off before he could try and send her away again. Jayne raised a hand up and placed it over her own two. She stifled a sob at the simple touch. She wanted to say something, but her mind was blank. All she could really think about was trying to keep more of his blood from coming out.

“I’m sorry,” she heard him whisper, his eyes closing slowly. She shook her head, she wasn’t going to lose him now.

“Stay with me, Jayne. Stay with me, baby,” she whispered, leaning over him and pressing her lips to his forehead. He didn’t respond. She pulled back and looked at him, his chest wasn’t moving either. “Oh god,” she whispered. Kaylee stared down at his unmoving body, blinking back tears. What had just happened? No, no, no, this isn’t right, this isn’t how it’s suppsoed t’end. “Jayne?” There was no answer. She let go of the wound and looked down. Blood wasn’t pumping out anymore—she’d lost him. No, that couldn’t be right. She couldn’t wrap her head around it, the idea of Jayne being gone was just too big of a concept to grasp.

“Kaylee?” It wasn’t Jayne. She didn’t move, didn’t look up, just stared down at the mercenary’s paling face. A hand moved around her waist, pulling her to her feet. In her blurred vision she saw Simon kneel down where she had been.

“Save him.,” Kaylee ordered. She could see the uncertainty in the doctor’s face. She shook her head, he’s not dead—can’t be dead. Simon leaned over the mercenary, checking the wound and finally starting CPR on him. Kaylee watched, unable to look away. It seemed like forever, watching Simon breathe into Jayne’s mouth, then press down on his chest more than a dozen times. The doctor just kept repeating it over and over. When Simon finally stopped and stood, Kaylee felt her knees turn to jello. The only thing that kept her from falling to the ground was the strong arm around her midsection.

“Oh god,” she cried out, a sob breaking free of her chest when Simon turned and shook his head.

“Come on, mei mei, I need you to stay with me here,” she head the captain’s voice. She just cried harder and stared down at Jayne’s bloodied body. “Come on, Kaylee. Let’s get back to Serenity. Your girl needs you.”

“Can’t leave him, Cap’n,” she whispered out.

“We ain’t gonna leave him here,” the captain reassured. “Just gonna get you back t’the ship and get you looked over.”

“I’m fine,” Kaylee protested.

“That may be…”

“I said I’m fine,” she reiterated more firmly. Simon opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out so he just closed it and moved to her side.

“Least you were there for him,” Mal said, his arm letting go of her midsection when Kaylee’s knees became solid again.

“I didn’t even tell him I loved him ‘fore he went,” Kaylee whispered. She felt Simon take her arm and slowly lead her away from where Jayne’s body was laid, in the middle of a dirty alleyway. She wanted to turn back, but Simon’s firm arm didn’t let her. Her head craned back some and she saw Mal kneel next to Jayne, the captain’s face calm but melancholy. At least she wouldn’t be the only one who would miss the mercenary.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fandom: Firefly Title: Protector Author: meimei42 (Dani) 30_angsts Theme(s): 3. Hand phone; cell phone; mobile phone (~a call from heaven) Pairing/Characters: Jayne/Kaylee Rating: PG-13? Disclaimer/claimer (if needed): Post BDM, I do not own any of it. Summary: Someone is trying to make sure Kaylee makes it out of this one okay Word Count: 1790

*******************************************************************

“The casing is broke on that one,” Mal said, looking the comm over before handing it back to Kaylee. “Why don’t you use Zoe’s.”

“This one works still,” Kaylee shook her head. “Tested it myself.” Mal gave her an inquisitive look that made Kaylee divert her eyes. She hated that she could be so transparent.

“Was Jayne’s, wasn’t it?” Mal asked. Kaylee didn’t have to answer. It wasn’t the first time she had refused to use something that wasn’t Jayne’s. Even used his space suit once, though it was a mite big on her. She didn’t care, she needed to hold onto what little she had of him. Out in the black it was too easy to forget what it was like having someone love and protect you.

“You sure it works?” Mal said. The concession is his voice was easily detected.

