Never a Normal Relationship…
By Lady Cleo
All Disclaimers Apply.
While setting down on Jayne's home world things go from messed up to screwed up for Jayne, River and the crew of Serenity. (Jayne River, Post Objects in Space.)
Note: Damn this chapter was hard… if anything feels out of character let me know. For some reason this chapter was a bitch to get feeling right. Next one shouldn't take so long, hopefully.
Chapter Seven: The Right Circumstances
Jonah prided himself on his accomplishments; possibly because there were few such occasions in his life when he could afford to, and even fewer reasons to rejoice. But now as he sat before the consul, a pair of dark eyes staring back up at him, he felt as though he'd just been given the world. He smiled at the picture of the girl, but it wasn't so much her face that brought him immense joy, rather it was the large sum offered for her return.
"Jayne Cobb, it looks like you'll be of use to me after all."
Serenity was uncommonly silent and it unnerved Mal. Even the engines seemed to be running quieter then usual as he made his way into Wash's domain. The pilot was sitting quietly, staring off into space with a distracted look. "Feel like we forgot something to you captain?" He questioned as Mal came into his view.
"The whole ship acts like he's dead, not sittin' at home with his ma and good food." Mal pointed out, though it sounded to him like his own words betrayed another meaning. That maybe that was how Serenity's captain felt, like Jayne had died back on that rock and it hurt him more then he would've expected. "He choose to stay behind, couldn't have changed his mind."
"Still, can't shake the feeling that we left somethin' behind." Wash insisted.
"I can't find River." Simon's panicked voice broke through the silent mood of the bridge.
"Wo de ma, Wash the shuttles?" Mal demanded as his pilot jumped into action quickly checking over the gauges.
"Both still locked in Captain." Wash assured spinning his chair around to stare up at the captain and the still slightly panicked doctor. "Relax, she's smart enough to know you can't space walk to a planet. You just aren't lookin' hard enough."
"I've been over every inch of this ship and I can't find her!"
"Did you try Jayne's bunk?" Zoe asked coming up behind him.
Simon frowned, "Why would she…" He began but then paused as recognition flashed across his face. "Oh, right." He moved off, leaving the three behind.
Zoe switched her glances between her husband and her captain, frowning as she walked over to stand beside Wash, her hand falling to rest on his shoulder. "She's been there since take off, hasn't moved."
"Does it feel like we forgot something to you?" Wash asked his wife shaking his head in thought. "I can't shake this feeling, did you make sure we packed all the cargo and stuff, nothing was left behind, maybe we should go back?" Zoe raised an eyebrow.
"Where's Kaylee?" Mal questioned going over to stand in the doorway he watched Simon stand before the mercenary's old bunk. The doctor was staring down at the hatch, as though debating whither to go down or not.
"Engine room," Zoe answered, "she ain't speakin' much, kind of depressed."
Mal turned back around to look at the pilot and his first mate. "If I'd know leaving him behind was going to cause this much trouble I wouldn't have given him a choice."
"What would you have done, sir? Knock him over the head and drag him onto the ship?" She had a point, Mal reasoned. There was little that could be done to change Jayne's mind once it was made up.
Wash shook his head, "That probably wouldn't have been the best idea, could have given him a relapse of sycho, scrheonz…"
"The cardiac thingy." Zoe supplied.
"Right, the cardiac thingy." Wash finished with a shake of his head.
"Well, I guess I ought to go try and fix everything as usual!" Mal sighed starting down the steps.
Wash watched the captain's retreating back for second before turning back to his wife. "I just can't shake this feeling; maybe we dropped a bolt or something on take off."
"Best just go on down and talk to her." Simon looked up at the captain's comment and watched Mal head off towards the engine room. He turned his gaze back to the hatch and debated his options. He'd never felt that he was very good at comforting her. He could hold her and listen to her, but the words weren't always there. He couldn't make the world seem all right like he used to when they were little. In the end he only ever felt like he was lying to her and she knew it. Sighing with resignation Simon pushed the hatch open and climbed down the ladder.
The bunk was dark and empty. It felt cold and lonely, the bare walls stripped of whatever they had formerly held. River lay curled in a tight ball on the bed, clutching a pillow like it was her only lifeline.
Simon frowned as he moved deeper into the bunk, walking over to quietly sit on the edge of the bed, "River?" He reached out to touch her shoulder gently.
