Things Best Forgotten

She eyed the big man at the bar carefully. He was on his fifth shot in an hour, well on his way to blissful inebriation. Which, considering his size, made her job a hell of a lot easier. A difficult man to track down, this one; he was wanted on at least three planets and five moons that she was aware of. This prize was certainly going to be worth the hassle. She'd already been trailing him two days on this backwater moon, waiting for her chance. And here it was at last: the biggest bounty she'd had in months, all by his lonesome at the bar. Unholstering her weapon, she sidled up behind him. "Jayne Cobb," she stated matter-of-factly, pressing the muzzle of her gun to the back of his head, "You are hereby bound by law, under warrant for robbery, assault, and a heap-load of weapons charges. So unless you want bitty pieces of your skull decoratin' the walls," she pulled back the hammer of her pistol, "I wouldn't make any sudden moves. Now get your hands on your head, real slow-like, and down on your knees."

Jayne couldn't believe his luck. First, the job they'd just pulled ended up being pocket change, so none of them made a decent cut. Then that crazy River girl'd gone and trashed his bunk for no gorram reason. Now, he had some little girl holdin' a gun to his head and tryin' to arrest him. This was not the best week ever. Slowly, he moved his hands up to his head and slid down off the stool as she ordered, trying his darndest to gather enough of his wits about him to think up an escape. Of all the nights for him to have skipped out on the others...he couldn't even figure out how she'd tracked him down, anyhow. Muttering a string of curses that'd make the Devil blush, he waited as she unhooked her binders, never taking the pistol off his head. She snapped one wrist in, wrenching his arm behind him with surprising force. Not that he were fightin' much...yet.

His saving Grace came not a split-second later, as a loud crash sounded at the other end of the bar, and shots started flying. Two idjits were going at it all out, and it provided him just the distraction he needed. Feeling the muzzle of her pistol leave his head as she jumped at the sound of the shot, he twisted quickly to his feet and swung at her.

A loud crash and a gunshot from the other end of the bar startled her, and she jumped, knowing that all her hard work was coming undone fast. That precious instant was all the man needed to leap to his feet in front of her. Before she could even squeeze her trigger, something smashed into the side of her head, and everything went black.

Jayne lashed out, hitting her in the side of the head. The force of his blow knocked her pretty blonde head off the bar, and she crumpled to the floor. He stood there a moment, but when she showed no sign of rousing, he began to relax, at least mentally. The two fellas that had started the fight down the bar were moving closer, and Jayne found the sudden urge to get outta there. He was half way to the door when he eard a crash behind him, and people started screaming. One of the old chandeliers had been knocked down, and the candles had set light to some of the bottles behind the bar. Flames were shooting up in the corner, and the air was getting hazy with smoke. Jayne leapt forward in the surge of patrons towards the door, but before he could make it, a sudden twinge hit him. He glanced back at where the young woman lay on the floor.

So, she'd tried to turn him in for cash. He couldn't really hold that against her, since he probably woulda done the same, in her position. But hell, if she'd known enough to find him here, there was probably a lot more she knew, too. Scooping her up, he flung her limp body over his shoulder and shoved his way out the door. A crowd had gathered outside, so he decided to high-tail it outta there before the local authorities showed up. He made a bee-line for the landing field where Serenity was parked.

He punched in the code and hauled open the door to the cargo bay -- slightly difficult with only one arm -- just in time to see Mal and Zoe coming down the stairs towards him.

Mal took one look at what the big man was carrying and flashed him a warning glare. "Nope, uh-uh," he shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest, "You ain't bringin' no girls back to your bunk tonight, Jayne. You remember what happened last time..." He trailed off as he noticed the girl on Jayne's shoulder wasn't moving. "What in the name of...what did you do?" he shot the mercenary an accusing glance.

"She, uh, bumped her head some," Jayne replied, shifting her uncomfortably, "Is the Doc around? I think she might need some tendin' to,"

Zoe sighed as she went off in search of Simon. Mal stayed where he was, obviously expecting some kind of explanation. Jayne sighed. Not his best week ever.

"I was at the bar," he began, heading towards the infirmary as Mal followed.

"Where you find most of your women," the captain remarked.

"Yeah, well, this one kinda snuck up behind me, and --"

"She snuck up on you, and what? Swooned at the sight of you?" Mal laughed. "Come on Jayne, you've come up with better lines than that --"

"Gorrammit, Mal!" Jayne yelled, setting the girl down on the infirmary bed. "She was tryin' to turn me in!" Simon appeared in the doorway, asking what had happened to the girl. "Bumped her head," Jayne muttered, stalking out to the lounge and motioned for the Captain to join him. "She was tryin' to turn me in," he repeated, lowering his voice some. "She came up, stuck her gun to my head, and tried to slap a pair a' binders on me. Even gave me a list a' charges,"

"So what she's a Fed?!" Mal hissed angrily, not sure whether to shoot Jayne, shoot the girl, or possibly both.

