Disclaimer: Don't own 'em.
A/N: Takes place about two and a half months after "Mal." Review, if you like.
"Can I come?"
"No."
Karla rolled her eyes and scurried back to sit with Kaylee by the ship.
"Cap'n wants passengers for the extra cash." Kaylee says, "I like 'em for all the stuff they tell. I like meeting new people."
"New people scare me." Karla says simply.
They watch as an older man pulls his cart along the busy Persephone market, looking at all the different ships taking passengers.
"They do not." Says Kaylee with a roll of her eyes. She's watching the man with interest now.
"Do too. You never know who you can trust these days and—" She's cut off by Kaylee, who is giving her a "shh" sign.
"You're gonna come with us." Kaylee says, presumably to the man walking with all his luggage.
"Excuse me?" He asks politely.
"You like ships. You don't seem to be looking at the destinations. What you care about is the ships, and mine's the nicest." Kaylee smiles brightly because she knows it to be true. Karla watches the exchange with interest. She always wondered how Kaylee got to be so good at reading people.
"She don't look like much." The old man challenged.
"Well, she'll fool ya'. You ever sail in a Firefly?" Kaylee twirls her multicolored parasol idly, and Karla smiles kindly at the man.
"Long before you were crawling. Not an aught three, though. Didn't have the extenders, tended to shake." The man looks curiously up at Serenity and Kaylee gets up and converses with him privately for a few minutes.
Soon the pair come over, and Karla is introduced to Shepard Derrial Book.
"Karla, why don't you help Shepard with his luggage and then give him the room number?" Karla is always impressed at how Kaylee makes orders seem like suggestions.
"Me? Really? Shiny."
Karla takes the Shepard's cart and secures it in the cargo hold before taking him up and assigning him a room in the passenger dorm.
"So, are you and Miss Kaylee related?" Shepard asks.
"No, but we act like sisters most times." Karla grins and opens the rice paper door for Shepard Book to see. "This is where you'll be sleeping. I'll take you up to the galley next."
Shepard Book nods and gives her a warm smile. "So who are you related to on the ship? Obviously you are too young to work here."
Karla's smile freezes, and she falters slightly in step before controlling herself and thinking fast on her feet.
"Oh, yeah, right. Um... Well, you're right, I'm too young to be employed without parental consent. Um... The C-captain." She forces out, and thinks guiltily on what Mal would say when he found out about her alibi.
"He's your father?" Book asks.
"N-no! My god-father." Karla comes up with quickly, and gives herself a mental pat on the back.
"Oh, I see. So your parents are...?" Book looks at her with sympathy, and Karla feels this is going well for what it could be.
"They're dead. My father was lost to the war and my mother died shortly afterward." Karla pulls off the teary-eyed look with ease, as it's partially real.
"I'm so sorry for your loss, my child."
Karla smiles at him, "Don't be; it's not as if you shot him, right?" She laughs and doesn't notice the Shepard's expression falter.