Title: And they all lived...
Prompt: None, this now strays away from the Firefly 100
Characters/Pairings: River, Jayne, pre-rayne.
Rating: PG Wordcount: 1254 (ish, see notes) couldn't be buggered to stick to multiples of 100
Disclaimer: Not mine, not paid, don't sue. Notes: This is the epilogue to the Fairy Tale inspired Drabble/ficlet series. SOME EDITING SINCE ORIGINAL POSTING ON LIVEJOURNAL. THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE END, BUT RE-POSTING THIS HAS GIVEN ME IDEAS.
And they all lived...
Mal came down Serenity's ramp and was dazzled.
The sky was like brass over Harvest. They'd parked on the edge of town, but from the cargo bay all you could see were fields of nodding wheat. Off to the right was a small paddock containing two dozing horses cooling their feet in a stream fed from the mountains. The dapple has it's head across the bay's shoulders and an expression of goofy contentment.
Most of the crew were in the shade at the base of the ramp looking content, if not goofy. Zoë was sitting on a packing crate, at peace with the world as far as Mal could tell; Kaylee was sitting in the dirt, fiddling with some small, nameless mechanical thing and Simon had his head cushioned on her thigh, his eyes restfully closed. It said more about how far he'd come then any of his jaw-breaking words, there'd been a time when Mal couldn't imagine him lying on the dusty ground unless he was dead.
Inara was in Kaylee's deckchair, a parasol leaning against its arm, the picture of orderly grace.
He was missing two and looked around, finding them standing by a fence post some distance away, obviously doing something. Two hats were bent over whatever it was and Jayne was making vigorous movements but their bodies obscured what they were doing.
Kaylee must have read his mind. "Jayne's teachin' River ta skin eels. Borrowed a trap from somewhere, caught at least ten in that stream." She pointed lazily in the general direction of the horses.
"Ain't that nice," Mal deadpanned.
"Says it's easy," continued Kaylee, ignoring the tone. "Just gotta stick a nail through the head and the skin pulls off real slick," she pantomimed the act. "He's gonna make his Ma's recipe for stew," she added dreamily, "Gonna be somethin' ta eat real food again."
To Mal's amusement Simon turned slightly green. He turned his attention back to the pair in the distance. "My merc's skinning eels with my pilot cum genius, ain't that something?" There was a thoughtful pause and it wasn't just him. "Don't make sense," said Mal with the distinct feeling that he was saying what they were all thinking.
Zoë stirred. "Whatever they're doin' River's willin', ain't enquired any further."
"They seem happy," added Kaylee brightly.
Simon sighed and stirred again.
"Seems if anyone's entitled to object it'd be you Doc." Zoë raised an eyebrow at the young man.
"I try not to think too much about it." Simon sat up and scrubbed his hands through his hair, making it stand up in comical, dusty tufts. Mal resisted the urge to laugh.
"Anyone know if they are, y'know?" Kaylee left the question delicately hanging.
Simon fiddled with a pebble. "I know River doesn't always sleep in her bed," he looked around at everyone, "I check on her sometimes if she's had a bad day," he explained.
"Oh," said Kaylee. Everyone silently considered the implications of River not sleeping in her bed. Mal and Simon looked pained, Kaylee got a little misty eyed but Zoe or Inara remained carfefully impassive and that caught Kaylee's attention, she glanced at Zoe and then subjected Inara to a thoughtful stare.
"Kinda know when it all started, can't get a handle on why," said Mal, shaking himself.
"Jayne ain't so bad," said Kaylee with a little more emphasis than was convincing, still staring at Inara.
Zoë moved, catching everyone's attention, she examined the sole of her boot where a clump of Harvest's fine soil had taken up residence. "Was a time Captain, maybe two years back," a shadow flickered across her face, "where you'd of thrown Jayne's carcase out the airlock for so much as touching a one of us." Zoë looked up at the Captain steadily. "Kaylee's right, Jayne ain't so bad no more. Got so I can put him at my back n' know it's covered whether he's getting' paid or not."
Mal grunted. "Thing happened so gradual that I didn't know it was happenin' till it was there. Still, ain't exactly an obvious pair." He shifted around to look at the odd couple, heads still bent over the post. River was obviously having a try, she was yanking away at what he could only assume was an eel.
Inara shifted in her chair, meeting Kaylee's eyes cooly she spoke for the first time. "I asked River and she tried to explain their relationship to me." Her eyes flickered from Kaylee's to Zoë's face. "Like Zoë my concern was purely that whatever occurred was truly consensual."
"What she say?" Kaylee asked.
Simon plugged his ears. "I'm not sure I want to hear this."
Inara shrugged. "River didn't tell me anything about their physical relationship assuming that one exists. Though she always found Jayne physically attractive, his personality and attitude towards her cancelled that out."
"Hardly surprising," said Simon dryly, removing his fingers from his ears he scooped up the pebble he'd dropped earlier and threw it with some violence at a nearby bush.
"Then one day," Inara continued, ignoring him. "She started to tease Jayne, something to do with her hair and shoes but I didn't understand it particularly." Inara pulled a face, her inability to make complete sense of River's speech was a little irritating to her. Communication was such a big component of a Companion's skill set.
"Her teasing led to them spending some time together and River realised that Jayne was developing," she paused, trying to find the right word, "An interest in her. It frightened her, her feelings were confused and she wasn't sure where they were coming from, her or him." She looked around at her audience and then directly at Simon. "She realised that she couldn't carry on viewing their interactions as a game." She frowned. "She said that on that bad day, when Jayne found her dancing her feet to pieces in the cargo bay she was trying to detach herself from him."
Simon's breath hissed through his teeth and Mal made a snorting noise, whether it was derisive or surprised she couldn't tell without looking at him. "River was quite embarrassed when she told me that," she said earnestly. "She was frightened, worried and she didn't feel that she could tell anyone about it. From what I've seen that would be enough to precipitate an episode."
Simon nodded. "Of course it could." He sighed again. "He carried her to the infirmary, you know, and wouldn't leave until she was asleep, or at least we thought she was asleep." He pulled a face. "Then when she snuck out again he brought her back and refused to leave at all." Simon's mouth twisted. "He does care about her in some way, on some level at least, much as I hate to admit it."
"River is happy and so is Jayne," concluded Inara firmly. She got upand shook out her skirts, wondering whether she ought to mention that River had called Jayne her knight in shining armour, her Prince and her frog all in one sentence but decided against it. Her eyes met Zoë's and she wondered how much River had told her. There was something in Zoë's expression that said it might be more than she was admitting.
"But is she happy because she's happy or because Jayne is," asked Simon plaintively.
"Figure you'd know better than us Doc," replied Zoë evenly. "Still, I reckon she's happy on her own account, ain't just when she's with Jayne."
"They're kinda sweet if ya think about it," said Kaylee, squinting at the two of them. "Reckon they'll live happily ever after?" Simon gave her a look. "What?"
Mal snorted and Inara frowned at him. Zoë smiled quietly to herself and looked up into the sky.
Jayne's voice rose suddenly, floating across to them clear but distant. "Call that a skinned eel, girly?" He grabbed River by the wrist and flopped her hand around. "Ain't got the strength of a kitten." River made a furious noise and started chasing a bellowing Jayne around with something long and floppy.
They listened to Jayne threaten to skin her alive while River threatened to make him eat raw eel.
"How exactly would you define happily?," asked Inara.