Mal grabbed Early's shoulders, hauling his body both up and, to his disgust, out of Kaylee.

Her eyes were open and staring, and though he couldn't see blood at first glance, she wasn't moving.

Before he had the chance to do anything more than look, though, Inara swept in, adjusting Kaylee's coveralls and wrapping her in the silky folds of her clothing.

'Oh Kaylee, sweetheart, dearheart, bao bei, xin gan, hush, hush…' Inara kept up a steady stream of comforting murmurs, pulling the smaller girl up off the cold decking and into her warmth, untying her as she spoke, but her efforts were in vain; Kaylee stared into space, silent and tearless, un-resisting but unhelpful.

Once Inara had the mechanic free of her bonds she tried for her attention again, cupping the girl's face in her soft hand, turning Kaylee's sightless eyes to meet her watery ones.

'Come on, mei mei, speak to me.' But Inara's attempts proved to be futile, and she struggled to hold in the sobs that wanted to accompany her tears. Lift

At this point Mal crouched down, reaching out a hand for Kaylee's shoulder. He hesitated before touching her though, unsure as how to treat her, and opted to rest his hand on Inara instead. He glanced back toward Simon, gesturing for him to come closer.

The doctor complied, and Mal drew Inara back to give him some space. Simon bent forward, crouching in front of Kaylee, though she didn't seem to see him, and he reached out to her, taking her chin in his hand and turning her face towards his own, softly calling her name.

As soon as her eyes met his they snapped into focus; she gasped and gave a startled cry before beginning to sob in earnest, jerking her face out of his grasp and pulling her legs up into her body.

Simon jumped back in surprise and Inara surged out of Mal's suddenly slack grip to comfort her, though the Companion was crying just as hard. Her attempts were useless, however, as Kaylee merely cringed away from her gentle hands and soft tones, crushed her legs into her heaving chest, squeezed her eyes shut, pressed her forehead to her knees, and began screaming, wordlessly, like Simon had never heard any of his patients scream, and it terrified him.

Inara simply held her tight and Kaylee just kept pulling away, and even though Inara knew that the last thing Kaylee needed now was forced affection, she couldn't help but try to fulfill her own selfish need to hold her and protect her, though the hurt was done and would never be undone. The sounds her mei mei was making were almost inhuman, and she didn't know anything to do for her but to hold her tighter and tighter.

Suddenly Kaylee's grip on herself slackened, and her wild screams died into a strange, keening wail that became softer with each breath she took. Her legs relaxed, sliding away from her torso, arms falling to her side as her head clunked solidly against Inara's shoulder. The woman wrapped her arms more firmly around the younger girl and looked up to see Jayne standing over the two of them, a metal object glinting in his hand.

'Woke up to go to the loo and knew somethin' was up. Doped her; ain't nothin' else was gonna stop screamin' like that.'

Okay, I probably could have spent some more time editing that, but I really wanted to get it up tonight because you guys have given me such great reviews, and I have to get off to sleep before I start work at 4:15 tomorrow morning (ugh). In other words, if there are some mistakes my apologies; I'll fix them up when I get the chance. I have yet to write the next chapter, but it should be up within the next couple days; I'm really stoked about this fic, and I have a pretty clear idea of where I'm going (for now at least, ahah)

Lastly, thankyouthankyouTHANKYOU for all of your wonderful reviews! They really do encourage me to write more and to get it up quickly for you guys. And they make my day, too! A special thanks also has to go to impeccableblahs for such kind words; it was one of the nicest (and most certainly the longest!) review I've ever had.

Well, I'm out before I babble on too long. Like I said, I'll try to get the next chapter up soon and I'll even try to make it longer (short chapters have to be one of my worst habits on this site!)

Cheers, Moksgmol