Thoughts Colored Ugly 17
Jan. 13th, 2008 05:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lit_galSunday chapter: This one is more about crew than any of the others. After the catharsis of the last chapter when Jayne released his guilt through a good whipping, River decides to make the rest of the crew see that she isn't the damaged little girl anymore. Those of you who skipped the whipping (and there were lots who did), it's safe to come back now.
Thoughts Colored Ugly 17/18
River/Jayne
Rated: ADULT
Warnings: Dom/sub, slavery, angst. Oh, and for this chapter, a bit of sap
Previous parts
"You feeling shiny enough to come to the mess? We got passengers, so Mal made food that doesn't taste like sawdust," Kaylee said from the door of the infirmary.
"Ain't sure I’m supposed to be up and walking yet," Jayne said. After two days in the infirmary, Simon had finally decided to just avoid his cranky patient by avoiding the infirmary altogether and River had threatened to get a chain and use the slave cuff to lock Jayne to the table. Were mighty annoying having enough energy to take on the world and being stuck on the doc's table listening to Serenity's engines make that growl that meant they were flying through the black.
"Oh." Kaylee made an unhappy face.
Jayne watched the way Kaylee avoided looking at his back. Jayne had seen it in a mirror, and only the one whip mark was bad, an angry red welt of open skin that the doc had put a sealant on so it looked all weirdly slick. River'd let him speed up the healing on most of the others so they were just lines of soft green and blues from the bruising. He was still sore, but it wasn't so bad as to warrant avoiding a look. "Was thinking," he commented.
"Oh, about what?"
"About how we would have been a disaster," Jayne said as he shifted to try and settle an itch in his back.
"You mean you and me together?" Kaylee asked, looking at his face but carefully keeping her eyes away from the rest of him. "I guess I ain't really thought on it much," Kaylee said carefully. Jayne nodded. She hadn't ever thought on him, and if her cap was set on some fancy like the doc, well, she never would have thought on him.
"Ain't just that," Jayne said. "The back, it ain't that bad, but you're looking at it like a Reaver tried to take a bite out of me."
"Oh." Kaylee's gaze slid to the floor.
"On Ariel, I was trying to protect you because I thought River was dangerous." Jayne thought about that for a second. "Still think River is dangerous, but I thought she were another kind of dangerous. I made a bad mistake and I needed to pay the price for that."
"But…" Kaylee stopped, her eyes darting around the room as she chewed a spot on her lip. "Inara keeps trying to explain things, and River talks about things being round or edged, which ain't making much sense to me, but then what Inara says ain't making a whole heap of sense to me either. I just don't want to see you hurt." Kaylee picked at her sleeve, and Jayne felt something warm just knowing she cared enough about him to get so worked up.
"I ain't one for words," he said slowly. "Can't explain them like Inara or River, not that River always makes much sense. I just know it hurts less now than it did before the whipping."
"Really?" Kaylee asked all surprised as she looked at him again.
"Yeah," Jayne assured her. "Guess it's something like Book said about confession, only I'm not real good at confessing and letting things go unless there's a whip involved. Do something wrong and you have to expect to pay."
"I'm not sure that's a type of confession Shepherd Book would have taken to," Kaylee said with a small smile. "Especially since, as River has informed everyone, including Mr. Elsworth from Bellerophon, you two can have sex now that the whipping and forgiving part is over. Thought the man was going to swallow his own face he scrunched it up so hard."
Jayne laughed, feeling the slight ache and increased itch in his back. But then the silence was back, feeling like an itch between him and Kaylee that he needed to scratch, but he didn't quite know how to do it.
"I didn't need you to pay," Kaylee said softly. "Simon neither."
"That's why you and me together would have been a disaster," Jayne said seriously. "Because I needed to pay. Couldn't move on until I did."
Kaylee looked at him for a long time. "Is it okay if I think that's a little strange?" she asked with a wry smile.
"I figure I ain't so normal as to get worked up over being called strange," he agreed. Kaylee gave him a small smile and then the awkward just crept back in.
"Whatever you're thinking, just spit it out," Jayne said after a minute of watching her then shift from foot to foot awkwardly.
"What? I'm just thinking on the passengers. Mr. Elsworth is real fussy."
"You ain't good at lying," Jayne interrupted her.
Kaylee sighed. "Okay, I ain't thinking on Mr. Elsworth although he is real fussy. I washed his sheets twice and he's still calling them dingy." She got that offended look in her eye, and Jayne figured that Mr. Elsworth was going to be mighty sorry about complaining when Serenity started hiccupping and tossing everyone around half way through sleep cycle. Kaylee weren't the kind of strong hand he needed, but she wasn't exactly the sort to get walked on either. "I thought River was going to put the cuff on and do the fun parts of slavery like in my books. I never thought she'd hurt you, and even if you ain't upset about being hurt, it don't feel right. You can't just walk away."
Jayne pushed himself up with a groan and swung his legs over the side. If he was having this conversation, he weren't having it laying down. "I wouldn't want to be able to walk away," Jayne admitted. "If I could've walked away from that whipping, I would have, but then I'd still be carrying all that guilt. And I ain't saying I liked it because I'm going to make gorram sure I don't do things without getting her say-so because I ain't looking to earn another punishment like that," he hurried to add when Kaylee's expression just got more worried. "I figure the cuff makes things easier for me. I know I need to stay right with River, and I can trust River to keep me from doing anything overly stupid. The way I see it, should make you lot a good sight more comfortable, too."
"You stood by us through everything from Rance Burgess to Reavers. I don't need the cuff to know that you'll always have my back," Kaylee insisted.
"Always will if I have a choice about it," Jayne admitted. "But I don't make good decisions. I don't trust my decisions, so I ain't taking comfort in it if you do," Jayne snapped when Kaylee got that stubborn expression on her face. He looked up and River was drifting into the room.
"But you always said you were in charge when Mal and Zoe left the ship," Kaylee argued.
All Jayne could do was sigh and wonder what he'd done wrong in his life to deserve being around women who had to talk everything to death. At least, he wondered which wrong he'd done deserved it. "You and Inara aren't fighters. If someone's got to stand up and make a decision or get shot, it ain't going to be those of you who ain't fighters."
