A/N: Rating: Changed to M!

Red (Sensory Overload)

River jumped out of her seat too and looked after the man rushing out of the cockpit. Some seconds later she heard the sounds of a bunk hatch being opened and closed again and the soft hiss as it was locked.

She couldn't make sense of Jayne's sudden and strange reaction or what might have caused it.

"The colors are gone…what did she do wrong this time?" she wondered.

The recall of the sudden fall of temperature after Jayne had left made her shudder. She wrapped her arms around her body to stop it and glanced over to the environment controls, but the internal temperature was still adequate and hadn't changed at all.

Which left only one conclusion to the young pilot: The shift in temperature had to be related to the merc's presence or, respectively, his absence.

"This makes no sense." River doubted her own theory, "Internal temperature is constant on Serenity . The settings are correct, there's no evidence of malfunction, it is illogical. The conclusion has to be wrong."

The young woman was an explorer by nature and unsolved problems or hypotheses without proof made her antsy. So if these strange sensations were related to Jayne, as she assumed, she had to find proof.

"And they surely won't be found in the patterns of the stars as they pass by."

She checked the course of the ship once more before she enabled the auto-pilot.

This was new to her. She'd never experienced this with other people before. Their thoughts had always been like chatter on overlapping Cortex-waves; on good days as indistinct as static noise.

"It's like empathy." She pondered as she climbed down the stairs from the bridge to the crew's quarters. "Warm. Affection."

She snorted. "Affection? From Jayne? Statistical probability would be too small to measure." The very thought of Jayne having - and even displaying - any kind of feelings besides the usual grudge and sullenness made her giggle but soon she became serious again. "The irregularity in my thermal perception could also be another unexpected side effect of Simon's new medication."

Determined to find out whether it's another new skill or just a temporary medical side effect she was experiencing, she strode down the hallway towards the merc's bunk. Either way, if she experienced it in his presence first, it had to be related to him in some way.

She was so wrapped in her thoughts that she didn't notice the Red that seeped out of Jayne's bunk at first. As she raised her hand to knock on his quarter's hatch the Red hit her with a force that made her stagger backwards until the opposite wall stopped her tumble.

She gasped in disbelief and looked wide-eyed at the Red that floated in her direction. Backing further into the wall she unsuccessfully tried to swerve away from it.

Although the erratic colorful whirl that surrounded her made her head swim for a moment and it took her some seconds to adapt, it didn't feel too bad. In fact it reminded her of the experience on the bridge. The warm spot on her leg had felt similar although the heat that surrounded her here was more ardent than the warmth on the bridge.

The sudden touch of a soft breeze on the side of her neck made her jump a little. It felt like someone had caressed her jaw line with their mouth, breathing ghost-like kisses over her skin. Her hand shot up to that spot, where her fingers followed the path those ghostly lips had taken.

"Irrational…no proof…have to find reason" she gasped as the red wrapped around her completely and dazed her ability of cohere thinking. In the same way her brain refused to cooperate, her knees went weak and the wall behind her became the only thing that held her upright.

But even the ship's wall couldn't support her fully, as the feel of hands roaming up and down the sides of her body made her shake and quiver. She slid down the wall until she sat on the floor, legs outstretched and her arms limp. Leaning her head onto the wall, River closed her eyes.

The ghostly hands roamed up from her hips to her upper body and she re-opened her eyes with a surprised gasp. Her ticklish giggle turned into a lustful moan as they reached her breasts; softly cupping them. Without thinking she pushed her sweater up and again she followed the sensation with her own hands, mimicking it to make it more real.

She stroked and kneaded the soft rounds, weighted them and measured their outlines with her hands. Her eyes fell half mast when she moistened her fingers in her mouth to twirl and pinch her hardened nipples and they flew open again at the feel of someone lapping at her breast before covering it and sucking it in. Helplessly she whimpered and bucked into the imaginary sensation.

The whole time while she followed the demands of the ghostly hands, she noticed a moaning whisper in the red whirls that surrounded her, although it was barely audible through the sound of her own hammering heart. Someone was calling her name, moaning it, chanting it like some ancient prayer, and the sound of it alone sent delicious jolts through her core.

As the heat increased, further beads of sweat rolled down between her breasts, where a humming sensation still lingered from the prior ministration. River's whole body trembled with her ragged breaths. Blindly she stretched one hand out searching for something to hold onto before all these sensations would become too overwhelming.

When she actually seemed to touch something with her outstretched hand she couldn't suppress a startled squeal.

