(AN: Sry for the slow update. and sry if this chapter is a bit confusing. everything after rivers little bit of remembering, was originally a stand alone thing I did after a friend asked if i wrote and if I could do something on the spot for them. Heh, called it 'a sudden awareness'. but as I was writing 15, I realized I could kinda work it in. so sorry if I didn't make it as smooth as I'd like to. I went through and changes parts of what I'd written before and made it fit. hope it works! I MIGHT have missed a few things.)

(AN: again : thank you to all my reviewers!!! I really really really love you all!)

disclaimer: don't own firefly in any way possible. if I did...I'd abuse the power sooooooo much....

Chapter 15

Supper passed without any incidents, though Mal felt as if he was getting the evil eye from Kaylee all evening. It gave him the spooks. What did little Kaylee have against him?? He ain't done nothin' to her.

He watches her retreat to her haven after the meal, River 'helping' Book clean up from the meal. It taking a bit of explaining that not EVERY dish on board needed to be washed now. Only the ones they'd gotten dirty. Simon approaches the Captain, roll of papers in hand.

"Here, these are the layouts as any guard routes i could remember. I can't promise their perfect, but I doubt they've changed much. To much of a waste to alter everything."

"Well, good. Never thought I'd be glad of Alliance penny pinching. If we get lucky, most everything should be okay. But we'll act as if any possible guards have, at the very least, doubled."

Zoë nods from her seat at the table. Having stayed to help plan with Mal once they had the plans to work with.

"Good idea Captain. We go in planning for the worst case. Cover all our bases. Going undetected is golden, we should aim for that."

The captain nods, rolling the plans out onto the table, letting Zoë take them to study them for now.

"I'm not worried about the gettin' in part. I've just got this bad feeling its gonna be the gettin' out part thats gonna be hard. They ain't gonna wanna let us just alk out of there with ANOTHER one of their kids."

He sighs, rubbing his face.

"We need to think of a really, REALLY good exit strategy."

His second nods in agreement. The last thing she wanted was to get past all the guards and possible alarms and traps. Get the girl they were aiming for, and then end up being unable to get back out with her. They'd have to plan for any possible events that might try to keep them trapped.

They lean over the maps Simon brought them, getting to work. River sits on the bench by Zoë, the dishes 'done' at last. She tilts her head a bit, looking down at the plans laid out on the table top before her Captain and the first mate. The dark teen frowns a bit, the layout on the paper stirring something in her mind. Rather, unpleasent, feelings getting stirred in her belly, making her squirm. Whimpering softly, putting her head on the table suddenly and covering it with her arms.

Zoë notices with a faint frown, brows knitting together faintly.

"River?"

River just whimpers again, suddenly shoving herself up and running off before she can be stopped. Jayne able to be heard yelping in surprise down the hall, then growling about 'moonbrain gits' before entering the dining area. Having been on his way down to see if these maps would be helpful in keeping them from , well, dying.

"S'wrong with her?"

Zoë and mal glance at each other than shrug faintly. Zoë crossing her arms on the table lightly.

"One moment she was sitting by me, then she got this odd look on her face and then just took off."

The big merc raises a brow as he drops himself into a chair and rests his feet on the table.

"Girls such a moonbrain...."

He shakes his head, locking his fingers together behind his head. Mal frowns, glancing down at the maps again.

"...Maybe. Maybe not. Excuse me."

He pushes himself up, leaving the two still puzzled crew mates behind.

River whimpers as she runs to one of her many hiding places on the ship, the very same one she ran to the day she ran from Kaylee as a matter of fact. Pose very similar to the one she held that day, hiding her face in her knees as she hugs her legs. Bits and pieces of a past she couldn't remember flashing by her before she could get a proper grip on them. Blue hands. Needles. Stars. Jacks. Kaylee.

She lifts her head suddenly, breath catching in her chest faintly.

"Kaylee..."

Her voice is a mere whisper. Kaylee...The memory wasn't whole, it was still all puzzle pieces, but, Kaylee. She could remember the 'before' now. Almost. Games with Kaylee. Laughing. Apples. Pink Dresses. Frills. Engine grease. Kaylee.

