Fandom: Friefly Title: Equatiosn ch 9: Goodbye My Friends Author/Artist: Dani (Mordsith) Theme(s): 19. Cry; Sadness (~always...) Pairing/Characters: Jayle/Kaylee (hints at Mal/Simon) Rating: Pg-13 (I guess) Disclaimer/claimer (if needed): I do not own Summary (if needed): Final chapter Word Count: 1705

Author's Note: I finally finished it. Its sort of open ended for a sequel, but as of now I have no plans for a one. This fic has been an emotional rollercoaster, thanks to all who have continued to read it, despite its unfavorable look at some of our BDHs. Speacial thanks to Reenie, Maantre, Cheshire_monkey, & Bookaddict43. Extra special thanks to Squish for the beta and encouragement. I added some stuff she didn't look at so any mistakes are probably mine. Again, thank you all. Image by the lovely Maantre.

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Kaylee looked up when she heard Mal enter the cargo bay. His face was unreadable, a mixture of emotions that she wasn’t used to seeing on the captain’s face. She rose and Jayne did behind her, both watching as Mal approached. River followed him in, her head titled to the side and her eyes red and puffy like she had been crying.

“Hey Cap’n,” Kaylee spoke softly. “Here t’send us off?”

“I...” Mal opened his mouth then closed it again. She could see him struggling with the words so cut him off before he could fumble through whatever it was he was trying to say.

“It’s alright, Mal,” she said, losing the captain title.

“You don’t have to go,” Mal said. He looked like he had to force the words out. Kaylee gave him a faint smile and shrugged. This was harder than she ever thought it would be. Leaving her family, her home, her girl. She felt like part of her was being ripped up inside but in the end, she knew this was her own doing.

“Probably best if we do,” she replied solemly.

“Kaylee!” Inara’s voice interrupted from the catwalk. The companion gracefully descended the steps into the cargo bay from her shuttle entrance, stepping between Mal and his mechanic and taking the younger woman’s hand in hers. “Take this.”

“What is it, ‘Nara?” Kaylee asked, looking down at her hand as her friend pressed a silver chain into her palm.

“It’s a necklace, mei mei. Something my mother gave to me before I left the academy. Take it, it will bring you good luck,” Inara said softly.

“I can’t take this,” Kaylee breathed, slightly in awe.

“Yes, yes you can,” Inara said. “It’s all I have to give you right now. It would mean everything to me if you would take it.”

“Inara…”

“Please,” the companion whispered.

Kaylee nodded and tightened her hand into a small fist around the silver chain. She would have never thought Inara would have silver jewelry. Maybe she had and the mechanic had just never noticed it, but gold seemed to suit the companion. When Kaylee thought of Inara she thought of deep, rich colors like reds and golds. Silver seemed out of place.

Kaylee looked down at the fist she had made and swallowed. Her eyes locked onto the gold ring on her finger and she sighed. Her eyes shifted around the room until they landed on Simon standing in the doorway to the cargo bay. Quietly Kaylee moved around Mal and Inara, towards him. She stopped a few feet away and slipped the wedding ring off her finger, handing it to him. Simon took it, looking down at the gold band with interest.

“You don’t have to go, Kaylee,” he said, though she could see it strained him to say so.

“I don’t see how it can work any other way. I did wrong to you, awful wrong. I love this ship Simon, but I can’t see this working,” she whispered.

“Me either,” he admitted. Kaylee nodded and leaned up, placing a kiss on his cheek. When she turned to leave, Simon stopped her, pulling her into an unexpected tight embrace. “I’ll see you again,” he breathed into her ear.

“You will,” she promised. After a moment they broke apart and stared at each other. Finally Simon turned and left, her eyes following him out of sight.

“Kaylee?” Jayne asked, his voice strained as he spoke. She didn’t say anything for a moment, not sure what to say. Her eyes stared off down the empty corridor until she felt a hand fall onto her shoulder. She turned to see Jayne towering over her. Before she could open her mouth to speak, Jayne reached up, wiping her cheeks with his thumbs. Her whole gorram face was wet with tears and she hadn’t even realized it.

“I’m alright. We should go,” she said, making sure to take firm control of her voice. Jayne nodded and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, leading her back to where their bags were. He picked up all of their and turned to face Mal, Inara and River. Footsteps echoed and after a moment Zoe had found her way to the bay as well. There was silence between the crew for a long moment, no one sure how things should end. Kaylee was the first to act, reaching out and wrapping her arms around Mal. She kissed his cheek and pulled back.

“You’ll always be my Captain,” she said, but quickly moved on before Mal could respond, wrapping her arms around Inara. The two had only a short embrace.

