A/N: Okay peops, here is the final act, and the conclusion to the cliffhanger I left you with before. Love all your reviews, thank you :-)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Act Four

"Now, what do we have here?" sneered Stitch Hessian, pushing the muzzle of his wasted gun into River's abdomen and causing her even more pain than had occurred when he'd spun her into the dirt.

She could foresee a lot, but the poor girl hadn't banked on the injuries she would come away with today. All she'd known for sure, from the moment the day dawned, was that she had to intervene in this, or the consequences for others would be much worse than any fate she suffered.

Stitch couldn't kill her with bullets, but the gun was still a weapon, heavy and vicious in the hands of a desperate man. She closed her eyes against the pain that jarred her body, and against the sight she saw a second before it actually happened. Captain may have a name meaning bad, but deep down he was good, protective of his crew, his family. He leapt into the fray only to have Stitch attack with his gun, catching Mal in the face and knocking him back, blood running from his nose and his vision suffering some. He would've landed right on top of Kaylee had he fallen completely but fought to keep his footing with the little mechanic's help.

With Stitch's attention taken a moment, River had time to regroup. She found her strength and grabbed at the foot that pinned her down, pushing it away and scrambling to her feet, running for cover this time instead of remaining in the fight. She saw Jayne go for his knife and knew the battle would be over soon. He was employed for his skills with weapons and violence, and though River believed wholeheartedly in his capacity for good, in his caring heart that beat deep beneath the tough exterior, she wouldn't for a second doubt that he would kill this man to save himself, to save all of them.

Jayne yelled for Stitch's attention, throwing his knife a second later and sending it sailing across the space between them, embedding itself in the other man's chest. Gun already gone from his hands in the struggle he'd had with River, there was nothing left for old Stitch to fight with than his bare hands, and they would not serve him well. Jayne was the bigger and stronger man, and much less injured than Stitch who'd already taken on two of the crew.

Kaylee tried to shield both her own eyes and River's from the sight as Jayne brought Stitch down, ramming his head against the base of his statue, over and over. Blood spilt was plenty and that wasn't what anybody wanted to see, but River could not let her eyes be hidden from this. She was part of this world now, part of this crew, and if she got her way she'd be an ever bigger part of Jayne's life yet. This was what he did, how he lived, how he survived. One day, she might have to be just like him, kill or be killed, and she would do it too, because survival was almost all you had out in the black, just that and family.

"You okay, Cap'n?" Kaylee asked softly in the silence right after it was clear the fight was over and the enemy was gone from this world.

"Don't fret, little Kaylee" he insisted, wiping more blood from his face and pleased to realise the flow was already slowing, "Taken worse blows in my time, just caught me off guard is all" he told her in a tone just as hushed, since everyone else was silent now, "I was..." he began again only to stop short.

Kaylee realised he was staring past her and, following his gaze, she noticed River was gone from her side and walking towards Jayne as he rose from his knees, staring down at Stitch's lifeless and bloody body.

The tiny gasp that escaped River completely by accident took his attention, and the merc turned to her, still with anger flashing in his dark eyes as he looked at her. He was less than happy to see her looking past him at the man he had just now killed. A part of Jayne hated himself for the bruises that would form on her innocent flesh and the blood already trickling down her arm and face. Still, he was angry too at her for getting into all this.

"Don't you look at that" he told her sternly, moving over some so she couldn't see past him no more, "Ain't fit for seein'" he yelled as he came towards her, grabbing her roughly by the shoulders and making her look him in the eye, "What in the hell d'ya get into this for? Gorram crazy woman!" he cursed her for her dumb behaviour, even if he did realise she might well have helped him out here.

"Could've been worse" she said with a simple shrug and a sad smile, "for them, for you..."

"Didn't you hear a word he said? Ain't you learnt nothin' livin' on a boat with me?" he told her angrily, more at himself than he ever was at her, even as he pushed her lightly back and away from him, "I'm a mean, dumb, son of a bitch! You don't get yourself almost killed for dirt like me!" he yelled at her, jabbing an angry finger in his own chest, as well as at her, "Coulda been dead, and that's ruttin' stupid, all of this is ruttin' kwong-juh duh! All of you!" he told the crowd, loud enough almost for folks on the next moon over to hear, "You think someone's just gonna drop money on ya, money they could use? There ain't people like that!" he told the assembled men, women, and children all, "There's just people like me" he said, staring over at River, who even now shook her head, disbelieving the words he said.

Sure, he was no saint, but he never claimed to be. Everyone was somebody's hero, and though Jayne couldn't understand why yet, he was River's hero, and ever more would be so. He didn't know, just felt anger and pain that needed to be vented, the main reason River surmised why he made a sudden turn, moving purposefully towards the statue based on his own form and knocked it clean off its stand with a mighty heave.

