Missing a Piece
Jayne was still half asleep when his hand reached out, searching for River's warmth. But it found nothing. He opened his eyes to see River getting dressed.
Fully awake now, he sat up, "Baby? Where're ya goin'?"
She finished pulling her dress over her head and then came back, gently pressing a hand to his shoulder to get him to lie back down. She kissed him, "There is a bad man who wishes to take me away, I must rid the ship of him."
Jayne shot up, "Bad man? Well, hell, let's load up." He reached for the blanket covering his guns, but she forcefully shoved him down, once more.
"No, you must stay here. I can win this. I need to show that I fit, that this puzzle needs a River piece." Jayne opened his mouth to protest, but she held her hand over it, "Please, please let me do this, it'll be fine, just stay here, please." Jayne looked skeptical, "I thought you trusted me."
He sighed, "I do. Alright, we'll do it your way, but your puzzle piece ass better come back here whole or I'll rip ya apart my ownself."
River leaned forward and kissed him again before getting up and climbing out of the bunk. Jayne sighed and tried to go back to sleep.
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A while later, Jayne heard a commotion upstairs and he knew he could do nothing about it. He needed to prove that he trusted her. He scowled and turned over, pulling down and wrapping his blanket around him.
Maybe if he replaced the warmth he lost without her body pressed to his, he could sleep. He couldn't, of course. Still, he waited more or less (or less) patiently for the sign that she had done what she needed to do.
When he heard the gunshot he froze, when he heard a loud thump in the hallway outside his bunk, he thought, screw it, and he jumped out of bed and up the ladder where he found Simon on the floor bleeding. River would be awful unhappy if he left her brother here bleeding.
So, he ripped off the bottom part of his sleeping pants and tied a quick tourniquet before helping Simon up and practically carrying him to the infirmary. Luckily, Simon was in a good amount of shock from the gunshot wound and didn't think too carefully on why Jayne was being so helpful.
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While the rest were patching up Simon, Jayne went into the cargo bay to lift weights with Book. He looked over at River, who was playing jacks with Kaylee.
They hadn't been alone since she had left to take care of the "bad man." She looked back and gave him a brilliant smile.
She was happy that he had listened and trusted her, but she was ecstatic to finally prove that there was indeed a place in this insane puzzle for an oddly shaped little River piece.
