All disclaimers apply

Ch. 3- Still Workin'

Mal waited impatiently while Kaylee fiddled with the electronic lock on the fire vault door. What a bizarre place to have a back entrance, he thought.

"What a bizarre place to have a back door, don't'cha think Cap'n?" Kaylee commented cheerfully. "Guess they wanted to make sure they could grab the money if'n they had to escape from a fire, huh?"

"Maybe so, little Kaylee," Mal agreed. The door popped open with a soft whoosh, like it had been sealed for some time. Probably had, only with Kaylee's and Wash's work on heightening the sensors had they even had an indication of its existence. Mal pushed past Kaylee, Zoe following.

"Kaylee, you head back to Serenity, Zoe and I got it from here."

"Okay, Cap'n!"

Mal and Zoe slipped inside the door and started down the short corridor. There was one more door they had to go through, but it was an interior door within the vault system, simply meant to section it off, not secure it.

Except when they reached it, there was a funny looking grey box attached to the door right above the handle.

"Uh-oh," Mal did not like the look of this at all.

"Kaylee?" hopefully she hadn't gotten far.

"Yup, Cap'n? I'm okay, no need to worry, I'm almost back to the ship. Wash has an eye on ya now."

"Wash? Can you see us?" Mal peered up at the camera mounted high behind him and Zoe.

"Sure can. You guys look clear to me."

Mal grimaced and looked at Zoe. "You know how to do this lock?"

"Sir, I have a gun. You already sent away our locksmith."

"Right. Okay, Wash, you see this here lock on the door?"

Wash peered closer to the screen and then zoomed in a little.

"Yep, it's another electronic one. We didn't think there'd be one on the inside, but Kaylee should be able to crack that baby."

"What am I crackin'?" Kaylee stepped onto the bridge behind Wash.

Wash jerked back at her voice, then looked back at the screen. "Uh-oh."

Mal was headed into full-blown annoyance. "This was supposed to be a simple job! What the…"

"Sir," Zoe interjected, "we can still do this, we'll just have Kaylee and Wash explain it over the wire."

"The whole point of having her here…" Mal started.

"Sir, we're running out of time. She's not here now, let's just do what we can." Always the voice of reason, Mal let her rationale calm him.

"Okay, l'il Kaylee, you're gonna have to do this one remotely, and please remember, I need this in Captain dummy-speak."

"No prob, Cap'n here's what you do…" Kaylee proceeded to give Mal detailed instructions while he stared nodding at the contraption, daring it to just fall off.

"Got it?" she finished.

"Got it," Mal said somewhat confidently. He looked back at Zoe and they nodded seriously at each other. If this didn't work, they were through. Their present employers did not pay for failures. Mal took one step back, lifted his right leg high, and proceeded to bash in the door at doorhandle-height. The door popped open with a small bang.

Mal smiled back at Zoe. "Good job people. Let's go." He stepped through into the vault.

Topside and across the street, River was only half paying attention as she continued to analyze her reaction to the suggestion of Jayne's possible post-job 'entertainment'. The couple that had been nuzzling each other all the way down the street had passed, and there was no one else around this section of town, all day businesses. Two blocks over, however, were the 'night' businesses, with the bars, gambling, and whores. She glanced over at Jayne again; he was looking in the direction the couple had gone. She sighed, it wasn't like his habits were new news to anyone, it was just that she had started to have an inkling that she knew why they were bothering her and she didn't like it. Simon would be horrified, she smiled to herself. But then maybe not, they had all, quietly, become closer over the last few months, to the point that even Jayne and Simon really were only kidding when they teased each other. One wouldn't say the word 'friends' out loud, but there was a loyalty there not present before. Except during hoopball of course, then all loyalties were up for grabs. River smiled again.

Jayne looked around, he couldn't figure out what River kept smiling at. He flashed her a quick hand signal, what's up? Her fingers flicked back, nothing. He frowned and checked the street again, taking another swig of water from the liquor bottle. It had the slight twinge of leftover whiskey to it, something to hold him over until they were done and he could hit the bars, and get some tr…

He frowned again and looked back over at River. He hadn't gotten any in over a couple months, and couldn't figure out why. Every time he went out lately, he'd grab a drink and a chair at a card game, clean out his competition, and go home. And it wasn't like he was unable to get a woman for himself- everywhere the crew was dirtside he ran into some working girl that remembered him with great fondness, and willingness. But suddenly it felt all wrong; it felt wrong to smile at them, wrong to run his fingers lightly up their arms, wrong to go back to their rooms. He always ended up leaving early to head back to the ship, sneaking in and slipping down to his bunk so he wouldn't have to answer any jibes or questions as to why he was back so early, and not any more relaxed than he was when he left.

And he had winced when Mal had said 'entertainment', and immediately looked for River's reaction. Not that her feelings on the subject mattered. They were partners during jobs, and they got along well enough back at the ship, but that was all. Well okay, there was also their workout time together. And he had been teaching her how to cook. And she had been trying to teach him how to throw knives accurately without looking. Hmm. Now that he thought about it, seemed like they was spending an awful lot of time together. Not that it was awful, in fact, he rather enjoyed having someone to hang out with in between jobs, someone who talked to him like an equal. He almost felt that they were, equal that is. They both had talents the other didn't, but when paired together everything seemed to work seamlessly. Most times they didn't even talk to each other during jobs, or actually not even that much while they were working out, or…hmm.

Jayne looked across the street again, noticing that River had on the black jeans he liked. Not that he liked her, just that, well, yeah, black was fitting for night work. And they were fitting her well, he started to leer, then remembered who he was having those thoughts about. Stupid hundun, he mentally shook his head. She's crew, ain't to be thought of that way.

Mal crackled in. "Jayne, River, we're all set here. Coming out."

Both Jayne and River took a quick glance around. "All clear up here, Cap."

Mal and Zoe exited the alleyway a couple minutes later, Mal mumbling something about Zoe having to get grease on him coming and going. They turned up the street without acknowledging Jayne and River. When Mal and Zoe had been out of sight for a minute, Jayne's com crackled again.

"We're clear," Mal said. Jayne stood up, stretched, and started to walk the other direction down the street. After a few seconds, he realized River wasn't with him. He turned to see her standing just outside the doorway she had been stationed in, hesitating and alternately looking down the street the way the Captain and Zoe had gone, and then towards the way Jayne was headed.

"Watcha' waitin' fer?" Jayne called.

River hesitated. "Am I supposed to follow the Captain?" she questioned.

"No," Jayne said. "He said they was 'all clear'. Job's done. We're free to go." He stopped, realizing that she knew this; what she didn't know was whether or not Jayne was leaving to go find the Captain's suggested 'entertainment'.

"Come on," he called. "I'm hungry. Let's go get somethin' to eat." He smiled at her encouragingly.

She smiled back (she lights up the whole gorram street with that smile, Jayne thought) and jogged to catch up to him.