"Your turn to talk." River sounded sleepy.
Fair enough, Jayne supposed. She'd told him a whole book full of stories.
"What should I say?" He didn't know many stories she wouldn't blush at.
"How did you learn to braid hair?" She mumbled, eyes drifting shut.
"Ma made me do hers sometimes, and Mattie's." Jayne closed his eyes, thinking back. "Ma said it were terrible important for a fellow to do hair. Didn't say why."
He still liked hair. It was usually soft and smelled nice too.
"Ma was like that. She had all sorts of notions and ideas about what I'd need to know in life. Can't say as most of them were all that useful." Jayne felt the smile forming.
"Anyway, Ma would sit me down and make me brush as much woman hair as she could line up in front of me. 'Be gentle.' She would say. 'Not so hard.' All I was thinking was how bad it would be if the fellows walked in."
Jayne chuckled softly. "I used to do Mattie up for school, at least until she was old enough to do for herself."
River mumbled something. Might have been, "Makes sense to me." Hard to tell.
Jayne opened his eyes. Girl was drifting off. Good. He reached up to flick off the light.
He shifted against the padded wall and listened to her soft sleep noises.
What exactly had Ma meant by all that brushing? She'd sure been set on it. He supposed he'd even gotten rather good.
He shook his head in the dark.
Damn but River smelled good. All heat and woman. Except she was really just a brain-scarred little girl.
Safer topic, he needed a safer… Ma. What would Ma think about the trouble they'd just landed in?
Wasn't even his fault, near as he could tell. He hadn't seen a thing to warn them, seemed like Ri-the girl-Santha hadn't neither. He'd been watching out for her, trying to protect her, not trying to get her into a scrape.
Jayne scowled. Just shows what looking out for her caught him.
His Ma… well… She'd think he should keep his hands to himself for a start. He was already going for that, wasn't he?
Of course he was, and this was the crazy girl, so it shouldn't even be all that har-difficult.
This sure as hell was gonna be a diff-hard set of days. Damn, might as well make the bad pun. He groaned and twisted himself into what would hopefully be a more comfortable position.
If she could see them, Ma would want his promise, his solemn vow that he wouldn't take advantage of the crazy girl while they were stranded together.
He could make that promise, couldn't he? He was more or less going for that anyway, right?
Jayne swallowed past the lump in his throat.
Of course he could. This was the crazy girl who liked to come at him with knives. He didn't even like her. Well, not that you actually had to like…
Not helpful.
He could control himself past the urge to see if her skin was really as soft as it looked.
He stifled another groan. Why'd he have to think that? He'd been wondering about that for months. Maybe even since she first popped nekkid out of her box…
Right, that image wasn't helping either.
So, this was gonna be terribly trying, but he had enough willpower to get over that. He could be powerfully stubborn if he chose.
So, he promised. He vowed with all his might, talking to his Ma the whole time, that he wouldn't do anything to shame her.
Then he folded his arms up, tucked his hands in and forced himself to relax. He listened to River's soft snoring. Eventually he willed himself into unconsciousness.
All seven remaining shipmates gathered around the dinning table.
"So, what have we found out?" Zoë asked as Mal took his place.
"No sign of Jayne." The captain said, tight lipped. "None of his usual stops have seen him."
"A kid from the ship in the next berth saw them both leave." Kaylee offered. "Jayne first, River following right away. Jayne tried to shoo her back to the boat. River took off in another direction and Jayne chased after her."
"Huh." Mal said, anger fading. That didn't sound like Jayne had stolen her away.
"No news on the Cortex." Inara said. "Except that the Alliance just raised their bounties five percent."
"So they haven't been turned in to the Alliance." Wash interpreted. "That's a good thing, right?"
"Maybe." Zoë frowned.
"I found something else on the Cortex." Inara continued. "It was buried in the posts, old news. There have been a series of disappearances. Usually young couples who get to Persephone, then are never heard from again. The authorities claim no foul play. Officially, they're just kids, eloping, running away to a new life."
"Sounds like slavers." Mal shook his head. "Why the couples pattern?"
"I think I know." Kaylee spoke up. "We had a problem like that back home one year. Drag and drop settlers. Resettlement ships target couples so the new colony will grow, have children and such."
"Who does that kind of thing?" Simon looked shell-shocked. "Don't enough people want to settle new places?"
"Yeah." Mal scowled. "Problem is, no one in their right mind would want to go where these people get dropped."
"Newly terraformed worlds." Zoë clarified. "The Central Colony Office actually posts a bounty per head. They also provide a minimum of supplies per person."
"You think this happened to River?" Simon choked out.
