Disclaimer: I do not own Firefly or any of the characters. They are just fun to play with.

Past, Present, & Future By KaySky Part Five

“Give me a name.” Mal was losing all his patience with these men.

“The matter wasn’t your business.” Mr. Black said. “If it was, this conversation would be over by now.”

“See, now that’s where you’re wrong.” Mal whipped his gun from his holster and aimed it between Mr. Black’s eyes. “You got a problem with one of my crew that means you got a problem with me.”

“You really expect me to believe you’re going to shoot me?” He laughed.

“Don’t seem like keepin’ you alive is making that much of a difference.” He moved his gun over to his left. Now it rested between Roberts’ eyes. “Ain’t much reason to keep you alive either.”

“Don’t shoot!” Roberts cried. “I can’t die! Not like this. What would the Mrs. think?” His voice was panicky. His knees were shaking. His brow was perspiring.

Mal didn’t need to be a genius to figure out he was scared. Finally he had an advantage. “Well if you want to see the Mrs. again I suggest you tell me who’s debt Kaylee is responsible for paying.” He pressed the cold, metal barrel in between his eyes.

The coldness rushed through his body. He cracked. “Kids name was Aarons.” Tears flowed out of his eyes as Mal pulled the gun away.

* * * *

“How’s he doing?” Kaylee’s quiet footsteps and soft voice barely alerted anyone to her presence as she slowly walked into her old room.

Simon had been cleaning up the room the best he could for the time being. Zoe was sitting in a chair beside the bed, holding Wash’s hand. Simon turned his head in Kaylee’s direction and acknowledged her with a smile. Zoe’s glance never left her husband.

“He’s going to be fine.” Zoe’s voice was just above a whisper. “He has to be fine.”

Kaylee took a few steps forward, standing behind Zoe, placing her hands on top of her shoulders. “I remember when one of his dinosaurs got left behind on Greenleaf. We were three hours out when he realized it. Cap’n and him got in a fight ‘bout turning back to get it.” She felt the muscles in Zoe’s shoulders relax. “Wash said he was a member of the crew and we don’t leave no one behind.”

Zoe continued on with the story. “That was one of the most heated discussions I ever saw those two get into.” A small laugh escaped her while she thought about that day. She knew if she threatened to leave Mal would agree to go back. She knew Mal knew she’d never actually leave, but because she said it, he knew it was important to her. After all, as happy as Wash made her, how could she not want to do the same thing for him? “It probably wouldn’t have been a big deal if it wasn’t Rex.”

“Well, it ain’t just that Rex was his favorite. Mrs. Rex was pregnant, wasn’t she?”

Zoe was smiling in reminiscence. “She was due in just a few weeks. Wash wasn’t about to let her husband walk out on her.” “He had to…” Her words stopped when she felt Wash squeezing her hand. “Baobei?”

“Sweetiekins,” Wash’s voice was faint. He struggled to keep his eyelids open. He managed to say “I love you” before he slowly drifted off back to sleep.

“I love you too, husband.” Zoe’s voice was filled with life again. Wash was going to be just fine.

* * * *

Jayne was left in charge of guarding the intruders. Mal and Cole were going to find Kaylee, see if Wash was okay, and figure out a plan.

Mal and Cole walked down the hall in silence, each contemplating their own thoughts about the name ‘Aarons’.

They both knew the name. Mal knew that name to mean Vincent Aarons a.k.a. a ‘qingwa cào de liúmáng’ who literally cut the gorram hell out of Kaylee after figuratively stabbing her in the back. Cole knew the name to mean Vincent Aarons a.k.a. ‘seems like a nice boy’. He was more than curious as to what kind of trouble the boy had gotten himself into and how that got transferred onto his daughter. There was no way Mr. Black could be right about Kaylee killing him. Not that she’d ever kill anybody, but especially not Vincent. Kaylee, Vincent, and Anya had been inseparable. Surely, things couldn’t have gone that sour between them, he thought.

They had reached the door leading into Kaylee’s old room. Mac was resting against the wall, his arm around Danielle. River sat on the opposite side of the hall, in between Sam and Ryan.

“Dad,” Ryan immediately jumped up when he noticed him. “Did you find out anything?”

“You boys remember the Aarons boy, right?” Cole asked his sons.

“That core boy?” Sam was puzzled. He didn’t have any idea how such an uptight, sanctimonious, stick up the bum boy could get his sister into trouble.

“It seems the men after Kaylee think she killed him, thereby making her responsible for his debt.”

“Qù tāmāde!” Mac yelled. He was on his feet in a matter of seconds. “Kaylee wouldn’t hurt a soul!” He stormed into Kaylee’s old room. He needed answers. He needed to find out what happened.

