A/N: I forgot to disclaim in the my first post. Not mine, all hail Joss the creative genuis and Mutant Enemy. Thanks goes to Cantonheroine for pointing out my booboo...I fixed it!

Chapter 2

“I best be goin’.” Kaylee said her voice quavering only slightly. “Goin?” One of the men asked, “Why you got no where to be that’d be better than with us.” He was tall and lanky and had a very distinct and pungent smell to him. That smell got in Kaylee’s nostrils as he sidled up right next to her, way too next to her. Kaylee moved from him and tried to walk away from the men but they blocked every route she tried. So instead she tried a bluff. “My husbands waitin’ for me.” She tried to indicate closeness by gesturing with her hand. “ I best be goin.” However, the hand gesture may have done more harm than good, cause her whole arm looked like it was going to shake right off. “Aw, now sweetie, we ain’t all bad.” The leader of the group started to walk towards her and she backed up into one of the other men. And then everything went black.

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Mal shook Thayer’s hand and nodded his head. “Nice doin’ business with ya.” Thayer reminded Mal of Simon in that ‘every hair on his pretty little head has it’s place, and dirt is my enemy’ kind of way. Mal thought that was about all that this ‘business man’ had in common with Simon. “And you.” Thayer leaned his head over to his man who had just come up to whisper in his ear. After the man had apparently relayed news of some import, he nodded curtly at Mal. “Well, I’ve got dealings of my own to see to. I’ll send you a WAVE about that job we discussed.” Mal shook his head and turned to leave. Zoe, never more than a foot from Mal’s side, followed close behind Mal. “You think that was on the up and up, Sir?” Mal snickered and turned his head to Zoe, “Been a good long while since bein’ on the up and up mattered. Wouldn’t ya say? Jayne! Let’s go.” Jayne had been overtly flirting with the scantily clad girl at the bar. “Aw, Mal. Just a minute.” “Now, Jayne.” Mal said with a mixture of annoyance and humor. Jayne tossed back a shot and grabbed the girl, and gave backside a swift squeeze. When he let her go, he nodded his head, and said “Well…thanks.” He put his hat back on and moved to follow Mal and Zoe. They exited the bar all squinting from the sunlight. Mal held up his hand to shield his eyes as he handed Jayne a piece of paper and some coin. “Jayne, this here’s a list of things we been needin’ for a while now. See what you can get here in town and drop it off at the ship. After that, you can have a little free time. But you keep low on the radar, hear? I don’t wanna have to come bust you outta the local jail.” “Yeah, Mal.” Jayne grabbed the coin readily and was gone before Mal could say another word. “Sir, I’m still feelin’ a little more than cautious about Thayer. He’s way too high scale for a small little moon like this.” Zoe always held her tounge unless she really felt that womanly intution kickin’ in. And it was in high gear today. “I gotta take the jobs we can get. He may be too high scale. But I don’t wanna know anything about his scales. Long as hims can pay, I’m gonna get the coin I can.” “I understand, Sir, I just-” “You worry too much. Wash has been harpin’ on me for more ‘an a month now for some quality time with his wife. You go spend some time with that husband o yours and let me worry on the fanciful scales.” “Alright, sir, just…be careful around him.” Zoe looked at Mal like his own mother did when he used to get into trouble. Mal smiled. As Zoe started back to the ship Mal noticed Inara through the window of shop across the street. Mal stared openly at her for a few seconds and started to walk towards the shop. Halfway across the street Mal heard a commotion coming from about a block down. “Tzao gao. Jayne!” Mal muttered under his breath and headed for the noise.

All the racket was coming from the general store. Mal walked in to find a girl huddled on the floor, two men lying on the floor across from her and a man being held up against the wall by…Shepherd Book. “Huh.” Mal walked up to the shepherd. “Didn’t think I’d find you causin’ all this ruckus.” “Nothing to be concerned about, Captain. These gentlemen,” Book released the man and said heavily “were just about to bid this lady a good day, and be on their way.” The man scurried around the shepherd and ran from the general store. “Miss, are you alright?” Book walked over to her, stepping over the other two men to help her stand. “Yes, yes. Thank you so much. Folk around here got a bad habit o’ disappearin’. I’m right glad you came in when you did.” She left the store hastily and Mal turned to the shepherd. “Don’t that book ‘o yours say something bout doin’ harm to another?” Book smiled at Mal and said, “I used a little creative interpretation. But I do think we shouldn’t stay on this moon for longer than we have to. Like the lady said, wouldn’t want anyone disappearing.” Mal looked out across the town. “No we wouldn’t.”

