Fic, the things you've got to do
Jan. 4th, 2006 12:27 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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firefly_fanficTitle: The things you’ve got to do
Author:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
heaven_eyes
Summary: There are some things you've got to do. Mal and Kaylee share a cup of tea. Pre-series.
Rating: PG
Characters: Mal, Kaylee
Pairing: gen
Disclaimer: I dont own any of the characters.
Author's Notes: Forawoken. Thanks to affectations for the beta.
Serenity, they’d called it and Kaylee had touched the walls with wonder, the first time she’d set foot on it. Serenity was a pretty name and it seemed to fit her. As Kaylee pressed her hands on Serenity’s walls it was as if Serenity knew that yet another person had come to live inside her and she’d seemed to shudder beneath Kaylee’s palms.
Kaylee has always dreamt of flying in a Firefly, going out into the deep, deep black and leaving the rock she lived in far behind. Weren’t even enough coin to feed her and her folks on their planet and Kaylee loves the black, loves it with a passion so she’d known then when she’d seen that ship (and wasn’t she a beauty) that she was going to fly away in it and never look back. Because like her pa said, sometimes there were things you got to do and this was one of those. But the first few nights on Serenity were hard and long and she was homesick something awful for her folks.
One night, she decides to sneak away to the engine room after dinner. She can’t sleep. Outside, the black is quiet, so quiet that Kaylee imagines that you could just float away on it and disappear and no one would ever notice you were gone. Sometimes that scares her. In the engine room, she sits around to fiddle with a few things. She’s sitting there, drinking a cup of tea and staring at the engine when she hears footsteps in the room. She turns. It’s the captain.
“Kaylee,” he says and he stands there and just looks at her. Kaylee don’t know much about these people – Zoe and Wash and the captain – just that they’d fought in the war a few years back for the Independents. Zoe’d told her some stories about it, stories that made her shudder. But there’s something bout the captain that draws her to him. He seems so hard and cold like something’d happened to him years ago, something that changed everything.
“Hey, cap’n,” she says and looks back at him. She knows he’s probably wondering what she’s doing here so late at night and all. “I couldn’t go to sleep,” she explains. “I miss my folks something awful and it’s so quiet out here. Ain’t quiet back home. Sometimes I just miss the people and all them loud noises. So I came here ‘cos it’s so loud in here what with the engine and all. Makes me feel safe like I’m back home.”
He nods and sits down besides her without her asking him to. Somehow she’s glad of it because tonight she’s been aching for some company. Even the throbbing of the engine ain’t easing her pain.
“Well, could do with a bit of quiet myself. I don’t see nothing wrong with that but best you get to sleep soon, Kaylee. We got a job tomorrow and Serenity better be flying smooth. When I let you onboard, thought I was getting myself a good mechanic.”
“You were,cap’n,” Kaylee promises. “And you’ll see, she’ll be flying real smooth tomorrow. She’s a beauty, ain’t she?”
“That she is,” Mal agrees, looking around the engine room and for a moment, they sit there in silence listening to Serenity hum and throb beneath their palms. He looks at Serenity with love , Kaylee thinks, like he loves this ship. There aren’t many captains who do that here in this ‘verse, who truly love their ships and that makes her like him even more.
“I’m real grateful you took me on, cap’n,” she says.
He turns and smiles and it surprises her. Maybe the cap’n ain’t so tough and broken as he thinks, she thinks. “Ain’t so quiet out here you know, little Kaylee. You got me and Zoe and Wash. Next time you need some company, you holler, you hear? One of us’d be glad to have a cup of tea with you. Can’t have my mechanic feeling all melancholy.”
The words make Kaylee feel warm inside and somehow some of the aching and emptiness inside her is gone now. She looks at him. There are lines on his face, like a map of some place, old and long-forgotten, like he knows secrets she could never dream of and there’s a darkness in his eyes like he knows all the pains and sorrows of the ‘verse. She knows he was there in the Battle of Serenity Valley. Zoe’d told her about it, bout how their side’d just left them there, bout how they’d lost everything. But here in this engine room, on Serenity, she ain’t looking at a broken man who’s lost everything. She’s looking at a man who’s still going strong. There’s still something in there, she thinks. After all, he’s still here. “You know, you should do that more often, cap’n.”
“Do what?” he asks, puzzled.
“Smile. You’ve got a nice smile. It makes your face shine.”
“Oh, does it?” he asks and he frowns but Kaylee can tell that he’s trying not to smile. He looks surprised like nobody’s ever said that to him before.
“Ain’t that so, cap’n,” she says. “Now how bout that cup of tea?”
Mal nods and she hands him the cup of tea she was drinking from. Before she’d been sitting here in this engine room, all sad and lonely but somehow as she watches him take a sip from it, all the emptiness is gone from her. Instead, it’s been replaced with something else.
He looks so tired like he’s forgotten how to love but Kaylee knows, you can’t forget. Not ever in this ‘verse and she’s going to remind him how. There are some things you’ve got to do. Like grow up and leave your folks behind. Or reach out to people and hold on tight or else you’ll be nothing but a broken empty shell. She smiles at him and she knows that everything is going to be alright and she, Zoe, Wash and the cap’n, they’re going to be something like family.
