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Feb. 22nd, 2006 12:48 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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crossoverficTitle: Five Things that Never Happened to Kaywinnit Lee Frye
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
entwashian
Summary: Five different AU ficlets about Kaylee
Rating: (G-R)
Fandoms: Firefly, Alien³, Serenity, Toy Story, Titan A.E.
Characters: Kaylee, Simon, Jayne, Buzz Lightyear
Pairings: Mostly gen, some het, some slash
Spoilers: For Serenity & Alien³
Disclaimer: Fanfiction.
Author's Note: These are told in chronological order; Kaylee would have been youngest in the first ficlet and oldest in the fifth ficlet.
1. Kaylee Never Buried Her Father
(Firefly)
Kaylee’s parents had been a loving couple, but even so, Kaylee was the only child they’d ever had. So when Kaylee’s pa passed on, there was no son to take care of the ranch. So Kaylee did.
She taught herself to herd the cattle, she taught herself to balance the account books, to dig post holes, to haggle with buyers… whatever was needed, Kaylee did. Most of all, Kaylee taught herself to shoot her pa’s old rifle. She knew that a lot of trouble could arise for a couple of women on their lonely stretch of rock.
So when the recruiters for the Independents came to their small town, looking for some volunteer soldiers, Kaylee told her ma she was going, and didn’t need to see the look in her ma’s eyes to know that her pa would’ve been proud of her.
She was only fourteen then, but she told the recruiter she was eighteen, and Kaylee suspected he took her answer not because he believed her, but because she was needed. And that was even before she impressed everyone with her sharp-shooting ability during the brief training course that passed as boot camp.
Hardly as soon as she knew it, Kaylee was declared ready to receive her first assignment. She and the other boot camp graduates were being send to an outfit that was already assembled, to replace some members who had already been lost. Kaylee wasn’t too concerned on that score; she was itching to try out her shiny new standard-issue sidearm. She just hoped to god that she’d get along with the folk in the 57th Overlanders.
2. Kaylee Never Saw an Alien
(Firefly/Alien³)
Kaylee had always been one to work with her hands, though ranch life didn’t agree with her much. So when the Company sent a recruiting party to their backwater little moon and Kaylee was told they’d even train her and she’d be able to fix more engines that she’d ever seen in her life, Kaylee was theirs long before any paperwork was filled out.
Except now Kaylee was thinking that might’ve been a mistake, ‘cause they were drawing closer and closer to the godforsaken planet Furi-161, and their ship still had no communication from the rock. And it wasn’t ‘cause the comms were broke, neither. Kaylee knew, ‘cause she’d checked the connection link herself. No, they had an open line to the folk below, only no one was answering their transmissions.
Anyway, it wasn’t just she who was nervous. Most of the people on the ship with her were scientists, though she didn’t know why, seeing as how this was supposedly a rescue mission for a Lieutenant Ellen Ripley. But as Kaylee watched the crew suit up and head out after they’d landed, she couldn’t help but think something was very, very wrong.
Her suspicions were confirmed when they returned to the ship with only one evacuee, and Kaylee could tell, right down to his limp and odd little smile, that this was no Ellen Ripley. Then they started bringing in little pieces of something, and Kaylee’s heart soared a little when she thought the metallic-looking objects might be spare machine parts. Until one of the scientists actually dropped the cargo he was carrying, and instead of landing with a loud clang, it made a sort of wet plop, and Kaylee could see that it looked rather like it had once been someone’s tentacle. Her heart plummeted into her stomach.
3. Kaylee Never Hit Anyone
(post-Serenity)
Simon was good with his hands like Kaylee was good with her hands, ‘cept he patched up people instead of engines. Kaylee thought that maybe it was all that mucking around inside people’s bodies was what made him lose touch with people’s feelings. At least, that was the only reason Kaylee could think of for his current behavior.
At first, she’d thought his distraction was the result of worrying about River, and about who might or might not still be chasing her after they’d exposed Miranda. Then she began to notice other things, like how he used to always be so neat but now Simon’s hair was frequently mussed, and sometimes she swore his lips were red and puffy, like he’d been kissing on someone. Only Kaylee hadn’t been kissing him. She hated to be so suspicious, but what was a girl supposed to think? It was almost as if he were begging her to say something.
