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Thoughts Colored Ugly 2 (Firefly)
Thoughts Colored Ugly 2
River is still trying to reach Jayne, but Jayne is just looking to get off the ship before that happens.
Rated: Adult
Pairing: River/Jayne (eventually)
Previous parts
River is still trying to reach Jayne, but Jayne is just looking to get off the ship before that happens.
Rated: Adult
Pairing: River/Jayne (eventually)
Previous parts
"We stopping somewheres soon?" Jayne asked as he casually leaned against the railing. 'Course if River'd said too much, Mal was likely to toss him right over and to the deck below, but he'd deal with that then.
"Tanish 5," Mal said as he shifted feet.
Cao. Hick world with not much chance to catch another ship, but it was still better than stayin' here until Mal and the doc figured out he'd corrupted their little half-wit. Mal'd beat the shit out of him and toss him off. Jayne'd left plenty of ships that way, so that didn't really bother him, 'cepting that he didn't really want Mal to be the one doing the tossing. But the doc was a mite bit more unpredictable. Crazy as hell seemed to run in that family.
"Thought we might settle up on my wages," Jayne said all nonchalant. Mal leaned on one arm and turned enough to give Jayne one of those all-knowin' looks that made Jayne mighty uncomfortable. Come to think of it, there were lots of people on this ship who made him uncomfortable.
"Not leaving a share with Kaylee for tradin'?" Mal asked. Jayne didn't answer right away. Yeah, if he pulled his share out from the money they pooled so Kaylee could try and find them some good grub, they'd know he was leaving for sure, but he wasn't walking away from money he earned. Yeah, he wasn't a bright man, but he wasn't gorram stupid.
"Figure not," Jayne shrugged. Mal gave him an even sharper look.
"Something you plan to tell me?"
"No." And Jayne really didn't plan to tell the captain. He just asked too many questions, and there were things a man didn't rightly want to share.
"Tell me anyway."
Jayne stood up and considered just how much he was willing to tell Mal. River's words from last night haunted him. Mal heard him. Well, he'd had enough of people hearing him. Turning his back on Mal, he started down the stairs into the empty hold. Maybe if he could find a ship where they actually had jobs on every run. Half the time, Serenity ran empty from one planet to another, and now that he was thinkin' about that, it annoyed him. It was like throwing money out the gorram airlock.
"Jayne!" Mal called as he followed, and Jayne stopped for a second at the bottom of the stairs as he considered his options. Not really much room for running on a ship.
"Problem, sir?" Zoe asked as she abandoned the control panel she was working on.
"Seems like Jayne's thinking of pulling up stakes," Mal said. Jayne shot the captain a nasty look before he pushed past Zoe and went into the galley.
"Oh." Zoe didn't say anything else, but Jayne didn't expect her to. He wasn't the sort of man people got upset over losing. Wash had been someone people cared about. Even Jayne had felt those moments over dinner where he'd expect one of the little man's stupid jokes, but Jayne wouldn't leave a hole like that. Well, they might notice him when no one pointed out that Kaylee was get wet between her legs every time the doc walked by. He'd thought she stop doin' that once she was getting sexed, but she was just as bad as always. For Jayne, a good sexin' was always enough to cure the desire, but Kaylee didn't seem that sort.
"Do you plan on explaining why you're leaving?" Mal asked as he leaned against the counter as Jayne rummaged for some food that didn't look disgusting.
"Nope."
Jayne grabbed a box of crackers and then froze as River drifted into the room, that damn head to the side expression that just didn't mean anything good for him.
"Gao yang jong duh goo yang," Mal snapped. "Think I've earned the right to ask why you're walking."
"Just am," Jayne shrugged again as he tried hard to ignore River. Girl didn't make it easy with eyes that stared at him. He distracted himself by watching Zoe. Now that was one fine woman. If he was going just by looks, he'd pick her every time. She looked like she could crush a man between her thighs. He'd bought himself a whore that looked like that once, only she'd been a bit thicker 'round the middle. Stupid ji nv hadn't even known how to suck cock right, but he'd jerked off to thoughts of her solid body for weeks. 'Course he'd never have his little bunk fantasies about Zoe because she'd break him into little pieces. Jayne stopped himself as he found his palms rubbing the bruises on his waist where River had held him the night before.
