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Disclaimer: All hail the mighty Joss. I don't own 'em and I sure don't make any money off them.
Feedback: Oh, gods, YES!!! Comment here or email: wily_one24@yahoo.com.au
Comments: Written for the Joss100 challenge. 75 down, 25 to go.
Prompt #051: Destruction.
Word Count: 196.SAYING GOODBYE.
"I can't watch."
"You want this or not?" Kaylee sighed. "Last chance to say no."
She couldn't help it, his bottom lip just pouted out and it was too tempting not to reach out and touch it. Soft, soft lip, surrounded by thick, bristly whiskers. He kept his eyes screwed shut.
"Do it." But he was already wincing and she hadn't even begun yet. "I said so, didn't I? Just... I can't watch."
"Okay then. Here goes."
She reached her hand out.
"Wait!"
"Come on, Jayne." She sighed. "This was your idea. Yay or nay?"
"Um..." For a second he sounded as if he might change his mind and she kinda expected him to. "Okay, I'm ready, I can take it. Go on."
"We don't have to do it, you know."
"Yeah." He opened his eyes and smiled at her, just about melting her heart. "We do."
Then he clamped them shut again.
"One." She reached out and he didn't move.
"Two." She hooked her fingers behind it. He still didn't move.
"Three!"
The paper ripped easily as she tore it from the wall and soon his bunk was littered with scraps of half naked ladies.
Prompt #052: Apocalypse.
Word Count: 230.GLASS.
"Oh god. Oh god." Kaylee pressed herself into the corner. "We're going to die here."
"It probably won't come to that, mei mei." Inara reached out and pulled a table off balance to cover them both. "But just in case."
A loud thump was heard and they both looked up to the right to see a man land against the wall and slide down it, groaning and bloody. There was a lot of yelling and screaming and Kaylee couldn't decipher whose was whose.
She pointed to an inert form lying across the room.
"That poor man. He didn't do nothin'. Just said hello."
Inara smiled.
"Kaylee." She said softly, as softly as she could in the melee. "There's 'hello' and then there's 'hello'. Jayne's reaction may have been... excessive, but it wasn't unfounded."
A shower of glass rained down on top of them.
"But I wasn't gonna do nothin'!"
"You didn't have to." Inara sighed as she picked a shard from her hair. "Point is, Jayne told him to move on and he didn't."
"Hey." Mal's head appeared over the table. "You girls okay back there?"
"Just fine." Inara answered breezily. "Dandy as a matter of fact."
"Good, that's goo..."
And then he was gone, dragged back into the fight.
"Stupid men." Kaylee grumbled. "An' we was having so much fun."
Inara smiled again.
"Get used to it, mei mei."
Prompt #053: Faded.
Word Count: 411.BUTTERFLIES.
"Hey." He slid his hand over her waist and down to her rump. "What'cha doin'?"
"Nothin'." She sighed back.
It didn't look like nothing to Jayne. A person didn't stand in front of the door to their bunk and just stare at it for no good reason. 'Course, strictly speaking, she wasn't doing much of anything else.
"You stopped on your way in or your way out?" He pulled her closer to him, hip to hip. "Or don't you remember?"
That earned a smile.
"I was just thinking." And her eyed drifted up to the nameplate on her door before falling away again. "So many things've changed lately."
Yeah, he couldn't argue that. He just wondered which lately she was talking about. Was she thinking on Wash and Book and the whole business with Miranda, or after that, with Simon? Or just in general?
Either way, his eyes traced the color of her name, the butterflies and flowers and leaves that decorated it. He remembered when he first came on board and saw it, thought maybe she was a bit simple. A grown woman who still had kids' paintings on her walls.
Didn't take him long, not long at all, to realize that it was one of things that made her so special. The way she took delight in every little thing, even and especially the little things. Little touches that spread all over the ship and made it more than that, made it livable, made it like a home.
He'd spent more than enough time thinking over this very piece of wood, imagining that the sunlight and butterflies and all that other girly stuff was exactly what she'd been surrounded by as a kid.
Only, back then, the colors had stood out more, had all but screamed at a man when he left his bunk across the hall. Now he realized that some of the letters of her name had seen better days and the vines were kinda broken up unless you squinted and made your eyes blurry.
Jayne reached out to run his hand over the wood and surprised even himself by hooking his fingers under it and lifting it off the door.
"Guess this needs to be spruced up a little, hey?"
Something flickered over her face and he placed his free hand under her chin so that she looked up at him.
"You leave it to me, okay? I got something that'll make it brand new again."
Prompt #054: Colorless.
Word Count: 454.PINK AND WHITE.
"Quit it."
Kaylee smiled to herself, a wicked kind of smile that usually drove him crazy. She figured she had five good minutes before his temper broke or he threw the cloth and holster down and picked her up.
She kinda hoped it would be the second one.
Slipping her hand under his arm, her fingers found the soft, sensitive skin of his stomach and she drew lazy circles on his skin. Her eyes followed the small, miniscule bumps she left behind and that alone told her it would most likely be the second option.
"C'mon, quit it." He grumbled again. "I gotta do this, you know that. We're out on a job again first thing."
It wasn't like she could help herself. He was just too beautiful not to explore. Not that it could, technically, be called exploring anymore. It was more like covering old ground by now. Still, she wasn't about to stop.
Kaylee lay on her back on his bed, one arm up under her head as she watched him sitting there, cleaning his weapons and various accoutrements. She liked watching him do it, liked watching his big hands as they skillfully twisted and turned the proper switches and dials of the guns, deftly swiped the blades of his knives, the knowing way he handled his belongings.
Sometimes she liked it a little too much.
And sometimes she got a mite bored. Like now, when her hand continued to wander. A grin spread over her face as she traced her fingernail around his nipple, letting the nail scrape lightly over the flesh.
His mouth twitched.
He knew what was coming, he had to. She'd done it often enough. Waited until the small, dusky pink of it hardened under her fingers, waited until the skin around it puckered and grew taut. Then she took it between her thumb and forefinger, squeezing and pulling at the same time.
The pink flooded out of the tip, even as she watched, the color was bled away and he groaned a little. Kaylee kept her eyes focused on her task as she let go to see the small white mound of it contrasted against the bronze of the rest of him.
Quickly, all too quickly, the color returned, blood flowing back to the spaces she'd left behind.
She couldn't be certain, but Kaylee was fairly sure that he hurried through the rest of his weapons care more than he'd usually like. More than was strictly called for.
Not that it mattered when he turned with a growl to snarl down at her and she blinked lazily up at him. That was usually all it took, that half hooded gaze and a waiting smile on her face.
Prompt #055: Colorful.
Word Count: 470.RAINBOW.
He loved the way it seemed to start at her mouth. Big and swollen and slick after he kissed them, bright red and flushed as she panted up at him. The color sliding over her cheeks and down her neck.
His eyes would follow the path of it, the flush that spread all down her face and neck, over her shoulders and between her breasts as he leaned down and nuzzled her here, there and everywhere.
Red paths and, if he hadn't shaved, the small scratches that burned red hot until his tongue soothed them, wet mouth hungrily sucking at the salt that edged her skin.
Jayne could drown in the way her eyes would darken, her pupils going real wide as he knelt over her and she gasped. The specks in them would shift from blue to green to hazel and back again until he couldn't quite remember what color her eyes really were.