“I’m sure,” she affirmed with a nod.

“Alright, come on then. Simon, you’re in charge of the ship. Kaylee, Zoe, you’re with me.” Kaylee nodded and headed down the ramp after the first mate and the captain. Whatever the specs were on this job, Mal had wanted a mechanic’s eye, make sure she thought they could handle it. The captain had been hesitant to take her on a mission, especially so soon after Jayne being gone, but he didn’t have much of a choice. Work was scarce and none of them could afford to pass up a job, or take a job there was no way in the ‘verse they could do.

It was a warm day out, Kaylee wished she hadn’t put on such a think pair of coveralls. It was too late now. She walked a few paces behind Zoe and Mal, they were talking and she wasn’t feeling very social. Kaylee had her good and her bad days. Today just happened to be one of the bad ones. One of those days when she couldn’t pass the cargo bay without thinking of Jayne carrying her on his shoulders while they played hoopball. Her bunk was the hardest. Some nights she just slept in the engine room, not being able to take how badly she missed Jayne. Kaylee knew it would get better in time, it just was still so fresh to her.

Static on her radio startled her. Kaylee reached down and picked the comm up. She was surprised at how far behind she had fallen and started to jog to catch up with Zoe and Mal. The white noise returned after a minute and Kaylee stopped walking and turned back towards Serenity. “Simon, you tryin’ t’contact?” she asked into the radio. There was more static for a long moment.

“……..go…..” the radio crackled out. Kaylee looked at her radio and hit it with her hand before bringing it back to her mouth.

“Simon, do you copy?”

“……back……go…” Kaylee frowned at the jumbled white noise. Must have been picking up a signal from somewhere else. Maybe the gorram thing really was broke. Kaylee sighed and hurried to catch up with Mal and Zoe.

The bar wasn’t too far of a walk from Serenity, a little under a mile. It was dark and smelly and Kaylee felt her heart jump at being there. She didn’t think some stink hole bar would have this kind of effect on her, but everything around her reminded her of Jayne. It was almost an overwhelming presence. She was thankful for the chair when Mal offered it to her.

The meet was tense. She could tell by the way Zoe and Mal were acting they didn’t much like what they were hearing. Kaylee just tried to pay attention to the specs of the heist. It was doable from her stand point, she was too distracted by bar to care about much else. It felt like Jayne was there somewhere, hiding in the recesses of the room. She just couldn’t find him.

“Kaylee, would you get Zoe and I a couple of glasses of water?” Mal asked, raising his eyebrow up at her. That was Kaylee’s cue. Whatever it was they were going to discuss Mal didn’t want her to hear and that was fine by her.

Kaylee rose and looked around the darkened bar again, trying to see him, though she knew he wasn’t there. Dead man couldn’t be there in the bar with her. She was going crazy, maybe she should talk to Simon. Kaylee made it to the bar and ordered two waters and took a seat on the stool. She was supposed to wait two minutes then head back to the table. Kaylee counted in her head, stopping when she only got about half way through because of the commotion coming from the Captain and Zoe’s table. Kaylee rose from the bar stool and looked to see one of the men Mal and Zoe were meeting with stand up and pull out a gun. The other two followed suit as did Zoe and Mal. Kaylee stood there frozen as she heard the gun fire ring out. She wasn’t really there anymore, least not in her head. Gun fire only reminded her of one thing nowadays and it always froze her blood to hear it.

Kaylee saw one of the gun men point the gun at her. They knew she was part of the crew, had to take her out too. She needed to move but her legs wouldn’t listen. The gun shot rang out and Kaylee felt an invisible force knock her to the ground, the bullet narrowly missing her. The mechanic looked around, trying to see who had pushed her out of the way, but there wasn’t a sole in her radius.

The man who had fired the gun at her looked perplexed, but he moved the aim of his gun to where she was on the floor.

