Chapter 4- Handled
Summary: "He won't let this go"

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"So we're takin' the jewels and…"

Mal saw Dylan go for his gun. He pulled his out and shot the piece out of his hand. Dylan fell to the ground. Everything else happened in a blur.

Bullets started flying every which way. Mal took down two of his goons and Jayne took care of the rest.

Dylan reached for his gun. Mal stomped on his hand with one boot and kicked the gun away with the other.

He didn't lie down and take it. He punched Mal, hard, right below the knee. His leg buckled, but he caught himself before he could join Dylan on the ground.

The slip allowed him enough time to get back on his feet. Jayne shot at him, but he lunged for Mal at the last second.

Mal dug his fingernails into the two strong hands now wrapped around his throat, cutting off airflow, and causing some—more like lots of—discomfort. Jayne stepped in, grasping the back of his jacket and prying him off of Mal.

He turned on Jayne, giving him one hell of a shiner, before returning to the panting and oxygen deprived Mal. He punched Mal too, just as hard, and then grabbed him by his collar. He still had a hole in his hand from the bullet Mal put through it, but he ignored the pain and the blood now staining Mal's tan shirt.

Jayne grabbed him again and again he turned to face him.

"Jesus Christ, Dyl! I thought that we were friends!"

"In my line of work there ain't any friends, just liabilities."

He head butted him on the last word. Jayne staged back, accidentally tripping over one of the bodies. While he was down, Dylan kicked him across the face. Jayne was out cold.

Mal tapped him on the shoulder having regained his ability to breathe. He spun around. Mal punched him across the face. He heard something crack. He wasn't sure if it was Dylan's jaw or his hand.

Dylan tackled him to the ground. He got a few punches in before Mal rolled them over. His fists had a field day on his face. Blood ran down his flesh from his injuries and Mal's beat up hands.

Mal pulled his gun out, pressing it squarely into his forehead. He smiled at Mal bloodily, attempting to turn the tables back into his favor.

"I don't think so," Mal snapped as the hammer clicked into place.

"Get it over with."

He hit him again without moving the placement of his gun. While he was still stunned from the punch, Mal got up and shot him in both of his legs. He screamed while Mal laughed.

"You ain't gonna die. Walkin' might be a mite hard though."

"You meng duo de dashu shi!"

Mal kicked him with a shrug. "I've been called worse."

He moved towards Jayne who was coming back around. He gave him a hand up while Dylan rattled off threats.

"You won't get away with this! No one, no one, crosses me and lives to tell the gorram tale!"

"Mhm, right…" Mal smirked.

"You will pay for this, Malcolm Reynolds. You will p-"

Jayne kicked him across the face. "Gorram mother-humpin' piece of go se!"

"Calm down, Jayne. If nobody finds him soon, he'll bleed out. Let's go. We got jewels to sell."

Jayne kicked him again and then got into the mule after Mal had loaded the crate back up.

****

"C-can't. Can't. Muddled. Blurry. Won't come into focus!" River shouted shortly after announcing that someone had been shot. "Can't see who it was!"

"Sh, it's okay honey. It's fine. Simon will take care of it," Zoe stressed Simon's name so the shepherd would go fetch him.

Shepherd nodded, understanding the subtle hint. Zoe moved so she was sitting beside River. She put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It isn't fine! I can't see if it was him or not!"

"If it was, he'll shoot whoever it was that shot him and Jayne will carry him home, cursin' and complainin' the whole way. Then your brother would fix him up no problem."

"Painted eyes can't see."

Zoe sighed. She could never follow the mazes in her head.

"Mei mei?" Simon asked the second he darted into the room with Shepherd following closely behind.

"Someone was shot," Zoe explained.

"Who was shot?" Simon asked. It set her off again.

"Painted eyes can't see! They should! It isn't fair! It won't come into focus! Blurry clouds! The haze won't come! The wind won't take it!"

"It's okay-" Simon tried.

"No! He could be bleeding!" she buried her face in his robe, clinging to it like it was the only raft in the middle of shark infested waters.

"Smoothers?" Simon offered.

"Add more fog to the hazy horizon?" she scoffed.

"I'll take that has a no…" Simon sighed. If Mal really was shot…he didn't know if he could handle her anymore. "I'll go get the infirmary ready."

