Title: Accidentally in Love
Author: lj userbach2bach
Spoilers: All episodes of Firefly and Serenity, the movie
Rating: PG
Length: One-shot.
Pairing: Kaywinnit Lee Frye/Malcolm Reynolds (additional pairings include Zoë Alleyne/Hoban Washburne, Kaylee Frye/Simon Tam, and Mal Reynolds/Inara Serra)
Summary: An introspection on the inability of Malcolm Reynolds to successfully navigate the perilous realm otherwise known as his love life.
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and the producers deserve all the credit for the wonderful 'verse, Firefly. Also any similarity that may exist between my story and any other is incidental.
Author Note: The title comes from the song by that name done by Counting Crows and relates to Mal's surprised and confused state of mind when it comes to his messed up relationships with women. The length of this story in non-negotiable. I am not writing a sequel. So there.
It didn't seem to make any difference how many months had past since Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of the Firefly class ship, Serenity, had met Kaywinnit Lee Frye, Mal could never quite get the image of her naked form undulating beneath Mal's one-time mechanic, Bester. Nor had he ever quite been able to ignore the open adoration that Kaylee displayed whenever Mal was about, and it certainly hadn't escaped his notice that she was so darn cute the way she couldn't seem to keep engine grease off her pretty face.
He had tried to distance himself from these inappropriate thoughts by focusing on his ship, his crew, his odd-almost romance with Inara Serra and by ignoring his physical fascination with the girl who kept Serenity in the air against the Laws of Physics and was young enough to be his own get.
He called her his mei mei, but his thoughts stubbornly remained less than brotherly on occasion.
Mal's real trouble was that all the women in his life were damned important to him, but none of them quite fit the right mold to be his match. Discounting his number one girl, Serenity, as an option that left the four female members in his crew.
First there had been Zoë Alleyne; Zoë'd been with Mal for so long now that neither of them could scarce recall what life had been like before they'd met. Still, Zoë had always kept pieces of herself out of their interactions and it had taken Mal's antithesis to successfully bring out the softer side of his strong, woman-of-few-words, first mate. The light-hearted joker had slowly, but surely worn down his "warrior woman" and caught himself a fine wife.
With Inara the issue that stood between them related to what she did and who she was. Her work defined who she was; which meant that she was both too classy and not classy enough to be his spouse. She found being a Companion to be fulfilling and she was unlikely to leave it behind. The Guild would never have allowed her to take a lover in any case and truthfully Mal could never accept a relationship where the other party allowed herself to be touched and to touch someone other than Mal.
River Tam was the easiest relationship to qualify of the four. She was miles too young for him; she had never been given the chance to experience young adulthood. She was certainly too damaged by government tampering to ever be in an equal partnership with a leader like Mal. And ultimately Mal and River saw each other more as surrogate parent and child than potential lovers.
Finally there was sweet, simple Kaylee, who was awestruck by the pretty Core doctor, Simon Tam. Kaylee liked anyone who was kind, attractive or different, and the doctor was certainly all those things. He was from far away and had stories that were new and interesting to a country gal, was generally quite attentive to the young woman, had wonderful manners thanks to Core schooling, was fancier than anyone Kaylee had met (other than 'Nara), and was easily the pretty boy on the ship.
If only she hadn't been so easily entranced by a shuai face and had noticed Mal instead.
To be fair Mal had had several years to make a move before Simon Tam had come onto the scene. She had been so young then, and he had still been a little hopeful that someday Inara might be willingly to give up her fancy life and stay with him as his lover or even his wife.
Four women and not one of them had ever crossed the line between Platonic affection and into a romantic, physical love.
River was understandable. He was the father figure in her life and she wasn't ready to handle an adult relationship just now. If she ever was capable of maintaining a semi-normal life, River would need a very different sort of man than Mal anyway.
Zoë had been harder to comprehend. He had never felt that Hoban Washburne was good enough for her, but then Zoë had never opened up that side of herself to the 'verse 'til Wash had come into Zoë's life, which had been long after Mal had first known her. Still and all, he had come to terms with Zoë's defection of allegiance.
Inara had seemed perfect, at least in theory. She was old enough, mature and experienced enough, and not afraid to shoot him down when it was called for—a characteristic that he did not appreciate from crew, but which he recognized as an admirable trait in a life mate. Most of all she was emotionally available; as a Companion she was never allowed to get too intimately involved with anyone, and so wouldn't come complete with her own cartload of personal baggage. When he'd met her he'd been unaware of the Guild's policies, and of 'Nara's attachment to the life she led. Once he'd known about it Mal had realized that it was pointless to hope and wait for her to come around.
Of all the women aboard Serenity, though, Kaylee's defection stung the most. Kaylee, who had always been openly affectionate, who had always had a happy smile for her "Cap'n", who still had him wrapped around her little finger most times, Kaylee was the one who had found another man to be so fascinating that Mal apparently palled in comparison.
Unlike Zoë, she wasn't overtly improved by her relationship with the man she'd chosen. Kaylee had been, to Mal's mind, perfect just as she'd been before Simon, and she was still perfect despite his snotty influence. If Mal had seen changes in her that were positive to Serenity and their ship family, he might have been able to leave well enough alone and cope with his disappointment quietly. The reality, though, was that Simon took Kaylee's attention away from Serenity's engine, her "baby", which ought to be her first priority at all times, and this demonstrated to Mal that Simon was not a good influence on his sweet, little Kaylee.
Kaylee's attention and interest should be, Mal was certain, equally divided between the engine and her Captain. Now, Mal realized, he had to show Kaylee this. He had to prove to her that he was a better choice of life companions for her. Had to show her, too, that whatever he and Inara had shared was not real, and that his heart was (well, apparently not precisely free, but was) ready to open up to the cutest, sweetest, sexiest mechanic this side of the 'verse.
The End.