“Kaylee get out of here!” Mal yelled. Kaylee scrambled to her knees, diving behind a table, a bullet knicking her arm. It wasn’t even a scratch hardly. She let out a deep breath and closed her eyes as she tried to get a grip on herself. The gun battle that was raging in the bar right now was echoing in her ears, making it hard to think about anything else.

“……Kaylee….” her radio crackled. Kaylee looked down at her belt and pulled the comm out.

“Cap’n?” There was silence for a moment.

“…..left……” Kaylee looked to her left to see a gun about thirty feet from her. The man who it belonged to was sprawled face down on the floor, his arm above his head like he was reaching for the awful contraption.

“…..left…” the radio repeated. Kaylee looked around her. There were still guns firing but not as often. Everyone must have taken cover. Kaylee slowly inched towards the gun. She crawled on her knees, reaching her hand out and taking it. The metal was cool in her hands, so alien to her. It was heavy too. Kaylee swallowed and leaned her head against the table.

“What now,” she whispered, more to herself as she stared down at the foreign object in her hands.

“…back…door…” the radio crackled out again. Kaylee felt a shiver go down her spine. She would be damned to hell if the voice didn’t sound like Jayne. She swallowed and brought the radio to her lips.

“Cap’n?” Nothing. “Simon?” Nothing. “Zoe?” Nothing. “J-jayne?” her voice trembled at his name.

“Go Kaylee.” The voice was clearer now and Kaylee nearly dropped the comm for it. She felt her heart race in her chest. It couldn’t be him…but it sounded like—no it couldn’t be. Had to be the captain. Kaylee’s eyes scanned the room, spotting a doorway behind the bar. She started to crawl towards it.

“Wait,” the radio order, and Kaylee stopped. She closed her eyes and tried to compose herself. Hearing his voice, even garbled as it was, was like opening a wound that had been healing over. The white noise on the radio crackled again and she heard him. “Go.” Kaylee didn’t hesitate, just started crawling for the door. She looked down where the captain and Zoe’s table had been and saw two of the men with their backs to her. She crawled as quickly as she could until she was fully concealed by the bar counter. When she was, she stopped and leaned against the wall.

“…Don’t stop, Kaylee girl,” the voice admonished. Kaylee stared down at the radio in a mixture of awe and fear. There was no mistaking that, not another person in the ‘verse called her ‘Kaylee girl’ the way Jayne did. She felt a cry nearly bubble out of her throat but she suppressed it. The mechanic stuck the radio back in her belt and crawled for the door. She opened it a pinch and slipped through the small space she had made for herself, closing the door behind her as quiet as a mouse. She got to her feet and looked around. She was in an alleyway. Taking slow cautious steps she headed out of the alley.

Kaylee pulled the radio out of her belt and looked down at it. “Jayne?” There was silence, and for a long moment she didn’t think there would be an answer. Maybe she had just imagined it.

“………………………miss you…………” Kaylee couldn’t hold back the cry that escape her lips. She brought the comm up to her mouth and pressed a kiss to it.

“I love you,” she whispered back. There was no reply, though she didn’t expect there would be.

“Kaylee!” The mechanic looked up to see Zoe moving towards her. “Come on, we gotta move. I’m gonna radio the captain, let him know that you’re out of there. He thinks you’re still in there,” the first mate explained. Kaylee nodded and let Zoe lead her around the building, taking the gun Zoe had picked up. She radioed Mal, but Kaylee zoned out as she did. She couldn’t get past what had just happened to her. When she saw Mal coming towards them, she felt herself coming back to reality again.

“Back t’the ship, River has her warmed up, we’re gettin’ off this piece of go se planet” Mal said as he approached. He took Kaylee by the arm, looking around, then lead the three of them back towards the ship. “Gorram trap that was. How th’hell did ya get outta there, Kaylee? Men had you pinned down far as I could tell.”

Kaylee opened her mouth to say what happened, but thought better of it. “Saw the backdoor and just crawled for it,” Kaylee said simply.

“You’re right lucky you made it out,” Mal said. Yeah…lucky Kaylee thought. For the first time in weeks she didn’t feel so alone.