"I'm not particular fond of how you're looking at me," Zoe warned with a frown, and Jayne felt that familiar stirring in his cock.
"Figure since I'm goin', you might want to give me a going away party, just you and me," he suggested with a leer; he never did see why she went for someone soft like Wash. She just raised an eyebrow and glanced over toward Mal.
"How 'bout we focus on the question at hand?" Mal asked. Jayne ate a cracker and tried to not look at any of them. "Don't like being ignored," Mal warned.
"Exactly, too many rules. Gorram rules for everything around here," Jayne complained.
"Not enough rules," River sighed softly as she wandered into the room and dropped into a chair.
"Aren't you flying or something?" Jayne demanded as she settled her chin in her hand and watched him. "Too many gorram rules, and you let the crazy-girl fly the gorram ship," Jayne snapped as he turned on Mal. The man took a step back out of just sheer surprise, and Jayne felt a bit of satisfaction in that.
"I'll have who I want fly my ship," Mal rebounded almost immediately, and he got right into Jayne's face. Jayne was bigger, but Mal fought dirty. Too dirty for Jayne to take the chance. He could just see Mal layin' him up in the infirmary and then he wouldn't be able to jump ship, leastwise not until after him and the doctor figured out that he'd gone and tainted their pet nutcase.
"Fine, I ain't saying anything against it."
"Seems like you were," Mal pointed out, and Jayne could feel the danger in those words.
"Maybe we should all just calm down," Zoe suggested in a calm voice.
"I'm going to my bunk." Jayne made his announcement and headed for the door.
"We aren't done here," Mal said as he intercepted him before Jayne took more than one step.
"Or not," Zoe said with resignation as she backed up and leaned against the wall. Jayne never had expected backup from her, not against the captain. Mal narrowed his eyes as he considered Jayne, and the tension in the room built as they stared at each other.
"You planning to move?" Jayne finally asked, and for a long minute, Mal didn't even give any sign he'd heard.
"Tell me why you're leaving," Mal finally said, his voice all low and quiet, and that voice made Jayne stop and consider his words.
"Time to move on. Ain't so much about you as about seeing what else is out there," he shrugged.
"Wait," Zoe said from her spot against the wall, her voice full of disbelief. "You stick with us through Reaver attacks and being on the government's most wanted list, and *now* you're just bored?"
"Ain't like there's anything interesting going on, and we run empty about as often as we have any work around here," Jayne complained.
"There's not enough work for you?" Mal demanded, and that was a tone of voice that said Mal wasn't even going to bother pretending to believe him. "That sound reasonable to you, Zoe?"
"No, sir, it doesn't," she agreed.
"Don't owe you an explanation," Jayne finally snarled as he tried to push past Mal. He shouldn't have gotten into this discussion in the first place. Shoulda just forgotten about the money he was owed and jumped ship because he couldn't talk fast enough to keep ahead of them.
"We ain't done," Mal said as he reached out and grabbed Jayne's arm.
Jayne shook him off and gave the captain a good shove as he headed for the door. He wasn't all that surprised when Mal retaliated with a right hook that sent Jayne stumbling back as his fingers came up to his jaw.
"Don't remember signing on as slave crew," Jayne said darkly as he ran his tongue along the inside of his lip. Mal immediately stood up, abandoning his attack posture as quickly as he'd fallen into it.
"Tyen shiao duh." Mal rubbed his hand over his face, and Jayne took the opportunity to slide closer to the doorway.
"Unless you're thinking of trying to put me in chains, I figure I got the right to leave any time we dock. If you don't want to give me my pay, not much I can do about that," Jayne admitted reluctantly. River stood up, her head tilted to one side as she moved closer, and Jayne backed away from her. Mal didn't seem to notice, though.
"It's not about pay. I'll give you your gorram pay, but I ain't heard yet why you're leaving."
"My business," Jayne snapped as he turned and headed out the door. He'd almost made it when he all but collided with Kaylee. Her smile quickly faded as she looked from one person to another.
"Awful lot of unhappy looks in this room," she said softly.