Mal and Kaylee moved up behind River and all three watched as a young boy, who had since removed Jayne's knife from the body of his old partner, held out the weapon to the man he'd been taught was a hero. Even now the kid was proud to have been this close to the local legend, despite what he had just done.

Jayne couldn't speak, couldn't find a way to react or behave that was befitting this crazy situation. He just took a hold of his blood-stained knife and strode away back towards Serenity.

* * * * *

It was hours since the crew had left Canton, and Serenity was miles and miles from the moon and its people that had got Jayne Cobb thinking harder than he had in a long time. He held his knife in his hand, the weapon that had probably saved his life, and helped take that of a man he used to run with, used to call his partner.

There was so much happened on Higgin's Moon that he couldn't make sense of, and only some of it was to do with his being mistaken for a folk hero. Other thing that had him gorram puzzled was the young woman who now approached him along the catwalk above the cargo bay. Silent and delicate, it was hard to believe this was the same person who had tried to seduce him and thrown herself into the middle of a fight to the death on his behalf. She seemed so fragile as Jayne watched her approach, sheathed his knife and turned his eyes away from the sight of marks appearing on her face and arms from her part in his fight.

"Don't make no sense" he said in a voice that was somehow too quiet to be his own, as she stepped up beside him and rested her hands gently on the rail he was already leaning his weight on, "Why the hell'd you get in that fight for me? Coulda got yourself killed" he told her gruffly.

"Worth the price I paid" River said definitely, running one hand down the opposite arm, past a graze that would doubtless leave a scar, "Part of this team, this crew... family now, all connected" she smiled briefly at the thought, before turning serious again, "Besides, if I hadn't broken, another would have shattered... couldn't put his pieces back together" she shook her head, brow furrowing as she saw an image of a body that never exited, a death she helped prevent, though no-one knew it.

"I'd'a been fine without your gorram help" he all but snarled at her, knowing he ought to be grateful but finding only guilt inside for her injuries, and for the people he accidentally mislead in Canton.

"Didn't mean you" she muttered, knowing she'd never be able to explain to him, and also that as much as she denied it, part of her reason for fighting with him was the same as her reason for waiting in his bed.

She couldn't fix on a moment when she'd realised she and Jayne were destined. It would be a long time perhaps before the situation came to fruition, but it would happen, she just had to bide her time.

"People there loved you" she said, reading from his thoughts that his mind was distracted by his worshippers still.

"Weren't a one of them understood what happened out there" he shook his head, not even looking at River as he answered her, "hell, they're probably stickin' that statue right back up"

"Probably true" she sighed her agreement, "It is likely every man that is worshipped as a hero has faults enough as any other" she spoke in that way only she could, like a reference book on legs or something, "but people need to believe... like the Shepherd and his symbol" she explained, as Jayne glanced her way and listened, "Makes no logical pattern, numbers don't come out, can't be made into sense, but he believes" she told him, "I believe... in you" she said softly.

River hadn't meant to whisper, but somehow when Jayne looked at her then, eyes meeting hers, her vocal chords would not co-operate. He made her feel things she didn't entirely understand sometimes, but logical thinking told her these simple little moments were where it started. From this their friendship would grow stronger and into something more, something she wanted with him more than anything else in the world.

"You don't make no sense" he told her simply, looking entirely baffled and feeling just the same as he stared at her.

"Popular theory" she smiled, lucid as she ever could be for a moment at least.

It was strange to Jayne, to realise there were things she understood better than him, and yet she was half his age or less. Still, what he said was true, she was some kind of contradiction. Young body and face, old soul and mind. Innocent and sweet in one moment, strong and sensuous in the next. She really was a marvel, something strange but special, and because of him she had been damaged today.

"Don't look right all banged up neither" he said, reaching out a hand towards her face, fingers falling away without quite touching her cheek, "Ain't right"

"Way of the world" she said simply, lifting the top she wore away from her skirt and revealing her ribs and stomach that were very obviously bruised, "Every colour of the rainbow showing now" she said as Jayne took in the sight of injuries and winced, "but rainbows fade, good or bad, always fade" River told him as she covered herself up again and stared across at him.

"Been a hell of an eerie-ass couple of days" he said as he looked away over the empty cargo bay rubbing a hand over his face, "And you been the damnedest thing of all" he told her, barely glancing her way even when he spoke to her.

"You'll learn to love her for it" she said, catching his attention just fast enough that he saw the smile spread across her lips before she turned and hurried away up the steps.

Jayne opened his mouth to yell after her what a damn crazy little woman she was, but he just couldn't do it. He had to admit, if only to his ownself, that he couldn't find a way to argue with what she said.

- The End -

A/N2 : Hope everyone enjoyed the ride - reviews tell me thats its true! ;-) For anyone who is interested, the third part of the Born To Be Wild series is forthcoming, so keep an eye out for that :-)