Disclaimer: It's so sad, but it's true. I have nothing to do with Firefly.

Authors Notes: I'm hungry. Just thought I'd share. Enjoy the latest chapter!

Right and Wrong By KaySky Part Seven

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Vincent had one arm wrapped around Kaylee and the other arm sticking straight out, pointing at Mal, with a gun in hand.

“Who the hell are you?” Mal’s worst fears came true. Someone was on the ship and that someone had Kaylee.

“I’m sure Anya must have mentioned me, the husband?” He was grinning from ear to ear. He was filled with confidence. Not one thought of Mal getting the upper hand even crossed his mind.

“Aren’t ya supposed to be dead?” Jayne stared into his eyes, gun in hand.

He turned to Anya. “Baby, is that what you have been telling these kind folks? And to think I once thought you were as sincere as little Kaylee.”

“We’ll I think we got a problem here, Vinny. You got my girl and it would be in your best interest to let her go.”

“Actually, captain…I’m assuming your Captain Reynolds….” He raised Kaylee’s shirt up just enough. Mal’s heart sank when he saw all the blood. “…the way I see it, if you want Kaylee to live you need to do something for me.”

“You hurt her and Anya is getting a bullet between the eyes.” Zoe aimed her gun at Anya. She wouldn’t hesitate about shooting her.

“You want to shoot her, that’s fine with me. I never was a big fan of lying, cheating whores.”

Mal looked at Jayne and Zoe. The chances of them taking Vincent down without injuring Kaylee were low. The all knew it. She was already hurt and he didn’t know how badly. He couldn’t risk something going wrong and making her worse. He’d never be able to live with himself. Slowly, Mal laid his gun to the ground. Jayne and Zoe followed his actions.

“Glad you see it my way Captain Reynolds. Kick them over to me. Now there is only one more thing I’m going to ask of you and than your little Kaylee is free as a bird.”

“What’s that?” So many plans were running through Mal’s head. Not one of them was worth risking Kaylee’s life.

“The wife here tells me you are storing some fugitives. I’d like to meet them.”

Assuming nothing else went wrong that Mal didn’t know about, everyone was in Inara’s shuttle. If he took Vincent there they would all be in harms way. It was bad enough he couldn’t protect Kaylee. He wasn’t going to let the rest of them down. “Let me get them for you.”

“Not so fast, Captain. I already learned my lesson about trusting people.” He picked up their guns. “Now, I’m sure you’ve heard the saying ‘fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me’. Guess I’ll be finding out here real soon if I’m a fool.” He tossed Mal’s gun to Anya. “Don’t be thinking about doing anything crazy. You want to walk away from this alive you’ll keep that gun pointed at them. Maybe if you’re a good girl I’ll not only let you live, but forget about that statue.”

Anya caught the gun. For a few moments she just stared at in her hands. When she looked up Vincent had pulled his knife back out and was holding it against Kaylee’s throat. “Now, you think about doing anything, it takes less than a second for her throat to be cut and her to be dead on the floor.” He turned to Mal, Jayne, and Zoe. “Same goes for you three. Now line up single file, Captain leads the way.”

* * * *

River was calm. She hadn’t said one word since Inara got back to the shuttle. Simon tried to comfort her. He asked her what was wrong, but she said nothing. She starred at the door as if she was expecting someone.

“What do you think is going on out there?” Worry filled Inara’s voice.

“You know about as much as I do.” Simon’s eyes never left his sister. He stood there, watching her as he held his med kit tight. He might need it.

“I hope they found Kaylee.” Book was pacing back and forth, arms crossed.

Simon’s med kit fell to the floor. “Kaylee…she’s missing?”

“Yes, son. You didn’t know?”

“No, Zoe said she was with Mal.” He starred at his kit. A few bandages and an assortment of other medical supplies were scattered about the floor. His heart was heavy. His hands were trembling. He’d blame himself if anything happened to her.