She blushed all the way down her body, the curves of her belly and hips turning pink as he made his way down, his hands coming around to cup her ass and grip her thighs.
Even the soft silk of her inner thighs grew hot against his own skin, heated by the swift brushes of his fingers, the gentle touches that quickly grew faster and harder and more desperate until, sometimes, he thought he might bruise her.
Kaylee's skin was resilient against any and all forms of abuse she suffered at the merciless hands of the engine, but when he planted his mouth on her soft underbelly and sucked hard, he always left the most fascinating colors. Purples and greens and dark blues that faded over days and days.
All of it, the pinks and flushes that raced over the hills and valleys of her body, that his eyes drank in when he crawled down her skin, none of it ever reached the slick wetness of her.
The point where the colors blurred and all that matters was the way she moaned out his name as he pumped his fingers in and out, slow and grinding at first until her breathing grew deep and needy and he knew to speed it up. Felt in the twist of her hips under him, in the push of her body up to meet him, in the tremble of her, the slow, needy keen of her voice.
Then he'd retrace his steps, kissing her red and flushed skin all the way back up as she clawed at him, as her hands grasped his shoulders and pulled him back up.
Just so his eyes could meet hers as he pushed into her again, ground his hips down, hard. All fast and hard and red hot need and the two of them moaning it out as hard as they knew how.
Prompt #056: Black.
Word Count: 787.CHECKER BOARD.
There were three people left on board and the ship stretched out into an infinity of space between them. The planet wasn't safe, Captain had said, they were too well known and Serenity stuck out like a sore thumb. So he'd taken Zoe and Jayne on one shuttle and Inara was already off to see a client in hers.
And Kaylee was left floating just outside atmo, staring out the window into the great expanse of black nothingness, trying to make sense out of the maze of stars. Sense, perhaps, or just a form of distraction.
Something to stop her worrying about Jayne, 'cause her worry took her to places she didn't like. Didn't want to think on. Places where he wouldn't, couldn't come back from.
"Too dangerous." She grumped, 'cause stubborn anger was easier than fretting uselessly. "Yeah, too gorram dangerous. That's why they left their greatest weapon here."
Her voice sounded mean, even to her, but she wasn't too worried. The meaning behind the words wasn't, not spiteful mean, anyway. And the meaning always got through.
"There's danger in recognition, still." River sighed from her pilot's chair across the terminal. "I'd be more hindrance than help."
There was a wistful note to River's voice and a coiled nervousness in the way she tapped her fingernails on the console that made Kaylee wonder whether or not she liked the more dangerous jobs.
River was like that, sometimes, simple as black and white, just like Jayne. 'Cause, sometimes, when it had been quiet for a spell and things had been going too well, Kaylee noticed the same taut tension in them both. It came out in different ways, sure, but it meant the same thing. That both of them were spoiling for release, quivering like an arrow pulled tight in a bow and never allowed to fly to the target.
And the rule was, Jayne told her once when she'd asked him about it, that the longer the quiet spell the harder the crash when it hit.
Even as she watched, River rolled her neck so that she could flash her a secret grin.
"Just as well." They shared a smile before turning to face the door. "I don't want you down there."
"Not now, Simon."
A bored sigh and Kaylee picked up on the signs of River's elastic stretching even tighter, thinning out taut and ready to snap.
"It's about time Mal saw reason." Apparently, Simon didn't notice the same signs. "He doesn't need to take you all the time."
She watched River set him with a glare she figured had been given many times before.
"Leave her be, Simon." Kaylee couldn't help but add.
"It's not me." River waved a hand towards her, but she didn't take her eyes off her brother. "He's picking a fight, but not the fight he wants. It's okay."
"No, it's not okay." Maybe she shouldn't have stood up to face him, to take up a fight that wasn't even hers to begin with, that had obviously started a long time ago for the two people involved. "River's not a kid, Simon. Ain't no one here a kid. Mal don't force her to go anywhere. She chooses. And if she wants to go, let her go."
"Kaylee..." River stood up, too.
"Oh, of course." She flinched at the withering scald of his voice as he flashed his dark eyes to her. "I forgot. Kaylee the defender of all is here. What's the matter? Are there no small puppies to save? Sunshine to savor?"
"Simon!" River all but yelled the words. "Stop it!"
"I mean, of course you'd jump in." Just like her own words of before, they might have sounded mean. In fact, they sounded down right cruel, but Kaylee knew enough to hear the crack in his voice. "What else is there to do? Now that your life is so perfect..."
"We're back to this, are we?" She sighed, feeling tired all of a sudden. "I thought..."
"Yeah." He sounded tired, too, deflating even as she glared at him. "I thought so, too."
It was an ache in her head. A growing knot of pulsing tension that pounded in wait, counting down agonizingly slowly until she feared the eventual explosion. In front of her, a million stars taunted her with their simplicity.
Out there, it was a checker board of black and white, there were no grays and slippery slopes of hidden meanings and thoughts that grew into others and snide remarks that told more with what they didn't say out loud than what they did.
Kaylee wanted Jayne back on board. He was simple like the stars. She was simple when she was with him.
Black and white.
Prompt #057: White.
Word Count: 815.PANACEA.
"Well." Mal's voice was smug as they stumbled into the shuttle. "That job was well done."
"Oh." So was Zoe's. "Absolutely, Sir."
"Shut up." Jayne managed. "The two of ye, just shut up and fly."
They were grinning, they were gorram grinning at each other and he was just so glad to be the source of their amusement. Stupid gorram planet. Stupid rutting plan.
As if Mal's plan's ever worked.
He sat back on the seat, letting his head rest against the wall as he closed his eyes and then tried to close them even tighter until he saw red. Maybe if he thought on Kaylee, he could just block his mind, stop picturing those...
Gorram it.
Back to Kaylee. Yeah, but she was good for the soul. Always was. Girl was a ruttin' panacea. That was a good word. He'd heard the doc say it and looked it up on the little encyclopedia screen.
Cure All. Universal Remedy. Solution. Yeah, that about summed her up. Magic Potion. Those were the words that stuck in his head as relating to Kaylee. She was nothin' short of a magic potion when he needed it.
The red behind his eyes slowly bled away to a white. Shining white, kinda like Kaylee, so bright it was almost painful. Just the way he liked it.
"You comfortable back there?" Mal shot back over his shoulder.
"Fly. The. Ruttin'. Shuttle." Jayne gritted through his teeth.
"Serenity?" He heard Zoe's soft voice and he wondered if she knew her voice still cracked a little when she did that, called through the com and didn't get Wash answering her back. "You ready? We're close."
"Hey!" Kaylee's voice came through, bright and cheerful. "We're all set to go. 'Nara got back half an hour ago. Soon as you're set, we're off. We get paid?"
They were laughin'. He could hear it. Jayne cracked open an eye and glared.
"Yeah." Hell, Mal was pretty damn near close to giggling. "Yeah, we got paid."
"What?" Kaylee asked, managing to sound both relieved and interested all at once. "What's so funny?"
"Jayne will tell you when we get there." Zoe added.
"No he ruttin' won't." Jayne said.
"Sore and damaged." River's voice came over the com and Jayne groaned, even as Mal and Zoe laughed harder. "Hit like a rock."
"What?" Kaylee sounded worried again. "What's wrong with Jayne?"
"Nothin's wrong." He leant forward so she could hear him better. "I'm just fine, Kaylee."
"Bits got bruised." River just had to add.
