A/N: The continued support for this fic makes me giddy! Ah, bless you all for your kind words and comments.
Shout out to Willow Cohen - the latter part of this chapter is for you, my friend! ;-)
(See disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 21 - Love Sick Stomach Ache
Simon felt all kinds of nervous and strange as he waited on the doorstep to Kaylee's home. He had been here a few times, but never without prior invitation or alone. Today was different, he needed to see Kaylee so badly and explain to her what was happening, even though he himself was uncertain at this moment. Last night had been going so well, they had come so close to being close, only to have everything ruined by his parents. Simon hated that he was borne of people who could behave as his mother and father did. They were so prejudiced, so superior apparently, he honestly hadn't realised until he came here to Serenity Valley how very wrong it was to behave in such a way. Now he had friends from what his parents called the lower classes, and had come to realise, more so in these last twenty four hours than ever before, that he had fallen in love with one of those people too, the girl called...
"Kaylee" he smiled as she answered the door to his knocking, a grin lighting her face in a moment when she saw him there looking pleased enough to be at her door.
"Simon" she said with joy, "It's so shiny that you're here" she enthused, "Oh, 'cept you just wanna see River, I guess..." she realised with a sudden shift to a frown.
The thought had crossed Simon's mind that he might see his sister here at the place she had run to after her fight with their parents, but she was not his main concern right now. They had spoken on the phone last night, he had ensured his mei mei was in good hands and let her be, with a promise not to tell their parents anything more than the fact she was safe from harm for the night and would be back sometime on Saturday.
"No, River already sent me a message, letting me know Jayne had called for her" he explained, "I actually came to speak with you, Kaylee, if that's... if you want to hear what I have to say" he tried to explain, stumbling over his words as he so often did in company and never more so than around her.
"Course, I'll listen to whatever you wanna tell me" she said willingly as she let the man she hoped to call her boyfriend into the house.
Right now, Kaylee had never been so glad to know her folks was out and weren't coming back a while. Seemed to her that maybe Simon had some good news to tell her, in which case she wasn't gonna want any interruptin' from her parents nor her brothers neither. If'n it was bad news, she could use a lack of audience since she was most like to end up crying all over the place.
"So" she prompted after a few moments uncomfortable silence between herself and Simon, sat together on the couch, "You had somethin' to tell me?"
"I did, I do" he said nervously, "Kaylee... As I'm sure you've guessed my parents aren't at all happy about myself and River being here, much less attending a school like Firefly" he explained, hardly looking at her at all, his eyes focused on his hands that twitched nervously in his lap, "Not that there's anything wrong with Serenity Valley or the school, we both love it here, but... they don't understand"
"They think we ain't good enough folks to be mixin' with" said Kaylee, feeling a little sad about it, "but that shouldn't matter if you don't think that way. You don't, right?" she checked worriedly when he didn't answer.
"Of course not" he insisted, reaching out for her hand and then looking as if he almost thought he shouldn't have a hold of it.
Kaylee weren't about to give him any choice in letting go and wrapped her fingers around his own, holding on tight. Who'da thought that just last night they was sliding right past second base and all, and now he was back to bein' all nervous just sat here with her? It made Kaylee's heart ache to realise how messed up things were most likely to get now Mr and Mrs Tam were in town, and just when things had been going so well too.
"River was talkin' a lot about bein' taken away from here" she said worriedly, "I tried to tell her your folks couldn't be so bad as to wanna do that to you. Was I wrong?" she asked as Simon looked pained.
"I don't know" he sighed heavily, hating the fact that he saw tears shimmering in Kaylee's eyes when he looked her way, "Please don't cry" he said, reaching a hand out to her face, leaning in close enough that the gap soon closed between them and they kissed.
"Don't want ya to go" she whispered when they parted a moment later, still sat real close with their arms around each other, "Don't wanna lose either of ya, just when I was thinkin'..."
"What?" Simon prompted when she stopped suddenly and glanced away, "What were you thinking?" he wondered aloud when she continued in silence a while longer.
"Thinkin' that you and me was gonna be happy, bein' like a couple and all maybe" she admitted, as she met his eyes once again, "Wanted you to know that... I love you" she told him then, feeling so strange and actually shaking as she made her confession and waited on his answer to it.
It was a suprise to Simon that he could find anything to smile about today of all days, but it came in that moment. This all should have happened sooner, though it would make the return of his parents no more or less complicated. The fact of the matter was he had known on some level from the day he met Kaylee Frye that he was a little bit in love with her, and that bit had grown bigger and stronger every day from then to now.
"Kaylee, bao-bei, I love you too" he promised her, the nervous fluttering in her stomach gone in a flash as a grin spread across her face and she crushed her lips to his in a kiss that took all the breath out of him.
