A Might Unpredictable
Chapter Five
First Kisses
By RingPrincess
They were stuck in the infirmary. Jayne didn't quite understand why these thugs thought putting them in the infirmary was such a good idea. Sure it was like a box, a bright, white chilly box. It reminded Jayne of a freezer. It also had the one exit and a window or two so the thugs could keep track of them. But as it was, Jayne had seen the inside of the place far too often and being forced to be there wasn't improving his mood any. He leaned against the counter that could be used as an extra bed with his arms crossed and brooded.
Of course, it would help if Crazy wasn't in here with them. She was always good for a distraction.
"We need a plan," Kaylee said for at least the hundredth time. "Isn't that how we normally get out of these situations, a plan?"
Meg frowned. "This is a regular occurrence."
Jayne grunted. "Don't pay her no mind."
Kaylee grinned. "Well, you see there was this one time."
Simon grabbed Kaylee's hands. "Now Kaylee, I don't think Meg needs to hear about that."
"Sides, River was roaming that time." Jayne added.
River nodded swinging her legs back and forth against the edge of the bed. She glanced at the door. Jayne followed her gaze and snorted. He could see the edge of one of the two guards posted outside the door through the window.
"Not that it helped much." He finished. "We didn't have a plan that time neither. Or at least not until too late."
"Ah, regular occurrence." Meg nodded.
"Not as regular as they're making it out to be." Simon tried to reassure her.
"If it ain't one thing, it's another with this crew." Jayne snorted. "Meg'll just have to get used to it. Of course, we aren't always stuck in the infirmary."
Simon wrapped his arms about Kaylee as she put her head on his chest. Simon kissed the top of her head.
"Just end up here a lot." Jayne finished.
Simon rolled his eyes. Jayne wasn't helping matters.
"We could try a diversion. Isn't that what we were going to do with Badger? A diversion?" Kaylee looked between Simon and Jayne. "Though I don't want to see Jayne naked."
Simon snickered.
"Hey!" Jayne growled. "I ain't that bad lookin'."
Meg titled her head to the side and looked around. "A weapon would help even the odds."
"Pity that something like this happened on your first trip." Simon sighed and raked a hand through his hair. "I wish I knew what they used to knock us out."
River swung off the table and began to wander about the room, running her fingers over different objects. No one paid any attention to her even as she began to open and rummage quietly through drawers.
"It was sweet smellin'." Kaylee said hoping that it would help. Simon shook his head.
Jayne glanced at River and frowned seeing what she was doing. His eyebrow rose and she covertly showed him something clenched in her fist. He nodded and glanced out the windows again. A grin crossed his face and he jerked his head at River in an explicit come 'ere gesture. River spun on her toes, walking around the table and past the others, a determined look on her face.
"Mei-Mei?" Simon asked.
Jayne stared into River eyes. They were filled with light, wild, primal. The same type of light he'd seen after she defeated the Reavers. The light that had made him attracted to her. He reached out and pulled her closer to him. She thrust up onto his tiptoes and they kissed.
Perhaps kiss wasn't the right word. Devoured each other's mouths was a more apt description. River pressed her slight body against his, licking and nibbling at his lips. Jayne's mouth opened and her tongue slid inside warm and wet. Jayne hadn't kissed a woman on the mouth in years but some actions came naturally. He sucked on her tongue tasting it with his own, scraping it with his teeth.
River moaned and his hand slid around her back, holding her there. Warmth flooded through her body and transmitted into his and back again. 'Is this what everyone else feels when they kiss?' She wondered as the pure physicality of the kiss blocked out the emotions and thoughts of the others in the room. It helped that Jayne's mind was like a bastion, the lip of the wall protecting from the ever-present rain of other people's thoughts and emotions. She pulled her tongue out and his followed, plunging into her mouth, lapping her up. Her eyes closed and her knuckles whitened as she tightened her grip on his arms, thumb caressing his shoulder and the dragon tattoo through his shirt. Through the haze she vaguely heard Simon's disgusted shout. "Mei-mei!" with Kaylee and Meg's shouting as they tried to do something. River blocked it all out and tried to focus on Jayne's mind. The best word she could think about what she did next was, knock. She tapped lightly on the wall and the wall came tumbling down.
River's heart stopped for a moment. She gasped against his mouth and he chuckled. His mind was so organized and categorized. Every memory, every thought was just so and constantly checked. His mind was like his weapons cache while hers in comparison was a wild field of flowers, chaotic, open to the sun with random things just flying around. He chuckled again as her very comparison became flesh within her mindscape. Then sucked her lip into his mouth.
