"Okay look." Mal whispered as he, Jayne, and Zoë crept through the gardens of Senator Ethan Cho's mansion. "This operation is about stealthiness. I don't wanna hear a gorram step you make. AH!" He shrieked as River appeared beside him suddenly.

Mal jumped a bit and tripped over Zoë's foot. He fell over sideways and into a giant thorny shrub. Jayne moved to lean against the nearest tree and tried to make his laughter as silent as possible. Zoe smiled as much as one could without showing teeth. River huffed and shook her head at Mal, offering him a hand up. He had brambles and burrs stuck everywhere in his hair. Jayne doubled over and pointed at him.

Mal glared while River went through and patiently picked out all the plant life. The foursome waited until Jayne's laughter had calmed to the occasional snicker and then continued to move towards the house.

"We all set?" Jayne whispered to River, she had been sent forward to survey the security guard detail and read them.

"Yes. Tonight's guards are drifting, not paying attention. Nothing ever happens here. They have congregated in the basement for a high stakes poker game."

"Shiny." They crept through the gardens on (mostly) silent feet, crouching low where no trees provided cover. The gardens were massive, circling the entire mansion, encompassing every form of plant you could grow, including a few of the more deadly variety. The house loomed ahead, dark and dauntingly large. The Cho Mansion was eight floors total, sprawling over about three quarters of an acre. Jayne had never seen it's equal. Gargoyles were carved into the solid, inky black marble guarding the windows of each floor. Balconies wrapped around the entire fifth and seventh floors. Six foot tall shimmering glass windows marked the spacing between the other floors.

The only lights that shone were from the forth floor;everything residential was there. Kaylee had said not to worry on the lights. They were set on electronic timers, so them being on didn't mean the family was actually home. It was a nice little trick to fool nasty criminals such as…. them… into thinking they were always home.

Not that it particularly mattered where the Cho family normally was. Tonight they were enjoying society out at some fancible Opera house,and the crew of Serenity were immensely grateful as it meant they were given the opportunity to rob them blind. Or as near to blind as they could manage.

The vault was on the top floor, holding more than 300,000 platinum and several veritably priceless relics. The only reason no one had ever tried to rob the Senator before was on account of the fact that the room leading to the vault was a field of lasers in constant motion, programmed to turn deadly when motion was detected. The lasers could only be turned off by Senator Cho himself. They were keyed into his personal body signature, which River had explained was the unique combination of heat, pheromone output, and a retina scan. As if that weren't over kill in and of itself, the vault itself was locked by a keypad with a thirteen digit entry code that changed monthly, and obviously, only he was ever privy to.

Jayne still wasn't sure how they planned to move around that, but River had assured him there was a plan that would work already in place. He had a bad feelin' about it, actually. She'd waved it off as something he wouldn't want to hear, with technology and the like. And really, if she'd started explaining it and it had gotten too complicated he would have just told her to stop talking, but on the whole it wasn't like her to not want to explain. Jayne figured her not speakin' up was 'cause either she figured he was just a lost cause for these things (which made him a mite tetchy), or because maybe it was gonna be more dangerous for her than Mal was lettin' on.

The four of them reached the line where the garden met the path. Mostly gravel, the walkway followed the inner rim of the gardens and circled the perimeter of the house. River aimed a silenced .22 she called Dorian at the security camera they were just out of sight from. The technology shattered and she waved the other three forward.

Jayne let Mal and Zoe go first so that he could walk at the back, watching behind them for any unexpected company. As they snuck on to the path the weaponry came out. Mal removed a pistol from his holster as Zoe brought out the ever faithful mare's leg. Jayne had gone with Liza, one of two .45 sniper rifles. Liza had a strap to go around his back though, so he'd chosen her over Annette.

There were no lights on, but Sihnon had eight moons that all glowed brightly. They actually made keeping to the shadows pretty gorram difficult. River held her hand up in a fist, the symbol to stop moving. Jayne waited for River's nod, to signal there was no soul about or about to move their way. She stilled almost entirely, her eyes slipping closed. Jayne watched her with a tiny bit of fascination. A slight tilt of her head. A deep breath in. A deep breathe out. She nodded firmly. Safe. Jayne holstered his weapon.

