Chapter Seventeen: Breaking Up is Hard to Do
Soundtrack suggestions: "SD-6 Dance Party" – Michael Giacchino, "This is How a Heart Breaks" – Rob Thomas
"I think you've got some explainin' t' do," Mal said as he held an ice pack to his head.
Kate, who was seated on the bed in the women's dormitory at Parker's Playhouse, looked up at him as though she couldn't believe he was making this request. Her sister's body was, after all, in the Hays' Market morgue, and her beloved guardian was in Snozlund General Hospital with a bad case of champagne poisoning. "What do you want me to explain, Captain Reynolds?" she asked tiredly.
"Fer starters, why'd ya have a gun? Why did ya come back when Doc told ya t' leave? What did ya think ya could do?"
"Well, apparently, I killed the bad guy in this situation, so I think I could say I've done more than anyone else did."
"Where did ya get the gun?" Mal asked.
"It's my gun," Kate replied.
Mal looked at Zoë, confused. Luckily for him, explanations weren't that far behind.
"In a former life, I was a spy for the District Seven Espionage Battalion," Kate continued. "I worked on Nellia, undercover, following a drug lord called Lizard. Stupid name, stupid career… he was a jerk.
"But I fell in love with Lizard, and we got married. And we had a child, Aimee, who was the light and love of my life. Guess you could say I violated the first rule of spying – don't fall in love with your target.
"Everything was going fine with Lizard until one day one of his contacts, Spider, turned angry and came looking for his payment. Lizard was home with Aimee; I was out somewhere. Spider went into a rage and killed both of them.
"When I came home and found my child dead, I went into shock. I don't remember what happened next; all I remember is being picked up at the Nellia Hospital by Mother Mary and her husband Goodman Jack. They turned in my resignation to District Seven and brought me home to care for me the way they cared for Nona until Jack died, and I was forced to care for them both."
At the mention of her sister, Kate started to cry again.
"'S all right," Mal said awkwardly, patting her on the shoulder. "Thank ya for bein' honest."
Kate looked up through her tears. "Where am I supposed to go, Captain Reynolds? My sister was my life… the same way my child was my life. And now I've lost them both in less than ten years."
Zoë fielded that. "You pick up the pieces and you go back to a place where you can start over."
"There isn't anywhere for me to start over," Kate said sadly. "Everywhere I've gone, destruction and death has followed."
"Then that leaves me with one question," Mal said. Kate looked up at him. "Where d' ya wanna go?"
"What do you mean, you have to leave me here?" Jimena demanded, pummeling Jayne with one of her hands. "You can't leave me here!"
"Sorry, babe," Jayne said. "We've got work t' do."
"Are you ever coming back?" Jimena asked, managing to imply that if he didn't, there would be trouble.
"Of course! Why not?"
"I've got a perfectly good cat suit…" she tempted.
He kissed her on the forehead. "I'll be back 'fore ya kin spit, darlin'."
"You better," she said warningly. "I do run a Militia; I can track you anywhere."
"Of course you can."