"No one's home!" She answered sharply, pulling away from him. "The girl is gone, she's been left behind."
"River I know it hurts," Simon started to say, his hand once again reaching out to her.
"No!" She screamed, pulling away from her brother's touch. "Simon's happy, Simon's happy that the girl is lost. He didn't want to share her with Jayne; he doesn't want anybody else to love the girl. Simon's sacrificed so much for the girl that he has to be paid with the girl, nobody else can have her."
"River that's not true!" Simon declared pulling away from her, but still standing his ground. If anything he would have given the world to have Jayne back on the boat, because it would've meant that his sister would be happy. "You know that's not true River, please just come up stairs with me. We can…"
"No. This is all Simon's fault, he shouldn't have come, he should've left the girl alone. He shouldn't have ever come." Picking up the pillow she threw it across the room at her brother with an angry growl before burying her face in the bed, muffling her sobs against the mattress.
Simon backed away reluctantly to the hatch and watched her for a minute, his heart breaking before climbing back up the ladder, unwilling to leave her behind in tears, but also realizing that she didn't want 'him' to comfort her right now. She wanted Jayne and he couldn't make up for the mercenary's absence.
"How is she?" Book questioned coming over to stand beside the young doctor.
"She hates me." Simon whispered, staring back down the hatch he'd just climbed up. "She thinks that I…" he paused when the words stung in his throat. "She thinks I'm happy that we left him behind." Simon turned his eyes to the shepherd for a moment. "She knows that isn't true."
"People say hurtful things when they're angry son." Book answered, "Perhaps, maybe I should go down and speak to her, keep an eye on her."
Simon shook his head no, "I think she wants to be alone for now, I think she needs to be alone." Shaking his head Simon turned away from the older man and started down towards the engine room, deciding that he needed to find a little comfort of his own. And there was only one person on the ship that he felt could give it.
"He was like one of my brothers, captain." Kaylee whispered. The two sat before the engine, listening to the quiet hum, the warm glow comforting. "It just hurts a little that he didn't even say goodbye. Who knows if we'll ever see him again? And knowing his pretense for getting shot up and into trouble, we ain't ever gonna know if he's in need of rescuing."
Mal frowned, wrapping his arm around the smaller girl for a second. "That's life for you, little Kaylee." He pulled her over gently kissing her forehead for a second. "Wouldn't worry too much about that last part, Jayne can take care of himself, he did it just fine before we came along." Catching the sound of footsteps Mal turned to spot Simon coming down the way. Releasing his young engineer the captain stood up, walking over to the young doctor. "How's your sister?"
"She's…" Simon tugged on his ear before shaking his head, "She's not doing so well. I think we should just let her stay down there for now, let her get her bearings straight." Mal nodded moving away from the engine room to leave the two young people alone for a moment.
Mal headed back on into the dinning room and paused when he spotted Inara making a cup of tea. She looked up from the kettle, giving the captain a decidedly angry glare. "What? It ain't like this is my fault, I didn't flash them or anything, I didn't tell him he had to stay."
"From my point of view it's entirely your fault." She answered angrily. "You had no logical reason to make our departure that soon, only your petty desire to take to the sky. Had we remained in Ellsinore I'm sure that both Jayne and River could have come to an acceptance of their feelings or at least come to the terms with the loss of the precious memories they had formed together. Instead you've condemned them to a life of miserable loss." Picking up her cup the companion turned away from the captain and quietly left the dinning room.
"This ain't my fault!" Mal growled angrily turning he headed off to chase after her and continue the argument.
The sun was setting in the distance and Serenity was slipping further away. It was all Jayne could think about, the small ship gliding through space, the crew going about their lives. River…
He pushed his thoughts off with a growl and turned to head back into the house when the sound of an approaching wagon stopped him. He watched with mild curiosity as his sister and her husband drove up to him. Worry jumping into his heart at the panic and flustered look written across her face as she jumped down, racing over to him, "Jayne you gotta get outta here."
"Why for?" He demanded, confused and worried as she dragged him over to the porch, his ma and pa walking out at the sound of their racket.