The big man shook his head. "Naw, she ain't no Fed. Bounty hunter, most like."

Mal sighed, not sure whether that was any better. "Zoe," he called to the woman who'd been standing unobtrusively in the doorway listening, "Get on the Cortex and run a search. You find anything..."

"I'll let you know, Sir." she finished for him, heading up the stairs to the bridge.

Mal ran his hand over his face tiredly. Why did trouble always seem to follow the big man? "Ok, so assuming she is a bounty hunter, one who's obviously on your tail," he tried to reason, "Why in the name of the bleedin' sphincter would you bring her back to the ship?!"

"Think on it, Mal," Jayne replied, "She knew we were here. She followed me to the bar, most like. If she already knows where we are, what hurt can it do? 'Sides," he cast a glance into the infirmary, where Simon was poking and prodding at the unconscious girl, "She might know somethin' we don't. Somethin' useful."

Mal followed his gaze. "...And, she might know about Simon and River. You just put us all in a heap of trouble, you know,"

"She gets outta hand, we can just shoot her," Jayne suggested, "I jes' wanna ask her a couple a' questions, first."

"You'd just better hope she don't get outta hand," Mal said, turning to head up for the bridge. He hoped Zoe would be able to find something on the Cortex; he was mighty curious as to who his mystery guest was.

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About half an hour later, Mal, Zoe, and Wash were joined on the bridge by Simon and Jayne. "Well, Doc, you tell us what you've found, and then we'll share our piece," Mal suggested.

Simon nodded. "Well, my analysis showed slight hemmoraging in the cerebr..." he paused at the confused looks he was getting, and then remembered to translate into Caiptain-Dummy-Talk. "There's slight bruising on her brain. Nothing serious, and she should make a full recovery within a few days."

Mal nodded. "Good. Until then, keep your sister outta the infirmary. I don't want you in there any more than you have to be. Dong ma?" Simon slowly gave a confused nod. Mal continued, "Zoe and Wash were able to dig up some info on our little friend. Never thought I'd be sayin' this, but Jayne was right. She's a bounty hunter. One of the best." He brought up a screen on the co-pilot's console, Jayne and Simon peering over his shoulders. "Had to tap an Alliance database, but we found her. Mya Bartlett," he read aloud, "Been collecting bounties for the last six years. High-profile, high-paying, I'm talking top-secret clearance bounties. She's got friends in upper parliament, or I'm a baboon's ass crack."

"Don't it say here she faught in the war?" Jayne squinted, pointing, "Says she was with the Independants."

"That's so," Zoe agreed, "But the war's long over. She may have been on our side then, but people change. I say we wait for her to wake up, see if she can tell us anything useful, then we leave her planetside somewhere and get gone."

Mal nodded his agreement with his first mate. "That's a good plan. If she's got intel on Jayne, there's a good chance she could have dirt on any of the rest of us. Doc, can you shed any light as to how long Sleepin' Beauty's gonna be out?"

Simon shrugged. "Impossible to say. I might hazard a guess at a few more hours, at least. She hit her head pretty hard,"

"Yeah," the Captain drawled, "Jayne seems to have that effect on folk. Just keep an eye on her, an' lemme know soon as she wakes. Then you and your sister keep outta sight."

Simon nodded, and returned to his infirmary. Jayne stood for a while, staring at the profile on the Cortex screen. She really had quite the impressive list of bounties -- most of them had even been brought in alive, which was amazing in itself. "Just think," he mused, "They sent someone that good after little ol' me," He smirked, somewhat proud of himself for apparently rating so highly.

"Well, maybe she was having a slow week," Wash chimed in. Jayne's smirk faded to a scowl, and he stalked down to his bunk, muttering what the pilot could only assume were impolite words in his direction.

Mal relaxed back into the co-pilot's chair and closed his eyes. "This is exactly why I don't like him bringin' girls home..."

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It was slightly after breakfast the next morning when Mal was summoned to the infirmary. Simon was hovering around the corner, obviously uneasy about not being able to see to his patient. Zoe stood at the bedside, where Mya was stirring and attempting to open her eyes. She blinked in pain from the bright lights, but managed to raise her head enough to look around. Mal came to stand on the other side of her bed, and she peered up at him and Zoe in confusion.

"Whe...where am I?" she croaked hoarsely, "Who are you?"

"I'm Captain Reynolds, and you're on my ship." he stated, "Now before I answer anything else from you, how 'bout you tell me who you are?"

