Mal clattered down the steps into Serenity's engine room, all set to shout for his engineer, only to draw up short at the sight of Zoe, wearing a pair of coveralls several inches too short for her legs and wielding a pair of pliers. "What're you doing?"

"Being useful, sir," Zoe said, in a clipped tone that managed to be completely respectful yet somehow also suggest Mal's comparative uselessness, at this precise moment if not in general. "You?"

"I'm looking for Kaylee."

"Down here," Kaylee's voice called from somewhere underneath the engine.

Mal waited a few seconds, and when Kaylee didn't emerge, he crouched beside the engine so that he could peer under it and see her grease-stained face. "Kaylee, I know that you're doing your best, but do you think you could try doing a little better than your best? We've been drifting for over an hour now, and we're expected on Regina in seventeen hours. I'd hate to give up part of our fee because we're a mite late, considering that we're counting on that money so that we can eat for the next few weeks."

Kaylee gave him a regretful look. "Sorry, Cap'n. I'm trying, but I just don't know how long I'll be."

"Okay," Mal said as levelly as he could. He stood up, feeling his knees creak unforgivingly as he did so.

"All the wires are tightened," Zoe reported and slipped the pliers into the toolkit on the ground.

"Thanks," Kaylee called. There was a sudden cacophony of banging, and she muttered, "Tuo da bian."

Mal raised an eyebrow at Zoe. Kaylee's head popped out, a consternated look on her face, as though she'd just realized what that sounded like. "Not my girl," she assured them quickly. "Just this gou shi part I bought from that trader on Jiangyin." She disappeared again, still muttering to herself, "I knew I shoulda replaced it in Persephone, but it was still working fine then."

"You can't jury-rig something from spare parts?" he asked, just to be saying something. If it were that easy, Kaylee would've done it already.

A muffled curse and a clanking sound answered him, and then Kaylee slid out again, a complicated bit of metal in her hand. "Not without taking it from a more critical system. I figure it's better for us to keep breathing than to have propulsion."

"Hey," Zoe said suddenly. "That looks a lot like one of the pieces on Vera."

Mal looked at the metal bit more closely and let himself feel a cautious trickle of hope.

"Vera?" Kaylee asked, forehead crinkling in confusion.

"Jayne's gun," Mal and Zoe said in unison.

"Oh! Right." Kaylee shrugged. "Well, I can't say for sure until I take a look at it, but if it's close enough, I may be able to make it work. But would Jayne really let me use his gun for parts?"

"Yes, he will," Mal said with grim determination and strode off to find Jayne.

---

A long argument—and a few tears—later, Mal headed back to the engine room with Vera clutched in a triumphant fist. "Here you go," he said, handing her—it; just because Jayne treated his gun like a lady didn't mean Mal had to start—to Kaylee. "You think you can do something with this?"

"Let's see," Kaylee said, her voice more cheerfully optimistic than her words. She stripped the gun with a speed that made Mal exchange a surprised but appreciative look with Zoe; apparently mechanical knowledge was good for more than just fixing engines.

Kaylee grabbed a wrench off the floor and shimmied under Serenity's engine with the piece of Vera in her other hand. Some more clanking sounds drifted up to them, and then Kaylee joined them again. "Well, it slotted right in. Now let's fire her up," she said. She suited action to words, and the previously quiet section of the engine hummed to life. "River, can you give it a little gas?" Kaylee called. "Don't try going full-throttle yet."

Serenity lurched into motion; Mal held his breath. Half a minute later, when nothing exploded or caught on fire or otherwise broke down, Kaylee let out a squeal of joy. "That's my girl," she said, patting Serenity with proprietary fondness. "Keep taking it easy, River, but things look good now," she added.

"Good job, bao bao," Mal said and pressed a kiss to Kaylee's forehead.

"That's all the thanks I get for fixing your ship?" she asked, looking up at him with a cheeky smile.

Mal felt his mouth twitch, and he leaned down to give her a proper kiss.

A minute or two later, Kaylee pulled back to say, "Zoe helped, too."

"Good point," Mal said and cocked an eyebrow at Zoe.