* * * *

Meanwhile, outside the Frye house lurked the third man. He might have grown suspicious if he heard a gunshot, but he was too busy. He had locked Bester in the trunk of the hover car and was helping himself to a nice box of doughnuts and listening to loud music. He never heard the gunshot.

He might have grown suspicious if too much time passed. Time wasn’t a thing of the essence for him. He had his doughnuts. He had his music. As far as he was concerned he had all time the world. He didn’t know they had been gone nearly two hours. He never bothered to think of the time.

* * * *

“Kaylee,” Mac said as he walked into the room. “Can we talk?”

Mal and Cole followed Mac in the room.

“We need to talk.” Mal and Cole both said in unison.

Simon and Zoe turned their attention to Kaylee.

“Did I…” She said uncomfortably.

“Kaylee…” Mac pulled her into a hug. “You didn’t do anything wrong. This ain’t a confrontation it’s more of some information gathering.” He squeezed her and then pulled away. “We just need to find out the facts so we can get your name off the debt list.”

“Okay.” She was feeling better, reassured she did nothing wrong. “What do ya need to know?”

Mal cleared his throat, indicating he wanted to be the one to speak. “Meimei, it’s about Vincent.”

Her body was overcome by an intense chill. The past never did go away. It always had a way of seeping into the present. “Vincent?”

“You know Vincent?” It never occurred to Cole that Mal knew the boy.

“Unfortunately, he caused some problems on Serenity.”

“What kind of problems?” Mac’s voice was raised. He clenched his fists. He knew that preppy little core boy was good for nothing.

“Don’t need the details, gē ge. He turned out not so good. He did some bad things.”

“So what happened to him?” Cole questioned.

“Jayne…” The truth was never easy getting out. “Jayne gave him a gun so he could shoot himself.” All eyes starred at Mal.

“Shénme?” Kaylee, Simon, and Zoe all said in unison, shocked looks on their faces.

“Sir, I was under the impression you shot him.” Zoe was a bit irritated Mal hadn’t told her the truth.

“Jayne went to the holding room to… Hell, if I know his exact intentions, but the boy was crying and Jayne can’t stand cryin’, ‘specially when it’s coming from a man.”

“And that’s the story Jayne told you?” Simon had his reasons to suspect Jayne of being dishonest. “Jayne just handed over his gun and let Vincent shoot himself?”

“When I got to the holding room, Jayne was standin’ outside the door. Within seconds I heard the gunshot.”

“Why would he…” Kaylee’s eyes filled with tears.

“Jayne said he told him that he knew Anya did it because she couldn’t let a baby into this world. She’d already hurt too many people. Vincent felt the same way and he knew he was the reason behind that baby not getting a chance to live. It was his way of makin’ sure nothing like that ever happened again.”

* * * *

“So Kaylee didn’t get into debt, Vincent did?” Ryan asked.

Danielle, Ryan, Sam, and River had been listening outside the door.

“Who is Vincent?” Danielle asked.

“Some boy who used to hang around Kaylee.” Sam stepped away from the door figuring he heard all he needed to hear. “He came to visit his aunt or somebody for the summer.”

“Enemy of the past died without paying his debts. An enemy of the past collects on them now.”

“Huh?” Sam turned to River, a confused look on his face.

“You sayin’ Kaylee’s got other enemies?” Ryan looked to his brother. “Kaylee havin’ enemies is like the sun not shining.”

“No, you’re wrong. You hear the words and you assume.” River smiled. “They say assuming just makes an as…”

“River,” Danielle interrupted. “Who’s this other enemy?” Danielle had no doubts about River’s ability as a reader. It was only a matter of being able to interpret her predictions.

“A brother’s enemy.”

Sam and Ryan looked at one another. Their minds were trying to compile a list of anyone they’d ever wronged who might be seeking vengeance.

Danielle needed more insight. She thought it was strange that she couldn’t see any of River’s thoughts. She knew Sam was thinking about the boy from eighth grade that he had gotten into a fight with. She knew Ryan was thinking about the man down at the drug store who once threatened to call the police on him for stealing a candy bar. He hadn’t really stolen it though. Why couldn’t she get into River’s mind?

“Answers aren’t there.” River looked up at Danielle. “Answers come from the source.”

To be continued... (Feedback is always appreciated. =o)

* * * *

Translations: qingwa cào de liúmáng = frog-humping son-of-a-bitch qù tāmāde = fuck that! gē ge = big brother shénme = what? meimei = little sister baobei = precious item/jewel