He left and it wasn't a minute later that River leapt out of her chair and started running.

"River?" Zoe asked while the shepherd gave her a hand up.

"They're almost home," she replied over her shoulder without even slowing down.

Shepherd and Zoe started to follow.

"But Wash hasn't-" Zoe was cut off midsentence.

"Kaylee, are you ready? The cap'in and Jayne are almost back," Wash called over the comm.

It was almost always Kaylee's job to lower the ramp when the mule arrived. Unless they had to go in a rush. Then it was Simon's job.

"Okay!" came Kaylee's response.

River reached the cargo bay steps just as the mule arrived. Zoe and Shepherd were right behind her.

Mal's boots had barely touched the floor when River flew into his arms.

"Whoa! Hello to you too," he chuckled. He could tell that something was wrong by the way she held onto him. "What's wrong, sweetheart?" he murmured.

"She said that someone was shot," Zoe explained.

"Well yeah, but fer once it weren't us…" Jayne grunted as he leaned against the mule. His head was still throbbing.

"What happened?" Simon asked as he tore into the room with his med kit.

"My ruttin' 'friend' tried ta kill us!"

"We handled it though," Mal added.

"Black soul. Holds a grudge. He won't let this go…" River whispered, although it was muffled by Mal's chest.

"Are you sayin' that we need to lie low?" he asked. She nodded stiffly.

"Ohhh Cap'in! Can we stop off for a bit to have our weddin'? That's sorta lyin' low…" Kaylee asked excitedly. Simon smiled at her and then looked at the captain in agreement.

"I don't think we got funds to, but maybehaps if we stay with someone we can afford it…" he sighed.

"Thank you!" she beamed.

"Zo, have your husband check with the Nimitz's on Kerry."

Jayne suddenly almost fell down, but caught himself on the back of the mule.

"I think that I should take a look at you," Simon decided.

"Yeah…I'm seein' two of everythin'…" Jayne mumbled.

Simon led Jayne away with Kaylee bouncing beside him.

Mal put a hand on the back of River's head and lightly stroked her silky smooth hair.

"Couldn't see. Didn't know if you were…" she trailed off, choking on the last bit.

"I'm okay. A little bruised, but okay."

He kissed the top of her head, tightening his hold on her. Zoe watched with a smile."They really love each other, don't they?" Shepherd asked quietly.

"Yeah they do."

****

"At least we know the Nimitz's are our friends," Mal commented while he shut the hatch to their bunk.

He felt her hands on his shoulders. He smiled, which was a mite painful, and turned around. She ghosted her fingertips over his battered face before deciding to go in for a kiss. He kissed back gladly, feeling the pain and stress from the day melt away.

She moved her lips down his bruised throat and back up over every inch of his face while simultaneously unbuttoning his shirt. He eased it off, allowing it to pool on the floor. She moved her hands to his aching back.

He followed her to the bed, aching or not, and they let their love wash away everything until only they remained.

They lay in tangle of naked limbs, the sheet having been tossed aside sometime before.

He was using her abdomen like a pillow, legs half hanging off of the bed, one arm intertwined with hers, the other tossed across her midsection. He had never been so comfortable in his entire life.

"You know, seein' little Kaylee 'n the doc all happy and Zoe glowin' like she is makes me think back…" he said softly.

"Oh?" she asked while her fingers wandered through his soft hair. She already knew what he was thinking, but she liked to hear him talk.

"Before the war, I wanted alotta things. They just kinda faded after I joined the army. I wanted a wife, kids, you know…to settle down. It just didn't seem all that realistic after what I saw 'n did. But seein' Zo…she ain't ever been that happy since I've known her. And Kaylee's gettin' married…makes me think. Maybehaps I can still get those things."

She smiled at him. "Come here."

He kissed her stomach and moved up to capture her mouth with his own. She held his face in her hands with a sad look in her eyes.

"I thought that I might have…that you might not…"

"I ain't goin' no place 'less I'm dead and in a gorram casket."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

He settled down beside her. She put her arms around him with a distant fear in the back of her mind. He said that he wouldn't leave, but what if he had no choice?

(Meng duo de dashu shi- stupid pile of rat shit)

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