"You know how long I waited to hear that?" she giggled, more than a little giddy right now.
"I'm sorry to have made you wait" he smiled, pushing her hair from her face, "but I'm even more sorry that I have to talk about leaving Serenity Valley" he sighed, happy expression gone in a moment and taking hers with it.
"They can't make you go" said Kalyee definitely, almost angrily in fact, though they both knew she was wrong.
If the Tams decided to sell their house and take their children away, they had every right, and Simon didn't doubt for a second they would do it. Though they cared little for what happened to their children in any real sense, their pride and need for status and such would see to it that they refused to be in any way disgraced. All Simon knew was that he was happy here and River was happy here, neither of them wanted to leave Firefly High or Serenity Valley. For once in his life he was going to make a stand and fight back against the parents he had allowed to use both him and his sister too long.
"I'm going to do whatever I can to stay" he promised Kaylee who found some comfort in those words and in the way he pulled her into his arms and held her tight, though nothing guaranteed their happy ending yet.
Jayne and River were used to walking together, usually walking from school to her house at the end of each day. Today was very different, not least because the journey taken was headed in the direction of his own home instead of hers, not particularly because it was closer to the recent sunrise than any sunset. No, this felt so very different because last night the whole dynamic of the River/Jayne relationship had changed. From good friends, they had become more, so very much more and with such ease that Jayne in particular had hardly seen it coming until it had happened already. He never so much had a girlfriend. Sure, there'd been girls a plenty in his life but nothin' you might call steady or anythin' like permanent in a romantic kind of a way. Kaylee was a sister to him, Zoe was one of the guys, now here was River and she was a whole different kind of a person like he'd never known.
Gorram it, when she kissed him at her birthday party last night, weren't like anythin' Jayne had ever felt, not that he was too happy even thinkin' about girly feelings and emotions and such and he certainly weren't gonna talk about 'em. There was bigger things to worry on than just what he was feelin' anyhow. Poor River, his little woman, she was all kinda of upset when her folks got home, shoutin' the odds on how she and her brother had to leave town just as soon as they could get packed up to go.
Gave Jayne an ache in his insides the like o' which he never did feel before. Worse than when he'd been beat up by Crow, worse even than when Kaylee cried over some hwun-dahn weren't worth a dime. This was the nastiest, twisted up pain in his gut that Jayne Cobb had ever felt inside o' him and he didn't like it, not one bit. He had promised to do what he could to help keep the Tams here in Serenity Valley, but the trouble of it was Jayne weren't much an ideas man his ownself and hardly knew where to begin.
"You sleep alright at little Kaylee's place?" he asked as they walked along, feelin' better when they was talkin' than not right now, "Them luh-suh little brothers o' hers didn't bother you none?"
"Sweet children" said River with a half-hearted smile, "but she could not rest... she could not dream. Too painful to wake" she said sadly, lookin' just about fit to be sobbin' all over him again in a second.
"C'mon, River" Jayne urged her, feelin' just awful for her, "Gotta be tougher'n that, and I know you is" he told her, putting an arm around her shoulders, glad to see her smile at least a little as she nestled into his side and they continued walking.
"Yes, stronger with your strength to aid hers" she said, looking up at him with some kind of wonder in her eyes for him, "Singular man, Jayne Cobb. Very special"
"Hush your mouth" said Jayne, tryin' to be mad at her for sayin' such soppy things to him but not quite managing it somehow, "I ain't nothin'"
"Not true" she told him with a frown as they finally arrived in the street where he lived and she turned to face him, encouraging his arms to remain around her body, "She never met a man like Jayne, never knew she could feel these things until he was here to show her" she explained, completely serious and equal parts happy and sad given the circumstances.
"Make me sound a whole lot better than I prob'ly am with your pretty words and all" he said as he stared down at her, "but ya ain't wrong 'bout much, an' I sure as the worlds turn don't want ya leavin' here any time soon" he admitted, throwing caution to the wind as he leant down to plant a kiss on her lips.
River never wanted the moment to end, wanted to bottle this feeling and keep it safe forever. Here in Jayne's arms, his lips upon hers, a hundred over-powering feelings coursing through her body, she had never felt so alive, so at home, so completely at peace. Leaving Serenity Valley was no option for her, leaving this very spot was not even preferable but it would be highly impractical to stay.
Jayne was smiling when they parted, feelin' all kinds of foolish for doin' what he never thought he would, for fallin' in love with a girl like this, especially a little woman as crazy and beautiful and gorram frustratin' as River Tam could be. Still, it was happenin' and seemed he was gonna have to do his damndest if'n he wanted to keep her around here.
