Leo


Leo (The Lion) : Keyword: "I will". Generous, proud, theatrical, passionate, loves attention, dramatic, independent, noble, creative, leader, sunny, bright, kingly, powerful, loves a crowd, intelligent, resourseful, cunning, sweet, flash tempered. Ruling Planet : Sun : Personal strength, vitality and achievement, leadership qualities, power and authority; the need to express oneself; creativity, parenthood, (especially fatherhood), the need for recognition, esteem and personal pride. Ruler of the zodiac sign Leo.


As he made their breakfasts at the usual unreasonable hour, Jayne got to hear an unexpected conversation approaching from the crew corridor. It was the other married couple making their way in the darkness before day-cycle began. They conversed in night tones, aware of the hour and how every sane creature aboard the ship was asleep. Sanity didn't apply to new parents, Jayne thought with a sniff.

"I said it before, Wash, and I'll keep on sayin' it 'til you know I mean it. Really mean it," Zoe whispered into the darkness. Their footsteps shuffled closer. Jayne didn't bother to hide the fact that he was listening in.

"I don't think we've been living on the same boat for the last three weeks," Wash laughed incredulously. "Because on the ship I'm piloting, there's this little terror living down in the passenger dorms--a little terror related to the two scariest people I've ever known--and it's been more than a little hard to sleep at night even with feet of thick steel between me and her."

Jayne grunted as he stared down at the cold protein substitute of a breakfast. That wasn't no way to talk about his little girl. He mentally dared Wash to go on.

Zoe entered the galley first, minimally dressed in the early hours, but still decent. Wash was similarly-garbed, in what Jayne could most accurately describe as a Hawaiian nightmare on pajama pants. He could only barely stifle a guffaw.

"Scary as they are, they have a baby and we don't. Don't that seem kinda sad t' you?" Zoe asked, not having noticed Jayne in the shadows of the kitchen.

"Well, no, not really," Wash admitted, rubbing one of his eyes laboriously. A pause. "Okay, maybe, but... Heck if Jayne can do it--"

"Mornin'," Jayne rumbled threateningly from his position in the shadows. Wash gave a quick shout and jumped about three feet into the air. Zoe turned nonchalantly, nodding in return.

"Morning, Jayne," she returned. "You up already?"

"You kiddin'?" Jayne uttered, sounding exhausted. "I been up 'fore any 'a you for more'n a week." He pointed to his eyes. "You see these? Looks like I got a pair of shiners!"

Zoe smirked knowingly, and Wash gestured wildly in Jayne's direction. "See? See? Do you want that? The... the bag-things under your eyes? Honey, I love you, but bags?"

"You're 'bout three seconds from my fist in your face, little man," Jayne grumbled, narrowing his eyes. Wash backed off, holding up both hands in surrender. The new father scooped up both bowls of tasteless breakfast mush and plodded off for the stairs down to Serenity's lower level. Zoe grinned slowly in Wash's direction, who looked as if he'd seen a particularly violent ghost.

"Ain't that sweet?" Zoe asked. Wash shook his head slowly while her eye was still fixed on Jayne, and changed quickly to an enthusiastic nod as soon as she turned back to him. She allowed a quiet smile. "Nice cover, baby."

The light was on when Jayne returned to what had previously only been River's room. The door was open, allowing a shaft of warm light to splash into the hallway. Simon's room, across the hall, was still dark and silent. Clearing his throat to announce his return, Jayne nudged the sliding door open with one shoulder, entered, and slid it closed again with his foot.

Molly was quiet now, her pretty blue eyes wide open and staring at the room in perpetual wonder. River had her lying on the bed beside her, looking even more red-eyed and tired than Jayne. The new mother ran a brush in calming strokes through her long hair, half-asleep but knowing that she was destined to be awake for the rest of the day. She smiled sweetly as Jayne walked in, and thankfully took the breakfast he'd made her.

