All disclaimers apply

Ch. 20- Revelations- Redux

"You didn't think you oughta tell me what the real cargo was?!" Mal demanded as David calmly entered the mess and walked over to refill the coffee cup River had left him.

"Captain, with all due respect, you were hired to haul crates, not ask questions," David answered haughtily. River swallowed and slumped down, suddenly feeling guilty for her part in deceiving David. Jayne noticed and scowled. That she should care what the l'il puke thought bothered him.

David turned to River. "And you, what a genius you are. Don't you think you should have given me the sleeping pills after making me sick?" he scolded.

Simon turned to River with a gasp. "You didn't! Did you try to drug him?!"

"Simon, how can you think that? After everything she's been through?" Kaylee defended her friend.

River's head was practically in her lap as David addressed her again. "Yes, River, I'm sure you would be the last person to drug someone after all you've been through. Maybe that's why you screwed up. Subconciously you couldn't do it." She couldn't tell if he was still being sarcastic or if he was trying to let her off the hook.

Jayne was wavering between the two of them. He wanted to hit David for lying to Mal and all of them and putting them in a potentially dangerous situation- hell, they didn't need his help getting into trouble, they had the Captain for that. But he was stunned that River would do such a thing, drug someone, or, as it turned out, attempt to drug someone.

River looked up at Jayne with tears in her eyes. "It was only sleeping pills, just a couple, nothing like the psychotropic drugs Simon used to have me on! The extra sleep would have alleviated his hangover, and given us the extra time we needed." She was really upset now. She realized she hadn't thought through her actions; she had been so eager to figure out the puzzle, the most challenging puzzle she had yet to come across, that she may have acted rashly.

David looked back and forth between River and Jayne, seeing the pleading in her eyes for Jayne, not him, to forgive her. He realized that things hadn't changed between the girl and the merc, that he himself had been played. He started to get angry.

"Yes, help me with a hangover that I very well could have lived without since you apparently were bullshitting me the entire time you were pretending to show interest in me." He turned abruptly on his heel and strode out of the mess.

River burst into tears. How had this all gone so wrong? She had wanted to help her family, she had wanted to figure out the puzzle…

Jayne wasn't a mind reading genius, but he did know people, enough to keep him alive this long. He hadn't decided if he was mad at her or not yet, but right now he knew that this was about her and her confusion. That's just it, he thought. She doesn't see that it's really not about her at all.

Mal, having recovered from the commotion, resumed yelling. "What the hell is going on around here! River, you drugged him?! And where's he think he's goin'! I find out I gots some guy with the 'key' to the gorram 'verse, and he walks away from me! Jayne! Go get him and drag his sorry ass back here!" Mal commanded, putting his hands on his hips and feeling a whole lot more Captain-y again, for the moment.

Jayne grabbed River's arm and pulled her out of the mess with him. She looked up at him questioningly. "Wanna talk to you before I go grab and drag the l'il puke," he mumbled.

Two steps into the bay and Jayne whirled around. "Look, I know you didn't mean to do anythin' wrong, that you were excited 'bout figurin' the secrets of the 'verse and all- but ya did screw up. This is not 'bout you. This is 'bout ev'ryone, not just on this boat, but ev'ryone, ev'rywhere. People like you and me and Kaylee and Simon, all over the 'verse. I may not have much in the way of book schoolin' like ya and ya'r brother, but I understand this. This thing is dangerous and in the wrong hands it could hurt ev'ryone."

He pulled a handkerchief out of his side pocket and started to wipe the tears and snot off her face. She was still snuffling a little, but trying to stop. Jayne sighed. He ran his fingers down her jawline and grasped her chin.

"Look, you go apologize to him and walk him back here, or I'm gonna have to drag him back to the Captain."

River looked at him stunned. "You want me to go after him? I thought you hated him?"

Jayne sighed again. Seemed to be doing that a lot today. "I guess he wouldn't be that bad if you wasn't involved," he said. "See, it's not him I hate, it's who he is." He bowed his head and wouldn't look at River. "He smart 'nough fer ya," he mumbled.

Jayne's demeanor snapped River out of feeling sorry for herself. She grabbed Jayne's chin, hard, and yanked his face into hers. As their lips met, she let go of his chin to wrap her arms around his neck and locked him there. She kissed him hard, at first chastely, then she opened her mouth and proceeded to try to scoop the doubt out of his head with her tongue. All thought flew out of his head. His hands started to run down her backside to… "Hey! Where the hells my wayward passenger!"