Stepping forward, River caught his eye and held it. Kaylee gave a little jump as she realized River had joined them, but Jayne focused on the woman who owned him in about every way that counted. "Jayne thought he had to. All unhappy because tides pull at him saying the warrior has to take charge and tides pull at him saying the warrior is supposed to be the sword of the king." She came forward and put her hands on his thighs. "Or queen."
Jayne just nodded. "Reckon so." He turned to Kaylee. "She owns paper on me, but that ain't why I'm staying with her. She asked me to wear this. . . asked, not told," Jayne said as he held up his cuff. "I ain't got to explain things that I ain't no good at explaining, but it were my choice, just like you sleeping with the overly-starched doctor is yours."
"Hey, the starch is coming out nicely, thank you," Kaylee insisted as she crossed her arms and gave him a smile. "He's even starting to think that maybe River ain't as childlike as he thought. Keeps going on about how he introduced her to corrupting influences, and I'm getting the annoying feeling I'm one of those corruptions, but he ain't making the mistake of seeing her as a little girl anymore."
"Jayne is a much better catch than my stupid brother," River added as her fingers moved up his legs to his hips, fingertips brushing against his bare waist. "And it's time for you to come back to our quarters."
"Not the mess? I ain't had dinner yet."
"I'll bring food down," River said. "Quarters now."
"Oh," Jayne said as he caught up with her meaning. His cock was already ahead of him, hardening at the thought that now they could finally finish what they'd started so long ago. He hadn't ever been good with self-denial, and he'd had about enough of denying himself sex for a lifetime. "Seems like someone promised I'd be chained to the bed for a good while. Make sure there's lots of protein in whatever you bring down," he said as he leered at her.
She just smiled and took his hand and pulled him off the doc's table and toward the door. Jayne was surprised and a little confused when Kaylee trailed behind them.
Jayne had the displeasure of meeting Mr. Elsworth on the way down to crew quarters, and got an earful on how the Alliance was going to outlaw the abomination that were slaving. River just smiled sweetly and pulled on Jayne's arm. Kaylee did the cursing for them both, muttering under her breath.
And finally, they reached his quarters, Kaylee still trailing. "Uh, I ain't never complained about a woman joining me in my bunk, but I figure River's about all I can handle," Jayne said cautiously as he looked at her in confusion. Kaylee smiled sweetly and didn't answer as River opened the hatch to Jayne's quarters.
"Surprise!" called out voices. Jayne jumped hard enough to make his back burn, his hand landing on his knife handle before his brain caught up with the fact that it was just his idiot friends near to scaring him to death.
"Nee mun doh shr sagwa, scaring a man in his own quarters," Jayne complained as he peered in. It didn't look much like is quarters anymore.
"This is your 'welcome home, don't never go selling yourself into slavery again' party, only that last bit seems a little not applicable right now," Mal commented. "So don't be calling us idiots. Save that for when we do something idiotic."
Jayne climbed down the ladder and looked around his room in shock. Vera was still on the wall, flanked above and below by the nasty blades River favored, and his smaller weapons was lined up under them all decorative-like, but beyond that, it were clearly a girl who had got at his room.
"That shouldn't take too long. After all, we haven't nearly died in a month," Inara offered Mal sweetly, and even Jayne caught that insult. Course, that one were aimed at Mal, and when she was insulting Mal, she seemed a little more direct with it.
Jayne stood looking at the deep blue carpet, the throw on the bed in swirls of blue and green, the fabric hung in front of his rod hiding the clothes behind it, the tall wooden dresser standing against one wall and the heavy wood trunk tucked in beside the bed.
"Maybe someone should let Jayne put on a shirt," Inara suggested as she took a step back toward Mal, even after insulting him.
"Ain't going to have something rubbing where the whip cut me open," he said absent-mindedly as he looked around the place. "Looks like Inara's shuttle threw up in here." River wrapped herself around his left arm, and Jayne spotted Simon, who was pressing himself into a corner, flinch back a bit at the sight of his sister being all affectionate.
"That would be called decorating," Inara said in that crisp tone that always made Jayne wonder if she were insulting him. Probably. "Of course, I suggested the collection of blades and guns come down off the wall, but taste is largely a matter of individual preference."
"At least it don't stink like the shuttle," Jayne shrugged.
"The shuttle doesn't smell bad."
"Smells like burnt crap," he disagreed as he watched Kaylee push in and go right to Simon, smiling at him all proud. "Could have half the couplings in the panel catch fire before you'd smell the first one go." Jayne was willing to just bet the doc got told to come or else. Well, watching him squirm almost made it worth having to put off the sexing again.
"It's incense. Why do I bother?" Inara shook her head and got a pinched expression. "River, good luck, and you have your hands full."
"I like him," River said simply.
"As I said, taste is a matter of individual preference, although clearly not all preferences are created equal."
Jayne narrowed his eyes because he were pretty sure there was an insult in there somewheres.
"I think it's real pretty. And look Jayne, you got wood fixings. Ain't that special?" Kaylee reached out and ran her hand over the wood of the dresser, following the grain with her fingers.
"Yep, until you go rolling the ship," Jayne commented as he thought of Mr. Elsworth and his dingy sheets. "First time you two do a Crazy Ivan, I'm going to be picking wood outta my skull."
"Nope, River and I braced it up real good, the dresser and the chest. So we could flip Serenity around all day and they ain't going nowhere," she said proudly.
"Let's not test that one out," Mal commented as he handed Jayne a drink. Jayne threw it back, surprised to discover it was good whiskey, not the usual stuff that could rot your stomach from the inside. He wandered closer to that tall dresser and grabbed a frilly cookie something that he was guessing Inara made. Shoving one in his mouth, he nodded in appreciation. They were good.
"Let me just say congratulations," Zoe said as she stepped forward and refilled his whiskey glass.
"Really?" Jayne asked.
Zoe gave him a strange look. "Yes, really. And being the one who had a long-term relationship work, I will give you the traditional advice. Never go to bed angry. I will also tell you that never works." Zoe filled her own glass and then threw back the whiskey. "So, here's the real advice," she offered. "Never break anything in a fight that you'll regret the next morning. Wash and me… we kept all kinds of plastic nothings around for flinging when we got going good."
