Disclaimer: I still own nothing, Joss is boss.

Chapter 3

Mal snapped out of his silence next.

"I think I'm right in saying that we all could use an explanation right about now," he grumbled, too shocked to be truly angry. Jayne sighed and sat down into one of the chairs around the table and unzipped the bag containing his guns. He had tossed it haphazardly onto the floor when he had found River.

"I'm 'bout to tell a story ain't none of you's gonna believe," he growled. "I would much rather keep my trap shut and let yer emotions stay all nice an' level so that Crazy can think, but I can tell that yer not gonna let me help her 'til you hear it."

"Damn straight," Mal grunted, reclining in his chair at the table. Kaylee gave him a stern look before settling down next to Simon who sat across from Zoe and Wash. Inara busied herself with making some tea. She figured that this, whatever it was, may take a while to resolve. Jayne brought out a gun and began taking it apart as he spoke.

"After Miranda, I knew that Crazy and her brother were here t' stay. That don't mean I was ready t' be a big happy gorram family, though. She got better, but but she could be downright creepifying sometimes. I tried t' avoid her, sometimes I could manage two or three days without seein' th' kid. After a while of avoidin' someone, you get t' know their sounds, even when they're bein' silent."

All faces in the room were turned toward Jayne, eyeing him speculatively. "Some time passed an' we got used to each other. I would clean my guns an' she would sit in th' air vents an' talk." Having completed one gun, he moved on to the next. "At first, I jus' thought she were doin' more a' her crazy-talk an' didn't pay much mind. But, like I said, I got t' know her sounds. Th' more she set in th' vents while I cleaned my girls, th' more I came to knowin' what t'was she were sayin'. Sometimes she'd come to me actin' all fidgety, but after a while, I'd notice her goin' quite. I got curious, so's I peeked into th' vent an' there she was, sleepin' like a dead man." At this point, the merc. glanced around at hte other members of Serenity's crew. Simon was holding a hand up to his face wearing an expression reminiscent of the one in Canton. Kaylee looked confused and worried, but the big man thought he recognized a little glimmer of something in her eye that he wasn't quite sure he liked. "After a few more days a' that, I asked her why she'd been sleepin'. She told me that my brain has rhythm . I have control over my feelin's." He gazed at the people around him again while moving on to the next gun. "When she sleeps, she's more vulnerable. If someone nearby is feelin' somethin' a might too powerful-like, she she starts feelin' it too. Even if it's a good feelin', it gets mighty confusin'. It don't happen as much when she's awake, but sometimes it gets to be too much and she needs somethin' constant to tether herself to so's she don't fly away." The merc., noticing the strange looks he was getting from the rest of the crew, raised a hand to rub the back of his neck. "That's how Crazy put it, anyways," he amended.

Mal and Simon seemed willing to accept that excuse for the uncharacteristic lapse in Jayne-ness. All the women, however, appeared to understand that there was something more going on. Even Wash had a certain knowing glimmer in his eye.

Jayne cleared his throat and continued, "pretty soon we got to be kinda' friendly, 'nuff that she started talkin' to me, not just at me or around me. She told me stories," he hesitated before continuing. "She told me about the Miranda and The Academy." Jayne glanced at Simon who was being subtly comforted by Kaylee. The doctor looked pleadingly to the hired gun. Jayne shook his head and gruffly answered Simon's unspoken question, "you don't wanna know." The merc. hid his anger by placing his now clean guns back in their bag. "The things that they did to her, Doc, well, let's just say I ain't never had nightmares 'afore she tol' me about-" his eyes darted to Simon and then Mal before returning to his hands. Realizing that they were nearly black with grime, he stood to wash them.

Silence befell the crew of Serenity, the only sound the water running over Jayne's hands. Kaylee's eyes filled with tears imagining the horrors that the youngest member of the crew had experienced.

Suddenly Jayne's head snapped up and swiveled toward the door that River had previously exited through. He quickly wiped his hands on a cloth next to the sink. Inara made a quiet sound of irritation. The merc. glanced at the cloth and realized absently that he had thoroughly ruined one of the retired Companion's silk handkerchiefs. Raising his eyes back to the door, he muttered a distracted apology. Unseen by the merc, Inara's eyes flashed in surprise.

"Crazy?" Jayne grumbled non threateningly. The girl stepped gracefully into the kitchen. Jayne walked calmly toward her as she called to him.

"Big Bear, she is back," River smiled softly.

"You tethered again?" She nodded.

"Now she is tethered, she can dance, but she needed to find her rhythm." The merc grunted in agreement.

"I wanted a workout anyways." The two left and the people sitting at the table were once again shocked into silence.

"Am I crazy," Wash began, voice shaking, "or did Jayne just… apologize?"