Mal took the rope hanging from his belt off, along with the equal length of rope that was secured around his chest and shoulders like a bandolier. He handed one each to Jayne and River. Jayne glared at Mal when his hand was punctured sharply by the rope. Apparently he'd gotten everything on him covered in brambles as well. The merc shook his head at Mal, beginning to pick out the brambles one by one, glaring at the Captain a little bit. Why he and River hadn't been allowed to carry their own rope, Jayne couldn't figure. But maybe it had something to do with Mal needing something useful to do. Considering River and Zoe had basically taken the planning of this heist from him by force, maybe it wasn't too far a stretch in logic. Jayne and River both shot glares in Mal's direction as they plucked the last of the brambles out of their rope. The captain was somewhat off put by the startling symmetry in their expressions.

Jayne craned his neck to look upwards, where the ropes would have to land. The balcony on the fifth floor would be a bit of a hefty toss. Zoe dug through the small bag she carried with her and she handed River a grappling hook before giving an identical one to Jayne. The two killers swiftly tied expert knots to link their two supplies together. Jayne took a few large steps back eying the balcony carefully. He frowned.

The pillars that held up the hand rail weren't nearly wide enough for the legs of the grappling hook to fit through. He could land the hook on the actual hand rail but as much weight as he had resting on that little support was an idea what spoke of badness. Jayne cast a worried look at River. The girl genius smiled gently at him, walking over and picking up his hook. She pressed a black button he hadn't noticed on the top. The legs of the hook retracted to within the ball in the middle. Jayne rolled his eyes, sticking his tongue out at her. She laughed with eyes alone and him and retracted the legs on her own hook.

Jayne let loose about two and a half feet of rope and stepped away to swing the (surprisingly weighty) hook over his head. Releasing it with practiced perfection, the hook soared through the air, landing directly where he'd aimed. At the first contact with stone, the legs of the hook sprung out and locked in place. Must have been pressure rigged. Jayne tugged the rope towards himself forcefully, the legs of the hook snagged and held well. Regardless, as River swung her rope, he tugged a few more times to make sure it would hold. River's hook landed and locked against two other pillars about a foot away from Jayne's. She tested hers too. It held.

The two trooped forward and began their assent. Jayne looked over when he was about half way up the rope, and was mildly surprised that River was not beside him. He looked down, and when he saw nothing except Mal and Zoe, he cast a cautionary look upwards. She had somehow gained about a foot and a half on him. She climbed like a ruttin monkey. He distantly heard her murmur, "Less weight to pull." Jayne grinned and climbed faster.

Not a minute later, she reached the end of her rope and pulled off an impressive flip over the balcony's hand rest onto the actual balcony. She turned to assess Jayne's progress and he pulled himself up like a normal person (not without a pointed look in her direction) seconds later.

The pair looked over the edge of the balcony and beckoned Mal and Zoe up the ropes. The partners below started their climb while the partners above tried to negotiate removing a nearby window.

Kaylee had set them up with a small EMP. The gadget had about a six foot radius and would wipe out any electrical signature within its path. Since the windows were equipped with individual alarms, and none were linked back to the main system, the only trouble would be finding one big enough for Jayne to get through. River pointed to Jayne's left and they jogged that way, coming up to a window that led into a dark, empty room.

River set the EMP up on the window sill and detonated it. It made some fancy electrical noise, and Jayne could see a small light beside the window on the inside flicker. River glanced at the window thoughtfully as behind them Zoë climbed over the railing onto the balcony. River grinned and gestured to Jayne.

As Mal made it up the rope and over the balcony, River mimed a punch at the window. Jayne nodded, grinning. He wrapped his hand in his coat sleeve and wound up, delivered a mighty punch to the thin glass. It shattered everywhere. River mimed a small round of applause. Jayne took the opportunity to flex his bicep for her. She rolled her eyes but he saw that smile she was trying to hide.

