Title: We've All Got Our Little Problems
Series: Bad Blood
Pairing: It's going to have a bit of all the canon, plus Rayne!
Rating: PG-13 (may be R later on)
Disclaimer: begins to sing, and sadly might I add If you wish upon a star...no matter who you are...your dream will come true! stops singing yeah right! Maybe if you don't wish to own them... pftt...
Author's Notes: I'll make this AN short, in some semblance of compensation as to the last chapters AN. To those three fine individuals that told me to keep going when I was ready to just quit, I thank you deeply. This chapter wouldn't be here if it weren't for the three of you so really this one is all yours.
This here is the biggest and baddest chapter yet, at a nice round number of 9,084 words I find myself overjoyed at getting this thing out to the world. It took a lot of pushing and pounding and just plain sitting there and typing some real crap to get to the parts that could pass as good, but here it is.
Thanks as always goes to mik109 for her beta mastery, thanks babe (and if you guys haven't read all of her stories you best hop to it because she's one of the best Rayne writers EVER!)
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They stood there, in the dead silent that always seemed to accompany the dark. How is it something that makes every sound seem bigger while helpin' drown it all out at the same time was beyond him, he just knew that's how it worked. He also knew that he had never been more anxious due to that silence, it was something he was always going on and on about trying to get, but now…now he would give anything to hear something.
Unfortunately the something he was most looking to hear was dead silent, and he remembered all too well what that meant.
"Do you think it's still moving?" came the calm and collected voice next to him, and he was thankful for the break from that silence he usually coveted.
Simon stood next to his captain, the man that had saved his life more then once, and in ways he couldn't even begin to list, thankful for the calming yellow glow the large candle in his had offered the all too quiet hallway. Ever the doctor when it came to life threatening ordeals, he stood completely calmly, and more so then that, completely still. It was his defense mechanism, he couldn't be afraid or even the slightest bit worried. He was the one they looked to to make them better, it wouldn't do to see that pillar of strength and sureness of purpose just float away and turn into fearful blubbering when something went wrong, which was always.
"Can't tell, the doors too thick." Simple answer for a situation that was anything but simple. That was her way, calm and collected. Ever waiting for her orders, the good little solider.
"Only one way to find out." The third answer, direct and too the point, because that's all he knew. He was the man in charge, the one they looked to, he gave 'em a purpose, a job. Wouldn't do at all to be not commanding when you were in charge of other people's lives. It's not captainy to not be the brave one, even if on the inside he was terrified that when they opened that door they would be greeted by a large hunk of rotatin' metal that weren't rotatin'.
With a deep breath, and a forceful tug, the engine room door slid open.
It was like the war all over, that's the only way he could describe it. In those few moments in Serenity Valley, as the sound of ships echoed overhead, right before the order to surrender sounded off. It was bliss. There she was, his girl, his baby, his salvation after then end, turning right and true like she'd done for most of her day's, and he almost thanked the lord that he no longer believed in for keeping her running.
Breathing a collective sigh of relief Mal decided to enjoy that silence he always wanted, the comfortable kind instead of what he had just been privy too, the kind that held only the gentle hum of an engine, and a quiet joy of his Doctor and Second. He decided he really did like silence.
"That mean's we still have life support." Simon stated for no real reason. The other two knew what Kaylee's girl still movin' meant, but he still had to say it. River was always saying that actually saying the words everyone knew made them more real, and right now he couldn't not believe her.
"If she's still movin' the why aint the power turnin' on?" Damn Jayne for not being here, this was his job. When there was a question everyone wanted to know the answer too he was the one that asked, and damn himself for takin' it upon himself to fill in for the merc.
"Whatever happened when we hit atmo musta taken out our power, both main and backup."
"But we have to have some power. The engine wouldn't be moving if we didn't have any power." Simon reminded the two.
Mal looked over the top of the engine to look at Simon, he had a point. With a small sigh Mal turned to look at his second, only a matter of inches behind him that calm and collected mask she wore when things weren't going well snapped into place, it really was starting to feel like the war.
"Do we know how to fix that?"
"We do sir, but not without those power coupling's Kaylee went out for."
"Don't tell me that Zo, I do not need to hear that. What I need to hear is 'its no problem Mal, we can fix it. Won't take but a sec.' I don't care if it's a lie, that's what I want to hear." He stared at Zoe, completely serious, eye's beggin' for a break from all the bad news he was used to getting'. "Now Zoe, can we fix it?"
"Odds are against us, but I'll see what I can do with it sir."
"Not exactly the answer I was askin' for but I'll take it."
"Kaylee aint gonna be happy when she gets back and finds her girl gutted."
"She'll live." Mal turned to Simon "Go grab that portable encyclopedia you've got Doc an' meet me in the bridge."
"What do we need the encyclopedia for?"
"We've got a communication system need's fixin', an' I don't know about you but I don't know the first thing 'bout the communication system. Figured that thing of your's might have a layout of it for us to work from. Lets get to work people, don't know how long our lucks gonna hold out."
With that Mal grabbed up a box of batteries and started to head back towards the kitchen. As he began to make his way down the hallway a loud thump echoed after him. "Damn it!" his pain filled voice shouted from the middle of the still black hallway.
