A/N: Sorry this chapter is so short, but it was just the way it worked out. This is me wrapping up the rewrite of Bushwhacked (which for the most part I did not know how to handle in this 'verse!) and I shall be glad to get into Shindig next!

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 7

It didn't sit well with any of them to have the last survivor from the derelict onboard. Jayne most especially got an uncomfortableness about him, not least because River was so skittish since he was brought in. The things that fella had to have seen when the rest of the crew was tortured and killed by Reavers, it didn't bear thinking on. Reader that she was, River had to know all that the poor hwun dahn had suffered, and it was haunting her more than it was him from what Jayne could tell.

"I've done what I can for him, tended the wounds, sedated him for now," said Simon as he emerged from the infirmary with Mal at his heels. "I'm not sure what else-"

"Ain't nothin' else," said the Captain shortly. "Honestly? Kinda wish my aim had been truer. Woundin' the man caused him pain but what's goin' on inside of his head... Might've been kinda to put the bullet in his brainpan."

"Mal! Inara looked shocked by the suggestion, as Kaylee's lip quivered, but River was as resolute as her Captain.

"Kinder ending," she agreed. "Can only go badly now," she said, one hand reaching out towards the infirmary though she was tens of feet from the door. "Dark, darker, darkest," she intoned, shivering as if frozen to the bone with cold.

Simon put an arm around her and encouraged her to lower her hand. "It's alright, mei mei."

"Sha gwa," she muttered, pulling from his grasp and striding away towards the passenger dorms.

Jayne automatically went after her, muttering obscenities in Chinese. This was the last thing they needed, the last thing his bao bei needed. Problem was, t'weren't up to Jayne nor River who came aboard this ship. All of that was down to the Captain. Mal seemed decent enough, and on the opposite side of the line to the Alliance, which was a good thing. 'Parently he had a saviour complex too, and that Jayne coulda done without. Precious little he could do about it for now, save for try to bring his little woman some comfort and all until this particular adventure was over.

Headed for their room, Jayne weren't altogether sure about findin' River there. 'Twas some relief to realise that was just exactly where she was hidin'. 'Course the state he found her in weren't no kind of comfort at all.

"Loud. Louder than anything," she muttered, fingers wound tightly into her hair as she sat on the bed, rocking back and forth some. "Dark pain. Not his or hers, but there. Always there. So loud!"

"Hey, now," said Jayne, going over to sit by her, trying to make her look up but she weren't willin'. "Bao bei, can't say as I know how it is to have all o' that fei hua in your head like you do, but you gotta... We just gotta deal with it a while. Cap'n don't want that fella here no more than we do, but he's the righteous type, I reckon. Won't have no harm comin' to no innocents. Works good for you anyhow. Like as not why he let us stay aboard."

River didn't say nothin', but her hands stilled in her hair and her body ceased it's rocking. Jayne weren't sure whether that was a good thing or not. Half wished Simon was there to tell him for certain. All the time they spent together, Jayne thought he was learning well and all how to deal with every manner of moods and fits that River went through, but she always could surprise him yet.

"Speak of other things," she urged him, voice soundin' all kindsa shaky as she made herself look at him. "Tales of the past, when he was Boy Called Jayne," she said, finding a watery smile. "Tell her of of Dalphia, Evie, and Lilly-May. Of Matty, Lonnie, and Hal. Of Ma and Pa, and a house of love."

She laid back on the bed, closed her eyes as she begged for her bedtime story. Jayne weren't sure where to begin exactly, scratching the back of his neck as he thought it over. River knew pieces of where he come from, his family and all. How much he let slip and how much she read clean outta his head, he couldn't say for sure. If'n she wanted to know somethin', they both knew she only had to go probin' into his mind whenever she gorram felt the urge. Difference was she didn't wanna do that. Wanted to hear him tellin' tales. Like as not it was easier to drown out everything else that way.

"Lemme see now," he considered, moving to lay beside her and pulling her close in his arms. "I 'member this one day, it was hot as all hell, and we all went down to the lake..."