"Well now there's one less," Jayne snapped as he went to go by her. He might have given her a bit of a shove, but that wasn't nothing compared to the force of the body that hit him from behind, slamming him into the wall right next to the door.
"Cao!" Jayne snarled as his arm was twisted up behind his back hard enough to force him onto his toes.
"River! That ain't a nice thing to be doing!" Kaylee almost yelped, which was funny seeing as how Jayne was the one face-first into a wall again so it seemed like he should get first complaints about what wasn't nice.
"Apologize," River ordered loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Ain't nothing to apologize for," Jayne insisted. "Captain, you want to do something about the crazy-ass girl who's pulling my arm out?"
"River, let him go," Mal insisted. River tilted her head, and for one shiny second, Jayne thought he was going to get turned loose. Instead, she tightened her grip, and Jayne groaned as he was pushed into the wall even harder. And his chun zi cock was doing things that were going to make it downright embarrassing to walk back to his bunk.
"River!" Mal snapped.
"You didn't have a right to put your hands on Kaylee. You need to apologize," River said, sounding almost sane, but then she wasn't letting him go, so she couldn't be that sane.
"Fine, I'm sorry," Jayne hurried to say. Embarrassing having his ass handed to him three times, and if he didn't end this quick, captain would find out for sure that River had taken to putting him into walls, and from there it was a mighty short throw to finding out where she'd gotten that idea from.
"Just words. Little mice words, but not good enough. You have to apologize," River said with the patience of a mother explaining the whys of the sky being blue to a five-year-old. Jayne might have been offended, only he was more worried about this whole thing getting out of hand.
"River, don't go hurting Jayne," Mal ordered softly. She tilted her head.
"He hasn't offered me his pain," she said, and Mal just blinked like an idiot as he traded looks with Zoe. Well, Jayne wasn't going to be explaining it to them.
"Might be I should get Simon," Kaylee breathed. Mal gave her a sharp nod, and she went scurrying off.
"You wanna get her off me?" Jayne snarled as he struggled a bit. Just like last night, he managed to get himself about five inches from the wall before River slammed him back into it. Only this time, she put a leg between his thighs, forcing him to open his stance. "Mal!" he complained.
"River, maybe we should go see your brother," Zoe tried in a pretty good soothe-the-crazy voice.
River shook her head. "He shouldn't fight with people who can't fight back."
"Can't say I disagree," Mal offered slowly.
"Mal," Jayne snarled.
"But ain't your place to teach Jayne manners, River," he quickly finished with an apologetic look toward Jayne.
Slowly stroking Jayne's shoulder with her free hand, she ignored Mal, and Jayne could feel a blush start. Hadn't blushed since he was a kid, and he wasn't about to just let her humiliate him in front of the crew. "Get off," he snapped as he started struggling for real this time. He kicked out with a heavy boot and almost caught her knee. She danced back, and it got him enough space to spin free. Following up on his advantage, he punched out, but River just danced away again, spinning and catching Jayne in the small of his back which sent him crashing to the table. Before he could get up, Mal was there between him and River, and then Mal wasn't. River backhanded him out of the way and had her hand around Jayne's neck, flattening him to the table before he could get free. He grabbed her arm, but that supernatural strength wasn't going to be loosed that easy.
"Captain!" Zoe called in alarm, and out of the corner of his eye, Jayne could see her help Mal to his feet.
"I'm gorram fine," he snapped as he stood up. "Reckon she didn't plan to actually hurt me since she just caught me on the arm. More of a shove than anything."
Now River bent over, and Jayne was more than a little aware of his erection, and all she had to do was move two inches to the left, and Mal would have a pretty damn good idea why she'd taken to beating up the menfolk. "Remember what it feels like? To have someone so much stronger shove you?" She stared into his eyes, and Jayne froze as any number of dark memories drifted too close to the surface, closer than he normally let them. She cocked her head, and his cock softened as he realized she would see those memories. Maybe she already had. Gorram mind-reader.
"Please," Jayne forced the word past his lips, "let me up."
"Not everyone fights. Not everyone should. Kaylee doesn't fight, and she won't ever push you back. So you have to be extra careful to never push her," River said slowly, her eyes locked on Jayne's. "Not everyone fights."
