"You forget how chairs work?" Jayne demanded irritably. Five hours of watching this guy walk in circles and yawn left him weighing his cut of this scrawny brat's payment against the torture of a few more days of this. Surely Mal wouldn't hold it against him if he knocked the kid out and just left him tied up in a bunk somewhere until they landed.

"Easier to fall asleep sitting down…" He muttered, changing direction to circle the table clockwise.

Jayne growled, rolled his eyes and returned to cleaning his gun for the eighth time. Only thing worse than an impossible job was a babysitting job. At least with the impossible job there was the thrill of beating the odds. This was just a waste of perfectly good… anything time. Anything would be better than waiting for the highly unlikely moment this kid snaps and attacks someone. What was Mal so worried about? Even if he did the guy was so weak he'd break his hand if he took a swing at anyone. Even Kaylee could subdue him with hardly any effort. Leaving him with this job was practically an insult.

"How are you feeling?"

Jayne glanced up as Book walked in looking deeply concerned for their passenger as he always did for anyone less than happy. "Shiny. Your turn, Shepherd."

Before there was time to protest, Jayne high tailed it out of there. Mal said the kid couldn't go unsupervised but didn't specifically say it had to be him watching the whole time. Everyone needs a break now and again. Particularly now. Definitely again. With a wide grin he went to lift some weights and try not to think about the paranoid guy wanting to be dropped off in the middle of nowhere.

A couple hours later he was scowling at a plate of food that would have normally been worthy of a smile. Mal had been less than happy about him abandoning the kid with the Shepherd and made sure he knew that he'd be on guard duty until further notice with the exception of when Mal himself came to give him a chance to sleep.

"Gorram freak…" Jayne muttered at Jerry as he paced back and forth in the small kitchen area since there was less room with everyone else around the table. Damn fool refused more than a few bites with the excuse that a full stomach would often encourage sleep.

Kaylee glared at him from across the table and Mal shot him another warning glance. Shepherd Book, ever trying to keep the peace, quickly stepped in as a distraction.

"Are you feeling alright, Kaylee? You seem troubled."

"Bu yao dan xin." She said with a shrug. "Just tired."

"Weren't you sleepin' instead of workin' on the engine earlier?" Mal asked quietly between bites. He didn't look up to see the girl's hurt frown or Wash's annoyance.

"Only so much can be done." Kaylee pointed out with no sign of her usual good humor.

"Nightmares?" Their passenger had frozen midstep and was staring at her with wide, scared eyes.

Jayne almost smiled and rested one hand on a gun while the other continued shoveling food in his mouth. Maybe it wouldn't be a boring night after all - kid may go unpredictable. Simon half-turned in his seat so he could see both of them and Kaylee looked over at Jerry with an uncertain frown.

"Wouldn't call 'em nightmares. Just not good dreams."

A fraction of his tension eased and the guy started pacing again. Jayne sighed in frustration. He'd considered suggesting to Mal they just drop the kid out the airlock since he was looking to go to a wasteland no sane person could possibly expect him to survive in. Jettison the the problem before it got worse. Unfortunately Mal was a bit weird and common sense seemed to pass right by him sometimes.

Not looking forward to spending the night watching this kid walk in circles, he cleaned his plate and snagged seconds where he could.