Serenity

It was one of those "it's too quiet" moments that Mal was none-too-fond of. His ship was supposed to be a bundle of activity, bustling with movement, always astir with something or another. If things got too quiet, he was wont to get suspicious that something was going on that he didn't know about. And nothing happened on his ship that he didn't know about.

He was making rounds to check to see if, in fact, something was going on under his nose he hadn't approved. Being mid-afternoon, everyone had already eaten and should be going about their own business. Wash was the first he found, trying to hide the fact he was playing with his dinosaurs in the cockpit. He asked Mal very nicely not to tell anyone about his weakness.

Kaylee was next, climbing out her bunk and looking far too spunky to be real. She tried to catch the captain in a conversation about the converter and if it could run a little faster if tweaked, but he kindly moved on, allowing her full run of the engine as he usually did.

Inara was in the kitchen, warming the water for her tea on the stove. He kept his mouth shut about the appointment she had later that day, as they'd set down in Persephone at last. She kept her mouth shut on being able to read him like a book, commenting instead on something trivial that supposedly set her off.

Shepherd Book was getting ready to go planetside, his bible tucked neatly under one arm. He claimed the need to buy a few personal amenities, and Mal left it plain at that. He didn't feel the need to dig into anyone's personal life as he scoured the ship for dissenters and secrets.

Zoe had gone out already, he was reminded as he passed through the cargo bay. She was to act as ambassador to Badger on Mal's behalf; the last they spoke, the dealer and the smuggler weren't on the best terms. Zoe went ahead to assure that Mal wouldn't be shot in the head upon his arrival. Badger wasn't the smartest or most pleasant of dealers, but often Mal had little choice.

He came across a flustered Jayne sitting idly in the waiting area across from the infirmary. He waved at Mal, trying to look convincingly occupied with something under his fingernail. The captain honestly didn't want to know. Jayne looked up as casually as possible.

"Hey, the Doc gone planetside?"

"Why, so you can pillage 'n raid your merry way through his stock with his permission?" Mal obviously wasn't in the mood.

"Was thinkin' of goin' out myself, sooner or later. Didn't wanna have t' face his ugly mug in a crowd."

"Yeah, well, a certain ugly mug is crowdin' up my lounge and I'd rather have him outta sight if he's plannin' on doin' so himself."

"Aw, now, it ain't fair t' talk about the Doc behind his back like that, Mal. I think he likes it better when ya do it to his face." He flashed a trained grin. The captain was about to storm moodily off when Jayne spoke again. "If Doc's out, likely he took the ni zi with him."

"Mighty cute nickname for your crazy, knife-wielding friend, ain't it?" Mal rounded on him, crossing his arms and squinting judgmentally.

"She's little, ain't she?" Jayne didn't miss a beat. "And I'm pretty gorram sure she's a girl, too, what with crawlin' all nekkid 'n crab-like outta that box..."

Mal pointed at him severely. "Hey! I don't want you thinkin' about anybody on this boat naked, you hear me?"

"Hell, Zoe's married, and little Kaylee's clung mush t' that pussy doctor often as y' see her, and no offense, Mal, but ain't any time I wanna think about you nekkid..."

"Finish that thought and you're off my ship, dong ma?" Mal started walking for the staircase at an increased pace. "You go planetside, do it soon. Don't wanna think about you for a good long time, Jayne."

He listened closely to make sure Mal wasn't doubling back to insult him further, then leaned back to peer over the back of the sofa. "Coast's clear, little bear."

"Captain Reynolds is unclean," she commented as she rose from behind the couch with a sneer on her lips. "Objects of unknown origin, balls of dust and hair, strange smells and one lost checker." She held up the game piece and turned it over to inspect it. "Missing for too long; using an old nutshell in its place."

"Hey, I was wonderin' where that went." He snatched the red checker from her hand and stuck it in his pocket victoriously. He then reached back over and pulled River down on top of him, causing her to gasp and grip his shoulders tight. As she straddled him there on the couch, flushed by his sudden movement and releasing her death grip on him, she felt an odd sense of power come over her.

"Pinned," she muttered. He propped himself up on one elbow, the other hand anchored on her hip. With one hand, she pushed him quickly to lay flat on his back. He fell back with an 'oof' and looked up bewilderedly at the girl behind the waterfalls of dark hair. She inspected him just as she had inspected the checker piece, cocking her head. Finally, she ducked down, fingers pressed into his chest, to kiss him on the side of his neck.

He didn't know what to do with his hands. In fact, he wasn't sure what to do with anything. As she took another, longer kiss from the flesh of his neck, he could only rumble in a pleased way. She giggled at the way it reverberated through his chest under her fingers. So she did it again. By the third time she'd done this to him, she felt his fingers wrap around the back of her neck and thread through the hair there.