Her words brought up the memory of that chou wang ba dan who he'd stolen Vera from. He could almost hear the laughed words: Everyone fights, he'll learn. His mother had stood clutching some britches she'd been stitchin, but even then Jayne knew she wouldn't help. . . she couldn't.
"Not everyone fights," River said firmly.
"What's going on here? River? Come on, let's go back to your quarters and sit down for a bit," the doctor's voice went from confused to concerned in no time flat.
"Apologize," River insisted as she continued to lock gazes with Jayne. Slowly she stepped back and let him struggle up to his feet. He looked around the room. Kaylee stood behind her doctor, clutching her hands. Captain and Zoe just stood looking on in surprise. River still had that head cocked to the side in a way that told Jayne he wasn't getting out of this without apologizing and meaning it.
"I waren't trying to hurt you none," he said to Kaylee.
"I know," she said softly, and now the doctor was looking from Jayne to Kaylee suspiciously.
"What did he do?" he asked Kaylee.
"Weren't nothing. He just gave me a push is all," Kaylee shrugged. "I was in his way."
"Apologize," River warned.
"I'm real sorry about that," Jayne said, and seeing Kaylee trying to stick up for him, he was. Much as he didn't want to admit it, she was the one person on the ship he felt most family-like about. Wouldn't let just anyone get in those play punches she landed on his arm whenever he poked at her like he did.
"Apology accepted," Kaylee said seriously.
"Captain, what's going on?" the doctor asked with more than a little frustration in his voice.
"Seems like Jayne's decided it's time to move on, and River has taken to teaching him manners. I can't help but wonder if the two are related seeing as how Jayne wasn't all that surprised." Jayne flinched as he realized that Mal had figured out at least the first half of things. He needed to get out before the other pieces fell in place.
"River's what?" the doctor sounded amused now. Jayne narrowed his eyes and River's hand landed on his arm, her fingers digging into his muscle hard enough to remind him that she wasn't some slip of a girl, no matter what she looked like. "River?" Simon asked as he looked at the hand she'd put on Jayne.
"Would appreciate it if you could get your sister to let me go," Jayne said, trying his best to not explode because he really didn't want to end up against another wall.
"Let Jayne go, now," Simon said, the laughter barely disguised in his voice. Jayne gritted his teeth, and it didn't help when River's hand just tightened on his arm.
"Simon, leave off," Mal ordered. "Wouldn't rightly want your sister after me, either."
Jayne kept his eyes straight ahead, hating that other people were having to stick up for him, but with River having one of her spells, him trying to stick up himself wasn't going to end well.
"Simon," Kaylee softly called, her arm going around his.
"Thinks so loud, all the time," River said, and now she sounded confused. The panic circled around Jayne's guts as he thought of all the gorram things she might say, things that could get him dead because that brother of hers was more than capable of doing some nasty things with all that fancy training about how the human body worked, Jayne had no doubt about that. And he wasn't likely to care that it was his crazy sister who started this. No, him and the captain would both find some way to blame Jayne for having those fantasies of his.
"And as soon as we hit planetside, won't need to hear me no more," Jayne promised. River didn't look particular happy about that, but at least she took her hand back. Slowly, Jayne slid to the side until he could get far enough away to turn toward the door. "I'll just be in my bunk until we dock," he said, not even caring if it was his turn to scrub the static plates. If the captain wanted them scrubbed, he could scrub them himself.
Jayne walked stiffly away from the crew and headed for his quarters, locking the door behind him and hoping that would keep River away if she had another of those spells of hers. Didn't like what her words made him think about, and he really didn't like the idea that she could hear him do his thinking. Made him feel naked. He avoided even looking at Vera because he didn't want to shiny up those thoughts knowing that River was listening in.
Slowly, he sat on the edge of his bunk, his knees gone all soft as he tried his best to not think about that man with his thick curls turning gray and his gorram huge fists. All Jayne could do was clench his hands and wish the ship would move faster toward Tanish 5.
