Episode 16

Ship Wreck

continued….

The job that came next fell neatly into Serenity's lap. It was perfect, it was easy and the pay was good. The only problem was that it meant having to deal with Badger again. Mal was just about as fond of Badger as he was getting poked in the eye. Needless to say, he wasn't very excited. After all, the last two times he'd dealt with the crime lord, he'd been humped by the feds and nearly killed in a sword fight.

This time, though, it seemed a little easier. There were no cattle involved this time, but there was going to be some salvaging from a wreck again. He had never really thought of Badger as a crime lord as much as a scavenger, but Mal liked his engines running and his crew fed, so he figured he'd cooperate.

It didn't take too long to arrive at the Eavesdown Docks on Persephone since they were already close to the core. Bridget wasn't entirely enthusiastic to be back on her home planet. It brought back some painful memories that she didn't much feel like revisiting. Originally, she wasn't even going to get off the ship, but Kaylee convinced her to go shopping for room decorations.

"Your bunk has nothin' of your personality in it," she said, standing in the doorway of Bridget's room. "Come on, Bridget, we've never gone shopping before!"

"Oh, alright," Bridget sighed, giving in. She flipped her book closed. "Lets go before I change my mind."

"It'll be fun, I promise," said Kaylee, who was all smiles. The two girls headed off the ship to the busy market place. Bridget hoped she didn't run into anyone she knew from before. Her eyes darted from one place to another anxiously. Kaylee noticed and looked at Bridget curiously.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothin'," Bridget responded with a little shake of her head. She smiled at Kaylee briefly. "Let's just find some decorations, okay?"

"Sure," said Kaylee, smiling back to hide her worry. They shuffled their way through the crowd to a little shop that sold all kinds of candles and lanterns. For a moment, Bridget forgot why she was so nervous.

"How cute!" She said, admiring a string of plug-in lanterns with pink butterflies on them.

"I like 'em!" Kaylee commented. "They're kinda…romantic."

"What would I need to be romantic for?" Bridget scoffed with a little smile.

"Oh, I don't know," Kaylee said slowly. "Maybe a tall, dark, muscle-y, handsome man just happens to show up…Who's name just happens to start with a 'J' and end with an 'ayne'."

"I-," Bridget stammered. "I have absolutely no interest in Jayne. Period."

"Uh huh…," Kaylee said with a smile. "Don't suppose you would, what with you getting so friendly with him that night we were drinkin'..."

"I wouldn't have been so friendly had I been sober," Bridget assured her. "Seriously."

"Okay…," sang Kaylee with a shrug. "Whatever you say."

"These lanterns are really cute, though," she muttered, examining them closer. "And I really like these candles." She picked one of them up, a green one that was cut into a spiral.

"Let's buy 'em, then," said Kaylee with a smile.

"I don't know if I really have enough money…," Bridget said. "I mean, I still have to pick up some food."

"Oh, quit worryin' about food for two seconds and buy yourself something with that cut of yours!" Kaylee encouraged. "We ain't gonna starve 'cause you splurged a little."

"Guess so," said Bridget. In the end, she decided to buy the string of miniature lanterns and a few candles. She also got a wall scroll with the Chinese calligraphy of her zodiac sign (the dog) and some incense with a wooden burner that was decoratively carved. These things would definitely help make her room a nicer place to be.

On the way back to Serenity, Kaylee and Bridget ran into Mal, Jayne and Zoë. Mal looked frustrated, so Bridget decided not to even try to talk to him.

"Whatcha got, there?" asked Jayne, nodding at the bag Bridget was carrying.

"Decorations for my room," Bridget answered. "Lights and stuff."

"Shiny," Jayne replied. "Need help carryin' 'em in?"

"No, it doesn't barely weigh a thing," Bridget said. "Thanks, though."

"Don't mention it," grunted the mercenary. Mal listened to this little exchange and gritted his teeth. Despite Inara dismissing it as Mal's own paranoia, he was sure that Bridget was falling for him. Everything pointed in that direction and he couldn't really afford for Jayne's head to be up in the clouds. They had a job to do, one that was significantly more dangerous than Badger had made it sound. Mal couldn't do it without him.