River reached through the jagged hole and flipped the tiny latch serving as a lock. She hastily removed her arm as the window automatically opened about half way. Jayne glanced over his shoulder to watch as Mal and Zoe pulled the hook and rope sets up and began to recoil them. The other pair finished in seconds and trotted over to the window to stand beside River and Jayne.

Zoe's boots crunched delicately against the shattered glass. She crooked a thoughtful eyebrow at Jayne. "We don't' got no… glass cutters or… lock picks? Somethin' of the like?" She whispered.

Mal chuckled, that wry almost hollow smile playin' about his mouth. "Not by my last check."

"We lack the funds." River said in a hushed voice.

Mal bent hisself over a small communicator, sending Kaylee a text wave that stage one was complete. This would be the mechanic's cue to fire up Serenity with Inara. From this point, they would have 45 minutes total to find the vault, get through the defenses and secure the bounty.

"'Sides," the Captain whispered, fiddling with the numbers and letters on the tiny keyboard. "Window's too small for me or Jayne ta fit through. Gotta pop the whole frame out. Aint no glass cutter nor lock picker gonna git that done."

"'Cept'n me, that is." Jayne said, grinning.

River giggled, slipping gracefully through the window, turning once she had landed to beckon Jayne closer. The merc gripped the bottom on the top half of the window as hard as he could. River placed her hands on the other side, not far from his, and nodded once… twice… three times. Jayne pulled swiftly while River pushed and the top half of the window popped right out. Jayne set it down carefully on the balcony floor. He climbed inside.

He swung Liza back around and aimed her cautiously around the room. The mansion might as well have been a graveyard for all the activity they'd seen in it so far. But it'd still be a damn shame for some poor wayward servant to come stumbling in. River took out Dorian again and pointed him at the ceiling as Malthen Zoe climbed in quickly. Mal motioned River and Jayne forward so he could deal with the window. Apparently there was some fancy chip in it's workings that Kaylee had been wantin' powerful bad and Mal never was one to refuse Kaylee nothin'. Jayne and River hovered by the door while Mal extracted the tiny computer chip.

River and Jayne waited by the door frame, assessing the area outside it. The hallway was dark, practically pitch black. Only the layout of the mansion they had carefully studied earlier told Jayne there was an emergency staircase at the end of that hallway. River went first, holding her hand out to Jayne. Jayne gripped her tiny, soft hand in his and they crept together down the hallway, confident without looking (not that they could see anything) that Mal and Zoe were doing the exact same thing behind them.

River stopped suddenly. Jayne held out a hand to steady Mal behind him as, sure enough, the Captain slammed into Jayne's broad back and brought Zoe along with him. River worked quickly without eyes to see and soon the dark hallway had a stream of scarlet light to see by. The staircase was illuminated only by deep red emergency lights in a spiral pattern up the walls. The four criminals moved quickly into the emergency staircase.

River turned briefly to smirk at the other three. "Race you." She said breathlessly. Half a second later she was off like a shot up the winding, grey cement steps of the staircase. Jayne took off after her, smiling. From behind, he distantly heard Mal mutter, "Creepy."

Jayne was a bit disturbed by it his own self. Not so much by the fact that everything was this odd, deeply bloodstained color, but by the fact that River still looking remarkably hot, even in said creepy ass lighting. He grinned and pushed harder to catch up with her. He could take them two at a time, but that was still a helluva lot of stairs. Never-ruttin'-ending, it seemed.

The muscles in his legs began to burn. Every time he drew a breath in, it seemed to sear in his chest. He actually liked itwas good exercise. This was the kind of burn he lived for. The pump of adrenaline that crime always gave him, River movin' like a cat in front of him, the amusin' as all hellfire sound of the Captain wheezing heavily behind him. It was a gorram good time so far. After what seemed like a time period irrationally close to eternity, the crew reached the final plateau in the staircase. River's run stuttered to a halt and Jayne reigned himself in just in time to not knock into her. The Cap and Zoe trotted up moments later.

There was a door, locked with both mechanics and electronics, waiting for them. The EMP came out again. River set it off and Jayne knelt to begin picking the insane series of locks. From bottom to top, Jayne counted eight, all reliant upon the one preceding it to open before it would open. Jayne was quick with his hands though, and lock picking was an ancient skill for him. Long summer nights when the general store on his home moon had long since been closed, coupled with friends that wanted to party hard had taught him this valuable skill. River giggled. Jayne tossed her a smirk.

