Fic "A Needed Pain"

Title: A Needed Pain
Author: linaerys
Rating: R
Pairing: Zoë/Kaylee with Kaylee/Inara implied
Word Count: 1540
Recipient: justmalea
Prompt: Zoë/surprise me (can be any jossverse woman), make it make some kind of sense in canon
Summary: Some comfort, a few years post Serenity
Spoilers: Through the end of Serenity


“Cap’n said it was a tough one this time,” said Kaylee when she saw Zoë sit down heavily in a chair in the dining area.

“It was,” she said. Zoë looked tired, more tired than Kaylee had ever seen her. “I just got finished patching him up.”

“Was he bad hurt?”

“Long cut on the arm, seen worse.” Zoë rubbed her shoulder, and stared at the table. “We’ll be needing to look for another medic, come too long,” she said.

Kaylee didn’t say anything, just sighed. Simon and River were back in the bosom of their family, their real family, while Serenity stayed out in the black. Simon said he might come back, but Kaylee wasn’t banking on it.

“We’re going to set a spell on Persephone, see if we can’t rest up and repair there,” said Zoë. Kaylee smiled. Persephone had fresh food, supplies for Serenity, and shiny people to watch.

“I might like a shower in water that weren’t recycled a thousand times,” she said, sitting down across from Zoë. “And she’s needing some oil in all her parts something awful.” Kaylee patted the table.

“And we’ll be hiring a new pilot,” said Zoë. Her voice went flat when she said the words, and Kaylee’s eyes snapped up. Two years gone, and Zoë hadn’t said his name, couldn’t even say the word “pilot” without a deathly chill in her voice. Kaylee put her hand on Zoë’s where it rested on the table. Zoë inclined her head slightly, all the acknowledgement she would give. “I’m going to catch some rest,” she said after a moment. “We’re landing morning-side in twelve hours.” Zoë stretched her neck to one side.

“You feelin’ alright?” asked Kaylee. “You’re all tense-like.”

“Ten hours in a box’ll do that to a body,” said Zoë. “It’ll pass.”

“Inara taught me some of her massage stuff,” said Kaylee. “Want me to try?” Zoë raised an eyebrow. “I ain’t got nothin’ but waiting to do twixt now and our landing,” she continued.

“Okay.”

Kaylee fairly skipped behind Zoë. Zoë didn’t take comfort from no one or nothing these days, so giving her a little ease suited Kaylee just fine. Engines weren’t the only thing she liked running smoothly.

All traces of Wash had been removed from Zoë’s room, save a picture shoved in the corner of a mirror, and a plastic dinosaur in Zoë’s shower. Though no one had been asking for it, Zoë moved the second bed out, so her bed was the same narrow cot as everyone else’s.

“Now take off your shirt and lie down,” said Kaylee. Zoë gave her a look. “I’ll turn around.” Kaylee faced the closed doorway. “The only oil I have is the strawberry stuff Inara gave me. Said she didn’t like it. I don’t know why. I think it smells yummy.”

Zoë lay face down on the bed. She had taken off her trousers and boots as well, and wore only a diaphanous wrap around her waist. Zoë tugged her hair to one side. Her skin glowed golden and dusky in the sun lights of her room. Simon had bought them for the ship when he got access to his credit account back. “You don’t want to get Vitamin D deficiency,” he said, pretty and stiff. Kaylee just liked the warm glow she got from sitting under them a while.

Kaylee put some of the oil on her hands and rubbed down Zoë’s back. Her muscles were firm but yielding, except where knots of tension had accumulated at her shoulder and around her spine; there they bunched like Serenity’s cables. Kaylee traced down, always down, with firm strokes, as Inara had shown her. “Always down,” said Inara. “You can tell them to imagine a pure white light filling them from their head downward, and the tension goes out of their feet.”

“Does that work?” Kaylee had asked.

“It works for me. Why don’t you try it.” Inara was good at working the tension out of Kaylee’s shoulders and arms, after she’d been too long cramped in the engine room. She was good at working out other tensions as well.

Zoë made deep noises of relaxation and pleasure as Kaylee worked on her. “Do you mind if I climb on top?” asked Kaylee. “I could reach better like that.”

“Mmmm,” said Zoë. “Whatever you want.”

