Disclaimer: Firefly, Serenity and related/recognizable characters/materials are copyright of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy Productions and subsequent companies. I do own the character of Molly Maguire. This Fan Fiction is not intended for profit nor is any copyright infringement intended.

Timeline: This begins approximately six months pre-Firefly (series).

The day was not going according to plan.

What had begun as a fine weathered day had very swiftly turned into the beginnings of a storm in a matter of minutes; leaving curious blue eyes to peer around the corner of a building as they studied the mid-morning hustle down the main street of the small town. She watched as citizens of the town hurried about their business; actions spurned into a rush from the sudden change in temperature and wind speed. The brunette's own thoughts sped over what the implications of a storm could do to her potential plans as well as she took barely passable shelter between a saloon and the towns General Store.

The growing strength of the wind blowing through the alley way was near enough to send the petite figure stumbling into the building she was standing next to as it was; yet she couldn't bring herself to enter one of the establishments. She quickly closed her eyes as another strong gust sent a cloud of dust into the air and was forced to clear her throat with a harsh cough that left the taste of dirt in her mouth and tears in her eyes. Blinking repeatedly, she took a moment to clear the grit, before once more peering around the corner, ignoring the crowd this time, and letting her eyes trail a few feet down the road where a few ships were stationed.

Once she had reassured herself that the Firefly class transport that had caught her eye an hour earlier was still in port she relaxed slightly. She had been wandering the small port while the weather was still fit for potential travel, examining the ships that would be leaving that morning and had spotted the vessel. Immediately after, she had parked her form around the corner from where it was stationed and had since been working up the courage to find out it's destination.

Then the storm had begun brewing.

Leaning back against the building once again she shook her head at her own cowardice; something she normally didn't have any problems with. The independent woman had always prided herself on her ability to face things as they came at her with a level head. And in her experience, passage on a vessel had certainly never been something to grow a case of nerves over.

"Are you taking passengers? And where are you headed?" she muttered experimentally under her breath, not for the first time since she had seen the ship.

In theory, it was a simple question to be asked. In execution, things tended to get a bit more difficult. Factoring in the less then perfect weather and Molly Maguire was about ready to scream over how badly the last two weeks of her life had been going.

Molly groaned and tugged frustratedly at the long chestnut-brown braid that hung down her back as that final thought once again surfaced. She was the first to admit when she overreacted to something; the drink, and subsequent right hook, she had thrown in the face of the Alliance Officer who had grabbed her ass while she was waitressing hadn't, in her opinion, been grounds for dismissal from her job. Two weeks later she was approaching penniless; and being that she was still jobless had decided it was well past time that she moved on to another planet, or at the very least another city.

Another glance around the building, and a deeper sigh, brought the Firefly back into her sight line. Her gut was telling her she needed to be on that specific ship. She gently twisted her lips into an ironic smile at that mental concession; Molly Maguire didn't listen to her gut. As far as the woman was concerned, her head had gotten her through plenty of scrapes over the last twenty-seven years of her life and it would get her through the rest of them as well. But for some strange reason she didn't understand she felt like she needed to be on this Serenity; even as logic told her that the much sturdier looking passenger freighter a few ports down would be the smarter decision.

It took another ten minutes of debating her possible options - wait out front of the Firefly or go find someone on the other ship - for a figure to finally emerge from the open hatch. A young woman, walked out with a chair and sat down with a bright smile for every passerby; though, to be fair, from the distance Molly couldn't tell how young. She watched the girl speak to a few random people, smiling brightly even as she pulled a coat tighter around her in the still growing wind, and finally with a mental kick in her own ass Molly straightened the black trench she was wearing and strode into the busy street.

She swiftly navigated around the foot traffic, trying to calm the butterflies that had taken residence in her stomach with each passing step, and came to a stop a few minutes later in front of the vessel. Now that she was closer she was able to tell that while the girl in question was only physically few years younger then Molly herself, the smile on her face and in her eyes made her appear much younger.

"Hi," the girl half-squealed, jumping up from the chair and waving happily. "You travellin'? You look like you're travellin'."

Molly raised an eyebrow at the bubbly female and tentatively smiled back, again questioning the idea of listening to her gut on this, before replying, "I am. Are you taking passengers?"