A quiet fell on the room. Zoe nodded for a second. "And Wash would officially add that you two deserve each other in every way. He'd be right."
"Yep, he would," Kaylee said softly. Zoe looked over at her for a second and then smiled before refilling her own whiskey glass and sipping slower this time.
"We got presents," River said happily.
"But this is your happy slavery and welcome back party, you two ain't the ones who's supposed to be giving out gifts," Kaylee objected.
"Ain't no 'we' in that, River got presents and I stood around carrying them," Jayne pointed out. Three days he'd been a pack mule she'd inappropriately touched until he was jerking off in public bathrooms. Hadn't been half-bad. If she'd gone and freed him, it would've been the basis for a real good bunk fantasy, but he figured he didn't need to be making up stories for his hand to recreate anymore.
"Nope. Jayne got 'em too," River said firmly. "People look at me and don't give me the deal they should. Never went into trading because the numbers didn't work. But the captain told me that improbable numbers work when you're flying if the ship loves you. I figured out on my own that improbable numbers work when the shopkeepers think Jayne is offended that they won't sell to me at the price I want."
"Intimidating shopkeeps, seems a good use of Jayne's talent," Mal agreed.
"Yep," River said happily. "I'll get the captain his shuttle back in no time with Jayne on my leash. Makes people worry seeing him with a cuff," she said as she smiled at him. "Mr. Elsworth wonders if you killed someone to end up sold and how bad you have to be to get a whipping that leaves your back all bruised and cut. He plans to hide in his quarters rest of the trip."
"Way to go, Jayne," Kaylee said happily.
"He were an idiot," was Jayne's only comment.
"An idiot with credits," Mal pointed out. "But I could still do with less discussion of Jayne bein' on a leash." Mal drained his glass and held it out for Zoe to fill.
"I don't know, sir. It does appear one way of keeping him out of trouble," she commented with a smile.
"Hey, ain't like I haven't saved your sorry asses a time or two. I figure it's a toss up whether me or Mal has gotten in the most trouble." Jayne defended himself and then tossed back his second drink. He held out his glass for Zoe to refill it, but before he could drink his third whiskey, River neatly plucked it out of his hand. Jayne glared at her as she sipped it without even bothering to look guilty. Reaching over to the plate of offerings, she grabbed a hunk of meat stuck to a stick and handed it to him. He took it with a frown and shoved the whole thing in his mouth only to discover then that it were spiced. His eyes watered as he chewed on it.
"My plans are original and inspired," Mal insisted as he looked to Zoe for some backup.
"If by original you mean no one else would ever try them, I would agree," Inara offered.
"No comment, sir," Zoe said as she turned her back. Jayne and River's quarters were small enough that she couldn't go far though.
"We aren't all dead, so they can't be that bad," Mal pointed out.
"He does have a point, what with us not being dead. But I want to get to presents," Kaylee interrupted.
Jayne watched as River weaved between the others to the other side of the room where the curtain hid their clothes. Simon's eyes followed her with something like sadness, but at least he weren't making a fuss anymore. Kaylee just looked like a kid at Christmas, and even Zoe had lost some of that sadness as she watched with interest as River pulled out a large canvas sack from behind the curtain.
"I just want to point out these are rightly from me too since she sold my shuttle for the buying of them," Mal said as River put the bag on the bunk, which seemed to have grown a few inches wider. "Unless the presents end up wildly inappropriate, then I'll be giving the credit to River and Jayne," he added after a second of thought.
River just laughed. "Brother is stupid when it comes to the heart, but he always protected me and gave up so much. Even Jayne says he respects Simon," she added with a proud look Jayne's way. Simon glanced over with something akin to shock on his face, but then so did the others.
"Also said I'd keep on respecting you even when I snapped your gorram neck if you kept being stupid," Jayne pointed out with some satisfaction as Simon went white.
"Got him something he gave up for me," she said as she held out the bottles. Simon took them, his eyes darting from the bottles to Jayne until he got a good look at the labels, and then he stared at them in clear shock, too much shock to even keep a suspicious watch on Jayne.
"Mei mei," he breathed. "This is too much."
"Let me smell," Kaylee said, holding his arm and leaning in to see what he got. "I heard of that brand but I ain't never smelled nothing as fancy as that." Simon carefully opened one bottle, and Kaylee bent down. "Jayne, smell this," Kaylee said after taking a deep breath.
"Smells like gou shi, and I'm not wearing any, so if you got more of that stuff in your bag, give it over to the doc right now," Jayne warned seriously.
Mal almost choked on his whiskey. "You'll take a whipping like I ain't never seen a man take, but you'll balk at some fancy smellin' cologne?"
"Gorram right," Jayne agreed as River pulled a book out of the bag. "A man's got to have his limits."
River laughed. "I like how Jayne smells of fresh sweat. For Zoe," River said quickly when Inara looked to start choking again. "It's not from Earth-that-was, but it's old. Estias has all sorts of treasures unburied, traded to buy back freedom after someone went and got stupid," River said as she smiled at Jayne for a second before handing over the old book with yellowed pages. Zoe took it with a confused look.
"Thanks," she said automatically as she read the cover. Jayne didn't know what the book meant to her, but he could see the minute that she figured out what it was. He back went stiff and she started blinking like she was trying to hold back tears.
"Zoe?" Mal asked all concerned. Jayne had to agree, anything that could make Zoe look like she was ready to cry was right unnerving.
"Washington Irving," Zoe said as she held up the book cover for him to see. "It was one of Wash's favorites. He was always trying to explain some story from this book."
The dark binding looked familiar. "Is that the one where the guy sleeps with a dead girl thinking she ain't dead?" Jayne asked. River nodded.
"Oh god, that's really in here?" Zoe asked with broken half-laugh in her breath. "I thought he was making that one up."
At about the same time, the doctor blurted out, "*You* read Washington Irving?" toward Jayne.
"Ain't completely uneducated," Jayne growled at the doctor.
"And perfume. Every girl should have perfume," River said as she held a bottle out for Zoe. Zoe took the perfume without even looking up from the book. River could have handed her a rattlesnake for all the attention she was paying it. Then River held out a small wooden box to Inara.
