Chapter 6
Morning brought with it the usual flurry of activity as the crew made preparations to sail. The absence of their guests meant breakfast passed in comparative ease. Jayne's general grumbling as the arrival of other crew depleted the food levels. River continuing her daily taunting practice with a verbal poke at him or by stealing food from his bowl to incite a reaction only tempered by the entrance of Kaylee and Simon, who, as had been habit of recent months, appeared at the table together. Mal was relieved that the events of the previous night had not yet impacted the remainder of his crew. On turning in the small hours of the morning, his unsettled emotions refused to allow his journey into slumber forcing the captain to sit for several hours staring into the darkness of his room, neither seeing nor reacting, just going over events in his mind.
Heaping yet another slop of breakfast into his bowl, Jayne noticed Mal sitting, vacant expression, food untouched. Brows pressed slightly together, dark circles under his eyes, it was clear that unlike Jayne, Mal had not the talent for sleep regardless of circumstance. Man could go mad spending time thinking about things. Jayne had a clear and single philosophy, he refused to allow himself to think about things which he didn't understand. He went solely on gut feel, and money if it was offered to him. He couldn't fathom why men troubled themselves into grey hairs going over questions to which they could never have full answers. The world simply was the way it was, best you could do was roll in with the tides and try to avoid the waves as they hit.
'Everything's squared to sail Captain.' Jayne broke the man's reverie to receive a nod of acknowledgement.
'Hey Cap… You think we can pick up a new head mount coupling when we get land side?' Kaylee asked, watching as Mal dumped his half eaten breakfast in the sink.
'Could be possible. Have picked up good fair from our passengers. We'll see. River, you wanna take our exit?' Not waiting for an answer Mal strode out of the galley.
Once Serenity was breaking atmos River set course and pushed the auto button. Silence had been her only real companion on this take off despite the man sat in the pilots chair next to her. River pulled her feet up into her chair and twisted to face the Captain. He looked no different from any other day except for the slight grey tiredness in his face, but River could feel the worry leaking out of every cell in his body, sticking her like hundreds of tiny pin pricks, raising goosebumps on her flesh.
Mal had, til now, been entirely comfortable with his lack of faith, his experiences having engendered such crisis of belief that he could no longer entertain the concept of a God. He had tolerated Shepard's religious notions, but never paid them much heed. The arrival of Serenity's latest passengers, the nature of their true selves had ignited a multitude of questions leaving Mal in tortured contemplation, trying to fight his way to reconcile his own mistrust of all things religious with the facts that had been laid before him.
'You should talk to her.' Mal looked over to see River observing him closely with her big, all seeing, brown eyes. 'Make the muddy waters clear again before Chaos delivers the destruction of your conscience.' She said solemnly.
Not really sure of her meaning, Mal agreed. Taking a deep breath he made his way to seek out the blonde visitor.
After breakfast Jayne had completed his checks. As normal when in the black, he had little to occupy him not being much of a thinker nor enjoying books. When Book had been onboard he at least had had some company, but now his time was punctuated by moments of physical exertion at his weights bench, or belabouring over his guns and knives. Making a decision Jayne entered the cargo hold on the ground floor. The main walkway crossed overhead leading down either side of the bay to stairs near the hold doors. On some level Jayne had been expecting the space to look different following what he had seen just hours before, but no, the crates were still stacked on the right near the doors, the glare of the lights was as harsh as always and his weights were right where they had always been. Stripping down to his armless t-shirt, Jayne picked up his dumbbells and started his reps.
Moving through the various muscle groups to his bench presses, Jayne relaxed and enjoyed the repetition of working out. Losing himself in the monotony of the movements he could empty his mind of thoughts, quietening his brain to welcome a sense of being untethered, to be free. Shepard had described to him once how mundane activities such as working free weights could be a form of meditation, a therapy for the mind and soul. Well Jayne had to confess he didn't know much about any thing like that, but he knew that when his reps were nearly through and his muscles began to ache, he felt better.
Exhaling as he pushed out the weight he was more than a little startled to see a face appear from over his head. Cow shaped eyes, surrounded by thick lines of lashes blinked at him once before reflecting the smile that ghosted around the full lips.
'You lookin for a real work out big fella?' said the smirk
Jayne grunted. The weight was getting heavier yet the figure was blocking the rest. Hands reached underside to take the weight from him, hefting with comparative ease the bar which he found challenging, back to its holding place on the bench. Jayne grabbed the towel from the floor as he sat up, muscles still burning from the exertion of his work out.
'Never said no to some rough 'n' tumble.'
Faith winked. Pretending to begin her stretches, she pulled one arm across her body pulling out the muscles in her back. Same the other side. Both arms up above her head she leant sideways, the action causing her black shirt to ride up her body giving Jayne a glimpse of smooth taut skin which stopped just below the outward curves of her upper body. He swallowed hard.
