Disclaimer: I'm not a redheaded male over forty. Sadly that means I'm not Joss. I own nothing.
A/N: Sorry this took so long guys, and there's not too much mushy fluff in this one, but hey, maybe the next chapter! (Actually yeah, now that I think about it, there WILL be mush next chapter. Hold on, fellow fluff-lovers!) And this chapter is definitely not as epic as it sounds... Still totally unbeta'd and running off your Reviews so THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! To everybody who took the time to press the blue (purple?) little button at the bottom and share their thoughts. And of course I'd never forget all those people who added me to their subscription/favorites list. Love you people!
Chapter 6: Flying Fists, Kind-Hearted Interrogation and A Bottle
"So yah've got yerself a girl." Erinn began, looking to his older brother as they loaded bales of hay onto the family carriage. River was off trying to convince the mule rental girl to give them a refund.
"Yeh, so wha?" Jayne mumbled in answer, continuing his work.
Erinn stopped what he was doing. "Wha's wrong wi' 'er?" He asked, with about as much tact as Jayne himself. Perhaps a little more.
"Nuthin'. She jus' gets confused sometimes. Talks weird 'r gets upset." Erinn was looking at him strangely. "Wha?"
"Nuthin'. Jus' never pinned yah fer one ta take ta a feng leh girl."
Erinn didn't see the fist flying at his face until it was too late.
"She's not feng leh!" Jayne glared icily down at his brother. Erinn wisely chose to shut up, kept quiet even when River came back, twirling in a circle and giggling. Even when she got sick to her stomach right on Jayne's shoes. Even when Jayne held her hair until she was done and made sure she was allright. Even when Jayne looked at her, eyes full of love and muttered "Tha's whatcha get fer spinnin' in circles all the time, Crazy." Even when Jayne lifted her onto the loaded carriage, among bales of hay. Even when she commented, "Just because she called herself a mother bird does not mean she was overwhelmed by the urge to nest." Even when Jayne jokingly snapped back "Yeh, yeh, yeh. Jus' sit down 'fore ya fall out an' break somethin'."
In fact, Erinn shut up for a lot of the ride home, preferring to watch the odd couple instead.
Mary Cobb was waddling around the front yard of her ranch, attempting to do chores with one child attached to each leg and another one clinging to her apron. "Too many kids." The weary, yet beautiful woman commented warmly, smiling down at her three youngest.
"Erinn back yet?" Lilly, her oldest child asked, cradling her own child in her bronze arms.
"Nah, swear yah can't send that boy ta town without 'im gettin' distracted by fifteen diff'rent things. Some days I 'spect him to come back with a stray dog 'r somethin'."
"How's about stray people?" Lilly replied, staring into the distance up the dirt road at her brother, quickly approaching in the family carriage. He had at least one more person than he had left the ranch that morning with.
"Oh, wo de ma!" Mary exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air before letting them rest on her hips as she waited for her son. Lilly chucked. For all her bluster, the oldest girl had never seen her Ma turn down anything that needed a helping hand.
"Wait," Lilly's younger sister, Tommi, burst out, coming out of the house behind them. "Is that…is that Jayne?" No one moved. Even the little ones, the baby stopped fussing.
"Guay." Mary whispered, her oldest son's face coming into view. He was smiling at them.
Before the carriage even stopped, he jumped down and pulled Mary into his arms. "Hiya, Ma."
She slapped him.
"Yah leave with no notice, then barely write an' now yah just show up outta nowhere?" She angered, contradicting herself as she gently checked the newly rising bump on Jayne's cheek.
"Aw, c'mon, Ma!" Jayne whined, rubbing the red handprint on his face. Suddenly Mary sighed and opened her arms. "C'mere yah idiot boy." Around his tight embrace, she asked Erinn, "Where'd yah find 'im?"
"He was jus' in town."
"Getting' ready ta come out here on mah own. Got mah Cap'n tah drop us off fer a few days ta visit." He released Ma, turning to Lilly and playing with her baby, embracing her for a second. Knowing his petite twenty year old sister well, despite not seeing her since she was five, he opened his arms and she took a running jump into them.
Meanwhile, Ma raised an eyebrow. "Us?"
"Yeh." He smiled, putting Tommi down and pecking her on the top of the head. "Me an'…where'd she gorram go?" He shouted, head whipping from side to side as he panicked. Erinn just rolled his eyes.
"She's still in th' carriage, Jayne." Erinn sighed, sauntering over to Lilly and stroking her daughter.
"Oh." Jayne lumbered over to the carriage. "C'mon, bao bei, time to come out now."
"Loud." She was referring to their thoughts.
"I know. Jus' try ta block it out like ya can sometimes. Iffen it gets too much, we can leave."
"Okay, help me up." Jayne lifted her out of her nest by the waist, placing her on the ground in front of him. He put his arm around her and led her back to his gaping family. Only Erinn had kept his wits about him.
"River, this is my Ma an' my sisters Lilly an' Tommi. Ma, Lilly, Tommi, this is my girl, River." Jayne quickly introduced, trying to judge everyone's reactions and failing miserably.
"Familial resemblance accumulates and originates in this one." She pointed at Ma and looked up at the two sons. While everyone looked at her like she was feng luh, Jayne nodded.
"Yeh, we all look like Ma, with jus' a little of our Das thrown in."
"It's a pleasure to meet you." River said finally after an awkward pause, beaming at the three other girls. Ma quickly shut her mouth and replied.
"An' it's shiny ta meet ya, too. Jayne doesn't talk about the crew much when he writes, though I reckon," she gave a pointed look to her son while she shook River's hand, "he coulda at least told us about yah."