Zoe and Simon shared a look over the engine.
"I told him he should have taken a candle."
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Inara stared out into the garden fixated on the swaying branches of the tree's that blocked off the rest of Harvest from the training house. She was deeply worried about everyone, and by everyone she meant mostly Mal. He never did well when it came to the Alliance and he'd been doing even worse after Miranda, though that was more of the Alliance having a problem with him then the other way around.
The Alliance had been making living free out in the black harder every year up until Miranda, now it was damn near impossible. A series of checkpoints run by fleets of Alliance ships had been set up around the core planets, and each checkpoint took longer then the last to move through. Unfortunately the Alliance was more then unforgiving when it came to the truth about the Reavers, which meant Serenity had to steer clear of anything even remotely near the core planets if they wanted to stay alive.
Kaylee walked towards the large room that Lyssa had said Inara was in. She had hardly wanted to touch a thing as she had entered the training house, kinda like when they had dropped 'Nara off what seemed like way back when. Thankfully after enterin' the house Lyssa had offered both of 'em time to freshen up, and even better then that she'd offered 'em both a change of clothes and a real honest to god bath.
Serenity was more then home to Kaylee, she loved the ship more then she's ever loved anythin', and so its with a heavy heart that Kaylee had to admit her girl weren't perfect. Water aint exactly cheap, an fillin' up a boat with enough to clean clothes and have water fer your sinks and toilets and the like was hard enough, let alone havin' enough for fully runnin' showers. So the smaller, older, and cheaper your boat was the less likely it was to have itself some nice runnin' showers. Unfortunately Serenity fell into all three categories, they had one little shower an' not near enough water to be able to take a regular bath.
That's why every time the ship landed for more then a few hours the crew all took to the nearest bath house. Every planet had one, a large house set up near the docks where folks could go and pay to use showers. The crew'd been doin' it for years and was used to taken off as soon as they could, cause odds of ya getting' to take a trip to the bathhouse after a job were less then likely the way their jobs usually went, but it'd taken Simon months to get used to not getting' ta shower every day.
So Kaylee decided to enjoy the chance of takin' a nice leisurely bath, somethin' even rarer then a shower. She only came out of the water when she was good and pruney, an' after chagin' she had gone to look for Inara, which brought her to the large room she was standin' outside of.
"Hey 'Nara."
Inara turned to look at Kaylee as a quiet clap of thunder echoed behind her. "Kaylee, you look happy."
"I'm as happy as a pig in poo." Kaylee beamed, barely containing her squeal of joy. "Oh, I should probably think of a nicer way a sayin' that, what with me lookin' all fancy an' all." She said givin' a little twist letting the dress twirl around her legs.
When she'd gotten done with her bath Kaylee had found a beautiful dress laid out for her to use. To say she was thrilled would be an understatement, no Kaylee wasn't thrilled she was beyond thrilled as she walked through the halls of the training house, finally feelin' like she weren't so out of place.
"You look gorgeous Kaylee."
"Yeah?" She beamed again "The girls cleaned me up and made me all pretty. This dress is even fancier then the one Capn' got me for that swanky shindig back on Persephone."
Inara couldn't help but smile at the girls infectious happiness, it was a welcome reprieve from worrying over Mal if she was being honest with herself.
"If only my ma could see me now, datin' a fine doctor an' hangin' 'round Guild run Companion houses." Kaylee continued as she walked towards the large window Inara was standing in front of. "She'd be speechless! Never thought I'd leave home 'til someone from town married me, let alone all'a this."
"I'm sure she would be very proud of you."
"Well about the Doctor and Companion thing yeah, she always did wish I was more girly." Inara's eyebrows rose at the thought. "Oh, you know. She always wished I done more girly things rather'n playin' in engines all the good long day." Kaylee grinned at Inara and turned to look out the large window as another clap of thunder rolled overhead.
"Whaddabout you 'Nara?" Kaylee looked over to the companion.
"What about me?"
"You never talk about your family. What're they like?" She asked leaning on the window frame so she could look at Inara. "Bet their fancy…just like Simon 'n Rivers family, all rich and fancy."
Inara smiled gently to Kaylee and turned to look out to where the young mechanic had just been gazing. "I'm sure they are."
Kaylee's bright smile faltered for a moment. "What do you mean?"
Inara looked back to Kaylee. "A Companion begins their training at the age of seven Kaylee. The Guild finds suitable candidates and recruits them. After that they are exclusively Companion's, our teachers and the other Companion's become your family until you are allowed to take clients as a regularly practicing Companion."
"So, that's it? They recruit ya, you say yes an' ya never see your family again?"
"It's the price one pays to become a Companion. To be recruited is an amazing honor very few would ever turn down." Inara explained turning to lean on the window frame like Kaylee was.
Kaylee sighed softly turning back out to look at the lush garden of the Companion training house. "I don't think I coulda ever done it."
"Kaylee I left my parents and the place where I had begun my life but I never lost my home, or my family. I just found a different home, with knew people that became my family, just like you did when you became Serenity's mechanic."
"Yeah but I weren't no kid when I left my home."
"Right because seventeen is an adult." Inara teased.
