Part Two

Kaylee's eyes slowly flickered open as she shifted slightly in her bed. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, she suddenly realized that it wasn't her bed she was sleeping in. As she moved to turn to her other side, she felt the heavy arm draped over her waist. She could just make out the silhouette of Jayne sleeping peacefully, his head half off of his pillow and his ratty old blanket pulled up to his neck. She smiled when she saw that his cheek had dried whipped cream on it. As she lay back down on the mattress, she placed her hands over his arm and stroked it gently. She wasn't sure what would happen when he woke up. Would he be his old Jayne self and act like it was nothing to him, or would he act like he genuinely cared for her? Her small smile disappeared. Kaylee couldn't help thinking that she might have made a mistake. She wanted to be with Jayne, but she honestly wasn't sure how he felt. She glanced up at the ladder leading up to the main hallway. Speaking of how people would feel, she was nearly terrified out of her work boots what the crews' reactions would be; especially Mal. He'd put a bullet through Jayne's brain quicker then she could spit if he found out. He'd think Jayne took advantage of her, when it was actually the other way around.

As Kaylee glanced at him once more, she decided she would rather keep this a secret; at least for little while. Judging from the lack of footsteps upstairs, she realized everyone was most likely still asleep. She figured that she'd take a shower and stay in her room until Wash was up and ready to work on the hovercraft. Kaylee little by little began to move off the bed, as she gently picked up Jayne's arm off of her and placed it at his side. She was almost off of the bed when she felt two strong arms around her waist, dragging her backwards.

"Where do ya think you're goin' Miss Kaylee?"

She giggled; his hands were around her stomach and inadvertently tickling her. "I was just goin' to take a shower. I've got bits of strawberry and cream still on me you know."

She felt his hot mouth on the small of her back. "Well, somethin' tells me that you don't much feel like being in my bed no more."

Kaylee closed her eyes and tried her best not to be seduced back into his bed. She turned around suddenly and looked at him. "Jayne, its not that... I just didn't want you wakin' up and lookin' at me and feelin' like you made a mistake is all." She looked down at his blanket and bit her lower lip.

His hand rested on her upper thigh. "Kaylee, what makes you think that I'd be wishin' I hadn't been with you last night?"

She shrugged. "I just thought you might think it was a one night thing is all. I really like you and I've got all these feelings just swimming around up here," she pointed to her head. "- I just thought that maybe you didn't feel the same way."

His hand squeezed her leg tenderly. "Course I do." He sat up in his bed and brushed a stray piece of hair out of Kaylee's face. "I ain't usually spilling my guts like this, but you're the only girl I've known to ever make my heart beat faster then any heist I've been on." He looked down a moment, but brought his eyes back up to look into hers. "I've been with lots and lots of women Kaylee, probably some too many, but they haven't meant a damn to me so much as a quick release. You though; you're a whole lot more then that."

Kaylee could feel her eyes brimming with tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. No one had ever said anything remotely sentimental like that to her. Even though it wasn't the classical tale that she'd read about in fairy tales, Jayne in his own way had just professed his love for her. And for Jayne, that was absolutely extraordinary. He opened his mouth to continue, but was quickly silenced by Kaylee's lips. She could feel herself being lifted up onto his lap, and her bare legs wrapped around his waist as his tongue ran across her bottom lip. She moaned softly into his mouth, and closed her eyes and let the tears fall as they moved in rhythm on his bed.

For the first time in his life, Jayne finally knew what it meant to give yourself to someone completely.

