Title: Dodging Bullets
Chapter: Sir Jayne to the rescue
"Thanks." River said simply after she had done 43 pull-ups. It wasn't fair; she hadn't even broken a sweat. Next time they were dirt-side Jayne was going to test her endurance. A bike ride, he'd decided would be the best thing.
"It's not like I had much choice, what with you usin' me for a human shield and all. Besides, yer not yerself when he gives you them. And I like knowin' who I'm dealin' with. So we'll make us a little pact: you keep on not actin' crazy-like and I'll keep Simon from givin' you the drugs." Jayne responded as River let go of the rings again and hit the deck. Except she must have miss-judged the distance because what Jayne heard was a thud, a crack, and a pained yowl. "Gorramit, girl what'd you do?" He asked squatting near her leg to get a look.
"Miscalculated distance, trajectory was off." River responded through clenched teeth. What had really happened she would never admit to anyone. She had been distracted by Jayne's words. He promised to keep the drugs away. Her ankle was already starting to swell; if it wasn't full out broken he'd be surprised. Either way there was no way she was going to be walking on it anytime soon; which meant no biking.
"Come on; let's get you to the infirm'ry. Get your idiot brother to look at it." He said putting his arm under her knees in preparation of picking her up. When she realized what he was doing she laced her hands together on his shoulder and let him take her weight. He did his best not to jostle her too much on the way. God why did the stupid infirmary always feel like it was a million miles away when you needed it. They finally entered the room and Simon was there fussing in a flash. Jayne tried to move away but River wasn't allowing that. She grabbed his arm with both hands and wasn't going to let go.
"Make the pain not so bad." She said in way of explanation; so he moved closer and without thought put one hand on top of her head softly stroking her hair. Simon took several scans of her ankle all the while tsk-ing her for 'hanging around with an 'un-trained ape' who managed to break her.' A fine sheen of sweat had broken out on her forehead and she was gritting her teeth to keep from screaming out in pain.
"Gorramit Simon, can't you give her something for the pain." Jayne bit out hating watching her suffer. She attempted to smile at him, but it ended up being more a grimace.
"Right, yes. Mei-mei, I don't think it's broken through, but I'm pretty sure you fractured it. So I'm going to cast it and give you a shot of bone-menders. It'll be a couple of weeks before it's healed, and I want you to stay off of it for most of that time." Simon said putting two vials into the injector. River flinched and her grip turned white-knuckled on Jayne's arm. With the shot administered she closed her eyes and fell into an uneasy 'sleep' while her ankle was casted. Jayne had moved out of the room for the casting but was right in the hallway absolutely not pacing. An hour later he heard her whimper and stir and he was right by her side wondering to himself what the hell he was doing.
"Jayne, you promised. Promises aren't to be broken. I hate the wet blanket. Why'd you break your promise?" River said in a half daze. It took Jayne a second to work out what she meant; Simon hadn't just given her a pain reliever and bone mender. He was going to kill him. Jayne paused long enough to run his hand though River's hair, and brush a kiss over her forehead; then he was on a mission.
"Simon you better pray it takes me a good long time to find you, and that my anger is worn off by then. Cause let me tell you if it's not I'm going to inject you with that 'go-se' you insist on giving to your sister; then I'm going to put you out the air-lock." Jayne growled to himself as he made his way to the dining area thinking that since it was near dinner time the other man'd be there. When he got there he saw Simon smugly working in the kitchen fixing dinner. No matter; Jayne stepped up behind him tapped him on the shoulder grabbed his collar when he turned and punched him square in the nose.
"What the hell was that for?" Simon managed to yell as he brought a towel up to his nose to staunch the flow of blood.
"I damn well told you River didn't need no meds. Yet when she came around just a minute ago she said you gave 'em to her anyway. Did she ever tell you what they make her feel like?" He gave the doctor a pointed glare, daring him to answer. When no answer was forthcoming Jayne continued, "she said she feels like someone took a heavy wet blanket and wrapped it too tight around her brain. Now I don't know about you but where I come from that don't seem a good way to feel. So I'm gonna to warn you one time; you ever come near River with a needle again it'll be more'en yer nose what gets broke. Dong ma?" At the doctors timid nod Jayne turned and strode from the room headed back to the infirmary. Upon his return to her side Jayne noticed that River looked a bit more like herself, but not much. He simply grabbed her the same way he had in the cargo bay and strode to the passenger quarters. He'd thought about taking her to his bunk to hide out for a while, but realized that he'd have a tough time getting her down the ladder. So he took her to the room she still shared with Simon got her placed carefully on the bed and doubled Simon's pillow to put under her injured foot.
"Dinner'll be ready soon. You want me to bring you some in here?" He asked pushing the anger out of his mind, allowing his concern for her well-being to come to the fore.
"Sustenance would be appreciated." She said weakly, as her eyes drifted closed and her mind searched for a way out of the haze. Amazingly enough her clarity came quickly in the form of Jayne's large warm hand enveloping her much smaller one. With that physical connection she was able to twirl her way into Jayne's much quieter mind. She fell asleep to an inventory of Jayne's arsenal flashing past her minds eye. It was the best sleep she had gotten in a long time.
When she finally worked her way past the drugs and out of the restorative sleep the ship was dark and silent around her. Looking to her left she saw Jayne slumped in a chair his hand still folded around hers. Her ankle hurt, but that was a pain that she could push to the back of her mind and deal around. River gave a small tug on Jayne's hand to see how tightly he held hers. He came to almost immediately, glancing around the small room for hidden dangers. Seeing none he relaxed back into his chair.
"You feelin' better?" He asked still not releasing her hand.
"The fog is lifting, and clarity returns. Thank you." She replied so softly he almost didn't hear her. He thought about saying something about her crazy-talk, but decided not to since he figured that she meant she was feeling better. Instead he gave her hand a quick squeeze and released it tucking it under the blanket as he rose from the chair.
"Go back to sleep, I'll come get you for breakfast." He said leaving her room for the safety of his own bunk. This time when River was drifting back to sleep it was to images of a knight in shining armor riding in on a white horse to rescue her.