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Ring
First one he gave her he'd fashioned from a scrap of wire – was bent in places, tended to scratch her knuckle on the way down – but it was her wire and him puttin' it on her finger, so she figured it was worth a little hurt.
Hero
Just a word really, an idea, a myth, a lie he tells himself to make sense of the gun on his hip and the war he's still fighting… then Kaylee gets to lookin' at him like he hung the moon, all wide grin and eyes full of worship, and he thinks it just might mean something after all.
Memory
She can still remember liftin' off, being wound so tight and caught in the pull of the ship and the shiny and the slick metal at her back… and then his voice, all shocked and angry and a little interested, makin' her fly apart at the seams.
Box
Tracy'd come in a box, would leave in one Mal put him in – never faulted the boy his desperation, or his stupidity, had vowed never to leave a man behind, after all… but a threat on one of his own, a gun at Kaylee's head that made him every bit as desperate, was mutiny punishable by death.
Run
He's watchin' her fly through the hold, hair whipping behind her and a grin that won't budge, and for all he gripes, he can't help but smile himself.
Hurricane
Funny how peace follows Kaylee when he's always caught up in turbulence, hovers over her like a shiny patch of shelter while he's battered and bruised and clawin' at the wind, trying to grab hold of her hand and make it to the eye of the storm.
Wings
Sometimes she thinks Cap was meant to be a bird – hates bein' landlocked much as he loves his sky – 'cept he's got no wings of his own, and it's all up to her to keep him flyin'.
Cold
He's chilled to the touch, ain't opened his eyes or uttered nothin' but nonsense in the hours since they found him on the bridge, passed out cold and bleeding from a hole that matches hers; she don't think her tiny hand's gonna do much to warm him up when she's so frozen inside, but she holds onto his just in case.
Red
Fruit's been gone for hours, but it's stained Kaylee's lips and left a streak on her tongue, and when I lick across her mouth and she moans to let me in, strawberries are sweeter than I recall.
Drink
It'd been rice wine the last time and some fàn guī concoction Jayne called whiskey time before that – he'd stopped keepin' track somewhere along the way, and this time it's nothin' but Kaylee on his tongue, and he's drunker than he's ever been.
Midnight
Ain't a clock to strike – wouldn't matter if there was, time's relative out in the black, anyhow – but she's been countin' down the days, tickin' 'em off like seconds, so when she goes up on her toes and slips her lips over his to taste the whiskey and the heat, she can blame it all on tradition tomorrow.
Temptation
Two years she's been on his boat, never once called him by name – too often, before he lets his will overcome the want, he wonders what it'd sound like.
View
It's her first time – he's standing behind her and half-wishin' he weren't, just so he can see the awe and wonder and lè qù that comes from sailing through atmo and into all that black stretchin' on forever, but Little Kaylee seems to smile with her whole body, and he doesn't miss a thing.
Music
It was Kaylee's song, her laughter – had no words and couldn't be danced to, but music to his ears.
Silk
Inara's put her in some gorram dress, curled her hair in corkscrews and question marks, painted her face 'til she don't even look like herself… but she's still Kaylee in his hold – paint's smeared to nothin' when she kisses him breathless, and her hair twirls and tumbles over the back of his hand when he curls it around her neck, and he shoves the dress up high enough to touch her someplace softer than silk on his fingertips.
Cover
She says she's cold, and it's finally something I can do to chuck feelin' guilty and helpless and sick clear to the core; the blanket's too small and too rough and ain't nearly enough, but then, so am I, and she has me all the same.
Promise
Ain't a thing guaranteed, Kaylee, he's always sayin', nothin' in this 'verse – and he says it like he wants her ready, hard as steel and locked up tight and clear of the fallout if he crashes and burns… always promisin' he won't promise, but there's a swear in his eyes that says different, and it's a vow every time he lays a hand on her, and all she can do is hold on and brace for the impact of goin' down with him.
Dream
There's screamin' – sweet Mr. Dobson's taken up arms and Cap's got the nice doctor headlocked and Shepherd's lookin' to step in, which ain't preacher-like at all – not a bit of sense in any of it, until the pop and the pinch and the pressure of the captain's hand in hers… then everything's gone hazy and she's floatin' above herself and it can't be nothin' but a bad dream.
Candle
It's the only light in his bunk, dancing and flickering and spilling shadows over her face, and even when she puts it out on a breath, her eyes are still sparkin' in the dark.
Talent
Kaylee's know-how has saved his hide more'n once, saved 'em all, and he can't understand how she got it in her head that what she does ain't every bit as special as the gift the Doc's got, just wrapped up in a different package.