It was nearly noon when she and Wash took a break from fixing the hovercraft to have lunch with the crew. Even though she chatted with Wash the whole time, her mind had been on Jayne. Before tonight, she knew that he had the ability to feel emotions, but she never would've thought that he'd actually show them. After their second time, she was going to go shower, but he wouldn't let her go. So instead she fell asleep again, this time with her body pressed up against his, her head on his shoulder and her legs between his. When they awoke again, the crew was up and bustling around the ship. Kaylee had convinced Jayne to go up there and make sure the coast was clear. When he waved her up, her small feet skittered up the ladder faster then she had ever gone before. She was halfway to her bunk when she turned around and ran back to Jayne, kissing him full on the mouth before running back and pushing her ladder open. She quickly slid down it and he stared after her; amazed he finally had the one gorram thing on the ship he wanted more then anything else.

Everyone had taken his or her seats around the table in the kitchen when Kaylee came in, her hair still damp from her second quick shower that morning. She tried to hide a smile that threatened to creep up upon her face when she saw that there was a chair next to where Jayne was seated. She sat down and out of the corner of her eye she noticed him looking at her with his come hither stare. She tried focusing on the table, and then realized that they hadn't exactly cleaned up very well from the night before. She could see tiny strawberry juice stains and patches of dried white substance. She bit her lip nervously and prayed it was only dried whipped cream. She glanced up at Jayne again and saw that he was noticing the stains on the table himself.

"- So I was telling Kaylee that we should just trash the secondary primer cord cause to be honest, I don't think it would last a day once we start up that engine, and it can't really be patched. Right Kaylee? Kaylee?" Wash looked at her tilting his head to the side, as was everyone else.

Kaylee snapped out of her staring contest with the table. "Huh? Oh! Yeah, definitely need a new one of those, don't wanna be scrapin' the ground instead of hoverin' over it."

Mal gave her a funny look as he took another biscuit from the bowl. "And just how much does one of those things cost?"

Kaylee opened her mouth to respond, but her words were cut short by the feeling Jayne's hand on her thigh. "Um, uh... like 12.50 Captain, not bad at all," she choked out.

"Kaylee, you all right over there?" Mal had that look he got when he knew something was up. Which was pretty much every other day, Kaylee thought.

She cleared her throat. "I'm fine Captain, right and shiny."

Mal wasn't buying it, but decided to leave it alone for the moment. He saw the empty chair next to Book. "Where's River?"

Simon looked up from his plate. "She told me she needed to sleep a little more, I don't think she got much rest last night. She said something about disturbing noises in the kitchen," he shrugged. "I think I may need to change her meds again."

Kaylee almost choked on her food. River heard she and Jayne in the kitchen? She nibbled on the bottom of her lip. She hoped River only got the audio version, and not the visual. She heard Jayne chuckle quietly under his breath and she discreetly kicked his foot underneath the table.

Mal opened his mouth to say something when River walked into the room. Simon turned in his chair and saw her staring at the table. "River, come sit down and have something to eat."

Book began to pull her chair out for her when she started to backpedal. "Can't."

Simon looked at her quizzically. "Why not?"

She shook her head. "The room is full of noise." River crossed her arms and glanced at Jayne and Kaylee. "It smells like strawberries and sweat."

Kaylee blanched while Mal looked at Simon. "I best believe you change her meds as soon as possible Doc. She is clearly going off her rocker."

Inara looked over at Kaylee. She always thought of her when strawberries were mentioned, they were her favorite thing in the 'Verse. She saw the younger girl pale, and look down at her plate. Confused, she looked back at River, who was now staring at Jayne. Inara glanced at Jayne and saw that he too was looking elsewhere. Why did the two of them have such guilty looks on their faces? As soon as the thought crossed her mind, it took everything in her not to slap her hand to her mouth. Of course.

Before Simon and Mal started to argue over River's condition, Inara spoke up. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have to excuse myself to do some things. Kaylee, could you help me with something in my shuttle for a moment?"

Kaylee's fork clattered to the table and she was up before she even responded. "Sure Inara, let's go!" She walked hurriedly past the crew and was out of the kitchen before Inara even stood up.

The crew looked at each other with the same confused look while River looked at Kaylee's empty seat and back to Jayne. "Red is a good color on you."

Jayne choked on his biscuit.

To be continued...