'So, if I think, do you hear me?' He asked inside their connected minds.
She physically sagged against him, legs unable to hold out. He thought just as he spoke, low and rumbly. It made the inside of her brain tickle and the back of her spine tingle and she involuntarily shivered.
'Plan,' she whispered before she forgot all about it and contented herself with being close to his body and wrapped in his mind. 'I have a plan.' She swirled her tongue around his and she showed him, eyes snapping open to lock onto his.
His acceptance spread more warmth through her and she ground against him. He moaned and pressed harder onto her lips. She worked a leg around his. His hand traveled from her arm to her thigh, pushing her skirt upwards. Adrenaline rushed through his veins at the thought of upcoming action, bloodlust, battle lust and plain lust roared in his mind, earthy and warm, made him hard and aching. River moaned pressing tighter to him, heat pulsing between her thighs, skin flushing.
The door opened and Jayne's walls around his mind came back up.
"What in gorram hells is going on here?" One of guards asked.
River and Jayne pretended to ignore him. Her mouth wandered away from his, trailing kisses along his jaw to his earlobe. "Now," she murmured.
Four things happened at once, Jayne flicked his wrist from down by her thigh and released River. River spun and kicked high, crushing the other guard's throat. The first fell backwards, a scalpel protruding from his eye.
Meg, Simon and Kaylee stared. Kaylee and Meg holding onto Simon's arms. The change came so quick they hadn't time to process the upturn of their situation.
"Right then," Simon murmured.
Jayne knelt down and grabbed the guns. River crossed to the door and checked both ways. She glanced over her shoulder at Jayne. "Clear." She said and licked pink swollen lips.
He finished checking the guns with various clicks and stood up. He nodded. "Stay put." He looked down at the man writhing on floor with the scalpel in his eye. "And knock him out." He tossed over his shoulder and went after River as she preceded him out the door. She tilted her head to the left and then to the right, evidently listening. Jayne stood behind her looking both ways. They headed in the same direction at the same time without pausing to consult one another.
River ghosted ahead, coming up behind a man before he realized anything was wrong. She wrapped her hands around his head and snapped his neck with a quick jerk. He fell and she reached down, stripping away his knife and tossed it back to Jayne. He caught it and they advanced a few more steps to the cargo bay, staying in the shadows until their eyes adjusted.
Three men stood in their way. Jayne looked at River and raised an eyebrow. She shrugged and looked back. He flipped one of the guns around and offered it to her. She shook her head wildly, hair flying everywhere. He shrugged and flipped it back so it rested easily in his grip. He sighted down the barrel and squeezed the trigger three times in rapid succession.
The men jerked, the third spinning out of control. Jayne ran forward, spinning and covered the catwalk. River leapt over the closest section of the rail and dashed up the stairs.
Back in the infirmary Simon and the others jumped at the sound of gunfire.
River flung her body against the wall on one side of the door. A few seconds later, Jayne did the same against the other side. Jayne peered around the corner and pulled his head back in. River held up two fingers. He kept his eyes trained on the door opening. The first part to appear was an arm. River reached out and snapped her wrist around it, pulling the body all the way through and aiding his momentum throwing him against the rail and shoving him over. He landed with a meaty thump and she turned to Jayne, to see him slit the throat of the other thug.
He dropped the body and they locked gazes again. She stared down the hall and raised three fingers. Jayne grimaced and checked over the rail, shooting the thug that she'd thrown over the rail as a precautionary measure.
"Gorramit!" They heard from down the hallway. "What's all the gunfire for?"
River glanced at Jayne and shrugged. He shrugged back and proceeded down the hallway hugging the wall, gun poised and ready in front of him. River crept behind him, her slight body hid by his bulk.
"Fine, I'm comin'. I'm comin'." The man grumbled and walked right in Jayne's sights. River flinched as the gun went off.
"The others?" Jayne whispered.
"One's in the engine room, the other," River squeezed her eyes shut. "The bridge."
"Great." He muttered, "'Cept Mal would have a fit if we did any shootin' in there."
"Have fit for shooting in here." River pointed out.
"Yeah, yeah." He grumbled. "Come on then." He paused and handed her the knife. "Just don't go cuttin' up on me."
"Have other things I'd rather do to you." River accepted it with a wink and a smile.