"The profits of a misspent youth," she whispered.

Jayne shrugged, undoing the final lock at the top. Even with help from River, Zoe, and the Captain, Jayne had trouble prying open the truly massive three foot solid steel door. Once it was open though, Jayne almost wished it had been closed. The laser field was most definitely not something he wanted River anywhere near.

They weren't those familiar red lasers that Jayne had been envisioning for the most part. These were lasers he'd been hoping beyond reason he would never see again. Jayne had a personal vendetta against these lasers. Green. Electronically engineered to sear the flesh right off you. Jayne panicked a little.

Red would hurt, true, but the green… the green had the venom to worry on as well. The merc hadn't understood for a long while how lasers could contain venom, but a partner had explained it to him once. They were composed of some high tech computer code inlayed with the ability to trick the skin into believing that it was infected. A person's body would simply react and begin to push out the substance that wasn't there, start creating antibodies that weren't needed and the program upped those until the skin had actually infected itself. Nasty piece of work. And something no one healed from.

He turned to his partner and grabbed her upper arm in a vice-like grip. He frowned heavily at her. "No." He said simply.

River sighed. "Yes."

It occurred to Jayne just exactly why she'd been so unhelpful in explaining her particular role in this endeavor. "I aint lettin' you into that kinda danger, Riv. Won't do it."

"Jayne I can do this. I have been trained in this exact scenario."

"Don't care."

"You should. Think of the payoff!" She said with a smile.

Jayne released her arm and glared at her in disbelief. "If you think fer one second I care a damn about the profit when yer in danger, ya done lost your ruttin' shit again. Ya gone through all the trouble o' makin' me used to a partner, ya aint allowed to go an' git yerself killed."

River looked shocked, and then slowly, her expression became pained. "I'm… sorry. I shouldn't have insulted you that way."

"Alright. Ya can make it up ta me by not goin' in there."

River lurched up on her tip toes, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her lips forcefully against his. Jayne's head spun with the passion behind it. He kissed her back. Her tiny hand wound itself in his short hair. He smelled her everywhere. That taste of cherries was back in his mouth, savory and bright and fresh. He groaned. River gasped. And then just as soon as it had started, it had stopped. There was empty air in his arms, and River was halfway across the laser field.

Jayne damn near exploded with anger. That low down dirty deceivin' bitch! Kissin' on him just to distract him enough to get herself killed! This was why he didn't kiss on the gorram mouth! Distracted him too much! His whole acquaintance with her flashed before his eyes. Every second they'd spend as partners or as enemies. He couldn't even begin to process what it would be liked if she kicked the bucket here and now. His heart stuttered painfully and his vision blurred. He'd never been so scared. It made him furious.

He was even too angry to acknowledge that she was doing perfectly well in navigating her way across the room, even as the lasers dipped and slid in random patterns. She flipped and twisted, soared and danced her lying little body gracefully across the giant ballroom to the vault. Jayne's anger ebbed slightly when he realized that she actually was very capable. She was about a foot from the vault and it had only been a minute.

But that still din' excuse…. sneaky little… with her twirly little moves! She was supposed to be smart! A ruttin' genius in point of fact. How was dancing through gorram green lasers any way of showin' off intelligence?! Jayne gritted his teeth. River went into a full split and bent so far backwards to avoid a deadly green beam that the back of her head touched her knee.

He was totally falling for her. He fumed silently and tried to figure out why the sneaky, smart and deadly combo was suddenly the biggest turn on he'd ever felt.

As River avoided a particularly close call with a laser beam near her thigh, Jayne heard Zoe gasp behind him. He turned and frowned at her. In that way that Zoe had of only showing emotions through her eyes, she seemed pretty… surprised. It was enough for Jayne to turn a questioning glance to Mal, who was looking concerned. Concerned… but not exactly shocked. Jayne gritted his teeth together and felt a growl rumble deep inside his chest.