"Okay, so what did you agree to again?" asked Wash, his voice tinged with sarcasm. The entire crew, including Book and Inara, were stuffed into the cockpit listening to what was going to happen.

"There's a wreck just outside the boarder planets. It's got all sorts of valuable supplies hidden away on it and Badger's hired us for a hefty sum to retrieve said valuable supplies. The unsafe part about all of this is that it's located near Reaver territory. He didn't know what happened to the ship, only that it's dead floatin' in the black somewhere. Hopefully we won't have any visitors while we're doing the job," Mal said.

"Can't stand Reavers," Jayne shuddered. "It's unnatural…the things they do…"

"We've outrun and outsmarted them before," said Mal. "If it comes to that, I'm sure we can do it again."

"How about we don't let it come to that," Zoë said.

"Good idea," Mal agreed. "We got fuel enough to hard burn out there?"

"Sure do," said Wash. "And if I play my cards right, we'll have just enough to get back to the core for new fuel cells."

"Good. Then let's get this over with as soon as possible," Mal ordered.

Serenity did nothin' but haul ass for three straight days. Wash was constantly at the bridge, he even took his meals there. Bridget was always glad to bring him a plate, but she missed him at the table.

"Dinner," Bridget sang as she climbed the short flight of stairs into the cockpit. Wash leaned back in his chair to see her.

"Great, I'm starving," he said hungrily, taking the bowl of udon soup from her. "Mind keeping me company?"

"No, not at all," said Bridget. She took a seat and watched Wash devour his meal.

"This never gets old," he said, poking at his udon with his chopsticks. Bridget smiled humbly.

"It ain't much tonight," she replied.

"It'll do," he said enthusiastically.

"Next time I'll do stir fry, maybe. When I can find some decent vegetables and some nice frozen soba noodles," she said.

"I'll bet you make a mean stir fry," Wash said.

"It ain't bad," Bridget smiled. "I'm glad you like my cooking."

"Me too," said Wash with a grin. "How was the dinner conversation tonight?"

"Entertaining," Bridget said.

"Yeah, I could hear you guys down here," said Wash. "Sounded like fun."

"It was," she said with a nod. She looked out the bridge window and could see nothing but the stars and the clear black. "It's kinda lonely, lookin' out there."

"Sometimes," Wash agreed. "It's different, though, when you got a ship full of people you love."

"Yeah, I've noticed," said Bridget. "It's weird…I mean, I've only been here for a month, but I really feel like this is where I belong. I'd always thought that where I'd stop would be somewhere…stationary. I guess it just never occurred to me that a ship like this could be home."

"I can't exactly relate, but I know what you mean," he said. "Flying's everything to me. Well, besides Zoë. Anyway, I've always known I'd end up living on a ship."

"Speaking of Zoë, you two are such an odd couple," Bridget said. "Like a backwards fairy tale, or something." Wash chuckled.

"That's one I haven't heard," he said. "But it's accurate enough. She's the brave warrior and I'm the damsel in distress."

"Is that what it's like?" asked Bridget, thoroughly amused.

"More or less," he said sheepishly. "It's the most interesting relationship I've ever been in."

"Hmm," Bridget mumbled with a little smile.

"Got something on your mind?" he asked. "A warrior maybe? Or a damsel in distress?"

"Ah…," Bridget said, her cheeks turning a little pink. "Yes and no…"

"Uh oh," Wash said slowly. "Who's the lucky guy?"

"He…well, it's just…I don't know if I actually wanna talk about-," Bridget babbled.

"Jayne? Is that it?" asked Wash. Bridget's blush darkened. "That's sweet in a disturbing sort of way…"

"Oh, thanks," Bridget said sarcastically.

"He really seems to like you, though," said Wash. "I've never really known Jayne to be exclusive, but then again, I don't know him very well."

"Yeah, he liked me when he was drunk and he sleeps around," Bridget said. "It's great, a dream come true."