"I was eighteen!" Kaylee shot back scandalized. "'Sides that ain't no seven."
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He angrily threw his gun down on the bed of the small room. Grumbling he headed straight for the bathroom and grabbed the hand towel he knew would be there. He threw the small towel down into the sink and turned the water on, he needed to get to cleanin' up the girls arm 'fore it got infected or some such.
River stood in the doorway, surveying the small single bedded room they had just checked into. She took a few tentative steps into the room, her hand grazing over the freshly made bed, as she tried to soak in the lived in smell of the little single story hotel.
Roughly the same size as the mess in Serenity she felt oddly at home in the room. With a quiet sigh River wrapped her arms around herself and let her eyes slip close. The sound of thunder clapped quietly in the background and she wondered to herself if it was really thunder or just Jayne.
"Sit on the bed."
River's eyes slid open to stare at him. He was angry and when he was angry at anything or anyone it was better to just stay out of his way, and if you couldn't do that she had found that just doing what he said worked equally well. This and this alone, was the only reason she slid down to sit on the edge of the bed, she didn't want to make him any angrier then he already was.
Jayne stomped over to the bed and sat beside her. He glowered at the large sweater the girl was wearing. Well not the whole sweater, mostly just the arm of the sweater; the arm that happened to be covering up the girl's arm, which happened to be hiding a nice amount of blood from where she'd been shot.
As they had made their way from the bar and to the other side of the docks, and thus the hotel they were currently sitting, he had been more then glad for the large and obscuring piece of clothing. Anyone that had seen them hastily making their way towards the edge of town wouldn'tve given 'em a second thought, only sign the girl had been hurt at all was a small red splotch on the sleeve of her all too large sweater.
Which lead them to now; she was sitting straight and taller then he had ever imagined a person could sit and call themselves comfortable, but she'd just been shot so how comfortable could she possibly be? Then again she wasn't acting at all uncomfortable, maybe the blood on her arm hadn't been hers, or it hadn't been from a bullet from one lucky shot, and him havin' to tend to her was just craziness on his part.
No, it was from a bullet and it was most certainly her blood, he was sure of it. No way in hell were they lucky enough for her to have gotten out of that fight no worse for wear, especially considering how she had gotten them out of that fight.
The small girl sat next to the huge merc, staring at the wall on the opposite side of the room as he glared at the huge sweater sleeve, silently mulling over the idea of just ripping the offending garment off. He was sure they made quite the picture.
"It's not bad."
"What?" The girl's quiet response to the more then quiet silence that had fallen in the room snapped him out of his musings over how to get to her arm to take care of her injury.
"My arm," River turned those huge brown eyes on him. "It's not bad."
He stared down at her and she stared up at him.
"Yeah well…pull up your sleeve." He ordered after who knows how long of just sitting and staring at one another. "Don't know why ya gotta wear that damn thing anyhow, aint exactly like its cold here."
"I like this sweater, it's comfortable."
He grabbed a hold of her arm and inspected the bullet wound "It's huge." He continued with their conversation mostly because he didn't want to be stuck in that silent staring thing they had just been doin', it was odd.
"Everything I own is huge." She muttered quietly as he began to clean the blood off of her arm. It wasn't bad, just like she had said, only a scratch really. She wouldn't even need a weave on it.
She stared at him as he cleaned her arm. Big rough hands petted her skin in an all too soothing way, he wasn't suppose to be soothing. He was Jayne, he was the one you don't trust because he was never really on your side, he was unpredictable, and he was on his side and his side alone. Though it really did make some kind of sense, him being so good at cleaning up a bullet wound. How old had he been when he left home, when he needed to strike out on his own? No, it takes time for a person to become like he was, years most likely, but the point was that he was a mercenary and had been for a long time and the one thing you could depend on as a mercenary was to get shot.
"Told you it wasn't that bad." She muttered as she blinked out of her internal musings.
"Yeah well it coulda been worse…"
She smirked a little at the thought and his gentle concentration on cleaning her arm; she'd had worse, much much worse. "You've hurt me worse."
Jayne's head snapped up and he glared at her. "You tried to kill me!" He pointed an angry finger at River "With a knife…a big knife!"
River turned to stare at the wall across from her for what seemed like the hundredth time since the two sat down on the edge of the bed. "I was about to shoot them."
"So?" What was so ruttin' fascinating with that gorram wall?
"So, it's the same thing." She explained looking back at Jayne's puzzled look.
Jayne shook his head and continued to glare at River. "No it aint."
It was River's turn to look confused.
"They tried to kill you first." He explained as he turned his attention back to her arm. "it's self defense if they try an' kill you first."
And that made sense, just like his gentle touch made sense. She smiled gently to herself, because it had been so long since anything had made sense to her, and so she chose to allow the moment to stay like that. So she said nothing, and turned to stare at the wall across from her again.
It was a rather boring wall once you really look at it.
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Simon came bounding towards the bridge of the ship, punching letters into his portable encyclopedia as he walked. He looked up from the small screen as he entered the cockpit and found Mal sitting on the edge of the pilot's seat glaring at the ships consol, which had been mostly dismantled as far as Simon could tell, well wires were hanging about haphazardly at the very least.
