SEE CHAPTER 1 FOR WARNINGS AND DISCLAIMERS. THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS DISCIPLINARY SPANKING.

CHAPTER 2

Kaylee slipped through the open door and slid it closed behind her. She straightened the cap that hid her hair and started walking away from Serenity in what she hoped was a masculine walk. She'd waited until after both Wash and Inara had stopped by her bunk to check on her. Hopefully, they had satisfied themselves that she wasn't going to do exactly what she was doing and would leave her be long enough so that she could go into the market and get back to the ship without being missed. Even though she'd had time to reflect on Mal's warning, Kaylee chose to ignore her subconscious' words of caution and go through with her plans. Her only concession to caution was to don her oldest pair of coveralls – her only pair without patches – smear some engine grease on her cheeks, and tuck her hair up under a cap.

She planned to hit the first stall she came to that sold engine parts, get the press regulator valve, and go back to the ship. To her way of thinking, her errand shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes, then she'd be back onboard Serenity with no one the wiser. Only, she'd forgotten about the ancient saying about the plans of mice and men.

Kaylee was rifling through a box of valves, looking for the one she wanted when she sensed the presence of someone behind her. Thinking it was either Mal or Jayne, she started to turn around. But, a hand gripped her upper arm and the cap was ripped off her head, allowing her long hair to tumble down her back.

"Oowee, boys, we got ourselves a real pretty one here." The large man holding her arm gave her a little shake, as if trying to bring his companion's attention to his price. "Bet the big man'll pay a pretty penny fer her."

Kaylee started to struggle, trying to break the man's hold on her arm. His grip only tightened, and his companion only laughed. He grasped her chin in one big, dirty hand and tilted her face up. "Reckon yer right. Whatta ya say we try her out first."

Both men laughed and began hauling Kaylee toward a nearby alley. Kaylee struggled, trying to get away, but everyone on the street seemed oblivious to her screams for help.

* * * *

The radio on Mal's hip vibrated, demanding his attention. He, Zoe, and Jayne were making their way back to Serenity after finishing their business with Lee Yong. The pouch holding their pay for the shipment they'd delivered was safely tucked into this shirt to protect it from the sly hands of pickpockets, and, so far, things had gone relatively smoothly. Therefore, the radio call took him by surprise. As he unclipped the radio from his belt and answered it, he motioned for Zoe and Jayne to stop with him.

"Captain, it's Wash." Mal and Zoe exchanged a look that spoke volumes. Wash wouldn't have contacted them unless it was truly an emergency.

"What's wrong?"

"It's Kaylee." Mal felt dread start to creep up his spine. "She's gone missing. We can't find her anywhere on the ship. Inara and I have both spent the last half-hour looking for her."

Before Mal could reply he heard screams and a woman's cries for help coming from a nearby alley. Jayne and Zoe both nodded, indicating that they, too, had heard the cries, and, like Mal, believed them to be from Kaylee.

"I think I know where she is." Mal and the two others began moving in the direction from where they heard the cries. "Get Serenity ready for a quick takeoff, we may be leaving here in a hurry." He turned off the radio without waiting to hear Wash's reply and pulled his gun from the holster strapped to his side. He crept silently toward the mouth of the alley and peered in. What he saw made his blood run cold. Kaylee was struggling with two men, who were attempting to force her into a doorway at the far end of the passageway. The bun tyen-shung duh ee-dway-ro had chosen an alley with only one exit, the one leading to the street. The other end of the alley was blocked by a brick wall, and only a few doors lead into the surrounding buildings.

Mal motioned for Zoe and Jayne to cover him as he entered the alley, gun drawn, intent on sneaking up behind the er de yi mu gou (son of a bitch) holding Kaylee. Jayne followed him, Vera at the ready, to incapacitate the other man.

As with most of Mal's schemes, his rescue of Kaylee didn't go exactly as planned. Another group of men spotted Zoe standing at the entrance to the alley. A lone woman in the streets of Ivy always brought attention, even more so when the women in question had Zoe's exotic beauty and was armed. Zoe knew the men were approaching her, but was torn between whether to make a preemptive strike and risk alerting the men in the alley to Mal and Jayne's presence, and possibly putting Kaylee in even more danger, or waiting until the approaching men actually made a move on her, by which time Mal and Jayne should have Kaylee safely away from her captors.

As Zoe was contemplating her move against the approaching men, Mal and Jayne crept up behind the two men who were struggling with Kaylee. She was making enough noise with her struggles and screams that the men holding her were completely unaware of the rescue attempt until they felt the barrels of Mal's and Jayne's guns pressing to the bases of their skulls.

