Chapter 1

The Cargo

After the events on Miranda and with Mr. Universe things had changed drastically aboard Serenity. Inara had retired as a companion and stayed with them. Things between her and Mal had heated up quickly after that, both of them now living in Inara's shuttle. Zoe had found out she was pregnant a month after leaving. She'd known from the second she found out that she would keep the baby, and now a healthy, four month old boy was flying with the crew. Kaylee and Simon were damn near inseparable; if Simon had nothing to do you could always find him in the engine room with Kaylee when she was working. Even River had gone through a dramatic change. She was still reading, but she had more control over it. She could tune it out, turn it on, and sort through a crowd to find the hidden gun. She was damn near unstoppable. She'd also gotten extremely better. She didn't have moments that burned her mind; she was lucid, every second. She'd also developed a bond with someone that no one on the ship saw coming.

Unless River was asleep or piloting Serenity, one could always find her in the company of the resident mercenary. After those doors had opened and Jayne had seen River standing in the middle of a reaver graveyard, he'd respected the hell out of her. Single handedly she had killed the one thing that gave him nightmares, and to Jayne, that was the sexiest damn thing in the Verse. Once he was sure she wasn't going to go crazy and attack him with a butcher knife he'd enjoyed her company more and more. They always paired up for jobs; they sat next to each other at every meal. She even helped him when he was working out. When he was cleaning his weapons or hers on occasion, she would drape her feet over his lap, or, if he was in the common area, she would sit on his lap and watch him.

When the crew first noticed the relationship between River and Jayne they'd been happy that they were getting along, but they were also extremely worried. Jayne wasn't exactly the best role model for a young woman. Eventually though, they'd backed off and just let it happen.

Mal and River were in the bridge, piloting Serenity to the Eavesdown Docks on Persephone. Badger had sent a wave, informing them that he had a job if they were interested. He hadn't given them any other information than that. When Mal asked about it Badger just said they would have to be there to understand.

Zoe and Jayne had warned him that it was possibly a trap, but River said she hadn't read anything off of him. It was hard for her to get an exact thought from people when they weren't within a close proximity, but she could still read emotions. Mal had decided it was at least worth a shot to go find out what it was about.

"Somethin' 'bout this don't set right," Jayne grumbled as he walked into the bridge.

Mal sighed, rolling his eyes. "We need a job Jayne, or do you not want to eat this month?" He relinquished control of Serenity to River. She was better at landing than he was. "I ain't sayin' that we're gonna take the job, I just wanna see what it is."

Jayne sighed, his body gravitating towards River until he was standing behind the chair, one arm across the back and leaning into it. "I guess if she ain't pickin' up nothin'."

River landed Serenity and shut down the engine before turning in the chair. "Nothing bad at least."

"There, see, no problem." Mal clapped Jayne on the shoulder and smiled at the both of them. "Let's go get us some cargo." He led them off the bridge and down to the cargo bay where the rest of the crew was waiting to be given jobs. "Kaylee, how's our engine lookin'?"

"Shiny Cap'n, we don't need no parts."

Mal nodded. "That's what I like to hear. You and Simon can go get supplies then." He pulled a list and some money from his pocket and handed it over to the mechanic. "Don't be long; I wanna be back in the sky in an hour or so." Kaylee and Simon nodded their understanding as they climbed into the mule and headed for the market. "Inara, you're on babysitting duty." Mal watched Zoe hand over Wash Jr. and smiled a bit. He was a cute little thing. "Ship duty too."

"I think we can handle it," Inara replied smiling down and cooing at the baby.

"Good." He looked at the rest of the crew. "You three with me." He walked off the ship, the rest of them following.

"What do you think the cargo will be?" Zoe asked, sliding her gun into the holster on her waist.

"Probably some Alliance goods knowing Badger." Mal wasn't looking forward to that. They were getting enough heat from the Alliance as it was. "Hard to say though."

"It's not Alliance goods," River said. "It's something more dangerous than that."

Mal looked over at her. "You reading him?"

She nodded her head. "His mind is too guarded, I don't know what it is, but it's not goods."

He sighed as they walked up to Badger's door. "Well, this should be fun." He knocked and waited for someone to answer before following them back to Badger's office.

Badger was sitting behind his desk, looking through a huge pile of papers when they walked in. He looked up and grinned. "Bout time ya showed up."

"Well, at least we're here. What's the job?" Mal asked.

Badger's grin widened. "Not a what, a who."

Male looked at him dumbfounded for a moment. "Wanna run that by me again?" If Badger thought he was going to ship a dead person on Serenity he was insane.

