She Always did Love to Dance
AN: Thank you, thank you, thank you, the reviews were lovely, please continue to leave them. I'm sorry about the shortness of some chapters, I've had this complaint on some of my other stories and all I can say is that chapters end when they want to. Plus, I usually write out my stories by hand and later type them up, so I have no idea how long they'll end up being.
PART 4
Jayne reached under his bed and pulled out a box. Amongst the various letters from home and other things his mother had sent was a small white box. It fit easily in Jayne's palm as he lifted it up and looked inside for a moment. He shut it again quickly and realized he couldn't stay in his bunk anymore.
He climbed back out and walked through the mess. Kaylee was still asleep on the couch, but Inara was over by the stove making tea. Jayne rushed through and went down the back stairs.
He glanced into the infirmary, Simon had left, but Mal had taken his place. Jayne turned and went down the passenger dorms hallway. He stopped when he got to River's doorway. Even though this had been his destination, he paused when he saw Simon sitting on her bed.
Simon didn't say anything, he just scooted over towards the head of the bed. Jayne sat on the side near the door. He played with the white box, turning it over and over in his hands. Simon played with a teddy bear that he had bought for River when it had caught her eye at the market. She had always been a bit odd about it.
"I don't even know your name," Simon said to the bear, "I must have asked a dozen times, but she never would tell me. Do you know your own name? Can you tell me?"
"It's Jayne."
After Simon took a moment to realize that the gravelly voice had not come from the bit of cotton and fluff in his hands, he turned with a confused look to Jayne.
"That's why she never told you it's name. She called it Jayne. Said she wanted to have Jayne keep her safe and warm at night, even if I couldn't be there."
Jayne choked up then and Simon waited a few minutes before he asked, "How did it happen?"
Jayne never looked up from the white box in his hands, "I don't even know, it just kind of did. After Miranda, there was Mal and Inara and their thing, you and Kaylee, and Zoe was walking 'round here like a zombie with anger management problems. She convinced me to play hide-and-seek one day. I thought it would take a few minutes, but I searched for hours before I finally found her. She already had my respect after Mr. Universes', but this was new. Kicking ass is tough, but hiding from me is hard. She was real good at it and then she gave that little happy giggle when I did find her . . ."
Simon nodded, he had heard that giggle often when they were little, but not as much recently.
Jayne took a deep breath and continued, "After that, we started playin' together regular, and not just hide-and-seek, but that was definitely her favorite, I think she found places on this boat that the captain don't even know are there. Then one night I found her in the cargo bay. It was so easy, I had only been searchin' for 'bout 15 minutes, I knew somethin' was up. Found her behind a crate, curled up and cryin'. Everyone was off boat, in whatever town we had stopped at. I tried to help, but when I went to touch her shoulder, she lashed out, punchin' and kickin' like a mad woman, but crazy I mean, not all precise and deadly like usual– sloppy, her eyes all wild. So . . ." Jayne took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. "I slapped her"
Simon tensed, sitting up straight, he opened his mouth to say something when Jayne cut him off.
"I know, I know, I shouldn'tve done that, but I was alone and she was fightin', and I panicked. But it seemed to do her some good. Her eyes cleared up and she stopped flailin'. She gave me this look then, calculating like, made me nervous, so I started to apologize when she suddenly leaned forward and kissed me. Now I was a bit out of practice with the kissing, you don't kiss whores, but this felt good, right somehow. Then a bunch of you drove up in the mule, she pulled away and put her finger to her lips with a smile. Then she went over to greet people all cheerful and normal as if the fit and the kiss had never happened. Over the next while, she would grab me and kiss me when no one was around. To be honest, I didn't put up no objection and we never did talk about what we were doin', where it was goin' or nuthin' like that. Then she dropped down into my bunk one night and we got all the feelings stuff figured out before we – "
Jayne cleared his throat, remembering at the last minute that he was talking to her brother. "So, ya, that was five months, one week, two days, and eleven hours ago. The day I realized I loved her."
Simon relaxed all at once, those seemed to be the words he had been waiting for. "Was she happy?" he asked quietly.
"Ya, she was, we were, and she loved you a lot. Even made me stop pickin' on ya so much."
Simon gave a very watery chuckle, "I didn't notice a change."
A ghost of a smile fluttered across Jayne's face, "Ya, well, we were still workin' on that one."