The fun lovin' twins couldn't stop laughin'.
"Tell me!" Kaylee demanded and even Jayne could hear the strain in her voice which said she was close to bein' angry at them all.
"We, uh..." Mal paused to take a breath. "We had our meet up in a field."
"Things got a mite..." Zoe paused, too, and Jayne could see the word coming a mile off. "... woolly."
"Oh, ha ha." He glared. "Those men were fixin' to take off without payin' us."
"But they did pay?" Kaylee stated the obvious.
"Yeah." Mal answered. "But only 'cause they were laughin' so hard they dropped the money."
"Hell." Zoe managed to get a hold on her laughter. Barely. "I was laughin' so hard I dropped my gun."
She had, too, that was the worst thing. 'Cause Jayne knew that Zoe never let her guard down when they was on a job.
"I went for my gun." Jayne knew the only way to get over it, would be to get the story done as quick as possible. "But it jammed in the holster."
He didn't mention nothin' about how he hadn't finished cleaning it proper the night before. He figured Kaylee could come up with that on her own.
"Shoulda seen him, mei mei." Mal sighed through the last of his giggles. "Big grown man, stumblin' round in circles, trying to get his gun out. Makin' such a ruckus that he got some unwanted attention."
Gorram it. That started the two of 'em off again and he could hear River laughing over the com, too.
"Stupid gorram sheep." Jayne muttered. "Had no business with me."
"Thing butted in." Mal was enjoying this too much. "Twice!"
"But...?" Kaylee sounded as if she'd missed the punch line.
"Bits got bruised." River explained softly.
"Oh!" And then Kaylee sounded as if she was tryin' not to laugh. "Oh, Jayne! Are you alright?"
"Just great. Bloody brilliant." He sighed and then glared at Mal and Zoe again. "I'm just gonna let the two of you get shot next time."
The com connection fizzled out, but not before he heard the peals of laughter on the other end. Jayne closed his eyes again and bit through the pain. It wasn't as easy to block it out thinkin' on Kaylee anymore.
His bright white panacea had just gone and laughed at his pain.
Prompt #058: Sunshine.
Word Count: 403.NAG.
"So... um...?" Jayne coughed. "Will you?"
At that moment, he couldn't think of anything more uncomfortable. Even his teeth itched. The skin on top of his scalp crawled and he nervously scratched the back of his left hand with his right.
Dark brown eyes watched him, all seriousness and calculation, brown hair hanging straight down and he never really knew how she kept it from flying all over the place. The silence stretched out and he considered just forgetting the whole thing.
Nope. Couldn't do that. He'd promised.
Jayne put his best begging face on, all wide eyes and pouched bottom lip.
"Yes." River nodded, face cracking into a wide smile. "I think I will."
"Good." He could breathe suddenly. "'Cause I got lots of ideas. You could..."
Her smile disappeared, replaced with a predatory scowl, her eyes turning cold. He stopped speaking, letting his voice trail off into the air.
"I will do it." Crisp words, spoken calmly as her hand closed over the package and slowly drew it across the table towards her and away from him. "Me."
"But..." She warned him off with another scowl. "Aw, c'mon River."
"Trust." One simple word, bitten out like a challenge. "I know how to do it."
"Yeah." Somehow, his voice didn't sound anywhere near as sure as hers. "Okay."
She was happy again, or so it seemed to Jayne, and went back to her breakfast. He shifted on his feet, unsure of what to do or where to go. Or even how long to wait. He wanted to know.
"Will you...?"
"Yes." She answered.
"And the color...?"
"Yes." Didn't even look up at him.
"Don't forget..."
"Of course not."
She was starting to sound tetchy.
"Okay, then." He wiped his hands down the side of his pants and breathed in. He couldn't stop himself blurting out the next few words. "And lots of yellow like the sun!"
That done, he turned to leave. It probably didn't even need to be said, she'd probably known all along, better than him even, exactly how to make it perfect. For some reason, though, he had to add something, had to speak the last few words.
"I know!" Her voice cracked with frustration and he turned to see an expression on her face that she'd only ever used with Simon before, when he was being a right pain in the ass. "Now leave me alone. Go. Go on. Shoo."
Prompt #059: Puppet.
Word Count: 539.THE COUNSEL.
A door above them slammed and Kaylee smiled as she looked up from the various engine parts she had spread on an old sheet in the cargo bay. At this point, there was probably more grease on her than there was anywhere else, but considering that was the whole point of cleaning said parts, she didn't mind.
"Hey Cap'n." She could see him brace himself for the onslaught of her cheerfulness and it only made her double her efforts with an extra wide grin. "Inara throw you out again?"
"She didn't..." He paused. "There may have been words."
His hand came out as he reached the bottom of the stairs and she ducked her head into the caress. A slight cough sounded from the weight bench behind them.
"Careful Mal." Jayne clicked the barbell back into place and sat up. "She's spoken for."
Kaylee laughed as Mal pantomimed springing his hand back as if burned.
"Was about to ask you why you were camped out here when had work to do." Mal folded his legs in underneath him as he sat down next to her and gestured back at Jayne. "Now I see what the appeal is."
"It's called spending time, Captain." She corrected with a pretend frown. "You oughtta try it some time."
"Yeah." Jayne added. "Then maybe Inara might now throw you out so much."
"She didn't..." He scowled and set his shoulders. "Woman's free to do whatever she wants."
"You're not fooling anyone." She teased. "We know."
"Right." Mal huffed. "You're getting worse than River with the knowing."
"I'd be careful if I were you." Jayne warned. "That girl'll hear you all the way across the ship. And she can kill you with her brain."
Kaylee giggled as Mal sighed.
"She can do no such thing."
"Yes I can." River's face popped out from over the gangway above them. "They're right. Listen to them."
It was a smug grin that greeted Mal when he looked back to Kaylee and sighed.
"Fine." His words might have agreed, but his voice still sounded stubborn and unrelenting. "Since you two are, apparently, our shipboard gurus and life coaches, what am I supposed to do?"
"Stop bein' such a hundan." Was Jayne's very helpful suggestion. "Tell her she looks real pretty. Girls like that."
"Yes, they do." Kaylee sent a smile his way as she nodded. "And tell her you like her dress. Inara has some real fine dresses."
"Stop callin' her a whore. Girls don't like that."
"Really?" Mal arched his brows at Jayne. "Is that so?"
"An' stop bein' so sarcastic." Kaylee added as she swatted his arm. "It wouldn't hurt you to be serious for once."
"You could always get her somethin' nice." Jayne paused. "If you had money, that is."
"Just to make this clear." Mal asked. "You're telling me... and not that this is an admission that there's anything to help me with or that I would need help with it if there was... that I should just be someone completely opposite as to who I am?"
"Yes." Beamed Kaylee.
"Should do it." Agreed Jayne.
"Or..." Kaylee nudged him. "You could just tell her the truth."
Mal's eyes widened.
"Tell her she looks pretty, huh?"
Prompt #060: Birthday.
Word Count: 649.SURPRISE.
"What are you doing?"
Jayne grinned and kept his hand wrapped around her head.
"Takin' you to dinner. What else would I be doin'?"
"Then why can't I see?" She whined. "What're you up to?"
"Nearly there. Lift your foot, there's a step." He guided her into the kitchen, nodding across the room at Mal standing by the light switch. His hand fell away from her eyes, but his other hand stayed at the small of her back. "Surprise!"
