"Last Ride" for indiana_j (Firefly/Serenity, light R?_
Title: Last Ride
Author: florahart
Recipient: indiana_j
Fandom: Firefly/Serenity
Characters: Kaylee, Jayne
Rating: eh, PG13 or light R, maybe
Warnings: Character deaths, obviously.
Words: ~1600
A/N: This was a last-minute pinch, and I didn't have as much time as I'd have liked to come up with a full-fledged apocalyptic scenario. Best I could manage was to assume that to Kaylee, at least, Serenity kind of is the whole world, and to put them in a place they can't survive.
Last Ride
There was no two ways about it; this, she couldn't fix at all. Not from here.
Not from anywhere, probably, tell the truth.
Serenity, she weren't repairable, and that was a fact.
Kaylee avoided glancin' to the porthole and eyed Jayne, walking back and forth in the weird shadows from the emergency lights, wondering whether he really would just kill her himself if she stopped shutting up again. Well, to hell with it. If he could pace like that, she could talk.
Course, now she was stopped, she didn't know how to start again. Like the ship, that way. Probably suited.
"Ain't you got nothin' else to say?" He stopped his pacing and glared at her.
She shrugged. "Nope. Can't fix it, can't leave it. Got to wait, and that ain't…" She shrugged again. "I never been good at waitin'."
He smirked.
"What?"
"What what?" His grip on Vera relaxed a touch, and if they had to be stuck in the gorram airlock till they run out of air or burned to ash, and no way of guessin' which fate they had hung on 'em, least it was nice he wasn't to keep with the back and forth.
Kaylee shook her head. "I said I never been good at waitin', and you laughed."
"Didn't hear no laughin'."
"It was quiet-like."
Jayne shrugged and went back to pacing, three steps one way and then turn about and three steps t'other. After a couple roundabouts, he glanced at her again. "Just, I heard you wasn't good at waitin', what with it's how you got the job ''n all."
"Did not!" She paused. "Well, maybe."
"Thought so. On account of, the other manner of thinking', you'da had to been tryin' to get Mal to hire you by… you know."
"That's something I like about you, Jayne."
"What, me callin' you a loose woman?"
"No, you startin' to, and then goin' all chivalrous and restrained."
He frowned. "Why, you cold? I ain't cold. Soon enough, I suppose."
"What?"
"You said about shiverin'…" Jayne paused. "Ain't like we couldn't keep warm, I don't suppose. I mean, y' ain't my first choice, but then, given I only see I got two, and I'm askin'--"
"I didn't say shiverin'. I said chivalrous. Like one of them knights, on horses. You know, concerned about a girl's honor and all."
Jayne grimaced and waved a hand, then went back to pacing. After one more roundabout, he stopped and stood with his back against the wall next to her, looking down. "Wasn't that. More, I ain't never been comfortable with directness on that. But so, you like that?"
"What, you trying to make time here? Now?"
"Ain't got nothin' but time, now do we?"
She had to admit, he had a point. Still. "Someone could come. Cap'n coulda made it." Wasn't true, but Kaylee liked to stay hopeful. "Might get her in a orbit till… well, till I don't know what, but maybe."
"Cap'n couldn'ta made that," Jayne said, sliding down the wall to sit beside her. "Ain't no way. Whole ship's open like a ruttin' can of beans, throat to belly. Shuttles both is gone."
"Can of beans ain't got a belly."
"Yeah, you know what I mean. Mal's done a lotta crazy things since I been here, but even he can't make Serenity fly she's tore open through every hold and she ain't got half a engine or no shoelaces and what's them--rivets, maybe--to tie her back up."
She nodded, real sober because it wasn't a bad way to say how humped they truly, truly were. "Well we're still here," she managed at last. No one else was. River had been at the helm when the bolt hit and the frame buckled and warped, and Simon's doctorin' things, they all whipped free out the gash after him. None of them seen Zoe go, but if she weren't dead too, she for sure would have been to help. They were all was left.
"Yeah, but we ain't exactly got tools. Or parts. Or a gorram working ship."
All true, and that brought her right back round to how Serenity was too hurt to fix her, even if she could rig atmo and patch up her fuel lines and…the list was too long to even think on. She looked at her knees and tried one more time. "Maybe we'll get lucky. Hit at a good angle, crash just right…"
"Then die in here when the door jams, probably."
