THE ONLY GIRL IN THE WORLD

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Four– Less Enlightened Conversation

Jayne Cobb was alone in the cargo bay, guns laid out in a wide arc in front of him. Periodically, he'd choose one that– to her eyes– looked perfectly fine and polish it. Another would be lifted a couple times as though to gauge the weight and then switch positions with an alternative firearm. Occasionally, he would remove another weapon from his vest– a dagger, a grenade– and look it over carefully before either laying it aside or placing it back under his jacket.

"You can ruttin' well come down now," he said finally, after having been observed for nearly a quarter of an hour. "I ain't gonna shoot you with none of these."

Elizabeth started– he hadn't even looked around to guarantee he really was speaking to someone and not the thin air. Maybe, she could sneak back up to her room real quietly so that, when he did look around, he couldn't be sure anybody had been watching him at all.

"Come on," Jayne repeated gruffly, turning around impatiently to beckon her down the stairs.

Elizabeth couldn't very well turn and run with him watching her like that. She was a brave Browncoat supporter who had stared down the Alliance six years ago. At least, that's what she kept telling herself.

"Guay! A man'd think you're tryin' to turn yourself into that crazy girl River, sneakin' around like that."

"Sorry," Elizabeth said. "I didn't mean to be impolite."

"Dahng ran you didn't," Jayne said with a snarl. "Ain't it just like you high society folk– sneakin' around til you figure somebody might not call that proper."

Elizabeth nodded silently took a seat on the bottom step of the metal stairway. "You're right. I am sorry, though."

Jayne paused in the work of polishing one of his larger guns for the third time. "What'cha say?"

"You're right," Elizabeth said. "And I'm very sorry for upsetting you." She could only see his back from where she sat, but Elizabeth could tell from the sudden easiness with which he sat and the relaxes way he leaned back against a crate to finish up with his gun that her apology had mollified the man, at least a little. Jayne was no longer tensed for even a verbal fight.

"You ever been to Eavesdown Docks, kid?" he asked after a few minutes, more amiable than she'd ever seen.

"No," Elizabeth replied. "I haven't been."

"No, I betcha haven't," Jayne repeated. "You'd be talkin' at all the big fancy cities. Well I'll tell you this– Eavesdown ain't the sorta place you're gonna want to be runnin' off your mouth in. Lots of people around. And not all of 'em so friendly as me."

He glanced back at the girl on the stairs to make sure she was listening, jerked his head so she'd come up a little closer. She did, slowly.

"Come on," he said impatiently. "I told you I wasn't gonna shoot you."

Elizabeth smiled and sat down cross-legged against one of the many large boxes lining the walls of the cargo bay, this time so that she could see Jayne as he talked.

"… thinks he's real important, the Badger does. Guay, I'd crush him flat if he didn't give us jobs every once in a while. And like I said, you best not go runnin' off your mouth. Might get people suspicious, real important kid like you takin' passage on a ship like this. Nothin' against Serenity, dahng ran. Good ship. Wouldn't trade it for nothing." He paused, looked up thoughtfully. "Well, maybe not nothing. But it would have to be a ruttin' lot of money," he insisted, as though reassuring her of his relative attachment to the ship.

And Elizabeth smiled and leaned back against the crate, managing to ignore for the first time in a long time the low-level anxiety that was always present in the back of her mind. For a blessed twenty minutes she could forget that she was Elizabeth Arnold, high-minded, well-bred, well-educated Elizabeth Arnold with her stirring speeches and oratorical talent. All Jayne Cobb required was the occasional sign that she was listening as he expounded upon what to expect on Persephone– most injunctions including some form of "not runnin' off your mouth."

The anxiety only returned with the arrival in the cargo bay of Captain Reynolds and Zoë, when Jayne began to strap his gleaming arsenal onto a belt across his chest, zipping it all up under a concealing jacket. Elizabeth had hoped that the guns were polished for show, not use.

"All good?" the Captain asked.

"Shiny," Jayne said, looking about as well as Elizabeth was sick.

The cargo bay jolted a little as Serenity touched down in Eavesdown Docks.

"Then let's get going."

Elizabeth held back for a moment as the three crewmates made for the exit. "Captain?" she asked nervously. "Captain Reynolds?"

"Gotta problem, Arnold?"

Elizabeth ran to catch up. "Captain… what exactly am I supposed to be doing?"

"What? Didn't you figure it out yet?" he asked. "You're the diversion. You're gonna give a little speech."

Elizabeth blanched. A speech. How was that for not running off her mouth?