Kaylee blinked in the sudden light and sound as everyone yelled.
"What?" Her eyes lit up and she turned to Jayne. "What surprise?"
He gestured at the colored paper that crossed the room and dangled from the ceiling. There were packages sitting on the table that were wrapped in more of the colored paper. And a cake.
"It says Happy Birthday on the sign, don't it?"
"Yeah, but," She turned to him with a confused furrow in her brow. "Jayne, it ain't my birthday."
"This has gotta be a real surprise, then." He kissed the top of her head. "It musta been once, right? I figure we missed it in all the muddle a few months back. We went to all this trouble, so just you enjoy it."
He watched as she turned back to everyone with a glowing face. He'd known it wouldn't take long for her to just go with it. Kaylee wasn't ever one to throw away a chance to enjoy herself, not if everyone else was gonna join in and be happy while they were doin' it.
"Day is a form of solar measurement that has no meaning in the black, it's man made." He heard River telling her in an excited voice. "So we made this one for you."
"Really?" Kaylee all but glowed as she gripped his hand.
"Yes." River nodded. "And I made Jayne's gift to you."
"Hey now." He interrupted. "I helped."
"Yes." River agreed, but he heard her lean in close to Kaylee and whisper. "No, he didn't."
He leaned in close to the other ear.
"I did, too."
"Well." She grinned as she stepped forward. Jayne figured it was more to get away from them both than anything else. "Which one is it, then? I gotta see it."
Jayne picked up a small, flat present.
"Here." His mouth went dry just waiting for her to take it. "It's not much. Don't be expecting anything big or nothin'."
River glared at him.
"I'm sure it's very nice." Kaylee flashed him another grin as she began tearing at the paper. Her eyes went wide. "Oh. Oh, Jayne!"
She pulled him in for a hug.
"I helped!" River bounced on her toes. "Me!"
"Oh, River!" She turned and grabbed the girl in a hug, too. "Thank you, both!"
Kaylee couldn't stop staring at it, her big eyes drawn to the picture as if it were made of magnets. Jayne could understand, he wasn't sure what he'd expected, but River had done better than he'd hoped.
The letters of Kaylee's name stood out in bright, restored yellow. One of the butterflies had a strangely familiar pattern on its wings that made Jayne think of Hawaiian shirts. It did the same for Kaylee, too, he could tell from the way she ran her fingers over it again and again.
There were other personal touches in there, too, something small that was supposed to represent all of them. There was even a little Serenity flying in the middle of the 'a', where a red heart had once been.
Where the old one had been Kaylee before she'd come aboard Serenity, this one was Kaylee now. The Kaylee that he couldn't imagine being away from for more'n it took to do a job.
The Kaylee that was standing on the tips of her toes and kissing him to the sound of catcalls and hooting across the room.
Prompt #061: Music.
Word Count: 669.THE WALK.
"Guess that's it for me." Kaylee yawned. "Thanks guys."
"Wait!" Inara grabbed her hand. "Just a little bit more."
"More?" She furrowed her brows and turned to Jayne. "There's more?"
He shrugged at her.
"I've got..." Inara seemed to be waiting for something and, all of a sudden, Kaylee knew what it was and a smile spread over her face. "... this. Happy Non Birthday."
The sound coming over the com speakers was tinny and off key, but at that moment Kaylee didn't care. It was the nicest music she'd ever heard. Her head swam with all the dazzle of the ball.
"Thanks Inara." She leaned over to kiss Inara's cheek.
"You're welcome." Inara smiled, then gave her a small smile. "Maybe Jayne will ask you to dance?"
"Oh, hey." Jayne frowned. "I don't dance."
Kaylee turned to him with her best wheedling face on.
"C'mon, Jayne, I didn't get to dance last time." But his face didn't seem like it was about to relent. She went for the big guns and pouched out her bottom lip. "Please?"
"No." He set his jaw. "I ain't got no skill for it."
"It's her party." Mal interjected. "Which was, I might add, all your idea. Get up and give her once dance."
If looks could kill, Kaylee was fairly sure the ship would have no captain anymore.
"It's okay." She sighed. "It don't matter none."
"Jayne." Even Zoe was frowning. "You're a real jackass sometimes. You know it?"
"No, it's fine." A quick shrug of her shoulders and Kaylee wondered whether any of them actually bought it. Not that it mattered. "But you'll still walk me to my bunk, won't you?"
The way everybody in the room was glaring at him, she figured Jayne had no choice but to agree to that small stipulation. Her hand hovered in mid air as she waited for him to take it.
It surprised her, sometimes, how well they fit, her small hand being engulfed in his large one. Both their skins were rough and callused in areas, on the palms and the thumbs and the meaty pads of them.
She held his hand tightly and kept her arm rigid as she made slow steps across the room. Half way over, she stopped short and gasped as she pulled his arm back, turning their bodied towards each other.
"Oops! I forgot..."
"Kaylee..." He sighed.
"Oh, alright then." She smiled up at him and continued forward. "We'll just go."
"Kaylee." It was more of a warning this time.
She could see Inara suppress a smile across the room.
"What?" Turning towards him with large, innocent eyes, she grabbed his other hand and they stood face to face. "What's wrong?"
He glared down at her as she shuffled her feet into his, forcing them to move.
"This is dancing."
"No, it's not." She smiled sweetly. "It's just you, walkin' me to my bunk."
He sighed again.
"I don't ever recall walkin' sideways."
"Really?" A puzzled look crossed her features. "I can't imagine why."
"If you're gonna do this..." Kaylee wasn't sure what it was, maybe a touch of disappointment or fear crossed her eyes when she looked into his, but all of a sudden his grip on her right hand got a lot tighter, he pulled her closer and his left hand made its way to her waist. "then at least do it proper like."
"Thank you." She whispered.
"Yeah." He whispered back. "You owe me."
"Well, Miss Serra." Mal's voice sounded clipped and formal. "Seems like the time. Will you do me the honor?"
Kaylee saw surprise light up Inara's face as Mal held out his hand to her, she couldn't suppress another smile as Inara accepted and another couple joined what was soon becoming the dance floor.
"River?" Simon held out his hand, too, but Kaylee saw her give a quick shake of her head and he turned away. "Zoe? Would you like this dance?"
"Delighted."
Kaylee sighed and rested her head on Jayne's shoulder.
Prompt #062: Sound.
Word Count: 384.SYMPHONY.
He was a symphony sometimes.
Kaylee liked that word, it sounded a lot better than 'a whole bunch of sounds' and it wasn't anything as flowery as callin' him music. A smile lingered over her face when she thought about the face he'd pull if she tried to call him something he'd think as girly.
But symphony was just this side of manly and it was touch and go if he'd even know what it was if she ever slipped up and let the word come out of her mouth.
She liked times like this, hadn't ever said it out loud and sometimes she thought she should. At least once. She should tell Jayne how much she adored climbing into his bunk, or hers, to find him already sleeping.
The way she curled up into his hulking heat, pressing her whole body up against him, ankles to ankles, hip to hip, arm slung over his chest and face pressed right into the curve of his neck.
He didn't ever wake up when she did that, just let his limbs mold around her, adjusted to her in his sleep.
Then she'd lie there, listening to the pounding whoosh of his blood pumping under her ear, the thump of his heart beating loud a little off to the side, the whistle of air through his nose. Sometimes there'd be a rumble of a snore growling up from this throat and even that she didn't mind.
