"You missed," River deadpanned.

"Ah hell girlie, I never…Damn!" Jayne exclaimed, realizing his mark was still among the living.

"Nice try hot shot, now how about we do things my way." River stated plainly, but with a look of mischief in her eye none the less.

"All right, but your way is so damn unsettling." Jayne relented, "Plus Mal'll be all kinds a sore about you getting so close in the mix."

"Well then, I suppose you'll just have to protect me." River said with the barest traces of a smile on her face. "Besides, my way is a lot more fun." She said as she reached for the katana strapped to her back.

"Can't argue with that." Jayne grinned as he broke down the rifle and grabbed his favorite revolver."

"Time for some thrilling heroics," they both said in unison as they charged down the hill.

...

"And just what in the hell were you two thinking!" Mal exclaimed as he set the mule down in the cargo bay of Serenity. The images of his well crafted plan tumbling down before him, replaced with scenes of his merc and girlfriend storming through town cutting down nearly everyone in their path.

Jayne gave him a sheepish look, "Well we done tried to stick to what ya said, but the damn hundan wasn't in the place that we planned. I tried to take the shot anyway but…ah…he moved…and then the wind correction….kinda messed up the path of the bullet so to speak…" Jayne stuttered out.

"Plan was flawed." River stated matter of factly in an attempt to relieve some of the pressure from her accomplice. "Warned you that they wouldn't play your game."

River was nearly perfectly lucid now but she still sometimes slipped into her sing song mode of speaking from time to time. This was partly due to habit, and partly because she just liked to. It made people pay more attention to what she was saying.

Mal took a moment to collect himself. It was so hard for him to stay mad at her, and she knew it. Plus it was more then a little unsettling to see her trying to defend Jayne of all people, and this hadn't been the first time. Over the last couple of months those two had caused more then their fair share of trouble.

"That ain't the point." Mal finally ground out. "There was a plan, we all agreed to it before we left, we all had parts to play. By breaking with the plan you two put us all in danger back there."

"Com'on Mal, we got the money didn't we? Maybe more then we contract for." Jayne stated defiantly.

"Yes, and none of us are dead so that's a plus." River added with a hit of sarcasm.

"You two are still missing the gist of what I'm getting at here. Yes we got paid, probably took a good deal more then we originally agreed to once those men caught sight of you two and dropped all that cashy money. But the point of this job wasn't just to get paid, we were trying to make new contacts, maybe get some more jobs. But seen as you two shot or stabbed just about everybody in town that ain't like to happen!" Mal said, frustration reverberating in his voice.

"Was a one time gig." River coolly replied in the face of Mal's growing temper. "They were a secretive group, weren't looking to take on new talent. Just likely to kill us then pay us."

"Which is why Jayne was supposed to take out the ring leader if he tried anything funny, show'em we're for real, maybe give them the impression that we know what we're doing." Mal, now with an edge of sarcasm of his own.

"And just how was shooting one of their men going to get us in them again?" River said as she looked up at Mal with those big brown eyes of her's, feigning ignorance.

Mal hesitated for a moment, the ridiculousness of his statement stunning him a bit when spoken out loud, not to mention the beauty of her look no matter how patronizing.

"You know how River," Mal said assertively, slightly regaining his composure. " That guy wasn't even a mid level member of their group. Those hundans might'a shot him their own selves had his next project gone south. Killin him before he could give the order to kill us woulda shown his bosses that we've got more on the ball then the groups of outsiders they usually contract with."

"Hmm," River paused, obviously pretending Mal's argument caused her to rethink her position. "And these are the kinds of people that you wanted to have a long term working relationship with?" she finally replied with a sly smile.

Mal looked at her dumfounded as Jayne fought back and audible chuckle. He turned to Zoe for some support. She shot him a sympathetic glance out of the corner of her eye. Then she spoke up, "Captain's right, he gave you two orders and you didn't follow them, end of story." She shot out tersely.

"Now why don't you two see to Simon and make sure none of that blood on you is yours." Zoe pressed in her conversation ending sort of way.

River and Jayne, realizing they were off the hook obediently hopped out of the mule and headed of towards the med bay. Exchanging slight grins as they made their way.

Mal let out a sigh, "What am I going to do with them?" He let out as he and Zoe climbed out of the mule and headed up towards the bridge.

"Well you have to admit sir, they did save our skins back there." Zoe offered.

"That they did, but they did it in their usual over the top manner. This keeps up there won't be anyone left to work for."

"True," Zoe conceded. "But you have to admit, it nice to be the one's who start the shooting for a change."

"Can't argue with that." Mal agreed as he headed up to see Wash about their assent.

...

"You know just once I'd like to see you come back from a job without me having to check you for injuries." Simon said has he looked River over.

"Awe doc, didn't know ya cared so much." Jayne teased from behind him.

