As the three discussed how to handle the upcoming meet and transfer of illegal goods, Jayne began to forget his surprise and participated fully in the planning. The captain was very pleased with his input and Zoë even raised her eyebrows and gave him a reappraising look when he pointed out an aspect of the scenario that neither she nor Mal had thought of.
By the time they had finished running through all the possible things that could go wrong and figured out how to handle them, Kaylee was shooing them away from the table so she could set it for supper. As they stood and turned to leave, the little mechanic ran around the table to block Jayne's retreat, a stack of mismatched plates clutched tightly to her chest.
"I hope you're hungry, Jayne," she said, coming up so close that they were almost touching, "'cuz I made lots."
Jayne swayed towards her a bit and began to reach out to chuck her under the chin when he noticed Mal and Zoë standing on the other side of the table glowering at him. He changed directions with his hand and shoved it quickly into a pocket. Clearing his throat nervously, he took a step back and said gruffly, "I'm always hungry, girl," before turning abruptly to go to his cabin.
Gorramit, he thought as he stepped down the ladder, how'm I gonna get that little filly inta my bed if I get the hairy eyeball when I try ta make a move? Seems like she's willin' enough.
He decided to take his mind off of the problem by figuring out how to stow his weapons in the cabin, finally lighting upon the idea of putting hooks up on the decorative cross-hatching over his bunk and maybe covering it with a cloth. He could slip the knives into small spaces here and there and put Binky where he could easily grab her while he was lying down.
When he climbed up the ladder again, the mess was buzzing with the talk of the rest of the crew and warm, rich smells assailed his nostrils as he came down the stairs.
"You set right here, Jayne," Kaylee directed, pulling out the chair that he had been sitting in previously.
He grunted without looking at her and sat down, hunching over the table. Apparently ignoring Kaylee was just as much a mistake as paying her too much attention, and he caught the annoyed looks of everyone around him, everyone, that is, except Kaylee, who looked like she was going to start crying any second now.
He turned around, gritting his teeth against the anger that surged through his chest. How in the hell'm I supposed to know what the rules are? he thought, giving Kaylee a nasty glare. She jumped back a bit at the intensity of his expression, no longer sad-looking but scared.
In a low voice, he ground out, "Sorry, Miss Kaylee, didn't mean ta be rude. Thanks an' all," and turned back to look at his plate so he wouldn't have to see the reactions of the other people in the room.
His perfunctory apology seemed to be good enough for the rest of them, especially Kaylee, who turned the smile on again and began to serve Jayne a giant helping of the food, which was a variation on what he had eaten for lunch, apparently. Everyone else was required to help themselves and Zoë prepared an extra plate for Wash, who was delayed doing some piloty things.
Jayne waited quietly as he watched the serving utensils flash in front of his face. How did they do that? he thought. I don't never apologize ta nobody, 'ceptin' maybe my ma. And only then when she was holdin' that big wood spoon.
It was a mystery. Jayne had never gone through so many emotions in a day and it was beginning to weary him. He was starting to figure it was easier to cope with a bullet hole in the leg, because at least there a body knew where he stood, when Kaylee's chipper voice caught his attention.
"Well, ain't ya gonna try it? I made it special for yer first supper with us an' all," she stated.
Figuring it was better to overdo it than not, Jayne blurted out, "Sorry, Miss Kaylee," picked up his fork, and began to eat. After the first mouthful, he forgot about his anger. This tasted even better than lunch and Kaylee hadn't stinted on the serving. He noticed she had also given him an extra breadroll right off the top, and he leaned over close to his plate, shoveling it in with a machine-like rhythm.
He was about halfway through the pile of food when he realized they had all stopped talking, and he looked around, cheeks stuffed and another forkful raised in readiness, to see several pairs of eyes on him. Kaylee looked proud to bursting, Mal looked amused, Zoë looked – well, he wasn't sure, but maybe like she was observing some kind of interesting animal in a zoo, and Wash, who was standing at the top of the stairs and had obviously been watching him for a bit, looked amazed. But Inara, the Companion, looked faintly disgusted, like she had something nasty under her nose.