There were plenty of people that complained about snoring, but Kaylee didn't.
And all of that was just when he was sleeping.
She could close her eyes and identify his mood just on the noises he made when he was awake. She knew the speed with which he made them: the sudden, loud violence or the soft, slow surety. The crisp sound of a blade against his throat. The snap of his teeth through an apple. The swish of cloth being put on or taken off his skin.
Kaylee smiled and felt her eyes close over more fully, her limbs grow heavy and unwieldy as she gave herself over to the drunkenness of almost sleep. A small shift as she dug more closer to him and his arm tightened around her.
She could sleep in the roar of all his sounds.
Prompt #063: Silence.
Word Count: 582.ALARM.
"Kaylee."
Jayne whispered her name softly, as softly as he could and it still sounded too loud as he shook her shoulder.
"Kaylee, c'mon, wake up."
"Mmphwah?" She blinked and a warm smile greeted him as she turned onto her back. "What?"
"Shh." He held a finger to her lips. "Somethin's wrong."
That was pretty much all it took. Her eyes flew open and he could tell she was already wide awake. The sudden spike in her eyes and the way her face paled gave him an edge he didn't want to think about.
Couldn't think about if he was gonna be any use.
"Engine stopped runnin'." He whispered again and he could see her scan the walls, as if they held any answer. "Ship's powered down. We're floating."
He registered the very moment it dawned on her how quiet everything was. Even when no one was making any sounds, there was always noise on board. Always. Even if you didn't notice it anymore, it was always there.
It just made the absence of it so much louder now.
"The others?" She kept her voice low, too.
He shrugged, knowing exactly what she was thinking, of when and who.
It had been a quiet few months after Miranda, but none of 'em had really thought it was over. They'd all been waiting for the shoe to drop, the next bounty hunter lookin' for coin, the next Operative just followin' orders.
"I'm gonna go check."
Her hand dragged softly on his arm as he sat up.
"Listen." He turned back to look at her, tried not to see the tightness of her face, the fear in it. "You lock that door from the inside after I go, okay? You lock it an' don't open it for anyone but me."
Her teeth bit down on her lip, but she nodded at him. Gorram, they had to be in her bunk tonight, didn't they? Most of his ladies were stored well in his own bunk, locked up tight. Locked up nice and safe and far from his reach now when he wanted them.
"Jayne?" Even whispering, he could hear her voice tremble. "Be careful?"
She stood up and followed him to the door.
Damn, but this wasn't what he needed. This was exactly why a merc did better on his own, traveling for no one but himself. The minute he starts worryin' about takin' a shot, 'cause there's someone waiting for him... well, that's the minute he becomes a useless merc.
Jayne kissed the top of her head as an answer.
"Lock the door."
The door didn't even hiss when he pushed it open.
"Gorramit!" He couldn't help the burst of air that came out of his throat. "Mal!"
"Jayne." Mal stood by the door. "Kaylee in there? The engine's gone."
"Yeah, we know." He could already hear shuffling below him. "Why can't you use the com like normal people?"
"That's blown too." The look Mal was givin' him made Jayne bristle. "I looked over what I could, it's not the catalyzer."
"Cap'n." Kaylee chided as her body scrambled right over Jayne's up the ladder, warmth pressing right past him. He could just about feel the relief pouring from her. "Engine's made up of more than one part."
"But..." Mal pouted. "That's the only part I know."
"Warning." A loud voice suddenly broke the silence. "Main power down. Auxiliary life support activated."
"Yeah." Jayne grumbled, eyes looking up at the walls. "Now you tell us."
Prompt #064: Ocean.
Word Count: 620.RIPTIDES.
There was a very fine line between helpless and helpful, she knew it. When Jayne first woke her up, she was the former, breath tight in her lungs and sweat beading on her skin, her mind a mix of images that she couldn't stand. Had made good and sure over the last year that she wouldn't have to stand.
Sometimes she choked on it, how easily that could be ripped away and she ended up cringing behind Jayne or someone else. Nothin' but the bitty girl they used to tease her about being. Sometime after Early they'd stopped, didn't make fun of her being too girly to stand up for herself, but she still heard the words.
With the appearance of Mal and the knowledge they were alone and relatively safe, she'd slipped right into the latter. Intruders that wanted a fight she couldn't deal with. Engines that stopped working, that was her specialty, that was when she took charge and had the answers others didn't.
Her shoulders twisted as she reached in under the engine, hands sliding over parts she'd recognize through touch before sight.
"There." Kaylee wasn't even sure if anyone was still there to hear her. "I think I found it."
"How is she?" Apparently Mal was.
"I ain't gonna lie to you, Captain." She let her face fall into a worried crease. "It's bad."
"Bad?" There was an edge to his voice. "Bad like, it's gonna take a while to fix it bad? Or bad like, I'm gonna end up bleeding and close to death again bad?"
Her fingers kept reaching and she stretched her arm further, deftly feeling around. The metal there was warm to the touch, warmer than it should have been, and she felt the residue of ash cling to her skin.
"Bad like, we're gonna have to land somewhere 'til I can fix her, bad. And that's only if we can find the parts."
"But you can land her?"
"Me? No."
There was a slight pause in the air and the unspoken knowledge of who she'd been talking about. It stung, worse than the caustic air that held the smell and taste of burning that stung their eyes. She looked at him and tried to smile an apology.
"Maybe?" She offered.
"It's okay." It wasn't in the words, so much as his voice and the way he ran a comforting hand down her shoulder. "I'll see what River can do. We were fairly close to Three Hills, last time I checked."
He walked out and left her with the engine.
"It's okay, baby." She whispered as she caressed the broken parts. "You'll be good as new soon. I promise."
It rolled over her like a wave when Serenity didn't answer. There was no thumping or whirs, no rhythmic pulsing that she knew as well as her own heartbeat. Nothing but her own hollow breathing echoed back at her.
Alone again. One of these days there wasn't going to be a miracle fixit and she wasn't going to have the answer. The edges of helplessness began to creep over her skin once more.
She slid out from the machine and sat up, resting her back against the wall and bringing her knees up to her chest. It was impossible to breathe through the riptides of it, the adrenaline that finished surging through and sat there, stagnating in her blood.
"You still in here?" Jayne folded up his body to sit down next to her. She felt his slow, steady gaze. "Hey, you okay?"
"Yeah." She used the palm of her hand to wipe away any tell tale moisture in her eyes before she let her head lean into his shoulder. "I am now."
Prompt #065: Vast.
Word Count: 371.TOW.
Jayne reached into the pit and grabbed her hand.
"You right?"
Her fingers curled around his.
"Yeah." Her face came into view and he could tell she was almost flush with her success, but things were still a little far from celebration. "We're attached."
Inara passed the message through the com to the bridge where, Jayne figured, Simon was relaying it through to the small tow ship that had recently just sealed over Serenity's airlocks.
"Will she hold?"
Kaylee gave him a look as she stood up.
"'Course she will, I know what I'm doin'."
"Yeah ya do."
And he kissed the top of her head.
They all felt the lurch of sudden movement. He guessed the message had gotten through fair enough and they were now bein' towed back down to Three Hills. Towing a ship through atmo was difficult at best, darn right risky at worst, but there wasn't much choice to be had.
Serenity had no engine. And a ship with no engine don't break atmo. Even Jayne knew that.
