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

Feedback is always welcome.

Written for a Jaynegang challenge, this one was to write something about why Jayne shaved off his goatee between Serenity and the Train Job and why he grew it back.



Jayne stood naked in front of his small mirror, turning this way and that while flexing his large pectoral muscles. He wished the mirror was a mite bigger so he could admire more of his hard work. Still, he knew that his daily workouts kept him buff. Not like that hwoon dahn of a Doctor they'd just picked up.

But, it was the Doc that Kaylee'd been crushing on. And Jayne was determined to figure out why that was. Jayne knew he was fitter then the prissy Doc, handsomer too. So what was Kaylee seeing in the boy that Jayne was lacking?

Jayne ran a critical eye over his reflection again, his eyes came to rest thoughtfully on the goatee covering his chin. Baby-faced, the Doc was all clean shaven and baby-faced. Maybe that was what appealed to Kaylee. Some girls just didn't care so much for the scratchiness.

Thinking on how there was no accounting for some girls taste, he gave a slight grunt and grabbed his razor. It had been a while since he'd gone clean shaven anyways, might be time for a change.

After a few minutes of careful shaving, he stepped back a pace to check out the view. Not too bad, he thought. Managed not to nick himself any, even after all this time. He ran his fingers lightly over his chin to make sure he hadn't missed a spot.

There was something to be said for being baby-faced. The smooth skin felt kinda nice after all that time with it scruffy-like. With a satisfied grunt he turned away from the mirror and got dressed.

He climbed up the ladder from his bunk and headed towards the engine room, confident that he'd figured out the Doc's secret appeal. After a slight pause in the doorway to make sure Kaylee was there and the Doc wasn't, he entered quietly.

"Hey Kaylee," he said gruffly, puffing up a bit in anticipation of her reaction to his clean shave.

"Hey," her muffled voice drifted up to him before she backed out from under the engine to look up. He watched as her startled eyes widened. "Jayne, what'cha shave your beard for?"

She stood up and looked at him with something like horror. Jayne felt his heart sink as the realization that his shaving his beloved goatee off was totally unappreciated sunk in. Kaylee moved closer to run a critical finger across his jaw.

"Don't suit ya," she said. "The beard gave you that dangerous, rugged look, ya know?"

With that comment, she dropped back to her knees and crawled under the engine again. Jayne stood looking at her cute ass sticking up for a moment before wondering off a little dazed. On the one hand it'd been a failure shaving it off, seemed Kaylee preferred scruffy after all. On the other hand she had touched him, which was a first, so it weren't a total failure.

Gorramit, now he was going to have to try and figure this Doc thing out again.