"He probably likes you sober but doesn't know how to say it," he explained. "Sometimes men can't really get out what they mean in a coherent way."

"Yeah, but I don't know if I want him to like me," Bridget said. Then she lowered her voice. "I promised Mal I wouldn't, you know, do anything stupid."

"Having feelings for someone isn't stupid," Wash said. "Even if it is someone like Jayne. You can't help who you eventually end up loving. I can attest for that."

"Woah, how about we just leave the word 'love' out of it," Bridget said. Wash put up his hands in defense.

"All I'm saying is that you shouldn't be ashamed. Mal told me Zoë and I couldn't be together, and now look: we're happily married and everything turned out fine. Mal just gets…nervous about stuff like that. I'm sure he's just worried about you."

"He is," Bridget replied. She heaved a sigh. "I just don't know what to do. Jayne isn't really my type, I don't know why I'm attracted to him in the first place."

"Probably for the same reason I'm attracted to Zoë: she's tough, she's brave and she's good lookin'," Wash said.

"Yeah…well, thanks for the insight, Wash, but I gotta get those dishes done," said Bridget, who had officially had enough of the current conversation.

Mal was getting anxious. He'd had more than one Reaver encounter in his life, but both incidents made him none too excited to repeat the past. Not even the money Badger was going to hand over at the end was brightening up his day, and when the money ain't worth it, neither is the job.

But they were there. The wreck was in plain sight and there was no way they were going to waste that much fuel for nothing. So instead of sending Badger a wave telling him to piss off, Mal, Jayne and Zoë suited up to board the ship.

"Picking up any unwelcome guests, Wash?" asked Mal through the walkie-talkie like device situated in his helmet.

"Not even ship bits, Captain," Wash responded. "I'll let you know if I catch anything."

"Good, thanks," Mal said. "Let's get this the hell over with." The three of them climbed into the airlock and sealed off the inner lock door behind them. The outer lock door opened in front of them and they boarded the shipwreck.

It was ominous to say the least. Whatever happened to the ship had knocked all its lights out and when the three of them flicked on their flashlights, they were met with a grisly sight.

"Shit," Jayne said. There were bodies: five of them in plain sight, layin' there with bullets in their skulls. Pools of old, coagulated blood had formed beneath them.

"I got a feeling we shouldn't be here, sir," Zoë said. "This just ain't right."

"I know. But we're here. Can't do nothin' about that but grab the goods and go," said Mal.

"We could just go back," Zoë said. "There's probably nothin' here worth gettin killed for."

"Yeah," Jayne agreed, who was just as creeped out as a man his size could be. "Could be whoever did all this is still here."

"Look," Mal said through gritted teeth. "All we gotta do is get to the cargo bay and find a few crates. In and out. Easy."

"In case you haven't noticed, things are never just 'in and out'," Jayne growled. "And it ain't never easy. 'Specially when there's dead bodies all over the place."

"Just don't look at 'em," Mal said. "I ain't fond of dead things either, but I didn't come all this damn way for nothing. Besides, whoever did this wouldn't still be hangin' around. This thing's been here for a month, it's barely pumping oxygen."

"I still don't like it," Jayne said as they ventured further into the ship, his pistol drawn and ready.

More bodies littered the cargo bay: four, this time. Grown men and a woman, all shot dead.

"I don't like this," Mal muttered. He shined his flashlight around and realized something: the cargo bay was empty. Empty as in not a damn thing in the whole cavernous room. Just those four bodies and the silence around them.

"If it were Reavers, these people wouldn't have been neatly shot and left," Zoë pointed out.

"If you call that 'neat'," Jayne said, wrinkling his nose. "Come on, Mal, ain't nothin' around that's worth takin'. Someone musta got to it before us."

"There's gotta be something here," Mal said. "Could be they got some secret compartments we don't know about."

"Well I don't much feel like hangin' around and searching for 'em," Jayne said, getting frustrated.

"Just give it a minute," Mal said. "There's gotta be something on this boat worth taking."

