100-1000 word ficlets written for the ff_friday challenge at http://www.livejournal.com/community/ff_friday. Each chapter has the ficlet's title, date of the challenge, and the subject.
Author's Note: Kaylee ficlet for the LJ ff_friday challenge. June 19's subject: change. Length: a shortie (finally) at 339 words.
Unconditional
By Trisana McGraw
When she signed on as crew, at least a year ago, the Captain warned her that this would take her far away from home so she wouldn't see her family often, but she'd been willing to give that up to explore the universe. He'd also made sure that both she and her family knew that the jobs that Serenity took were sometimes very unsafe, but she'd loved the ship so much that even the threat of danger didn't faze her.
That love had blinded her, but the bullet in her gut tore the veil away. As she lay on the ground, gasping and bleeding and crying, her fevered brain wondered why she hadn't just stayed back on the farm and helped her pa with his few jobs, using her skills to barely scrape by.
A few days later, she was good as new and back at work in the engine, feeling it thrum with life around her, and her love for the ship was as strong as ever.
Then Serenity turned against them, even if she hadn't meant to, and stranded them in space, with cold death lurking beyond walls Kaylee used to think were impenetrable. She remembered thinking for the second time that she was gonna die, wishing she had her mama and papa and all her brothers and sisters close; instead she had Inara and the Captain and all the other crewmembers. Mal had told her not so long ago that out here there was danger, but he'd never expounded on the idea, never said that she'd surely be facing death too early in her young life. Maybe he hadn't known himself.
They survived that ordeal too, but both she and the ship bore scars that couldn't be easily erased. Yet even that couldn't tear her away from what she loved. She didn't run back home where there was nothing for her; instead she faced the danger, wondering when strike three was gonna be, and knowing that it still wouldn't change her mind about staying on Serenity.
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