Jayne opened his mouth to retort hotly that the kiss had only been allowed as a distraction and to piss Simon off, but she'd already advanced around the kitchen table and turned towards the engine room. He growled and headed after her. She wouldn't have believed him anyways. They both knew it was only an excuse to do what he wanted. He'd seen it in her eyes just before he kissed her.
River hissed as she saw that the man inside was doing something to Serenity's engines. She flipped her grip on the knife and sneaked up behind him, hitting him on the temple. The man's eyes rolled back into his head and he crumpled. River glared down at him. "How dare you hurt Serenity!" She kicked him for good measure. Jayne snickered and she glared at him.
"I gave you that knife to kill him not beat him." Jayne gestured at the man, who upon closer inspection was blonde with a great many tattoos. A string of cowry shells was around his neck.
River shook her head. "Need him to tell Kaylee what he did to Serenity."
Jayne blinked and then nodded. "Right." He looked around. "Gotta find us some rope."
River took a few steps and held a length up.
"Shiny."
River roughly tied the man up and they headed towards the last man at the front of the ship no longer bothering to hide their footsteps. The last man sat in the pilot's seat.
"That you, Bester?" He asked. "Seems a shame blowin' up this ship. Someone's takin' a creative hand with the controls and all. Bet she's real sweet in atmo and out. Don't know about these dinos though." He held one up, echoing Meg.
River smiled. "She is."
He spun about to find Jayne's appropriated gun aimed at his chest.
"Get up." Jayne said. "Don't want to get blood all o'er Wash's dinos."
"Or put a hole through Meg's chair." River added, flashing the knife.
The man stood up, placin' his hands away from his sides. His eyes flicked between Jayne and River and settled upon River, deciding she was the lesser threat and thus easiest to bargain with. "If'n it were my choice I wouldn't hurt a sweet ship like this, missy."
River tilted her head. "I know, but you were going to anyways." She edged around until she was behind him. "Follow Jayne."
The man's eyes flicked to Jayne. "That Jayne."
Jayne smirk. "That'd be me."
He frowned. "But Jayne is a girl's name."
River snickered as Jayne growled. He was getting really tired of people making fun of his name. "Well, this Jayne is a man."
The pilot looked over his shoulder. "Shouldn't the gun be behind me?"
"Naw, she'll just break your neck all quiet like." Jayne grinned and gestured to the hall with his gun. "Now move."
The pilot moved.
--
Mal paused as he came to the bottom of the cargo ramp. Jayne leaned against one of the supports cradling Vera.
"Ta ma de," Mal muttered. "What happened here?" He asked as he stared past Jayne into the cargo bay where Simon and River were in the midst of a yelling match near a line of bodies, six of the seven that looked to be very dead. The seventh sat with his hands tied and a top his ankles, Meg sat behind on a crate loosely holding a gun. Her red hair glinted in the lights.
"Don't know, sir." Zoe said looking coolly from one point of interest to the other.
"Well, I wasn't askin' you." Mal frowned and strode up the ramp.
"I'm still stuck on the part of the plan that required you to kiss Jayne." Simon yelled and Mal halted his eyes flying to his mercenary.
Jayne nodded. "Howdy Mal, had us quite the rowdy day. How's yours goin'?"
"It was right shiny until I walked up the ramp to my boat."
Jayne's eyes flickered through the crowd. Mal looked over to River and noticed that even through it appeared her attention was on her brother. If you looked closely, she had the same tense air as Jayne.
"Told you, and told you." River rolled her eyes. "Kissed Jayne to distract the bad guys. Couldn't kiss you. You can't throw a knife like Jayne can."
Zoe's eyebrows flew up. "Is that River, Cap'n?"
Mal crossed his arms. "I believe so."
"Oh." Zoe nodded. "Should I be worried that she's been kissin' Jayne?"
River ignored them and proceeded on with her point. "Also my brother and that's gross." She shook her head. She stabbed her finger into Simon's chest. "Plus you kiss Kaylee all the time."
"That's different, mei-mei." Simon said.
"How? Old enough to do what I want." River shook her head. "Eighteen, can't stop me."
"Well," Simon took a deep breath, disregarding River's age for the moment. "For one, I love Kaylee and," he decided now was a good time to bring it up. "I'm also not half of Kaylee's age."
River snorted. "He's not that old, besides age doesn't matter, especially in the black or among the core families. Could be married right now to an old geezer with white hair and no teeth and you wouldn't be able to do anything about it."
"That's not the point," Simon said.
"No, point is I'm no longer fourteen and I will kiss who I want when I want." River shouted. "We're not in the core anymore!"
