Chapter Five

"What the hell were you doin' in my bunk?" Jayne yelled, good sense be damned. He'd told her he wanted none of her, yet here she was interfering with his… business.

"Don't yell at her," Simon leapt to his sister's defence.

"She was in my bunk!"

"Perhaps you could both calm down some before we discuss this," Book suggested.

Jayne ignored him. "Look I don't care that she's crazy. You keep her away from me," he ordered Simon.

River shrunk behind her brother, using him as a shield against Jayne's anger. Why had she done it? What did it matter to her if he had those pictures taped above his bed? Jayne's anger battered her mind's fragile defences, and as always with any strong emotion, it broke through and overwhelmed her. "Bad things happen to bad boys," she accused. Just let the others guess at her anger towards Jayne.

"See! I told you." Jayne stabbed a finger in River's direction.

"They had it coming," River maintained.

"River, you know you're not supposed to touch knives," Simon scolded.

"Little Delilah's tried to take what's not theirs." She shot a contemptuous glare towards Jayne, who paled slightly under her censure.

"Don't mean you can take something that belongs to someone else, River." Mal intervened, not noticing the byplay.

"You take things that belong to others all the time," River pointed out. Inara managed to stifle a laugh behind her napkin, but Kaylee wasn't so quick and a series of bubbly giggles erupted from her mouth.

"Well that's… different." Mal tried to explain, blushing slightly. "We take from them's that can afford to lose things."

"Doesn't need them. Doesn't want them. They're just an excuse." Lao tian, where had that come from, River wondered. But at the same time she knew it was true. In the back of Jayne's mind River could see an image of her naked in bed with him, and just as she couldn't banish her emotions, neither could he banish that image.

It gave her new hope, but at the same time a measure of self disgust. After the way he'd treated her, she refused to let herself want him. "Food smells funny," she whispered in an aside to her brother. River rose to go back to her room.

"Hey I ain't done with you!" Jayne tried to call her back.

"Bit of paper don't mean a damn thing." River gave him back his own words and left the table with a small smile. None of the others had any idea what she meant, but Jayne did. He had no say over her, couldn't stop her. She was her own woman, he'd given up all rights to call her his.

"Did ya have to be so mean?" Kaylee snapped to Jayne after Simon had raced after his sister.

"Don't recall her coming after you with a knife." Jayne defended himself.

"Will you give it a rest with the knife story?" Wash begged.

"Weren't talking bout the time she stabbed me." Jayne told him. "But in case you ain't noticed, this here's one of my babies." He held up the knife River had used to shred the pictures. "She musta got it from my bunk when she took the pictures."

"That don't mean she was tryin' to attack you," Kaylee put in.

"Says you. She ain't s'posed to have knives, might get ideas, and I ain't too comfortable with that."

"None of us are too comfortable about River gettin' knife friendly," Mal weighed in. "But she didn't hurt anyone. Her brother'll have a talk to her, and then I'll have a talk with him." He waved his fork at Jayne. "Now I suggest you get to eating this fine meal we got before us. Fresh food never lasts long you know."

"River why did you shred Jayne's pictures?" Simon asked as gently as he could. They were sitting on her bed, and he had his arm around his sister's shoulders, trying to figure out her latest episode.

"Bad pictures," River spat, her eyes focused on something only she could see.

"Well yes, they are. But do you remember that chat we had about respecting other people's property, and their privacy?"

River nodded her head. "Shouldn't have them."

"No," Simon agreed. "But they are his. And it's his decision to keep them or not. And you shouldn't go into someone else's room without their permission."

"Had his permission. Had an invitation to the party, but my dress wasn't fancy enough so he sent me home."

Simon frowned. That didn't make sense, not that River ever said much anymore that did, but the way she had said it, so forlorn… he didn't like it. "River. Has Jayne been bothering you more than usual?"

River focused her eyes on him and smiled, her gleeful, childish smile. "It bothers you that he bothers me. It bothers me that he bothers me less than he used to. He can't be bothered with me anymore."

Simon breathed a sigh of relief, as long as Jayne was leaving her alone. "Well perhaps if you apologise to him, and maybe try to stay clear of him for a couple of days…" he suggested.

"Not sorry." And River realized that she wasn't. She may not want Jayne for a husband, but after the way he'd treated her, she wasn't sorry that she'd destroyed something he held dear. It was only what he deserved.

"River," Simon looked at her sternly. "You do know that what you did was wrong, don't you?"

Simon didn't understand, Simon couldn't understand. It was on the tip of her tongue to explain everything to him – the marriage, the rejection… everything. But she just couldn't make herself do it, and she didn't know why. It was as though some force was stilling her tongue, pressing on her vocal cords in anticipation of her confession, so that if she did say the words they would come out all wrong.

So she addressed Simon's question. River lied through her teeth actually, but it was what her brother wanted to hear, so she said it. "Yes," she whispered. "No touching knives. No touching guns. No going into other people's rooms without an invitation." River looked her brother dead in the eye. "Even yours."

"No you can… Well only if the door's open," Simon amended. If things between him and Kaylee continued to escalate, maybe it was a good time to start the new rule now, and get River used to it before it was needful. Simon smiled at his sister. "So you're ok with me and Kaylee?" he asked, anxious for her response.

"It's about damn time," she said eagerly.

Simon breathed out the air he hadn't been aware he was holding. If River had had any reservations about whatever it was between he and Kaylee… River was Simon's first concern, always. He was just happy he didn't have to choose - not right now anyway. He smiled at his younger sister, his relief showing through. "I'm glad you're ok with it. Now. Do you want me to bring you down some dinner?"

River nodded her head vigorously. Now that everything was out in the open, and she had avenged herself on Jayne, so to speak, she suddenly felt extremely ravenous.

Jayne crouched by the stairs in the common area. None of the lights were on down the Doc's hallway, seemed both he and his moonbrained sister were asleep. Kaylee had gone back to her room after spending a couple of hours with the Doc, seemed they weren't quite up to the sexin' each other stage yet.

Jayne was determined to get back at Little Miss Nutball for messin' with his stuff. She weren't his wife, no matter what that bit of paper might say. So she didn't have no reason to get uppity at his havin' a few visual aids for when he had to take matters into his own hand. Weren't like she was gonna do it… not that he wanted her to wrap those long, long legs around him, or rub that pale, smooth skin against him. "Dammit Jayne," he whispered. "Girl's messin' with your mind. Gotta focus on the job at hand."

He snuck into River's room and quietly searched for her artsy crap. She'd accumulated a large collection of pens and pencils that she kept in one of the drawers under her bed. He gathered up all her coloured pencils and took them back up to the dining room to begin his work.

Destroyed his things, would she? Jayne Cobb was not the sorta man to take that kinda crap lying down. Little Crazy was about to find out what happened to people who messed with his stuff.

Translations
Lao tian – Oh God