The worst part about it, Kaylee thought was that it had to be someone who was on Serenity with them. The thought was so hard to tolerate that it nearly broke her heart. River, obviously, was out, and so was Inara, since she was so occupied with the captain. That left Zoë, which was decidedly strange, but then Kaylee figured that folk did strange things when they were grieving.
She had it all figured out, but that was a far cry from knowing enough to make an accusation, so when Simon mysteriously disappeared from both the infirmary and his quarters one day, Kaylee was going to find him if she had to open every air duct on the ship.
And then there it was, the whole tableau, just like she’d been expecting. Simon, with his face pressed up against someone else’s neck, with someone else’s hand down his pants. Only it was the last someone in the ‘verse that Kaylee thought it would be. She wondered idly if Simon ever got stubble burn from the whiskers on Jayne’s face. Then she broke out of her shocked stupor and began to stomp away as loudly as she could.
She heard Simon let out a stream of curses in Chinese in the corridor behind her. She kept walking. Simon ran up after her, and as he spoke her name, Kaylee turned to face him. And brought up her fist. She hadn’t had any practice, and it hurt her knuckles like hell, but Simon’s lower lip was busted open and bleeding all over the place. And that was enough. For now.
4. Kaylee Never Loved a Purplebelly
(Firefly/Toy Story)
Before River, Kaylee had never met a crazy person. And after Simon and River were recaptured by the Alliance, Kaylee thought she’d probably never meet one again. She went right on thinking that until one day when she turned the corner of an alleyway someplace on Persephone.
He sat there, propped against the wall, in the remnants of some sort of space suit, a kind Kaylee had never seen before, but she recognized the colors and the symbols on it clear enough. Whatever he was doing in the cramped, filthy alley now, this man had once worked for the Alliance.
She made a move to go around the wretched creature, but Kaylee’s kind heart got the better of her as he twitched in his sleep and muttered something about tiny green aliens. Judging from the now-tattered but once cutting-edge suit he wore, this man had clearly held a position of some importance in the Alliance, but when he was done, they’d jettisoned him with the rest of the garbage.
Kaylee rummaged through her shopping bag and removed one of the precious oranges she’d managed to find at the market. Biting back her disappointment in giving up the fruit, she began to peel it. The man hadn’t moved much, and hadn’t opened his eyes to look at her. She held a section of the orange to his mouth.
“Here,” she said, a lot more kindly than she felt. “You need to eat.” The man opened his eyes, but didn’t look at her as he cautiously accepted the piece of fruit. The second piece he took more ravenously, and before long, Kaylee had fed him the entire orange.
“There now,” Kaylee said. “Ain’t you got a place to go?” A slow shake of the head was the only answer she got.
“Well… where is it that you came from?” Another shake of the head. He didn’t want to tell her? Or he didn’t know himself? Kaylee heaved a sigh. River might not have made any sense at times, but at least she tried to communicate with others.
Mindful of where she set her sack, Kaylee crouched down to face the apparent spaceman.
“Do you have any notion on where it was you were supposed to be goin’?”
He darted a quick look at her then, and his sky blue gaze met hers for a moment.
In a cracked, dry voice, he responded, “To infinity--and beyond.”
5. Kaylee Never Was a Drifter Colony Bum
(Firefly/Titan A.E.)
There were two kinds of people in the ‘verse -- Kaylee knew this as sure as she knew her left hand from her right. There were the kind who had adventures, who worked and lived amongst the other aliens (they were all aliens now, after all), and who usually died amongst the aliens, after having tolerated insults and abuse for years.
Then there were the drifter colony people. These were the people who stuck together and endured, though some said all they were doing was waiting around to die out. Some said they were too weak to adjust to the changes in the ‘verse around them. Some said they were trash. Kaylee had heard worse. Like that one time some outsider had called their home a rust bucket. Please. Like they’d had the oxygen to spare on rust.
And now here came two of them, two outsiders, upstarts, who claimed to know a way for them all to have a world again, making people hope as they’d never dared to. For a brief minute, Kaylee had a wild fantasy about joining them, flying off to find adventure.
Then the main cafeteria sprang a leak again, and Kaylee had to go find a piece of sheet metal to cover the hole. And to heck with the fantasy, anyway, because who else would keep putting the place back together if she went off to seek her glory? Besides, she belonged here, with the other people. With the leftover bits and pieces of Earth-that-Was.
