I own nothing.

All I got was yays, so this will be continued for the duration. I hope you like it.

River had remained silent the entire time Monty had been talking. Monty, who had in fact been the "Sasquatch" River had identified from the night before had come over to talk to Jayne, having recognized him. When Monty offered Jayne a job on his crew, Jayne shook his head. "Thinkin' it's about time ta head home, ya know?"

River's head shot up and she studied Jayne. Jayne pointed at her, ignoring her curious gaze, "Now, her, she's a good shot an' smarter'n'hell. Get you out of a mess 'fore you even know yer in one."

"That so?"

River turned her attention to the table from which Monty had come. They were five men there staring at her, curious and very aware of her feminine attributes. She turned back to Monty and Jayne suddenly. They were staring at her expectantly. "You want the job? Yer own bunk, ten percent to start. More if you prove yer worth it."

River blinked. It was a good offer, but...the men. She wasn't sure she was quite ready for the constant attention. Sure, she'd have her own bunk, but she couldn't stay there forever. Ten percent plus more if she was good at what she did. "Okay," she said with one final look at the table. Jayne followed her gaze. "Awful rough lookin' bunch."

"Yeah, but they're good fer the most part."

"So, where you headed?"

"Santos first an' then on ta Verbena."

"My family's on Verbena." River opened her mouth to inform Monty that Jayne was in fact lying when Jayne shot her a look that clearly stated "I am doing you a huge favor an' myself a major disservice" and she promptly shut her mouth. "Think maybe it'd be alright if I tagged along an' helped on yer jobs. Be nice ta bring home some coin ta the folks an' younguns."

Jayne winked at her then and River tried hard not to smile. Monty frowned. "Ain't got but two passenger dorms on my boat and theys full up."

"He can stay in my bunk," River shrugged nonchalantly. Jayne grinned and Monty nodded. "Don't see a problem with it."

Monty headed back to his table and River smiled thankfully at Jayne. Jayne chuckled, "Like I'd really leave ya 'lone with a scruffy bunch like that. 'Sides, by the time I'm gone, they're gonna know you ain't one ta try an' get hands on with."

"Verbena will be a hard place to find work on," River said quietly. Jayne shrugged. "Managed ta dig myself out of a hole a time 'er two. I'll do it again."

"Well, thank you."

Jayne rolled his eyes and waved her off. "Makin' you sleep on the floor fer this."

It was a complete and total role reversal. She had always been right and he had always been wrong. Things had changed so much while she had been away that she hadn't really noticed the subtle interactions of the crew until she mentally catelogged them in her memory, going over them as she lay in bed trying to find sleep. She had always been able to sleep before, but now it was hard to come by. But Mal was right now. She couldn't argue that things should go back to the way things were. She tried, but she never won because Mal was right; change was inevitable. There was nothing they could do to stop it and there was nothing they could do to change how they were. The changes themselves ate at her most.

Mal and Simon still fought, but more in a brotherly sort of fashion. Even in the midst of an argument, it somehow didn't seem as though it was about winning or losing, just verbal barbs for the sheer pleasure of it all. She had caught them one time berating Jayne over shots of sake late one night and Simon had said with a rueful smile, "I'm gonna miss him. Even if he was an untrained Ape."

"Yeah, he wasn't all that bad."

"No, he really wasn't."

Kaylee had mentioned Jayne and Simon had become somewhat friends before Miranda. Even during the whole of it, they'd still been able to remain civil.

Kaylee seemed happier, too. Not in an overstated way, just happier. She seemed perfectly happy with what Inara perceived to be Simon's ambivalent approach to he and Kaylee's relationship. However, this approach seemed to work. Simon was far from uptight. He made jokes at the other's expense without them being colored with acidic sarcasm as they had been. The day Mal and Zoe took Simon on a job was the day Inara realized just how much they had grown. Simon proved to be quite the criminal while under pressure. He'd talked the buyers out of turning on them and managed to score another job out of the buyer without having to take much of a pay cut.