"You knew." Jayne said simply. Mal nodded jerkily. Jayne's jaw felt wired shut it was clenched so hard. "Was this the one part of the job you did plan?" The merc asked.

Mal glared, but didn't respond. Jayne had his answer. He turned angrily away to watch his partner's progress across the room.

River reached the other side of the room without breaking a sweat. She deactivated the laser field quickly, and waved the others through. Jayne stomped his way across the room and tried his best to emanate anger from every pore of his body.

He stopped half an inch from River and bent down to glare at her. She actually looked a little… frightened. Her mouth always dropped open a fraction when she got scared. That and a slight widening of her eyes, how they seemed to glow just a bit. He'd never seen her look at him like that before. Well good! He'd been scared half to death, she deserved little retribution her own self. He sneered at her and even when she started to tear up he didn't change his expression. Some part of him had to make sure she understood how furious he was with her.

When she opened her mouth to say something, he shook his head grimly. He bent in real slow, maybe like he might kiss her. He locked his eyes to hers. He saw her pulse quicken under her skin. It fluttered against her jugular like a trapped butterfly. He gripped her upper arms and hauled her up to his eye level. She inhaled sharply when his lips hung just barely a half centimeter from hers. "Never. Again." He growled. The vibration shook hers lips. She nodded and gave him mournful puppy eyes.

"Hey now!" Mal said. Jayne and River turned to stare at him in confusion, he had his pistol trained on them. "Enough of this. Jayne you best put my assassin down and she best be unbruised when next I see her arms."

Jayne set River down on her feet again, sagging in sudden exhaustion. River turned to address Mal. "Everything is fine, Captain. I upset him greatly. It is my fault, not his, that he was so emotionally charged."

"I don't like how he handles you River."

Jayne almost decked him. Shakin' River around so she never tried something so stupid and borderline suicidal again was NOT the same thing as being rough with her because he liked to hurt on women. Jayne growled low in his chest, wondering not for the first time just exactly how low an opinion the Captain had of him.

"Good thing it aint none of yer business."

"Valid point, Captain. Jayne means no physical harm. He's just over stimulated. You would be too if Zoe had pulled a similar stunt."

Zoe laughed, not looking up from the sheet of paper on which River had written the code to the vault as she typed in the entry sequence. "Considerin' I don't make it a habit of kissin' on the Captain, I'd say he would've been damn confused."

"Cap'n always does git a mite confused when pretty girls go kissin' on him." Jayne said gruffly.

"Hey!" Mal whispered snappishly, still brandishing his gun.

River giggled. "Confused or unconscious."

"Come ta think on it, might be he would faint had I tried to kiss on him." Zoe said, entering that final number in the entry sequence.

Jayne, despite his mood, began to chuckle. The image of the Captain's face in such a situation was quite amusing.

Mal lowered his gun, much more red in the cheeks than he had been a few seconds ago, and went to help Zoe pull open the huge vault door. The door ended up requiring all four of their combined efforts to push open wide enough to allow all four of them space to move inside. Jayne's jaw hit the floor.

So. Much. Shiny.

"Holymotherof--"

"Sonnofa--"

"Jesusfucking--"

"I told you so." River said smugly.

This vault was insane. Jayne couldn't even imagine how one person felt safe in keeping so much value just lying around. Well, really not just lying around, it had taken some considerable effort to get to it, but still. They could steal maybe a third of this and be set for a year, maybe a year and a half. Mal's plans NEVER worked this well.

"Riv?"

"Yes?"

"Ya got more plans like this?"

"Zoe and I have been discussing further options based on the outcome of this mission, yes."

Jayne turned to Mal with a pointed look. "So… why don' we let them plan everything?"

Mal glared. "Do I pay you ta ask questions?"

Jayne rolled his eyes and the four of them simultaneously set to work on the bounty. Jayne agreed with River that touching the piles and piles of cash was a bad idea. The cash had numbers that could be traced. But everything else? Fair game. They gathered gallon full bags of gold doubloons, entire cases of diamond encrusted jewelry, paintings, priceless antique watches, hell Jayne wouldn't be surprised if they found a second gorram Lassiter. This payoff was ridiculous in comparison to their normal haul (i.e. nothing).

