Written for the philosphy_20 community at Live Journal. Prompt #2 Loss. Enventual Jayne/Kaylee. Chapter one _________________________________________________

“Sure do girl.” Jayne grinned at her lecherously and waggled his eyebrows. ‘Course he knew how Kaylee had got on the boat; he’d thought about it more than a time or two in his bunk. But he weren’t stupid, no matter what people thought, and realised that sexin’ up a shipmate was plenty dumb. “I’m picturin’ it in my head right now.”

Weren’t as if he didn’t get lots of sex when he was planetside and those girls didn’t require nothin’ but money from him. That suited him fine, he didn’t want no ties, didn’t need no complications. Sexin’ someone you worked with led to both.

Especially if it were little Kaylee. Who could, if you let her, draw ya into all sorts of committin’ and such. He laughed at her as she gave him a punch on the arm.

“Well ya can stop picturin’ it right now.” Kaylee ordered.

‘Course she knew how Jayne ended up on Serenity. The Captain made sure she knew he couldn’t be trusted. But she did trust him; he weren’t as bad as he made out. Jayne would do the right thing if pushed to it.

She guessed he’d done somethin’ bad at Ariel, but he was gettin’ better at the loyalty thing. He’d helped rescue the Captain and Wash; helped her, got shot for her, kept her strong when there was trouble.

Kaylee grinned at him. “Best we keep fixin’ things. The Captain will be wantin’ to go soon.”

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

Hearing that a Firefly had docked, Ben Amos made his way down to the port. He’d been following leads for over a month and finally he’d located her.

Waiting till the crew left the ship he checked the area cautiously and trailed along behind until they reached a more or less deserted alleyway. Moving quickly forward he thrust out a hand to catch her arm and found himself lifted in the air and shoved back against the alley wall, two men pointing guns at him.

The man holding him by the neck with effortless ease loomed over him menacingly while the other said calmly, “care to explain that?”

“Captain, Jayne!” He heard Kaylee’s unmistakable voice exclaim. “Put him down, he’s a friend of mine.”

The calmer man glanced over his shoulder and relaxed slightly. The bigger man still held him inches off the ground.

“Jayne ya got no call to keep treatin’ him that way.” Kaylee pushed past the people guarding her and frowned at him. “He’s from home.”

“That don’t mean ya can trust him.” Jayne growled. The fella had grabbed her arm and might’ve hurt her but she was still defendin’ him.

“Mr Amos is my old teacher,” Kaylee answered back, in no way intimidated by the big man, “and were always nice to me. He didn’t mind I liked engines and let me use ‘em for projects and stuff.”

Ben heaved a sigh when the gun was shifted slightly away from his head. It was only a limited reprieve though, since the man didn’t take his finger from the trigger, stop pointing the big gun at him or let his feet touch the ground.

“Let him down Jayne.” The Captain ordered, “so he can tell us why he grabbed Kaylee like that.”

“I’d rather not speak here Captain.” Ben cleared his throat and glanced around nervously.

“We’ll go back to Serenity then.”

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

“Is something wrong at home?” Kaylee asked, fear in her eyes. “I know ya don’t like to travel, yet here ya are, far from home.”

Ben sighed; the girl always picked up on nuances quickly. “It’d be best to wait till everyone is here. Then I’ll only have to tell the story once.”

He hadn’t enjoyed the walk back to Serenity. The Captain was impatient; the rest of the crew, curious. Kaylee had been disturbed, asking lots of questions. The big man, Jayne (what a name!), had kept his gun poked in Ben’s favourite ribs the whole time.

He now sat, eyes watchful, gun still out, listening quietly to their conversation. His continued regard and intimidating presence was making Ben both nervous and uncomfortable.

Finally, to his relief, the rest of the crew gathered, though no introductions were made. He knew them all by report only, from Kaylee’s letters home. They were a surprising group. He hoped they lived up to everyone’s expectations.

The Captain gestured impatiently. “Tell your story and get on with it.”

Ben sighed and began. “Sometime ago now, the Willocks lost their money and had to sell their property.”

“Biggest ranch in the area,” Kaylee supplied.

“The new folks are from off-world and are very rich and influential.” Ben saw the Captain’s attention sharpen. “They have taken over the town.”

“Taken over?” The Shepherd queried.

“At first no-one realised they were buying up other properties around town. Then gradually they started forcing some of the local shop-keepers to either sell to or work for them.”

“Why for?”

“They want to make the town and its environs into what amounts to a theme park.”

“Huh?”

“A place where their friends and others like them can come and pretend they’re living on the Rim, naturally paying for the privilege of doing so.”

“Naturally,” the Companion’s voice was dry.

“Kaylee’s father and brothers were the only ones that made a stand, refusing to co-operate.” Ben looked at the floor. “The reason you know none of this Kaylee is that all waves are forbidden and travel off-planet monitored strictly. I managed to leave because my tour of rim schools was due.”

Biting his lip, he continued. Kaylee was going to take the next news hard. “Just before I left Kaylee’s brother Steve was shot and killed. I believe in an attempt to ensure the families’ co-operation.”

“Steve?” Kaylee’s voice trembled and the Companion hastened over to hug her. “Steve’s dead? What about the rest of my family?”

“They all went out to your place and stayed there. Since I was already cleared to leave, I agreed to come and look for you and your Captain. Jack seemed to think that he may help.”

The girl’s eyes looked at him hopefully. “Captain?”

The man nodded and turned to the other crew members. “Wash, warm up the engine. Zoë go with Mr Amos and get his things, he’s coming with us.” Drawing Kaylee close in a comforting hug he said. “Don’t worry mei mei, we’ll sort things out.”

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

Inara had settled her in her bunk and stayed till she was calm, but Kaylee hadn’t been able to stay there. Climbin’ the ladder she headed for the engine room and Serenity.

Wrappin’ her blanket around her, she rocked in the hammock and cried for Steve and home.

Her home to Kaylee was always special. Though she didn’t want to live there, at least not permanent, its place in her memories was important to her.

Home for her was a bright, shiny place where her Mama, Daddy and brothers were. Even though they weren’t rich and there weren’t much work around, they were happy.

When things got a bit gloomy or stressed out here in the black she pictured it in her mind; home, where nothing changed, where nothin’ really bad happened. Oh she knew that weren’t so. But it were a comfort sometimes to believe that, and she mourned the loss of that feelin’.

She was so worried about the rest of the family. How was Steve’s wife feelin, Mama, Daddy and the others? She just wanted to be there, with them.

A big hand holdin’ a cup of coffee appeared in front of her. “Wanna tell me ‘bout yer brother?”

Kaylee sniffed, sighed and held out her hand, she knew Jayne wouldn’t go away without a fight. “Steve’s my big brother…..”