“When I woke up Zoe and Wash, she said she was going to get the captain.” Inara didn’t know Kaylee was missing either. She sat on her bed, tears running down her face. “I didn’t know…”

“When Mal found me in the kitchen, he told me she was missing. He said once they figured out a plan he would let us know. I’m sure Kaylee is fine. She probably ran off to one of Serenity’s corners. Whenever she wants a little privacy she always goes looking for a nook.” Book sat next to Inara, putting his arm around her, comforting her. “She will be fine. Why don’t we say a prayer?”

“Fingernails across a chalkboard; No one likes the sound of the board screeching. The board is hurt. It needs to be fixed.”

Simon sat down, pulling River into his lap. “It’s okay, meimei. Everything will be okay. Mal is going to find Kaylee.”

“Knock, knock. Who’s there? It’s the chalkboard, but she’s not alone.”

Simon kissed the top of her head. “Meimei…” He was interrupted by the knock at the door.

Book’s heart skipped a beat. He was the last one in the shuttle. He’d forgotten to lock the door behind him. When he saw it was Mal, he was relieved. Then he saw all of them.

“This is some fancy party we have going on here.” Vincent said. He shoved Mal, Jayne, and Zoe towards the bed. “Sit. You move, she gets cut.”

All Simon could see was Kaylee’s blood soaked pajama pants. “Kaylee…”

“I say who does the talking around her, boy. Alright Anya, which two are the fugitives?”

She didn’t hesitate. She pointed to Simon. “That’s the medic. I imagine the one he is holding is River.” Her voice was cold. Maybe she agreed selling them out to the Alliance wasn’t such a bad idea.

“Good job, doll face. So here is what we’re going to do. Kaylee and I will go to the cockpit and you will stay here keeping an eye on them. After I have alerted Alliance of our passengers, we’ll do some celebrating.” He kissed Kaylee’s cheek. “Maybe we can celebrate together, babe. Do you know what it feels like to be rich? It’s about the best feeling in the ‘verse.” He ran his finger down from her bottom lip till it found some clevage below. He paused for a moment. He pulled his finger away, place his hand on her check. His fingers brushed against the fresh bruise left by his hand when he smacked her in the engine room. “You could have it all, darling.”

Mal felt sick. He wanted to do nothing more than beat the hell out of this man, but as long as Vincent had that knife pressed against Kaylee, he was powerless. “You’re gonna leave a little woman in charge with this many people 'round? Wouldn’t be my move.”

“Captain Reynolds, nice try. See I imagine every one of your crew loves little Kaylee just as much as you do. If I come back and see anything out of place, she’s a goner. Now for a little insurance purposes, I suppose I could show you all how slowly I can make her die.” With that being said he took the knife and ran the blade across the small of her back. She whimpered. “Now, I already gave Anya the lecture about disobedience and where that will end up putting Miss Kaylee, does anyone else need me to repeat it?”

The shuttle was silent.

“Good, now I’ll be on my way.”

“Wait.” She hadn’t spoken in so long. Her words were barely louder than a whisper. She needed to yell…needed to scream. “Wait!”

“Kaylee, sugar-pie, I thought you knew what happened when people disobeyed?” He whispered into her ear. “Don’t make me hurt you because you’re the one that’s disobeying.” He gave hear earlobe a playful bite.

“It’s just not a good plan.” Kaylee had never been so brave. It took all her strength to hold the tears inside. No more tears… Tears wouldn’t save her. Tears wouldn't save the crew.

“Excuse me?” He raised the knife to her stomach once again.

“There’s somethin’ better on Serenity than Simon and River. Somethin’ that’d settle your debt with Niska.”

She caught his attention. “I’m listening.”

“Me.”

He laughed. “Kaylee, do you know what it does to me having to slice through your beautiful skin like this?” In one quick movement, the knife cut into her body, but this time she didn’t whimper. She screamed.

To be continued…