She licks her lips faintly, body calming almost instantly, moving from her hiding place. Quietly going to the engine room. She had to tell her before it got away again.

Kaylee sighs as she works on the ship’s engine, adding to the grease smudged on her cheek and on the bride of her nose as she continued to work. Sitting back on her heels faintly, she wiped the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve and pushed a few wisps of light brown – almost gold colored hair – off her face, letting light brown eyes gaze tiredly up at the busted engine of Serenity.

“Cap’n wants to take us all t'way out to who knows where...puttin' t'crew in danger like this. Usin' Simon and River to get back into that awful place. I don't know what he's thinkin'!”

She sighed, shaking her head and standing up to attempt to wipe off the black smudges she now realized were painting her face.”

“No…that ain’t right…s’not the captain’s fault we’re here right now…should be blamin’ that pofu’s for this fix. She sent us out here, to the gorram edge of the ‘verse with no help to talk of. Now you’ve gone and worn down, girl…and Mal wants ya runnin’ smooth in case we run into any trouble. Like anyone is gonna find us out here…”

Kaylee grabbed a wrench off her cluttered tool bench before walking around to the opposite side of Serenity’s engine, laying a calloused palm against the warm metal and thinking about the steady throbbing the machinery made. Like a big ole metal heart. Sighing again, she shifted her stance and put her effort into pulling the engine cowling back, setting about trying to find out what part had gone and busted this time. The petite mechanic was thoroughly engrossed in the complex workings of Serenity’s Trace Compression Block when she jumped up in surprise when the ship’s youngest crew member came up behind her. Never even heard her approach…but then again, I never do.

“…I know you.”

“Sweetie?”

Kaylee tilted her head, not fully grasping the 17-year old’s meaning at first, before a light seemed to go off in her head that caused the young woman to gasp softly.

“She remembers....a little. She…I remember you…Kaylee.”

River lifted her head faintly, dark – a shade of brown more intimately acquainted with pitch blackness than Kaylee’s own honeyed locks – hair falling away from her face slightly and curling softly at the tips; a loose strand cupped the teen’s brow, doe-brown eyes searching the mechanic’s own with a dark softness. Kaylee bit her lip gently and reached up to tuck away the wandering lock behind River’s ear lightly; the teen’s eyes closed slowly to mere slits and shifted with her head as the psychic followed the motion of the older girl’s hand, leaning her cheek into the calloused fingertips. The ship’s mechanic moved to pull her hand back after a moment of touching the younger girl’s soft skin.

“I’ll get grease all over ya…see? I’ve already smudged your cheek…”

Kaylee moved to grab her handkerchief to wipe River’s cheek off but the other girl stopped her hand, running her thumb over the abused knuckles softly. Pulling her hand close to her face again, the psychic closed her eyes and rubbed her cheek against the palm of the elfin engineer’s hand; with a gentle slowness, the girl let her lips brush up next to Kaylee’s warm skin and kissed the flesh tenderly before trailing further kisses along the palm and up over the mechanic’s fingers. Dark eyes, half closed from the rush of emotion coursing through River’s body, peered up at Kaylee softly and led the older girl’s fingers down her chin, ghosting over her pale throat before resting just a few inches below her collarbone…barely stopping above her left breast. The mechanic’s breath caught faintly in her throat as she felt a fast pulsing sensation underneath her fingertips, eyes watching her hand as the other girl’s heart pounded hard enough to make the worn digits move ever so slightly up and down.

“It speeds for you…make it race.”

Kaylee looked back up into River’s eyes swiftly at the husky tone of the younger girl’s voice, swallowing deeply as the teen stepped closer and made the older girl back into the wall faintly. Kaylee trembled quietly, not from any kind of fear she was familiar with but from the surprising strength of the need she felt for the young woman in front of her, who had pinned her up against the ship’s inner hull. Her hand still pressed to River’s throbbing heart as leant in closer, Kaylee felt it steadily speeding as she barely brushed her lips against the younger girl’s set; the mechanic gasped softly as she felt her own heart jump faintly in her chest, causing the target of her attentions to grin slightly and move her hand up to press against the older girl’s left breast with a gentle firmness to confirm what she had sensed mentally.