*
~ FIN
Author:
heaven_eyesSummary: There are some things you've got to do. Mal and Kaylee share a cup of tea. Pre-series.
Rating: PG
Characters: Mal, Kaylee
Pairing: gen
Disclaimer: I dont own any of the characters.
Author's Notes: For
awoken. Thanks to affectations for the beta. Serenity, they’d called it and Kaylee had touched the walls with wonder, the first time she’d set foot on it. Serenity was a pretty name and it seemed to fit her. As Kaylee pressed her hands on Serenity’s walls it was as if Serenity knew that yet another person had come to live inside her and she’d seemed to shudder beneath Kaylee’s palms.
Kaylee has always dreamt of flying in a Firefly, going out into the deep, deep black and leaving the rock she lived in far behind. Weren’t even enough coin to feed her and her folks on their planet and Kaylee loves the black, loves it with a passion so she’d known then when she’d seen that ship (and wasn’t she a beauty) that she was going to fly away in it and never look back. Because like her pa said, sometimes there were things you got to do and this was one of those. But the first few nights on Serenity were hard and long and she was homesick something awful for her folks.
One night, she decides to sneak away to the engine room after dinner. She can’t sleep. Outside, the black is quiet, so quiet that Kaylee imagines that you could just float away on it and disappear and no one would ever notice you were gone. Sometimes that scares her. In the engine room, she sits around to fiddle with a few things. She’s sitting there, drinking a cup of tea and staring at the engine when she hears footsteps in the room. She turns. It’s the captain.
“Kaylee,” he says and he stands there and just looks at her. Kaylee don’t know much about these people – Zoe and Wash and the captain – just that they’d fought in the war a few years back for the Independents. Zoe’d told her some stories about it, stories that made her shudder. But there’s something bout the captain that draws her to him. He seems so hard and cold like something’d happened to him years ago, something that changed everything.
“Hey, cap’n,” she says and looks back at him. She knows he’s probably wondering what she’s doing here so late at night and all. “I couldn’t go to sleep,” she explains. “I miss my folks something awful and it’s so quiet out here. Ain’t quiet back home. Sometimes I just miss the people and all them loud noises. So I came here ‘cos it’s so loud in here what with the engine and all. Makes me feel safe like I’m back home.”
He nods and sits down besides her without her asking him to. Somehow she’s glad of it because tonight she’s been aching for some company. Even the throbbing of the engine ain’t easing her pain.
“Well, could do with a bit of quiet myself. I don’t see nothing wrong with that but best you get to sleep soon, Kaylee. We got a job tomorrow and Serenity better be flying smooth. When I let you onboard, thought I was getting myself a good mechanic.”
“You were,cap’n,” Kaylee promises. “And you’ll see, she’ll be flying real smooth tomorrow. She’s a beauty, ain’t she?”
“That she is,” Mal agrees, looking around the engine room and for a moment, they sit there in silence listening to Serenity hum and throb beneath their palms. He looks at Serenity with love , Kaylee thinks, like he loves this ship. There aren’t many captains who do that here in this ‘verse, who truly love their ships and that makes her like him even more.
“I’m real grateful you took me on, cap’n,” she says.
He turns and smiles and it surprises her. Maybe the cap’n ain’t so tough and broken as he thinks, she thinks. “Ain’t so quiet out here you know, little Kaylee. You got me and Zoe and Wash. Next time you need some company, you holler, you hear? One of us’d be glad to have a cup of tea with you. Can’t have my mechanic feeling all melancholy.”
The words make Kaylee feel warm inside and somehow some of the aching and emptiness inside her is gone now. She looks at him. There are lines on his face, like a map of some place, old and long-forgotten, like he knows secrets she could never dream of and there’s a darkness in his eyes like he knows all the pains and sorrows of the ‘verse. She knows he was there in the Battle of Serenity Valley. Zoe’d told her about it, bout how their side’d just left them there, bout how they’d lost everything. But here in this engine room, on Serenity, she ain’t looking at a broken man who’s lost everything. She’s looking at a man who’s still going strong. There’s still something in there, she thinks. After all, he’s still here. “You know, you should do that more often, cap’n.”
“Do what?” he asks, puzzled.
“Smile. You’ve got a nice smile. It makes your face shine.”
“Oh, does it?” he asks and he frowns but Kaylee can tell that he’s trying not to smile. He looks surprised like nobody’s ever said that to him before.
“Ain’t that so, cap’n,” she says. “Now how bout that cup of tea?”
Mal nods and she hands him the cup of tea she was drinking from. Before she’d been sitting here in this engine room, all sad and lonely but somehow as she watches him take a sip from it, all the emptiness is gone from her. Instead, it’s been replaced with something else.
He looks so tired like he’s forgotten how to love but Kaylee knows, you can’t forget. Not ever in this ‘verse and she’s going to remind him how. There are some things you’ve got to do. Like grow up and leave your folks behind. Or reach out to people and hold on tight or else you’ll be nothing but a broken empty shell. She smiles at him and she knows that everything is going to be alright and she, Zoe, Wash and the cap’n, they’re going to be something like family.
*
~ FIN
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Date: 2006-01-04 03:17 am (UTC)also shows that Kaylee is indeed good at what she does.
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