Hiding, Chapter 6

Author's Note: I am so sorry. Not that I actually expect to be forgiven, but I never meant to abandon this story. Real life crept up on me, and I was in a very bad way for a very long time. I'm trying to come back and be reliable though…Though I think this installment kinda sucks. And if you guys agree, tell me so, and I will re-write.

Disclaimer: Still not mine. Sorry. Don't sue. Joss is boss.

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Jayne sat in his normal seat at the table, arms crossed as he glared at the crew. Well, not at the girl who sat in her regular seat next to him, still shivering now and then, or at Kaylee, smiling at him like he was some gorram hero; but the rest of the crew wasn't spared his glare. Even Zoe, because she was just standing there next to Mal, who looked at him like he was space trash, looking like a statue.

The captain looked like he was about to speak, but the crazy girl cut him off right quick. "No, no. You don't yell at man-named-Jayne." She gave the shocked captain the full weight of those big brown eyes and continued. "Too loud to yell, hurts."

Jayne looked over at her, arms still crossed as he lounged. "Ya' don't gotta protect me, Moony. I'm a big boy, I can take Daddy's yelling." He spoke slowly, like there wasn't a care in his mind, but he knew that messing with River was the quickest way to piss off everyone on the boat.

River shook her head. "No. No yelling." She glared over at Mal, and then at Simon, to make her point.

"Fine, 'Tross. We won't be yellin'. But I do have a question to pose to Jayne, here." Mal walked over and leaned on the table, across from Jayne and River. "What the hell is going on here?"

"You don't even like River," Simon piped in. "Now you're hugging her in the hall, and she's running to you at night?" He was insulted, that much was clear. Jayne rolled his eyes.

"Oh stuff it, both of you. If either of you could keep an eye on her, none of this woulda happened anyway." He wiped his tired face and continued. "Girl's been sneaking into my room for weeks. Nothin' inappropriate, like, but hidin' out. From the rest of ya'." He looked to River, who nodded. "Couldn't make her stop if'n I wanted to, anyway." He looked back over at Mal.

"River, really, Jayne? I could give you smoothers, if you've been having a hard time…" Simon's well-meaning words died in his throat when River started shaking her head almost violently and clutched at Jayne's elbow, grasping for a handhold.

"No! No drugs. Can't feel, can't defend, can't! No drugs!" River pleaded with Simon, and then looked to Jayne. "No drugs," she whispered vehemently.

"That there's exactly why she's been hiding." Jayne nodded at Simon. "You drug her up, when all she needs is time to calm down."

Zoe, quiet up 'til now, put a hand on Mal's shoulder and whispered something in his ear. Mal's jaw clenched. "Zo, I know. But…" The woman's hand clenched on his shoulder, stopping him. "Middle of the night or not, this has to be dealt with. She's an impressionable girl, Zo, and he's…Jayne." Mal's hand swept, indicating the problematic pair, as if everything should be obvious, because it sure as well was to him.

Before Jayne even had time to react to that, Kaylee had leapt to her feet. "What's that supposed to mean, Cap'n?" She looked ready to fight him, and that was saying something. "Jayne's good enough, leave him be."

Simon stood, hand over his mouth as he thought. Now that the threat of drugs was gone, River looked to be calming well enough. If Jayne did that for her, then…"Captain, let's leave them be for a time." He closed his eyes, and spoke as if he couldn't believe what he was saying. "This is most definitely what going made feels like, but…River is superbly stubborn, if nothing else, even more so after she's been scared." Simon took another breath and continued as Mal looked at him in shock. "If this…if she's calm and happy and not hurting anyone, that's the ultimate goal here." He looked at River. "Are you calm?"

River's eyes were trained on Mal, and her hands hadn't left Jayne's elbow. "Will be when Captain stops thinking about guns." Mal frowned.

Simon sighed. "Happy?"

"Very. Man named Jayne is very nice. Tells stories." River beamed up at the hired gun, and Jayne pointedly refused to look back at her. Instead, he glared across the table at Mal, daring him to say something.

Simon looked at Malcolm as he asked his final question. "And Mal, is she hurting anyone?"

Mal glared at Jayne, then at Simon. "Only my head, gorram it all."

"For which I'd be glad to give you a painkiller, Captain." Simon held his own in the staring match that followed, not backing down or looking away. Mal had to give him that, at least.

After a moment, Mal sighed, flabbergasted at his crew. "Fine. Fine! You all want to ignore this, fine. Doc, add somethin' to help me sleep to that painkiller cocktail, and you got yerself a deal. But!" He whirled back to face Jayne, finger pointed. "But. I got a rule about shipboard romancin' Jayne. And this…"

Jayne looked both horrified and insulted. "Mal! I told ya', nothin' inappropriate like! I like mine not-crazy, and knowin' what they're doin'. Thanks." For once, River didn't contest being called crazy.

Simon beckoned for Mal to go to the infirmary for his promised 'cocktail', and they left. Kaylee kissed Jayne and River each on the top of the head before heading back to her room, talking about how 'shiny' this whole thing was. Zoe, however, stood there. Watching them.

"Speak yer piece, Zo." Jayne closed his eyes, tired from his interrupted sleep and this showdown. He wanted to get back to bed, and right quick.

"Got nothin' to say, Jayne. Nothin' that needs to be said, anyway." Zoe met River's eyes, and River nodded after a moment. Zoe nodded again in acknowledgement, and turned on her heel and left, and then there were two.

The two of them, the gun and the crazy girl, sat in somewhat comfortable silence for a few moments before Jayne cracked his eyes open again and looked down at the brown doe eyes looking up at him. Somewhere along the line, she'd leaned her head against his bicep, and had been staring up at him, waiting for him to move. "Well, that was all kinds o' fun, girly." His voice was tired, gruff, but held no animosity for the slip of a thing next to him.

"Was no fun. Sarcasm wasn't necessary; too late at night for humor." River yawned, closing her eyes as she snuggled against him.

"Guess yer right. But sleepin' in here won't do you any good, Moony. Come on. Back to your room." Jayne tried to stand without toppling the girl attached to his arm. She stood fluidly with him, not letting go of his arm, like some silly princess from his ma's books.

"Jayne will escort the girl back to her chambers?" She raised an eyebrow at him, regal even in an old tee-shirt he thought had belonged to Mal and an old pair of Kaylee's shorts. Hair tumbling in a wild mess down her back, face clean except for one or two dried tear tracks, Jayne couldn't help but add this image of her to the growing collection he hadn't realized he was keeping.

But River knew, and she smiled as Jayne walked her to her room. She hugged him fiercely, wordlessly, before disappearing back to the darkness of her room, the comfort of her bed, and the oblivion of a sleep without nightmares.

Jayne stood outside her room just long enough to hear her climb into bed before he turned to go back to his own with a powerful yawn. This night had been to gorram strange.