Mal jumped up from his seat as he heard Simon come in. "How the hell am I supposed to fix this gorram thing? I mean…" Mal bends over and grabs a large hunk of metal off of the floor. He hefts it into the air and begins gesturing wildly with it. "What the hell is this!"
Simon's eyes grow wide and his eye brows rise on his forehead as he stares at the fat L shaped piece of blackened metal in Mal's hand for a moment. He fixes the captain with a pointed 'How am I suppose to know' look as Mal sighs deeply.
"We're screwed..." He drops the piece back onto the floor, not even bothering to cringe at the loud clank it makes as it hits the floor. "The only people on the gorram ship that don't know how to fix the thing are the two that get stuck here..." He continues on angrily choosing to glare at all of Kaylee's tools laid out next to the foot of the ships controls.
"Jayne knows how to fix the ship?"
Mal spun around to glare at Simon. "Well, no!" He answered indignantly. Of course he knew more about how to fix the ship then Jayne, or at least he was mostly positive that he knew more about how to fix the ship then Jayne. "Don't matter though...cause he aint here neither!"
Simon sighed and looked around him at all of the pieces Kaylee had been fiddling with before she had left. "Zoe knows more about how to fix the ship then either of us. I think we should just have her fix the Cortex feed and the com.'s instead of the two of us trying to do it."
"Would but can't."
"Can't?"
"Can't." Mal states again as Simon turned to look at him. "She's workin' on getting' our power back on and savin' the few systems we got workin'. We need her doin' what she's doin'. So that leaves you an' me to fix the Cortex feed and com's."
Simon nods and looks back to the complicated mess of wires hanging out of the main control panel. "Well I found my encyclopedia and it does have a basic layout of the com. system."
Mal stood up from the pilot's chair where he had been waiting for Simon, a fully functional flashlight in hand. "Shiny, let's see it."
The two stare down at the screen as the blue print loads. They share similar looks of disbelief and horror as they stare down at the complicated blue print. Simon's eyes grow wide as he takes in the dozens of lines of various colors that indicate different wires, not to mention the fact that the blue print is several different pages long. Mal turns his head to peer down at the screen sideways in a failed attempt to figure out what the top most green line was suppose to be.
"Tu zhong ji dan chan luan."
Simon nods mutely, still trying to find his voice. "Well, this is certainly going to take some time."
Mal sighs deeply, giving the control panel a final pointed look before turning to Simon, wearing his grave face, the face he saved for when he really needed someone to do something he'd rather not have to make them do. "We don't got time to waste Doc, get it workin'."
"Wait, what? What do you mean 'get it working'?"
"You got the blue print right there," Mal pointed at the encyclopedia grasped tightly in Simon's hands as he turned and began to leave "figure out what's wrong and fix it." He said with a wave of his hand towards the ships controls behind him.
"I…I don't even know where to begin…."
Mal stops at the edge of the door way. He stands there for a moment before turning and walking back over to Simon. He took the doctor by the shoulders and stares deep into the younger man's eyes. "You're one of the best doctors the core ever saw, top three percent, you've damn near brought everyone on this crew back from death at least once, me more'n that, hell you've even reattached a girls leg…her whole leg Simon. You tellin' me you can do all that and not fix somethin' simple like this com system?"
"That's completely different. Those were people; I understand how they work and how to fix them, but this…" He turns his head to stare at the mess of wires, fear in his eyes, and Mal knew it was fear cause his eyes were wider then when he was angry. "It's completely beyond me."
"Doc, just think of it as another patient." Mal grinned at the younger man before turning to leave for the second time in only a few moments. "An' remember, if all else fails...hit it with a big hammer," he shouts over his shoulder "if it breaks, it needed replacing anyway."
"What about you?" Simon shouted down the hallway after Mal.
"Trust me doc, me an' technology don't exactly get along all too well, side's I'd only slow you down."
Simon stared at the now empty hallway for a moment before turning back towards the consol, wondering briefly how he had gotten into this mess in the first place.
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Jayne walked out of the bathroom, feeling more then refreshed after the shower he had allowed himself to enjoy. River wasn't hurt too bad, an' the Feds weren't breakin' down their door so he figured they were fine for the moment and decided that he had better enjoy the finer points of a hotel room, 'cause the beds sure as hell weren't as comfortable as the one's on the ship.
He took one look around the small room and sighed deeply to himself, of course River was no where to be seen. She wouldn't be River if she stayed where she was supposed to. Sure he hadn't told her to not leave but that didn't mean he hadn't wanted her to stay put.
A loud clap of thunder echoed and it dawned on him where River would most likely be.
"You know...My Pa always said it was a damn fool that don't come in outta the rain..." Jayne stated from just outside the door to the small room the two would be sharing for the night, his tone surprisingly light considering all that happened earlier in the day.
River stood out in the open, a few feet from the edge of the hotels covered porch, soaked by the rain that was gently falling.
She held out her arms, her too long sweater sleeves pushed down so her small hands could stick out of them. She watched, fascinated, as the large rain drops splatter against her upturned palm. "Haven't been in rain for years…I was curious if it was still how I remembered it." She answers his silent question in a small voice, never turning towards him, a smile spreading across her face.