"C'mon, Ma." Jayne complained. "Even the Cap'n don't know 'bout me an' her."
"Huh," Ma answered, flicking her gaze between them. "Inneresting."
Being back home apparently meant doing the chores. And doing pretty much every single one of them. He and Erinn wrangled horses from the fields, fixed fences, gathered chicken eggs, gathered firewood and did just about every other job there is to do on a ranch. Jayne thought maybe Ma was specifically getting him out of the way so she could have some alone time with River. He just hoped his little Crazy would be okay by herself for a little while. Hoped that Ma wouldn't latch onto her and interrogate her…
"So where'd ya grow up?" Mary Cobb asked, moving about the kitchen as River wandered around looking at the still photos on the walls.
"Osiris."
"Oh, zhu fu ni. Long way from here. Why'd ya leave?"
"Too organized and restricted. She—I wanted to be free. My brother and I have a good life on Serenity."
"Ya've got a brother on board?"
"Yes, he is the ship's medic. He is the main reason Jayne and I are not public about our relationship. Him and Mal."
"The Cap'n wouldn' approve?"
"He still thinks I am a child, a baby chick."
"About that…" Ma let her voice fade as she tried to find a way to phrase the question she had been wondering about since Jayne pulled her out of the carriage.
"I am 21." River announced, turning to the woman, sensing her inner turmoil. "Of proper age for piloting, drinking and engaging in sexual intercourse with whomever I choose."
"Ah, so you an' mah Jayne 're…"
"Engaging in sexual intercourse. Yes."
"An' he's treatin' ya right?"
"She looks into his soul and sees love there."
"He mentioned ya was a Reader earlier. Don't think mah boy'd take kindly ta havin' his mind read an' shared about."
"I don't have to read his mind, Mary Cobb, I can see it in his eyes."
Mary Cobb smiled a genuine smile for the first time in the conversation. "Ah, ain't that shiny. Call me Ma, dear. Ev'rybody does. And what do ya do on the ship, ya say yer brother's a medic?"
"Yes, he was trained as a surgeon on Osiris and Mal has an affinity for injuring himself. He tends to get shot at. I do very much the same thing Jayne does, but Mal only uses me when he needs an extra hand." River cautiously replied, unsure as to what Jayne had told them about Mal's style of work. At that moment, though, right when Ma opened her mouth to comment, there was a noise from upstairs.
It was a cross between a Reaver's growling and what River imagined wet flesh slapping together sounded like. Ma just sighed and turned to the counter.
"River, dear. Mattie's coughin' upstairs an' Jayne's out in th' far field. Would yah mind brinin' Matty his medicine for me? I've got some things ta take care of 'fore dinner."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good, but I done told you it's 'Ma'. First door on th' left at th' top of th' stairs. Jus' 'ave him drink this bottle. He can't seem ta shake this damp lung, I'm 'fraid." And with that she turned and left, tears in her eyes.
"So yer Jayne's mystery girl." A hoarse voice called to her when she stepped into the room. The figure on the bed was worse for the wear. "Don't looks so su-prised. There're plenty things a man'll tell his brother an' keep from his Ma." Matty had obviously been a large man before the sickness and it appeared that he shared Jayne's father. Same stubborn chin, same hulking build, though she suspected he was somewhat thinner and shorter than her man. "Don't worry though. All th' stuff he tol' me were good. Jayne thinks very highly of ya."
"He should." She remarked, completely serious as she set the bottle on the nightstand. "We are engaging in sexual intercourse."
Matty burst into a strangled laugh that was somewhere between joy and pain and turned into a coughing fit halfway through. "He did warn me that ya were a bit strange, but inna good way. I reckon if anyone else called ya Crazy he'd give 'em a black eye, which is prob'bly what happened to Erinn. Boy never could keep 'is trap shut." It was obvious that Matty enjoyed human interaction and while River knew he would get along much better with someone of social grace like Inara, she tried her best.
"Yes. Jayne often fells the overwhelming need to prove his masculinity by resorting to physical violence in any given situation." Matty had begun to give her the "you're Crazy" look, so she clarified. "He likes to pick fights."
"Yah, sure does." The man replied.
"What illness has confined you to this bed?"
"Damp lung. Can't seem tah shake it. Ma swears it's the worst she's e'er seen. Had it fer near three an' a half weeks now." He could've kept talking but River was shaking her head.
"Time parameters do not match diagnosis. Given the obvious symptoms and approximate lunar changes." Her glazed eyes suddenly took on a determined look. "Have you been extremely cold lately?"
"Nah, this go se moon's hot as hell."
"Cold water perhaps?"
"Nah…wait. Yeah, one a the little 'uns was drownin' a few weeks ago in a stream from th' mountains. Jumped in ta save 'em."
"You have pneumonia."
"New-moan-ee-what?"
"Pneumonia. Illness similar to damp lung but takes longer to heal. Was common on Earth-that-Was but a few strains still exist." She snatched up the bottle of medicine as he reached for it, racing to the door and holding it up.
"You don't need this."
And then she was gone.
…
A/N: Kind of a weird place to end it, I know. What can I say? My muse is not being cooperative. It apparently wants this entire story to be one REALLY long chapter. Grr. Anyways, hope you enjoyed!
I decided to give you the Chinese translations this time!
Chinese:
Feng leh: loopy in the head, crazy
Wo de ma: Mother of God
Guay: hell
Gorram: goddamn
Bao bei: sweetheart
Zhu fu ni: Blessing on you