Then again, with River bein' pilot, who the hell knew what she'd take it in her mind to do. Jayne focused his eyes on the ladder and tried counting his own heartbeats as he struggled to push away thoughts and fears that he just wasn't rightly fond of dealing with. Gorram crazy bitch. Jayne glanced up toward his door in near-panic, waiting for her to come through and make him apologize for having that thought. But she didn't. The sound of the engine thrump though the metal girders kept him company as he stared off at nothing and tried to figure out what he was going to do next.
"Tanish 5," Mal said as he shifted feet.
Cao. Hick world with not much chance to catch another ship, but it was still better than stayin' here until Mal and the doc figured out he'd corrupted their little half-wit. Mal'd beat the shit out of him and toss him off. Jayne'd left plenty of ships that way, so that didn't really bother him, 'cepting that he didn't really want Mal to be the one doing the tossing. But the doc was a mite bit more unpredictable. Crazy as hell seemed to run in that family.
"Thought we might settle up on my wages," Jayne said all nonchalant. Mal leaned on one arm and turned enough to give Jayne one of those all-knowin' looks that made Jayne mighty uncomfortable. Come to think of it, there were lots of people on this ship who made him uncomfortable.
"Not leaving a share with Kaylee for tradin'?" Mal asked. Jayne didn't answer right away. Yeah, if he pulled his share out from the money they pooled so Kaylee could try and find them some good grub, they'd know he was leaving for sure, but he wasn't walking away from money he earned. Yeah, he wasn't a bright man, but he wasn't gorram stupid.
"Figure not," Jayne shrugged. Mal gave him an even sharper look.
"Something you plan to tell me?"
"No." And Jayne really didn't plan to tell the captain. He just asked too many questions, and there were things a man didn't rightly want to share.
"Tell me anyway."
Jayne stood up and considered just how much he was willing to tell Mal. River's words from last night haunted him. Mal heard him. Well, he'd had enough of people hearing him. Turning his back on Mal, he started down the stairs into the empty hold. Maybe if he could find a ship where they actually had jobs on every run. Half the time, Serenity ran empty from one planet to another, and now that he was thinkin' about that, it annoyed him. It was like throwing money out the gorram airlock.
"Jayne!" Mal called as he followed, and Jayne stopped for a second at the bottom of the stairs as he considered his options. Not really much room for running on a ship.
"Problem, sir?" Zoe asked as she abandoned the control panel she was working on.
"Seems like Jayne's thinking of pulling up stakes," Mal said. Jayne shot the captain a nasty look before he pushed past Zoe and went into the galley.
"Oh." Zoe didn't say anything else, but Jayne didn't expect her to. He wasn't the sort of man people got upset over losing. Wash had been someone people cared about. Even Jayne had felt those moments over dinner where he'd expect one of the little man's stupid jokes, but Jayne wouldn't leave a hole like that. Well, they might notice him when no one pointed out that Kaylee was get wet between her legs every time the doc walked by. He'd thought she stop doin' that once she was getting sexed, but she was just as bad as always. For Jayne, a good sexin' was always enough to cure the desire, but Kaylee didn't seem that sort.
"Do you plan on explaining why you're leaving?" Mal asked as he leaned against the counter as Jayne rummaged for some food that didn't look disgusting.
"Nope."
Jayne grabbed a box of crackers and then froze as River drifted into the room, that damn head to the side expression that just didn't mean anything good for him.
"Gao yang jong duh goo yang," Mal snapped. "Think I've earned the right to ask why you're walking."
"Just am," Jayne shrugged again as he tried hard to ignore River. Girl didn't make it easy with eyes that stared at him. He distracted himself by watching Zoe. Now that was one fine woman. If he was going just by looks, he'd pick her every time. She looked like she could crush a man between her thighs. He'd bought himself a whore that looked like that once, only she'd been a bit thicker 'round the middle. Stupid ji nv hadn't even known how to suck cock right, but he'd jerked off to thoughts of her solid body for weeks. 'Course he'd never have his little bunk fantasies about Zoe because she'd break him into little pieces. Jayne stopped himself as he found his palms rubbing the bruises on his waist where River had held him the night before.
"I'm not particular fond of how you're looking at me," Zoe warned with a frown, and Jayne felt that familiar stirring in his cock.