A soft rumbling turned everyone's face skyward. Serenity had arrived. Stage two: complete. Thirty seconds max to get up to the roof and board the ship. Any longer and even lazy ass guards like the ones they hadn't as yet run into would hear the noise of the ship's engine and get some feds on the line.

Carrying as much with them as they could, knowing that they wouldn't be allowed a trip back, the foursome made their way out of the vault. Rushing across the deactivated laser field, Jayne was highly impressed that neither he, nor the Captain, managed to drop anything. Or trip. Jayne realized now the purpose of the cargo pants and vests River had insisted on everybody wearing.

River was first back through the door, followed by Zoe, Mal and Jayne last. They sprinted up the stairs to the roof exit, various bags and cases jingling merrily along. River stopped at the top of stairs and quickly threw up the cross bar keeping the door locked from the inside. Immediately after, she stepped aside, letting Zoe and Mal follow her example. Without her telling him, Jayne plowed forward and slammed the whole weight of his shoulder into the heavy lead door. A half a second later, the weighty metal gave and Jayne stumbled through, pivoting to hold the door open by leaning back against it.

The other three hustled through and they all grouped together to stomp across the rooftop patio. Serenity hovered above them unsteadily. Inara was much more used to flying the shuttle than she was the entire ship, but she did a fair job when River was required on a run. And even though Serenity wobbled a bit, Jayne thought it must have been the prettiest thing he'd ever seen. If incredibly, unbearably loud.

Her belly opened up and a long ladder with the leather fastenings they'd used on the ill-fated train job were thrown down. There was a canvas lining sewn over the bottom and sides, which was new. The four of them poured their goods into the makeshift satchel and hooked a foot each in the leather still visible. Jayne grabbed a hold of River and once he nodded to Mal, who had a good grip on Zoe, Jayne tugged the rope hard twice.

Distantly above, he thought he could make out the figures of Kaylee and the Doctor peering over the edge. The line gave a sharp lurch and the four criminals, plus their bounty, were lifted into the air. Once they were about halfway up, Serenity kicked into motion, and they were flying blindingly fast over the countryside. The wind was almost as bad as the engines in its volume. It went racing past Jayne's ears in a horribly unpleasant like fashion. It stung too, right around his ears. Times like these, he wished for the cunning hat his mother had sent him. River snuggled closer into Jayne.

Before they knew it, the four of them were being lifted up into Serenity, and her doors were closing below them. Once they snapped shut, the deafening roar of wind and the engines was silenced, and a little bit of warmth returned to Jayne's ears. Kaylee went to try and help the Captain down but stopped mid way, catching sight of the bounty. Mal fell clumsily to the ground.

"Holy good gorramit!"

Jayne grinned and River giggled. "Yeah, I know." The merc said, hooking his thumbs in his belt loops and looking fondly at the new found loot.

A huge smile spread out on Kaylee's pretty face and she began to bounce up and down, shrieking at unpredictable intervals. Jayne made a big show of plugging his ears. River smiled at her crew. Mal and Zoe took point in unhooking the bounty and beginning the long process of dividing it, which Jayne was adamant about being there for.

River smiled, telling him to get his undoubtedly bruised shoulder checked by Simon first. She wandered up the stairs towards the bridge and her rightful pilot's seat as Jayne ambled through the archway at the other end of the bay towards the infirmary.

Almost as if on cue, the two killers looked over their shoulders, catching each other's eyes. River daringly blew him a kiss. Jayne chuckled at the sappy display and mimed catching her kiss for the sole purpose of stuffing it down his britches. River tried to keep a stern expression while he laughed heartily to himself, all the way out of her line of sight.

River turned, shaking her head, and continued on her way to the cockpit. Kaylee shouted up after her that she'd be along in a minute, which River barely heard. She was already lost in the feel of this ship that had become her home. As usual, the light from above had heated the metal of the cat walks, making it feel warm to the touch. River never let her hand wander from some metal connection to the ship as she floated along down the winding hallway to the bridge. Something about Serenity's warmth gave her comfort, made her feel more whole. Although truthfully, now-a-days if Serenity was not satisfactory, Jayne would do the job quite well.