"No. You can't." Simon straightened. "I-"
River leaned forward. "Watch me." She hissed and strode away from him making a beeline straight towards Jayne.
Mal opened his mouth to say something but it was too late. And Jayne, who'd been seemingly ignoring the conversation in favor of keeping watch of the boat, his face whipped about and the irate River immediately captured his lips.
Mal watched in shocked fascination as Vera dropped to be held by one hand and Jayne's other hand wrapped around River's petite frame, while Rivers hands buried themselves into his hair.
"Gao yan zhong de gu yang." Mal swore.
Simon's fists clenched tight by his side.
Badger laughed. "Looks like yer boat's had a spot of trouble, Reynolds. And yer watchdog's a might occupied."
Jayne lifted Vera and aimed at him. River cuddled into his front, her lips teasing his throat, hand playing over the front of his t-shirt. "Not that occupied." He growled.
"Well Badger," Mal smiled tightly. "I'm still trying to figure it all out myself. Like why my hired gun and albatross here are all over each other and why I've got seven men-"
"Eight." River corrected him.
Mal frowned. "I counted seven."
River's eyebrow rose and she glanced over her shoulder at him, peering through her hair. "Eight, Bester's in the engine room with Kaylee fixing Serenity."
"Bester." Zoe stated.
"Didn't I fire that gou can de hun dan?" Mal asked no one in particular.
"In favor of Kaylee, sir." Zoe acknowledged.
"And you left the two of them alone in a room together?" Mal asked Jayne.
Jayne shrugged.
"All in knots, can't get out." River giggled. "Plus, I'd know if something happened. No place for Bester to run." She licked Jayne's throat.
"Didn't know that you'll had a history." Jayne said, hand playing a tune along River's spine. "Before my time, I reckon."
"You reckon correctly." Mal said.
"Can't help yer a lousy lay," Kaylee said from the catwalks. "And just 'cause we slept together don't change nothin'. You still tried to hurt me and Serenity."
Bester snorted, hands in front of him. He nodded at Simon. "And he's better."
Kaylee shoved him a bit so he stumbled. "Yep, he don't need an engine."
Simon turned red.
Kaylee tilted her head to the side. "Plus, I love him. Never said, I loved you. Didn't know ya long enough."
Bester muttered something else and Kaylee swatted the back of his head. "Sit." Bester sat.
"I suppose as the Captain I should know what's goin' on." Mal said loudly. He looked over at Jayne. "Jayne, let River go."
River snuggled closer. "Comfy." She murmured.
Jayne sighed, stirring up strands of her hair. "I'm not an object for you to make points with woman. Pissin' off Simon is fun and all."
River pouted looking up at him. "But git."
"Sides, I'm a man."
River giggled and went up on tiptoes. "With man parts." She whispered into his ear.
"Exactly," he told her. "Now git."
River took a few steps back. "You'll show me one day." She said peering through her lashes, then twirled and dashed deeper into the ship.
Jayne's eyes closed. 'Girl's gonna be the death of me.' He thought and willed his erection away.
"Still waiting." Mal tapped his foot.
Simon coughed. "These men used some sort of short term sleeping gas to knock us out."
Kaylee nodded. "Yeppers, put it right into our air vents."
"We all woke up in the infirmary." Simon continued.
Badger snickered.
Jayne snapped the safety off his gun. "River came up with a plan and the two of us cleared out the boat. Found Bester here messin' with the engine. River knocked him out and we captured their pilot on the bridge. After another sweep, sent Kaylee to the engine room to try and figure out what Bester was doin' to the ship."
Kaylee glared at Bester. "He was riggin' the engine to blow as we left atmo."
"Simon and River proceeded to get into an argument," Jayne chewed the last word. "And you came back in and I reckon that's about it."
Mal looked at him face straight. "So when did the kissin' start?"
Simon glared at Jayne. "Yes, Jayne when did the kissing start?"
Jayne blinked. "In the infirmary." Then realization dawned. "I ain't ever kissed your sis afore today, doc. I swear."
Meg's nose wrinkled. "Didn't look like a first kiss to me."
Jayne pointed Vera at Meg. "You stay outta this."
Simon jumped back in. "She's half your age, Jayne.
"No. She ain't!" Jayne shouted. "You all act like I'm an old man in my grave. I ain't even hit thirty yet. Not even ten years between us." He grumbled.
"You should have at least pushed her away or protested." Simon retorted.