"Figure since I'm goin', you might want to give me a going away party, just you and me," he suggested with a leer; he never did see why she went for someone soft like Wash. She just raised an eyebrow and glanced over toward Mal.
"How 'bout we focus on the question at hand?" Mal asked. Jayne ate a cracker and tried to not look at any of them. "Don't like being ignored," Mal warned.
"Exactly, too many rules. Gorram rules for everything around here," Jayne complained.
"Not enough rules," River sighed softly as she wandered into the room and dropped into a chair.
"Aren't you flying or something?" Jayne demanded as she settled her chin in her hand and watched him. "Too many gorram rules, and you let the crazy-girl fly the gorram ship," Jayne snapped as he turned on Mal. The man took a step back out of just sheer surprise, and Jayne felt a bit of satisfaction in that.
"I'll have who I want fly my ship," Mal rebounded almost immediately, and he got right into Jayne's face. Jayne was bigger, but Mal fought dirty. Too dirty for Jayne to take the chance. He could just see Mal layin' him up in the infirmary and then he wouldn't be able to jump ship, leastwise not until after him and the doctor figured out that he'd gone and tainted their pet nutcase.
"Fine, I ain't saying anything against it."
"Seems like you were," Mal pointed out, and Jayne could feel the danger in those words.
"Maybe we should all just calm down," Zoe suggested in a calm voice.
"I'm going to my bunk." Jayne made his announcement and headed for the door.
"We aren't done here," Mal said as he intercepted him before Jayne took more than one step.
"Or not," Zoe said with resignation as she backed up and leaned against the wall. Jayne never had expected backup from her, not against the captain. Mal narrowed his eyes as he considered Jayne, and the tension in the room built as they stared at each other.
"You planning to move?" Jayne finally asked, and for a long minute, Mal didn't even give any sign he'd heard.
"Tell me why you're leaving," Mal finally said, his voice all low and quiet, and that voice made Jayne stop and consider his words.
"Time to move on. Ain't so much about you as about seeing what else is out there," he shrugged.
"Wait," Zoe said from her spot against the wall, her voice full of disbelief. "You stick with us through Reaver attacks and being on the government's most wanted list, and *now* you're just bored?"
"Ain't like there's anything interesting going on, and we run empty about as often as we have any work around here," Jayne complained.
"There's not enough work for you?" Mal demanded, and that was a tone of voice that said Mal wasn't even going to bother pretending to believe him. "That sound reasonable to you, Zoe?"
"No, sir, it doesn't," she agreed.
"Don't owe you an explanation," Jayne finally snarled as he tried to push past Mal. He shouldn't have gotten into this discussion in the first place. Shoulda just forgotten about the money he was owed and jumped ship because he couldn't talk fast enough to keep ahead of them.
"We ain't done," Mal said as he reached out and grabbed Jayne's arm.
Jayne shook him off and gave the captain a good shove as he headed for the door. He wasn't all that surprised when Mal retaliated with a right hook that sent Jayne stumbling back as his fingers came up to his jaw.
"Don't remember signing on as slave crew," Jayne said darkly as he ran his tongue along the inside of his lip. Mal immediately stood up, abandoning his attack posture as quickly as he'd fallen into it.
"Tyen shiao duh." Mal rubbed his hand over his face, and Jayne took the opportunity to slide closer to the doorway.
"Unless you're thinking of trying to put me in chains, I figure I got the right to leave any time we dock. If you don't want to give me my pay, not much I can do about that," Jayne admitted reluctantly. River stood up, her head tilted to one side as she moved closer, and Jayne backed away from her. Mal didn't seem to notice, though.
"It's not about pay. I'll give you your gorram pay, but I ain't heard yet why you're leaving."
"My business," Jayne snapped as he turned and headed out the door. He'd almost made it when he all but collided with Kaylee. Her smile quickly faded as she looked from one person to another.
"Awful lot of unhappy looks in this room," she said softly.
"Well now there's one less," Jayne snapped as he went to go by her. He might have given her a bit of a shove, but that wasn't nothing compared to the force of the body that hit him from behind, slamming him into the wall right next to the door.
"Cao!" Jayne snarled as his arm was twisted up behind his back hard enough to force him onto his toes.