Bridget was becoming restless in her refurnished bunk. She hadn't heard a single sound since Serenity connected with the wreck and it was a little unnerving. She closed her book and tossed it aside on her bed before getting to her feet and exiting her room. Feet padded with a new pair of bright pink fuzzy slippers, she began the ascent up stairs by the infirmary. A brief but distinct sound made her stop dead in her tracks. She turned around and looked back down the stairwell.

"Hello?" she asked. All she got for an answer was ringing silence. "River?" She slowly went back downstairs. "Simon?" Bridget made her way into the common area. "Book?" She looked around and couldn't see any sign of anyone. She tip-toed out into the cargo area. Maybe it was Mal or Jayne playing a stupid joke on her. Simon had told her a few stories about the practical jokes that went on around the ship and she hoped that was it: just a joke to scare her. "Whoever's sneaking around, it isn't funny!" Her voice reverberated off the cold metal walls of the cargo bay. She bit her lip and wondered how you could feel so eerily alone and yet very watched at the same time.

Then her eyes came to the door in the middle of the airlock: it was open. The sound she heard connected in her brain as a creak. Just like metal hinges. She hoped that the door being ajar simply meant that they were back. But as she looked around, she noticed nothing new in the cargo bay.

"Shit," she whispered. Bridget backed up slowly from the door and turned to find Wash, but when she did, she was met with a bone chilling sight: the steely shaft of a handgun poking out from behind the parked mule. She barely had time to gasp before she heard the deafening sound of a gunshot.

"Mal, you'd better get back here. Now," Wash said urgently.

"What's wrong?" he asked, halting his search for the missing goods.

"Bridget's been shot," Wash said, his voice shaking. Mal's heart skipped a beat.

"By who?" he asked.

"I don't know. Everyone onboard heard it and we found her in the cargo bay. Simon's treating her but it…it was at pretty close range, so it's bad…," Wash said. Jayne's blood ran cold for a moment before he got angry. Real angry. No one did that to Bridget while he was around. Not nobody. He was gonna find the son of a bitch who did it and kill him.

He took off at a run back to Serenity, dodging bodies as he went. Mal and Zoë followed close behind, both very worried.

Jayne plowed into the cargo bay and practically ripped his suit off. He saw a pool of blood on the floor and followed the drips to the infirmary. He pushed through the small crowd of concerned crew members. He looked through the windows and saw Simon extracting a bloody bullet from a hole the size of a golf ball in Bridget's left shoulder.

"Jesus," hissed Jayne. "Who did that?" he demanded. "Was it you, Crazy?" he asked River. "'Cause God knows you got a random violent streak."

"It wasn't River," Kaylee told him. "She was with Simon in his bunk when they heard it."

"Cat and mouse," River babbled. "Stalk and pounce."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jayne snarled. River ignored him and went on chanting the same thing over and over.

"Cat and mouse, stalk and pounce."

"Quit that," Jayne said.

"Calm down, Jayne," Mal warned him. The Captain let himself into the infirmary.

"How's she doin', doc?" he asked.

"Not good," he replied. "She'll pull through, but this is going to take a while to fix properly. Her shooter was probably standing no more than three yards away."

"Right," Mal muttered. "You take good care of her."

"She'll get the best care I can give her," Simon assured him. Mal marched out of the infirmary in a foul mood. There was someone on his ship that weren't welcome, someone who'd put a bullet in his defenseless girl for no reason but her being there.

"Jayne, Zoë," he said. Zoë gave him her full attention, but Jayne was still staring at Bridget through the infirmary windows. "Jayne," Mal said louder. Jayne tore his eyes away from the med bay. "There's someone on this ship and they've got a gun. We best find them before anyone else gets hurt. So here's what's got to happen: Zoë I want you to stay here. Make sure no one goes anywhere, keep 'em in the common area. I reckon he likes to pick off strays, so keep a sharp eye."

"Yes sir," Zoë answered, getting a tight grip on her sawed off shotgun that she'd been carrying with her since the search of the wreck.

"Jayne, you and I are searching this boat 'till we find whoever's gone and done this," Mal said. "Wash?"

"Huh?" Wash asked, looking up from his seat on one of the sofas.