Steven Rory, Isabella's husband, was an engineer for the mining company. A young man with only a few years experience, and seeing that his wife wasn't gonna explain the situation, and had just started shoving her brother towards the house, the young man swung down from the wagon and did it for her, "Izzy, let me explain." He turned to his brother in law, a man he'd only just really meet a week ago, and one he hadn't talked to more then twice. "I was working on clearing static on the headquarters' wave channel, tinkering around with it like the boss had asked when I accidentally tapped into somebody else's call. You know Jonah Arnold?" Jayne cursed out a long string of crude profanity, ignoring the look his mother shot him as Steven continued. "Well, somehow he's figured out your wife's name and, well, to make matters short, sold you out. Alliance ship is on its way, e.t.a. tomorrow mornin'."
Jayne's world suddenly stopped spinning, and fear, heart stopping; piss in your pants fear swallowed him whole for a second. The only thought that stuck in his head was one name, River… Maybe two weeks ago he wouldn't have given a damn about the approaching ship, maybe two weeks ago he might've secretly hoped that Simon and River would get caught and he'd be rid of the gorram moonbrained child. But he wasn't the same man, and very bone in his body screamed to protect what was his. "Let them come."
"What, have you gone feng le?" Isabella declared.
"River's gone, if they come here thinking we got her, it'll give Serenity a chance to get clear, put a couple thousand space miles 'tween her and those ruttin monsters." Jayne explained ignoring the shocked looks sent his way he turned and entered the house. Crossing the living room he dropped down beside his two duffels, zipping one of them open he careful pulled Vera from the bag. "Bout time we had some fun in this town, don't ya think Vera?"
It was dark, cold and lonely in her mind. The once bright doors didn't seem like they were so cheerful anymore, the pathways weren't so bright anymore. She crouched there, hiding from herself, hiding from the voices. She couldn't help but feel lost without him. Couldn't help but feel like some major organ had been left back on the planet, making it harder for her to breathe, much less function.
She missed him, she wanted him, and her entire psyche could only focus on the lack of his presence. She reached out to his mind again for the thousandth try, hoping that she would be able to catch a hold of it even though they were separated but so much distance.
A wave of dizziness crashed over her, the doors were unlocked.
Jumping to her feet, she darted down the pathways, her footsteps falling quickly as she skidded around a corner. Her heart jumping in giddy anticipation she took a step forward reaching out to where there had once been a wall, but now was an open path to the inner working of his mind.
Suddenly Jayne was looming before her angrily, the image of Vera clutched possessively to his chest. "No time for that now, girl. Feds are coming. Get the hell outta here and put as many miles as you can between us." He pushed her back into her own mind and the wall suddenly loomed back up, blocking her path once again.
River pulled herself from her mindscape and sat up on the bed, glancing about the empty bunk for a second in confusion. She closed her eyes, the facts reorganizing, trying to calculate the chances, the odds. He was screwed, she reasoned, no way in hell he'd be able to handle the feds by himself, he needed her. An idea formed in the back of her mind as a grin crept across her lips.
Standing she moved quickly from the bed to the ladder and paused, her mind reaching out to touch the crew's. They were sleeping, all sleeping peaceful, not a sole awake on Serenity.
She crept up Jayne's hatch, moving quietly down the hall and into the cockpit.
The ship was on locked course, autopilot in Wash's chair. The console had been locked down as usual for the artificial night; tamper proof, but not River proof. Slipping into the pilot's chair she set about her work, fingers flying across the console, flicking switches starting buttons, checking gauges. It was easy; she'd seen Wash do it more then enough times to have the sequences written on her memory.
Releasing the auto pilot she gingerly took the controls, guiding the ship into a very slow turn, her mind working the calculations, the necessary speed, while her consciousness reached out to ensure that the crew remained blissfully unaware of her actions.
Dropping one hand to the lever she pulled back on the handle, increasing the speed to hard burn slowly, "Sleep, to take the rest afforded by the natural suspension of consciousness: to cease being awake, to be dormant, quiescent, inactive. Let them sleep Serenity." She whispered to the ship as she caressed the controls lovingly, gently guiding it back towards her future. "Husband, I come. Now to that name my courage prove my title."
Notes…
"Husband, I come. Now to that name my courage prove my title." Is taken from Shakespeare's play, "Antony and Cleopatra" Act Five, Scene Two
Note to Artemis Moonshine: Having a little gun toting genius running around would be vastly amusing and cute, but is she going to be pregnant? Not for this story, think I'll take it one step at the time. Possibly there may be little Rivers or Jaynes in a sequel. I hope that answered your question, if not feel free to email me. Other wise thanks a bunch for reviewing.
Chinese translations…
"Wo de ma" means "Mother-of-God"