Jayne sees red.
They were keeping a low profile, which meant that Serenity was grounded for a spell. That ship was the most wanted in all the verse and its crew was pretty hot property too, it seemed. Every contact they had had tried to cash in the bounty on their heads; there really was no honour among thieves after all.
Mal had taken them far away from civilisation to an old friend's place; a ranch in the middle of nowhere. They'd left Serenity in a barn, tucked away from any prying eyes that might come looking for her. The crew reluctantly moved into the old sprawling farm house; they just needed to wait it out for a while somewhere where nobody would think to find them.
The alliance was imploding, factions fighting against factions, an internal war big enough to crush the regime from within. Give it time, Mal assured them, and they'll forget all about us.
They worked the fields and waited. It was driving Jayne stir crazy.
Jayne rifled through her possessions. He listened to the sound of the shower, if it stopped he'd have to bolt outa there real quick.
She sure had a lot of useless crap. Books filled with bat-crazy doodlings, some eerie tiny people made outa matchsticks, a spinning top and a stupid collection of buttons that were arranged in lines by size and colour, couple of which he recognized as his very own.
Jayne frowned, growlin low to himself. He'd presumed they were lost to the verse and had patched his jacket back together with poor replacements, stuck his fingers good trying to fix on some new ones and beside his best attempts they were spaced unevenly and loose as all hell. It made for an unsightly type gape across his chest.
What the hell did she want buttons fur?
'Goram girl's like a dang magpie'
setting his jaw he resumed his search. He yanked open a drawer; inside were dresses folded all neat and proper.
He hesitated, then reaching out slowly he touched the soft material.
Jayne had wondered as he'd watched puddin brain spin around the cargo bay, her dress floating in the air as she twirled, what that fine material would feel like to rough brutal hands like his. The notion had been fleeting and he'd soon forgotten about it as he'd concentrated on workin out his angers by lifting his weights.
It was soft, 'must be silk or summin' he thought to himself. He realized he was losing focus, the shower was still running so he was good for now, Jayne carelessly yanked the dresses aside.
A wicked smile spread across his face as he spied the bright red bounty he was searching for, Ha, ain't so clever now. Grabbing his sweater he turned to make his escape.
His hart skipped a beat. River stood impassively watching him, dripping wet and covered in a mighty small towel.
Jayne floundered,
"Er, I..." He tried to gather himself a little. He looked over her body, squeaky clean, wet, steam still risin from her. Her legs long and lean, he tried to concentrate again and forced himself to meet her eyes.
"Came to get ma property" He held his quarry up for her to see.
River showed no emotion, she stood viewing Jayne unblinkingly.
Her hair was swept back from her face and lay flat and glossy down her back. Jayne found the change in style strange; he was used to it hanging about her face like a curtain, her crazy eyes peeking out at him. Nutty didn't look half as nutty all of a sudden. He caught a slight gleam of something in her eye and prayed it wasn't the rage he'd seen her harness so well before.
Time to leave.
"Im takin it, n don't touch my stuff again." He made to pass her and make his exit, but quick as lightning River moved to block his escape route to the door.
As she lithely moved into position her towel slipped to the floor exposing her alabaster skin in its flawless entirety. Jayne watched wide eyed as she stood brazenly in front of him as naked as the day she was born.
His emotions were confused, foremost though he felt an overwhelming wave of lust pass over him. The feeling scared him. It was the doc's crazy brained little sister, the spooky mind seeing, reever -slaughterin nightmare that had carved on him at the dinner table. His heart pounded in his chest. Jayne tried to stop lookin at the girl, but she was the finest thing he'd ever seen.
He forced his eyes back to hers and was surprised when he felt himself blush. His throat felt dry; he had to get out of the room and away from her. A surge of indignant anger swelled in him and he blurted,
"Well aint you gonna cover yourself?"
He mentally cursed as it came out of his mouth; what the shi-don mai was he sayin? He was going crazy, she'd sent him crazy just like her. Jayne tensed his body, he couldn't touch her, he couldn't, not even to move her out of his way.
River suddenly broke eye contact, running hers slowly over his torso. She took in his tensed muscles, his balled fists and the colour in his cheeks, finally resting her gaze on the bulge in his cargo pants. She tilted her head sideways inquisitively as she viewed it, amused by its appearance.
Jayne shifted on the spot as he realized where her eyes had settled. He moved the sweater, holding it in front of his crotch in an uncharacteristic attempt to cover his modesty.
River took a step closer to him and he backed up until he hit wall; he remembered what she'd done to them reevers. Briefly he thought about crying out for help before coming to his senses and realizin how ridiculous that sounded. Here he was in the girls room, her all naked and him as hard as rock. Nope he had a beatin comin, best just get it over with.
Her eyes now back fixed on his she advanced, only stopping when there was barely a foot between them.
Jayne looked down into her elven face and flinched, "Well let's git it over with, I aint gonna stand here all day."
Her face was open, she showed no emotion. He realized he wanted to kiss her and his mind filled with images he knew were fit to send him to hell. His brain flooded with guilt and confusion, he couldn't understand, he didn't even like the little scatter brain.
Why was she just stood there lookin at him? Girl had no shame.
Jayne jumped as he felt her slender fingers touch his own. River raised his hand and placed his palm to her cheek, tentatively he touched her face running his fingers over the smoothness of her cheekbone down towards her plump lips. To his surprise the girl just closed her eyes and tilted her head to accommodate his rough old hand. Jayne looked down on her with wonder. She was like nothing else in the verse and his heart skipped a beat as he realized it. He quickly moved his hand to his side, he had no right touchin such a thing.
River opened her eyes and smiled, then grabbed a hold of the sweater in Jayne's hand, snatching it from his grip. She popped it over her head and wriggled into it. Satisfied she backed away from him and went to perch on the end of her bed, her huge eyes never leaving his.
Jayne felt relief flood through him, she weren't gonna pound on him and he had a clear path to the door and an escape.
Masking his embarrassment with false bravado he strode toward the exit. His hand on the doorknob he cringed inwardly and decided he should try to say something to cover his tracks before he took his leave.
"You just don't steal from your own crew mates, it 'aint right"
River had pulled her legs up under the excess of jumper, her lean shoulder poked through the elongated head hole as it slipped down to settle over her svelte frame.
Jayne was caught by how beautiful she looked once more. Too perfect for words. He shook it off with another well-deserved tellin.
"My ma made that for me, not for loony brained little girls ... don't even fit ya right, hangs off ya like a dang sack, why'n the hell do you even want it?"
River wrapped her arms around herself, "because it's like nothing else in the verse."
Jayne eyed her with suspicion. Had that gorram girl been poking in his head? He needed to leave.
He yanked open the door, keen to be anywhere but here.
Behind him he heard River lay back onto the bed with a sigh, "It's too perfect for words."
He clicked the door shut and high-tailed it away.