Inara took it and opened it. "It's exquisite," she breathed as she pulled out a carved knife. The handle was a soft off-white carved into the form of a bird that curved gracefully into the blade. "Why get me a knife, though?" she asked.
River shrugged. "Jayne worries about you going off in the shuttle. Can't take a gun into a man's bedroom, but you can a knife."
"Yes, a knife is not an uncommon tool for a companion," Inara agreed. "And this is truly a work of art." Inara looked at Jayne strangely before she put the knife carefully back in the box and closed it. "Thank you both."
"Ain't like I picked it," Jayne shrugged. "I would have gotten you one of those little machines that suck the stink out of the air."
Inara's expression immediately shifted to something more familiar. "Incense does not stink. It is… never mind. It's like casting pearls before swine and then trying to have a meaning discussion with the swine. I give up. Thank you for the beautiful present, River."
"For Kaylee," River said as she slowly pulled a long yellow gown out of the bag. It was simple, a low neck and long sleeves and a skirt that went to the floor.
"Oh River," Kaylee breathed as she reached out for it. She held it up in front of her, and the bottom spreading out around her feet and the waist all fancy with sewing and little pearls. "Oh, it's too fine. I couldn't take this."
"And this," River held out a small box, but Simon had to take it because Kaylee was still staring all wide-eyed at the dress, her fingers tracing the sewing.
"All embroidered and everything. River, I ain't even sure how to say thank you enough."
"Mei mei," Simon breathed as he opened the box and showed it to Kaylee.
"It's a ring, and it matches my dress!" Kaylee said happily as she reached out for it.
"Mei mei, is that real?" Simon asked as he looked at River with wide eyes. River just nodded.
"What?" Mal asked. "Don't look much special to me. It's pretty and all, but it's just a yellow ring," Mal said as he leaned in to look.
"Well it's special to me," Kaylee declared as she pulled it out of the box and put it on her finger so she could hold out her hand and admire it. "Real special."
"It's a yellow sapphire. That ring is probably worth as much as the ship," Simon said as he looked at River in surprise.
"That ring is?" Mal asked. "You got *any* of the money left from selling my shuttle?" Mal demanded as he looked at River in shock.
"Nope," she said happily.
"Wuh de tyen, ah. I ain't never getting another shuttle." Mal looked more despairing than upset, and River started laughing softly.
"Got more trinkets though," River said. "Treasure goes into Estias to buy back lives, but no one sees just how shiny it is. Ships go there to buy slaves and look right past everything else. That's why we're going to Bernadette, to sell the shiny and get the captain a new shuttle," River promised. "And with Jayne on my leash, they'll all be nice about giving me the price I want."
"Seems like little sister grew up in more ways than one this trip," Zoe said with amusement. "Inara, you might have some competition for the title of most successful business woman on Serenity."
"I just might. A sapphire that size is worth much more than a shuttle, so her trading skills are really quite…" Inara searched for a word, "formidable," she finished.
"And I got something for the captain, too." River pulled out a cardboard tube and held it out with a satisfied smile on her face.
Mal took it, looking at it like it was a snake as he pulled the cap off the end and tilted it up. A roll of paper slid out the end. He unrolled it. "Aiya," he breathed. River got a big smile on her face.
"Sir?" Zoe asked.
"Come on, show us," Kaylee urged him.
Mal turned the paper around so that the Chinese characters for truth and harmony were visible above the large title: Statement of Beliefs.
"Sir, is that…?" Zoe just stopped.
"One of the originals," River said proudly. "Captain always said that just because they were the losing side didn't mean they were the wrong side."
"River," Mal said softly as he looked at the scroll.
"That from their Independent Faction bunch?" Jayne asked.
"Yep," River said happily as Mal just stared at the document in his hands. "It's an original. I can still hear the men who signed whispering in the paper." That made Mal blink and look up at her.
"You can hear them whisper?"
River nodded.
"River, I'm…" Mal stopped. "I reckon I'm speechless. It ain't a feeling I have a regular acquaintance with."
Jayne snorted. Weren't no use getting all sentimental over paper, not unless the paper was credits. "If you're going to be speechless, you mind doing it outside my quarters so I can get sexed?" Jayne asked. Simon started choking, and Kaylee ended up pounding him on his back.
"It's good to see slavery hasn't substantially changed you much other than your grooming habits," Inara sighed. "Thank you again, River, but I think it's time I left."
"I think it's time we all leave," Zoe said. "Sir?" she called when Mal was still staring at the scroll.
"Sure I got some business to do somewheres," Mal agreed absentmindedly as he slipped the scroll back into the cardboard tube. "Ain't got the words to say what this means," Mal said as he looked at River.
"Can hear you say it anyway," River said. Mal nodded and headed after Zoe up the ladder.
That left Kaylee and Simon, and Jayne crossed his arms as he waited for Simon to say something now that the captain weren't here to threaten him with cleaning out the septic system, although now that he thought on that, it wasn't exactly fair to call that punishment because Jayne did it all the time.
"Captain's right," Kaylee offered. "Ain't got words to say what this means. And this were supposed to be your party, something like an engagement party so it don't seem right that you gave all the gifts."
"I didn't give them all," River said, her eyes on Simon. "It changed the music in the ship, and that's the best gift." River hesitated. "Best gift after Jayne."
"Music?" Kaylee frowned. "Ain't following."
River leaned over, her shoulder brushing against Jayne, and he draped an arm around her as she just looked at her brother. "Thoughts shifting, changing, seeing me as something other than the crazy girl."
"Well, of course you aren't the crazy girl," Kaylee immediately objected and River looked at her with a half smile.
"It does seem like I missed some important point in time when you went from being my baby sister to something else," Simon said quietly.
"Still your baby sister," River answered. "Just added more on."
Simon nodded. Then without a word to Jayne, he headed for the ladder.
"Well, I guess we're going now," Kaylee offered. "Thanks again. It's real nice, everything you got."
Jayne watched Kaylee climb out and close the hatch after her so that he was finally alone with River. "Should've told me we were collecting treasure. I would have been more careful with it," Jayne pointed out. "There any more back there? We could make a stop there next time we come through."