"Valiant Papa Bear," she said, fondly brushing her fingers through the hair on the back of his head as he took a careful seat on the bed beside her.

"Yeah, yeah," he tried to shuffle it off, but a proud little smirk couldn't be wiped from his face. He scooped his spoon into his oatmeal and swallowed it before it had a chance to sit on his tongue. "What's she up to?" He asked, pointing at their child with his spoon across River's back. She turned her head to look at the black-haired little girl.

"Exercises," River explained simply. "Watch." She leaned over Molly, who looked extremely surprised to see her mother's face suddenly hovering over her. The little girl's eyes went wide, and her tiny mouth formed an "o" of recognition. Jayne allowed himself a broad grin, an instinctual move that he compensated for by stuffing another spoonful of oatmeal in his mouth. Without warning, River flipped Molly over onto her stomach.

Jayne nearly spit all of the oatmeal out of his mouth then, inversely, almost choked on it. Once he managed to control the gag reflex, he swallowed his oatmeal and was almost on his feet. "Yer gonna smother her!"

River shook her head, and nodded down at Molly. The girl effortlessly raised her head up, just barely, looking like one of those penguin things he'd seen on the Cortex. Nevertheless, Jayne's eyes remained wide as he looked back to River.

"You gave me a ruttin' heart attack, girl," he breathed.

"Can't hold her own head up unless she's on her stomach," River clarified. "Learning fast."

"They s'posed to do that?" He asked, looking down at his little girl like she was just the smartest thing he'd ever seen. River gave a tired laugh.

"Yes, but she is still very smart. She knows her Mama Bear."

"Yeah?" He scraped another taste of breakfast from his bowl and levered himself off of the bed to crouch beside Molly. "You know your Mama, huh? How 'bout Papa?"

In response, Molly wobbled and plopped back down into the blanket. Jayne sighed, stood, and rolled Molly over onto her back again. Her wide, curious eyes took him in, and her little fists clenched and unclenched beside her face. River smiled affectionately up at her man, then followed his hand as it moved from his side to poke Molly's hand gently. Her baby fingers wrapped around his, her entire fist barely big enough to grasp his single digit.

"Y'know," Jayne said after a long pause of watching Molly make sucking-faces. He then continued to pause, and didn't finish his sentence.

"Too tired to read your mind, hui xiong," she said, finishing off the breakfast he'd brought her.

Jayne leaned down to carefully scoop Molly up in his arms, mindful of her head. "Y'know," he tried again, "you ain't been sleepin'."

"I do know that," River responded simply. "Molly demands my breasts at an ever-increasing rate."

Jayne had to allow his snickering to pass before he continued with his statement. "How 'bout today is a Jayne 'n Molly day?"

River was silent for a moment, watching Jayne bounce Molly with a quirked grin on his face. "Could be disastrous," she said quietly.

"Aw, c'mon, what's the worst that could happen?" Jayne asked. "You need yer sleep, and it ain't like me 'n the cub are gonna be all by our lonesome on this bird."

River gave a heavy, concerned look at her little girl, weighed her options, and at last offered a conceding nod. Jayne beamed in return.

"Makes sense," she admitted as he leaned down to steal a kiss from her. "Need sleep to care for the baby, can't sleep because I'm caring for the baby, paradoxical."

"You keep all them paradoxicals in yer head. Me 'n the Cub 're takin' a trip."

"Change her diapers," she reminded him as, with his free hand, he threw the blanket across her. "Keep her warm, not too warm, mind her head."

"I been a Dad fer three weeks," he said with a laugh that jostled the baby slightly against his chest. "I think I can handle a few hours." He searched for a long moment for the diaper bag River always had packed for emergency occasions such as Jayne demanding a day with the baby.

"Love you, hui xiong," she murmured as she nestled into her pillow.

"Back at ya, bao bei," he responded, switching off the light.

