Simon glared at Jayne. "I'm sorry. Could you run that by me again?"

Jayne sighed and rolled his eyes at Serenity's doctor. "Come on, doc. You already know I don't like asking for help from folk. "Why do you have to bust my Pi Gu just because I'm asking for your help learning to administer River's medication proper?!"

Simon's eyes widened slightly, but only for a moment, before the doctor was glaring at Jayne again. "Oh, so now you're concerned for my sister's well-being? Did this happen before or after you took advantage of River's precarious mental state by rutting around with her earlier today?"

Jayne glared right back at Simon, ignoring Kaylee as she gasped at her boyfriend's words. "Before. And I haven't taken advantage of nobody. Well, not lately. Not too much, no how. But I certainly didn't take advantage of your sister! 'Precarious mental state' or no, River knew very well what she wanted. I made sure of it before…"

Jayne quickly looked at Reagan and Gabriel Tam, who were watching the conversation between their son and the mercenary with stony looks on their faces, then turned back to Simon and said. "Well, let's just say I was a gentleman with River. If I thought she wasn't ready for, well, you know, I wouldn't have…."

Gabriel Tam coughed. "Yes, I think everyone here gets the picture about what happened between you and my daughter, Mr. Cobb…"

Reagan Tam nodded. "Indeed. I believe a change of subject is in order."

Jayne quickly looked at the faces of all the people in the hallway around him, each wore expressions which ran the gambit from smiles, to smirks, to stoic. The mercenary noted that Simon was the only one glaring and frowning at him at the moment, but the hired gun knew very well that the mood of a room could change faster than lighting, so he decided to tread carefully. "Right…" The mercenary cleared his throat. "Anyway after…that happened, I got to thinking…"

Seeing the incredulous looks from several people in the hallway, especially Zoe, Mal and Inara, Jayne huffed. "Hey, I do some ruminating occasionally! Anyway, I was thinking that if I wanted to…you know, court River proper, I should know how to take care of her when she gets whimsical in the brainpan. Especially when she gets in one of her mood swings."

When the big man shuddered a little, the elder Tams and the crew of Serenity knew Jayne was referring to the "incident" where River had slashed Jayne's chest with a kitchen knife onboard Serenity, and the time that the petite brunette had beat up the big, tough mercenary at a bar, hitting the large man in the gonads for good measure. Simon nodded. "Yes. I can certainly see why you would want to avoid something like that happening again. But you're not a medical professional, Jayne! I am! And I'm pretty gorram sure that I know River's symptoms better than…."

But the argument that would have inevitably transpired between the young doctor and the merc was prevented, or at the very least, delayed, by a loud ringing sound, followed by even louder speaker feedback, coming from the PA system of Niska's Skyplex. These noises, which had made everyone in the hallway cover their ears, were followed by the speaker amplified sound of a man's laughter. "Listen up, everyone! Mr. Niska, our mutual employer and benefactor, is on his way to this station as we speak and will be docking in five minutes! He kindly requests the presence of all you hwen dans at the docking bay at that time! Attendance is mandatory, and anyone who disrespects the Lao Bahn by not showing up on time will find the vacuum of space more forgiving than what he will do to them! I'm not intimidated by the old timer, of course, but…Let's all just show up on time to greet our employer out of common courtesy, Dohn-Ma? What are you still standing around listening to me for? Hustle to the docking bay!"

After Niska's newly appointed head mercury was done talking, a slender arm reached out from behind Inara's back and placed a hairy object into the former Companion's hand. "This is for you. Mrs. Niska won't miss it. "

Inara gaped at the beautiful raven-colored wig now in her hands, then at River, who was skipping as best she could down the hallway wearing an enormous yellow dress that was far too big for her. Everyone in the hallway watched as River tried to kiss Jayne on the cheek, but tripped on the hem of her ridiculous garment instead, causing the usually nimble warrior woman to fall face-first towards the floor…only to be caught in Jayne's large arms.

The mercenary in question tried his best to glare at River for her foolishness, but the half-smile at the corner of his mouth gave him away even before Jayne let a chuckle a moment later. "Wei, woman! I thought you were supposed to be graceful."

River shrugged as Jayne started carrying her towards the Skyplex's docking bay, and everyone, including Inara, who was in the process of putting her new wig on, and Mattie, who had to be forcefully woken up by a shove from Zoe, followed suit. "I usually am. But my clothes are dirty from our recent activities, and Bad Jack Sprat's Lao Puo linens are too large for me. Everything about them is opposite: Cruel and kind, thin and corpulent. They make no sense."

Jayne snorted. "Neither do we. What a ridiculous sight we make, huh? The giant elf and the waif swallowed up in miles of lace."

