Christmas on Serenity

Chapter 1

In Which Kaylee Has a Plan and Jayne is Grumpy

Kaylee walked into the cargo bay of Serenity where the crew was gathered, waiting for Mal’s signal that it was all right to leave the ship for a little free time at Hester City, their most recent drop point. She was holding a hat upside-down in her grease-smudged hands. While this may not have normally prompted any comment, there was something mischievous about the way the ship’s engineer was looking around at her crewmates. It was enough to make Jayne feel a distinct uncomfortableness, and in typical Jayne fashion, he called her on it.

“What’s with the hat, little Kaylee?” he asked.

“Maybe she’s going to make a fashion statement?” Wash suggested.

“Nope,” she said, and proceeded to ignore both of their confused looks and walk up to the captain.

“I’m with them. What’s with the hat?” Mal asked. Kaylee held it out to him.

“Stick your hand in and pull one out,” she instructed.

“Do I even want to know what’s in there?” the captain asked, running possibilities through his mind – last week’s protein dinner, whatever was growing in the engine room before I made her clean it out three days ago... I have a feeling I’m going to regret this.

“It’s just a bunch of pieces of paper, Mal!” Kaylee chided him.

“Doesn’t sound so scary,” Zoe cracked. “What are they for, Kaylee?”

“Well, we all know what day it’ll be five days from now,” she began. The rest of the crew nodded and shared secretive looks of amusement. All except for Jayne, who just looked confused.

“Huh? What day is that?” he asked.

“I believe she’s referring to Christmas, if I don’t miss my guess,” Book answered.

“Yeah, and since we’re going to be out in the black, without another soul in sight, I thought we could do something to, you know, have a little holiday cheer,” she explained, and smiled so brightly that Mal couldn’t bring himself to do anything but nod. “So, I took some papers and wrote everyone’s name down. We’ll