He had barely begun his story when a smile curved River's lips and she breathed easier a while. The sound of his voice, rough as it seemed to others, was sweet music and honey to her. The thud of his heartbeat passed through her body, keeping time with her own. The 'verse made sense for a while, it was quiet and calm, and all the darkness that she could not control could at least be pushed aside for as long as this moment lasted. With all the tales her Jayne had to tell, it ought to last a long time.

As if things hadn't seemed pear-shaped enough before, dealing with the Reaver-infested fella and then the gorram booby trap that had attached itself to Serenity from the derelict. Jayne had hoped when all that was done, and the Preacher and Simon got finished up laying the dead to rest, they'd get out of this creepy ass quadrant and high tail it elsewhere, somewhere safer, that bothered River less. Fat chance.

When Mal told 'em all they was about to be boarded by Alliance, started laying out all the cargo from the derelict in plain sight, Simon sort of lost it. Jayne couldn't blame the doc for bein' afeared. Them Alliance folks caught up to the three of them, that'd be the end of everything. River would be taken from 'em, Simon would probably find himself doin' time for helpin' her escape, and Jayne... Well, he wasn't bein' locked in no jail for what he'd done.

"She knew it," said River, staring at him across the back end of the cargo bay whilst Simon yelled at Mal in front, little Kaylee and the others trying to calm the situation. "He never speaks the words, but she... I always knew," she made herself say.

"Whatcha talkin' on, little woman?" asked Jayne, half an ear still on the ruckus a few feet away.

If it looked as if Simon might really be getting himself into trouble, he'd step up. No way Mal was takin' no pot-shots at the boy, no matter what was said or done. Glancing from them to River, Jayne was surprised to see her smiling. She walked over to him, graceful as ever she had been. Her hand reached out to his chest, fingers tracing the place where his heart lived.

"Beats for her," she said so softly he almost didn't hear. "Would stop for her."

Jayne met her eyes and knew it was no good tryin' to deny what they both knew she had already read from his mind. The pictures that danced there were bloody and vicious. A hundred and one versions of him tryin' to stop her bein' taken from him, or just struggling with those purple bellies until they grew tired of tryin' to deal with him, putting a knife in him or a bullet maybe.

There was no purpose in nodding his agreement nor saying the words. She knew what it all meant, same as he did. Sure, he'd die for her. Since all he'd done this past year was live for her, couldn't make much sense to go on if'n she weren't there no more.

"The longer you spend hollerin' at me, Doc, the more I might be willin' to hand you over to this Alliance fella along with the cargo!" Mal yelled into the moment River and Jayne had been having.

They turned as one to see Simon backing up a step from the threat. Jayne strode on over with his little woman on his heels.

"You got some bright idea 'bout keepin' us away from them ung jeong jia ching jien sohs, Cap'n, now'd be the time. Oughta know if they come for us, I ain't goin' quiet, and I'll take anybody down with me that I have to."

"That I believe," said Mal, nodding once. "But ain't no need for it. I got us a plan, one place where these folks'll never think to look for ya."

Simon weren't at all happy about bein' out in the void of space. Didn't bother Jayne none, but the second the doc heard the plan about hiding on the outside of the ship when the Alliance came knocking, he started turning green. All but the colour of grass right about now as he hung on to the hull like his life depended on it.

River was a whole other story. She seemed all kinds of pleased to be told she was goin' out into the black so literal. The grin she wore the whole time he was gettin' her prepped and into her space suit was warmer than any sun Jayne ever saw in his life, and since they were out here she only got happier.

Her eyes shone brighter than the stars, her smile wide as Jayne had ever seen it. Only time she ever looked so happy was when they laid together, and even then he had to admit, if'n only inside his own head, that she was never quite so peaceful-looking, so free as she was right here, right now.

"Havin' a good time, bao bei?" he asked her through the crackling comms within their helmets.

"Could stay forever!" she said, barely looking at him, eyes fixed on the endless black full of sparkling stars and such. "Forever and ever!"

Jayne stared only at her, having much the same thoughts, not hating that she knew it without him having to say a word.

To Be Continued...

A/N2: This fic is now going on hold 'til 2017. I do this every year as I have a lot of other stuff to do in December, including Christmas-related fics and of course plenty of RL things too. Please rest assured, this story will be back in the new year, and it will eventually be completed! :)