"Couldn't say." Mal tapped his fingers on the table. "But if it did, Jayne will take care of her."
"What is the source of this delusion?" Simon asked incredulously. "When has Jayne ever looked out for anyone but himself?"
No one had an answer for that.
"There are other forms of slavery." Inara said. Her tone was not comforting.
"As soon as they are free enough they'll WAVE us." Mal said. "Then I promise we'll go pick them up wherever they are."
"We can't stop looking." Simon protested.
"There are over ten thousand ships on this planet at any given time. More than half of them don't object to money however they can find it. We have no trail to follow." Mal shook his head. "We have nowhere to start and they could already be off world.
"The last thing River needs is you getting caught." Book finally spoke. "The Federal Marshals would search ship to ship, holding up her picture. There is no way she would slip through that sort of net, but we wouldn't have her either. She would be returned to custody."
Simon slumped back in his chair.
"Funnily enough, I gotta lean toward trusting Jayne." Mal said. "He'll keep them together if he can, he'll keep her safe. Jayne will contact us as soon as he can."
"I regret I cannot share your assessment." Simon frowned. "So we just sit here doing nothing?"
"No." Steel filled Mal's voice. "We go on. We do our next job and the one after that. Eventually they will contact us."
Simon seemed about to say something.
"I agree." Book said. "To do otherwise brings suspicion on us and danger to them."
After four hours and twenty seven minutes, River's internal clock woke her. Breakfast time on Serenity.
The pitch darkness startled her into a brief panic, which was quickly eased when her memory of the sleeper cell returned.
She reached up and turned the light back on. She instantly breathed easier.
James groaned in his sleep, wincing against the dim illumination. Now that she was awake enough to remember she mustn't slip even mentally.
He looked younger, more peaceful, while sleeping. Handsomer.
Santha watched him sleep. He was interesting to watch. She'd always thought so.
A large portion of her brain was busily calculating probabilities.
He twitched. Repeatedly. Dreaming, she knew.
Given current data, passionate physicality was highly likely. She ran that calculation twice to be sure she hadn't missed something.
She didn't snoop to learn the content of his dream. That would be rude.
The numbers ran into the millions. A near certainty. Honestly, she thought she could live with that.
As she watched, the dream shifted, growing dark, heading towards nightmarish territory.
Santha inched towards him. James calmed as soon as she pressed herself against him. His arms reached out for her and she relaxed into his embrace.
He was unmistakably still asleep, but his hands began slowly, gently caressing her back.
The physical sensations his touch caused were thrilling as well as soothing.
Her calculations moved on to her own reactions. She factored in the comfort she currently felt in his arms.
There were strong indications that her body desired his on a purely animal level. All of the textbook signs of sexual arousal were present. They had been for a long time, actually.
That didn't mean she was ready to act on those indications.
Mental fingers poked at her emotions. Fear, excitement, apprehension, resignation.
Given the situation, she was almost ready for physical intimacy. She sighed. Almost. She hadn't expected to be faced with this anytime soon. If they were still on the ship this wouldn't have come up yet.
Santha knew she had been becoming increasingly aware of him since they first met. Most notably, she was aware of her own arousal while in his presence. Occasionally it became confused with her reactions to Simon's drugs, but even then she could differentiate based on presence or absence of his scent.
Santha was also aware that any small emotional attachment between them was nearly one-sided, all hers, none his. Even that was tenuous at best. In truth, it was merely the peaked interest of a female animal when she encounters a genetically compatible male.
From what she had seen of his habits, she did at least minimally meet his physical requirements. Emotionally, well, he didn't much care for her.
If they were still with the ship, her unstable mental health would have made intimate developments unlikely. She was watched too closely, not to mention she hadn't been ready to chose or discard him as a possibility.
Santha's analysis continued. In recent weeks she had observed in herself a distinct willingness to provoke him. In fact, that was the reason for her teasing game of run-away. The one that led them here.
She still wasn't fully ready to initiate adult intimacies. Neither was he. At least not emotionally.
Santha inhaled deeply. She would still prefer to wait.
Unfortunately for her preferences, they were locked in a tiny cubical together. Once he initiated intimacy… well, there would be no stopping her.
Santha smiled. There, decision made. Her brain quieted, calculations complete. This would have a satisfactory outcome.
If nothing else, becoming his mate would make him less willing to abandon her.
She adjusted their bodies into a more comfortable and slightly more intimate pose. She smiled, recognizing the overt sign of his arousal.
Santha regulated her breathing. She would sleep until he woke.
He would wake with her against him again and the 'sexin' would begin.
That is if her calculations were correct.