Disclaimer – I do not own Firefly/Serenity or any of the great characters. I only own my character.

Chapter One

Rozalyn gazed out the open window with a look of longing towards the sky. She wished to be a part of the great big black and secretly yearned for adventure. She could picture herself helping people, saving them from hunger, disease, and outlaws. She giggled softly when she caught an image of herself galloping swiftly on horseback, running from dangerous cowboys.

It was funny because she knew she could never do the things she pictured. With a hand on her growing belly she caressed the place in which her baby lay. She wanted this baby with every fiber of her being, but she wanted out of this dump and far away from the man who claimed her as his wife, without bothering to put a ring on her finger. She wanted to be in a place where her baby could be safe and away from the abuse she received every night. With a touch to her cut lip, a tear trailed down the side of her face and landed with a plop to the dirty floor where she spent many of her nights.

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Rozalyn endured the pain every night as the evil man (whom she never addressed by name) slapped her around, aiming most of his punches at her face. Most men would try to hide the abuse, but not this one, he relished in her walking around town with fresh bruises marring her porcelain white features. "This lets everyone know that you're mine," he would say after he finished hitting her.

Afterwards Roz crawled to her corner and wrapped her shaking arms around her legs sobbing silently into her chest. The only way she could cope with him hitting her was because she knew she would be leaving. Tomorrow morning after he left for work she would slip out like she always did and go to the market. He thought she would be too stupid to try and leave him; after all she didn't have any money. What he didn't know, because he was often too drunk to care, was that she had been skimming a few coins from his paycheck for the past six months. She figured she had enough to get a ride on one of those ships she always saw docked on the far side of the market.

In the darkness of the cold room, the sounds of him snoring in the distant, and the stench of beer staining the walls Rozalyn smiled to herself…freedom was on the tips of her fingers and she vowed not to let it go.

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The next morning, Roz woke from a deep sleep; her first motion of the day was to a lay a soft hand on her expansive belly. She instantly felt more calm and determined about getting away from him. She rose and immediately began to prepare his breakfast. Roz never fixed more than he could eat, always waiting until he was gone to fix her own food. She had learned from the mistake when he caught her eating while fixing his food; he nearly choked her to death when he tried stuffing the eggs down her throat. "You don't get to eat before me. You hear me girl?"

Roz shuddered at the bad memory as she focused on the task at hand. Piling the eggs and toast onto a plate she carried the breakfast into the room where he lay passed out on the couch. She set the plate before his nose, allowing the smell to wake him up. Once he started to stir, she set the plate on the floor and took a large step back, out of the range of flailing fists.

"Whazza…Huhhh…?" He mumbled unintelligibly as he sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eye. Reaching down to grab the plate from the floor, he began to shovel the food into his mouth in a disgusting manner. Roz had to shut her eyes to keep from vomiting at the sight.

"Coffe!" He yelled at her as he threw the licked-clean plate directly at her belly. She side stepped in just enough to time as to miss the projectile. Roz scurried into the kitchen and hastily made the coffee bringing it to him as soon as it was ready.

"Should have had it ready girl," He grumbled nastily hitting the back of her head when she bent down to give him the cup.

"Sorry," she mumbled and took a step back. It only took a minute for him to down the coffee. He stood up and began to tuck in his shirt and slick back his hair, trying to make himself appear more presentable for work.

"I'm off to work, you make sure and get some good food from the market and not the crap you normally get." He tossed her a few coins which she knew would barely get them bread and cheese. "Make sure you get the bottle of good stuff this time."

Before she could move out of his range, he grabbed her by the hair and pulled her towards him. He swooped down and placed his rough and cracked lips on her own, inserting his disgusting tongue inside her mouth and began to paw at her breasts. Roz knew better than to struggle because he only liked it more, she had to fight back her revulsion and remain as limp as possible. After pinching her chest, he let her go, quickly enough she nearly lost her balance and fell to the floor.