"Yeah well...you keep standing out in it you're gonna catch a cold or sumthin'."
When she didn't move from where she stood out in the damned rain he decided to go back inside, like any sane person would, away from the porch leading out into the downpour, his mind set on how much he wished he could eat somethin'. He muttered under his breath something about not feeling bad for the feng le girl when she gets the flu that's bound to follow her little outing into the wonderful world of weather, after all weren't his fault if she got sick.
"Rain isn't what you think it is."
Jayne stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her with confusion. She was standing there, her head turned towards him, hair hanging around her face in wet tendrils as the water continued to pour.
"They associate rain with sadness and loss, but it's not about that. Its about life...Without rain the trees would go thirsty and the rivers and lakes would run dry..." She turned her head to look out towards the grazing field next to the nearby farm; the planet really was overrun by farms. She took a deep breath and bit her bottom lip slightly.
Jayne took a few steps towards her, not entirely sure why, stopping just short of where the rain was hitting the porch.
Rivers face scrunched up in a look of utter concentration before she shook her head slightly. "No one really understands rain."
He looked at the little slip of a girl before him, really trying to understand her. The look of concentration left her face as she took in a deep breath through her nose, enjoying the smell of the world around her.
Jayne sighed a little and looked out to the field where her eyes have been glued for the last few moments. He looked at the cows in the field, all huddled together to keep warm in the freezing rain and briefly wondered if River is cold having been standing out there for as long as she has, granted he quickly banishes the thought. People would think he's getting soft if they heard those kinds of thoughts coming from him.
"Rain may be good and fun for Mother Nature and all, but it sure don't do us any favors..." He stated, leaning against the door frame of the small room they were sharing.
River's face again scrunched up. She blinked a few times and turned her head to look at Jayne, questioning his last statement with nothing but her eyes. He looked at her and then around at the area surrounding them.
"Yeah sure it keeps the trees healthy and the rivers runnin' an all that go se, but you can't do nothin' outside when it's rainin'." He looked up at the dark sky for a moment before glaring at the girl in front of him. "Plus you can get sick real easy from being out in it too long." He directed the last statement directly to her, trying to get a point across and with, he was proud to say, very little frustration. He only sounded slightly put out by having to be outside in this kind of weather, though he would be far more frustrated if the porch he stood on wasn't covered.
"Opposing forces, contrasting in their basic meanings." She said to the muddy ground, or maybe to him and she just happened to be looking at the ground when she said it, he wasn't quite sure. She turned toward him, staring at him with those large brown eyes of hers. He felt a bit like one of those scans her brother had of her brain, like she's studying him trying to figure something out, as if the answer to any question she had about him was right there and she just had to find it. It was all matters of unsettlin' to have her starin' at him like that.
"They aren't what you think they are. They have a deeper meaning, though not at first recognizable." She began to slowly walk towards him, as if he were a wild animal she was afraid of scaring. "The name is not the thing, but the thing is the name and the meaning that is placed with it." She stopped coming towards him when she reached the edge of the porch, still a considerable distance from Jayne himself.
She closed her eyes tightly trying to ignore the other sounds that began to fill her head. Back into the room and the thoughts of those that live there. She sighed trying to find the right words to let him know what she is talking about, but they begin to get lost and jumbled in the mess of her head.
"Surrounded by contrasts...You know I'm crazy because you are not...I know Mal is honorable because Jayne is not..."
"Hey..." He said in an offended tone, he wasn't that dishonorable. Granted he weren't under the illusion that he was at all honorable, but there were plenty worse then him in the 'Verse.
Her eyes move to him "Girls name, but not a girl..." Jayne's eye's narrowed at River as she smiled beatifically at him "I'm not a large natural occurring stream of water..."
Jayne looked at her in confusion, honestly trying to understand what she meant. Hell he weren't any good with this figuring out stuff, never been the brains of an operation. Though he'd like to think he had some to his name, enough at least to know he weren't any good at making the plans. He was the muscle, you tell him where to shoot or who to fight and he'd do it better then anyone you'd ever seen. But for the life of him he couldn't figure out some of the things that came out of this girl's mouth.
Some of it he got, a minuet ago when she was spouting off stuff about the rain, he got that, hell he could even identify with that. But this contrast's thing he didn't get. He knew what she was saying, he even understood what she was saying, he just didn't understand what she was trying to say with it. Gorram girl never could just come out and say anything, always has to use metaphors and make everyone figure out what she was trying to get at, though if he was being honest she'd been doin' that a lot less ever since Miranda.
"Try to say it...words get lost. The one's coming in are going through the exit, they don't belong there. Some get lost in all the traffic, and then it comes out wrong. Been better lately, words hold better comprehension to those around me, better understanding. The words stay in their lines most of the time...but sometimes I still get confused...but I understand." She looked intently into his eyes as if that would help him understand where she was going with this conversation, and took a deep breath. "We aren't all what we seem." She began to walk towards him again and finally out of the rain. "You're a mercenary; you kill and steal but you're still an ally. I'm just a girl; I laugh and play, but I can be a weapon able kill you in seconds."
