Inara sat alone in the dining hall sipping at her mug of steaming hot tea. With a quiet sigh she closed her eyes, deeply breathing in the aromatic fragrance and allowing it to calm her mind and her senses. She had been back on board the ship for less than a day, but what she had seen already had her confused, concerned and slightly amused.

It was clear that the overarching dynamic between the ship’s merc and the pilot had shifted, even if the two had not realized it. It was as though the two were in some sort of complex ritualistic dance. River became acutely aware of Jayne’s proximity whenever he entered a room, and Jayne seemed to search out ways to be close to her. Whether or not it was intentional was what confused her.

It took less than an hour for Inara to realize that Jayne was only pretending to be interested in Kaylee and even less time for her to realize that Simon was completely aware of this fake interest. As far as she could tell, Kaylee and Simon had some sort of convoluted plan in motion to force Jayne and River to confront their feelings for one another.

It was beginning to make Inara’s head ache. Sipping at her tea, she leaned back slightly in the chair and thought about what she could do. She was almost certain Jayne was somewhat aware of his own feelings. The man, although brutish, was self-aware enough and knew what he wanted. River, on the other hand, had no experience with this sort of situation and might need some prompting.

Inara glanced up as the current object of her musings walked into the dining hall. Smiling lightly to herself, she watched as River puttered around the kitchen for a moment before sitting down at the table across from her. River fidgeted for a few moments before she sighed loudly. She folded her arms on the table as she rested her chin on her hands and stared intently over at Inara.

“Something on your mind, mei mei,” Inara questioned as she placed her mug carefully in front of her.

“Yes,” River said quietly, her eyes downcast. Inara reached across the table and gently touched River’s arm.

“You can tell me what’s bothering you, River,” she said kindly. River paused before looking up at the Companion.

“It’s hard to say,” River replied. “There is no prior frame of reference from which I can draw conjectures to my current dilemma.”

“That’s why we have friends, River,” Inara smiled at the young girl. “So that those who do have prior experience can help those that don’t.”

River looked deep in thought as she pondered Inara’s statement.

“It’s very problematic,” she said after a moment of reflection. “And I think the cause of my distress is Jayne.”

“Really?” Inara took a sip of her tea and tried to appear surprised at River’s statement. River simply nodded, too distracted by her current problems to correctly pick up on Inara’s thoughts.

“I agreed to help Kaylee make Simon jealous so he would pay more attention to her,” she began.

“Oh, I think Kaylee mentioned that,” Inara interrupted. She glanced into her empty tea cup and looked back at River. “I think I’m going to make some more tea. Would you like some, River?”

River nodded and sat back in her chair, picking at an invisible piece of lint on her skirt.

“So you and Kaylee wanted to make Simon jealous. How does this involve Jayne,” Inara prompted as she puttered around the kitchen.

“The big ape man was supposed to pay more attention to Kaylee and Simon was supposed to get mad because he is a boob,” River replied. “Then Simon was supposed to take Kaylee out more and make her happy.”

Inara poured the hot water into two tea cups and stirred in some sugar. She carefully carried the cups over to the table and placed on in front of River, who lightly blew at the steam rising from the top.

“Is this plan working?” Inara said after a moment.

“No!” River exclaimed as she slammed her mug down on the table and splashed some hot liquid over the side and onto her hand. Inara jumped up and ran over to the sink to grab a cold cloth.

“Oh do be careful, River,” she exclaimed as she pressed the cloth to River’s hand. River winced as the cool cloth touched the hot skin. Taking the cloth out of Inara’s hand, she waved the woman away.

“I’m fine,” she said, biting back some tears as Inara sat down beside her. “Frustrated, but fine.”

“River, why are you so frustrated?” Inara said, a note of concern touching her voice. “This isn’t like you.”

“Yes it is!” she replied, the cloth lying forgotten on the table. “Just never been able to express it before.”

“So why don’t you tell me why you’re frustrated,” Inara said, taking River’s uninjured hand. “Maybe I can help.” River sniffled back a few tears and took a shaky breath.

“Simon doesn’t seem bothered by it,” she replied. “But Jayne is always with Kaylee so I don’t know why he isn’t upset.”

“Why are you so upset?” Inara asked gently. River glared at her out of the corner of her eye.

“Because Simon isn’t.”

“Simon is a big boy. I’m sure he trusts Kaylee’s judgment.”

“But Jayne is being very convincing.” Inara hid her smile by pretending to dab at her lips with a napkin.

“Yes,” Inara replied. “But he also has his own code of honor. I truly believe he is just trying to help and would never cross the line with Kaylee.”

“He is very honorable,” River was thinking intently as she cradled her burned hand.

“He loves Kaylee like a sister,” Inara responded. River nodded silently.

