It's well into the sleep cycle before Kaylee Frye finishes up in the engine room; nothing's wrong with the ship's innermost workings, but her beloved Serenity simply needs some extra attention now and then just to make sure she runs smoothly. Giving the humming heart of the ship a final loving pat, Kaylee turns off the lights and steps out into the hall to find that she's not the only one awake so late.
The galley lights are on and Jayne sits at the table with his head tilted, resting on one of his fists with a pack of cards spread out in front of him. "Jayne?" she calls softly, cautiously – lack of response reassures her that the big man is indeed asleep and Kaylee starts to tiptoe past him when she glances at his face and stops in her tracks.
It seems odd that she's never quite noticed before, and perhaps the appearance of Simon Tam and his Core-bred good looks have contributed to her blindness, but now she looks at Jayne Cobb and sees him in a different light. It could be that this is the longest time Kaylee has ever seen Jayne go without making a rude comment that he doesn't quite understand is hurtful or making a rude comment that he knows quite well will sting like salt in an open wound, but when she looks at him she sees the long dark lashes of his closed eyes.
Kaylee's eyes linger on the nose that curves up at its tip ever so slightly, and the well-formed mouth, framed by a carefully barbered goatee, that surely must be better suited to kissing a lover's skin than to spouting off something astoundingly uncouth. She shivers, imagining that mouth moving over her skin and wonders if his goatee would really be as ticklish as she thinks it is. Jayne chooses this moment to shift in his sleep, and she breaks away from her scrutiny to hurry out of the other entrance and down to her bunk where idle thoughts of the big merc run through her mind as she falls asleep.
In the morning, she sits down across from him and looks straight into his eyes. Why has she never noticed what a pleasing shade of blue they are? As she stands to take her breakfast dishes to the sink, Kaylee shakes her head in wonder at the many different kinds of beauty in the 'verse.