Badger motioned to one of his men behind them. Mal looked over as he brought a woman into the room. Mal had to admit, she was a damn fine looking woman; long platinum hair done up in loose ringlets, piercing blue eyes, and the body of a companion dressed in leather. "This is Aria, you're to take her to Beaumonde and deliver her to Fanty and Mingo. She'll pay you your cut there, then wire me mine."

Mal glared at Badger. "I don't smuggle slaves."

"I'm not a slave, Captain Reynolds." Aria turned her eyes on him, defiance shining brightly in them. "I used to be an Alliance Parliament member."

Now he had heard every damn thing. "No, nope, no way in hell!" He turned to leave, wanting no part of this, but River grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"Listen to her."

Mal sighed and looked back at Aria. "Let's hear it."

"I had no knowledge of Miranda, when I saw the wave I was…well furious. I motioned for an investigation and for a pardon for the Tams. Was refused, and they sent an assassin to my home." She signed and looked at him. "I had no idea, and for what part I played, I am sorry."

Mal narrowed his eyes and looked at her closely. "How can I know this ain't a trap?"

"Mal, you can't seriously be considerin' this," Jayne protested.

"Bi jweh," Mal commanded. Jayne huffed, but remained silent. "The Alliance has caused a lot of trouble for me and mine. How do I know this ain't some kind of trap to get River, or anyone else on my ship?"

"I understand your trepidation, Captain. You can search through my things, my person, and anything else you may need. If you wish, you can lock me inside a room for the duration of the trip." Aria looked at him with a resolved look. "I'm only trying to protect my life, surely you can understand that."

Mal sighed, turning his back on her and crossing his arms. He wasn't sure this was such a good idea. For all he knew it could be a trap created by the parliament to take him down. He looked at River; she would be the deciding factor in all this. "What do you think little albatross?"

River looked at Aria a moment longer before looking up at Mal. "She's not lying, it's not a trap."

Mal nodded and looked back at Aria and Badger. "What's the pay?"

"For transporting me to Fanty and Mingo you'll be paid ten thousand credit, to be paid in twenty-five thousand platinum which you will receive once we're with Fanty and Mingo."

"How shi sung chung!" Jayne smirked. "Let's do it."

Mal looked at Zoe. "What do you think?"

Zoe sighed and looked at him. "They money sounds good, and River says she's tellin ' the truth. Even if she's not, River would be able to read it comin'."

Mal looked back at Aria. "We'll take the job."

xXx

Jayne grunted as he lifted the heavy chest onto the ship and dropped it in the cargo bay. He was damn near giddy about the payout for this job, but she sure did have a log of luggage for a fugitive. "She thinks it's necessary," River commented, lifting one of the smaller cases.

"Well, it' ain't." he lifted the last one of the crates and carried it over to all of the other ones. "At least we're getting paid good." He grinned and looked at River. "You sure this ain't a trap?"

She nodded. "Her mind was very open, there weren't any secrets." She climbed onto the crates, walking across them as she followed Jayne towards the bridge. When she ran out of crates to walk on she grabbed onto Jayne's shoulders, swinging onto his back. Jayne smirked a bit and reached around to grab her ass, holding her as he climbed the stairs to the bridge.

"I still don't trust it," he huffed as they walked onto the bridge. Jayne released River and let her settle into the pilot's seat. He leaned over the seat, his hand absentmindedly playing with her hair as she fired up the engine and got them ready for takeoff. "I want ya to hang close, dohn-ma?"

River smiled and looked up at him. "You're that worried?"

Jayne blushed a bit and looked out the window. "Just don't trust it, that's all."

"I'll stay close," River agreed as Mal walked in. "We're ready whenever you are."

Mal nodded. "We're good, Kaylee and Simon are just putting the supplies away. "Take us out of the world."

River nodded and piloted the ship away from the docks and headed straight up into the sky, ready to leave atmo and start the trip to Beaumonde. Jayne gave a light tug on her hair. "I'm gonna go clean Vera."

She nodded her head. "I'll be along after I program a route." Jayne nodded and walked out of the bridge, leaving her alone with the captain. She sighed, picking up thoughts from Mal. It was hard not to, he was so loud. While she took them out of atmo she let Mal's thoughts rush through her. He thought there was something going on with her and Jayne, something that was against "ship rules". He was worried about her, didn't like how close they were. Thought it was unnatural. He opened his mouth to talk to her about it, but River silenced him. "Jayne is doing nothing wrong, and neither am I. We enjoy each other's company, there's nothing wrong with that." She quickly programmed a route to Beaumonde and faced Mal in the chair. "Even if something was going on, if Jayne and I were sleeping together, it's not your business, my brother's business, or Zoe's business. It's no one's but mine and Jayne's." She stood from her chair and walked over to the stairs. "It may be your ship, captain, but my life belongs to no one. Not anymore."