Jayne went from honestly trying to understand River to being slightly panicked at her last comment, and the fact that she now stood only a foot away from him, how the hell the girl'd gone and gotten so close to him was confusin' as all get out.
River looked at him slightly confused and blinked before she placed a hand on his chest. "We are rain..."
Jayne looked down to her wet hand placed on his chest, right above the scar she left there from what seemed like long ago. It was hard not to be on edge around her, hell she said so herself, she could kill him in a few minuets if she wanted. Yet here he stood, her hand on his chest looking at him with those eyes, full of hope and trust, and he was dumbfounded.
He was completely dumbfounded and not at what she was trying to say, he got that, no he was dumbfounded at himself. Why wasn't he pulling away from her, why had he not walked away as soon as she started talking to him? Hell he knew the answer to that one, because he's the one that went and started the conversation, which leads to the most important question, why the hell had he started a conversation with the crazy girl in the fist place? Even if she wasn't all that crazy, heck she's even pretty good company once she starts talkin' clear. Plus she's great to have in a fight, know you aint gonna die when the government created super assassin's got your back, she even proved it in that bar earlier.
"It's easier here..." She said quietly, snapping him out of his own thoughts. Her eyes were locked onto where her hand laid on his chest, and for some reason his eyes fell there as well.
"It's hard to know the differences between what one says, and thinks, and what one does...they aren't all the same, cluttered and jumbled...too much noise. I like being here." She said tapping her temple with the hand that wasn't spread across his chest. "It's quiet and simple, like being here." She said tapping his temple before letting her eyes fall back down to stare at the hand she still had sprawled across his chest.
Jayne wasn't sure whether that was her way of saying he was dumb or if she was trying to give him a compliment, his eyes went to her face, trying to see if he could tell by looking at her.
"You do what you say, and you say what you think." She stated smiling to herself, or his chest, again he wasn't quite sure. Her eyes snapped up to his and he suddenly found it a bit harder to breath. "It's easier to be just me."
He scowled down at the tiny girl in front of him, only now realizing that she was shivering from the cold and still completely soaking wet. "Tee wuh duh pee-goo..."
"You have kind eyes when you don't scowl…you'd be much more handsome if you didn't scowl."
"Yeah, and you'd be a lot easier to be around if you just used some common sense. You're gonna get phenomena or sumthin' from being out in the rain for so long..." He stares down at her muddy feet and sighs angrily "and who the hell goes out without their shoes on?"
"I go on runs without my shoes." She pointed out as he gave her a little push towards the door of their room, a not so subtle gesture that their time outside was over.
"Well that don't make it any less stupid to be out in the gorram rain with no shoes." He barked as he followed her inside.
"I wanted to see the rain," she looked over her shoulder at him. "It's much nicer then I remember."
----------------------------------------------------
Simon groaned and laid his latest tool down next to him. "There, I think I've got it now." He announced, the sound muffled by the jumble of wires his head was still stuck inside.
"Good." Mal walked over to the coms system and flips them on. A wonderful silence fills the room. "If you got 'em workin' why aint I hearin' anything?" He asks angrily turning to glare at Simon, who had finally removed himself from inside of the consol.
Simon sighed heavily, eyes downcast to the few wires that still stuck out from under the controls. "Maybe I didn't do it right."
"I thought you said you had it?"
Simon turned to glare at Mal. "This isn't exactly my area of expertise. I can barely understand the schematics for the com system let alone figure out what is wrong with them or how to fix it."
"You're supposed to be damn near a genius yourself. Didn't you get a load of fancy schooling?
"I told you, I learned about physiology and psychology! I can do any number of things involving the inner workings of the human body," He began to explain. Simon pointedly ignored the odd look Mal gave him at the mention of him being able to do a number of things with the human body; he was in no mood for the captain's childish behavior, so he turned to gesture towards the coms behind him. "But this is completely beyond me!"
As the words left his mouth the static of the coms, suddenly coming to life, met the two men's ears. They both turned to stare at the consol next to them.
Simon and Mal look at one another before turning to stare at Zoe, who stood just behind the two. "You didn't have the power hooked up to 'em."
"See! Totally beyond me!" Simon shouted throwing his arms up in defeat.
Mal turned towards the doctor with a pithy retort at the ready, but it dies as the screen on the consol flickers to life and an image of Inara meets the three.
"Mal...thank goodness. You had us worried sick."
"Us? Us who?" Mal asked hurriedly as he took the pilots seat.
"We went back to the port but Serenity weren't there." Kaylee stated, taking a seat next to Inara and ignoring Mal's question.
"No, not likely it was." Mal answered her non-question with a small grin. "When Zoe'n I got back to the docks a few fine local law enforcement officers were settin' up a road block. Soon as we got back on the ship we took off, couldn't take the chance someone saw us makin' our way back and decide to land lock us. So it's just the two of you?"
Inara answered with a small nod. "Right now we're staying at a local guild run house."
"River isn't with you?" Simon asked, worried laced in his voice.
"No, we had hoped the others were with you." Inara answered as Mal glared at Simon, who stood just outside of the camera's view.
