Disclaimers: I own nothing! This is fanfic - it's for fun and experience only. No profit.

Main Characters: The main action of the story focuses on Jayne and River, but nearly every character has a chapter from their POV.

A/N: Huge shout-out and thank you to everyone for their reviews and suggestions! Credit to browncoats. com for translations.

Chapter 13

Mal wearily poured another cup of coffee. Unlike the rest of the crew, he didn't have the leisure of allowing himself to recover from the physical and emotional demands of the last two days.

They had wrapped up their last job without a hitch and should have been on their way to meet Inara, but they had lost time with the rescue mission. Serenity was in the air and leaving orbit almost as soon as everyone was back onboard, racing to make up time. He had to keep up with the Companion's schedule as well as his own or he stood to lose his tenant.

He also needed to figure out the crew's next job. In his mind, he calculated the risk of doing business with only Zoe and his guns as support. He could pick up a mercenary for one or two jobs he reckoned, but did he really feel comfortable with a stranger watching his back. Then again, Jayne had made it clear that for the right price he'd put a bullet in Mal's head.

Maybe it was the transparency that gave the captain his trust in the weapons expert. He was sure he'd see it coming, even if only for a second, just like Jayne's old crew had. But anyone else, hell, they were more likely to shoot a guy in the back.

He was still puzzling over his next endeavor when Shepherd Book returned to the kitchen. He'd brought two steaming mugs and a bowl of stew to the bridge.

The older man had had a pot of the bitter drink brewing when Mal walked in and had told the captain to help himself while he carried his delivery up for the Washburns. It was likely Wash would be flying through the night, and Zoe was sure to join him as soon as she was out of the shower.

"Wash think we're going to make our rendezvous?" Mal didn't look up as the older man entered the room.

"He seemed to think so," Book responded, fixing himself a cup of tea.

The two sat in pregnant silence for a while.

Finally, the priest asked, "Does River seem to be alright? I wasn't down in the hold when you all came in."

"Seems to be." Mal took another sip of the hot black coffee. "She took a bit of a beating, but it don't seem to have done her much harm."

"Simon must be relieved."

"I imagine. Kaylee took the girl to get her cleaned up when we got here."

"Finding the two of them was certainly a miracle, wasn't it?"

Lucky? Yes. Unexpected? Definitely. Mal wasn't willing to confirm a miracle to a man of God. "Better than I expected," he finally admitted.

The captain gained a reprieve from further uncomfortable conversation as Simon and River entered the kitchen.

The girl leaned over the men at the table, peering into their mugs.

"I want coffee, Simon," she announced.

"I'm sure you do, mei mei," he said calmly. "Sit down. I'm making you some chamomile tea, then I'll find you something to eat."

She dropped onto a chair across from Mal and stuck her tongue out at her brother's back. Book rose and began ladling out a serving of stew warming on the small stove.

"How's Jayne?" Mal cut to point without ceremony or niceties. He felt something ugly welling inside him as he looked at the girl across from him.

"Not bad, considering." Simon sighed as he set down the tea next to the bowl of stew.

"Considering he spent the night God knows where in the middle of a storm instead of his bunk, or considering he almost drowned saving your chwen joo sister?" The ugliness coiled around his heart as he spat out the words, and perverse pleasure washed over him as Simon blanched.

Mal had nearly spaced Jayne for contacting the feds about the Tams' whereabouts, but now a part of him wondered if he shouldn't have left the siblings behind long ago. Mal felt old wounds reopening.

Simon was a huge asset to the crew. His natural skill and expensive training was priceless and something Mal had never considered being able to obtain for Serenity. But, he wasn't willing to sacrifice one crew member for another.

It was something he'd decided during the war. He would never allow one person to put another at risk; especially not the entire platoon.

As much as Simon was an asset, River was a hinderance. It was long past time for the siblings to get their act together.

"Captain, I -"

"You need to get control of your sister, or we are leaving you on the next planet." Mal stood, his chair scraping against floor. "Now I'm going to see to my crew. You've got until we catch up with Inara to have a gorram plan."

He scooped a bowl of stew and poured a mug of tea, then stormed from the silent room off toward the infirmary. The outburst had taken Mal by surprise. He could feel heat still rolling up his neck and into his face.

Against all odds, things had worked out. Now they were rushing to keep their schedule and find another payday. There was no reason, or time, to be angry. In truth, the rage he'd felt filling him wasn't about Jayne or the Tams. It never was. Sure, he yelled at the crew sometimes, and he'd threatened most of them for some stupid move at least once. But really, if he had been honest, his mind wasn't really on Serenity at those times. It was in the trenches watching Bendis and all the rest die. Having his crew put in danger drug him back to waiting for air strikes that never came, evacuation plans that fell by the wayside, and the inability to do anything to keep the men and women who followed him trustingly from getting killed.

Coming down the back stairs, Mal was gratified to see Jayne sitting up, talking to Kaylee. The cup of tea he'd brought his mother-hen engineer now seemed insufficient. Her clothes were sweat stained, and she was splattered with dry mud from head to toe. Her brown hair had come loose and was plastered to her neck and face. But, she took the mug like it was the most precious thing in the world.

"Feel like eating some stew," Mal asked, raising the bowl toward the man on the exam table.

Jayne nodded, so he set it on a small wheeled table by the bedside and repositioned the back of the chair. Once he was more comfortable, the large man started eating.

"There's more up on the stove if you're hungry," the captain told Kaylee. "I'll stay here with Jayne."

Kaylee took a sip and nodded before heading out the door.

"Don't need no gorram babysitters." Jayne grumbled. He stared coughing again and motioned for a small metal basin on the counter. Once it was in his hands, he spat into it.

"Mhmm," Mal murmured, watching as the bowl was set on the tray. "How are you feeling?"

"Wish everyone would stop asking me that!" He scraped the bottom of the stew bowl and licked the spoon. "Like everyone's expecting me to die. It's irritatin'."

Mal shook his head. "What the hell were you thinking?" His voice was hard but there was a hint of bemused wonder.

"Wasn't."

"Gorramit, Jayne!" Finally, humor won out. Laughing, he said, "First you nearly get killed trying to get rid of the girl, then you nearly get killed trying to save her. You're as kwong-juh duh as she is!"

Jayne scowled. "If'n all yer gonna do is kick a man when he's down, you can leave." He barely finished before he started coughing again.

Mal used his foot to roll the little table with the metal bowl closer to the exam bed.

"Want some more stew?"

Clearing his throat, the other man shook his head and spat into the basin. He seemed suddenly drained, panting a little as he leaned back into the pillows. With eyes closed, he slid the mask up over his face.

When Jayne's breathing slowed, and he seemed to have fallen asleep again, Mal stood. He dimmed the lights on the way out.

Chwen joo – Idiot/moron

Gorram – Damn (roughly, generic swear word)

Kwong-juh duh – nuts [crazy]

Mei mei (Xiao mei mei) – Little sister