"I need you at the bridge," said Mal. "We'll search the cockpit and you seal yourself up in there. I need you to be ready to get us out of here should anything happen."

"Right," he said getting up.

"We gotta end this," he said darkly.

Mal and Jayne escorted Wash to the bridge. They searched in every nook and cranny and found the place blessedly empty. From there, Wash locked the door behind the Captain and his mercenary. He took a deep breath and nervously watched the radar.

Almost back-to-back, the two men carefully searched every single room in the ship, starting with the cargo bay. They made sure that their steps were silent and their breathing was shallow. Neither of them spoke a word as they made their way through the kitchen and out into the hallway that went towards the engine room. Mal and Jayne stopped dead in their tracks when a sharp clank issued from the engine room ahead. They exchanged a very serious glance before continuing slowly through the threshold. Mal looked around, his gun at the ready. He saw a swift movement behind the turning engine itself.

"Alright, come on outta there real slow," Mal ordered in a steady voice.

"Or I'll come back there and shoot ya," Jayne added. Mal gave him a 'why now?' look but Jayne didn't seem to notice. Mal could distinctly hear the sound of someone attempting to suppress their labored breathing.

"I won't tell you again," Mal warned the stranger. Suddenly, the man popped up from behind the engine and fired at the two men. They reflexively dropped to the floor. Mal turned his head to face Jayne.

"I've had just about enough of this qing wa cao de liu mang," he said angrily. The both of them leapt to their feet and charged at the man's hiding spot. Jayne personally ripped the gun out of his hand and pinned him against the wall while Mal aimed his own firearm at the intruder's head. Now that they could get a decent look at him, they noticed that he was dirty, unkempt and fat – no, not fat, bloated. His face was sunken in and his belly poked out farther than it should. The man was starving to death.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't end you," Mal growled. The man just grinned a sick, yellow smile at them and chuckled to himself. "Think it's funny? Shootin' a defenseless girl while you hide in the shadows of my ship?" he demanded. "Is that what you did to the people aboard that ship? Hide away 'till you got a good shot?"

"They're gone," gibbered the man. "They all left."

"I don't have much patience right now, so try real hard to make some kinda sense," Mal said.

"Left without me," he said with a manic explosion of giggles. "Took the stuff, left me there. They're all gone."

"I think I get this," Mal said, his lips tight and his brow furrowed. "Pirates. Prolly took the ship by force, got in, killed everyone that got in their way. Left you behind."

"GONE!" the man practically screamed.

"I'm getting real tired of this," Mal said. "You made a big mistake comin' here and causing all this ruckus. See my friend, here?" Mal asked. The man's buggy blue eyes looked up at Jayne, who gave him a toothy grin. "That was his girl you went and shot. He's real mad." Jayne nodded. "Mad enough, maybe, to give you a taste of your own damn medicine."

"Maybe you should learn to keep your bitch on a leash…," the man said, his lips splitting into a crazy smile. Jayne planted a well-aimed fist square in the man's face. He crumpled into a little heap on the floor.

"Well, that takes care of that," Mal said. Jayne spat angrily.

"Pirates…," Jayne growled. Wash's voice came over the intercom.

"Mal, you might wanna wrap up whatever you're doing, we've got Reavers coming in fast."

"Just what I need," Mal groaned.

"Why don't we leave them a little snack?" Jayne suggested, looking down at the unconscious man.

"Let's," Mal agreed. The two of them carried the pirate back down to the cargo bay and shoved him back on the wreck. He flopped to the floor and didn't move. Mal and Jayne made sure the airlocks were shut tight before getting to the bridge as fast as they could. Mal pounded on the locked door.

"Go, Wash!" he shouted. Serenity's engines whirred loudly before the firefly disconnected from the wreck and burned back towards civilization.

It had been a day and a half since the wreck. The Reavers hadn't followed them back to the boarder, they were more interested in what the broken down ship had to offer. Mal got Badger on the vid screen and tried to explain to him why he didn't have anything to bring back to Persephone.

