A/N: I forgot to disclaim in the my first post. Not mine, all hail Joss the creative genuis and Mutant Enemy.

Thanks goes to Cantonheroine for pointing out my booboo...I fixed it!

Chapter 2

“I best be goin’.” Kaylee said her voice quavering only slightly.

“Goin?” One of the men asked, “Why you got no where to be that’d be better than with us.” He was tall and lanky and had a very distinct and pungent smell to him. That smell got in Kaylee’s nostrils as he sidled up right next to her, way too next to her.

Kaylee moved from him and tried to walk away from the men but they blocked every route she tried. So instead she tried a bluff. “My husbands waitin’ for me.” She tried to indicate closeness by gesturing with her hand. “ I best be goin.”

However, the hand gesture may have done more harm than good, cause her whole arm looked like it was going to shake right off.

“Aw, now sweetie, we ain’t all bad.” The leader of the group started to walk towards her and she backed up into one of the other men.

And then everything went black.

**********

Mal shook Thayer’s hand and nodded his head. “Nice doin’ business with ya.”

Thayer reminded Mal of Simon in that ‘every hair on his pretty little head has it’s place, and dirt is my enemy’ kind of way. Mal thought that was about all that this ‘business man’ had in common with Simon.

“And you.” Thayer leaned his head over to his man who had just come up to whisper in his ear. After the man had apparently relayed news of some import, he nodded curtly at Mal. “Well, I’ve got dealings of my own to see to. I’ll send you a WAVE about that job we discussed.”

Mal shook his head and turned to leave. Zoe, never more than a foot from Mal’s side, followed close behind Mal. “You think that was on the up and up, Sir?”

Mal snickered and turned his head to Zoe, “Been a good long while since bein’ on the up and up mattered. Wouldn’t ya say? Jayne! Let’s go.”

Jayne had been overtly flirting with the scantily clad girl at the bar. “Aw, Mal. Just