Disclaimer: I am a high school senior, all I own are copies of Serenity, Firefly and Dark Angel Season 1. Everything else is owned by James Cameron and Joss Whedon, I only wish I owned Firefly.

Spoilers: Some for Serenity

Since it's been a couple days, I thought I'd give y'all two chapters within 4 hours.

Simon was patching up Charlie's back when Jayne walked into the infirmary. Although she was lying face down on the table, her topless state gave Jayne some pause. Then he noticed the state her back was in. There were long bloody gashes completely covering her pale skin, they were half healed, but some had been reopened.

"What the gorram hell?" Jayne rumbled, drawing both Charlie and Simon's attentions.

Simon gulped when he saw Jayne's furious face, quickly turning back to his patient.

Charlie smiled reassuringly. "You can go Simon, I've got this." He smiled back nervously, then fled the room.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Jayne ground out, staring at her shredded skin.

"And say what exactly?" Charlie slowly got up and slipped her shirt on, keeping her back to the furious merc. "Thank you for saving me from constant torture and imprisonment at the hands of a weasel-faced man who was planning on raping me. Oh and could you listen to me whine about some non-fatal wounds? Like you hadn't helped me enough."

"What happened?" Jayne stepped forward, until he was just inches away. "What did he do to you."

"When I wouldn't tell him exactly how strong I am and the limit of my abilities, he was mad." She ran her fingers of one hand over her split lips, and down to her bruised ribs. "When I refused to be a part of his 'breeding program,' he was furious. He decided that a whip was suitable for a disobedient animal."

"You have every reason to distrust ordinary people." Jayne looked down into her emerald eyes. "Yet you seem to trust me. Why?"

"It's not as odd as you think. You saved me when you didn't have to." She reached up and laid a hand on his cheek. "You could've left me there and almost no one would've condemned you."

"I would've." Jayne murmured.

Charlie pulled his head down, and kissed him. He put his hands at her waist and kissed her back. Instinctively he let one hand slide up her back, and she froze. He felt instant remorse as she pulled away, her green eyes filled with pain.

Charlie turned and fled, blurring past a shocked Kaylee, who had apparently walked in mid-kiss.

"I thought you didn't kiss women on the mouth." She said, after a few shocked moments.

"I didn't...I mean I don't." Jayne replied, then stalked past her, his head spinning.

Kaylee was left alone in the infirmary. She smiled. "How interesting."

Jayne tossed and turned for more than a hour before he gave up. He pulled on a pair of pants and headed for the cargo bay to work out.

When he reached the cargo bay, he stopped at the sound of soft grunting. He looked around the corner, and saw Charlie easily bench-pressing a hundred pounds.

"I didn't think mercs snuck around like little mice." Charlie said without looking at him.

"I'm not sneaking around." Jayne replied childishly, stepping around the corner.

Charlie shelved the bar and sat up. "Really? Could've fooled me." She turned slowly to look at him.

He opened his mouth to say something, but the way she was looking at him made the words stick in his throat.

Charlie slowly stood and dried herself off with her towel. She let her hair down, it fell in dark waves down to her waist. She kept her eyes on him the entire time. She walked slowly over to him and licked her lips.

Jayne's mouth went dry as he stared at her mouth. He stood stock still as she came towards him, stopping a breath away.

"Charlie..." Jayne stopped when she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. He groaned against her mouth.

"Your bunk." Charlie ran her hands down his back. "Now."

Jayne woke up at some ungodly hour, expecting to find Charlie long gone. He was surprised to find her still curled up in his arms, fast asleep. He lay there watching her for a minute, then she opened her huge emerald eyes to dreamily look up at him.

"Hi." She whispered.

"Hey." He rumbled back. He adjusted his grip around her waist. He noticed then that her skin was feverishly hot. "Are you okay? You feel really warm."

"I'm great." She laid her cheek against his chest. "My kind run a little hot, a little under a hundred and two degrees Fahrenheit." When she ran a hand over one shoulder, he winced. "What?" She propped herself up on one elbow.

"Just a little sore, that's all."

She looked down at his shoulder, catching sight of a faint bite mark. "I did this?" Jayne nodded and she had the decency to blush. She leant down and kissed it.

"You know, we have a couple of hours before Mal'll come lookin' for me." Jayne flipped them over so she was half underneath him.

"Only a couple of hours?" Charlie grinned.