"Now be a good girl, you hear?" He grabbed Roz's shoulder tightly; digging into the soft tendons she couldn't help but let out a soft whimper. He reared his hand back and punched her hard in the mouth. This time she did fall to the floor clutching her mouth. He always hurt her in some way before leaving, letting the townspeople see the newest damage. She was always amazed at the way he hit though, he knew not to hit her directly in the mouth so that she would lose teeth, (because that would be unsightly) but just enough to crack open her lip and make it swell.

She stayed on the floor long enough for him to leave. Letting one tear slide down her cheek Roz cursed herself for letting it go this far. She should have left earlier. The only reason she waited as long as she did because she was searching for the right boat to take her away. She had heard Serenity, captained by Malcolm Reynolds, would be docking today. The townspeople talked freely amongst themselves, not worrying that Roz was listening because who would she tell? From what she heard, Captain Reynolds was no friend of the Alliance but tried to get by as best he could. He was supposed to be a fair and just man and stood up for his people. In Roz's mind, he sounded like the perfect person to take her away from the planet that held no fond memories…save for her baby.

Using the dust and dirt covered couch to help her stand, she picked up the coins he had thrown at her and tucked them into her pocket. Next she carefully walked to the corner, looking down at the floorboards as she counted silently to herself; when she counted the twelfth board, she knelt down and gently prodded at the old wood and it slid out of its place, hidden beneath the floor laid a small bag of coins, enough to buy her freedom.

She gathered all her things, which didn't amount to very much, and stuffed them into an old haggard bag. Before leaving Roz stared into the handheld mirror her mother had given her before she left, the one thing he hadn't taken, mainly because she had it hidden away. Grimacing at what she saw, Roz deftly tried to finger comb her long red curly hair into something that looked respectable. There really was no way to hide the dark bruise around her eye, her swollen cracked lip, or the way she limped after being kicked in the knee the other night. Closing her green eyes and putting the mirror away, she only hoped this would be the last of the bruises. She vowed never to let any man hurt her the way he did.

Working up her courage, Roz threw the bag of her belongings over her shoulder and stepped out of the dark cottage. Shielding her eyes from the bright sun, she shut the door tightly behind her and walked away from the hellish home. Roz told herself that even if she didn't manage to get on the Serenity she wouldn't be returning to him.

Winding her way through the cluster of people in the market, Roz strived to maintain a normal appearance. Many people stopped to greet her, attempting to be nice to her even though it sickened Roz. They would be nice and sweet to her face but they did nothing to keep her from being battered every morning and night. Roz forced herself to plaster on a smile and if anyone asked about the bag she had, she told them he wanted her to sell a few things at the market.

While trying to peruse what the stalls had to offer in terms of food and other products, she also kept one eye out on the ships. Roz's sharp eye looked for a name on each boat, hoping and praying she would spot the Serenity. As she walked, she bought a few things along the way, in part to keep from looking suspicious and it also might make her look like a better candidate to board the ship if she had something other than money to offer.

After walking for nearly a half hour, Roz had started to lose faith. She had yet to spot the Serenity and she had almost come to the end of the long line of ships. Just as she was about to turn back around and choose the boat that looked the most reputable she heard something off to her right.

"Mal, this is Simon. Simon, this is our captain." Roz spotted a woman around her age with light brown hair, grease on her cheek, and a bright warm smile talking to a group of men.

A young dark haired man in well made clothes bowed slightly to an older man "Captain Reynolds."

"Captain Reynolds," Roz spoke softly to herself. This must be it. At the moment she spotted her freedom…she froze. It was as if her body was rebelling against her mind to get off the planet. She knew she wouldn't get a better chance than this, and it looked as if they were about to leave soon. Roz couldn't have asked for a more opportune moment.

"Welcome aboard," Captain Reynolds nodded in greeting. Simon walked away towards the blonde man who was loading the luggage onto the ship. He seemed awfully concerned about a large box he owned given that he was barking orders about how it was to be handled.