"Zhen dao mei. I think we was getting' along better with you pacing," Kaylee said.
"Just sayin' the truth." Jayne shifted laying Vera across both their laps. "So I reckon, lucky, we got us a hour. Unlucky, we got a couple minutes."
The dim lights flickered and went out, leaving them weird in shadowy red reflecting up through the holes in the hold from the burning planet they weren't looking at through the porthole.
"Or a couple seconds, dependin' why that happened," he added.
"Electrical failed," she said.
"Yeah, I thought maybe," he agreed. "Ain't quite that big a ben dan, I don't know it's the electrical keeps the lights on."
"Well, that's why the light went out." She didn't want to think about what hundred reasons might be behind that one--a conduit cracked from freezing was a good bet, thinkin' on how cold her back side was now.
"Getting' cold in here," Jayne observed, scooting closer.
She didn't answer. Life support had been down a while, course, cause you can't support life if you ain't got air, but power out meant even the processes underneath, those what kept Serenity from frosting over, those was gone now, too. She was dyin', and Kaylee couldn't do a gorram thing to change it.
"So, couple minutes, then."
"Maybe a couple hours. Ai ya." She pulled her knees up, bringing Vera's muzzle up against her until he pulled it clear.
"Ain't got to die miserable," he said. "I mean, before, I was mostly jokin', only now, I'm thinkin' maybe ain't a bad idea, stay a little warmer, fall asleep after…"
Kaylee pursed her lips. "Ain't you ever gone a day you ain't thought with your pointer?"
"Prob'ly." Jayne leaned his head back with the thunk against the wall. "Maybe not."
"You can't want to couple, not now."
"Sure I can. Ain't hard to think of a inspirement."
"Well, if I have to die, I don't aim to die 'twixt you and this floor," she said at last.
"Huh." Jayne said. He thought about that for a minute, then added, "I reckon I wouldn't mind."
"I do recall, what with you said it a couple-three times now." Kaylee pulled her knees up tighter and wrapped her arms around her shins with a shudder.
"Huh?" Jayne frowned for a moment before his expression cleared. "No, I meant, you could, you know, be on top."
"I ain't your doxy, Jayne. Ain't here to fix you, just to fix her."
"Just offerin'. Seemed like the shiverin' thing to do."
"Chivalrous."
They were both silent for a moment, then Jayne set Vera off and unbuckled his belt.
Kaylee jumped. "Jayne! I said--"
"You said. I ain't got to be bound to your ideas."
She gaped for a minute, then closed her mouth and looked away. "Fine. You go right on, please yourself, keep shut of the needs of everybody else. Don't know why I expected different."
"Hey, I offered, and there ain't no 'everyone else,' Kaylee, just you."
She didn't bother answering. He had Vera, who would outlive him, probably, and it wasn't her concern anyhow.
"Women."
She heard his zipper open, and flinched again.
"Look," he said. "It'd be a distracter. I ain't never had complaints."
"Well, you ain't exactly conversational with women you ain't paid not to complain, normally, 'cept us."
"Hey! Am so! Well, all right, mostly it is you, but that don't mean I'm bad at it."
Kaylee rolled her eyes and laid her head down on her knees, then jerked it back up as their ride began to shudder under them. "Ta ma de!">
Jayne moved quickly, throwing his arm around her shoulders and pulling her tight against him. "Couple minutes, then," he said.
She nodded miserably, then turned toward him and straddled his lap, pressing against him hard, hugging him tight as the red light warmed and grew until she closed her eyes against the glare. She could still see it. "Ain't much of a glorious way to go, is it?"
He held her close, too. "Nope."
"Least my last couple minutes ain't alone."
"Not even that," he said, low and quiet by her ear. "Ass is fryin'."
So were her knees, and the backs of her wrists against the wall, too hot to touch but the shakin' too much to move any way sensible. Ain't like it'd help anyway. She nodded against his neck, hissing and tryin' to squirm free as her skin scorched.
He squeezed her harder and mouthed her skin, and if he wasn't consented for it, least it also was nice.
"Shoulda never gone in here," she murmured. "Been faster."
He grunted in return, no real answer but weren't like there was anything to say, so she let him nuzzle and grope as the air got too hot to breathe, as the evaporating sweat steamed off her arms and face wettin' everything to slick and boiling.
"Shoulda let you," she added. "Shoulda let you."
He didn't answer, and then she didn't, neither.