"We are. I'm Kaylee."

Molly smiled tightly, wondering why the girl would be trusting enough with her name right off the bat, and replied, "Nice to meet you. Where'ya headed?"

"Persephone," the other girl replied quickly. "You headed in that direction? Or, there?" she added hopefully.

Molly frowned because while she hadn't entirely decided on a destination, she didn't particularly care to stay on core planets for long; but at that moment it was as good as any other place for the time being, "Sure am."

"Shiny," Kaylee replied with an, if possible, even larger smile. "So, fare's...well, fair, I suppose. Standard. Since that's where we're headed anyway."

Molly's frown deepened at the words and she worried her bottom lip for a moment before replying carefully, "About that. I don't have coin, as it were."

"Oh," Kaylee muttered, finally losing some wattage to her grin. "As it were?"

"I can pay," Molly quickly reassured the girl. "It's just not in standard money. I've got gems."

"They yours?" a male voice interrupted the girls from behind her and Molly's head snapped around, startled at the intrusion. Her eyes rested on a tall, stern looking, male a few years her senior, who was standing with his thumbs looped through suspenders and was studying her curiously.

"They are," she replied; hoping she had judged correctly and that this was the Captain of the ship based upon his question. "Family owns a mine," she elaborated off the skeptical look he was giving her. When he wordlessly held out a hand Molly forced down the urge to roll her eyes and began fishing around in her satchel until she produced a small sack that she turned over to him. "I would assume that you'd know what the fair rate to Persephone is?"

"Welcome aboard," he replied quickly, eyes widening slightly as he glanced inside the pouch. "Miss?"

"Molly," she responded simply. "Just Molly's fine. Captain?"

"Reynolds," he elaborated, shaking six of the smaller stones in varying colors out into his hand before returning the pack to her. "Kaylee can show you to one of the passenger rooms. Do you need any help loading your things?"

Molly reached down to her side and picked up the larger duffel she had been carrying, "This is all I have."

"Fair 'nough," he muttered to her and began walking onto the ship before he paused and turned again. "Kaylee?"

"Yes Cap'n?"

"Show Miss, umm, show Molly to her quarters and then tell Wash I wanna get off this rock before we can't."

"Yes sir," Kaylee responded, her apparently ever-present grin returned to her face. "Come on Molly."

"Coming," she mumbled and followed along into the large cargo bay of the ship as Kaylee rambled on about Serenity and how she was sure Molly would have the best trip she had ever been on the next few days. She mentally catalogued the short trip through the ship until they reached a hallway with a few sliding doors, stopping when Kaylee opened one with a flourish.

"This is you," the young woman stated. "All the comforts of home."

Molly took a step inside and smiled gratefully at Kaylee, before forcing out a yawn, "Thanks very much Kaylee. I think I'm just going to get settled in and maybe take a nap."

"Okay then. I'll be sure to call you for dinner and you can meet everyone then. I need to get to the engine room anyway."

Molly's smile brightened slightly at those words and she forced herself not to breathe a sigh of relief, "Alright. I'll see you later then."

"Bye!"

Once Kaylee had disappeared Molly tightly shut her door and allowed her body to relax, "Nice girl. Too talkative."

She tossed her duffel onto the floor and dropped her exhausted body onto the bed right after. Slowly she leaned forward and unbuckled the black knee high boots she all but lived in, yanked them off and dropped them next to her bag, her trench coat and vest were pulled off next and finally the pistol that she had holstered at the small of her back was stuffed under the pillow on the bed.

Molly's head hit the same pillow seconds later as she tuned out the slight sounds of voices echoing through the large metal vessel and allowed the light rumbling of the large engines to send her body, that hadn't slept in near two days, off into an exhausted dreamless slumber until Kaylee would be coming to get her for dinner with the crew.

Note: The basic premise of this fanfiction was initially published by myself, on this site, a few years ago (under the title "Gone By Dawn") and has since been deleted. Having gone through the longest 3 years of my young life (health issues, college, first job, etc.) I stumbled upon it and almost cringed. My writing has far matured past where it was then and as such I've gone back to what I knew I initially wanted to do with the idea and have re-vamped it into something that is (hopefully) much better.