She didn't say anything else, she'd made her point, and yes, the captain might be a little upset with her for scolding him like that, but as far as she was concerned, she didn't care. She walked down to the galley, but Jayne wasn't there. It surprised her a bit, only because that was where he usually cleaned his weapons. Deciding that if he wasn't there, he was down in the common area, she made her way down there. Jayne was sitting there, Vera in pieces laid out on the table, a piece in his hand with some oil and his old rag cut from a shirt that had been ripped one too many times. River smiled and walked over, balancing herself carefully on one of his legs. Jayne paused what he was doing long enough for her to get comfortable before wrapping his arm around her waist so he could still reach the part he was cleaning. She just smiled and relaxed back against his chest, blocking out everything but the beating of his heart. It soothed her to turn out all the voices and just listen to the steady thrumming. It calmed the beast inside, and sang to the woman.

"I just wish he would think," Simon complained as he walked out the infirmary with Kaylee. "I know River didn't pick anything up, but that doesn't mean it was the best idea in the world."

River rolled her eyes. Simon really was too paranoid. "She said she didn't know anything about Miranda," Kaylee pointed out. "You know there were some elections couple years ago, maybe she's new."

"It makes sense that they wouldn't tell anyone new about something they didn't need to know." Zoe walked in, her son in her arms and looked over at Jayne and River. "Comfy you two?" she asked, raising an eye brow.

River looked at her. "Very, thank you."

"I didn't think the captain would be the type to allow shipboard romances." Everyone looked to the hallway that lead to the passenger dorms as Aria walked out of the room Mal had given her. It had been River's at one point, but she'd opted for sleeping in the empty bunk. Getting as far away from the infirmary, and her brother as possible.

"They are not having a romance." Simon glared slightly at Jayne.

"Forgive me, I was assuming too much." Aria looked at Jayne, examining what he was up to and River wasn't sure how she felt about that. "A Callahan full-bore auto-lock with customized trigger, double cartridge, and thorough gauge, very impressive Mr. Cobb." They all stopped and looked at her, somewhat dumbfounded. She looked at all of them and shrugged her shoulders. "I can appreciate a good gun."

"I'll say," Jayne said with a grin. River felt something flash through her and glared at the woman. If she had to put an emotion to it she'd have to say it was jealousy. She didn't like that thought, but she pressed closer to Jayne.

"I heard we were smuggling an ex-Alliance official, but I wasn't aware it was the most beautiful of them." Inara walked down the stairs smiling as she looked at Aria.

"You know her 'Nara?" Kaylee asked.

"Oh I do." Inara walked over and hugged Aria. "It's been too long." Inara smiled, keeping her arm around Aria. "Before Aria became a parliament member she hired me on more than one occasion. We had quite a lot of fun together."

"Didn't think companions were allowed to service state officials," Mal said, walking down the stairs. "Isn't that against some kind of law?"

Aria shrugged. "No one got paid, so technically it wasn't a job. Just two friends having fun."

"Well, you're just turnin' out to be all sorts of interestin'," Mal said giving her a sarcastic smile. "Is there anything else we should know?"

"Mal," Inara warned.

"What? I just want to know if there are any surprises I might need to know 'bout before this goes any further."

"No, Captain, there aren't." Aria sighed and looked at Inara. "I suppose I should have mentioned this before they agreed to the job"

Inara rolled her eyes. "Don't pay any attention to him mei-mei, Mal's just worried about his own competence." Without another word Inara led Aria out of the room. Zoe and Simon were finding it difficult not to laugh, and Jayne, well, Jayne was just confused.

River looked at him, opened her mouth to explain, but the Mal stopped her. "You explain anything to him and you'll be on septic duty for a month." She looked over at Mal and stuck her tongue out. "Don't be like that." He turned and walked out.

"Well, that was fun," Kaylee mumbled. River watched as she and Simon left for their bunk, Zoe following. It was time to put the baby to bed.

She and Jayne were alone again. Jayne stopped what he was doing and looked up at her. River kept her mind closed off; she didn't like reading Jayne, not all of the time. "You doin' alright?" he asked.

"Mal doesn't like the way you look at me. He thinks it's bad news…I told him off." She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Why do they think that we're doing something so horrible? Isn't it a good thing that we get along, especially since I came at you with a butcher's knife and you tried to sell me off to the Alliance?"

Really, they should probably hate each other. Before Miranda, they had never gotten along. He was nervous around her, angry at her, irritated that she'd never had her head about her. River hadn't known what to think of Jayne back then. She knew he'd hated her. But now…now that she was stable, now that she wasn't likely to kill anyone, now that Jayne had seen her take out a pack of reavers to keep the crew safe…they trusted each other. That was a good thing wasn't it?

