'Have you ever been raped, little Kaylee?'

Her eyes widening in fear, breath too short to answer, she shakes her head; short, jerking movements, side to side, pupils staying on him, not moving with the rest of her terrified visage.

'The captain's right by-'

'The captain's locked in his quarters. They all are. There's nobody can help you. Say it.'

'There's… there's nobody can help me.'

'I'm gonna tie you up now. And you know what I'm gonna do then? I'm gonna give you a present. Get rid of a problem you've got. And I won't touch you in any wrong fashion, nor hurt you at all, unless you make some kind of ruckus. You throw a monkey wrench into my dealings in any way, your body is forfeit. Ain't nothing but a body to me, and I can find all unseemly manner of use for it. Do you understand?'

'Yes.'

'Turn around and put your hands behind your back.'

She moaned as she did so, mind screaming not to but her feet obeying his words. She felt him tying her up, guiding her gently to the ribbed deck plating, and rolled over as soon as she felt his hands part with her skin, needing to keep her eyes on him, needing to see him more than she needed to breath, as evidenced by her quick, gasping breaths. Whether it was more from the fear or guilt now welling up inside her she didn't know. She wanted him to leave so she could curl into herself, let her salty tears drip onto the metal beneath her, hear Serenity's calming thrum and watch the engine spin until Simon came and made her feel better... but no, he wouldn't, not ever again, because he'd be so mad at her when...

And that was why she also desperately wanted Early to stay, though she was scared out of her mind at what he would partake in if he didn't leave her engine room. She couldn't stand the thought of him finding River and Simon, hated the fact that it would be her fault, that he would, would...

He was starting to walk away, was almost out of the hatch now; oh, Buddha, what had she done?

'You know what?' Early suddenly questioned, pausing, one foot hovering over the sill. Though she didn't respond he continued. 'I've made that promise dozens of times, but I've never made good on it. Does that seem right to you? I should know what I'm promising, shouldn't I? Hmmm? Shouldn't I know if it's enough of a threat? Shouldn't I have an example, a little something to fall back on in case I need it to be just that bit more convincing? Hmmm?'

He set his raised foot down on the ledge in the door jam and half-turned his body, his collected eyes locking onto her scattered ones.

'Does that seem right to you, little Kaylee?'

She only trembled in response, and he almost smiled, but kept it to himself. The tears that were threatening to fall from her wide eyes had yet to, and Early knew the strength it took to do that, when he considered the other times he'd made the same threat, though he also knew that she was probably feeling just the opposite of big and tough at this moment.

'Well?'

This prompted a quick response; another twitch of the head, more white showing around her eyes.

'Well, I have to say that I really don't agree. Wouldn't you rather I stay here instead of finding those fugitives that you're harbouring? Wouldn't you rather I not turn them in?'

She gave him no response; she just remained on the floor, shaking like a leaf, keeping her eyes right on his own. He did have to give her credit for that.

He'd see what she deserved credit for when he finished with her.

Well, there we go, my first Firefly story (or the first chapter, at least, ahah). It's actually the second story I've written; I'll post the other one sometime soon, just have to proof it. Have the next couple chappies of this written too, just gotta get around to fixing them up too. Hope that you all like this, and I hope that I've done some justice to these wonderful characters! Oh, and I don't own anything related to Firefly, and I borrowed some of their dialogue for the start of this chapter.

Reviews make me feel warm and fuzzy inside J

Cheers,

Moksgmol