A/N: Thank you everyone for the continued support. This has been a really hard fic to write; and I'm not sure why. Right now it looks like it will be three fairly short chapters; might stretch to four depending on how the characters cooperate. Gaben, thank you as always for being a great beta. Whereintheworld, congratulations on the internship!
Chapter 6a: Another Day In Paradise
It was another day on board Serenity; another day… One which, had started out with Caroline actually eating her breakfast with no complaints, well almost no complaints. This was actually no surprise; she'd gone to bed without dinner the night before. The Cap'n had sent her to bed after she'd thrown a tantrum about doing her chores, which meant wiping the table before dinner and setting the table; but she'd really wanted to go and play jacks with River and Kaylee.
So this morning she'd trundled into the common area wearing Jayne's old orange t-shirt and was slurping down her porridge only muttering a few complaining words. "Shiong mao niao. Panda Piss."
"Language," Kaylee said tiredly. She'd been up most of the night before reading a dime novel she'd gotten the day before between junkyards on Hillard.
"But…"
"No buts… Don' really care if it tastes like fay-fay duh pee yen, a baboon's asshole, yer eatin' it; nian qing de, young one." Jayne grumped as he stomped in to the common area and grabbed a bowl of the gray slop slouching back to his bunk with a gorram hangover. He'd had a little too much fun on Hillard last night. Gotten a piece of trim… A might nice piece of pi gu, ass!
Kaylee did a double take. Out of everyone on board Serenity Jayne was usually the most tolerant and amused with Caroline's antics. Something had all of his panties in a twist this morning. A smirk crossed over her face as she watched him make a beeline to the coffee. He'd gotten in last night after she'd gone to bed, so he must've had a good time; probably a little too much of a good time.
Simon came in the door looking for Kaylee; it really made his morning seeing the mechanic eating breakfast with the Captain's daughter each morning. It still confounded him something fierce that Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Browncoat and rebel had a daughter! What was even more confusing was the care and love he and everyone showed towards the pian zhe de, stubborn little girl. She was just like her ba! "Morning Kaylee."
Kaylee looked up at the surgeon with her big brown eyes, "Mornin' Doc. How'd you sleep?"
"Fine and you?" Even after all this time on the ship and the pretty mechanic still made him go all tongue-tied.
"Good." She jerked her head over to where Jayne was sucking down a cup of coffee in between large bites of porridge. "Looks like he got in a little late."
The doc looked over at the big merc and nodded agreement. "Looks like he's wishing he had some tóufǎ de gǒu, hair of the dog."
"What's hair of the dog?" Caroline looked up from slurping up her porridge.
"Uhh…" Simon stammered "It's when… ummm… You don't get enough sleep."
Kaylee jumped into try and save Simon, or perhaps Caroline, from a long winded medical explanation "It's for mornings when you don't get enough sleep and need coffee strong enough for a dog's hair to stand up on end."
"Yeah," Simon poured himself a cup of coffee and refilled Kaylee's. "I need some hair of the dog too; stayed up too long talking last night."
She nodded in agreement; she'd had mornings like Jayne was having. And after their conversation a few weeks ago when Simon had told her about that time when his daddy had to bail him out when he'd made surgeon – she knew that he understood, hair of the dog.
After sharing a look with the Doc, Serenity's mechanic looked over at the Caroline who was still eating her porridge with, if not gusto, at least not grudgingly. "Good girl, you doin' lessons today?"
"Uh huh." She mumbled around the last bite of yu ben de, stupid, porridge. Caroline knew better than to talk with her mouth full; prissy ass doc gave her all kinds of dirty looks and Miss 'Nara told her not to talk with her mouthful. She swallowed her porridge "Numbers with Wash; then readin' with the preacher, and tea with Lǎoshī Inara."
"Shia, yeah. That sounds like a fun day."
"Especially playin' later." The little girl dumped her bowl and spoon in the sink and bounced off to get her hair brushed. "I like playin'"
Jayne finished his second cup of coffee and poured a third before moving mostly upright back towards his bunk. "Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng! Frog-Humping Son of a Bitch!"
"Jayne!" Kaylee looked up from where she'd started reading her book again.
"Stubbed my gorram toe on the ai ya, damn. hatch!" Jayne's toe felt like his head; about ready to explode.
"Bun tyen-shung duh ee-dway-ro. Stupid inbred stack of meat." Simon muttered under his breath as he walked towards the medical bay; Jayne's crudeness was always amazing. Realizing what he'd called the big man, the Doc groaned; too much time in the black and the merc's crudeness was wearing off on him.
Simon shook his head as he passed Mal. The Captain arched his eyebrow at the surgeon's muttered words; and wondered what had happened now. It prolly wasn't Caroline; she didn't usually get called a stupid inbred stack of meat. There were plenty of other things that got muttered after she left epic messes around the ship; many of them involving supplies from the infirmary. Even before the whole spider-web incident she'd been forbidden from going into the infirmary.
Continuing his walk towards the common area, Mal saw his mercenary and put the pieces together: The coffee on his shirt, the blood-shot eyes, and the limp. Yep, Jayne had one heck of a hangover, stubbed his toe on the threshold, and spilled his coffee. And then he'd started cursing; probably something quite crude which made Simon turn back into a prissy-ass core surgeon. Continuing to walk he could hear the preacher's soft voice as he went through his morning ablutions.
"… if they lead to salvation; give us the grace of manifesting that we are children of light and day, and heirs to your eternal reward. In the abundance of your mercies, O Lord…"
Mal kept moving out of earshot of Shepard Book's prayers. He used to say them in the common area, but that was like a train station in the morning; too many people moving in and out for him to meditate in peace. Mal reached the coffee urn and poured his second cup of caffeinated love; and noticed the bowl and spoon in the sink. "The nian qing de, young one, didn't give you any problems this morning?" He gestured at the sink when Kaylee looked up from her book.
"Nope, she was hungry."
Mal chuckled while slurping his coffee; he remembered many mornings like this when he was a kid. Waking up starving because ma had sent him to bed for cussing at the dinner table, skippin' out on chores iffn' he didn't think the animals shouldn't eat; than he shouldn't eat neither, or something else. Finishing his first cup of coffee he poured another and washed Caroline's bowl and spoon putting them away. "Do good today." He pointed the cup at his mechanic and walked out to go run the errands he needed before they took off for the black.
E/N: In my Extra Cargo 'verse I see Caroline already having done a couple of tea lessons with Inara. So it occurs after the extra ficlet "When She Was Good (Chapter 1)." Also this was written as a challenge fic to use all of the cuss words used in the article (take out the spaces) www toplessrobot 2010 /11/ fireflys _15 _best _uses _of _chinese _profanity php So this chapter uses four out of the fifteen best uses of Chinese profanity.
Ai ya – Damn
1 - Bun tyen-shung duh ee-dway-ro. Stupid Inbred Stack of Meat (Simon)
2 - Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng! Frog-Humping Son of a Bitch! (Jayne)
3 - Fay-fay duh pee yen - A baboon's asshole (Jayne)
Lǎoshī - Teacher
Nian qing de - Young one
Pianzhe de - Stubborn
Pi gu - Ass
4 - Shiong mao niao - Panda Piss (Caroline)
Tóufǎ de gǒu – Hair of the dog
Yu ben de - Stupid