"River! That ain't a nice thing to be doing!" Kaylee almost yelped, which was funny seeing as how Jayne was the one face-first into a wall again so it seemed like he should get first complaints about what wasn't nice.
"Apologize," River ordered loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Ain't nothing to apologize for," Jayne insisted. "Captain, you want to do something about the crazy-ass girl who's pulling my arm out?"
"River, let him go," Mal insisted. River tilted her head, and for one shiny second, Jayne thought he was going to get turned loose. Instead, she tightened her grip, and Jayne groaned as he was pushed into the wall even harder. And his chun zi cock was doing things that were going to make it downright embarrassing to walk back to his bunk.
"River!" Mal snapped.
"You didn't have a right to put your hands on Kaylee. You need to apologize," River said, sounding almost sane, but then she wasn't letting him go, so she couldn't be that sane.
"Fine, I'm sorry," Jayne hurried to say. Embarrassing having his ass handed to him three times, and if he didn't end this quick, captain would find out for sure that River had taken to putting him into walls, and from there it was a mighty short throw to finding out where she'd gotten that idea from.
"Just words. Little mice words, but not good enough. You have to apologize," River said with the patience of a mother explaining the whys of the sky being blue to a five-year-old. Jayne might have been offended, only he was more worried about this whole thing getting out of hand.
"River, don't go hurting Jayne," Mal ordered softly. She tilted her head.
"He hasn't offered me his pain," she said, and Mal just blinked like an idiot as he traded looks with Zoe. Well, Jayne wasn't going to be explaining it to them.
"Might be I should get Simon," Kaylee breathed. Mal gave her a sharp nod, and she went scurrying off.
"You wanna get her off me?" Jayne snarled as he struggled a bit. Just like last night, he managed to get himself about five inches from the wall before River slammed him back into it. Only this time, she put a leg between his thighs, forcing him to open his stance. "Mal!" he complained.
"River, maybe we should go see your brother," Zoe tried in a pretty good soothe-the-crazy voice.
River shook her head. "He shouldn't fight with people who can't fight back."
"Can't say I disagree," Mal offered slowly.
"Mal," Jayne snarled.
"But ain't your place to teach Jayne manners, River," he quickly finished with an apologetic look toward Jayne.
Slowly stroking Jayne's shoulder with her free hand, she ignored Mal, and Jayne could feel a blush start. Hadn't blushed since he was a kid, and he wasn't about to just let her humiliate him in front of the crew. "Get off," he snapped as he started struggling for real this time. He kicked out with a heavy boot and almost caught her knee. She danced back, and it got him enough space to spin free. Following up on his advantage, he punched out, but River just danced away again, spinning and catching Jayne in the small of his back which sent him crashing to the table. Before he could get up, Mal was there between him and River, and then Mal wasn't. River backhanded him out of the way and had her hand around Jayne's neck, flattening him to the table before he could get free. He grabbed her arm, but that supernatural strength wasn't going to be loosed that easy.
"Captain!" Zoe called in alarm, and out of the corner of his eye, Jayne could see her help Mal to his feet.
"I'm gorram fine," he snapped as he stood up. "Reckon she didn't plan to actually hurt me since she just caught me on the arm. More of a shove than anything."
Now River bent over, and Jayne was more than a little aware of his erection, and all she had to do was move two inches to the left, and Mal would have a pretty damn good idea why she'd taken to beating up the menfolk. "Remember what it feels like? To have someone so much stronger shove you?" She stared into his eyes, and Jayne froze as any number of dark memories drifted too close to the surface, closer than he normally let them. She cocked her head, and his cock softened as he realized she would see those memories. Maybe she already had. Gorram mind-reader.
"Please," Jayne forced the word past his lips, "let me up."
"Not everyone fights. Not everyone should. Kaylee doesn't fight, and she won't ever push you back. So you have to be extra careful to never push her," River said slowly, her eyes locked on Jayne's. "Not everyone fights."
Her words brought up the memory of that chou wang ba dan who he'd stolen Vera from. He could almost hear the laughed words: Everyone fights, he'll learn. His mother had stood clutching some britches she'd been stitchin, but even then Jayne knew she wouldn't help. . . she couldn't.
