Joss is boss, wish on all worlds spinning I owned them but no such luck :/ Thanks to all who have reviewed, means so much to me to know people like this :) LippyCus
Hidden in the shadows of the hall to keep out of Jayne's line of sight stood Mal, looking in on the couple and worrying his bottom lip. Something was off about what had transpired today, normally River was better at reading the situation and the crew had gotten used to less fights as a result. Watching his two mercenaries find comfort form the most unlikely source made a smirk appear on his face. Four years ago if some shmuck had tried to tell him that Jayne and River would feel anything for each other besides hate, let alone get hitched, He would have laughed them right off the ship.
It had taken the whole crew a long time to notice something had changed between the two and even longer for himself and Simon to come to terms with it at all. He had finally relented on River's 19th birthday, when the little witch sat down on Jayne's lap at the dinner table that night and refused to move. Simon and himself had been the only two to react and looking back on it now, he realized just how badly he had gone off half-cocked. Both of them had threatened and yelled at her to move, Simon had even tried to gilt her into doing what he wanted; but her stubborn reply had been a quite no, followed by grabbing Jayne's hands and wrapping them around her waist. The man himself was unable to move for fear of Mal drawing his gun the rest of the way out of its holster. Mal didn't back off until River was forced to draw Emily and point black tell him that although he was in her eyes her father, that she was old enough to make her own choice on the matter, and just because he could not pull the trigger on his own gorram relationship gave him no right to try and end hers. To the chorus of snickers from most of the crew and an arched eyebrow from Inara, Mal was cowed into his seat; leaving Simon standing gapping like a fish when he realized that he no longer had any back up.
Mal could feel something coming; the instincts that had kept himself and Zoe safe during the War were on edge right now. The feeling was like a shadow hanging over his head, slowly spreading throughout the ship. The premonition started a little over a month previous, right after they did a job for Spike Evens, oh and who in their gorram mind names their kid Spike? Besides the point, the man had been far too interested in who River was to the crew, something that did not sit well with any of them, most of all himself and Jayne.
As a rule, River's and Jayne's relationship was not known to anyone outside of the crew. The only indication to the outside world that they were anything more than crew mates was the small band of gold on River's hand and a tattoo of Vera crossed with River's ax encompassing Jayne's entire back.
With how Spike had been leering at their Reader, Jayne had been more protective over her than usual, leaving Mal worried that they had tipped their hand. He had point blank asked Mal if "that fine piece of trim" was for sale or not. Mal had seen the smirk on the man's face had not reached his eyes, leaving behind an evil look that rubbed the captain the wrong way and caused unease to settle in his gut. Since that day it felt like something was watching them whenever they would make it planet side. Even happy go lucky Wash would get jittery being grounded for too long. Tails started following then when they would do jobs on planets closer to the Core.
Mal didn't like not even knowing the threat, to have a faceless enemy was starting to wear them all thin; however both River and him had an idea, or at least he had an idea, he knew River without a doubt was aware of just who was behind it all, and he would bet his cut of pay credits that she told Jayne the name as well. As a result they took fewer jobs, steadily moving out towards the far Rim planets, and all through it was shiny to have larger payin' jobs, it also meant more opportunities for him to end up in the infirmary. Mal was starting to come to the end of his rope; He had enough problems keeping their home flyin' and his family whole.
Shaking himself out of his thoughts he refocused on the couple reclining on the bed in front of him, watching as Jayne drifted off and joined River in slumber. Shrugging his shoulders, Mal turned away and headed up to the bridge.
Time for some captainy duties.