Disclaimer: I own nothing. All hail Joss!
A/N: I labeled this chapter 1 because I have this story all set out and ready to write but I need to know if anyone is interested in my continuing it. If not it works as a one shot except for the first line, so ignore that if I end up leaving this as is. I've had huge writers block and am in the middle of finals but I'm trying to get back into writing. So please let me know if you atre interested in the rest of this one. I also have a story in mind that is set up around Jayne and River trading books (trust me it works), anyone interested in that one? Reviews are love people and who really gets enough of that?
Chapter 1
The decision to leave had been coming for months.
His mouth kept saying no but his mind and his body spouted a continuous series of yeses.
River was confused. She had realized that she desired Jayne and after studying the available material on the cortex and the abundant information provided by Inara she made her move. She had always found him attractive but recently she had begun to see him differently. And there was something in the way he looked at her that had made her conclude that their present relationship was no longer satisfactory.
It had seemed simple that for a man such as Jayne the appropriate course of action was to be direct. Of all the members of the Serenity family he was the most vocal about his desires and the one most at ease satisfying them without emotional attachment.
So it was something of a surprise for River when Jayne had reacted in such a mixed way to her arrival in his bunk. There had been no doubt as to his body's reaction to seeing her in the skimpy nightgown she had slipped out of Inara's trunk the last time they'd had tea. And even without her making any attempt to read him; Jayne's mind was fairly screaming his desire at her.
So when he put his hands on her arms and rather than embracing her had hauled her over to the ladder and forced her up and out without a word she had been stunned to say the least.
None of her other attempts had met with any more success. And so River had been forced to reexamine the variables of her equation and had concluded that obviously there was more to Jayne than she had previously realized.
In an attempt to gather additional data she took to spending time with Jayne. Not trying to seduce him just observing him. While he cleaned his guns she would read or draw. When he lifted weights she would spot him and after a while he began to spot her as well.
After several months River realized that although she was no closer to finding the missing variable that would allow her to sex Jayne, an unintended but not unwelcome side effect had occurred. They had become friends.