“You race for me too.”

"River...."

Kaylee blushed scarlet at this, knowing her heart pounded even harder under River’s hand with the observation. The younger girl leaned in again, this time kissing her softly on the mouth and refused to pull away as quickly as she had before; breaking the kiss slowly and trailing kisses down alongside the older girl’s jaw, the teen slowly pushed the older woman down onto the floor next to the ship’s massive engine as she gently inhaled the mechanic’s scent and let the smell of strawberries wash over her in relaxing waves. Eyes never leaving Kaylee’s face, River slowly leant down and revealed the thin white shirt residing underneath the engineer’s stained overalls as the sturdy buttons were unsnapped one at a time with the younger girl’s perfect teeth. Once the jumper had been opened to the waist, a gentle smile appeared on the psychic’s face as she realized the older girl obviously wasn’t wearing a bra underneath her shirt; leaning back down, she tugged the tops of the overalls down around the hips of the older girl before kissing her again, causing the mechanic to gasp softly into River’s mouth. Taking advantage of this, the psychic slid her tongue into Kaylee’s mouth and began to gently caress the insides of the young woman’s cheeks. Soft gasps changing to muffled pants as River moved down Kaylee’s torso to almost straddle the mechanic’s hips, the teen broke the kiss slightly as fingers gripped the older girl’s shirt.

“Off.”

The command was stated firmly, her voice almost a growl as her eyes smoldered hotly, causing Kaylee to hurry in obedience as her insides quivered at River’s tone of voice. The teen rolled the shirt up into a lightly squashed ball, putting it under the older girl’s head gently like a pillow after it had been removed before pinning the mechanic anew; lips trailed down the young woman’s throat and past her collarbone before pressing into her left breast, nipping at the spot softly as the psychic felt her lover’s heart pound against her lips and turned her head slightly to rest her ear against the comforting location while her hands trailed downward to push the bottom half of Kaylee’s jumpsuit off her shapely hips. Kaylee whimpered softly at River’s languid motions, desiring more than this slow teasing, which provoked the younger girl to shift her position and tug her dress over her head to expose a lithe dancer’s body that – as the teen stretched like a newly-awakened feline – showcased a body framed with a subtle layer of lightly muscled flesh. Kaylee was unable to draw her eyes away from the small, perfectly-formed mounds that sat proudly on the teen’s chest, unhindered by the lack of a bra on the younger girl, and the thin torso that seemed to allow the teen’s pounding heart and fluttering stomach to be visible underneath pale skin. Pulling the girl down towards her again quickly, the petite woman kissed her lover firmly, causing the focus of her attentions to fight a little giggle before smiling against the kiss and shifting to press their bodies together.

Both women gasped at the feeling of having their respective chests touching softly, with Kaylee suddenly unable to keep her mind from flashing back to her earlier moment of intimacy with Simon. Comparing the older Tam’s approach to his sister’s quickly caused the mechanic to see that Simon’s technique was safe and slow, gentle but not really “all there.” It’s like he’s kissed me cuz he’s supposed to or something; but with River…River was fire – all passion and kisses – where touching her was like being hit by lightning, as every nerve in Kaylee’s body tingled with an ache for the younger girl within moments of just their lips brushing together. Everything River does feels like she’s only got my pleasure in mind, like she’s devoted to me.

“River flows…you make her run.”

River breathed hotly in Kaylee’s ear, nibbling on it softly as she took one of her lover’s hands and moved so her fingers brushed between her legs, allowing the older girl to savor the wetness she found there. River moaned softly, her eyes closing at the gentle touch of the mechanic’s fingertips, causing the mechanic to look up at the younger woman and witness the amount of control she had over the girl at that very moment. Moving slowly as she shifted her hand, the elfin brunette began to make the teenage psychic moan again as she rubbed her through the girl’s panties with a feather-light touch and listened closely as River’s breathing came in short gasps as her chest began noticeably heaving. Kaylee shifted again, sitting up to capture her bao bei’s left nipple in her mouth and begin teasing it gently with her tongue; River arched her back towards the engine, pushing her chest closer to the mechanic and burying her fingers in the older woman’s hair, keeping her lover’s head in firmly in place. Kaylee smirked faintly against River’s breast before moving her hands downward to tug down River’s panties slowly before tossing them aside, barely aware she had just thrown the undergarment into the hallway outside the engine room as the rest of the crew was the last thing on her mind right then.