River drew in a deep breath, closed her eyes and concentrated on what appeared to be there. Gently she roamed over strength under a velvet surface, a steady pulsing heartbeat - fast like her own - and a moist sheen of sweat. She let her fingers explore the surreal perception and sensed the outlines and ripples of bone and muscles. Beneath the tips of her fingers she thought she could feel a body, strong and rigid. Hair, short and curled. Skin, warm and scarred in some places. The more she concentrated on palpation, the clearer the picture became.

With one hand she was exploring the body that wasn't really there while the other hand still mimicked the sensations that came from the Red.

The voluptuous growl out of Jayne's bunk was real and seconds later River felt a weight shift and she was pressed further into the sitting position on the floor. Something heavy held her in place and made it difficult for her to breathe. She writhed and squirmed against the restraints of her movements, but instead of freeing herself like she had intended, the struggle amplified some delightful pressure on her sex. This blissful stimulation and the lack of air due to the pressure on her chest made her he dizzy.

Her anguished whimper was merely more than a whisper but the weight shifted from her chest in response and made it easier for her to breathe though the writhing pressure between her thighs remained.

She slipped one hand under her skirt to the source of the enticing throb between her thighs. She let her head fall back against the wall as her hand wandered over the surface of her panties. While one finger pressed against her clit, her others explored the dampness that pooled between her thighs and which now seeped through the thin material of her underwear.

The throbbing and the pressure against her folds rose with every second and when she thought she couldn't bear anymore, River shoved the thin cloth aside with a throaty moan and let two fingers slip into her overheated core.

As the Red entered her, like her fingers just did, she welcomed it with a rapt smile.

The Red whirled around and within her. She was the Red and the Red was her. She was floating with the colored cloud, twirling and dancing though the air. As she looked down, she could see herself sitting on the hall floor; her head lolled back, eyes closed, her legs tugged up with her heels dug into the metal floor for support.

She stroked and circled her folds in an unsteady rhythm, using her thumb to apply additional pressure on her clit and with every caress her nerve endings lit up like glowing embers in a fire place. River felt like she was a super-nova, sucking in every touch, every caress and the bliss they provided. If it was her fate or destiny to implode and leave nothing behind but a black hole she couldn't care less right now. The built up pressure was almost unbearable but yet so delightful and the Red inside of her had turned to a blinding bright yellow.

The whirring noise of the color and the roar of her own blood in her ears nearly deafened her to her surroundings nevertheless she could sense the distant chanting of her name again. It was the sound of this longing moan from somewhere that threw her over the edge. She felt herself imploding, exploding and combusting all at once. All the built up tenseness inside of her blew up into a cloud of sparkling lights that mixed with the red hot whirl she was part of.

River smiled delighted at the colorful play around her - she always loved colors- before a peaceful tiredness pulled her down into her body again. Unwilling to open her eyes again and probably see the colorful lights disappear, she remained still for a few minutes to savor the aftermath of her orgasm. Contented she leaned against the wall and waited for her heartbeat and breathing to calm down again.

Albeit she still had no reasonable proof what the meanings of the colors she was experiencing were, she knew for sure now that it definitely was related to Jayne in some way. And after this odd but nonetheless pleasurable experience she was more than eager to find out what was behind this phenomenon.

With a smile she glanced at Jayne's bunk but the Red was gone. Instead a thin translucent shine that was shifting its color every now and then hung over the hatch accompanied by a low snore.

The hiss of another hatch lock made her jump to her feet and hastily she straightened her clothes before a ruffled and sleepy Malcolm Reynolds stuck his head out of his quarters and stepped into the hallway.

"Ah, 'Tross!" he addressed the young pilot as he turned into the direction of the mess, "You up for a midnight snack, too?" River shook her head slowly and Serenity's captain shrugged. "Fine, but that won't keep me from havin' one." He strode to the mess but stopped again in its door and turned around to River who was still rooted to her spot.

Reynolds' brows knitted worrisome as he eyed up his pilot. "You okay? You look a little harried."

River shook off her torpor and smiled at her captain.

"She's good." She chirped as she turned around to the cockpit. "She has some colors to take care of." She announced and entered the stairs to the cockpit. At the head of the stairs she turned round once more and added. "And a ship."

"You'd better do so." Mal called after her. He scratched his head, clueless about her odd remark about the colors and continued his quest for a late-night snack.

River slipped into Serenity's control center, flopped into her seat and leaned back.

"And a mercenary." She whispered to the stars they passed by.