Disclaimer: KaySky and Firefly are not connected in any way.

Past, Present, & Future By KaySky Part Three

The afternoon began to wind down as the Frye men, Mal and Zoe sat around the kitchen table.

“We need a plan.” Sam pounded his fist on the table. “A good one.”

“The plan is to keep Kaylee safe.” Mac responded.

“How we going to do that?” Ryan looked towards Mac for the answer.

“Boys, all your talkin’ ain’t helpin’ the rest of us think.” Cole gave his boys a stern look implying keep quiet.

“I ain’t got a clue who Kaylee would owe a debt to.” Mal said. “It ain’t her way.”

“Anyone we’ve come across might have problems with the Captain or me, but not Kaylee.” Zoe added.

“Whoever she owes knows where she is. It ain’t safe for her to stay.” Ryan folded his arms across his chest. “It just ain’t safe.”

“As long as she’s here I can protect her.” Mac said aggressively. “I’m not letting her leave.”

“No one’s leaving. Not right now anyways.” Mal said forcefully, hoping to outweigh the Frye brother’s conversation.

“What if we…” Ryan started to interject.

“Boys, why don’t you keep and eye on your sisters.” Cole pointed towards the door. Mac didn’t look like he was moving. “That includes you too, Mac.”

* * * *

“We found the girl.” He was a rather large man wearing black pants, a black shirt, black gloves, and a long black trench coat. His hair was jet black and his eyes were as dark as the night’s sky.

“So you brought her, yes?” A smile formed on the other man’s face.

“There are a lot of people around. It won’t be easy getting her.” His eyes looked towards the ground. He knew his boss wouldn’t be happy.

“Easy no, but possible yes?” He stared at the man intently. His voice was powerful. “Bring her to me by morning, or else.”

* * * *

The den in the Frye’s house was large. It is where the family did most of their living. It was always the place for games, homework, reading, naps, or just talking. It was Kaylee’s favorite room of the house.

Emma, Andrew and their three children, Becca, Trent, and Gabriella sat in one corner of the room playing a board game. In another corner sat Mac and Danielle.

“You’re a good brother.” Danielle always thought a girl should judge a man by how he treats the women in his family. She was impressed by his strong love and commitment to his.

“Why don’t you hold off on judging my brothering capabilities until this situation is over.”

Danielle took his hands in hers. “Mac, Kaylee will be safe. To name a few, she has you, Ryan, Sam, her daddy, Mal, Jayne, and Simon who would all kill to keep her that way.” Danielle gave his hands a squeeze. “She’s going to be fine.”

“How can you be so sure?” His dark brown eyes looked into her emerald greens.

“How can you be so sure she won’t be?”

“So you just try and take an optimistic look onto everything?” A slight sound of frustration rang through his voice.

“The glass is either half full or half empty. Either way you look at it there is still an equal amount of water in the glass.”

“I never thought about it that way.” He smiled, frustration forgotten. “Are you always this philosophical?”

“Do you always ask this many questions?” She was grinning from ear to ear. She found Mac Frye very attractive. He was tall, had thick brown hair, dark brown eyes, and the cutest dimples in the ‘verse. He was sweet, loving, and had very, very strong hands.

“Only when I’m interested.” He smiled back. Quickly his smile faded as guilt overcame him for flirting when his sister was in danger.

When he pulled his hands away, she sensed something was wrong. “If Kaylee knew you were feeling guilty for flirting she’d probably slug you.”

His smile reappeared. “I’m that transparent?” He laughed. “Kaylee does have one hell of a punch.”

“Talking ‘bout me brother?” Kaylee and Simon joined them.

“Only the good stuff.” He paused; embarrassing stories of Kaylee flowing through his brain. “Although now that Simon’s here, I think he’s entitled to hearin’ one or two stories.”

She slugged him. “The only stories you are tellin’ are good ones. Otherwise, I’m gonna have to start tellin’ some of yours.”

“Ain’t nothin’ you can say ‘bout me that I’d be embarrassed about. You on the other hand…”

Bester and Laney walked into the room and joined them.

Bester hopped onto the couch next to Kaylee. There was no room for Laney. Both Frye girls were equally annoyed.

“So Kaybear, who’d you get in to trouble with?” Bester’s smile was big and obnoxious. “You could have come to me ya know.”

Simon and Mac both had the urge to knock Bester upside his head. This time they resisted.

“One, don’t call me Kaybear. Two, if I knew who’s tryin’ to find me we wouldn’t all be standin’ around doin’ nothing. Third, you ain’t much for coming to.” Kaylee got up from the sofa and sat down on Simon’s lap.

Bester looked hurt. “I was just…”

“Bester’s taking me to the Summer Fall Ball.” Laney interrupted, turning her eyes towards Mac. “Don’t worry I won’t be getting drunk and burning down any houses.” She said with a smirk on her face.

Laney’s words hit Kaylee like a brick of ice. It had been awhile since she’d thought about Anya. She started twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

“Kaylee didn’t have anything to do with that, Laney.” Mac was annoyed his sisters were going to start another fight.