“I know,” she said after a moment. Inara took a moment to carefully ponder her next words.

“So why are you so bothered by this?” she questioned gently. River looked up at the Companion and a look of realization dawned across her face.

“I’m the one that’s jealous.”

A few hours later River sat in the infirmary bandaging up her burned hand. The water was hotter than she realized and now her skin was red and raw.

What makes a person jealous?

Jayne’s words echoed through her mind and she couldn’t get them to stop repeating. What made a person jealous?

Well, the obvious answer was seeing that person express an interest in another person even if that interest was faked. It was clear why she was drawn to Jayne. He was dangerous, just like she was. He didn’t mince words and spoke exactly what he thought. He did what he thought was right, even if it wasn’t and that made him honorable. He made mistakes and sometimes he could be loud and crude, but he had slowly integrated himself into this crew and now was as much a part of the family as she and Simon were.

No, the attraction was no mystery.

The dilemma facing her now was how she was going to deal with her newly realized jealousy.

After she carefully placed the unused bandages back in the med drawer, River meticulously cleaned up the med bay, leaving no trace that she had been in here. The last thing she need was Simon’s excessive worry.

The sound of footsteps echoed through the hall toward the med bay, causing River to pause in her motions. Her ears perked up at the heavy sound as she attempted to decipher the maker of the steps. The steps were too heavy to belong to Simon and too long to belong to Kaylee or Inara. They were too noisy to be Zoe’s footsteps and too slow to be Mal’s. That left only one person left.

Panicking slightly, River whipped around looking for a possible exit. She spotted the entrance to a duct in the ceiling, but before she could climb onto the metal gurney, Jayne walked in. He paused very slightly in his steps when he saw River and if she hadn’t been paying attention, she wouldn’t have noticed it. Nodding his head in acknowledgment, he walked over and pulled open the same drawer River had been carefully packing the bandages into. She watched as he pulled one out and placed it on the table, then looked away and blushed as he whipped off his shirt.

River vainly tried to keep her eyes off the man’s broad, muscled back, but couldn’t resist peeking at him out of the corner of her eye. She gasped when she saw the large gash that crossed his back.

“What?” he asked gruffly as he turned to look at her. Now that he was facing her, River had a difficult time keeping her eyes off his well defined chest.

“Um, that, um, well it looks like it hurts,” she stuttered, bringing her gaze up to meet his eyes. His bright blue piercing eyes.

“Ah it looks worse than it feels,” he replied with a chuckle as he raised an arm. “One of the boxes in the cargo bay fell down. Sharp corner just caught me. Barely missed my head.”

With his opposite hand, he tried to position the liquid bandage so that it would spray over the wound, but River could clearly see that his trajectory was off. Stepping forward, she took the bandage out of his hand.

“I can do it better,” she said quietly. Jayne nodded once and turned around so that his back was toward her. River drew in a deep breath and lightly touched the uninjured skin with one hand. She watched as the hair on Jayne’s back stood on end and listened as he drew in a sharp breath.

“I’m sorry,” she said as she quickly removed her hand. “Did that hurt?” Jayne shook his head without saying a word, so River gently placed her hand on one side of the gash and expertly applied the bandage.

“There,” she said as she finished, lightly stroking the seam where the bandage met the skin. “Finished.”

Jayne jumped away from her and quicky turned around, his shirt grasped lightly in one hand and a strange look etched across his face that concerned River.

“Did I do it wrong?” she asked in a worried tone. Jayne shook his head.

“Uh, no,” he replied, his voice quiet and slightly hoarse. “Didn’t do nothing wrong.”

As River watched Jayne pull his shirt over his head and stalk out of the infirmary, she couldn’t help a smile from coming to her face as she picked up on the wisps of emotions that emanated from him.

This was certainly an interesting development.

To say he was panicked would be an understatement. Jayne was downright petrified. He was terrified. He had done so well over the past few weeks at keeping his feelings buried and making sure that River had no idea what he was thinking, but he blew it tonight. He hadn’t been expecting to find River all alone in the med bay and when he saw her he’d had half a mind to turn around and come back later. Would’ve too if the cut hadn’t been so bad.

Then she touched him. Hadn’t been expecting that. Shivers ran up and down his spine as he remembered what her hand felt like. It was like it was burned into his skin and there was no way he could get it off.

Gorram it! He was turning into a ruttin’ teenager again! Couldn’t stop his thoughts after she touched him. They went places no innocent girl like River should see. But she was a Reader which meant she probably knew exactly what he was thinking.

With a frustrated groan, Jayne ran his fingers through his hair. Yep, she knew, that was for sure. One thing was for certain, after this game with Kaylee was finished he was gonna make sure River knew clear and proper just what his thoughts meant.