"Let the girl go," Mal demanded. The increased pressure of the gun barrel against the man's skull effectively communicated the unspoken threat of "or I'll shot you were you stand." As soon as Kaylee was released, she hurried to stand behind her two shipmates. No sooner had Mal motioned for Jayne and Kaylee to begin moving toward the exit than gun shots rang out from the mouth of the alley.

"We got company, Sir." Zoe yelled. A fire fight broke out between the crew members of Serenity and the men from the alley and those approaching from the market. Amazingly, they made it back to Serenity in one piece. Bullets pinged off Serenity's body as the cargo bay doors closed behind them. Mal rushed to the intercom and ordered Wash to get them out of there as fast as possible.

Then, he turned to Kaylee, who was standing the middle of the cargo bay, looking for all the world like the frightened girl she was. He stood, arms crossed over his chest, and glared at his young mechanic. The silence and tension in the cargo bay grew heavy. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Mal spoke.

"I ought to send you on your merry next time this ship puts down somewhere."

Kaylee winced and nodded, too uncertain of her voice to speak.

"But, I ain't gonna." Mal paused. He could see a flicker of hope creep into Kaylee's eyes. "You've finally given me cause ta keep my promise ta yer pa. Go to yer bunk and wait for me."

Kaylee cringed and muttered, "yes, sir" before slowly leaving the cargo bay. She felt like she was walking to the gallows. How could she have allowed herself to get so angry and do something so stupid?

* * * * * *

"Mal." Inara laid her hand on his forearm. Inara had never seen him that angery before. The rage emanating off him was palatable. She was afraid that he would do something he would regret if he didn't calm down some before dealing with Kaylee.

Mal stopped and looked at Inara. "You don't wanna be interferin' right now, Inara."

"I don't disagree with what you are about to do, Mal. Kaylee deserves the punishment." Satisfied she had his attention, Inara dropped her hand from his arm and moved to stand in front of him. "But, you need to calm down some first."

Mal snorted. "Calm down? You think I should calm down? That wu er tong (disobedient child) nearly got herself snatched by slavers. Who knows how many men were killed in that shoot out. And you tell me to calm down?" Mal stepped around Inara, intent on going straight to Kaylee's bunk to teach her a hard lesson about obeying orders.

"Yes, Mal. You need to calm down. If you don't you are going to do something you will regret later." Inara gestured around the cargo bay. "Move some crates around. Lift weights. Do something to work off some of your anger. Once you do, you will be able to think more clearly and make a more rational decision about Kaylee."

Inara's words had finally sunk through the anger that had consumed his thoughts, and they made sense. He was going to blister Kaylee's ass. There was no doubt she'd more than earned it. But, if he went to her in his current angry state, he might seriously hurt her. He would never be able to live with himself if he did that. He nodded to Inara and rolled up the sleeves of his work shirt as he moved toward the stack of crates. As Mal hefted the first crate off the stack, Inara turned to leave the cargo bay. She stopped on the threshold as Mal spoke.

"Thanks, Inara."

By the time Mal had moved the entire stack of crates to the other side of the cargo bay and moved the mule to its usual parking spot, he had worked up quite a sweat. He had also worked off enough of his anger that he felt he could now deal with Kaylee in a calm, rational manner. He'd changed into clean clothes and now found himself standing outside the door to Kaylee's bunk.

Mal didn't want to do what he was about to do. If any other member of his crew had done what Kaylee had done, they would have been unceremoniously booted off the ship then and there. But Kaylee was different. He felt an attachment to Kaylee that he didn't feel for the other crew members. He supposed it was her usually sweet-tempered, naïve nature that made him think of Kaylee as the little sister he'd never had.

The light on the panel next to the door to Kaylee's bunk glowed green, meaning it was unlocked. He sighed heavily and pushed the button to open the door so that he would enter. Mal hadn't been exaggerating when he had told Kaylee earlier about the promise he'd made to her father. Mr. Frye had visited the ship before giving Kaylee permission to take the job. Mal had respected the man for wanting to protect his daughter, so he had been more than willing to promise to take his belt to Kaylee if she ever gave him any trouble. When he'd made the promise he'd never expected to ever actually be in this situation.

Mal dropped down off the ladder leading to Kaylee's bunk. She'd painted the walls and decorated the small space with a garden's worth of colorful flowers. The small room had an almost homey feel to it. Unfortunately, he wasn't there for a friendly visit – there was unfinished business between himself and his young mechanic.

Kaylee looked up from where she sat curled on her bed. "Were any of those men killed?" She didn't quite suppress the trembling of her hand as she lifted one to brush a lock of hair out of her face. It wasn't so much a reaction to the events that had occurred only hours before, as it was nervousness over what was going to happen next. She was in serious trouble, and she knew it.