“Really, cause her diary says differently?” Laney had a smug look on her face.

“You read my…” Tears started forming in Kaylee’s eyes. “Laney, you have no respect…” She couldn’t finish her sentence. She didn’t want to finish it. She went running up stairs to her old bedroom.

“Laney, can you stop being a brat for five minutes and think about what your sister is going through?” Mac said.

“It’s always about Kaylee, isn’t it?” She stormed off up the stairs as well.

“I should go check on Kaylee.” Simon began to stand up.

Mac reached his arm out, stopping Simon. “No, let Emma tend to her. She’s got the most experience in the matter.” He looked to his sister across the room who’d seen both girls storm off. “Just like the old days, eh Emma?”

“I’ll take round one and you can have round two.” She kissed Andrew on his cheek and each of her children before heading up the stairs after her younger sisters.

“You’ve got some feisty sisters.” Bester was all smiles. He had many inappropriate thoughts of the Frye girls in a wrestling match soaring through his brain.

“Why are you still here?” Mac turned to Bester. “I don’t like the fact you’ve been with Kaylee and it’s in your best interest I don’t find out you’ve been with Laney.” He paused, taking a minute to control his anger. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, I just don’t like you.”

“That’s harsh!” Bester was offended.

“No, that was being nice.” His eyes stared into his. “You DON’T want to see me harsh.” Mac had always been good at scaring boys away from his sisters.

Bester was no exception. “It’s late. I need to…” He got up from the sofa and practically ran out the door.

“So is saying thanks appropriate in this situation?” Simon asked lightheartedly.

“I should be thanking you.” Mac smiled.

“Me?”

“You’re the first boy Kaylee’s brought home who I haven’t wanted to throw out of the house.”

“That’s good.” Simon took it as a compliment, but he couldn’t help think Mac would have no problem throwing him out of the house if he knew he was a fugitive. Maybe Kaylee’s family needed to know.

“You’ll do the same for River.” Danielle realized Simon’s mind needed a relief.

“I…I never really thought about it.” His thoughts quickly shifted from Mac and onto his little sister. River dating…. That was a scary thought to him.

Perhaps it wasn’t the best topic to ease Simon’s mind, Danielle thought. “Brothers are overly protective. They don’t realize it, but when the time comes, no matter how reserved you are, you will take action against any boy that wrongs your sister.” She looked into Simon’s eyes. “Trust me, you’ll do just fine.” She said, hoping to reassure him.

“Sounds like you know from experience.” Mac smiled, thinking that Danielle had been in good hands growing up.

“My brother doesn’t look like much, but when he’s motivated, he’s unstoppable.” She returned a smile.

* * * *

Emma found Kaylee lying on her bed, tears soaking into the pillow. She sat next to her and brushed her hair out of her face.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had to intervene.” She said softly. “Mind giving me an update as to what this fight was about?” Emma was always the mothering type. Her personality was only enhanced after she had her children.

“Anya died three, four months ago.” She sniffled.

“Sweetie, I’m sorry. I know how close you two were.”

“Laney told Mac I started the fire at the Summer Fall Ball.”

“Laney says a lot of things. Mac knows better than to give credit to them all.”

“It’s true. I did start the fire. Anya took the blame. I shouldn’t of let her.”

“Kaylee, sweetie, that was a long time ago. Feeling guilty about it is only going to cause negative feelings to fester inside you. Anya wouldn’t want that. She’d want you to be happy.” Emma was shocked Kaylee had started the fire, but she was even more shocked she’d kept the secret in this long.

“She was gonna do something really bad.” Kaylee tried to fight the tears, allowing for her words to flow. “She turned out to be not such a good friend.”

“When?”

“She sent me a letter sayin’ she was in trouble. Cap’n said he’d help, so we picked her up and a few days later Vincent snuck on board and…” She couldn’t hold off the tears.

“What happened?”

“It’s a long story that started with Anya being nice, in the middle her and Vincent turned out to be horrible, and in the end, they both killed themselves.” She sniffed. “Anya was pregnant…”

“Oh Kaylee.” Emma pulled Kaylee up into a hug. Tears streamed down her face, too. She felt so sorry Kaylee had to live through such a thing. Emma wondered how such good friends could turn out to be enemies.

* * * *

Three men grabbed Bester as he walked out of the Frye’s house. One of the men held a gun to his back, while the other two held them to his front. “Think carefully before you speak. Which room is Kaylee Frye’s?”

He thought Mac was scary, but he was nothing compared to these three men. It was too dark to make out any facial features. All he could see is that they were much bigger than him. He’d go down pretty quickly in a fight. “I ain’t ever been in her room. Ain’t sure which one it is.” Tears strolled down his cheeks. There were only two lights on in the upstairs of the Frye’s house. “I’d guess it was one of those two rooms. She went upstairs before I left.”

“Better hope you’ve guessed right.”

****

To be continued...