River laughed. "That's the price we pay for not dressing against type. But I like Man Called Jayne just the way he is. And she knows he admires his warrior woman."

While the elder Tams and the crew of Serenity tried to pretend not to hear anything the newest couple in their group was saying (although the large grin on Mattie's face gave him away). Kaylee tried to distract an obviously annoyed Simon. The mechanic whispered in her boyfriend's ear. "Don't Feng Le Simon. There's no reason to worry none about River and Jayne's business. Especially on account that Jayne obviously cares about your sister if he wants to be tending to her medicines and all. Isn't that a good thing?"

Simon sighed and whispered. "I guess. Maybe Jayne isn't as much of a Joo Bah Jeh as I thought if he's willing to help supervise River's medication. But I'm just not sure that River will respond to Jayne properly when she's in one of her more…intense moods, and needs to be brought down with antipsychotics. And I'm still not certain Jayne can be trusted to administer medicine properly…"

River laughed from her position in Jayne's arms. Despite the fact that the petite brunette, and the large man carrying her were far ahead of the others in the long hallway leading to the docking bay, and well out of earshot of Simon and Kaylee's conversation, neither the young doctor nor the mechanic where surprised when the psychic yelled loud enough to interrupt them. "Jayne will do fine, once my overprotective Ghuh teaches him to administer her meds. And my boyfriend is strong enough to keep me from hurting anyone when I'm more moon brained than usual. And Simon can still help adjust my dose and change my meds if I get too wild."

Simon frowned and shook his head as he turned to Kaylee and whispered. "You know, my sister's abilities are a bit unsettling when she's experiencing derealization, but when she uses them to interrupt conversations during her more lucid periods…" Simon raised his voice loud enough that he knew River could hear him. "She's just annoying."

River raised her head over Jayne's shoulder to look right at her brother and stick her tongue out slightly. Simon rolled his eyes. "And she's still such a brat."

Kaylee and Mattie both laughed at the young doctor's loud remark, Zoe and Mal smirked, and Jayne tried not to laugh for fear of what the deadly young woman in his arms would do to him if he even thought about agreeing with Simon's assessment of his sister's maturity. But the elder Tams were less amused by their children's behavior. Reagan Tam sighed. "Do you two really still bicker like five-year olds? You and River are adults now, Simon. Act like it!"

"Yes, mother." Simon and River laughed after speaking the same words simultaneously in similar sarcastic tones of voice, and Gabriel Tam rolled his eyes at his foolish children. Soon after, the crew of Serenity and the elder Tams reached the hangar, where Niska's merc team had already gathered.

Seconds after the crew reached the hanger (thirty-two by Rivers count, although it could have been thirty-three, because she wasn't sure if Jayne giving her a surprise peck on the lips just before sitting her down on the cold metal floor had thrown her count off), a large ship docked. It didn't take a genius to figure out who was in the large, ruined-looking blood red ship, but everyone's conclusions were confirmed when an old man stepped out the ship, while a larger figure remained standing behind him inside the vessel, just out of the others field of view.

Niska whispered something to the person behind him, smiled, then turned back towards Malcolm Reynolds and his crew. The older man didn't take his eyes off of the captain of Serenity as Niska walked down his shuttle ramp. Even as he whispered something to his new mercenary captain, Niska kept one eye on Mal.

Finally, almost three minutes after his ship docked in the Skyplex's hangar, Mr. Niska frowned at Mal and spoke. "Sorry to keep you all waiting so long, but my absence was…how do you say? Unavoidable. Revolutions are a messy, unpleasant matter, but they create many, shall we say, opportunities for individuals like myself. Alas, there are also new dangers along the Rim now. There was also the…inconvenience of needing to use your tactic, Captain Reynolds, to take a detour through what's left of Reaver space to avoid some unsavory characters who were taking advantage of the new situation as well. Men, who were not as…sophisticated as myself, They gave my wife quite a fright."

The old man chuckled. "But they will not be making that mistake again, I think. But enough chit chat. Malcolm Reynolds…." Niska frowned and his eyes became serious. "You and I have some business to discuss."

AN: Thanks for reading, and hope you enjoyed this chapter, as short as it was. I must once again apologize for the lateness and brevity of my latest update. Due to situations beyond my control, such as not having a computer of my own anymore, lack of inspiration for this story, my beta reader not having as much free time etc. the remaining chapters of this story will more than likely be short as well. However, as a result, there may be more chapters remaining in this story than I had originally planned to write. So I hope that's some consolation at least. A thank you goes out to all my readers, especially bjq and Hawki, who each left a review for the last chapter.

A very special thank you goes out to my beta reader. You mean the 'Verse to me.

As always, any feedback is appreciated. Thanks again for reading! Until next time, I remain…

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