Jayne woke suddenly. Like coming out of dream, only he couldn't remember even a hint of what it might have been. Maybe that was because he couldn't hardly think because his bunk reeked of girl.
It seemed like her scent was everywhere. Not just on his clothes or escaping the laundry hatch, but in the air, on the sheets, on his pillow. Been like that. Laundry must've reached some kind of critical mass and needed to get done, whether it was his usual day or not.
The good thing about havin' really good hearing was pickin' up on people talkin' about you. So's you could sneak up on 'em an' hear more. Jayne heard his name mentioned as soon as he came up the ladder. He eased down the hallway with his bag to get a little closer to where Mal and the doc were sittin' at the table, and Kaylee was gettin' breakfast ready around the corner.
"...too much time together."
"That was the idea, wasn't it? Figured you'd be happy for the break."
"I am, don't get me wrong. Brain injury was never my area, and I've got a lot to study. Knowing River's looked after has certainly made that easier, it's just..."
"What? She pickin' up unsightly personal habits?"
"No, that's not...well, in point of fact..."
"Only got another day an' a half 'fore we make landfall, Doc. Best spit it out."
"She's touching him."
"Shuh muh?"
"Am I the only one who's noticed this? River touches Jayne. All the time. When she sits next to him or walks with him, which is most of the time, she's got her hand on his arm, or on his back."
"I can see how that would be all kinds o' unsightly to you, Doc, but your sister's had a good couple o' weeks here. Been more normal-like, an' it seems that makes her more touchy with everyone. Seen her hug Wash. Held my hand on the bridge yesterday. Didn't mean nothin'."
"That's you, Captain. But nobody touches Jayne who's not getting paid to do it."
"Simon, that's mean!" Kaylee gasped.
Doc kept goin', ignorin' her. "And he's just...letting her. He doesn't move away, doesn't shake her off, doesn't put any sort of respectful distance between them. He just lets her hang all over him."
"She is not hanging all over him," Kaylee argued.
"He's cute when he gets all big brothery, ain't he?"
"Captain, please take this seriously."
"Maybe she's getting a little crush on him," Kaylee said. "I think that's real sweet."
"Sweet!?" both men snapped with such a distaste that Jayne cringed outside the doorway.
"Don't mean Jayne's doin' nothin' wrong," Kaylee pointed out.
"He better not be." Mal's voice was gettin' hard. "Maybe you're right. Maybe we oughta try t' separate those two a bit. How's she doin'? With the bein' off the drugs an' all?"
"Good, I think. As you said, these last couple weeks have been good. Better than expected."
"What about danger to my crew?"
"You know I can't make guarantees about that, Captain. But given my observations over the last couple weeks, I'd say the risks are minimal."
"I agree she seems better. Lil' Kaylee, you were shook up over what happened at Niska's, an' that ain't nothin' to be ashamed over. How do you feel now, about spending alone time with the girl?"
"Oh we're shiny now, Captain. Jayne's asked me to watch her a couple times and she's been real good."
"All right, let's give Jayne some time off, starting now. Was plannin' on givin' him time on planet after the deal, so we'll just start it now."
"Thank you, Captain," Simon started in kissing Mal's ass. Jayne soft-footed back to his room, slammed the hatch, and made plenty of noise as he stalked to the laundry.
xxxxx
Jayne beat the crap out the heavy bag. It was good. He was gonna leave it up, and didn't care what Mal had to say about it. He'd gotten used to the preacher standing by the weight bench, makin' observations about the crew that were sometimes funny because they were true. He'd gotten used to the girl sittin' on the catwalk while he did his pull-ups, doing scarily accurate impressions o' all o' them. Now his grunts echoed through the empty hold.
He could have been upstairs, where they was playin' cards in the galley. But he was still sore at 'em, an' that made him wanna punch the bag.
Somethin' pricked his senses, cut through the sound of his workout. He stopped and held his breath.
Raised voices. Notes of panic. He ran for the stairs. He could smell the fear before he reached the top. Theirs, hers. But no strangers.
In the galley, River was faced off against the entire crew, a knife swinging toward anyone who came near her. The arm that didn't have the knife was bent against her head, and she was babbling about voices, many hands, and nonsense.
"River!" he snapped.
The girl turned, and Kaylee screamed as River went for him.
xxxxx
Mal reached for his pistol. When he found it wasn't there, there was a long moment when he knew he'd failed his crew and he'd have to find himself another gunhand.
And then he went to the crazy place. Because that was the only explanation for what he thought he saw when the girl threw herself at his mercenary and wrapped her skinny arms around his waist. Jayne reached out to grab her. Not to fend her off, but to pull her in. He spun, putting his back between her and everyone else in the room.
The big man kept one arm around her shoulders while he reached behind his back to pry the knife from her fingers. He held it out behind him, and Zoe snatched it away.
"What the gorram ruttin' hell is goin' on up here?" he demanded.
Everyone started talking at once again. Danger neutralized, the doc rushed forward to retrieve his sister. "River-"
Jayne shifted again, staying between them. The new position let Mal see how the girl was shaking, clawing at Jayne's shirt. "Just step back," he barked. "All o' you step back and shut up. Don't care how it started, it's done. Show's over."
"Jayne," Doc said. "Give her to me."
"Take yourself out o' here and come back when you calm the hell down. That goes for all o' ya. Git."
Mal's temper flared. "Don't much care for getting told to git on m'own boat."
"No, Captain, he's right," Doc said. "We're hurting her. Our emotions..."
"Wait, Jayne's right?" Wash said.
"Not now, dear," Zoe warned.