Just as he exited the room and slid the door shut, Jayne whirled around to see Simon standing only inches in front of him. Had he not been a more sturdy man, Jayne might have jumped at the sudden appearance.

"Mornin', Doc," Jayne nodded. He still wasn't used to calling his brother-in-law by his name, and Simon had come to accept that. The doctor was rubbing one of his eyes of sleep, and looked secretly appalled at the hour in which he'd woke.

"I'm glad you didn't prefix that with 'good'," he mumbled back. Simon offered a smile for his niece, poking her nose affectionately. "I hear it's a father-daughter day?"

Jayne nodded past a yawn.

"I could offer my services as an uncle--"

"Git back t' bed," Jayne demanded. "I got 'er."

"It's too late now," Simon sighed, buttoning his shirt up as he spoke. "When I'm up, I'm up."

"Right," Jayne said quickly, "maybe y' didn't hear right. Me 'n Molly. Not me, Molly 'n Uncle Simon. Not me, Molly, Uncle Simon 'n the mechanic he's hidin' in his room. Got that?" Jayne shook his head as he walked off for the stairs, muttering something along the line of "the stuff he's exposin' my little girl to." Simon looked completely mortified, especially as the fully-blushing, disheveled Kaylee emerged from his room behind him.

Serenity was quiet when Inara woke. If they had been planetside, she might have looked out the front windows of her shuttle to see the pink fingers of dawn barely peeking over the horizon. But no, they were afloat in the black, and there would be no sun rising to light the day. She did miss the dawns. The companion opened the door to her shuttle, pulling her shawl close over her shoulders in the morning chill. As usual, she was the first to wake on a ship full of slugabeds, but the now-familiar sounds of baby-wails from the passenger dorms was strangely absent that morning. Her mouth turned down only slightly, wondering what the change in schedule meant, when she heard a noise from the shuttle opposite her own.

Voices, she noted, as she moved quietly closer. Or, more accurately, one voice. The door to the empty shuttle was slightly ajar, and the gruff voice issuing from therein was incredibly familiar. Inara sidled up to the shuttle door, sitting beside it to listen clandestinely to what she knew he would never let anyone hear on purpose.

"And this here's Vera," Jayne said in a low voice from inside the shuttle. "She's... Well, she's my favorite gun, that's all ya really gotta know. Don't think you're old enough t' care 'bout custom triggers."

Molly issued a childish burble, probably full of slobber. This was confirmed as Jayne uttered something along the lines of "eurgh," set down Vera with a metallic clunk and rooted around in something. Inara barely contained a laugh.

"Now," Jayne said after having finished cleaning up the girl's spit bubbles, "this one's got a real nice story." Inara could hear him drawing a gun out of its holster. Had it been anyone else, she might have worried about guns around a baby. But Jayne knew what he was doing. Mal payed him to know what he was doing. Unthinkingly, Inara had leaned in closer to hear the story more clearly.

"This'n? Took her off of some stupid son-of-a--"

Inara braced herself for the slur, but Jayne had halted himself with a jerk in his voice. This surprised her.

"Well, he weren't smart like your Mama, that's for damn sure. Anyway," he said through Molly's incoherent burbling, "fella stabs me right here." Inara couldn't see where he was pointing, and felt left out of the story. Determined, she stood as quietly as possible and peeked though the window on the door to the shuttle.

Jayne was turned slightly away from the door, cradling a swaddled Molly in one arm and holding a silver, gleaming pistol in the other, pointing sharply at his shoulder right where it met his breastbone. Her eyebrows shot up. That was the nasty, deep stab wound Simon had cleaned up the day Molly was born.

"Now, it don't hurt much 'cause me 'n your Mama are in one helluva jam. This... this..." He was obviously trying not to swear, which made Inara smile instinctually. "This fella's got me 'n her pinned down in a gorram restaurant, last-stand-type heroics 'n all that. He's shootin' like he ain't never held a gun in his life, which," he paused to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, "I don't get. Y' send someone out t' catch yer government-trained livin' weapon, you ain't gonna send Johnny Dumbass with 'is cheap-as-hell haircut. So you know what I do, Molly?"