She rolled her eyes at him—Zoe preferred keeping romance strictly to the privacy of their bedrooms, and the fact that Kaylee was happiest and horniest in the engine room was a bit of an annoyance for her—but stepped forward to pull him into a deep kiss. Probably she figured, as he did, that Kaylee deserved the extra consideration this time.

Either that or she appreciated the way Kaylee turned half-sweetheart, half-wildcat in the engine room, Mal amended when he felt Kaylee's hands insinuate themselves between his and Zoe's bodies so that she could squeeze Zoe's breasts. He tore away from Zoe's generous mouth and said, "Engine grease."

"Oops," Kaylee said and removed her hands quickly. Zoe's mouth curved into an amused smile, but then she was still in her borrowed coveralls.

"Gorram," Mal said. "How many times do I gotta say it? Everyone gets naked before you put your greasy hands all over us."

"Sorry," Kaylee said, sounding more irrepressible than regretful. "You could get naked now," she added hopefully.

"Or I could go launder this before the stains set," Mal said, plucking at his shirt with a sour frown.

"If that's what you need to do, sir, we're not gonna stop you," Zoe said, right before she tugged Kaylee into an enthusiastic kiss, complete with hands cupping Kaylee's cute little ass.

Kaylee moaned softly and wriggled closer, her own hands falling to Zoe's hips. By the time Zoe started tracing the back seam of Kaylee's coveralls, Mal had given up even the pretense of disinterest. "Fine," he said. "But we're doing it in the bed this time. I'm gettin' too old for sex on the floor."

"No arguments here," Zoe said, and pulled Kaylee towards the bed. The three of them stripped themselves efficiently; Serenity's engine plus Vera's contribution were holding up for now, but that was no guarantee for the future, and they might not have as much time as they'd like. Still, Mal took the time to kiss Zoe's bared breasts, to stroke his fingers over Kaylee's soft belly, and he could hear the wet sounds of Zoe and Kaylee kissing above him. They might not have enough time to enjoy each other as they'd like, but there wasn't any point in rushing so much that they leached all the enjoyment out of it themselves.

After a bit, Zoe pushed gently on his head, and Mal followed her lead willingly. He kissed his way down her body, avoiding the smears of grease left by Kaylee's wandering hands. Zoe lay back to make things easier for him, and he parted her labia with his hands and licked slowly upwards. He could feel her spread thighs tense against his hands before she slowly relaxed again. He grinned to himself and leaned forward, determined to get that reaction again.

He rolled his tongue over the nub of her clit. Zoe's answering moan was a bit muffled; he glanced up to see the reason for that was that she had Kaylee straddling her face. Any other time, Mal would be jacking off like mad to that image, but right now he was too wrapped up in the soft, slippery feel of Zoe under his lips and tongue and her strong, salt taste and the restless shift of her hips. Which wasn't to say that he didn't keep an appreciative eye on Kaylee's jiggling ass and on the glimpses he could catch of Zoe's mouth pleasuring her.

Kaylee came quickly—she usually did—with a sharp cry and a bit more wriggling on top of Zoe.

Zoe soothed her with somewhat distracted strokes along her back and thighs. It wasn't long before Kaylee was ready for more, and the slick sounds of Zoe licking her joined the sounds Mal's own tongue was making. When Kaylee started making the little gasping whimpers that meant she was almost on another orgasm, Mal slipped a finger under his tongue, rubbing Zoe's clit even as he kept stroking over it with his tongue.

Zoe twitched sharply once, twice, and there was another muffled moan as she orgasmed under his touch.

Mal wiped his chin with his palm and dropped his head onto her quivering thigh, looking up just in time to watch Kaylee shaking through her second orgasm. Kaylee clambered off of Zoe with weak-limbed inelegance and lay panting beside her. There was just enough room to Kaylee's right for Mal to lie, and he crawled up the bed to join them.

His prick was well-nigh aching by that point, and Mal cupped his hand around it and gave a squeeze that wasn't anywhere close to what he wanted. He could wait until Kaylee and Zoe had caught their breath, though. If they didn't take too long about it.

"Can I get a hand here?" he asked finally, trying and mostly failing to keep the impatience out of his voice.

He got two.