Disclaimer: Characters do not belong to me, they are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and Fox

Chapter 3. Well...this is a little shorter then I thought part 3 would be but the last part was being stubborn so I decided to split it up and post this as a little interlude and get the rest up later, I promise the reason for the R rating is coming up here soon...LOL

Feedback is, as always, MOST welcome.

This takes place about a year after Ariel...a couple months after OiS.

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Jayne watched the slight rise of River's chest as she drew in a breath before opening his present, she was wearing her one form fitting dress and it did funny things to his blood pressure. A little white number with little lacy sleeves, first time he'd seen it had been the day he got his hat an' Zoë and Mal got their undead guy. It made him wonder if she hadn't known all along what Kaylee'd been planning for her tonight since it was the closest she had to a party dress. He found himself praying a bit that she wouldn't react to his gift like Megan had.

River slowly opened the box, this was the one present she had no clue what it was and she wanted to savor that...plus, it was Jayne's present...made it even more special. She could feel the curiosity from the rest of the crew pressing in on her...they all wondered what the big mercenary would give her. Normally Jayne's presents, when he gave them, tended to guns or knives...except for Kaylee of course, last birthday he'd given her a box of chocolate covered strawberries. She hoped her brother had gotten the hint on what to get Kaylee next time, this year he'd gotten her a book...and not even a good one like the Kama Sutra. She looked down into the box...gently moving the paper inside to reveal what was there...her fingers brushed against the satiny material before she saw the pink...

Her wide eyes shot up to Jayne's face as she felt the breath catch in her throat. She heard Kaylee asking what it was from a distance. Dimly she was aware that she was cradling the box up close to her chest protectively. Simon let out a curse, then asked what that ape had given her...also something about are you ok, River?

"River?" Simon asked again, putting an arm around her protectively as he scowled at Jayne.

"I'm ok, Simon" she heard herself answer...then to Kaylee, "He gave me his heart."

Her eyes were still on Jayne so she saw his reaction quite clearly....he looked like she'd just poleaxed him.

"He gave you his WHAT???" Simon and the Captain said in unison.

"Heart" She repeated patently.

Jayne had gone from white to bright red by this time. "It ain't a heart in there", he grumbled, "they're just a pair of ruttin' ballet slippers!"

"Ballet slippers?" Wash asked incredulously, "....did I hear that right, Wife?"

"I'm not sure, Husband" Zoë answered, "Sure sounded like he said ballet slippers."

"How sweet!" come from Kaylee as she beamed up at Jayne.

"Who is this alien and what did it do with Jayne?" asked Wash.

Inara barely smothered her chuckle as Jayne bared his teeth at Wash, "This ain't funny, Little Man" he growled "I'll be in my bunk", with that Jayne stalked out of the mess.

"River?" Simon said, "if Jayne gave you ballet slippers why did you say he'd given you his heart?" Simon had a puzzled/worried look on his face.

"They are a symbol of his heart" River explained, "I'll be in Jayne's bunk" River stood up and started to go after Jayne until Simon grabbed her arm as she moved around his chair.

"No River, you can't" Simon sounded like someone was suffocating him.

"It's all right Simon" she told him gently, "Jayne will never hurt me...he stopped me from becoming a waterfall and became my rock, and just because you do not understand something does not mean it doesn't make sense."

River gently removed Simon's hand from her wrist and smiled at everyone, "Thank you all for a wonderful birthday" she said, then bent down and kissed Simon lightly on the top of his head, "Goodnight, I'll be in Jayne's bunk" she repeated, more firmly this time....then walked down the hall to find Jayne, leaving the rest of the crew in shock.