Kaylee tugged his arm. "Come on, Captain. Let's give River some space. Jayne'll look after her."
xxxxx
River focused on his heartbeat, pounding hard against her ear. Possessiveness flared, a shield that repelled the worst of the voices and emotions that attacked her. Jayne's need to protect enveloped her, not restraining but wrapping her body like armor that kept her in one piece until the voices retreated. Protecting the girl from the crew, not the crew from the girl.
Jayne was silent and still, his mind as quiet as he could make it, projecting reassurance and calm over hints of anger directed at the crew. He cradled her head in his big hand, and his thumb rubbed against the line of scar where they'd cut. She followed the rhythm of his the caress and the beat of his heart until she found her own calm again. She wrapped her arms around his waist again and sighed.
"Nobody touches Jayne who's not getting paid to do it." The thought made him tense and withdraw.
She dug her fingers into the belt loops at his sides when he would have broken away. "Who said that?"
He looked around. "What?"
"Simon?"
Realization dawned across his face. "Quit that."
She tilted her head and opened to the memory, the incident with the knife slipping away as her temper rose. "Had no right."
"Like you don't have a right to be pickin' things outta my head what I didn't choose t' share," he snapped. Frustration, guilt. Remorse. "Look, I'm sorry. You can see his point."
"No."
"Don't suppose I'd want my sister spendin' so much time with a mean old hun dan like me, either."
"Then both Jayne and Simon are stupid. And the captain." She opened to the ship. "Oh, they're all stupid. So sure the girl was going to hurt them. Mass panic. Jayne takes care of the girl and their anxieties shift to a new target. They send Kaylee as chaperone."
xxxxx
"Hope I'm not interruptin'."
Jayne turned to the doorway where Kaylee was standing, pulling River's hands away from him.
"No." River went into full brat mode. "Caveman was going to hit the girl over the head and drag her back to his bunk by her hair, but your presence has averted the danger."
"Hey!" Jayne's anxiety spiked. The grown-ups were probly discussing whether to space him right now.
"Aw, sweetie," Kaylee crooned, puttin' an arm around River's shoulders. "Nobody thinks that."
River shrugged her off. "The words get confused. She is dismissed. One person listens for the meaning, waits for the words to make a thought. One person listens to every ugly memory. Doesn't turn away, doesn't try to sweep it under the rug, doesn't try to ignore that it was real."
Her words punched him in the chest, and her tears, when the started to slip, threatened to wreck him, but he buttoned down hard and maintained his calm, lettin' her have her say.
"She's better. Still broken, but improved. Even Simon sees this. Not grateful, but suspicious and insulting."
"Honey," Kaylee reached out for her again, but River ducked away. "Big brothers are just like that."
"If Jayne is a problem, they will send him away."
"No. No they won't. Jayne's part of the crew."
River looked up at him. Not her wide-eyed Reader look, but just...somethin'. Whiskey eyes all teary like, makin' his gut churn. She spun on her heel, ran for the galley, and dove behind the counter. He started to follow, but Kaylee pushed him back.
"This? Is totally normal," Kaylee told him. "Not a lot of privacy on a ship. Less when y'always gotta have someone watchin' over ya all the time. Let 'er have it."
Jayne gritted his teeth and sat down on the table. Made sense, he s'posed. Didn't feel right, but Kaylee should know 'bout this woman stuff. Her hand settled on his shoulder, and he fought the surprise, fought his instinct to ease away from the contact. Her thumb moved over his shoulder and he knew she felt the tension there. He'd have to work on that in case the rest of the crew thought about tryin' out this experiment.
He was just used to the girl. When they were sortin' out the stuff in her head, he had to touch her, to keep her safe. He let her touch him because she needed to. It seemed to help. Didn't mean he was full o' lecherous intention.
Didn't mean he was innocent o' lecherous thoughts, either, but that was his business. He snapped off the thought. He never let that gosa into his head where she was likely to pick it up.
"She's right about one thing," Kaylee told him in a low voice. "You're doin' good. I didn't realize how much. They should be thankin' you, Simon an' the cap'n."
"Don't need a pat on the head nor a round o' applause, neither." He smiled at her. "But if they start throwin' money, reckon I'll catch it."
She laughed an' bumped his shoulder with hers. "You know what? I'm gonna go tell 'em."
"Don't. Don't stir things up any more. Kaylee!" But she had bounced out of the room. He wanted to stop her, but he couldn't leave River alone when she was all unstable. Hiding behind counters crying counted as unstable in his book.
She picked that moment to come back to him. He pulled the handkerchief out of his pocket, and started to wipe her face. Carryin' one had become a habit, even today, knowing he'd been dismissed.
"Shouldn't oughta be carryin' on 'bout stuff hasn't even happened yet." Shouldn't oughta let her stand so close, between your legs like that. If someone walks in... Yesterday it would have just been him taking care of her. Today he had to worry about how it looked. It pissed him off.
"Has. It's changed." She stepped in and wrapped her arms around his neck before he could stop her. "Dismissed the bodyguard. She was not consulted."
His throat tightened. "Ain't goin' nowhere." Yet. It slipped in before he could stop it.
"Did he...?" Did you...want to be dismissed?" Her voice sounded as tiny and breakable as the girl around his neck.
"I didn't ask for it," he said, careful as he could, gently pryin' her arms away. Her hair was in his face, and the smell o' her made his voice rougher than he'd meant it to be. This conversation never shoulda happened.
He let his eyes close for a moment, to focus on the feel o' her cheek slidin' against his as she pulled away. So he was taken by surprise when her lips touched his.
Soft, and warm, and so damned sweet, and over before he could respond.
He opened his eyes, finding her already out of his reach.
"I'll be in my bunk," she called back, over her shoulder as she walked away.
xxxxx
shuh muh?- what?
hun dan- bastard
gosa- slang: excrement