"Not interested in cold treasures without blood flowing through their veins right now," River said as she turned to him, her hands coming up to rest on his bare chest. "More interested in treasure that's warm and breathing."
"Don't know if I'm rightly treasure, but I got the warm and breathing parts down," Jayne offered. River got her sweet smile, the one that meant that she was thinking things that weren't no good and Jayne felt himself harden at just the sight. "Oh, yeah," he breathed as her smile widened.
"Ain't sure I’m supposed to be up and walking yet," Jayne said. After two days in the infirmary, Simon had finally decided to just avoid his cranky patient by avoiding the infirmary altogether and River had threatened to get a chain and use the slave cuff to lock Jayne to the table. Were mighty annoying having enough energy to take on the world and being stuck on the doc's table listening to Serenity's engines make that growl that meant they were flying through the black.
"Oh." Kaylee made an unhappy face.
Jayne watched the way Kaylee avoided looking at his back. Jayne had seen it in a mirror, and only the one whip mark was bad, an angry red welt of open skin that the doc had put a sealant on so it looked all weirdly slick. River'd let him speed up the healing on most of the others so they were just lines of soft green and blues from the bruising. He was still sore, but it wasn't so bad as to warrant avoiding a look. "Was thinking," he commented.
"Oh, about what?"
"About how we would have been a disaster," Jayne said as he shifted to try and settle an itch in his back.
"You mean you and me together?" Kaylee asked, looking at his face but carefully keeping her eyes away from the rest of him. "I guess I ain't really thought on it much," Kaylee said carefully. Jayne nodded. She hadn't ever thought on him, and if her cap was set on some fancy like the doc, well, she never would have thought on him.
"Ain't just that," Jayne said. "The back, it ain't that bad, but you're looking at it like a Reaver tried to take a bite out of me."
"Oh." Kaylee's gaze slid to the floor.
"On Ariel, I was trying to protect you because I thought River was dangerous." Jayne thought about that for a second. "Still think River is dangerous, but I thought she were another kind of dangerous. I made a bad mistake and I needed to pay the price for that."
"But…" Kaylee stopped, her eyes darting around the room as she chewed a spot on her lip. "Inara keeps trying to explain things, and River talks about things being round or edged, which ain't making much sense to me, but then what Inara says ain't making a whole heap of sense to me either. I just don't want to see you hurt." Kaylee picked at her sleeve, and Jayne felt something warm just knowing she cared enough about him to get so worked up.
"I ain't one for words," he said slowly. "Can't explain them like Inara or River, not that River always makes much sense. I just know it hurts less now than it did before the whipping."
"Really?" Kaylee asked all surprised as she looked at him again.
"Yeah," Jayne assured her. "Guess it's something like Book said about confession, only I'm not real good at confessing and letting things go unless there's a whip involved. Do something wrong and you have to expect to pay."
"I'm not sure that's a type of confession Shepherd Book would have taken to," Kaylee said with a small smile. "Especially since, as River has informed everyone, including Mr. Elsworth from Bellerophon, you two can have sex now that the whipping and forgiving part is over. Thought the man was going to swallow his own face he scrunched it up so hard."
Jayne laughed, feeling the slight ache and increased itch in his back. But then the silence was back, feeling like an itch between him and Kaylee that he needed to scratch, but he didn't quite know how to do it.
"I didn't need you to pay," Kaylee said softly. "Simon neither."
"That's why you and me together would have been a disaster," Jayne said seriously. "Because I needed to pay. Couldn't move on until I did."
Kaylee looked at him for a long time. "Is it okay if I think that's a little strange?" she asked with a wry smile.
"I figure I ain't so normal as to get worked up over being called strange," he agreed. Kaylee gave him a small smile and then the awkward just crept back in.
"Whatever you're thinking, just spit it out," Jayne said after a minute of watching her then shift from foot to foot awkwardly.
"What? I'm just thinking on the passengers. Mr. Elsworth is real fussy."
"You ain't good at lying," Jayne interrupted her.
Kaylee sighed. "Okay, I ain't thinking on Mr. Elsworth although he is real fussy. I washed his sheets twice and he's still calling them dingy." She got that offended look in her eye, and Jayne figured that Mr. Elsworth was going to be mighty sorry about complaining when Serenity started hiccupping and tossing everyone around half way through sleep cycle. Kaylee weren't the kind of strong hand he needed, but she wasn't exactly the sort to get walked on either. "I thought River was going to put the cuff on and do the fun parts of slavery like in my books. I never thought she'd hurt you, and even if you ain't upset about being hurt, it don't feel right. You can't just walk away."
Jayne pushed himself up with a groan and swung his legs over the side. If he was having this conversation, he weren't having it laying down. "I wouldn't want to be able to walk away," Jayne admitted. "If I could've walked away from that whipping, I would have, but then I'd still be carrying all that guilt. And I ain't saying I liked it because I'm going to make gorram sure I don't do things without getting her say-so because I ain't looking to earn another punishment like that," he hurried to add when Kaylee's expression just got more worried. "I figure the cuff makes things easier for me. I know I need to stay right with River, and I can trust River to keep me from doing anything overly stupid. The way I see it, should make you lot a good sight more comfortable, too."
"You stood by us through everything from Rance Burgess to Reavers. I don't need the cuff to know that you'll always have my back," Kaylee insisted.
"Always will if I have a choice about it," Jayne admitted. "But I don't make good decisions. I don't trust my decisions, so I ain't taking comfort in it if you do," Jayne snapped when Kaylee got that stubborn expression on her face. He looked up and River was drifting into the room.
"But you always said you were in charge when Mal and Zoe left the ship," Kaylee argued.
All Jayne could do was sigh and wonder what he'd done wrong in his life to deserve being around women who had to talk everything to death. At least, he wondered which wrong he'd done deserved it. "You and Inara aren't fighters. If someone's got to stand up and make a decision or get shot, it ain't going to be those of you who ain't fighters."
Stepping forward, River caught his eye and held it. Kaylee gave a little jump as she realized River had joined them, but Jayne focused on the woman who owned him in about every way that counted. "Jayne thought he had to. All unhappy because tides pull at him saying the warrior has to take charge and tides pull at him saying the warrior is supposed to be the sword of the king." She came forward and put her hands on his thighs. "Or queen."