Too hot.
And too red.
And too hard to think.
Author: florahart
Recipient: indiana_j
Fandom: Firefly/Serenity
Characters: Kaylee, Jayne
Rating: eh, PG13 or light R, maybe
Warnings: Character deaths, obviously.
Words: ~1600
A/N: This was a last-minute pinch, and I didn't have as much time as I'd have liked to come up with a full-fledged apocalyptic scenario. Best I could manage was to assume that to Kaylee, at least, Serenity kind of is the whole world, and to put them in a place they can't survive.
Last Ride
There was no two ways about it; this, she couldn't fix at all. Not from here.
Not from anywhere, probably, tell the truth.
Serenity, she weren't repairable, and that was a fact.
Kaylee avoided glancin' to the porthole and eyed Jayne, walking back and forth in the weird shadows from the emergency lights, wondering whether he really would just kill her himself if she stopped shutting up again. Well, to hell with it. If he could pace like that, she could talk.
Course, now she was stopped, she didn't know how to start again. Like the ship, that way. Probably suited.
"Ain't you got nothin' else to say?" He stopped his pacing and glared at her.
She shrugged. "Nope. Can't fix it, can't leave it. Got to wait, and that ain't…" She shrugged again. "I never been good at waitin'."
He smirked.
"What?"
"What what?" His grip on Vera relaxed a touch, and if they had to be stuck in the gorram airlock till they run out of air or burned to ash, and no way of guessin' which fate they had hung on 'em, least it was nice he wasn't to keep with the back and forth.
Kaylee shook her head. "I said I never been good at waitin', and you laughed."
"Didn't hear no laughin'."
"It was quiet-like."
Jayne shrugged and went back to pacing, three steps one way and then turn about and three steps t'other. After a couple roundabouts, he glanced at her again. "Just, I heard you wasn't good at waitin', what with it's how you got the job ''n all."
"Did not!" She paused. "Well, maybe."
"Thought so. On account of, the other manner of thinking', you'da had to been tryin' to get Mal to hire you by… you know."
"That's something I like about you, Jayne."
"What, me callin' you a loose woman?"
"No, you startin' to, and then goin' all chivalrous and restrained."
He frowned. "Why, you cold? I ain't cold. Soon enough, I suppose."
"What?"
"You said about shiverin'…" Jayne paused. "Ain't like we couldn't keep warm, I don't suppose. I mean, y' ain't my first choice, but then, given I only see I got two, and I'm askin'--"
"I didn't say shiverin'. I said chivalrous. Like one of them knights, on horses. You know, concerned about a girl's honor and all."
Jayne grimaced and waved a hand, then went back to pacing. After one more roundabout, he stopped and stood with his back against the wall next to her, looking down. "Wasn't that. More, I ain't never been comfortable with directness on that. But so, you like that?"
"What, you trying to make time here? Now?"
"Ain't got nothin' but time, now do we?"
She had to admit, he had a point. Still. "Someone could come. Cap'n coulda made it." Wasn't true, but Kaylee liked to stay hopeful. "Might get her in a orbit till… well, till I don't know what, but maybe."
"Cap'n couldn'ta made that," Jayne said, sliding down the wall to sit beside her. "Ain't no way. Whole ship's open like a ruttin' can of beans, throat to belly. Shuttles both is gone."
"Can of beans ain't got a belly."
"Yeah, you know what I mean. Mal's done a lotta crazy things since I been here, but even he can't make Serenity fly she's tore open through every hold and she ain't got half a engine or no shoelaces and what's them--rivets, maybe--to tie her back up."
She nodded, real sober because it wasn't a bad way to say how humped they truly, truly were. "Well we're still here," she managed at last. No one else was. River had been at the helm when the bolt hit and the frame buckled and warped, and Simon's doctorin' things, they all whipped free out the gash after him. None of them seen Zoe go, but if she weren't dead too, she for sure would have been to help. They were all was left.
"Yeah, but we ain't exactly got tools. Or parts. Or a gorram working ship."
All true, and that brought her right back round to how Serenity was too hurt to fix her, even if she could rig atmo and patch up her fuel lines and…the list was too long to even think on. She looked at her knees and tried one more time. "Maybe we'll get lucky. Hit at a good angle, crash just right…"
"Then die in here when the door jams, probably."
"Zhen dao mei. I think we was getting' along better with you pacing," Kaylee said.