"River," he muttered without thinking. She paused, a little surprised, and she lifted her head only enough to look him straight in the eye.

"River," she repeated.

"That's your name, ain't it?" He felt slightly flummoxed.

"Never said it." She looked like she could start crying if she had to. "Never said her name. Always the little girl, always crazy, moonbrained, never River." She caressed his face with one of her hands.

"If y' don't want--"

"Say it again," she said quickly, as if he might change his mind.

A short paused before he smirked broadly. "River."

Her pretty smile was accompanied with an even prettier laugh, and she pulled one long, gracious kiss from him. It wasn't long before Kaylee made her approach, forcing the two elsewhere to remain undetected.

He wasn't quite sure of the circumstances that led up to him partaking of her lesson, but he was pretty sure it had something to do with her doing those puppy-dog eyes he couldn't deny. When Wash had laughed at the very idea of Jayne giving in to the puppy eyes, Jayne just dared him not to melt when River got that sad doe look in her eyes. He failed the test.

One eye peeked open as furtively as he could manage, and River's hand clamped over his face to block his vision. He grumbled, shutting his eye once again and trying not to complain.

"Vision clouds the eye," she told him, right close to his ear. He smirked.

"S'awful hard t' get all relaxed-like with your pretty little voice in my ear, ni zi."

"Flattery is unnecessary in your training, Jayne." Nevertheless, she planted a kiss on his neck just below his ear. "Must focus. Listen to the ship, and hear her breathe with you. Keep calm and steady, and she will speak to you."

He sighed uselessly, feeling a bit like an idiot, with his knees folded under him indian-style. He compensated by crossing his arms indignantly. He peeked out again to see River sitting beside him in exactly the same manner, with the exception of her arms loose at her side. She breathed in all shallow and was deafeningly quiet. He examined her mannerisms, shut his eye again, and tried to focus, as she'd said.

It wasn't working. He was thinking about the pretty girl sitting beside him, the way her back curved to her neck, and how her hair fell just right around her face. It was bothering him something terrible not being able to touch her right then, and that it was interrupting with what she'd asked him to do. He growled again slightly, set his shoulders, and tried to relax.

She giggled beside him, which just set him further off.

"Aw, hell, you know I ain't good at this," he told her, opening his eyes and turning to look at her. She didn't relinquish her position or look at him.

"Going about it all wrong," she said plainly in a voice that reminded him just how smart and how crazy this girl was. "Don't try to think. Forget thinking, and just listen."

"I'm not a ruttin' psychic..."

"Just listen," she reiterated. He pouted in her general direction, then turned away again. He closed his eyes, took a steadying breath and stopped thinking.

It was easier than he thought. Everything started melting away almost as soon as he'd cut off communication with his brain, stopped thinking. A brief memory of his childhood, stationed dead quiet in a deer blind with nothing but his thoughts between him and that hulking animal, hovered near his ear. He'd felt exactly the same then, like there was a hot spotlight on him, and nothing else. He could hear the breath in his chest, his heart thumping away in his ears. He heard footsteps far away, light and delicate--Inara padding about on her way to her shuttle. He could hear River breathing beside him, soft and low and sweet. He'd never listened to anyone just breathe before, and some knot that'd been there for so long untied itself low in his stomach.

"Wow," he breathed lowly.

"Listen to Serenity," River told him quietly. "What is she saying to you?"

He listened again, in quiet contemplation for a good moment. "Cap'n's on his way down. He thinks you're out with the Doc."

"Yes," she muttered, nodding beside him. "She disappears like a shadow at noon." Some noise beside him, and he guessed that she really did slip away to make sure the captain didn't happen to see her and Jayne together. That mind of his was pretty quick to jump to all sorts of conclusions. Jayne nodded almost sleepily, and continued his silent vigil. The heavy, angry footsteps of the prowling captain grew closer until they stopped with a double-take near ten feet away from him on the hangar floor.

"What in the name a' hell you doin', Jayne?" Mal asked incredulously. Jayne didn't shift or even open his eyes. Too comfortable.

"Meditatin'."

That was one of the words Mal Reynolds never expected to come out of Jayne's mouth. And the list was pretty damn long. He'd had to cross 'pretentious' off there after a meeting with Badger, and he hadn't been to pleased about that. He didn't like having to pull the damn thing out, was the rub.

"Meditating?" Mal repeated in a high, unbelieving voice. Jayne nodded in a soporific way.

"Listenin'."

"And just what is it you're hearin', Jayne, 'sides the rattlin' your brain makes rollin' around in your head?"

"Real funny, Mal," Jayne grumbled, almost losing his grip on the nothingness River had sent him into. He didn't make any other attempts to communicate with the captain after that. Mal's hackles rose.

"You've been actin' awful strange since we set down at Mill Creek, Jayne, but this is just the icing on the ruttin' cake!"