"It's just Zoe, me an' the Doc here." Mal decided to stop glaring at Simon and turned his eyes back to Inara. "Ain't got any word from Jayne or River?"
"No, none..."
"This is terrible." Simon said slightly panicked. "We have no idea if they got her or…or even if she's okay…"
"She was with Jayne when we headed out." Zoe said, trying to clam the doctors frazzled nerves from just behind Mal. "Best case scenario they're still together."
Simon stared at her with total panic and gives a short desperate laugh. "This is a nightmare!"
"Relax Doc." Mal said never turning away from the Cortex feed.
"Relax! How am I suppose to relax when the best case scenario is my sister with that back stabbing bu yi er fei niang zi de yi shan yang!"
"You're gonna relax cause if you don't aint no way we'll ever get any of the crew back, including your sister and that motherless son of a goat. I need your mind here, helpin' ta fix my boat."
"I don't…"
"Then don't." Mal cut him off.
"He'll keep her safe Simon." Inara tried to sooth over the Cortex.
"Safe?" Simon asked incredulously.
"No, it's shiny, 'Nara's right Simon. Jayne'll keep River safe." Kaylee agreed, trying her best to calm him down.
"Safe?" Simon nodded slightly and glared down at Mal, who was still sitting in the pilot's chair. "Like he did on Ariel?"
Mal's jaw tightened as Simon's words hit him. Zi de yi ruttin' nu gou! How did Simon know about that? Mal's fist clenched in anger at the situation, his crew was questioning him, and more importantly he was questioning himself.
"I presume you know what he did there." Simon said in a deadly cold voice, completely devoid of any of the emotion he had only moments ago.
"What? What'd he do?" Kaylee asked utterly confused by the turn of this conversation.
"I do." Mal answered tersely.
Simon nodded and continue to stare down at the captain. "Then how can you tell me not to worry?"
"Sir?
"Mal what is he talking about?" Inara cut in.
"What's goin' on?" Kaylee's increasingly panicked voice again entered the fray.
"I say don't worry cause he knows if he ever tries somethin' like that again, he'll pay." Mal states standing up so he can glare down at Simon.
"He doesn't have to come back. He can take whatever money he can get and run."
"He does that, and I'll hunt him down and kill him with my bare hands." Mal answers, glare unwavering.
Simon shook his head and marched out of the bridge, Mal glaring at his back the whole way.
After a few moments of terse silence Inara took it upon herself to get the conversation rolling again. "We were worried something might have happened to you, especially since you haven't been answering any of our messages. We've been trying to contact you for hours now."
"Yeah well, we've been having some difficulty on that particular subject. Took our resident pain in the ass doctor and my favorite second near two hours to get the power, Cortex feed, an' com's workin' again." Mal said taking the pilot's seat again.
"What'd ya mean again?" Kaylee squeaked, obviously still slightly distraught at the conversation from a few minuets ago, that and the idea of her girl needin' fixin'. "I fixed it 'fore I left Serenity to go lookin' for parts."
"Just outside of atmo the engine blew." Zoe stated from just behind Mal. "It fried several different secondary systems when it went. Isolated most of 'em, but we've been concentrating on the cortex feed and com's."
"Now listen careful here now Kaylee, we're dead in the water and ain't a one of us can tell what's wrong with Serenity, nor how to fix her." Mal said, usin' his grave face for the second time that day. "Engines still movin' so we've got life support, but we don't got much more'n that."
"Figured as much. But engines still movin', that's better then I coulda hoped for." She said with a small, sad, little nod. "Musta just blown a coolin' unit without those power couplin's...that woulda been what caused the engine ta blow. I can tell ya how ta fix it but you still ain't gonna have an easy time landin' without the stabilizers. You aint got nav neither, an ifn' the Cortex got fried again odds of your stearin' bein' stable's near none." She continued on, listing all of the possible problems the ship could have.
"One problem at a time Kaylee." Mal cut in, hands raised in front of him in what he hoped passed for a 'slow down' gesture. "Just get us movin' again."
----------------------------------------------------
River sat with her legs curled up underneath her and ran her fingers over the smooth wood of the window frame. She wiped away the barely visible dirt from the window frame and rubbed her finger tips together, feeling the gritty dust between them.
"Is it gonna rain like this all day?"
Jayne's booming voice brought River out of her close study of the dirt. "Unlikely. It isn't the wet season, rain rarely last long then 8.452 hours on average during the dry season." River parroted the facts she knew were true from when she had set the course to Harvest only day's ago.
Jayne snorted and continued to scowl out at the rain "Yeah sure, real dry." He got tired of glaring out the window River was sitting next to, so he took to glaring at the ceiling, which got boring even quicker then the window had. "How long…"
"5.3829 hours." She answered him before he could even finish the question.
He sighed deeply and lay back on the bed. "Well this is boring." He huffed angrily throwing one arm over his eyes. He was getting antsy just sittin' about. He had made River take a shower an' hang her clothes up to dry after she came in from the rain, which left him with no shirt, on account of him not wantin' her sittin' about in her birthday suit.
She turned and cocked her head to the side to watch him closely. He was stretched out on the bed, bare chested, one arm thrown over his eyes and the other to his side. She leaned her head over to lay on her shoulder and breathed in deeply, enjoying the smell of fresh rain and the small room.