Jayne just nodded. "Reckon so." He turned to Kaylee. "She owns paper on me, but that ain't why I'm staying with her. She asked me to wear this. . . asked, not told," Jayne said as he held up his cuff. "I ain't got to explain things that I ain't no good at explaining, but it were my choice, just like you sleeping with the overly-starched doctor is yours."
"Hey, the starch is coming out nicely, thank you," Kaylee insisted as she crossed her arms and gave him a smile. "He's even starting to think that maybe River ain't as childlike as he thought. Keeps going on about how he introduced her to corrupting influences, and I'm getting the annoying feeling I'm one of those corruptions, but he ain't making the mistake of seeing her as a little girl anymore."
"Jayne is a much better catch than my stupid brother," River added as her fingers moved up his legs to his hips, fingertips brushing against his bare waist. "And it's time for you to come back to our quarters."
"Not the mess? I ain't had dinner yet."
"I'll bring food down," River said. "Quarters now."
"Oh," Jayne said as he caught up with her meaning. His cock was already ahead of him, hardening at the thought that now they could finally finish what they'd started so long ago. He hadn't ever been good with self-denial, and he'd had about enough of denying himself sex for a lifetime. "Seems like someone promised I'd be chained to the bed for a good while. Make sure there's lots of protein in whatever you bring down," he said as he leered at her.
She just smiled and took his hand and pulled him off the doc's table and toward the door. Jayne was surprised and a little confused when Kaylee trailed behind them.
Jayne had the displeasure of meeting Mr. Elsworth on the way down to crew quarters, and got an earful on how the Alliance was going to outlaw the abomination that were slaving. River just smiled sweetly and pulled on Jayne's arm. Kaylee did the cursing for them both, muttering under her breath.
And finally, they reached his quarters, Kaylee still trailing. "Uh, I ain't never complained about a woman joining me in my bunk, but I figure River's about all I can handle," Jayne said cautiously as he looked at her in confusion. Kaylee smiled sweetly and didn't answer as River opened the hatch to Jayne's quarters.
"Surprise!" called out voices. Jayne jumped hard enough to make his back burn, his hand landing on his knife handle before his brain caught up with the fact that it was just his idiot friends near to scaring him to death.
"Nee mun doh shr sagwa, scaring a man in his own quarters," Jayne complained as he peered in. It didn't look much like is quarters anymore.
"This is your 'welcome home, don't never go selling yourself into slavery again' party, only that last bit seems a little not applicable right now," Mal commented. "So don't be calling us idiots. Save that for when we do something idiotic."
Jayne climbed down the ladder and looked around his room in shock. Vera was still on the wall, flanked above and below by the nasty blades River favored, and his smaller weapons was lined up under them all decorative-like, but beyond that, it were clearly a girl who had got at his room.
"That shouldn't take too long. After all, we haven't nearly died in a month," Inara offered Mal sweetly, and even Jayne caught that insult. Course, that one were aimed at Mal, and when she was insulting Mal, she seemed a little more direct with it.
Jayne stood looking at the deep blue carpet, the throw on the bed in swirls of blue and green, the fabric hung in front of his rod hiding the clothes behind it, the tall wooden dresser standing against one wall and the heavy wood trunk tucked in beside the bed.
"Maybe someone should let Jayne put on a shirt," Inara suggested as she took a step back toward Mal, even after insulting him.
"Ain't going to have something rubbing where the whip cut me open," he said absent-mindedly as he looked around the place. "Looks like Inara's shuttle threw up in here." River wrapped herself around his left arm, and Jayne spotted Simon, who was pressing himself into a corner, flinch back a bit at the sight of his sister being all affectionate.
"That would be called decorating," Inara said in that crisp tone that always made Jayne wonder if she were insulting him. Probably. "Of course, I suggested the collection of blades and guns come down off the wall, but taste is largely a matter of individual preference."
"At least it don't stink like the shuttle," Jayne shrugged.
"The shuttle doesn't smell bad."
"Smells like burnt crap," he disagreed as he watched Kaylee push in and go right to Simon, smiling at him all proud. "Could have half the couplings in the panel catch fire before you'd smell the first one go." Jayne was willing to just bet the doc got told to come or else. Well, watching him squirm almost made it worth having to put off the sexing again.
"It's incense. Why do I bother?" Inara shook her head and got a pinched expression. "River, good luck, and you have your hands full."
"I like him," River said simply.
"As I said, taste is a matter of individual preference, although clearly not all preferences are created equal."
Jayne narrowed his eyes because he were pretty sure there was an insult in there somewheres.
"I think it's real pretty. And look Jayne, you got wood fixings. Ain't that special?" Kaylee reached out and ran her hand over the wood of the dresser, following the grain with her fingers.
"Yep, until you go rolling the ship," Jayne commented as he thought of Mr. Elsworth and his dingy sheets. "First time you two do a Crazy Ivan, I'm going to be picking wood outta my skull."
"Nope, River and I braced it up real good, the dresser and the chest. So we could flip Serenity around all day and they ain't going nowhere," she said proudly.
"Let's not test that one out," Mal commented as he handed Jayne a drink. Jayne threw it back, surprised to discover it was good whiskey, not the usual stuff that could rot your stomach from the inside. He wandered closer to that tall dresser and grabbed a frilly cookie something that he was guessing Inara made. Shoving one in his mouth, he nodded in appreciation. They were good.
"Let me just say congratulations," Zoe said as she stepped forward and refilled his whiskey glass.
"Really?" Jayne asked.
Zoe gave him a strange look. "Yes, really. And being the one who had a long-term relationship work, I will give you the traditional advice. Never go to bed angry. I will also tell you that never works." Zoe filled her own glass and then threw back the whiskey. "So, here's the real advice," she offered. "Never break anything in a fight that you'll regret the next morning. Wash and me… we kept all kinds of plastic nothings around for flinging when we got going good."
A quiet fell on the room. Zoe nodded for a second. "And Wash would officially add that you two deserve each other in every way. He'd be right."
"Yep, he would," Kaylee said softly. Zoe looked over at her for a second and then smiled before refilling her own whiskey glass and sipping slower this time.
"We got presents," River said happily.