The three of them made their way up to the bridge to watch the approach. Simon and River were already sitting in the chairs. It felt kinda weird, the five of them steering the ship around without Mal or Zoe. They'd gone down in the second shuttle first thing to arrange all this.
The fiery haze of burning atmo broke and they got their first good look at Three Hills.
"That it is it?" Jayne sniffed. "Don't look like much."
"Aren't there supposed to be hills?" Simon asked, eyes searching the landscape. "You'd think there'd be at least one."
"Well." Inara lifted her chin in feigned disappointment. "I guess I can give up any hopes of replacing my lost clients with anyone here."
"Dunno, Inara." Jayne grinned. "Don't look like they'd have much of a whore house, reckon you'd be pretty popular."
Kaylee whacked him on the arm, but Inara just gave a tight smile in response.
"I choose to take that as a compliment."
River wrinkled her nose as she eyed the world, but she stayed silent.
Kaylee sighed and Jayne ran a hand down her arm.
"I wouldn't bet on finding any suitable parts here, either."
Prompt #066: Empty.
Word Count: 402.EMPTY BEDS.
She opened the hatch of his bunk and found the footing with her feet.
"So?"
His voice was already thick and drowsy.
"Just like I thought." Kaylee answered as she slid the coveralls off her shoulders. "Nothin' I can use, but we put an order through the cortex. Parts should be here in a day or so."
"Mm."
The heat of the planet was already filtering through Serenity's air flow and she stepped out of the pants, feeling air rush over her skin. It'd be just fine to sleep in nothin' but her shirt.
"Thought you'd be asleep by now."
Especially curled up to Jayne.
"Was waitin'." Came his reply in the dark. "Bed just feels wrong without you now."
"Looks wrong without me."
Even though she couldn't see it, couldn't see much at all. But she could feel it as she lifted the blanket and eased right into the wall of heat. Her body slid against his and she smiled as his arm reached around her waist to hold her tight.
"Was waitin'." He said again, mouth hot against the back of her neck. "Couldn't sleep without ya. M'all tense."
"Tense?" She could play dense, 'cause she liked when he nipped at her ear for it. "You want me to get you a smoother? Relax you some."
"Don't need no drugs, babygirl."
It was gravel and sand, his voice, everything that cracked her open.
Sometimes he liked it fast, but sometimes he liked it real slow. Liked to wrap his arms around her from behind and trap her hands up close to her chest, liked to press his front all up against her back. Surround her with his body so she couldn't move at all.
He'd grind so slow against her, work her up into a writhing, whimpering, needy little mass of flesh as he placed soft, light kisses on the back of her neck, down her shoulders and up again.
And then he'd slide whatever clothing they had to the side, not even bothering to take them off, just moved 'em so they weren't in the way. She couldn't stop pressing back, pushing her rump against his hips, couldn't stop the slow moan as he slid right in.
With the push and the pull and him holding her still, sucking the sizzle right out of her skin, Kaylee felt herself tighten, felt everything build into a crescendo that crashed brilliantly.
Prompt #067: Choices.
Word Count: 257.CHUMP.
"How 'bout now?"
Jayne frowned into the hat that covered his face as he lay on the ground.
"No."
"C'mon Jayne." Kaylee leaned down close to him and it was like she was trying to force the cheer out of her voice and right into him. "There's a whole planet we could be exploring."
"It's a rock." He mumbled, stretching his limbs out into the heat of the dust. "There ain't nothin' to see. Just more rock."
There was a shift and he could feel her sigh next to him. Yeah, like he needed to feel like more of a chump. He was right, of course, there weren't nothin' on this rock he wanted or needed to see an' if they were getting their parts tomorrow and she could fix the ship, then he wouldn't have to.
"It can't be all bad."
For a while, when he'd first met her, Jayne had spent a long time tryin' to figure out how one person could be so damn happy all the time. Seein' good in everything, hell, she probably found a bright side to having that bullet rip through her belly.
"Fine." He lifted the hat from his face and blinked up into the sun. "Which way we headed?"
He'd worked it out. Kaylee didn't come about her whole stock of sunshine and smiles just 'cause they fell outta the sky. She chose it, she chose to look at everything that way, 'cause she liked finding the good.
"You choose." She grinned down at him. "I'll just follow."
Prompt #068: Lost.
Word Count: 229.DIRECTION.
"Jayne?" Kaylee shielded her eyes with her left hand and reached behind her to feel for him with her right. "Do you even know where we are?"
His bulk brushed up against her and she closed her fingers around his arm.
"We're on a rock." He sighed and she turned to grin up at him. "We been on a rock, all day."
She let her hand trail up his arm, over his shoulder and across the curve of his collar bone. Slowly, although she could tell by the glint in his eyes that he knew what she was doing, she trailed her hand down his other arm.
"You know."
Her hand reached his, stretching out his limbs as she struggled to pry the canteen from his hand. He fought to hold on to it for a second, before releasing it. She could tell by his playful mood that he wasn't worried in the slightest.
"'Course I know where we are." The way he watched her when she swallowed made Kaylee figure they should head back to the ship soon. "What kind of tracker you take me for?"
"One whose been watchin' my ass more'n the direction we been walking."
He laughed as he gave her a quick whack across the said appendage.
"You just stick with me, Kaylee." He took the canteen back. "An' I'll never get us lost."
Prompt #069: Found.
Word Count: 359.DECLARATION.
He took her face in his hands, fingers spreading over her cheeks and under her chin as he turned her head to the side a little and pointed off into the distance.
"You see those big boulders over there?" She nodded against the weight of his hands. "Serenity's just behind 'em."
Jayne felt her mold in against him and he let his eyes slide down over her.
"I love it when you do that." She whispered up and her words made his breath catch in his throat. "You always make me feel safe."
"Yeah?" Couldn't help the husk in his voice as he dipped his mouth to her cheek. "Well, I love makin' you feel safe."
Small, throaty laughter and his hands smoothed over her hair, down her neck and to her waist, pulling her to him, all up against him. Her flesh was always soft and supple under his fingers, he could feel them press into the sides of her hip.
"God." She groaned. "I love when you do that."
"Really?" He slid his tongue up the side of her neck. "That's good, 'cause I love doin' it."
Her hands were running up his arms then, small, deft fingers pressing into the grooves of them. She knew the kinks of his body, knew where the tightest knots in his muscles were and she pressed firmly into one of them now.
"I love makin' your face do that." She teased.
He growled low in his throat and turned his head to kiss her on the lips, hard.
"Yeah?" Didn't even know the words were comin' out of his mouth until it was too late. "Well I just love you."
Kaylee gasped against him and he knew he couldn't take the words back. Suddenly, he was sure he didn't want to. She pulled back from him, looked up into his eyes. Girl was so surprised, she'd even forgotten to smile.
"Really?" He nodded at her. "I love you, too, Jayne."
"Glad that's settled." He nodded, trying not to let her see the grin that was about to break out all over his face. "Now let's get back while we can."
Prompt #070: Full.
Word Count: 393.STONE.
She couldn't stop glowing. Kaylee didn't know how anyone else couldn't see it, couldn't look at her and just know something was different. Had anyone asked, she would not have been able to tell them exactly how long it had taken them to walk back, how many steps it had been.
Hell, far as she knew, they'd passed an elephant and a unicorn playing jump rope while singing Happy Birthday to a leprechaun.
