Disclaimer: Mal, Kaylee and the entirety of the Firefly-verse belongs to Joss. FOX Broadcasting Company and Universal have some claim to them, too, since they're the ones that brought Firefly and Serenity to the public. I love writing about them, but I don't claim to have any ownership of the characters contained in the following fiction. I do, however, own the fiction and any use of plagiarism will endanger your life.
Time Line: After "Objects in Space", before Serenity. Technically, the night before Mal & the gang talk to Fanty & Mingo to set up the security deposit job.
Author's Notes: I'm not a fan of the movie. It sounds weird because I watch Serenity over and over, but I sometimes wish it hadn't been done. Because it seems so...impersonal. And I really hate the way Simon and Kaylee's relationship got rushed. There weren't any stolen kisses before they jumped into bed - which Kaylee doesn't have any complaints about, but I just don't see Simon behaving that way. There also weren't any scenes with him stammering and sticking his foot in his mouth. So, I always felt that Simon got betrayed during the movie. Last night, I watched it again, only this time, I started to think about Mal and Kaylee's relationship. During the series, they always had this older brother/younger (adored) sister or a father/daughter relationship. Mal was always hugging on her, kissing her forehead, letting her kiss him - and part of what made it so entirely adorable was that he wasn't like that with anyone else. Well, none of that was in the movie, either. So, I thought, "Well, who would Kaylee go to if she needed to talk about Simon and Inara was already gone?" Obviously, Mal. And since I was missing the Mal/Kaylee relationship in the movie, I set this right before the movie - where it very easily could have been a deleted scene (or somethin'). Basically, there's no other purpose, except to let me get giggly over the fact that they're completely adorable together.
Translations:
"Ai ya, hwai luh.": "Shit on my head"
"Wuh de tyen, ah.": "Dear God in Heaven"
"Mei-mei": "Little sister"
"Boa bay": "Sweetheart"