"Can't say I'm entirely thrilled with your performance this time, Captain Reynolds," Badger said in his strong east-end accent.

"Can't say I am either," Mal said. "I got one of my crew still injured and now I gotta purchase some fuel cells that I don't have the money to pay for."

"It's a shame how these things work out from time to time," Badger said with a sarcastic grin. "I don't got no goods, you don't got your money. Don't suppose I'll be calling you anytime soon."

"I don't expect to hear from you," Mal responded solemnly. Badger disconnected and Mal was left alone at the bridge, poor again.

Bridget slowly felt her mind swim back into consciousness. Her eyes fluttered open and she realized that she was in the med bay. The bright lights bothered her eyes and she had to squint against them. She tried to get up but pain exploded in her shoulder. She groaned painfully and sank back down into the padded examination table. She hadn't noticed until she tried to sit up that she wasn't alone. Jayne was in a chair next to her, slumped over and asleep. Maybe it was some kind of drug Simon had given her, or maybe she'd finally lost it. Whatever the case, at that moment she was filled with a sort of fondness she'd never really had for anyone else before.

"Hey," she called softly. Jayne jerked awake.

"I was only dozin'…," he muttered. Bridget chuckled at him. "Hey, you're awake."

"Yeah," she said with a smile. He got to his feet and towered over her with a relieved little smirk. "I got shot, didn't I?"

"Yeah," he replied. "We were all pretty worried,"

"What happened?" she asked.

"Turns out that wreck was hit by pirates before we even got there," Jayne said. Bridget snorted.

"Pirates?" she asked with a sleepy arched eyebrow.

"Yeah, pirates," Jayne said, getting a little defensive.

"Wasn't aware they existed for real. Can't say that I've ever run into one," she said.

"Well now you have, that fella that shot you was one of 'em. 'Pearently got left behind. Shot up the whole boat," Jayne said.

"Wow," Bridget laughed softly, "I got shot by a space pirate."

"I got the son of a bitch good for ya, though."

"You seem to have a knack for that," said Bridget. She reached over and gently grasped the mercenary's hand. His eyes shifted from their joined hands to her face.

"What's this?" he asked cautiously.

"Whaddya think it is?" she asked with a smile.

"I thought…well, it's just that last time you were drunk, and-,"

"Well I ain't drunk now," Bridget said. "Despite the fact that you're more'n a little rough around the edges, somethin' about you has grown on me, Jayne Cobb. Don't know how or what for, but I can't stop it now that it's goin'."

"So I don't gotta try to be nice to Simon fer you to give me a chance?" asked Jayne with a grin.

"No, you can fight and bicker with Simon all you want," Bridget said.

"Good. 'Cause I wasn't really gonna give that up," he said.

"I didn't really expect you to," Bridget giggled. Her laughing started to jar her stitches and her shoulder pained her again. She winced something terrible.

"Maybe you shouldn't move too much," Jayne said.

"I'm startin' to think that's a good idea," Bridget agreed. "Thanks for being here."

"My pleasure, Miss Bridget," he grinned.

"After I'm all healed up, maybe we'll see about gettin that room…," she said as flirtatiously as she could (which wasn't very effective since she was half asleep and recovering from a gunshot wound.)

"Now you're talkin' my language," Jayne said gruffly. "I won't forget about that one." He boldly leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. "Get some sleep, missy."

"I'll give it a try," she answered. "How about we keep this…whatever this is under the radar. I kinda don't want Mal to know."

"He already does, but if you still wanna be quiet about it, I could probably manage that," Jayne said.

"Oh well. I guess it was bound to happen sometime," she sighed.

"Yeah…Rest easy, alright?" he said.

"Sure. I'll be back to cookin' before you can say ni ta ma de tian xia sou you de ren dou gai si..." Jayne chuckled at Bridget's coarse choice of words. She let go of his hand as he pulled away from her. "G'night."

"Night," he said. He gave her one last affectionate smirk before leaving the infirmary. Bridget closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep with a pleasant smile on her face.

Fin.

Author's note: Huzzah for blossoming romance. Feedback is appreciated!