Had they asked how many times he'd turned to sneak a smile at her when he thought she wasn't looking, she'd be able to answer that no problems. Not a one. Fourteen. Not counting the time she'd turned quick enough to catch him and smiled back.
He'd said it and she'd said it back and it was the first time.
Now they were sittin' at tables set up just outside the ship, eating dinner that they'd helped some of the locals make up. Far as she could tell, they were friendly folk. Maybe a little skittish and too eager to finish up and go home, but friendly other than that.
Her hand slid under the table and found his waiting by her leg. The glow factor of her skin amped up and she had to bite down on her lip. Across the table, River was grinning at them both.
But Simon wasn't. His eyes burned and she watched him reach out for the glass in front of him. He swallowed in one long pull and if the glass hit the table a little harder than it should have, almost nobody noticed.
River flinched a little and Kaylee let her fingers loosen until they were out of Jayne's grasp, bringing her hand back up to the table.
"You ok?" Jayne's breath echoed against her neck and she felt her skin prickle.
"Yeah." A quick turn of the head so she could look in his face. It didn't hurt that to do so, she had to put a little distance between them. "'Course I am."
He smiled at her, all crinkly eyed and it made her smile back.
"I need air." Simon declared and stood up a little suddenly. "I'm going for a walk."
Kaylee couldn't look up, her chopsticks clattered down to her plate and she pushed her food away. A stone sank into her belly, heavy and solid and familiar.
Prompt #071: Fall.
Word Count: 363.THE WARNING.
"How long you people gonna be here?"
The pastor bit off a piece of meat from his fork. He was nice enough, a bit gruff, but Jayne couldn't have cared less right then. Not when he had Kaylee sitting next to him.
"Not long." Mal answered for all of them. "We got a few parts comin' in. Thought they'd be here by now, should be here by tomorrow. We'll be outta your hair by then."
"No rush, no rush." The man tried to smile as he ran his eyes over their table. "Just, you know, be careful."
"Careful?"
Zoe looked at the man and Jayne felt himself looking as well. No matter how distracted he was, one thing he'd learned was to pay attention when Zoe's voice got like that.
"Don't wander off." He spoke mostly to Mal, keeping eye contact. "Especially the ladies here. Don't let them go out alone."
"You got a problem?" Jayne kept his voice level.
"Not so much." The pastor was quick to reassure them. "Just the usual, you know. Sometimes people go missing."
"Missing?" Mal arched his brows. "You got people going missing and there ain't no alerts posted on this planet?"
"No, no." The man tried to smile again. Jayne felt his own eyes narrow in suspicion. "Nothing like that. It's not a problem, just a universal thing. It happens everywhere."
"Bullshit it happens. An alert stop the trade 'round here, will it?"
But Mal's fierce look stopped any further words and Jayne chewed on a potato to cover his frustration.
"Don't you have some form of law enforcement?" Inara asked casually, but Jayne could see the thread of calculation underneath.
"We have police, of a sort." The Pastor sniffed. "They keep things reasonably quiet."
"Simon." River said, her head turning to look off into the dark. "He walked off. Someone should..."
'Course he did. Jayne let his fork hit his plate and stood up.
"I'll go get him."
"I'll help." Kaylee was quick to stand. "I know where he likes..."
"No." Jayne was even quicker to stop her and he felt eyes on him. "You stay here with the others. I'll find him just fine."
Prompt #072: Myth.
Word Count: 578.CIRCLE.
Kaylee found him hunched over by some rocks.
"Simon!" He flinched away when she reached out to touch him. "We were worried."
"No." His voice was slurred and she realized he must have drunk more than she originally thought. "You weren't worried about me."
"Yeah, I was. We all were." She tucked her dress in under her thighs as she sat down next to him in the dust. "You might've missed the pastor's warning, he said..."
Her words trailed off when his hand rested on her naked knee.
"Kaylee?"
Soft and whispered. She had to close her eyes for a second.
"Don't, Simon."
Very carefully, very deliberately, she lifted his hand up and placed it back on his lap.
"Yes! Of course not, sorry." She hadn't heard him sound so confused and baffled and beaten down before. "It's just, do you ever...?"
"No." It was stilted again, awkward like it hadn't been for such a long time. "No, Simon, I don't ever."
"I do." A sigh, so deep his whole body moved with it. "Sometimes I think I could be better, that if I could just show you..."
"I don't wanna see." Kaylee swallowed and looked up at the sky, suddenly wishing that they'd never been forced to land here. "You and me, Simon, we're done. If we ever really started in the first place, we're done now."
"But..."
"But nothing." There was a hard edge to her voice now and she let it stay there. It had to be said and maybe she'd made a mistake in not saying it before now. "I gave you plenty of chances. For a whole year, I gave you everything I knew how."
His eyes swam to focus in on hers.
"And by the time you started to give back, I guess there was nothing left. You made me empty." She couldn't look at the way he flinched if she wanted to keep talking. "By the time we got together, I think I was more in love with the idea of you than the reality. We, the two us? We were a myth."
"I'm sorry."
"Yeah." The sadness in her voice matched his, wistful and pain filled. "Me, too."
Silence stretched out and they sat, side by side, looking up into a black sky.
"Jayne, though?"
She sighed. Her answer was so simple that it couldn't be mistaken for anything else, there was no room for argument in the way she made him see it.
"He gives back." She nudged him again, tried to smile. "Not to mention he'll kick your ass eight shades of black an' blue you keep this up."
"Most likely." He turned to face her, reaching out to run a finger through the hair over her ear. "I miss you, though. Nothing will stop that."
Her hand came out and caught his, holding it for a second by the side of her face. He'd done it countless times before and each one had a different meaning. This one felt like goodbye.
"I miss you, too." They shared a soft, sad smile. "I still care for you, Simon, I probably always will..."
She didn't get to finish that sentence, didn't get to say that it was in a different way than it had been and they could never go back. Because they both heard a snap and turned to look at the noise.
Jayne's eyes flashed something that made her stomach twist into knots and stole her breath.
Prompt #073: Secret.
Word Count: 668.BRUISE.
"Jayne!"
He breathed in and kept walking, feet stomping into the ground.
"Jayne, wait!"
She was running after him and he couldn't talk to her right now. Knew that if he stopped to face her he was gonna say something he'd regret. He couldn't get the image outta his head, the two of 'em so close and her sayin' those words.
"I got nothin' to say." He called it over his shoulder. "Best go back."
"Well I got plenty to say!"
There was a scramble behind him and he heard the sound of gravel shifting and sliding. His first instinct was to turn and check if she was okay. He fought it. He fought it hard as his fingers clenched.
"Jayne!" It was the fear in her voice that made him stop, the hitch of her throat when she hit the y. "You can't leave me here."
It hit him then, just what she meant. Damn it. The pastor's words came back to him and he remembered the warning that they shouldn't be out alone. Especially not the girls and especially not at night.
"What do you want me to say, Kaylee?"
He still couldn't turn to look at her, didn't want to see her face flushed with embarrassment or, worse, paled and drawn with tears. Didn't think he could take it if she cried on him.
"You don't understand, Jayne." She was getting closer to him now, walking towards him and he stiffened, prayed that she wouldn't touch him. "It wasn't what it looked like."
"What?" Couldn't help himself, he had to spin around and face her. "You tellin' me you weren't close up with him, his hand in your hair and you tellin' him how much you still care for him?"
"It wasn't like..."