"Not everyone fights," River said firmly.
"What's going on here? River? Come on, let's go back to your quarters and sit down for a bit," the doctor's voice went from confused to concerned in no time flat.
"Apologize," River insisted as she continued to lock gazes with Jayne. Slowly she stepped back and let him struggle up to his feet. He looked around the room. Kaylee stood behind her doctor, clutching her hands. Captain and Zoe just stood looking on in surprise. River still had that head cocked to the side in a way that told Jayne he wasn't getting out of this without apologizing and meaning it.
"I waren't trying to hurt you none," he said to Kaylee.
"I know," she said softly, and now the doctor was looking from Jayne to Kaylee suspiciously.
"What did he do?" he asked Kaylee.
"Weren't nothing. He just gave me a push is all," Kaylee shrugged. "I was in his way."
"Apologize," River warned.
"I'm real sorry about that," Jayne said, and seeing Kaylee trying to stick up for him, he was. Much as he didn't want to admit it, she was the one person on the ship he felt most family-like about. Wouldn't let just anyone get in those play punches she landed on his arm whenever he poked at her like he did.
"Apology accepted," Kaylee said seriously.
"Captain, what's going on?" the doctor asked with more than a little frustration in his voice.
"Seems like Jayne's decided it's time to move on, and River has taken to teaching him manners. I can't help but wonder if the two are related seeing as how Jayne wasn't all that surprised." Jayne flinched as he realized that Mal had figured out at least the first half of things. He needed to get out before the other pieces fell in place.
"River's what?" the doctor sounded amused now. Jayne narrowed his eyes and River's hand landed on his arm, her fingers digging into his muscle hard enough to remind him that she wasn't some slip of a girl, no matter what she looked like. "River?" Simon asked as he looked at the hand she'd put on Jayne.
"Would appreciate it if you could get your sister to let me go," Jayne said, trying his best to not explode because he really didn't want to end up against another wall.
"Let Jayne go, now," Simon said, the laughter barely disguised in his voice. Jayne gritted his teeth, and it didn't help when River's hand just tightened on his arm.
"Simon, leave off," Mal ordered. "Wouldn't rightly want your sister after me, either."
Jayne kept his eyes straight ahead, hating that other people were having to stick up for him, but with River having one of her spells, him trying to stick up himself wasn't going to end well.
"Simon," Kaylee softly called, her arm going around his.
"Thinks so loud, all the time," River said, and now she sounded confused. The panic circled around Jayne's guts as he thought of all the gorram things she might say, things that could get him dead because that brother of hers was more than capable of doing some nasty things with all that fancy training about how the human body worked, Jayne had no doubt about that. And he wasn't likely to care that it was his crazy sister who started this. No, him and the captain would both find some way to blame Jayne for having those fantasies of his.
"And as soon as we hit planetside, won't need to hear me no more," Jayne promised. River didn't look particular happy about that, but at least she took her hand back. Slowly, Jayne slid to the side until he could get far enough away to turn toward the door. "I'll just be in my bunk until we dock," he said, not even caring if it was his turn to scrub the static plates. If the captain wanted them scrubbed, he could scrub them himself.
Jayne walked stiffly away from the crew and headed for his quarters, locking the door behind him and hoping that would keep River away if she had another of those spells of hers. Didn't like what her words made him think about, and he really didn't like the idea that she could hear him do his thinking. Made him feel naked. He avoided even looking at Vera because he didn't want to shiny up those thoughts knowing that River was listening in.
Slowly, he sat on the edge of his bunk, his knees gone all soft as he tried his best to not think about that man with his thick curls turning gray and his gorram huge fists. All Jayne could do was clench his hands and wish the ship would move faster toward Tanish 5.
Then again, with River bein' pilot, who the hell knew what she'd take it in her mind to do. Jayne focused his eyes on the ladder and tried counting his own heartbeats as he struggled to push away thoughts and fears that he just wasn't rightly fond of dealing with. Gorram crazy bitch. Jayne glanced up toward his door in near-panic, waiting for her to come through and make him apologize for having that thought. But she didn't. The sound of the engine thrump though the metal girders kept him company as he stared off at nothing and tried to figure out what he was going to do next.