Kaylee grinned. "'Stead looked like you was enjoyin' yourself."
Jayne growled something about being a man.
"I don't see what that has to do with it." Simon crossed his arms.
Jayne sighed. "Don't you e'er listen to your sis. She done told you why she couldn't kiss you. And I thought it a might obvious why she couldn't kiss either Kaylee or Meg. Since neither she nor them swing that way and they can't throw knives to boot." Jayne leered at the mental image of River kissing either of the other two girls. "It was all part of our plan for distractin' the guards."
"A plan that neither of you verbalized."
Jayne shifted on his feet. "Some things don't need to be said. It became right obvious and the walls aren't that thick anyways. Didn't need them overhearing anythin' they shouldn't, dong ma."
"No. Obviously, I don't."
Mal held up a hand. "We can argue about this later. Like when were back in the black and have nothing else to do. Just get these," he waved a hand at the bodies and the two captives. "off my boat." He turned to Badger. "Now that's cleared up. Follow me." He paused as he passed the dead men. "Jayne, you shot people up in my boat?" Mal shook his head. "Never mind." He muttered and the two men headed towards the kitchen. With a nod to the others, Zoe followed a few paces behind.
Jayne stared at the two still living men. "Now what should we do with you?" He brought up Vera.
Kaylee's eyes widened. "You can't kill 'em in cold blood, Jayne!"
"Why for?" Jayne swept the gun at the bodies. "We did the rest of 'em."
Simon winced.
"That was different." Kaylee protested. "They had a chance to fight back."
"Says you." Jayne growled.
"Okay, not a very good one, but still a chance." She looked over at Simon and Meg. "Help me here."
Jayne sighed. "Look, obviously there's some bad blood here at least between Serenity and Bester and if it's one thing I've learned is that you don't let bad blood live. It just keeps comin' back to haunt ya."
"See, Kaylee, you can't hurt me." Bester smiled. "Guess you care after all."
The pilot glared at Bester. "Shut up."
Jayne snorted. "Kaylee's a little soft about things like this, but that's the way we wants her." He pointed Vera at the pilot. "I don't know why you're here."
River floated back in appearing out the darkness like a wraith in the dress of midnight blue Jayne had given her. "Money in his pocket, no badness of the past." She stopped behind the pilot and ran her fingers through his hair. "He can go."
The pilot shivered remembering Jayne's words.
Jayne wiggled his eyebrows. "Is that so? Well, I guess you'd know." He used the end of Vera to signal the pilot could get to his feet. "Long as I don't see his face again anytime in the near future."
"Won't." River said as she untied his bonds.
"Can understand about the money in the pocket thing." Jayne said. Vera now trained on Bester.
The pilot nodded and edged around them. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it and don't abuse it." Jayne turned his head to look at him, eyes narrow. "Now git." The pilot took to his heels and quickly disappeared into the crowd. Jayne turned back to Bester. "And this hun dan?"
Bester didn't appear fazed. "You said you understood money right. I got lots of it. You don't kill me and I'll give you lots of it."
"Low, dirty," River shook her head.
"See, I was susceptible to bribes, once." Jayne shook his head. "Not anymore, sides I don't need money. Least ways, not your money." He shifted Vera to rest against his shoulder. "Any other ideas?"
"Beg, pray." River murmured. Bester stiffened.
"Jayne!" Kaylee shouted.
Jayne sighed and took his eye away from the scope of Vera. "What!"
"You can't just shoot him." She gestured at Bester.
Jayne lowered Vera. "Oh right, Mal wouldn't appreciate that, despite that not even Vera can dent the hull of the ship."
Meg tapped her gun against her thigh. "He was trying to blow us up, Kaylee. I mean that's a form of death. Not even an honorable way of death, Bester wasn't willing to get his hands dirty by actually shooting us, most of us whom he didn't have any argument with. Jayne's got a point. Death is death and I don't want to die by leaving this-" she waved her hand, "thing alive."
"Still," Kaylee shifted on her feet.
"Hurt Serenity," River said, her eyes caught Jayne's.
"But," Kaylee said.
"Hurt, angry, wants revenge." River said and placed her hands on either side of Bester's head. "Except vengeance went all wrong. Doesn't know why, just did. Won't stop, won't ever stop. Bad thoughts, hurt me, hurt Serenity." She tilted Bester's head back so he could look at her, but her eyes remained on Jayne. "Bad thoughts, bad man, not honorable."
"I'm not going to remain here while you discuss murder." Simon stated.