"Just sayin' the truth." Jayne shifted laying Vera across both their laps. "So I reckon, lucky, we got us a hour. Unlucky, we got a couple minutes."
The dim lights flickered and went out, leaving them weird in shadowy red reflecting up through the holes in the hold from the burning planet they weren't looking at through the porthole.
"Or a couple seconds, dependin' why that happened," he added.
"Electrical failed," she said.
"Yeah, I thought maybe," he agreed. "Ain't quite that big a ben dan, I don't know it's the electrical keeps the lights on."
"Well, that's why the light went out." She didn't want to think about what hundred reasons might be behind that one--a conduit cracked from freezing was a good bet, thinkin' on how cold her back side was now.
"Getting' cold in here," Jayne observed, scooting closer.
She didn't answer. Life support had been down a while, course, cause you can't support life if you ain't got air, but power out meant even the processes underneath, those what kept Serenity from frosting over, those was gone now, too. She was dyin', and Kaylee couldn't do a gorram thing to change it.
"So, couple minutes, then."
"Maybe a couple hours. Ai ya." She pulled her knees up, bringing Vera's muzzle up against her until he pulled it clear.
"Ain't got to die miserable," he said. "I mean, before, I was mostly jokin', only now, I'm thinkin' maybe ain't a bad idea, stay a little warmer, fall asleep after…"
Kaylee pursed her lips. "Ain't you ever gone a day you ain't thought with your pointer?"
"Prob'ly." Jayne leaned his head back with the thunk against the wall. "Maybe not."
"You can't want to couple, not now."
"Sure I can. Ain't hard to think of a inspirement."
"Well, if I have to die, I don't aim to die 'twixt you and this floor," she said at last.
"Huh." Jayne said. He thought about that for a minute, then added, "I reckon I wouldn't mind."
"I do recall, what with you said it a couple-three times now." Kaylee pulled her knees up tighter and wrapped her arms around her shins with a shudder.
"Huh?" Jayne frowned for a moment before his expression cleared. "No, I meant, you could, you know, be on top."
"I ain't your doxy, Jayne. Ain't here to fix you, just to fix her."
"Just offerin'. Seemed like the shiverin' thing to do."
"Chivalrous."
They were both silent for a moment, then Jayne set Vera off and unbuckled his belt.
Kaylee jumped. "Jayne! I said--"
"You said. I ain't got to be bound to your ideas."
She gaped for a minute, then closed her mouth and looked away. "Fine. You go right on, please yourself, keep shut of the needs of everybody else. Don't know why I expected different."
"Hey, I offered, and there ain't no 'everyone else,' Kaylee, just you."
She didn't bother answering. He had Vera, who would outlive him, probably, and it wasn't her concern anyhow.
"Women."
She heard his zipper open, and flinched again.
"Look," he said. "It'd be a distracter. I ain't never had complaints."
"Well, you ain't exactly conversational with women you ain't paid not to complain, normally, 'cept us."
"Hey! Am so! Well, all right, mostly it is you, but that don't mean I'm bad at it."
Kaylee rolled her eyes and laid her head down on her knees, then jerked it back up as their ride began to shudder under them. "Ta ma de!">
Jayne moved quickly, throwing his arm around her shoulders and pulling her tight against him. "Couple minutes, then," he said.
She nodded miserably, then turned toward him and straddled his lap, pressing against him hard, hugging him tight as the red light warmed and grew until she closed her eyes against the glare. She could still see it. "Ain't much of a glorious way to go, is it?"
He held her close, too. "Nope."
"Least my last couple minutes ain't alone."
"Not even that," he said, low and quiet by her ear. "Ass is fryin'."
So were her knees, and the backs of her wrists against the wall, too hot to touch but the shakin' too much to move any way sensible. Ain't like it'd help anyway. She nodded against his neck, hissing and tryin' to squirm free as her skin scorched.
He squeezed her harder and mouthed her skin, and if he wasn't consented for it, least it also was nice.
"Shoulda never gone in here," she murmured. "Been faster."
He grunted in return, no real answer but weren't like there was anything to say, so she let him nuzzle and grope as the air got too hot to breathe, as the evaporating sweat steamed off her arms and face wettin' everything to slick and boiling.
"Shoulda let you," she added. "Shoulda let you."
He didn't answer, and then she didn't, neither.
Too hot.
And too red.
And too hard to think.