Jayne and River stepped apart, Jayne shaking his head to clear it. "Um, yeah, Captain, we're goin' to get 'im right now." Sliding River's hand into his Jayne left the bay with her in tow to go retrieve Cosmo.

&&&&&&&

Jayne nodded encouragingly at River from the far end of the hallway as she hesitated before knocking. She raised her hand again, only to have the door slammed back and one angry passenger in her face.

"What do you want?! I seem to be fresh out of friendly chit-chat and apparently never had the muscles for this anyways," David hissed.

"I, I, I'm sorry," River stuttered. "I didn't mean…"

"Maybe not at first, you didn't. I think your intentions were honest then. But after discovering that you preferred the giant corn-fed meathead to me, then approaching me again and acting all cozy- that, that was crap. The funny thing is, I probably would have told you everything anyways by the end of this trip, just because I do like you and it was nice to talk to someone who has a modicum of intelligence."

"I'm sorry," River said again. "I wasn't thinking clearly, I was so intrigued by…"

"Yes, well, I think.."

"Enough!" Jayne stepped up. "Look, she's tryin' to apologize, and if ya're gonna do anymore thinkin' out loud it'd better be in front of the Captain."

David looked up at Jayne. "And if I say no, you're going to drag me there?"

Jayne smiled. Kid was smarter than Simon even. "Looks like."

David sighed and looked back at River. "I'm not really mad at you, you know, just hurt. I mean, I told you stuff about my family…"

She stepped up and put a hand on his arm. Jayne looked away, trying not to react like a jealous teenager. "I know," she said. "And I told you things about mine. No more deceit, I promise. We can do this together." She turned to walk down the hall toward the Captain and the mess. David looked to Jayne.

"Are you going to hit me?" he asked simply.

Jayne grinned again. "Nah, I trust her. Besides, if she can take me down I got no worries 'bout you." He turned away to follow her back down the hall.

"Take you down?" David asked incredulously. How was that even possible?

&&&&&&&

River entered the mess solemnly, trailed by Jayne and David. Mal walked forward from where he had been talking quietly with Zoe and Inara, who had come down while they were gone. Kaylee stepped forward to put an arm around her friend.

"You alright?" she asked River concernedly. River nodded her assent and went to sit down with the mechanic. Jayne stepped to the side to allow David to pass by and sit down at the spot at the table that Mal was pointing to. Inara watched Jayne's body language; she had been brought up to speed by Zoe and she was surprised that Jayne didn't appear to be too threatening towards David. Simon, on the other hand was glaring at both David and his sister.

"You are not allowed into my infirmary unsupervised, young lady. And you, leading her on…"

"Hey, I did nothing of the sort…"

"With all your little technical showing off…"

Wash started to giggle at Simon. "He fights like a girl, doesn't he honey?" he asked his wife. Zoe was trying hard not to laugh herself.

Simon was miffed. "I do not! Just because I don't headlock people like someone I could mention…"

Jayne snorted. "Ya don't quit yer whining I'ma gonna have to headlock ya again, Doc. David didn't lead yer sister on, it was the other way 'round."

Everyone stared at River as she concentrated on her lap. Kaylee was the first to recover.

"You mean you was fakin'?" River nodded.

"River honey, why would you do something like that?" Inara jumped in.

Mal stepped up. The girl had been through enough trauma today. "Because I asked her to." All glares turned towards him.

Nothing like a roomful of women glaring at you to make you question your Captain-y-ness. He swallowed, then attempted to defend himself.

"Look, this was my call. I got a boatload of feds out there tailing us, I gotta right to know what's goin' on! So, instead of beatin' it out of the kid, I saw an angle and went with it. What's done is done." He looked to David. "Now start talkin'. What 'zactly are your plans with this thing?" He gestured towards the device still on the table.

David crossed his arms and shook his head. "I don't know the whole picture. I'm merely a technician in all this." Mal snorted, clearly not buying it.

"It's true," David continued. "Look, this device, it's one piece of a larger picture, one I don't have. I'm not in charge, I'm just a contributor."

Mal leaned in close. "Contributin' to what?"

David glanced between Mal and Zoe before answering. "The next civil war against the Alliance."