"Just 'cause you're pissed 'bout Zoe gettin' to run off and the like without you don't mean you gotta take it out on everyone else, Cap'n," Jayne observed, wondering where the hell the piece of wisdom had come from. Mal crossed his arms defensively, settling himself in for the long haul.

"Oh, ho ho. We've got a shepherd on the boat and the merc's the one preachin' to me? I don't know where you found the balls, Jayne, but you don't got a right t' tell me what to do on my ship."

"Ain't tellin' ya what t' do," Jayne reasoned. "Just tellin' the truth."

"You tryin' to philosophize with me?"

Jayne suddenly stood, a move that made Mal jump back as if the merc were on fire, with his fists balled at his sides in frustration of the interruption. He realized again just how big and scary Jayne could be when he wanted to.

"Hell, Mal, if you just listened I wouldn't have to!"

"Tell me, Jayne," Mal raised his voice, daring to step closer and stare him down, "just what was it about Mill Creek that made you so agreeable alluva sudden?" Jayne clenched his jaw shut, not daring say anything. "Helpin' out with dinner... Takin' care of River when the Doc's out... Hell, I think you actually said somethin' nice to 'Nara yesterday."

"Then why don't'cha ask her what's so gorram upsettin' 'bout bein' nice!" The last word came out so loudly that Inara jumped from her position on the grating above, causing Mal to look up with a bewildered look. He pointed at Inara, looked at Jayne all funny, then back to Inara.

"How'd you--"

"Listenin'," Jayne grumbled as he settled himself back on the floor, shut his eyes tight like a three-year-old refusing to listen to his parents, and tried to block them out.

Mal joined Inara on the catwalk, staring down heatedly at the back of Jayne's head. "Somethin' just ain't right about a mercenary gettin' all nice-i-fied on ya when you're not lookin'." He leaned his arms on the railing before him, and Inara did the same.

"And I don't see why you're so upset," Inara said back, flipping the hair casually from her shoulder. Mal glanced her way, then looked back down on the unmoving form of Jayne.

"Well... Jayne ain't s'posed to be nice. Jayne's s'posed to be... Jayne." He pointed down at the man, as if to make a point. "You spend two years with a fella like Jayne and you come t' expect certain things he's gonna do. Like start a fight. Or say somethin' vulgar. Or bite someone. I don't know."

"Then don't you think that a change in the opposite direction is a change for the better?" Inara tried to bolster Jayne's side as inconspicuously as possible.

"Some folks don't change, 'Nara."

"That's just an excuse used by those who don't." She remained as stoic as possible as he glanced over her way. "Give it a chance. Don't bite his head off, or he might just bite back someday."

"We aren't just talkin' about Jayne anymore, are we?" He asked with a smirk. She offered her most sarcastic companion smile back at him.

"No, Captain, we aren't." She turned and walked away, dress swishing about her in a way he was sure she was doing on purpose. He ran a nervous hand over his face as she left and offered a consceding sigh. She'd done her job. He'd forgotten why he was angry with Jayne.

Zoe walked back on to a very different ship than she'd left. She'd secured the deal with Badger and was ready to calm the arguing masses with her good news. When she walked in through the hissing and clanking airlock, she was surprised to find not only Jayne but Mal and her husband sitting cross-legged on the floor of the hangar in a quiet, thoughtful state. She furrowed her brows as she approached, circling them like a very confused vulture. She stopped beside the captain and crossed her arms with a shake of her head.

"Sir, can I ask what the hell is going on here?"

"Meditatin'," Mal responded, eyebrows raised.

"Listenin'," Jayne clarified.

"Yeah, what they said," Wash muttered.

Zoe looked up to see River leaning casually on the railing of the catwalk, a big grin on her face as she looked down at the men, especially her Jayne. Zoe's lips twitched up into a smirk and left it at that. She walked up the steps until she was standing beside the girl.

"This your doin', then?"

"Now Serenity is calm," River murmured. She turned to Zoe with a bright, knowing smile. "Serene."

"Never would'a thought anyone could get all their mouths shut at the same time," Zoe mused, grinning at the three of them just sitting there on the floor of the hangar. "Now if only we could get your brother to try that. Give us womenfolk some time to be... women." River seemed to like the idea very much, and went off humming into the very, very quiet ship.


AN: Hey there, sooo sorry this one took forever to get up. FInals are bearing down pretty hard, and I may or may not get the next one up within the next week. BUT! After that, it's just summer ahead, which means FREEDOM! I had a little bit of trouble trying to get this one across, even if it IS the name of the ship. But the mental image of Jayne just sitting there all 'meditatin' sent me off giggling. I hope it's up to par (I dunno, prolly my least fave so far) but if it's not don't be afraid to let me know. I love hearing from you guys, what you liked and what you didn't. Thanks much for reading and sticking with me!