"You wanna meet the folks?" he offered as they turned towards the front door of his home that looked decidedly small and dingy compared to the veritable palace that was her own house.
"Yes, please" River smiled anyhow, glad of his hand around her own as she was led into the house and met by a whole family of warm, inviting Cobb people.
Though this family was somewhat poorer than herself and undoubtedly nowhere near as intellectual, River knew she would always feel more at home here than in any place her parents bought and told her should be her world.
Marble pillars and winding staircases were nothing compared to the strong wooden beams and simple furnishings of a well-loved home such as this. No expensive blankets upon her bed could be as warm to River as the hug she received from Jayne's kindly Ma, and no chandelier could shine as bright as the stars in the eyes of his cheerful brothers and sisters who came running to invite her into their home and family both.
The best of this meeting came when real introductions were made, when Jayne put an arm around her and proudly told his family that she was his own. In that moment, River knew more than ever before that she belonged here, and would not, could not ever leave. They would find a way to make this work, find a way to have her stay at Firefly High and living in Serenity Valley. She and Jayne Cobb were destined, River was abolsutely certain of it, and nobody, not even her parents, could change such a thing.
It was a lazy Saturday morning in for Zoe and Wash. She had stayed over at his house without a care since she had already informed her father that the party at the Tams house and the clean up that followed might lead to her needing to stay there for the night rather than venture home at an unearthly hour. Since the party was cut short, she and her man took advantage of the chance to spend the night together at his place; his parents were so laid back they wouldn't even care, if they actually noticed! Of course, this morning could not be spent sleeping, and other activities that came to mind weren't so much appealing either. The trouble of it was, when a persons friends were suffering, it made it hard for that person so be happy themselves.
"I just feel so bad for all of them" said Wash, holding Zoe close in his arms, "Kaylee's heart's gonna break she loses her guy now"
"Can't see any alternative" his girlfriend sighed, "And I never thought I'd say this but I think it might just break Jayne's heart too if River gets took away by her parents now"
"Yeah, how in the 'verse did that happen?" asked her boyfriend with an odd look, "Sweet little River and... and Jayne? Our Jayne? The great ape!"
"He's not a bad guy, Wash" Zoe reminded him, though she couldn't help but smile with amusement at his phrasing, "He's loyal as anything when it comes to his friends. Never let a one of us down since Kindergarten"
"I know, I get that" nodded Wash in agreement, "but it's still like a puzzle and the pieces don't fit together"
"I'd say they do at that" his girlfriend argued as she moved away some so she could look at him straight, "You tellin' me you didn't catch sight o' the two of them at that party, and so many times before? Sharin' looks and smiles and such. Wash, this has been a long time in comin'" she smiled, finding it somewhat amusing that she seemed to have noticed whilst he remained oblivious.
Wash frowned some as he thought on it. He guessed the two of them did spend plenty of time together, long walks home from school and all. They never took his offer of a lift, come rain or shine, and River would wait whenever Jayne got himself into detention and such. He'd made such a fuss about this sweet sixteenth party too, makin' it all special...
"Wow" he sighed as he realised how blind he'd been, "I guess I was kinda distracted by the great Kaylee and Simon romance. Y'know she talked to me about it so much, I'm starting to feel like one of the girls more than one of the guys" he pouted, making Zoe chuckle.
"I still think you're all man" she said in sultry fashion as she leaned in and planted a passionate kiss on his lips.
"Hmm, so long as I'm always your man, works for me" he smiled, running a hand through her hair, "You're not going anywhere, right?" he checked, not sure why he would, but with so many relationships getting torn asunder all around him, not just Simon and Kaylee or Jayne and River, but potentially Mal and Inara too, it made him kinda nervous.
"They'd have to drag me kicking and screaming from your side" she promised, somewhere between sincerity and teasing about his over-dramatic question, neither of which he minded, truth be known.
"I have to say, kinda feelin' bad for Mal" he said with a sigh, "I mean sure, he got the girl, but Inara's still gonna be miles away best part of the time" he shook his head, "Not ideal for a new romance"
"I don't know, I think after all they've been through, this last step oughta be easy enough to overcome" Zoe considered as she snuggled in closer to her man, "We come through plenty o' obstacles between us 'fore we got here" she reminded him at which Wash chuckled.
"That we did" he agreed, "but I happen to think it was worth it" he said, serious in a second as he turned his head and their eyes met.
When they kissed then, no more words were to be said, as he pulled her closer, and they set about proving the love they spoke of in every possible beautiful way. Sometimes it took the romantic troubles of others to remind you just how much you love a person, and there was no doubt in either Zoe or Wash's mind right now that they were meant to be, forever.
To Be Continued...