Jayne sighed and put Vera's barrel down on the table with all of the other parts. He hooked his hand around her knees and pulled them so she was sitting across his lap instead of on one leg. He wouldn't look at her though. "They think we're sexin' and they don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?" she demanded. "It's my body, it's my life, and shouldn't I be able to do with it as I please? I'm not a little girl anymore, and I'm not crazy." She was getting angry, quickly. She was going to need to burn off some energy soon. Thankfully, Jayne kept a punching bag in the cargo bay for his workouts.

Jayne looked up at her. "Do you want to?"

River frowned and looked at him. "I…I don't know." She ran a hand through her hair. I catch you sometimes, when you're watching me, I know what you think…" She sighed and looked at him. "I like the way you see me."

"What do you mean?"

River sighed and thought about it for a moment, trying to put it into words. "You see the woman…and the weapon. You want both. You think they complement each other. The weapon makes the woman sexy, and the woman makes the weapon beautiful. I like that." She looked at him. "I know that when I look at you, I'm happy, I like being with you. Sometimes I find myself wanting to be with you…in bed I mean, but…"

"But?"

"But, it scares me. I know you, I know you don't want to push that boundary, you don't want the crew to get mad, and you don't want Mal to throw you out of an air lock."

Jayne huffed and ran a hand through his short hair. "Ain't that the truth?" He looked up at her. "It's up to you," he finally said. "You know where to find me."

River smiled and laid her head against his. "Finish cleaning Vera." She made herself nice and comfortable on his lap and closed her eyes, listening to him hum as he cleaned his favorite gun. In his arms is where she fell asleep.

xXx

Jayne clicked the last few pieces of Vera back into place and set her out on the table before looking at the woman passed out in his arms. He knew the others didn't like the relationship between them, but he didn't give a good gorram what they thought. She had a point. With the way things had gone between them in the past, they should be at each other's throats. The crew should be happy that they're getting along. He'd also be lying if he said he wouldn't mind getting her into his bed for a night, or more. He wasn't suicidal though. He knew the second he made a move on River, Mal would throw him out of an air lock.

He sighed and looped his arm under River's legs, holding her back with the other and stood, keeping her in his arms. With one hand he managed to grab Vera before heading back to the hall where their bunks were. Getting down with her in his arms, while holding onto Vera used to be a pain in the ass, but River fell asleep near him enough that he'd perfected the climb down into her bunk. Jayne carefully laid her out in bed and covered her up, pulling her boots off before climbing back up the ladder and closing the hatch.

He didn't go to his own bunk though. Jayne headed for the cargo bay instead, deciding that he needed a work out before he was going to be able to sleep. He walked into the cargo bay and walked over to the handles he had set up under the catwalk so he could do some pull-ups He tightened the straps on his gloves before settling his hands on the handles and started pulling himself up, easing himself down, and repeating. The burn in his arms felt good and distracted him from the burn in his gut that was screaming at him to go back to River. It wasn't a good idea to let her get into his head the way she did, but hell if he cared.

He liked having her in his head, weather he was thinking about her, or she was reading him. It came in damn handy when they were in the middle of a fight. She could read his movements, know what he was going to do before he did and move with him. That's why they worked so perfectly together. He didn't have to say a word but they moved in perfect synchronization. The mercenary and the government developed weapon.

Jayne was in the zone, blocking out just about everything, but even so, he could still sense when someone walked into the cargo bay. He looked over to the doorway, watching as Aria walked in. "Am I bothering you?" she asked as she straddled his bench press.

"Nope," Jayne grunted under the exertion of pulling his weight up into the air with just the strength of his arms. He watched her watching him.

"You don't trust me." She seemed amused.

"Nope, I don't."

"You think I'll hurt River."

Jayne let go of the handles and dropped to the floor, his eyes narrowing on her, watching her closely, sizing her up, and looking for any concealed weapons they might have missed in the initial search. "Let me make one thing perfectly clear," he growled, walking over towards her. "You so much as split a hair on her head, or anyone else's, I'll show you things only reavers are capable of, dohn-ma?"

To her credit, she didn't flinch or back down. "I have no intentions of harming anyone one this ship." She stood slowly and even though Jayne had a good six inches on her, she still looked up at him with those icy eyes, meeting him glare for glare. "I just want to get to where I'm going without the Alliance finding out." She turned her back on him and walked back to the passenger dorms. Jayne huffed and walked up the stairs to the hall of bunks, jumping down into his. This was going to be one long ass trip.