So Kaylee did. She straddled Zoë’s back, felt the warmth of Zoë’s body heating her thighs. After a few more minutes she scooted lower down and undid the wrap around Zoë’s waist. Zoë did not seem inclined to stop her. Kaylee put some more oil on her hands and pressed her thumbs in the flesh of Zoë’s buttocks, working out the tension there too, then worked down her legs, massaged Zoë’s feet, and between every toe.

“You miss Inara, Kaylee?” asked Zoë, her voice dreamy.

“Yeah,” said Kaylee. “People that shimmery can’t stay here, though. Not ‘less the Captain figures out what’s what.”

Zoë laughed, low and relaxed. “Not likely. She taught you all this?”

“That she did,” said Kaylee. She ran her fingers lightly over Zoë’s back, as Inara had shown her.

“It’s one way to end a massage,” Inara had said. “The way that may lead to other things. Light touches invite more, firm touches say it’s over.” Kaylee had other things in mind if Zoë let her.

“What else did she teach you, Kaylee?” Zoë asked. Her eyes were still closed.

“Oh, all kinds of things,” said Kaylee. “She wouldn’t like me tellin’ you, much. Wouldn’t like the Captain knowing.”

“You think I can’t keep a thing from him?” asked Zoë. Kaylee continued running her fingers over Zoë’s back. She bent down to let her hair brush Zoë’s back as well. “Captain don’t know the difference, sometimes, between love and fun.”

“Do you?” asked Kaylee. “Know the difference, I mean?” She felt warm between her legs, a warmth that wasn’t just Zoë’s body against hers.

Zoë answered by turning over on her side, still between Kaylee’s legs. She ran her hand up the inside of Kaylee’s leg, still sensual even through Kaylee’s trousers.

“How about I take this off,” said Kaylee. She stood up and started to pull off her clothing, but Zoe took her hand and slowed her down. Zoë slid her other hand up under Kaylee’s shirt, her callused hands gentler than Kaylee would have imagined.

“Ain’t you gonna kiss me?” asked Zoë, so Kaylee did, a soft brush of lips at first, but then Zoë took the lead, and her kisses became more demanding. She tugged up Kaylee’s shirt as she kissed her, but then took a break to draw it over Kaylee’s head.

Kaylee looked down at her bra with a wry grin. “Didn’t reckon on anyone seeing this,” she said, gesturing at the shapeless gray thing. Zoë unhooked it one-handed. Kaylee sat back on her heels. “You’re pretty good at that.”

“I walked a long road to get here, little Kaylee,” she said. “Lots of turnings.” Kaylee found Zoë’s nipples with her hands and rubbed them between her fingers as they kissed a while longer. Then Zoë half picked her up, and put her on her back on the narrow bed. “My turn to relax you,” said Zoë, half questioning.

Kaylee nodded, and Zoë did, with hands and fingers, and lips and tongue, and not this time, interspersed with instruction as it had been with Inara, but simply for pleasure. She went slow, but sure, bringing Kaylee to the edge a few times, before letting her over it. Kaylee lay still for a spell, with Zoë’s fingers still inside her, as the contractions faded, then smiled at Zoë, and said, “Your turn.”

The whole room smelled of strawberries and sex, and the oil tasted like strawberries too, thought Kaylee, as she kissed down Zoë’s sculpted torso, the hollow of her hip bone, her sleek thighs. She tried to give as good as she’d been given, but Zoë asked for more, harder, faster, and Kaylee, gave it to her. She felt Zoë’s orgasm coming before Zoë made a sound, and when she did, it sounded like it was ripped from somewhere she’d rather keep hidden.

Kaylee looked up and saw Zoë’s face contorted in some mixture of pain and pleasure. Zoë, wasn’t crying, no, but Kaylee could see a part of her wanted to. Kaylee lay down next to Zoë, and cradled her to her breast, stroking her hair, and murmuring comforting sounds. Kaylee felt Zoë’s ragged breathing start to slow as they clung together.

“Thank you,” said Zoë, eventually. Her voice was as clear and controlled as ever, and her face now held no hint of the emotion from before. “I think we should shower.” Kaylee thought she heard a dismissal in those words, and she started to put her clothes on to leave, but Zoë’s hand on her arm stopped her. “No,” she said, “I’d rather not be alone tonight, if you’re willing.”

“Sometimes,” Inara had said, “sex is for love, sometimes for fun, sometimes for friendship. Sometimes it brings a needed pain, sometimes it soothes it.”

“A needed pain?” Kaylee had asked.

Inara had smiled sadly. “Pain comes before healing, Kaylee, if healing comes at all.”