"Not you Jayne, I was talking to River. As far as your concerned…"

River put her finger over her brothers lips, preventing the impending string of insults. "Be nice, after all he was the one watching my back."

"Not that it need much watching." Jayne chimed in, "Fact you saved my pi goo more then a few times in that last one."

The two of them shared appreciative glances as Simon raped up his evaluations.

"Fine, well you both appear to be in perfect health, you're free to leave." Simon said.

Jayne stood up, "Good, no offense doc but this ain't exactly where I like to spend my free time."

"Like wise." River added, with a somewhat far away look in her eyes.

"Ah, yes well. You can leave, but I'd like to have a moment to speak with you if you could spare it River." Simon said, noticing as Jayne stopped in mid stride towards the exit.

"Alone," Simon answered to Jayne's hesitation.

"Its alright Jayne, its family time. We'll catch up later." River reassured. With that the big merc left the brother and sister in peace.

Simon turned a concerned look on River, "How have you been feeling lately"

"Fine," River said replying to Simon's stern look with a one of her own. "Do you have some cause for concern or do you just like to freak your little sister out for fun?"

Simon expression lightened a bit, "No, not medically."

River gave him a knowing look. "You're concerned about how much time I've been spending with Jayne lately."

"Well….yes," Simon hesitated, unsure how to broach the subject.

River gave him an exhausted look, "Its nothing to be concerned about, Jayne and I get a long well that's all. I mean Zoe and Wash pretty much keep to them selves and Kaylee seems to be occupying a lot of your time lately…" River shot him a mischievous glance.

"Well…I….ah…you see…" Simon stuttered out.

"Its ok Simon, its not like I don't understand, especially with Mal and I…."

"That's quite enough of that thought train." Simon cut in. "It's just that it seems strange that you two are hitting it off so well. I mean he did try to turn us in the alliance a while back. Just seems like if you were going to hang out with anyone besides Mal it'd be Kaylee or Inara."

"That was a long time ago, we've all been through a lot since then. He's changed. And I do spend a lot of time with Kaylee, but I can only take so much of someone fawning over my brother before I need to get away. And as for Inara well….things are still a bit awkward between us…" She said almost squirming a bit as she spoke of it.

"I suppose so, still seeing you with Jayne so much kind of gives off an impression…."

River almost fell off the stool she was sitting on at the implication, "You think I LIKE JAYNE!!" She said in half shock even uttering the words.

"Well no….of course not…well I mean the thought had crossed my mind…" Simon backpedaled.

"Look, Jayne and I are just friends. He respects what I'm capable of and I respect what his skill. Call it professional repore. But that's it. Besides he not my type." River said wistfully as she pictured Mal with that boyish grin on his face as he woke her up that first night she'd slept in his bunk the night after the incident in the Maidenhead.

"Ok, well just thought I'd check." Simon said.

"Why so you could give me your pre-rehearsed big brother speech about boys?" River said with what had now become her characteristic grin.

"Well I never have given you that speech now have I?" Simon posited.

"Sorry, missed your chance Simon. Kinda late in the game to be giving me the speech now that I've been dating Mal for the last year." River in toned.

"Has it been a year already?" Simon said in half disbelief.

"Yep! Our anniversary was last week. I got flowers…and a shiny new katana!" River stated gleefully.

"Yes, I noticed as I'm sure our friends down at that settlement just did." Simon replied recalling his sister's unsettling ability with an edged weapon.

"Well I'm off," She said as she hopped up from the stool. " I've got to thank someone for getting me that blade." She smiled as she headed for the door.

"Oh and Simon, you don't have to wait for my next medical exam for us to have another one of these heart to hearts you know." River said.

"Dually noted." Simon answered as he got up to give her a hug before she headed up the stairs towards her's and Mal's bunk.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

So there it is my first chapter back in the 'verse since the end of "What the Eyes See." I have to admit I'm still not exactly sure where I want to go with this. I have a rough outline of where I'm heading but I'm having trouble fleshing out some of the details. This first chapter I just started as a free write, much like I did with the original story. I really wanted to explore how the crew's relationships have changed since Miranda.

The Jayne/River dynamic is a relationship I have a particular interest in. As I started out in the fan fic community as a Jayne/River enthusiast. But don't worry this story is strictly a Mal/River ship. But that doesn't mean I can't still explore some of the ways that I think those two would still have good chemistry, if only as friends.

As far as the future, I'm thinking I might take the story into a bit of a darker tone. Don't want to give away too much of the details but suffice to say I plan on trying to dig a little deeper into the psyches of our main characters. Probably has something to do with the fact that I just saw the, "The Dark Knight," good gosh that movie rocked!

Anyway bear with me as I try and grapple with this new installment of my tale of the verse. I want to send a special thanks to all of those who read the story and continued to give feed back even months after it had laid dormant. It was your encouraging words that gave me the energy to continue this story. I truly hope I do not disappoint you.