Faith stepped out from behind the weights bench into the open space of the hold, crooking a finger at Jayne, she assumed a fighters stance.
'Let's see what you got.'
'Aint got to go hitting no girls'
'Geez man. I can definitely take whatever you got, so stop behaving like a girl.' Faith taunted.
With a growled 'I aint no girl', Jayne narrowed the distance between them, feinting left he threw a sharp jab at Faith from the right. She darted out of the way to deliver a sharp kick to his stomach making contact with his hard abs. Surprised Jayne stopped moving. He couldn't believe she had actually struck him. OK it didn't reallyhurt none, but still. He gave a small shrug. If she wanted to play rough, he could certainly accommodate her.
The mock fight gave Faith the chance to observe Jayne close up. He wasn't a born hand to hand fighter. He had none of the grace of Buffy, nor did he share any of Spike's flow and form, but what he lacked in style he more than made up for in strength. Good at anticipating moves, Jayne's fighting was more a match of her own street brawling. He mixed strength punches with block moves, using his tree like body to bar her movements or absorb blows which would have hurt a smaller man. Not used to kicks and gymnastics in his fights, Jayne was however a quick study and Faith was impressed with the speed with which he adapted his normal stance to combat her more flamboyant attacks.
Executing a backwards leap Faith found herself on the receiving end of an experimental kick out from Jayne, ricocheting into the crates at the end of the bay, she let out a small yelp.
Seeing her crumpled on the floor, Jayne rushed over to her, bending down, he ran a hand up the side of her body which had impacted the crate.
'Ribs aint broke. Can you move?' Jayne asked as he continued his assessment of her injury.
A hand clasped around his neck hard and pulled him sharply downwards. Startled, Jaynetried toremain but the pull was too strong, his position already to far bent over to resist properly.
'Baby, I can move like you wouldn't believe.'
Faith met the surprised brown eyes above her as she pulled his head in closer to hers. Warm lips met hers in a closed kiss. The smell of testosterone, sweat and gun oil smacked into her nostrils, heightening her passion for this big bear of a man. Her tongue darted out to taste him. Forcing his lips to part and allow her deeper purchase on the tender warmth of his mouth. Jayne groaned deeply, passion rising, he began his own exploration of her mouth. Faith moved beneath him, her hands finding the edges of his t-shirt grabbing at his skin, she felt burnt by the heat which radiated from him. It was like fire lapping at her fingertips, a beautiful singeing which permeated her chilled touches.
Cool air rushed to her parted lips as Jayne pulled back breathing heavily. Rocking back to rest on his feet, he sat, mouth open, eyebrows raised, as he tried to calm his rising fervour with uneven breaths. Puzzled, he tried to fathom the strength of his reaction to this woman. Separated by a few feet now, Faith's expression matched Jayne's briefly, but as she fought for breaths she didn't really need, her lips, reddened by the ardour of Jayne's kiss, twisted into a fully blown grin.
'Man, you know how to get a girls blood pumping.'
Jayne grinned back. Getting to her feet, Faith moved back into the middle of the floor, hips swaying in enticement. She turned the upper half of her body showing Jayne a full outline of her curves.
'Ready for a rematch?' she purred
Blood flushed to Jayne lower half at the tone in her voice. Jumping to his feet he paused momentarily to recapture his balance, he realised he had just kissed a woman for the first time in five years and he loved every tantalising second of it. 'Gorram it all to hell this one is gonna kill me.' he thought, right foot back, hands raised awaiting the next move from Faith.
Spike left Buffy having a shower. He didn't even bother to pause at Faith's door, for he had known as soon as she left there earlier. Following his senses, Spike navigated the passageways of Serenity past the other rooms to the lower door of the cargo bay where Faith continued to practice with Jayne. Observing for a moment, Spike saw that the two were well suited in style although Faith was holding back both in strength and experience. Spike watched as Jayne performed a classic Faith manoeuvre, impressed that the big man had adopted her moves and that hemanaged toput her on her back foot as frequently as he did. Spike could see Jayne had the strength and adaptability of a good fighter. With a bit of tutoring he could be really proficient.
'Wonder how he does in a group' Spike thought
Spike stepped forward clearing his throat to announce his presence. He knew Faith had sensed him long before, but Jayne was still just a normal mortal man.
'Gotta say im impressed mate,' Spike said, walking towards the pair 'not many can take Faith on, hold their own. You got good balance. Your strong. What 'dya say to a little tutoring?'
'Like what?'
Spike looked Jayne up and down. 'None of the balletic stuff mate, don't worry. How 'bout some kickboxing and anti weapon work?'
'You'll teach it?' Jayne asked cautiously, brown eyes flicking to look at Faith
'Been round over 500 hundred years, that's a lot of bloody fights.' Spike answered proudly, before following the flick of Jayne eyes, 'Faith's gonna help too, right kitten?'
'Me and two guys getting our wrestle on? Just the way it's meant to be.' She laughed.