The girl was silent, her eyelids drooping and her mouth making sucking motions. Inara's heart melted at the sight, despite ducking out of view as Jayne turned to face the door more squarely.

"I gotta pro-tect what's mine, right? This guy's got my girls in a mess 'a trouble, and I ain't gonna stand for that. So the idiot just sticks his head right up and I pop him a real good one right where it counts.

"See, Little Bear," he held up the pistol to emphasize his coming point, "when y' shoot someone, and y' want him dead, gotta make sure you hit him where it's gonna kill him. Don't want no bleedin' mess. You want him alive, take out the leg or the shoulder, somewhere that'll bleed nice 'n good but it ain't gonna kill him right out. You want 'im dead, you get the head or the chest, were that bullet's gonna stick and cause a right mess 'fore it's done."

A wide grin took Jayne's face, looking straight down at the girl bundled in the crook of his arm. "See, this here's the gun I took from that Alliance waste-of-skin. I call 'er Ruth."

Then, Molly smiled. Inara was watching as Jayne's smile melted into something so soft that she had to blink to make sure this was the same man. Inara knew that look. Oh, yes, how she knew that face. With that light in his eye, Inara knew that Jayne loved this little girl more than he could ever love himself, all of his guns and anyone else combined. Inara knew of only one other person who had received this look, and it was his wife, the day he told her that he loved her.

"Oh, Jayne," Inara sighed fondly, overcome for some odd reason.

Jayne jumped, though not enough to jostle the child in his arms, his eyes shooting to the small window in the door of the shuttle. Inara laughed softly to see the embarrassed flush that had come to his cheeks, which he scoffed away quickly.

"Jee-zus, 'Nara," he breathed, looking both cross and sheepish. "My wife been teachin' you t' sneak around?"

"You named your gun Ruth?" Inara asked, knowing the question to be a screen. She stepped into the shuttle, taking note that half the contents of the diaper bag was strewn about; Jayne had been here for quite some time.

"Yeah," he admitted off-handedly. Molly was half-asleep, her eyes not quite having decided whether to stay open or closed. Jayne smirked at her, then wiped it away when he looked back up toward Inara. The companion was smiling at him like he'd done the shiniest thing, and he wasn't quite sure if he liked it or not.

"Anything special behind the name?" She asked as she stood beside him and looked down at the little pink bundle. Jayne laughed dryly, only once.

"Named 'er after River." Catching Inara's confusion, he only said, "Long story."

A silence took them, and for once, it was not completely uncomfortable. Both pairs of eyes were locked on the baby as she slowly, surely fell asleep in Jayne's arms. The companion traced her fingertips in Molly's wispy black hair. Somewhere above, the sounds of early morning on Serenity were beginning to arise.

There was something caught in Inara's throat as she said: "You're a good father, Jayne."

Jayne didn't look up to catch her eye as he responded simply. "Thanks, 'Nara."

Aunt Inara let Molly sleep in her shuttle that morning, and after the girl had taken her lunch from her mother, Inara took her to nap in her shuttle once again. Mr. and Mrs. Cobb curled up together in the same bed that afternoon, taking a long and well-deserved nap of their own.


AN: Hey all, and sorry again about late updates. I feel really bad that I can't do these any faster, but I do what I can. College, while not quite kicking my ass, is still tough. Just so ya know, Leo is my sign (RAWR) and it just turned out to be almost completely Jayne-centric. Coincidence? Perhaps. I felt kinda pressured to make this one really good, and I hope I manage to live up to my own gorram expectations. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing, guys, it really makes my day and want to keep impressing y'all (wonder how long I can keep that up...?). Tell me if there's anything I need to work on, or anything that needs fixin'. Thanks much, again, and keep that awesome thang happening!