Wash broke the awkward silence first. "Please tell me you saved some food before Jayne started eating," he said in a comically pleading voice as he came across the room to sit by his wife.
Zoë presented Wash the plate of food she had prepared for him and merely said, "Yes, dear."
She must have decided that it wasn't a joking matter, and for that, Jayne was grateful. He nodded slightly in her direction and she blinked her eyes at him in acceptance of his gratitude. When everyone resumed their eating and conversation, Jayne slowed down a bit and tried to remember the manners his ma had tried to teach him. But he still ate every scrap.
After the meal was over and the dishes were cleared away and washed, they moved to the sitting room area just off the mess. Inara had gone back to her shuttle and Wash and Zoë had both retired to the cockpit to spend the evening alone. That left Jayne with Mal and Kaylee.
Jayne and Mal chatted about guns and such and what was the best kind of approach with three hands – now that they had three hands – if you had to meet somebody in a bar or on a street or in a building, while Kaylee, curled up on the other end of the couch from Jayne and hugging a pillow tightly to her middle, gazed dreamily at the big man with liquid brown calf eyes. It was starting to make him squirm a bit, and he was relieved when Mal went to the galley and came back with a paper that had been tacked to the wall there.
"This here's the job rota," he said by way of explanation, handing Jayne the list. "Everybody on the crew pitches in and looks after the things that need lookin' after regular. I'll re-draw a new one and put your name on."
Jayne handed the list back. Seemed pretty straightforward and a much fairer way to handle it than he had seen before. "Yeah, sure," he said, "but I gotta tell ya, I ain't no cook."
"Well, then I guess you'll be learnin' somethin' new," Mal replied with a grin.
"It ain't hard," Kaylee piped up from behind her pillow, "I can teach ya."
"There you go, then," Mal said. "Might as well start with breakfast tomorra. It's usually just coffee and porridge unless we got real food, and since we ain't got real food, well, I guess tomorra's just coffee and porridge."
With that settled, Mal left to go on his usual last check of the ship before retiring, leaving Jayne and Kaylee alone on the couch.
Jayne, thinking it might be the perfect time to get a few things out in the open, turned to her and said, "Girl, this bein' a new place fer me an' all, I gotta ask ya straight out, do ya like me?"
Kaylee was definitely not fazed by this direct question. "O' course I like ya, Jayne. Ya ain't one bit like all the boys I been with afore. You're a real man."
Jayne was taken aback by this information. Did she mean what he thought she meant? Only the way the captain and the others carried on, Jayne had figured Kaylee was, if not a virgin, then not very experienced. Now she was talking about boys, plural, maybe even lots of them.
"When you say 'all the boys,' Miss Kaylee, do you mean ta say they was sexin' you?" he asked, truly curious.
"I mean ta say," Kaylee replied, and leaned towards Jayne, kissing him on the mouth and doing a damn fine job of it too.
This was a bit too much, even for Jayne. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled back, searching her face. Here he was feeling protective again and this girl was literally throwing herself at him. It really was the last straw at the end of a long, confusing day, and Jayne stood up abruptly and fled, almost causing Kaylee to fall off of the couch.
He reached his cabin and dropped down the ladder, flicking on the light switch. When he turned around, he noticed there was something on his pillow. It was a piece of paper folded over with what looked like some kind of candy on top. When he inspected more closely, he discovered it was a fancy core-type chocolate shaped like a heart and wrapped in shiny red foil. And when he opened the paper under it, he saw childlike handwriting surrounded by little flowers. The makeshift card read A sweet for a sweetie, and Jayne crumpled it up quickly and tossed it into the corner as if it had burned his hand. He tossed the chocolate as well, then stripped off, climbing under the covers and turning out the light by a connected switch on the wall near his bunk.
As he lay there in the dark staring at the ceiling, he thought, What on all the gorram planets in all the gorram systems have I got myself into?