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Simon closed the door to River’s bunk and headed for the kitchen. In his obsessive state, worrying about River, he hadn’t eaten hardly anything and now his stomach was taking it out on him. He put on some water for tea and rummaged around the cabinets for something edible. As he settled on some packaged protein he heard Kaylee’s voice from earlier. “If you want I can save you a little something, case you do get hungry.” Simon ripped open the package and gave himself a swift mental kick. After he had prepared his tea and sat at the dining room table, Wash walked in wearing only his boxers and a tee shirt and went straight to the cupboards. He did a little maneuvering, and his hand pulled out of the cupboard holding an apple. He nodded and grinned at Simon. “Pays to have a wife onboard. Even if she does exhaust the hell outta you. Wash said as he bit into the apple and winked at Simon. He plopped down in the seat across from Simon. Simon smiled and shook his head slowly. “I should look into it.” “I bet Kaylee’d be more than willing to hide you a few apples here and there.” Wash said pointedly. Simon let out a long sigh , “ I can’t…talking to Kaylee is difficult…I can’t-” “Form full sentences and sound like a human being.” Wash filled in the blank. Simon continued on as if Wash had said nothing, “I can’t offer her what I don’t have. And right now I don’t have a whole lot.” “Kaylee is a big girl Simon. Sounds to me like you just need to work on your juggling skills.” Wash stood up and left the dining room happily eating his apple. “Juggling.” Simon said as he took a sip of his tea, suddenly feeling very tired.

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Wash snuggled closer to Zoe and smiled to himself. He knew he was lucky. Zoe's got a lot of walls that she won't let down for anyone and he felt privlidged to be able to be so close to her, both emotionally and physically. Though the physical side didn't hurt. He felt her tense in his arms. "What is baby?" "This moon is getting under my skin, in the worst way. I don't like it here." Husband and wife shared one of those loaded, intense gazes. Alot can be said without saying it. A full minute passed and Wash nodded his head and said, "Aliright then." Wash got out of bed and began to dress. Zoe smiled and got up to dress as well.

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When Inara had been perusing by herself for an hour she started to wonder if Kaylee was giving the shopkeeper trouble. A smile spread across her lips as she thought about how excited Kaylee got over anything that clicked or buzzed or hummed. When she exited the store to go look for Kaylee, she saw Shepherd Book and Mal on the side of the road. They both noticed her and walked to meet her. "Find any supplies?"Mal said that last word with a great ammount of sarcasm and disdain. Inara gave him that 'thank you so much for the underhanded insult' smile and said,"Mmm, no, Mal. But I did see some very disreputible men. Perhaps you could enter into some kind of illegal dealings with them." Mal smiled and noticed that Inara was by herself. "Where's lil' Kaylee?" Inara gestured with her hand, "She got a little distracted at another store. I was just about to go join her." "We'll join you." the shepherd said, trying to move the lack of conversation along. The three of them started off towards that part of town.

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Kaylee very slowly started to come back to consiousness. She was extremely cold and lying on metal. Everything was so fuzzy, and her head was pounding, and when she tried to move her hand up to touch it she felt a steady stream of blood coming from her hairline right above her right temple. She tried to sit up and got very sick to her stomach. She could taste blood and something else.....? It tasted almost like metal. She couldn't think straight her head was throbbing so hard and she felt like she was going to be sick. She blinked several times and carefully pushed herself up into sitting position. It was very dark but there was a light coming from another room so she could barely make out her surroundings. She was in a room a little smaller than the size of her own bunk. It was completely empty and sharp and cold. Along with the sick feeling deep in her stomach she felt the sharp pang of something else rise up. Fear. She was shaking terribly now, from the cold or the panic she couldn't tell. She looked down at herself and saw the dress all scuffed and torn in some places. She fingered one of the harsh rips on her left side around her thigh. One tear fell down her cheek as a barely audible whisper came from her, "Nara's dress...".

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"Two sides to the coin.....heads or tails...heads or heads...never tails...coin never lands right side up..."River was in the infirmary and Simon was checking her over. "River? River, can you tell me what you mean?", he dropped his instrument and held her shoulders. If he could only make her focus maybe he could get a steady, comprehendible flow of dialogue from her. He gently grabbed her shoulders and looked her square in the eyes. "River, what do you mean?" "He's not who you think he is. Locked her up. Swallowed the key. She's scared." "River, honey. There's nothing to be scared of-" "Not me. Kaylee."

........more in part three. Please comment guys. Let me know if you've got any ideas or suggestions.