"You made me..." He bit his lip and his hands wrung into themselves. "I said I loved you, Kaylee. An' I don't say it often."
"I know." She was reaching out, slowly, as if to a wild animal, as if she didn't wanna startle him away. "I know, Jayne. I said it back, remember?"
He stepped back, away from her.
"Fat lotta good it did." He made his voice low and cruel. "I thought your word meant somethin', Kaylee. Guess I was wrong."
Her face looked like he just slapped her.
"Jayne, listen to me!" She stamped her foot and there it was, she was cryin'. "I was tellin' him I cared, but not like it used to be. 'Cause I'm with you, now. That's what I was sayin'."
God, he wanted to believe her, wanted to believe it so bad.
"Really?"
"Yes!" Relief flooded her features and she took the last few steps to meet him. "Yes, that's all it was."
Jayne still couldn't move as she wrapped her arms around his waist and pushed against him in a hug, burying her cheek against his shoulder. His arms stayed out straight, hanging heavy in the air.
She pulled herself back a bit, so she could look up at him.
"Why?" He asked. "Why were you sayin' it all now?"
"Because." Her voice rushed in to answer, quick to reassure him. "'cause he was all on about second chances and how he could do better and I kept tellin' him it was over."
"I thought that was done?" Suddenly it made more sense, much more sense to him than anything else his too slow to think, but quick to get angry and explode brain had come up with in the last ten minutes. "I thought he was all good with that?"
"Not really." Her voice quivered again and he let his hand drift up to the back of her head, curved around her skull. She still fit against him in every way. "He's been a bit tetchy, lately. I don't think he's okay with it at all."
"You knew?" It was like a bruise he couldn't stop pressing, couldn't stop trying to make it hurt. "You knew an' you didn't tell me?"
Prompt #074: Truth.
Word Count: 488.KNOWING.
"Why you gotta do that, Jayne?" She shrugged out of his arms. "You either believe me or you don't. Don't keep pushin' at it."
The look he gave her made her shrivel a little bit more.
"This ain't about me, Kaylee, I ain't done nothin' wrong."
"Neither have I!"
Oh, but this was gonna run around and around in circles and she didn't know how to make it right. She hadn't realized how cold it was getting, out here at night.
Now that she was standing all by herself.
"I don't know." And he didn't, she could see it in his eyes. "I don't know what to think, Kaylee."
She wasn't sure how, but these words cut her more deeply than any accusation. He could look her right in the face and not know whether she was telling the truth and the knowledge of that slid over her skin.
"Don't you trust me?" She tried to keep the tears from falling, she did, but they pricked at her eyes, burning like little drops of acid. "Jayne, I wouldn't..."
"But you did. You already did, once."
The words hit her like bricks, hard and fast, slamming into her and making her gasp out loud. His face registered shock, as if he hadn't been expecting them, himself.
She saw it in slow motion, the way he reached out to take her arm and she couldn't imagine why. Her face folded into a flinch as she twisted away from him.
"Don't. Don't you touch me."
"Kaylee..." He sounded miserable and she couldn't help but hope he felt it, too. "I didn't mean..."
"Yes you did." She bit through the tremble of her jaw, didn't want to start bawling out loud right now. "You meant every word of it. And you wanted to hurt me."
"No." Even his soft voice sounded hard. "I never did anything to hurt you, Kaylee."
"Really?" She gaped at him. "'Cause it sure feels like it now."
"Don't do that." It almost sounded like the tables had turned, that he was pleading with her instead. "C'mon, Kaylee, don't do that."
"Do what?" She glared. "You're throwing things in my face and I didn't do anything to you. I didn't..."
It was messy, the sobs that burst from her throat, bubbling up and making her clutch her elbows in close, hugging herself.
"Shh." His hand settled on her arm and she didn't throw him off this time, didn't skitter our of his reach as he pulled her to him, his voice a blanket that covered the jagged rawness she could feel bleeding from her skin. "It's okay, Kaylee. C'mon, it's okay."
"No." But she was already melting into his arms, already sighing against him, curling into the way his hand came up to pet her hair. "It's not alright, Jayne, I didn't... I wouldn't... not to you... "
"I know." Soft and soothing, he cooed at her. "I know."
Prompt #075: Lie.
Word Count: 618.STING.
He had no choice but to stand there, with his arms wrapped around her and holding her close.
Jayne couldn't stop to think on why it felt better to him that she felt worse, he didn't want to know what made him do it. He'd always figured himself a mean sonuvabitch, but somehow Kaylee had always been past that.
He'd thought through his every move with her, been so very careful, had never wanted to throw away any moment and now, now he'd just gone and ground her into a pile of quivering dust just to lighten the image burned into his brain.
"We should get a move on." Suddenly, it was more than just a way to get her to look up. His eyes scanned the rock crop in front of them. "You know where we are?"
"What?" She shifted in his arms to look around. "No, I just followed you."
"Come on, then." He took her hand tightly in his and didn't give her enough room to pull out of it. "We gotta get back."
They walked like that for a few minutes and he could feel the tension building between them. He knew she wouldn't leave it be, she just had to bring it up right then so they could be right. That was fine, he agreed with that, as long as he could keep an eye out and try to figure out where they were.
"I wouldn't lie to you, Jayne."
"I know." There was a bunch of trees to the left and he tried to remember if there were trees in sight of the ship. "An' I'm sorry I said you did."
Or the large expanse of rocks to the right. He definitely remembered rocks, didn't think there'd been so many of them, but still. Rocks.
"There." And he started leading them towards it. "An' I wouldn't lie to you, either, Kaylee."
She snorted a little and he stopped to look at her.
"What? I wouldn't." Her eyebrow rose. "Not about the important stuff, anyway."
If they could just get to and over those damned rocks, Jayne was sure they'd be able to see the ship, sitting on her haunches, gray and sulking with being left useless. Great, now she had him thinkin' on the ship like a person.
"What about that time I burned the stew last week?" She challenged him. "An' you sat there eatin' it like nothin' was wrong with a big smile on your face."
"That's not important!" It took him a second of dragging her to the rocks before he thought about what he'd just said. "An' I didn't lie. It tasted just fine."
"Liar." She shot back.
He frowned as felt he felt the pin pricks in the back of his neck and his fingers ran over the two small bumps there.
"Kaylee..."
"Oh, come on." She turned to sigh at him. "I was just joking."
"Gorram it. I told you to stay with the others. You shoulda..." He dropped to his knees. "Run."
"Jayne!"
The world got kinda blurry and he tried to blink it off, tried to tell if he really felt her kneeling next to him, her hands running over his arms and shoulders, her voice cracking.
"I said run." But he couldn't figure if the words had come out or not. "Kayl..."
"Well, well."
That was definitely the cold feel of a gun against his head. Jayne heard Kaylee squeal and turned to see her being dragged to her feet by two men. He lunged forward and felt the gun hit the side of his head for all his trouble.
"Didn't your momma ever tell you not to talk to ladies like that?"
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Title: Pieces: the third quarter.
Series Name: Pieces
Author: Jacqui [email]
Details: Series | R | het | 64k | 01/09/06
Characters: Malcolm, Zoe, Kaylee, Inara, Jayne, Simon, River
Pairings: Jayne/Kaylee
Summary: Sometimes pieces fit, sometimes they dont and sometimes they can't be put back together.
Sequel to: Pieces: the second quarter.
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