Silence
Everybody's going 'bout their orders without talkin', and it's all kinds of strange when Wash ain't jokin' and Jayne ain't complainin' and River's not spoutin' nonsense – but then, Cap'n never swore to shoot us all before, so I suppose there ain't much to say.
Journey
No stranger to ships, Kaylee Frye – she'd followed her share of Besters off the edge of docks to get a look at the pretties in their charge – but she'd never stayed put when they lifted off and left her world behind and made her feel like a stowaway, and she'd never met a man like Malcolm Reynolds, who'd tossed her bag on a bed he called hers and told her she belonged.
Fire
Her lips are soft and sweet and so sinful that his brain's swearin' damnation and screamin' bèn dàn and chuin-zi and special hell, but her mouth slips away, over his chin and past his throat and lickin' flames on the way down… and since he's gonna burn either way, might as well enjoy the trip.
Strength
Don't know how he does it – weighs risk and reward, decides what's worth it and what's yú bèn, manages not to get the lot of us killed… 'course, number of times he's got himself shot, I guess even he ain't perfect.
Mask
Times she swears I forget she's a girl, what with the tools and the grease and her way with moving parts, I can't hardly keep from laughin' – it's almost enough to recall how I found her, but after years on my boat with her softness and laughter full of sweetness, with a face free of paint hidin' her shine and hair she ain't afraid of pullin' back to show herself to the world, I don't rightly need reminding.
Ice
There's marks down her arm from layin' on the grate so long, and her wrists are rubbed red and raw where they were bound too tight; somewhere long behind them, Jubal Early's frozen solid and floatin' in the black, and it takes everything he has not to order Wash to change course so they can flatten the liúmáng like a bug on a windshield, just to watch him break.
Fall
He's near crushing the bones in her hand, lookin' a breath away from throwing himself in after a crew he thinks he failed and a ship he didn't go down with, but he's all she's got left, same as she is for him, and it's all she can do to hold tight and swear she ain't gonna let him fall, even if it's just in her own head.
Forgotten
The latest slip of his tongue earned him a kewu de lao baojun, louder'n she usually lets 'em go to block out his quick stab at apology, but an hour later she's makin' him tea and all is forgotten… insults he can take – they ricochet like he's wearing armor, without even a dent – but Kaylee's skin's nowhere near as thick, and he can't help but think all the forgiveness she hands out is woundin' her more than he ever did and leavin' bullet holes behind.
Dance
Even all fancied up, it's come back to ships and engines and parts and pieces, though the spread makes it nice, what with all the strawberries and the chocolate… makes it so she barely notices her dress goin' to waste and Cap'n dancin' his tight pants off with somebody that ain't her.
Body
His crew's stepped outside themselves – him in his only suit, Inara in black and a solemn face he's never seen bare and stark as it is now, Zoe in tears and lookin' smaller than the husband she's clinging to, Serenity in port and quiet as a tomb… and his little Kaylee in a box, eyes closed for good over a mouth he don't recognize without its smile.
Sacred
She holds tight while he shudders and buries his face in her shoulder and spills a name from his lips – not hers, but she don't mind, not when it sounds like praise and prayer and he's forgotten for a minute that he don't believe.
Farewells
They've all gone, even Zoe – Kaylee was last to leave, with a hand on his arm and a squeeze he barely felt – and he's alone with markers and bones, dead soldiers in a different valley, gun drawn at the sand and firin' with every tear.
World
Cap'n wants everybody thinkin' he's a black rock, like the terraform didn't take and he ain't fit to hold anything with a heart, and when I see all that's living in him, just makes mine hurt.
Formal
Kaylee's fixin' his tie, and Mal wonders where she learned to flip it and twist it and make the knot just so – but she's stepped so close the hoop in her skirt is flat against his legs, and he don't have the heart to tell her 'bout the view up the back he's got peekin' at him in the mirror.
Fever
They're always touchin', the two of 'em, like they got hands made of magnets and can't resist the pull, same as my eyes can't help but narrow and watch… thought of Inara givin' her body away to any man with the right credits used to make me see red, but Kaylee's gone and given away her heart, free of charge, and it's burnin' me from the inside out.
Laugh
Infectious, contagious… funny how folks get to describin' laughter like a sickness, something you gotta be cured of less you want to suffer the side effects; a giggling Kaylee's planted in my lap, doubled over and grabbin' at her stomach and takin' my whole crew with her – mourning Zoe and surly Jayne and haunted River and all – and the sound heals like nothin' else.