"But this is your happy slavery and welcome back party, you two ain't the ones who's supposed to be giving out gifts," Kaylee objected.
"Ain't no 'we' in that, River got presents and I stood around carrying them," Jayne pointed out. Three days he'd been a pack mule she'd inappropriately touched until he was jerking off in public bathrooms. Hadn't been half-bad. If she'd gone and freed him, it would've been the basis for a real good bunk fantasy, but he figured he didn't need to be making up stories for his hand to recreate anymore.
"Nope. Jayne got 'em too," River said firmly. "People look at me and don't give me the deal they should. Never went into trading because the numbers didn't work. But the captain told me that improbable numbers work when you're flying if the ship loves you. I figured out on my own that improbable numbers work when the shopkeepers think Jayne is offended that they won't sell to me at the price I want."
"Intimidating shopkeeps, seems a good use of Jayne's talent," Mal agreed.
"Yep," River said happily. "I'll get the captain his shuttle back in no time with Jayne on my leash. Makes people worry seeing him with a cuff," she said as she smiled at him. "Mr. Elsworth wonders if you killed someone to end up sold and how bad you have to be to get a whipping that leaves your back all bruised and cut. He plans to hide in his quarters rest of the trip."
"Way to go, Jayne," Kaylee said happily.
"He were an idiot," was Jayne's only comment.
"An idiot with credits," Mal pointed out. "But I could still do with less discussion of Jayne bein' on a leash." Mal drained his glass and held it out for Zoe to fill.
"I don't know, sir. It does appear one way of keeping him out of trouble," she commented with a smile.
"Hey, ain't like I haven't saved your sorry asses a time or two. I figure it's a toss up whether me or Mal has gotten in the most trouble." Jayne defended himself and then tossed back his second drink. He held out his glass for Zoe to refill it, but before he could drink his third whiskey, River neatly plucked it out of his hand. Jayne glared at her as she sipped it without even bothering to look guilty. Reaching over to the plate of offerings, she grabbed a hunk of meat stuck to a stick and handed it to him. He took it with a frown and shoved the whole thing in his mouth only to discover then that it were spiced. His eyes watered as he chewed on it.
"My plans are original and inspired," Mal insisted as he looked to Zoe for some backup.
"If by original you mean no one else would ever try them, I would agree," Inara offered.
"No comment, sir," Zoe said as she turned her back. Jayne and River's quarters were small enough that she couldn't go far though.
"We aren't all dead, so they can't be that bad," Mal pointed out.
"He does have a point, what with us not being dead. But I want to get to presents," Kaylee interrupted.
Jayne watched as River weaved between the others to the other side of the room where the curtain hid their clothes. Simon's eyes followed her with something like sadness, but at least he weren't making a fuss anymore. Kaylee just looked like a kid at Christmas, and even Zoe had lost some of that sadness as she watched with interest as River pulled out a large canvas sack from behind the curtain.
"I just want to point out these are rightly from me too since she sold my shuttle for the buying of them," Mal said as River put the bag on the bunk, which seemed to have grown a few inches wider. "Unless the presents end up wildly inappropriate, then I'll be giving the credit to River and Jayne," he added after a second of thought.
River just laughed. "Brother is stupid when it comes to the heart, but he always protected me and gave up so much. Even Jayne says he respects Simon," she added with a proud look Jayne's way. Simon glanced over with something akin to shock on his face, but then so did the others.
"Also said I'd keep on respecting you even when I snapped your gorram neck if you kept being stupid," Jayne pointed out with some satisfaction as Simon went white.
"Got him something he gave up for me," she said as she held out the bottles. Simon took them, his eyes darting from the bottles to Jayne until he got a good look at the labels, and then he stared at them in clear shock, too much shock to even keep a suspicious watch on Jayne.
"Mei mei," he breathed. "This is too much."
"Let me smell," Kaylee said, holding his arm and leaning in to see what he got. "I heard of that brand but I ain't never smelled nothing as fancy as that." Simon carefully opened one bottle, and Kaylee bent down. "Jayne, smell this," Kaylee said after taking a deep breath.
"Smells like gou shi, and I'm not wearing any, so if you got more of that stuff in your bag, give it over to the doc right now," Jayne warned seriously.
Mal almost choked on his whiskey. "You'll take a whipping like I ain't never seen a man take, but you'll balk at some fancy smellin' cologne?"
"Gorram right," Jayne agreed as River pulled a book out of the bag. "A man's got to have his limits."
River laughed. "I like how Jayne smells of fresh sweat. For Zoe," River said quickly when Inara looked to start choking again. "It's not from Earth-that-was, but it's old. Estias has all sorts of treasures unburied, traded to buy back freedom after someone went and got stupid," River said as she smiled at Jayne for a second before handing over the old book with yellowed pages. Zoe took it with a confused look.
"Thanks," she said automatically as she read the cover. Jayne didn't know what the book meant to her, but he could see the minute that she figured out what it was. He back went stiff and she started blinking like she was trying to hold back tears.
"Zoe?" Mal asked all concerned. Jayne had to agree, anything that could make Zoe look like she was ready to cry was right unnerving.
"Washington Irving," Zoe said as she held up the book cover for him to see. "It was one of Wash's favorites. He was always trying to explain some story from this book."
The dark binding looked familiar. "Is that the one where the guy sleeps with a dead girl thinking she ain't dead?" Jayne asked. River nodded.
"Oh god, that's really in here?" Zoe asked with broken half-laugh in her breath. "I thought he was making that one up."
At about the same time, the doctor blurted out, "*You* read Washington Irving?" toward Jayne.
"Ain't completely uneducated," Jayne growled at the doctor.
"And perfume. Every girl should have perfume," River said as she held a bottle out for Zoe. Zoe took the perfume without even looking up from the book. River could have handed her a rattlesnake for all the attention she was paying it. Then River held out a small wooden box to Inara.
Inara took it and opened it. "It's exquisite," she breathed as she pulled out a carved knife. The handle was a soft off-white carved into the form of a bird that curved gracefully into the blade. "Why get me a knife, though?" she asked.
River shrugged. "Jayne worries about you going off in the shuttle. Can't take a gun into a man's bedroom, but you can a knife."