"Sure. I'm...I'm..." Her brow furrowed in confused concentration. "I'm...I...I don't know! I don't know!" She reached up and grabbed his arm, tears brimming in her fearful blue eyes. "What's wrong with me? Why can't I remember who I am?" She was nearing hysterics, and Mal was starting to get more than a little uncomfortable.

"Uh, Doc?" he called, trying to pry his arm from her grasp. He and Zoe stepped back to allow the doctor some room, casting uneasy glances back and forth.

Simon leaned over her, checking her eyes and ears, and feeing along her scalp, speaking soothingly to her all the while. "My name is Simon. I'm a doctor. You hit your head, and you've been asleep for a few hours. It's perfectly normal to be a bit confused right now."

Mya seemed to have calmed down a bit. "I'm not confused," she replied evenly, "I'm beyond confused. I'm drawing a complete blank. I...I can't remember...anything!"

Simon nodded gravely. "That happens sometimes too. It's called amnesia --"

"I know what it is," Mya snapped, struggling to sit herself up on the bed, "I'm not an idiot,"

Simon smiled slightly. "That's good," he replied, "That means that your amnesia isn't complete...you obviously still know how to speak, and you have your motor skills, so the damage to your brain isn't all that bad."

"Damage...?" she squeaked, placing a hand to her head.

Simon laid his hand reassuringly on her elbow. "When you hit your head, you got a bruise on your brain," he explained, "Just like any other bruise, it will fade and you'll be back to normal."

"And I'll remember everything?" she asked hopefully.

Simon looked slightly uncomfortable. "Perhaps," he said slowly, "In most cases, yes. But unfortunately, there's never any real way to guarantee. For now, all we can do is try to see what you do remember, and build up from there."

Mya appeared somewhat less than convinced, but agreed to answer Simon's questions as best she could. She knew her colors and shapes, but not what she'd been doing for the last few years. She could name all the objects Simon pointed to, but couldn't tell him where she'd grown up. Basically, she had all her knowledge of the world around her, but nothing of herself or how she fit into that world.

Finally, Simon sighed. "Well?" Mal asked, raising his eyebrows expectantly.

"Um, can you excuse us for a moment?" he asked Mya. She nodded, not really having much of a choice. Simon ushered the captain out to the lounge, followed by Zoe. Jayne and Kaylee were there, the latter eager to find out as much as she could about the new 'passenger'. Simon spoke quietly, not wanting his patient to overhear. "The damage appears to be pretty bad," he began, "Although -- thankfully -- it also appears fairly localized. I honestly don't know if she will ever recover...or how much. She basically knows everything she would need to function normally in society, but she has no knowledge of herself. She's like a blank slate," He gave Mal a meaningful look.

It took the Captain a moment to catch on to what the Doctor was implying. "Doc, are you saying...? Why you devious little..." He flashed the man a grin, much to the others' confusion. "I didn't think you had it in you,"

"I simply believe it may be safer for everyone if..." he took a deep breath, flushing somewhat, "...if we didn't tell her what we know about her."

"You wanna lie to that poor girl?" Kaylee looked shocked.

""Well, no...not exactly," Simon stammered, "Simply...omit certain details. Although, we will have to come up with a way to explain to her how we know her name, and how she came to be on the ship..." They discussed quietly for a moment in hushed tones, making sure that everyone could remember their story.

"Hey," Jayne grinned, "Can I tell her she's my wife or somethin'?"

"No." came the unanimous reply.

"Never git any fun," he muttered under his breath.

Mal and Simon returned to the infirmary to find Mya sitting on the bed with her knees drawn up to her chin. Her eyes were narrowed in concentration. Finally seeing them come in, she relaxed into a smile. "Horses." she said.

"What?" Simon asked, perplexed.

"I was trying to remember something," she beamed, "If I think back hard enough, I think I remember horses!"

"That's a start," Simon smiled back.

"Listen, we got some good news for you," Mal said, "Your name's Mya. One of my crew met you in a bar in town last night. He said you were new around these parts, and didn't know nobody. Maybe you were thinkin' of starting a ranch somewheres," He felt a surprising twinge of guilt at the lie. "Anyhow, a fight broke out, and you musta got knocked in the head. He brought you back here. That's all we know."

"Mya..." she murmured, trying out the sound of it. It seemed right though, somehow. She smiled at him in grateful appreciation. "Thank you, Captain Reynolds."

"Don't mention it," he said, excusing himself.

"You get some rest," Simon insisted, "If you're feeling up to it, perhaps you'll be able to join us for lunch,"

Mya agreed, suddenly feeling exhausted. She lay back down, and felt the pain in her head ease somewhat. She fully intended to think for a while, to try to remember something -- anything -- but within moments, she was deep asleep.