Roz managed to get her legs to work and started to walk towards the last three people who were standing outside the ship, the girl, Captain Reynolds, and a fierce large man who stood looking at the surroundings with his hand on his gun that lay low on his hip. It was the larger man who spotted her first as she grew closer.

"This all we got?" Captain Reynolds asked the girl as he pointed a thumb towards the ship.

"Is there still room aboard?" Roz heard a small voice ask and was appalled to find out it was her own. Just because there were two strong man standing before her, didn't mean she had to act in the submissive way she always did with him.

Captain Reynolds eyed her up and down, taking special note of her bruises and the large belly. Roz ducked her head and shakily pushed an errant strand of hair behind her ear. She knew she didn't look like much being very short, very pale, very battered, and very pregnant.

"Sorry, we don't allow pregnant ladies on board, ship policy," Captain Reynolds stated as he stood up attempting to look more imposing. It was all ruined as the girl to his right elbowed him in the side causing him to lean over slightly and rub his ribs. The man on his left even looked at him with a glare as if he couldn't believe the captain would turn away a pregnant woman.

"Please," Roz hesitated before coming forward. "I have money," she fumbled in her pocket for the bag of coins and held it out to Captain Reynolds. "You can have it all. I also have food that I'm willing to share with rest of the group. I can cook and clean. I won't be a problem, you won't even know I'm there. Please…I can't stay here any longer. My baby and I can't stay here with…him."

Roz looked down in shame, wishing she hadn't been put in the present position. She wished that she had been born to someone else, someone who loved and cherished her, who wouldn't have sold her to him.

Captain Reynolds squared his jaw and looked behind him towards his ship. "Fine, but you stay out of my crew's way."

"Oh, of course, thank you, thank you so much," she smiled with tears in her eyes. Roz reached down to pick up her bag, not realizing she had set it down because it became too hard to lift.

"Stop…you don't need to be pickin' up heavy objects in your condition. Jayne," Captain Reynolds indicated the bag Roz needed taking in and he turned away.

The large man, Jayne, stood awkwardly before her. He shifted his weight between his feet as if unsure how to go about his duties. Normally Roz was terrified of men who dwarfed her, which was nearly every man, but this man seemed to be more like an overgrown boy. Sure, he seemed like the type who could kill a man in a second, but he also didn't appear like the woman beating type. Logically she knew that not every man beat on women, but it was a hard thing to wrap her mind around after years of physical abuse.

"Ma'am," he tilted his head towards her as he reached for her bag.

"Oh, you really don't have to do that," Roz shrugged off as she pulled the bag onto her shoulder with a huff. "I'm sure you…you have better things to do than carry one small bag."

"It's no problem," Jayne rumbled out gruffly with a large shrug of his shoulders. He made a grab for the bag but saw her wince at his oncoming hand. Quickly dropping his hand he looked down at the ground. "Ma'am, I'm not goin' to hurt ya. I would just like to take the bag for ya."

"Oh…all right then," Roz tentatively pulled the bag off her shoulder and passed it to Jayne. "I'm sorry," she spoke softly as she followed him up the ramp and into the ship.

"No need t'apologize," Jayne shook his head. "But I don't beat on women and neither does the rest of the crew…you're safe here."

Roz let his comments sink in, and although he seemed awkward with the comforting words, probably more used to threatening people, he seemed sincere. She looked up to thank him but he was already gone.

A/N: I've always been a big fan of this show and have had this story in the works for a long time. I'm nearly finished with it so I will be able to regularly update. I'm very excited in the direction of the story. You will be seeing two different sides of Jayne, the one we all know and love the crazy, gun wielding, mercenary; and the one who is a little more gentle. We may even see more of a combination of the two Jaynes. I take a lot from the show but there are still going to be many moments that are created since I have added a new character. Please review and let me know what you think!