“Wave me when you are settled,” Inara said.

“I will,” Kaylee promised. She moved to Zoe and hugged her as well. Zoe hadn’t been much of a hugger when Kaylee had first come on board, she was glad things had changed since then. The last person for Kaylee to say goodbye to was River. The younger girl look shell shocked at the overwhelming amount of emotions she must have been feeling at that moment.

“Didn’t want you to go,” River said quietly.

“Don’t really want t’go neither. Don’t see any other option. Could stay here, but I think they’re too many hurt feelings on too small a boat,” Kaylee said.

“I knew,” River said, stepping closer to Kaylee. Her slender arms wrapped Kaylee into a hug. “I knew the mathematics but I didn’t want to let you go. I love you. Never had a sister before, but Simon had to know. When a theory is disproved you can’t ignore it.”

“I know,” Kaylee said.

“Write me,” River said.

“I will,” Kaylee agreed. The two pulled back and Kaylee looked around. She could see Jayne and Mal giving each other a manly grunt and nod. Inara wasn’t quite as withdrawn as she pulled Jayne into a brief embrace.

When all the goodbyes were completed Jayne made sure he had collected everything and the two of them headed down the ramp and into town. Kaylee wasn’t really sure where they were going, but it was a new chapter in her life, one that didn’t have the best start, but she could hope would have a good ending.

The further away from Serenity they got, the tighter her stomach felt. The ship had been her home for so long, she hadn’t though she would ever have to know anything else. It was silly to think that, ships couldn’t fly forever and there would be a day when she would be too old to be a mechanic, but it wasn’t something she had thought much on.

“Don’t worry so much, babygirl,” Jayne said.

“Just gonna miss it is all. It was home,” she shrugged. Serenity had been more than home, she was her baby.

“Me and you are gonna make a new home. I promise,” he assured.

“Won’t be the same,” she sighed.

“No, no it won’t. But we’ll be together and that’s all that matters right?” Jayne looked down at her and Kaylee felt a smile touch her lips.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

There were gone a good while before Mal finally ordered the ramp be brought up. The ship felt emptier already. He looked around the cargo bay, trying to decide what to do now, where to go from here. He had lost his mercenary and his mechanic. If that was all they had lost, perhaps he could get over it. But he had always prided himself that his crew was more family than anything else. Part of his family was gone and he didn’t know how to take that.

“Are you going to tell him?” Inara asked, her silken voice pulling Mal back to reality.

“Tell who?”

“Simon,” Inara said, lowering her voice in case there were ears listening.

“The man is hurtin’. Don’t need his ol’ captain messin’ with his emotions now,” Mal said.

“Is that really it?” Inara asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Simon ain’t sly anyhow,” Mal shrugged.

“There is a difference between being sly and loving another person,” Inara attempted to point out.

“It’s too soon,” Mal shrugged. “Don’t want to be a rebound.”

“That’s noble of you, Captain” Inara smiled softly. It was the first smile he had seen since Kaylee and Jayne had left.

“Not noble, a pride issue, really,” Mal said, hooking his thumbs into his belt and returning a smirk of his own.

“If you say so,” Inara replied, unconvinced. Mal made a face at her and started to walk away. He was going to say something quirky when he nearly collided with the doctor. Simon’s face was unreadable as usually. Except the hurt behind his eyes, but that wasn’t something the good doctor could help. He’d been through a lot in the last few hours.

“What don’t you want to tell me?” Simon asked. Mal turned to Inara for help but the companion had slipped off in the blink of an eye. That woman was too cunning for her own good.

“Well uh…what did you hear?” Mal asked, licking his lips for a moment.

“Everything,” Simon said after a moment of contemplation.

“Don’t seem to me there’s much that needs tellin’ then,” Mal said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Maybe not,” Simon agreed. “Then again maybe I just wanted to hear you say it to my face.” Mal was a bit taken aback at the doctor’s request.

“Now ain’t the time,” he said firmly. Maybe deep down Mal truly believed that. Whatever it was, Mal wasn’t ready to have this conversation with him right now. Simon was quiet a moment, then finally nodded.

“You’re probably right. It’s been a long day, Captain. You’ll have to excuse me.” Simon gave Mal an unreadable look before heading towards the infirmary, leaving Mal in the cargo bay.

“You did right,” River said. Mal jumped and looked up to see River sitting on the catwalk above him.

“That so Albatross?” he asked.

“Time heals all wounds. Wait…you’ll see. The pieces will fit. The equation will work.” River smiled and stood up, skipping off towards the bridge.

“Huh,” Mal grunted out. He walked to the comm. on the wall and pressed the button in. “Zoe, River, take me off this dust bowl.”

The End