So when the two upstarts began to repair an old spacecraft with the intention to chase the future, Kaylee didn’t even offer to help. She just picked up her goggles and welding torch, and went to see about some pipes in the east wing that had needed patching for some time.
x-posted
Author:
entwashianSummary: Five different AU ficlets about Kaylee
Rating: (G-R)
Fandoms: Firefly, Alien³, Serenity, Toy Story, Titan A.E.
Characters: Kaylee, Simon, Jayne, Buzz Lightyear
Pairings: Mostly gen, some het, some slash
Spoilers: For Serenity & Alien³
Disclaimer: Fanfiction.
Author's Note: These are told in chronological order; Kaylee would have been youngest in the first ficlet and oldest in the fifth ficlet.
1. Kaylee Never Buried Her Father
(Firefly)
Kaylee’s parents had been a loving couple, but even so, Kaylee was the only child they’d ever had. So when Kaylee’s pa passed on, there was no son to take care of the ranch. So Kaylee did.
She taught herself to herd the cattle, she taught herself to balance the account books, to dig post holes, to haggle with buyers… whatever was needed, Kaylee did. Most of all, Kaylee taught herself to shoot her pa’s old rifle. She knew that a lot of trouble could arise for a couple of women on their lonely stretch of rock.
So when the recruiters for the Independents came to their small town, looking for some volunteer soldiers, Kaylee told her ma she was going, and didn’t need to see the look in her ma’s eyes to know that her pa would’ve been proud of her.
She was only fourteen then, but she told the recruiter she was eighteen, and Kaylee suspected he took her answer not because he believed her, but because she was needed. And that was even before she impressed everyone with her sharp-shooting ability during the brief training course that passed as boot camp.
Hardly as soon as she knew it, Kaylee was declared ready to receive her first assignment. She and the other boot camp graduates were being send to an outfit that was already assembled, to replace some members who had already been lost. Kaylee wasn’t too concerned on that score; she was itching to try out her shiny new standard-issue sidearm. She just hoped to god that she’d get along with the folk in the 57th Overlanders.
2. Kaylee Never Saw an Alien
(Firefly/Alien³)
Kaylee had always been one to work with her hands, though ranch life didn’t agree with her much. So when the Company sent a recruiting party to their backwater little moon and Kaylee was told they’d even train her and she’d be able to fix more engines that she’d ever seen in her life, Kaylee was theirs long before any paperwork was filled out.
Except now Kaylee was thinking that might’ve been a mistake, ‘cause they were drawing closer and closer to the godforsaken planet Furi-161, and their ship still had no communication from the rock. And it wasn’t ‘cause the comms were broke, neither. Kaylee knew, ‘cause she’d checked the connection link herself. No, they had an open line to the folk below, only no one was answering their transmissions.
Anyway, it wasn’t just she who was nervous. Most of the people on the ship with her were scientists, though she didn’t know why, seeing as how this was supposedly a rescue mission for a Lieutenant Ellen Ripley. But as Kaylee watched the crew suit up and head out after they’d landed, she couldn’t help but think something was very, very wrong.
Her suspicions were confirmed when they returned to the ship with only one evacuee, and Kaylee could tell, right down to his limp and odd little smile, that this was no Ellen Ripley. Then they started bringing in little pieces of something, and Kaylee’s heart soared a little when she thought the metallic-looking objects might be spare machine parts. Until one of the scientists actually dropped the cargo he was carrying, and instead of landing with a loud clang, it made a sort of wet plop, and Kaylee could see that it looked rather like it had once been someone’s tentacle. Her heart plummeted into her stomach.
3. Kaylee Never Hit Anyone
(post-Serenity)
Simon was good with his hands like Kaylee was good with her hands, ‘cept he patched up people instead of engines. Kaylee thought that maybe it was all that mucking around inside people’s bodies was what made him lose touch with people’s feelings. At least, that was the only reason Kaylee could think of for his current behavior.
At first, she’d thought his distraction was the result of worrying about River, and about who might or might not still be chasing her after they’d exposed Miranda. Then she began to notice other things, like how he used to always be so neat but now Simon’s hair was frequently mussed, and sometimes she swore his lips were red and puffy, like he’d been kissing on someone. Only Kaylee hadn’t been kissing him. She hated to be so suspicious, but what was a girl supposed to think? It was almost as if he were begging her to say something.
The worst part about it, Kaylee thought was that it had to be someone who was on Serenity with them. The thought was so hard to tolerate that it nearly broke her heart. River, obviously, was out, and so was Inara, since she was so occupied with the captain. That left Zoë, which was decidedly strange, but then Kaylee figured that folk did strange things when they were grieving.