Zoe and Mal were still the same in regards to one another. They still had their war buddy bond, but they were opening up more to Kaylee and Simon. It wasn't just surface politeness and niceties. There were inside jokes and pointed shared glances. Mal taught Zoe how to better fly the boat so she could share in the piloting duties. Zoe took a few unneeded bullets for her captain in return and taught Simon how to cook when he taught her how to repair a bullet wound with surgical precision in case he was ever the one who needed operating on. Mal taught Kaylee to shoot and Kaylee taught him how to fix the engine if anything ever happened and he would have to be the one to do it.

Inara was the only one who wasn't taught anything-would she have cared enough to know? No, not really. But it was the being included in it all that she cared about. All she could really do was make them tea and hope they let her in on their little jokes. She was even hoping, waiting for Mal to one day ask her if she would give up her "whoring" and join in on their life of high stakes crime. She would say yes, for him, for them, but he won't ask and she won't offer.

"Jayne, though I find these women to be very attractive, I can safely say women such as these are unobtainable because they do not exist."

Jayne peeked his head up to the top bunk and snatched the magazine out of her hands. "They are, too. Jus' look at those," he said, pointing to the centerfold in the magazine. "Can't tell me that if you was sly you wouldn't wanna touch on those."

"It is highly improbable that woman's breasts, without the assistance of augmentative surgery would...defy gravity in such a manner as hers." She rolled onto her back and tilted her head to look at him upside down. "And if I were indeed sly, I would not want a woman with artificial mammaries as I have standards. I have hypothesized that the real reason men are so attracted to women with large mammaries is because of their subconscious linking large mammaries with the survival of their progeny due to the over abundance of sustenance provided by said mammaries."

"I have no idea what you just said."

River rolled her eyes. "Suppose you had twins."

"Okay..."

"Babies require breast milk for food, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, who would you rather have nursing your offspring? A woman with small breasts or a woman with large breasts?"

"The large ones, a'course."

"I rest my case." She smirked. "I should also like to make it clear that in this instance, size does not matter."

"So, they don't make more?" Jayne stared down at the picture. "Huh, talk about bad advertising."

"What does it matter so long as your mate functions properly," River asked rhetorically, shrugging her shoulders. "I think she has a pretty face."

"River, men don't buy mags like this just ta look at a woman's face," Jayne snorted, disappearing into the bunk under hers. River leaned over the edge of her bed and lowered her head further to get a better look at him. "I know what porn is used for, Jayne, I'm not stupid-or crazy."

"Jus' sayin'," Jayne muttered, tossing the magazine on the floor, "now all I can think of is how big boobs ain't any better than small ones. Thanks a lot."

"If they're bigger there's more to play with," River laughed and he glared at her. "Please don't say things like that."

She disappeared back onto her bed. "I was just trying to help you to regain your affection for large breasted women. Your carnal adoration for them will return in a couple days, I promise. Read a gun magazine or something."

"Wanna play cards?"

"We just played cards."

"I'm bored."

"Not my problem."

River stretched out on her bunk and and absentmindedly ran her fingers through her hair as she read the large volume of poetry she had purchased while still aboard Serenity. The mattress shifted as more weight was put onto it and River turned to find its source. Jayne had pulled himself up over the side of her bunk and was currently leaning over her shoulder to see her book. He whistled low and River felt her face redden. "Who needs porn when they got sex poems!"

"Jayne, shut up."

"Can I borrow that when you're done?"

"No!"

"Then can I read it over your shoulder?"

"No!"

The weight lifted off her bed and she heard Jayne grumble bellow her as he settled on his bed. She tried hard not to smirk and continued to read her book, ignoring Jayne as he shifted in his bed several times. River shifted on her bunk and one of the springs made a popping noise. It was silent for a moment before they both burst out laughing.

"Still can't believe you popped that little shit right in the kisser," Jayne chuckled below her. River bit her lip to keep from giggling harder. "I still can't believe it sounded like that."

