Jayne resisted the urge to touch Kaylee's bottom as they walked up the ramp and into the Firefly. He felt a little proud of his self-restraint there, because she sure was twitching it around in a fetching way. He settled for fixing his eyes on the moving target and hoping she didn't turn around and catch him in the act. Not just yet, anyway.

Kaylee led him through the ship, pointing out things of interest on the way and giving him a running commentary.

"This here's the cargo bay, o' course," she said, giggling a bit because of the obviousness of her remark, "and through there, we got the infirmary even though we ain't got a doctor, and guest quarters and a lounge where folk can relax to read and such."

Jayne snorted a bit. Guessed he wouldn't be spending too much time in the lounge. Hoped he wouldn't be spending too much time in the infirmary, neither.

"And up to this level, we got the engine room over there."

She stopped and pointed, making sure that Jayne stopped too and had a good look, as though the engine was the most interesting thing on the whole ship. Jayne decided to act like he cared and he got the bright smile again along with a speculative look. That was a good sign.

They carried on to the mess and galley, which was all decorated fancy-like with flowers painted on the wall and yellow paint and strings of tiny lights. For a moment, it made Jayne think of home, and he figured this might end up being his favorite spot on the ship. He was willing to reserve judgment, though, until he had seen his quarters.

As if she were reading his mind, Kaylee turned around to face him and asked, "So do you want to have somethin' to eat or do you want to see your bunk first?"

"I guess I could see my bunk," he replied diffidently. He didn't want to appear too eager. They might think he owed them something more than he already did for his step up in the 'verse, might think he was grateful or something. He figured that Captain Reynolds was already planning to get more than a few days' good work out of him in return.

Kaylee bounced up the short staircase to the corridor housing the crew quarters. Once again, she stopped and pointed along ahead of them, explaining, "That there's the cockpit. Wash is our pilot. He's married to Zoë."

Well, there was a second one off his list. He made a mental note to make sure and visit the pilot before the day was out. He wanted to see what kind of man was man enough for a woman like the first mate. Must be some kind of yángxìng ren to keep Zoë interested.

Kaylee had opened the hatch across from hers. He knew it was hers because it had a sign that read Kaylee's Room with more flowers painted around it and a string of lights on the rim of the hatch. She sure was a cute little thing, all girly and such.

Jayne followed her down the ladder into a good-sized cabin with the standard fittings. This was even better than Jayne had imagined. But, again, he wasn't about to let on. Instead, he turned from side to side, hands on hips, and grunted.

"Do ya like it?" Kaylee chirped, beaming up at him, expecting him to agree because she was obviously head over heels for this ship and thought everybody else should be too.

"It's okay, I guess," Jayne replied, turning to face her.

He looked at her for a moment, standing there smiling at him. Truth is, she wasn't really smiling at him, just turning her face in his direction. He suspected smiling like that was her natural way and anybody lucky enough to be around her got to feel the warmth of it.

Here, in this small space, he could almost taste the joy radiating off of her as it washed over his skin, and he reached up a hand and tucked the hair back behind her ear, suddenly feeling protective and not at all horny like he thought he would when he finally got her alone.

Kaylee blushed again at his touch and waited for a moment. Maybe she expected him to jump on her or something and Jayne was pretty sure if he had right then she wouldn't have said no. Instead, he got all noble and gentlemanly and stepped back a pace so she could go up the ladder ahead of him and lead him back into the mess where she got him sitting down at the table and went into the galley to prepare a quick lunch.

When Jayne had started eating, Kaylee sat down across from him and watched closely as he stuffed great forkfuls of some kind of casserole into his face. It was delicious. And since he knew it was probably made up of simulated soy meat and reconstituted potatoes and freeze-dried carrots and peas and gravy out of a tin, he enjoyed it even more. If she could do this with rations, imagine what the girl could do with real food. The grub here was going to be much better than he'd had in a long time. And Captain Reynolds had said he could have as much as he wanted whenever he wanted. At least that was Jayne's interpretation of "full run of the kitchen."

Jayne scooped up every last bit from his plate and swabbed it clean with real bread, the first he'd had since he couldn't remember when. Finally sitting back in his chair and rubbing his bulging stomach, he recalled that he was supposed to go and help move the cargo that he and Marco and the boys had tried to steal from Captain Reynolds earlier that morning.

He got up, scraping the chair back, and Kaylee got up too.

"I gotta go," he stated, real regret coloring his voice.

"You'll be back soon," Kaylee said confidently. "And then maybe we can see some more of the ship together."

As they turned to leave the mess, Kaylee suddenly remembered something. She grabbed Jayne's arm to stop him, giving him the pleasure of a third blush in less than an hour, and said, "Wait. I don't know your name."

"Cobb. Name's Jayne Cobb."

He waited for the usual comment about a girl's name. Instead, Kaylee lowered her voice and smiled only for him this time, more shy than glowing, and said, "Well, Jayne Cobb, welcome to Serenity."

yángxìng ren – virile man