Lies
She's standing over him, holdin' out a ring that can't ever match her sparkle and shine, but her eyes are full of questions and searchin' for approval, so he rises, drops a kiss in her hair that muffles his congratulations and keeps his lips there for "happy for you, bâo bèi", and for her sake, tries to mean it.
Forever
Mal's long ago come to terms – one of these days Zoe and Wash would want their own slice of normal and a home that don't fly, Doc would find someplace to take River where she ain't bein' hunted or shot at or two ticks from barbecued, and he'd more'n likely have to kill Jayne before long, if not just maim him a bit… and then it'd be just him and Kaylee and Serenity left, 'til one or all fell apart.
Overwhelmed
We managed to get ourselves sorted out before the voices turned into bodies, plop into chairs at the table and grab up handfuls of cards, but mine ain't right side up and his shirt's buttoned the wrong way down and River's smilin' her "I know all your secrets" smile, the one that means I gotta give up the best apple in the bunch just to keep her quiet.
Whisper
Her voice in the dark ain't much more than whisper, the xīn ài and wǒ ài nǐ she breathes on puffs of air as she drifts off, head on my arm and fingers tracin' little "x"s on my chest… like she's talkin' for just my heart to hear, and marking the spot so it don't get lost.
Wait
He's there before she can hear her "yes" with her own ears – all he was waitin' for, she knows – and then it's swallowed up and lost in lips and hands and shì de, in her body turnin' on her before she can worry 'bout the after and without knowin' if she should wait herself… but he never did have much patience anyway.
Talk
The captain used to tell her stories some nights, sittin' at the table with tea – she'd listen to him without sayin' much, and when he fell quiet, they'd both listen to Serenity, just so the conversation kept up… her nights are full of Simon now, and much as she'd missed the sex before him, she missed the talkin' more.
Search
Six years he'd been runnin' from faith and chasin' down peace – one always danced just out of reach, due to a knack for drawin' fire and his fond feelings for misbehavin' in general, the other never let him alone, thanks to a gifted girl with altogether too much faith in him – and when it all came down, he'd spent an awful lot on fuel cells just to fly 'round in circles.
Hope
He ain't talkin', just lookin' straight through me with eyes gone dull and dark, and I've never seen him so hopeless; when I take hold of his hand and squeeze and tell him I got hope enough for the both of us, I can only hope I'm not dreamin' it up when he squeezes back.
Eclipse
When I said there weren't a power in the 'verse to stop Kaylee bein' cheerful, hadn't counted on some chunrén bounty hunter turnin' up on my boat out of nowhere to tie her up and steal her smile… been more solemn than River last few days – I think even Jayne misses her grinnin' and carryin' on – and ship's got more shadows than I'm used to, like somebody put out the sun.
Gravity
Cap had once told her he always feels like he's floatin' on Serenity – simulation ain't the same as gravity planetside, where you're anchored to miles of solid ground, he'd said, and he'd just as soon drift, with nothin' but a few inches of steel keeping him from the space beneath his boots.
Highway
Happiness is mappin' the stars, a road free of Reavers, sailing on full fuel cells and an empty med bay and Kaylee keepin' his girl so happy she hums at full burn.
Unknown
They're headed blindly into the black, sailing on orders and fear and denial, with Inara flyin' and Jayne tryin' to and Book prayin' to himself and Kaylee's tears all that's sayin' that they've left the Cap'n to die.
Lock
He'd been a leader of men, once upon a time, though his heart weren't ever in the right place – ended up givin' less care to the cause than the bodies in his charge, and walkin' out of Serenity Valley with just Zoe left, he'd already lost his war; swore new orders right along with his new rank, tried to put lock his heart down tight and keep history from repeatin' itself… but six years after, his bunch is more family than crew, Zoe's loyalties still run deeper than any cause there ever was, and he himself brought a girl onto his boat with a gift for ignorin' orders and a knack for pickin' any lock set in front of her.
Breathe
I'm punching at the button soon as the airlock's clear, near ripping at the helmet that means I still ain't breathin' on my own while the doors part to my whole crew on the other side – Zoe, wide awake and meanin' business, Wash tryin' to, Inara, wrapped in a silky robe and a split lip and holdin' a cloth to Book's head, River, still in her suit and hangin' on to Simon as he bleeds (boy looks half proud of himself and half close to sprayin' down my deck with his insides), and Jayne, with bleary eyes and bare feet and Vera strapped above his shorts… but it's Kaylee who rushes and clings, clutches at me with hands that end in angry red wrists, and I let my face fall into her hair and breathe deep, taking in the engine and the warmth and the relief that smells like home.