River whimpered in need as she tried to push closer, forcing Kaylee to slide a finger between the younger girl’s folds and provoking the teen’s eyes to shut as she moaned again at the sensation. The engineer moved her hand slightly, her thumb finding the teen’s clit before slowly starting to rub it with an experienced technique of intricate patterns, causing River to start panting hard and fast as her eyes flew open with a look of molten lust. Swallowing faintly and taking Kaylee’s free hand in her own to press it between her breasts, the teen began kicking against Kaylee’s palm with an urgent frenzy as her heart raced underneath the older girl’s hand. The petite woman didn’t understand why, at that moment, she found it incredibly sexy to realize she had such a powerful effect on her young lover’s body as River rocked her hips against her lover’s hand.

“Inside….she wants you…”

River mewled softly in need, pleading with the young mechanic as Kaylee continued to rub her clit steadily with one hand while she reluctantly pulled her other hand away from the pounding sensation in the thin girl’s chest, letting her fingers trail down over her body and slipping down between the younger woman’s legs. Slowly sliding a finger into the teen, she quickly added a second as the psychic whimpered for more before steadily starting to pump her hand into the teen’s wet core. River giving a delicous cry, bucking against her hand firmly. Kaylee nearly moaning, loving the sound. The dark teens motions forcing her to move her hand faster to keep up. Eyes never leaving her young lovers face, loving the flushed look and hooded eyes above her. Relishing in the control she had over the normally surprisingly dominant girl. Feeling her inner walls starting to flutter about her fingers she leans up, kissing her hotly, speaking against her lips

“Come on, bao bei….."

The petite mechanic pants, pressing her thumb over clit firmly, moaning herself when River finally cries out into her mouth, muffling the sound as she finally climaxes. The two finally parting a little, panting heavily. River managing to smile down at her, nuzzling her neck softly. Starting to kiss along the tneder flesh slowly.

Kaylee smiled, letting River rest on top of her as she stroke the teen’s hair gently, before the teen laid her head on the mechanic’s chest to listen to her heart as it slowly returned to its normal pace from the speeded pounding it took on when the older woman was aroused. The petite engineer chuckled faintly, studying the relaxed look on the young psychic’s face as she listened to her lover’s still-elevated heartbeat.

“Mmm…you know, ever since our little planet side night, I was wonderin' if we'd get to be together on t'ship at all. But...if we can be sneaky, there ARE a few things I'd like t'try out"

River grinned and looked up at Kaylee, a wicked glint visible in her brown eyes that signaled her complete understanding of the older woman, causing Kaylee to lightly giggle.

“Sometimes I’m glad you’re our resident mind reader...makes talkin’ ‘bout stuff so much easier! Now…c’mon, let’s get dressed ‘fore someone walks in on us" She teases her lover softly. "But,‘ I need t’finish workin’ on the engine ...Then I'm takin' you back to my bunk, and first we're gonna talk 'bout what you all remember, THEN, your returnin' the favor dear one"

River nods in reluctance at getting up, then smirks at the 'order' nodding a bit, getting up to look around for their clothes. Frowning slightly when she only found her balled up shirt, Kaylee sat up.

“Bao bei? Where’d we…”

“Kaylee, would you kindly like t’explain why there’s a bunch o’ clothes sitting out in the hall…way.”

Mal started suddenly as entered the engine room holding said garments, blinking slowly when he sees the two women in their birthday suits just getting up off the deck. Looking at each of the two female crew members with no visible emotion on his face, he tosses the pile of clothes at their feet before swiftly turning back the way he came. An eerily calm voice floated back towards the stunned lovers as the captain walked away, echoing off the metal walls with seldom-used power.

“Kitchen…now. Get dressed, you two; we seem to need to be havin’ a talk…”