"Yes, a knife is not an uncommon tool for a companion," Inara agreed. "And this is truly a work of art." Inara looked at Jayne strangely before she put the knife carefully back in the box and closed it. "Thank you both."
"Ain't like I picked it," Jayne shrugged. "I would have gotten you one of those little machines that suck the stink out of the air."
Inara's expression immediately shifted to something more familiar. "Incense does not stink. It is… never mind. It's like casting pearls before swine and then trying to have a meaning discussion with the swine. I give up. Thank you for the beautiful present, River."
"For Kaylee," River said as she slowly pulled a long yellow gown out of the bag. It was simple, a low neck and long sleeves and a skirt that went to the floor.
"Oh River," Kaylee breathed as she reached out for it. She held it up in front of her, and the bottom spreading out around her feet and the waist all fancy with sewing and little pearls. "Oh, it's too fine. I couldn't take this."
"And this," River held out a small box, but Simon had to take it because Kaylee was still staring all wide-eyed at the dress, her fingers tracing the sewing.
"All embroidered and everything. River, I ain't even sure how to say thank you enough."
"Mei mei," Simon breathed as he opened the box and showed it to Kaylee.
"It's a ring, and it matches my dress!" Kaylee said happily as she reached out for it.
"Mei mei, is that real?" Simon asked as he looked at River with wide eyes. River just nodded.
"What?" Mal asked. "Don't look much special to me. It's pretty and all, but it's just a yellow ring," Mal said as he leaned in to look.
"Well it's special to me," Kaylee declared as she pulled it out of the box and put it on her finger so she could hold out her hand and admire it. "Real special."
"It's a yellow sapphire. That ring is probably worth as much as the ship," Simon said as he looked at River in surprise.
"That ring is?" Mal asked. "You got *any* of the money left from selling my shuttle?" Mal demanded as he looked at River in shock.
"Nope," she said happily.
"Wuh de tyen, ah. I ain't never getting another shuttle." Mal looked more despairing than upset, and River started laughing softly.
"Got more trinkets though," River said. "Treasure goes into Estias to buy back lives, but no one sees just how shiny it is. Ships go there to buy slaves and look right past everything else. That's why we're going to Bernadette, to sell the shiny and get the captain a new shuttle," River promised. "And with Jayne on my leash, they'll all be nice about giving me the price I want."
"Seems like little sister grew up in more ways than one this trip," Zoe said with amusement. "Inara, you might have some competition for the title of most successful business woman on Serenity."
"I just might. A sapphire that size is worth much more than a shuttle, so her trading skills are really quite…" Inara searched for a word, "formidable," she finished.
"And I got something for the captain, too." River pulled out a cardboard tube and held it out with a satisfied smile on her face.
Mal took it, looking at it like it was a snake as he pulled the cap off the end and tilted it up. A roll of paper slid out the end. He unrolled it. "Aiya," he breathed. River got a big smile on her face.
"Sir?" Zoe asked.
"Come on, show us," Kaylee urged him.
Mal turned the paper around so that the Chinese characters for truth and harmony were visible above the large title: Statement of Beliefs.
"Sir, is that…?" Zoe just stopped.
"One of the originals," River said proudly. "Captain always said that just because they were the losing side didn't mean they were the wrong side."
"River," Mal said softly as he looked at the scroll.
"That from their Independent Faction bunch?" Jayne asked.
"Yep," River said happily as Mal just stared at the document in his hands. "It's an original. I can still hear the men who signed whispering in the paper." That made Mal blink and look up at her.
"You can hear them whisper?"
River nodded.
"River, I'm…" Mal stopped. "I reckon I'm speechless. It ain't a feeling I have a regular acquaintance with."
Jayne snorted. Weren't no use getting all sentimental over paper, not unless the paper was credits. "If you're going to be speechless, you mind doing it outside my quarters so I can get sexed?" Jayne asked. Simon started choking, and Kaylee ended up pounding him on his back.
"It's good to see slavery hasn't substantially changed you much other than your grooming habits," Inara sighed. "Thank you again, River, but I think it's time I left."
"I think it's time we all leave," Zoe said. "Sir?" she called when Mal was still staring at the scroll.
"Sure I got some business to do somewheres," Mal agreed absentmindedly as he slipped the scroll back into the cardboard tube. "Ain't got the words to say what this means," Mal said as he looked at River.
"Can hear you say it anyway," River said. Mal nodded and headed after Zoe up the ladder.
That left Kaylee and Simon, and Jayne crossed his arms as he waited for Simon to say something now that the captain weren't here to threaten him with cleaning out the septic system, although now that he thought on that, it wasn't exactly fair to call that punishment because Jayne did it all the time.
"Captain's right," Kaylee offered. "Ain't got words to say what this means. And this were supposed to be your party, something like an engagement party so it don't seem right that you gave all the gifts."
"I didn't give them all," River said, her eyes on Simon. "It changed the music in the ship, and that's the best gift." River hesitated. "Best gift after Jayne."
"Music?" Kaylee frowned. "Ain't following."
River leaned over, her shoulder brushing against Jayne, and he draped an arm around her as she just looked at her brother. "Thoughts shifting, changing, seeing me as something other than the crazy girl."
"Well, of course you aren't the crazy girl," Kaylee immediately objected and River looked at her with a half smile.
"It does seem like I missed some important point in time when you went from being my baby sister to something else," Simon said quietly.
"Still your baby sister," River answered. "Just added more on."
Simon nodded. Then without a word to Jayne, he headed for the ladder.
"Well, I guess we're going now," Kaylee offered. "Thanks again. It's real nice, everything you got."
Jayne watched Kaylee climb out and close the hatch after her so that he was finally alone with River. "Should've told me we were collecting treasure. I would have been more careful with it," Jayne pointed out. "There any more back there? We could make a stop there next time we come through."
"Not interested in cold treasures without blood flowing through their veins right now," River said as she turned to him, her hands coming up to rest on his bare chest. "More interested in treasure that's warm and breathing."
"Don't know if I'm rightly treasure, but I got the warm and breathing parts down," Jayne offered. River got her sweet smile, the one that meant that she was thinking things that weren't no good and Jayne felt himself harden at just the sight. "Oh, yeah," he breathed as her smile widened.