"Then go someplace else." Jayne snorted.
"I'm not leaving River either."
"Fine." River stated, digging her fingers into Bester's scalp. "Thoughts becoming incoherent, dark." She licked her lips making them shine. Jayne's breath caught and he growled. He wanted to tell her to stop teasing him. Yet he instinctively knew if he did she'd just keep right on doing it, if not more. His body ached, remembering her firm breasts pressed against it. The breasts that pushed out of the dress he'd bought her, a slight shadow indicating her cleavage. Her eyes hooded and he snarled. She knew what she was doing to him. She bit her bottom lip. "Can't shoot him. What to do?" She murmured, leaning down close to Bester's ear, flaunting the tops of her breasts.
Jayne couldn't tear his eyes away. "That's the question we was askin'."
Bester breathed in her scent deep. "Oh baby," he murmured. Jayne stiffened.
River's lip curled and she let him go. "Shootings too good for you." She stalked past him and pressed her body back against Jayne.
"I thought I talked to you about this." He told her.
Simon glared.
"Can still feel it. Can't help it." River murmured. "Pours off you in waves." She brushed her lips along his chin. "Tuned to me and only to me, makes me vibrate in tune. Drives me to you."
Jayne glanced over at Bester. River would have to wait. "Are we gonna kill him or not?" He growled.
"No," Simon said.
"No!" Kaylee gasped.
"Yes," Meg nodded.
"Soon please," River added.
"Gorram democracy never works." Jayne growled.
Bester sighed. "If you're gonna shoot me would you get it over with."
Jayne raised Vera. "Fine." He said and squeezed the trigger. Bester flew backwards the top of his head exploding.
"Jayne!" Kaylee shouted.
"He asked for it." Jayne muttered. River reached over and shifted the safety on Vera. He peered down at her. "All right, woman for the last time lemme go. I've got work to do and no one's gonna help me."
"I will," River pouted. "I help make mess, should help clean it."
"Not in that dress," Jayne growled. "Why'd you change anyways?"
"In this dress girl becomes woman. Woman needs man like in Garden." She pressed her hand against his heart. "Man and woman are of one flesh. Made that way, not good to take apart."
"Get that from Shepard's book." Jayne's eyes narrowed.
River nodded.
"Thought it didn't make sense."
"Logic based on emotions never makes sense." She tapped her fingers against him. "A very wise man told me that."
Jayne shoved her away. He looked at Simon. It looked like the only thing that kept Simon from punching Jayne was the fact River was in the way or the fact River would most likely catch his arm before he could connect. Jayne grunted and slung Vera across his back heading across the bay to grab the first body. He grabbed it by its armpits and began to drag it backwards. "Well, you best go change back if you want to help me out." He said as he went past her.
River sighed and went to change.
Jayne kept tugging the bodies out of the cargo bay, laying them in a neat line outside. Simon stood there chewing his tongue. Meg stood up, stretched and headed towards her chair at the bridge. Jayne left Bester for last and decided that dragging him by his ankles might be better. Kaylee placed her hand on Simon's arm. "I don't know if I got everything with the engine fixed."
He looked at her, distracted from glaring at Jayne. "You go ahead bei-bao."
Kaylee shook her head. "I need help."
Simon opened his mouth, but Kaylee tugged on his arm leading him away from Jayne and his grisly cargo. Jayne's shoulder's relaxed minutely.
"Papa cat away, now mice can play." River taunted.
Jayne jumped and spun.
River stood in the middle of the cargo bay looking around at the blood in distaste. "After we clean."
He chuckled. "Don't like a little blood."
"You look good in red, but not in others red." She gestured.
He scowled. "Now don't go bringing that on again."
Mal strode through the door. "Is my boat clean yet?"
"Gettin' there." Jayne looked up.
"What's takin' so long?"
"You didn't leave clear orders so we had to debate what to do." Jayne shrugged. River made little squeaking noises as she tiptoed around and over the drops of blood. Her toes barely touched the clean spaces of deck. Jayne glanced at her feet. "Plus, she's not wearin' shoes again."
River paused in mid stride and glared at him. "Don't like shoes."
"Just get it clean. We've got guests comin'" Mal ordered and disappeared again.
"Twitchy," Jayne muttered. "Ain't like there are any real ladies here to care about a bit of blood."
River snickered. "Famous last words."
Badger bounced down the steps. "Right, I'll be back soon with the girls."
Jayne looked over at River. "Like I said, real ladies."
--