The girl genius made her foot steps a little more pronounced, so as not to scare Inara, as she ascended the steps to where the former companion sat. "Adjust by 6.7 degrees." River murmured lightly.

Inara raised an eyebrow, but did as she was told. The ship broke atmo and for a second the ship vibrated against the strain. They were through it in the blink on an eye though. It was the smoothest Inara had ever managed to get the ship through atmo. The older woman smiled softly.

"Thank you."

River smiled back. "It's all about the angle of penetration."

Inara smirked and laughed lightly. River paused, tilted her head, and then blushed furiously.

"I… are you aware that you've become positively filthy since you relinquished your companion's license?" The young assassin muttered tersely as she fell gracefully into the co-pilot's chair.

Inara shook her head, still laughing. "I can't help it sometimes. Being the model of decorum for so many years… it was wonderful at first, being so admired. But really, after a decade or so it becomes dreadfully boring. It's unreal being so free with my expressions."

River nodded. "Being able to say what you mean: a standard of human life often over looked."

"Precisely."

"Jayne says what he means." River said, with a tiny little girlish smile pulling the corner of her lips upwards.

"Yer down fer the count, girlie." Kaylee said, trotting into the cockpit with a smile. Inara nodded sagely while River frowned a bit.

"I don't quite follow."

"Down fer the count. Done fell hard." Kaylee said, grinning and leaning her back against the storage lockers.

River considered her friend's statement and found the evidence all falling into place to support her thesis. It was shocking, really. How her thoughts almost inevitably drifted to him. How she always wanted to know his opinion on what was being discussed. She even wrote little notes to herself sometimes to ask remind herself to ask him about it later. He held her so close… and she trusted him so much.

She couldn't help being clinical in her approach of most everything, but Jayne allowed some wiggle room. He let her be inaccurate, and he let her approximate rather than calculate. He let her breathe in and out and let that be all she needed to worry about.

"Analysis is correct. I like him very, very much."

"More than like." Kaylee prodded, winking in a saucy manner. Inara laughed at her two good friends; River blushing, Kaylee giggling.

"Truthfully," River said, glowing pink "I think that may actually be the case. It's entirely experimental of course, fully based on deductive reasoning that remains stubbornly un-graphable… but I think I may feel something that is more than just ample interest in Jayne. He makes me feel… something."

Inara had a far away look in her eye as she responded. "That is, in many ways, more of an accomplishment than he will ever know."

The three woman nodded to themselves. River bit her lip and looked between Inara and Kaylee. "I'm scared." She admitted in a tiny voice. "I have… I have no idea what I'm doing. I've just leapt into this thing without any thought as to the repercussions. I was… bratty. I saw something I wanted and I went after it. But it's…"

"It's different." Kaylee answered. "Cuz he aint like anything you've ever seen a'fore. Right?"

River nodded. "Correct." The girl genius curled her legs up to herself and rested her chin on her knees.

"Best not ta run away from it, then." The mechanic advised.

River laughed. "Something tells me that Jayne would not permit such action in any case."

Kaylee smiled but pressed on. "Oh I think he'd let ya go. Holler about it a whole lot, I think he'd do that too. But in the end, if'n he really thought you wanted out, I s'pect he'd let ya."

River shivered against a sudden chill. Her stomach felt like it'd been replaced with a nest of Peruvian pit vipers. She knew she never wanted such a thing to happen. She really couldn't even comprehend why Kaylee had said it. Inara seemed to understand entirely though.

"Because he loves her back."

Kaylee nodded. River looked between them as though she had perhaps missed a key reasoning point in the argument. "Rephrase, please?"

Kaylee giggled. "He'd let ya go on account of he doesn't think of you like yer a possession or somethin' like ya might expect from Jayne. Yer like… equals."

"Partners…" River responded.

"Yeah."

"I feel that… I really do love him." River whispered into the chilly air.

Down the hall and around the corridor Jayne drew in a quiet, shaky breathe and turned back the opposite way he had come. Well… that was something to be thinkin' on.