He growled lightly from the bed and she sighed quietly from the chair next to the window.
Jayne peaked out from under his forearm and watched as River watched him, or at him, he was never sure what she was looking at. "What?"
She blinked rapidly before turning back towards the window with a muttered 'nothing' following.
He watched her for a moment in odd curiosity. She was frantically avoiding his eyes and staring out the window entirely too absorbed in the falling rain. He looked at her closely for a moment before smirking to himself. Weren't no way in the 'Verse he just caught her checking him out, right?
He considered it for a moment, hell she wasn't crazy anymore and she'd always been cute. Nah, no way she'd been checkin' him out, least wise not that way. He sighed again feeling oddly underdressed, which really wasn't all that odd considering his lack of a shirt. He decided to go back to scowling about the weather because if it weren't for the gorram humidity he'da had a jacket with him to let the girl wear while her things were getting' dry.
"We outta hit the hay, plan on leavin' early tomorrow. Especially iff'n the suns gonna be out."
River nodded mutely from the chair by the window, never letting her eyes wander away from the slight drizzle outside.
Jayne looked from the small girl curled up in the tiny chair next to the window and then to the small bed he laid in. Well callin' it small didn't really give the bed the credit it deserve, especially when compared to the beds on the ship. No this bed was a good size, just small in comparison to the beds he was used to when it came to bein' offa the ship. Granted those beds had a specific purpose, one that lended itself to needin' the space to move about an all.
Truth of the matter was the bed was the right size for two, though he didn't take a particular shining to the idea of sharin' a bed with the crazy girl, even if she weren't crazy no more. The fact that she may or may not have been checkin' him out just a moment ago, along with the fact that all he had on was a pair of pants and all she had on was his t-shirt didn't help the matter none neither.
He grumbled lightly and shifted on the mattress. River looked over her shoulder at the sound of the mattress creaking. "Well? You gonna get to sleep or what?"
River stared at Jayne for a moment, trying to understand what he was getting at. "I don't understand."
"You know for a genius you can be damned slow sometimes." Jayne grinned from the bed.
River quirked an eyebrow at him, the puzzled look not leaving her face.
"There's more'n enough room for two on the bed…and less'n you want to sleep in that chair over there you'd best jump in." River looked from the bed to the chair she sat in and back again. "I aint gonna bite." He offered as she remained unmoving from her spot on the chair. "And if you think for a minute that I'm gonna sleep on the floor then you're crazier then you've ever been…already lost my gorram shirt to you"
River looked back out the window before letting out a small sigh. She stood up and moved away from the window and towards the bed. Jayne didn't know whether he should be happy that she was doing what he told her to do, or upset because he was about to share a bed with a woman without any of the fun that usually came with that.
As River slid under the covers of the bed Jayne moved a pillow between them. "Just make sure you stay on your side dong ma?"
River nodded to him and rolled over onto her side, letting her back face him. He watched her for a few before he followed her lead and turned onto his side, facing away from her.
He laid there, listening to the gentle pitter patter of the rain outside, and the even more gentle sound of the girls breathing. He could do this, no problem. Aint like it was a big deal. Plenty of folks share beds without anything happening all the gorram time. Aint like he was gonna go to the special hell for sharin' a bed with the girl, especially ifn nothin' happened.
He had nothing to worry about, even if the Captain and the Doc had a problem with him an' her sharin' a bed, don't mean they gotta know about it. Not like he was gonna go tellin' the whole 'Verse about it, an he doubted she would go yappin' about tonight to anyone. So there was nothin' to worry on. Plus there was no one on the planet that would want him dead for sleepin' in the same bed as River, cept'n maybe River herself, but she didn't show any signs of bein' upset with him. No she seemed fine, right cozy on the other side of the bed, weren't like she was gonna slit his throat in the middle of the night right?
It was going to be a long night.
-------------------------------------------------------
The thunder continued to crash above them, the rain remained ever steady. It was well pass midnight and the storm didn't show any signs of ending anytime soon. The small room was completely dark and silent. River was still facing away from Jayne on her side of the bed while Jayne had taken to wrapping his arms around the pillow he had tried to use as a divider.
As a streak of lightning flashed across the sky River jumped up in bed.
Jayne jerked awake next to her. He stared bleary eyed at River who sat with wide eye's completely still next to him. "What?"
She turned to stare at him, worry obvious on her face. "We need to leave…now!"
Jayne didn't question her; he just jumped out of the bed and grabbed his gun from the table he had set it on before going to sleep. "Get dressed quick." He ordered her.
She slipped out of bed and into the bathroom where her clothes were hanging.
"What exactly are we in such a hurry to avoid?" He asked looking out of the window, trying to figure out what had gotten her into such a panic. Deciding that not only was she not going to answer him, but that he wasn't going to be able to figure out what had gotten her all up in arms about Jayne moved back to the end of the bed to put his boots on.
The bathroom door swung open after a minuet more and River stepped out, Jayne's shirt clutched in her hands. "It's too late now." She said with a sad shake of her head. "He found you."
And with that Jayne's world went black.
TBC