They fell into silence again before River heard Jayne snort. She closed her book and leaned over the side. Jayne's face was a bright shade of purple as he fought to breathe and he was now making choking sounds. River shimmied off the edge of her bed and dropped to the floor. "Jayne, not again!"

"I-I-can't," he wheezed and snorted again, "his face! Oh Buddha, I ain't never seen nothin' so funny in all my Gorramn life!"

Jayne began to wheeze harder as he laughed and River slapped him hard on the back. "And Monty! Dear God, he about spat out his protein all over the ruttin' table."

"At least he didn't blow hot tea out his nose like you." River tried hard not to laugh at the embarrassed look on his face. Jayne tried to scowl, but failed miserably when he remembered the way River had shot out of her chair and slammed her fist into the pilot's face from across the table after the third dirty hand gesture he had made toward her. "I couldn't help it, the look on your face an' then-an' he was on the floor an' lookin' 'round tryin' ta figure out why he was on the floor with a broke nose!"

Jayne resumed laughing more hysterically, "I mean, if you'da saw it, you would be laughin' just as hard."

River rolled her eyes and shook her head. "You are so immature."

"You was laughin' 'bout it, too."

River sighed and hopped back up onto her bed. "I'm going to sleep now."

"So, you gonna pop Monty if he ever tries ta get fresh with ya?"

"Goodnight, Jayne," River said firmly as she snapped off her light. There was another snort and she groaned, throwing back her covers and preparing to jump down to help her gasping friend, "Jayne, not again!"

"Hey, I got a letter from River!"

"Yeah, me too."

"Think we all got one, Kaylee," Mal said as he watched Kaylee tear open her letter with an excited squeal. "Dear, Kaylee," she read with another squeal, "I have found good work with a respectable Captain, though I find my other crew mates to be less than tolerable. The Captain lets me do anythin' that needs doin'. Sometimes I work on the engine and some times I help move cargo. Mostly, I go out on jobs. Lately I have been piloting as I broke the pilot's nose for making rude gestures at me during dinner. Jayne-he's only staying until we get to Verbena-thought it was hilarious an' now every time a bed spring pops-" Kaylee shot Mal and Simon a surprised look. "They wasn't...you know, was they?"

"Finish the letter. Bound to be an explanation," Mal said calmly.

Kaylee raised an unsure eyebrow and continued, "-he laughs about it because that was the sound my fist made when I hit the pilot in the nose. I'm glad Jayne was nice enough to stay with me for now as the men aboard the ship, Captain excluded, have gotten it into their heads that I find their lack of personal hygeine appealin'. Also, havin' Jayne 'round is nice 'cause he's good company. We spend most of our time in our bunk playin' cards or readin'. Though we ain't got no passengers on the ship, the passenger dorms-there's only two of 'em- are used fer storin' some of the cargo we just got, so Jayne sleeps in the bed below mine in the bunk. I always wanted to sleep in the top bunk of a bunk bed an' now I get to. It's not as exciting as I thought it would be. There's a rail to put up when I go to sleep so I don't have to worry 'bout bein' thrown outta bed when we're attacked by someone. That hasn't happened yet, which is a relief. Jayne gets off in next port an' I must say I will miss him. However, I won't miss havin' to smack him on the back to get him to breathe again when he gets into one of his laughing fits. However, the shade of purple he turns is fascinating. I don't remember ever seeing someone laugh as hard as he did when I punched the pilot. It happened over a month ago an' he still has 'bout two or three fits over it a day. He keeps askin' me to punch the mechanic, but there is no need as the first day aboard the ship he tried to kiss me an'...suffice it to say, Jayne made sure he knew I didn't want him kissin' me, ever.

I will write to everyone again once I know we are close to port. I miss you, Kaylee. Love, River. P.S. Don't tell Captain about me an' Jayne bunkin' together as he may not take it too well even though Jayne has not made one pass at me an' nothin' sexual has occurred."

