Title: Thankful
Rating: R- angst ahoy!
Pairing: Rayne
Disclaimer: I don't own Firefly, all of it belongs to others.
Summary: "Jayne thanked God it was almost over."
A/N: A Continuation of 'Bitter,' written in response to a Thanksgiving challenge. I obviously went in a different direction. Thanks so much to those who reviewed and/or placed me on their favorites list! I am blushing.Enjoy!
Jayne thanked God it was almost over.
It all happened because one night, he wasn't careful enough about making sure River was in a deep sleep before he started his wishful thinking. She'd immediately sat up and said, "We could go and get the missing parts of me? A River/Jayne baby?" Now Jayne was a strong man, but there was no ruttin' way he could say no to anything that might make his broken girl feel less broken.
That was the beginning. After a slew of arguments, plans, contact-making, re-planning, and conniving, the majority of the crew of Serenity was launching a mini-assault on a storage facility on Osiris.
Jayne thanked God they'd managed to convince Kaylee and Inara to take the children and stay with Book on Haven.
Everything had gone smoothly (which should have been an immediate sign that everything was about to go to hell), until they reached the eighth sub-basement of the facility and found, well, they found a girl, maybe sixteen years old. It was obvious to all of them at first glance that this girl was from River; she had her mother's eyes and dancer body. What all of them missed was the cold look in the girl's eyes.
Jayne instantly knew that River would never survive having a child, her child, created and used by the Hands of Blue. She just sorta broke, right in front of all of them. Jayne watched as his wife sobbed and rushed to the girl, only to have her daughter snap her neck as easily as most people draw breath. There had been no recognition in the girl's eyes, only the mechanical function of a true killer.
Jayne thanked God River died quickly.
The rest of the fight blurred in Jayne's memory. Mal and Zoë sprung into action against the girl as Simon rushed to his mei-mei's side. Jayne remembered not believing his crazy girl was dead. The girl, the other girl, moved like no one he'd ever seen before, not even River.
Jayne thanked God Zoë was quick enough to put a bullet in the girl's head before she could finish her brutal work on Mal. Jayne thanked God River hadn't been alive to see her daughter killed by one of her friends.
The only things Jayne remembered during their flight back to Haven were Mal's screams as Simon operated and Zoë's sobs when they all realized their captain would never walk again.
Jayne thanked God Wash had not entered the facility and could fly them away. Jayne thanked God Mal was still alive.
At Haven, a shell-shocked crew buried River and her daughter, whose name (if she'd ever had one) they never knew.
Jayne thanked God Book was alive to perform the service. Jayne thanked God he'd at least been able to return River's brother home safely to Kaylee.
But most of all, Jayne thanked God that there was a knife waiting for him in his room so that he could escape from a universe where he'd allowed this to happen.