Mal moved to sit on the side of the bed. He was still angry with her, but he had managed to work off enough of his fury that he felt he could now handle the matter calmly. He still couldn't believe Kaylee had disobeyed a direct order that way. Mal reached out and pulled Kaylee closer until she was tucked up against his side. "I don't know mei mei. Probably. I didn't stick around long enough to find out." He grasped Kaylee's shoulders and pushed her far enough away that he could look down into her tear-stained face. "We need to talk about what happened today."

He stood up and turned to face Kaylee. "You wanna tell me what the sphincter hell you were doin, leavin' this ship after I expressly told you not to?"

Kaylee stared at the knee of her coveralls, where she was picking at a small hole in the cloth. For the first time since she'd boarded Serenity with Bester, she wasn't able to look the captain in the face. She was ashamed at her own actions and knew she deserved the spanking she was about to get, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything.

"Kawinnet Lee Fry, I'm waitin' for an answer."

"I don't know." She spoke so softly that Mal barely heard her.

"What was that?"

Finally, Kaylee looked up at Mal. "I don't know. I was so angry when you told me I wasn't to leave the ship that I didn't think about what I was doing." She sighed heavily. "I guess I just wanted to prove that you were wrong, that nothing would happen to me."

Mal shook his head in disbelief. "Well, guess that little plan backfired on ya, now didn't it. I ought to send you on your merry on the next rock we land on." Kaylee cringed. "But I ain't. I'm gonna carry out my promise to your pa." Mal unbuckled his belt and pulled it through the loops. Once it was free, he doubled it, holding both ends in his hand. "After, if you want to take your leave, that's up to you. But, I'm gonna make damn good and sure that you think before you take it in your mind to do something stupid. Now stand up and bend over the bed."

Kaylee did as she was told. The butterflies in her belly were growing to gigantic proportions. She didn't have long to wait before the first lick fell on her backside. Fire spread as the belt fell again and again. She lost count how many times that belt made contact with her posterior, but by the time the last stoke landed on her sit spot, she was bawling.

It took her several seconds to realize that Mal had thrown the belt on the bed. He put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her upright. "It's over, mei mei." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in so that she was resting against his chest.

She cried into his shirt for a couple of minutes before pushing back to look at him. "I'm sorry, Cap'n. I shouln'ta left the ship. That was stupid."

"Yes it was, mei mei, but I forgive you anyway. "

Mal let Kaylee go as she pushed out of his embrace. She took a few steps away from him and began rubbing at the fire burning in her backside. "I promise I won't ever do anything like that again."

"I certainly hope not," he replied. "I don't wanna have to whoop you again. But, I will if I have to. And, the next time I do it, it'll be on the bare."

Kaylee cringed. It hurt bad enough through her sturdy coveralls, she certainly didn't want to feel the sting of his belt on her bare backside – not to mention the embarrassment.

Mal chuckled at the stricken look on his young mechanic's face. "Maybe next time you'll think." He nodded toward her bunk. "Why don't you rest awhile before chow."

As Kaylee lay down on her stomach on her bunk, Mal climbed the ladder out of her room. He really didn't want to have to do that again, but he was sure his mechanic would eventually come with some other damn fool idea that would get her into trouble. As he closed the door to Kaylee's room behind himself, he wondered if that was what it felt like to be a parent.

"Is she okay?"

The question startled Mal out of his revelry. Inara stood at the far end of the hallway.

"She won't be sittin' none to comfy for a while, but she'll be okay." Mal walked toward where she was standing, intent on going to his own bunk to spend some time dealing with his own emotions over the incident. He stopped in front of Inara. "I hated having to do that do her."

Inara laid her hand on her forearm. "She knows that Mal. I'm sure Kaylee also knows that she earned what she received."

"I still feel like yi hun dan (a bastard) for doing that." He pulled away from Inara and pushed open the door to his bunk.

Inara sighed. She knew this was something that Mal would have to work through on his own. If she knew both Mal and Kaylee, the captain was having a much harder time dealing with the punishment than Kaylee was. "If you didn't care so much for Kaylee, you wouldn't feel so guilty. Don't be so hard on yourself." She turned and walked away.

Mal looked at her retreating back and nodded. He cared a great deal for Kaylee, and he hoped he'd never have to do anything like that again.

THE END

Author's note: I have no knowledge of the Chinese language. The Chinese phrases used in this story came from either Firefly-Serenity Chinese Pinyinary (.net/) or from a Chinese-English dictionary. Any mistakes in translation are completely mine, and I sincerely apologize to anyone who has an understanding of this language.