She had it all figured out, but that was a far cry from knowing enough to make an accusation, so when Simon mysteriously disappeared from both the infirmary and his quarters one day, Kaylee was going to find him if she had to open every air duct on the ship.
And then there it was, the whole tableau, just like she’d been expecting. Simon, with his face pressed up against someone else’s neck, with someone else’s hand down his pants. Only it was the last someone in the ‘verse that Kaylee thought it would be. She wondered idly if Simon ever got stubble burn from the whiskers on Jayne’s face. Then she broke out of her shocked stupor and began to stomp away as loudly as she could.
She heard Simon let out a stream of curses in Chinese in the corridor behind her. She kept walking. Simon ran up after her, and as he spoke her name, Kaylee turned to face him. And brought up her fist. She hadn’t had any practice, and it hurt her knuckles like hell, but Simon’s lower lip was busted open and bleeding all over the place. And that was enough. For now.
4. Kaylee Never Loved a Purplebelly
(Firefly/Toy Story)
Before River, Kaylee had never met a crazy person. And after Simon and River were recaptured by the Alliance, Kaylee thought she’d probably never meet one again. She went right on thinking that until one day when she turned the corner of an alleyway someplace on Persephone.
He sat there, propped against the wall, in the remnants of some sort of space suit, a kind Kaylee had never seen before, but she recognized the colors and the symbols on it clear enough. Whatever he was doing in the cramped, filthy alley now, this man had once worked for the Alliance.
She made a move to go around the wretched creature, but Kaylee’s kind heart got the better of her as he twitched in his sleep and muttered something about tiny green aliens. Judging from the now-tattered but once cutting-edge suit he wore, this man had clearly held a position of some importance in the Alliance, but when he was done, they’d jettisoned him with the rest of the garbage.
Kaylee rummaged through her shopping bag and removed one of the precious oranges she’d managed to find at the market. Biting back her disappointment in giving up the fruit, she began to peel it. The man hadn’t moved much, and hadn’t opened his eyes to look at her. She held a section of the orange to his mouth.
“Here,” she said, a lot more kindly than she felt. “You need to eat.” The man opened his eyes, but didn’t look at her as he cautiously accepted the piece of fruit. The second piece he took more ravenously, and before long, Kaylee had fed him the entire orange.
“There now,” Kaylee said. “Ain’t you got a place to go?” A slow shake of the head was the only answer she got.
“Well… where is it that you came from?” Another shake of the head. He didn’t want to tell her? Or he didn’t know himself? Kaylee heaved a sigh. River might not have made any sense at times, but at least she tried to communicate with others.
Mindful of where she set her sack, Kaylee crouched down to face the apparent spaceman.
“Do you have any notion on where it was you were supposed to be goin’?”
He darted a quick look at her then, and his sky blue gaze met hers for a moment.
In a cracked, dry voice, he responded, “To infinity--and beyond.”
5. Kaylee Never Was a Drifter Colony Bum
(Firefly/Titan A.E.)
There were two kinds of people in the ‘verse -- Kaylee knew this as sure as she knew her left hand from her right. There were the kind who had adventures, who worked and lived amongst the other aliens (they were all aliens now, after all), and who usually died amongst the aliens, after having tolerated insults and abuse for years.
Then there were the drifter colony people. These were the people who stuck together and endured, though some said all they were doing was waiting around to die out. Some said they were too weak to adjust to the changes in the ‘verse around them. Some said they were trash. Kaylee had heard worse. Like that one time some outsider had called their home a rust bucket. Please. Like they’d had the oxygen to spare on rust.
And now here came two of them, two outsiders, upstarts, who claimed to know a way for them all to have a world again, making people hope as they’d never dared to. For a brief minute, Kaylee had a wild fantasy about joining them, flying off to find adventure.
Then the main cafeteria sprang a leak again, and Kaylee had to go find a piece of sheet metal to cover the hole. And to heck with the fantasy, anyway, because who else would keep putting the place back together if she went off to seek her glory? Besides, she belonged here, with the other people. With the leftover bits and pieces of Earth-that-Was.
So when the two upstarts began to repair an old spacecraft with the intention to chase the future, Kaylee didn’t even offer to help. She just picked up her goggles and welding torch, and went to see about some pipes in the east wing that had needed patching for some time.
x-posted
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