BLUE SUN ROOM FAN FICTION - GENERAL

QUIETSERENITY

Seeing Jayne, Seeing Kaylee, Chapter 2
Saturday, November 4, 2006

Jayne tries to find Kaylee, and in the process finds something he didn't even know he was looking for.


CATEGORY: FICTION    TIMES READ: 1926    RATING: 9    SERIES: FIREFLY

If you missed part one, just click on my name and it will take you back to previous chapters.

The nature of this fic deals with themes that may be upsetting for some readers. I hope you stay with me so that I may resolve it, but I wanted to warn you ahead of time. NC-17 for subject matter.

Special thanks to Mordsith for the Beta!

Jayne walked into the house, and he could feel eyes on him immediately. “Ain’t here for trim girl,” he said gruffly, shaking one off. “Need to talk to who’s in charge.” Last time Jayne had been there, it had been a woman named Lucille, ‘Miss Lucy’, he called her. Didn’t know if that was still the case, but Jayne was sure hopin’ it was. He felt an enormous sense of relief when Miss Lucy swept out of a back room, skirts swishing, and still tying up her top. “Hey there, honey.” She walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek. “Heard it was you and came runnin’. Don’t often see you here anymore.” “Listen Miss Lucy.” Jayne was all business. “Ain’t got time to chat with ya, and I’m real sorry. One of my crewmates got snatched out there, and I gotta find her quick. She won’t hold up on her own.” Jayne spoke quietly, trying to conceal his concern, but being very unsuccessful. Miss Lucy’s attention was caught. Jayne Cobb didn’t turn down women for nothin’. She thought a bit and decided to just say it straight. “There’s a group of men in town. Snatch pretty little things walking alone right off the streets.” Jayne started swearing under his breath and Miss Lucy put a hand on his arm. “It gets worse Jayne. They use ‘em for days and then kill them. Leave them right there on the streets.” “Ain’t the gorram law do anything ‘bout it?” It was one of Jayne’s more charming qualities. He went ‘round breaking the law left and right, but he still had some faith in local lawmen. Not everyone could break laws, or there wouldn’t be any honest folk left for him to steal from. “They can’t Jayne. There’s too many of ‘em, and they come from all sorts of worlds. Some leave this rock, new ones come in…they all change from day to day. By the time they figure out who one man is, he’s gone on somewhere else. “ Miss Lucy’s face was grave. “You’d better find your little friend Jayne, and fast. You only got a couple days.” “Where in the ruttin’ hell am I supposed to start?” Jayne was as close to frantic as he ever got. He had to slow down, thoughts of those men hurtin’ Kaylee like that were clouding his mind. “There’s some old canyons outside of town. Lots of cliffs and places to scare the wits outta young girls. Make ‘em think that taking up with those men might be a good idea.” Miss Lucy shook her head. “Hurry on now Jayne, I’d help ya more if I could.” Jayne stopped just long enough to kiss her on the cheek. “You’ve helped me plenty Miss Lucy. Nice seein’ ya again.” And then with usual Jayne tact, he stared at her for a second, and was gone. She smiled wryly to herself. Jayne Cobb never was one for goodbyes. She’d never seen him so…well, so concerned about anybody’s well being before. This girl, this crewmate of his, she must be pretty special to have Jayne runnin’ after her like that. Jayne set off quickly on foot, taking note of his surroundings, but in truth, rushing a bit more than he should. His main thought was to get to Kaylee as soon as possible, so he wasn’t being as careful as he normally was. Then he saw it. Jayne was moving so swiftly that he almost missed it. A familiar teddy bear patch hanging forlornly from a branch. Whether it had been torn by manhandling or by intent he couldn’t be sure, but he knew without a doubt it was Kaylee’s. Knowing that she had been this way, Jayne’s stride widened. Night was beginning to crowd in, and he was desperate to at least pinpoint her location before it got too hard to see. The brush gradually thinned out and gave way to empty, unpopulated flatlands. Jayne saw what Miss Lucy had been taking about. There had to be hundreds of drop-offs here into ravines so deep he could barely see the bottom. The land was dry and desolate with almost no cover. Jayne was puzzled; this hardly seemed like a location to hide. There was nowhere to seek shelter here, save behind a couple of idly placed rocks. Jayne was going to have to readjust his thinking, change his method of tracking if he was going to find Kaylee. There would be no broken branches or footprints to follow here. Any track that might have been laid was covered almost as swiftly with the dust the wind brought up. Jayne was going to have to be a lot smarter for this climate. He pushed away nagging doubts than began to gnaw at the back of his mind. Jayne decided that it was no longer smart to be traveling when the light was so sparse. He wouldn’t do Kaylee any good if he went tumbling headfirst over a cliff. He normally would have preferred to conceal himself, but seeing no hope for it, he leaned against a rather large rock and dozed lightly. There would be no real rest for him, not until he and Kaylee were back on Serenity. “Did you see ‘em?” The man’s voice was so gruff and quiet, Kaylee could hardly make the words out. They were leavin’ her alone for now, and she was grateful. She had been poked, prodded, and yanked along all day long. They had talked about her like she wasn’t standing right in front of them. ‘I don’t think she’ll put up much of a fight,’ and ‘We’ll flip for her, heads or tails gets…well, you know,’ and other things that made her stomach churn. She kept her eyes closed, hoping if they thought she was asleep they might feel free to talk more plainly. “Just one fella. Big too. He might be trouble. I’m thinkin’ he was who we saw her with in town.” The first man’s partner answered thoughtfully. ‘Could it be Jayne?’ Kaylee hardly dared to hope. Half of her hoped the man would rush right in there and take her home, but the other half hoped that he would get as far away from there as possible. It wasn’t likely that these two could take Jayne out, but she didn’t want to risk it. The first man began to pace. “I don’t know Bill, I ain’t likin’ him following us. He’s too close. Makes me twitchy.” “Just settle down!” Bill’s voice was agitated, and Kaylee could tell he was nervous too. “Robert, there’s one of him and two of us.” He was explaining it slowly, as if trying to make sure his partner got the math. In any other situation, Kaylee might have found his manner funny. “And ‘sides, we got him by surprise. He catches up to us, all we gotta do is cut on that girl there, likely he won’t be able to take it.” Kaylee squeezed her eyes shut, trying with all her might to will herself back onto Serenity. She wasn’t sure of the timetable exactly, but she was fairly certain that she shouldn’t expect to live much longer. She only hoped that Jayne could find her before it happened. It had been awful…the silence at the camp gave Kaylee some time to reflect, much as she didn’t want to relive the events of earlier. She was so hurt at Jayne’s comments this morning that she had run from him, not even caring where she was going. It wasn’t long before the tears started, streaming so fast she couldn’t see her way. So Kaylee wasn’t exactly surprised when she had run headlong into someone else. She had put out her hand to make sure that the man was okay and to apologize for her foolishness, but she had instead been grabbed and hauled from the street. Kaylee watched in horror as the compression coil fell to the ground. She tried to scream but couldn’t. As the man dragged her behind an old building, she caught sight of Jayne frantically looking for her. But there was nothing she could do. Behind the building, her captor had met up with another man. They refused to let her walk, and Kaylee was too afraid to struggle. With one man at her head, and another at her feet, they slowly began to torment her. They were taunting her; telling her their disgusting thoughts and saying she deserved to be treated like that all along. They took such liberties, touched her everywhere they could reach, and Kaylee could only try not to look. The man down by her feet noticed the tattered bear patch on her coveralls and snickered. “Hey Robert.” He halted their procession, and got his partner’s attention. Kaylee wished more than anything that she could just disappear at that very moment. “Look at the little bears on this prairie harpy. You know what that is, dontcha?” Robert caught on immediately. “Flirtin’, that’s what that is. Girls like this one; she wants to be snatched off the street. Looks like we came along just in time.” They turned their attention to Kaylee’s face. “Ain’t that so, little girl? You was walkin’ along lookin’ for someone like us, weren’t ya? Lookin’ for someone to take care of ya.” Kaylee shivered, quite certain that their version of “take care of” was vastly different than anyone else she knew. Back in the camp, a tear slid down Kaylee’s cheek and she prayed that they wouldn’t look at her. Jayne had to come and find her. Sure, his motives and actions were more often than not very questionable, but he wouldn’t leave her. If Kaylee knew one thing, she knew that Jayne would not let these men have her, he would keep coming and coming…until he finally found her. She only hoped she was still alive when he did. Jayne awoke early, in the light just before the sun came up. He swatted a few stray flies around his face and rose to his feet. It took his brain only a minute to remember the details of the day before, and to know that he had to get to Kaylee. He wasn’t especially sure which direction he should head, so he chose to go north. It seemed to him the safest bet. He hadn’t been traveling more than a few hours when he heard a muffled sob. Hoping against all hope that it was Kaylee, he sought out the crier only to find someone else entirely. A young woman with long, black hair crouched in a seemingly impossible position, almost folded into herself. Jayne touched her on the shoulder to get her attention, and the resounding scream was ear piercing. “Gorramit girl!” Jayne jumped back, yanking his hand from the stranger as if he’d been burned. She stood straight up, either not noticing or not caring at all that she was naked. Even Jayne could tell that she had been abused; her slight body was covered with bruises and dried blood wounds that were buried under layers of dirt. But whatever had happened to her had not diminished the raw anger in her eyes. “I won’t be your toy! I’d rather you killed me where I stand than touch me again!” The woman was shaking, but Jayne guessed it was more with rage than fear. “Calm down! I ain’t with them! I’m just lookin’ for a crewman of mine. Got snatched, an’ I need to find her!” Jayne was trying to get her attention; trying to get her to calm down just a bit so he could get some answers from her. “I won’t believe your lies! You won’t get anymore from me…you’re worse than Reavers because you masquerade as men!” She practically spat at Jayne, staring him straight in the face. Mad as she was, Jayne couldn’t help but notice the eloquence with which she spoke. This woman had surely had year upon year of schooling, at the highest level. Even her stance betrayed her; she didn’t fit in out here at all. Hell, she couldn’t blend in with folks like him even if she tried. Jayne saw no hope for it. He grabbed her by the shoulders to hold her steady and tried to get her to understand. “I ain’t lookin’ to harm you, so stop yer screechin’!” His voice was strong, in an attempt to pierce the shield she had formed around herself. Jayne took off his jacket and laid it over her shoulders. This girl had been through enough; there was no need to have her go through anything else if he could help it. Jayne decided to start with simple things. “What’s your name, girl?”

COMMENTS

Saturday, November 4, 2006 5:01 AM

PHOENIXROSE


I like that you're bringing in Jayne's tracking ability. Seems we didn't get to see nearly enough of that in the series. But what a place to leave us hanging!

Sunday, November 5, 2006 2:16 PM

BLUEEYEDBRIGADIER


What? Nooo...that's just cruel! We need to know that Kaylee's gonna be alright!

:(

Still...really liking how you are handling this scenario, QuietSerenity. Especially since we have this new character to deal with...

BEB


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