Mal rolled his eyes. "Girl's always thinkin' I'm gonna make a fuss."

"You do always make a fuss," Simon laughed, "Jayne doesn't think of River that way and we all know it, but you have a penchant for overreacting."

Mal punched Simon in the arm and pointed his finger at him. "What did I say 'bout makin' me look bad in front of people?"

"That it made me look brave and manly?"

"Even with them two gone, I get no respect. I'm the Gorramn Captain, people."

"And a fine Captain you are!" Mal patted Simon on the back as the crew gathered up their mail and wandered about the skyplex. Inara glared at the back of Mal's head.

"Somethin' wrong, 'Nara?"

She smiled at the mechanic reassuringly. "Nothing, it's just that I can't believe Mal is okay with River and Jayne being gone. Especially with how close you've all gotten since I left."

Kaylee nodded. "We all kinda understood. River didn't get a chance ta grow up an' be who she is an' Jayne was jus'...I dunno, diff'rent. They both was. I mean, we all changed, but they had more changin' that needed doin', I guess. Kinda hurt that they didn't say goodbye 'er nothin', but they know we would've tried ta talk 'em inta stayin' so I don't blame them."

Inara frowned. "I just don't understand."

"Maybe, ya just ain't a fan of things changin'." Kaylee smiled up at the companion. "Ya know, I think they'll be back someday. Maybe not ta stay, but they'll be back."

"I hope so, Kaylee."

"I wonder what we'll all be like then." Kaylee sighed. "How much do you think will have changed? Do ya think we'll all be as close as we are now?"

Inara refused to look at the mechanic and quickened her step. "Maybe."

"'Nara, now I don't know much in the way a readin' people's body language an' all, but I can tell yer more bothered by this than ya should be," Kaylee prodded, "now either ya come out an' tell me what it ia that's gotcha so worked up 'er ya stew in it an' let it get worse!"

Inara sighed defeatedly. "I feel...left out. When I came back, I never expected to see everyone so at ease with one another. I expected change, of course, but not to this extent. Simon and Mal re practically best friends, Simon isn't even half as uptight as he used to be, you're happier than I've ever seen you, and Zoe is just fine after what happened with Wash. Not completely fine, I'm sure, but content. I just don't-I don't feel I have any place here with you anymore."

Kaylee shook her head emphatically. "No, 'Nara, we're all happy yer here. Yer important to us; always have been. Things have changed, jus' you wasn't here to change along with us, but you will."

"I doubt it will be a good thing."

Kaylee smiled and hugged an arm around the companion. "That's the thing 'bout change. Don't seem like it's good at the time, but it's really the best thing that can happen to ya."

"But River and Jayne. Didn't they change, too?"

"Oh, sure, but I think the rest of the changin' had to occur somewheres else. They was the ones what needed the most change. They changed an awful lost, but you could see that more was needed."

Inara raised an eyebrow. "How so? I didn't really notice all that much."

"Well, what with Miranda happening an' all, River wasn't needing her medication so much. Things started makin' sense to her again an' I guess she jus' felt like she wasn't what she shoulda been. Kept to herself most a the time, but when she was 'round she was awful quiet like she was thinkin' on stuff. Jayne was kinda like that, too, was awful quiet, kept lookin' at us like he was tryin' ta figure out why we was all different an' he was stuck. He didn't drink so much an' he didn't go out for trim as much neither. That's when we all started ta really notice how him an' River was really stuck. Sometimes, they'd be sittin' in the common room readin' 'er cleanin' guns an' they'd jus' stare at each other in this creepy way like they was talkin', but weren't usin' no words. Guess they was feelin' like the odd man out the way you are, but more so. Then once they figured it out, they decided ta leave. They'll be back," Kaylee said the last with confidence, "family ain't never separated for too long."

A/N: Jayne and River will not stay together. I'm rolling around some alternative directions for this to go in, but I haven't settled quite on how to go about them. Still, reunions will take place within either the next chapter or the one after that. Please review.