Title: Christmas on Serenity
Author: Corri
email: corrielle@yahoo.com
Rating: PG
Spoilers: None.
Summary: Kaylee organizes a Christmas gift exchange. Secrets, funny banter, and good times abound.
Disclaimer: I do not own Firefly, or any of these characters. They belong to Joss, Mutant Enemy, and FOX ß(for now. Come on UPN… pick up the show…)
Feedback: Always welcome.
Chapter 3
In Which the Crew Attempts to Discover Secret Things to No Avail
Jayne carefully peered down the hallway in both directions, just to make sure no one was coming, before squatting down beside the wall.
"Three up for the bottom, four to the left of the kitchen door," he counted to himself, preparing to slide the panel out of the way to reveal one of Serenity's many secret hiding places. It was, he reasoned, a perfectly good place for someone to have hidden a present. Just as he was about to remove the panel, he sensed rather than heard someone behind him. He turned quickly, and found River standing practically at his elbow.
"You're a quiet one, ain'tcha?" he snarled at River. "What are you doin' here?"
"No one hid any presents there," River informed him, pointedly ignoring his brusque tone. Jayne's hand fell from the panel as if it were burning hot, and he tried to hide the fact that River was dead on by glaring at her. It was usually enough to send her running for her brother. This time, however, it didn't work.
"That's not what I was…" Jayne started to lie, but the knowing look River gave him stopped him from speaking the rest of the sentence. "How did you know?"
"It's a dumb place to hide a present," River said, not really answering his question. "Besides, I already looked." She shrugged, and Jayne began to get an idea. Gently, as not to scare her, he stood up and took one of her hands in his so she couldn't run off.
"Now, you wouldn't happen to have other places you haven't looked, would you, Little River?" he asked. River smiled at him playfully.
"Maybe," she said. Alas, Jayne was never to find out what those places were. Instead, Simon came out of the kitchen, realized that Jayne was within ten feet of his baby sister, and had a characteristic reaction.
"River! There you are! Where did you go? And… why are you holding hands with Jayne?" Simon spluttered.
"We were talking about secrets," River whispered.
"You were trying to use my sister to find out… I can't believe you sometimes," Simon said angrily. He put his arm around River's shoulders and guided her in the direction of their quarters. River managed to turn around and wave happily at Jayne before Simon realized what she was doing and grabbed her hand.
"Back to lookin' the old fashioned way, I guess," Jayne muttered to himself as he heard the door to River's room slam shut.
……………………….
"I wasn't going to tell," River said, swinging her long legs as they dangled off the side of her bed. Simon was in the corner of the room fussing with something that wasn't perfectly straight.
"I just don't feel comfortable with you being around him. Especially alone. I mean, he's Jayne," Simon said.
"We were going to look for hiding places. But we wouldn't have found anything," she said.
"And how do you know that?" Simon asked, suddenly paying more attention.
"Because I know where all of the real ones are," she told him. Simon stopped what he was doing and sat down on the bed next to River.
"You do?" he asked.
"Of course, silly! How could I not? Everyone tries hard so hard to hide it, too," she giggled. "They think about it all the time, it's just… right there."
"So, you know who everyone picked, too," Simon inferred.
"Uh huh. And I'm not telling you, either," she informed him. Simon jumped and tried to hide his surprise and disappointment, doing a horrible job of it. "There are so many secrets right now. It's fun," River said, and looked around at the empty air like she could actually see something intriguing.
"There are always secrets on Serenity," Simon reminded her, half speaking to himself.
"These are good secrets. They make the air tingle," River said.
Simon decided he was glad of the secrets. They made his sister smile.
…………………..
"You mean to tell me you're not the least bit curious?" Wash asked his wife, looking away from Serenity's controls to peer at her in amazement.
"Nope. I can wait," Zoe said calmly. It was the same calm that had gotten her through dozens of battles, life and death situations, and other scrapes resulting from Mal's less than successful planning. A little bit of Christmas curiosity wasn't going to faze her.
"I mean, if I had, say, some information about your secret gift giver, you wouldn't be willing to think about an exchange?" Wash asked. That's it, he thought to himself. Cool, calm, suave. Is she falling for it?
"But you don't," Zoe countered, sounding very sure of herself. Nope. Guess not.
"Oh, come on, Zoe! Whoever has you might have taken me into their confidence!" Wash tried to reason with her. She just shook her head.
"I don't think so, Sweetie. Besides, what makes you think I know anything?" Zoe asked, laughing.
"It's Kaylee, isn't it?" Wash burst out, unable to contain himself any longer. "I've seen her whispering to you! What was she doing? Trying to get gifty ideas? Wondering what the perfect present for me would be?"
"You have this all figured out, don't you?" she said. "And even if it was Kaylee, do you think I'd tell you?"
"It's your wifely duty to be honest with me," Wash said, in all mock-seriousness.
"Not in this case it's not," Zoe said sweetly. She kissed her husband on the cheek and walked out of the cockpit. "Nice try, though," she called back over her shoulder. Wash watched her go, disappointment readily apparent on his face.
"What? No consolation prize?"
…………………
The sound of Wash and Zoe's conversation drifted through the doors that were open all over the ship, but by the time their voices reached the captain down in the cargo bay, they were only so much garbled noise.
"Can't even get any peace down here," Mal grumbled.
"Be careful, Mal, you wouldn't want to catch the cheerfulness that seems to be going around," Inara teased, coming to stand beside him on the walkway.
"I'll just be glad when Kaylee's little party is over, and we all go back to actin' like normal folk, instead of sneakin' around all the time," Mal said. At that moment, Book poked his head into the cargo bay, saw Inara and Mal, smiled secretively, and turned tail and went back the way he'd come. "See?" Mal said, pointing at the shepherd's hastily retreating back. "That is exactly what I'm talking about."
"I think it's nice," Inara said.
"Nice. Yeah," Mal said. Inara was completely unconvinced on the subject of his sincerity.
"It's nice to have people doing kind things for each other, going out of their way to do something nice for another crew member. And everyone is having such fun!" she reminded him.
"Fun? You know what I woke up to this morning? River and Kaylee and Simon of all people, chasing each other up and down the hall, shouting something about 'I'll never tell,'" Mal told her.
"I heard that too. River hid in my shuttle for a little while," Inara said.
"You're encouraging this?" Mal asked, raising an eyebrow at the Companion.
"Yes. I believe that the spirit that has descended upon this ship in honor of the holiday is… a good thing. It's almost like we're a family."
"It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside," Mal cracked, allowing himself to smile. Inara looked hopeful for a second. Was Mal actually coming around to her way of seeing things? Then, he added, "Kind of like when I've drunk too much and I need to go find a bucket." Inara quelled her impulse to laugh, put on a hard face, and lightly punched Mal on the shoulder.
"You're horrible, do you know that?" she asked.
A loud crash resounded throughout the ship, coming from the direction of the infirmary.
"Nope, nothing in there," Jayne's voice came through loud and clear.
"My infirmary! JAYNE!" Simon shouted.
Mal and Inara looked each other in the eye, both trying their hardest not to laugh. This lasted for all of five seconds.
"I don't think this ship's going to survive 'till Christmas with all of us trying to get secrets out of each other!" Mal said when he could finally get words out again.
"And yet somehow, I think Serenity will persevere," Inara assured him.