Prompt # 40 – Even big mercs have feelings

“But she does have an oddness to her,” Mal said, “And I ain't just talking about her proficiency with firearms. Girl knows things. Things she shouldn't. Things she couldn't.”

Jayne frowned and looked up at him, “Wha -- are you-are you sayin' she's a witch?”

Everyone gave him a look of disbelief, “Yes, Jayne. She's a witch. She has had congress with the beast,” Wash said with a grin.

“She's in congress?” Jayne asked in confusion.

“How did your brain even learn human speech?” Wash asked incredulously, “I'm just so curious.”

Jayne made a face at him, telling him that he wasn’t amused at all, hitting the sugar bowl in his direction.

“This isn't a joking matter,” Inara snapped at the two of them, “This is about our lives, and River's,” she added.

“Thank you,” Mal said with a sigh, before going back to the discussion at hand.

Jayne didn’t really listen to him, only keeping one ear open. He was too busy scowling at Wash who was still shaking his head in disbelief at him. Just cause he didn’t know lots of fancy words didn’t mean he was stupid.

“She's deeply intuitive,” he heard Simon say, “It's true that sometimes...”

“I don't think she's intuitive, Doctor,” Mal interrupted, “I think she's a reader.”

Jayne’s head snapped up at that. A reader? He’d met a couple of readers before. Creeped him the hell out. They knew things about him that no one else had ever known, things he’d never once mentioned to another living soul. Personal things, about preferences and the like. If the girl was a reader that meant she knew these things too.

“Whoa, back up a second,” he said to Mal, “Are you saying she really reads minds?”

“Or near enough,” Mal said with a slight nod, “Am I alone thinking along these lines?”

“No,” Book said quietly, his eyes cast down to the floor. Jesu. If the Sheppard thought it then it must be true.

“Well... I don't like the idea of someone hearin' what I'm thinkin',” Jayne snapped, especially not the thoughts he’d been havin lately about certain members of the crew. They were thoughts that if known were likely to get him shot.

“No one likes the idea of hearing what you're thinking,” Inara said, making everyone snort slightly in amusement.

Jayne glared at her before looking back at the table. He was sick of being made fun of like this by everyone. He was the butt of everyone’s joke all the time. Even when he was bein serious, everyone just laughed at him. And it was really beginning to get to him.

“Jayne!” Mal shouted, snapping him out of his trance. Jayne looked up at him, noticing for the first time that everyone else was making their way to bed.

“What?” he snapped as he stood up.

“You ain’t gonna be doin anythin rash now are you?” Mal asked him as he folded his arms across his chest.

Jayne scowled at him, “Believe it or not Mal, but so long as she stays out of my head, I ain’t got a problem with her bein a reader.”

Mal looked at him sceptically, “Then why the long face?” he asked.

“Just cause I’m a merc, don’t mean I ain’t got feelins,” Jayne told him, “And I’m sick and tired of everyone makin fun of me.”

Mal all out smiled, “You’re upset about people makin fun of you?” he asked as he tried not to laugh.

“See,” Jayne said, pointing to Mal, “Even you can’t take me seriously,” he told him as he stormed past him towards his bunk.

“Jayne, come on,” Mal said as he turned to follow him, “Ain’t no one mean any harm by it.”

But Jayne was already making his way down into his bunk and slammed the hatch door shut. Zoe and Wash who had been making their way down from the bridge both jumped at the noise, “Problem sir?” she asked Mal.

Mal sighed, “Ain’t nothing to worry about. Just… go easy on Jayne for a bit,” he said, more to Wash than Zoe, “He’s feelin a mite sensitive just now.”

Wash snorted with laughter, “Jayne? Sensitive?” Mal gave him a warning look, “Okay, I’ll try and keep my teasing at bay.”

“Thank you,” Mal said, “Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for bed,” he said as he pushed his hatch door open, “Good night.”

“Night sir,” Zoe said with a nod before dragging her husband down into their bunk.

“Jayne? Sensitive?” Wash asked as he made his way down after Zoe, “What’s that all about?”

“I dread to think,” she said as he closed the hatch over, closing them in for the night.

“Jayne! Jayne wake up you ben tiansheng de yidui rou!”

“Wha!”

“I said get up,” Mal said as he kicked Jayne on the leg.

Jayne sat up right and stared at Mal in confusion, “Why you suited up?”

“Cause I was outside rescuing River from the bounty hunter,” Mal told him.

“Bounty hunter?” Jayne asked before finally understanding and grabbing Vera and a box of bullets.

“Too late,” Mal told him as he took the bullets off him, “It’s been dealt with, while you, our merc, slept through it all. Tell me, why do I pay you exactly?”

“Uh…”

“Captain,” River said as she hung upside from the open hatch, “Not his fault. I wouldn’t let him wake up,” she explained, “He would have been killed if he’d tried anything.”

Jayne stared at her in surprise, “Uh… thanks,” he said, “You okay?” he added as he felt it was something he should probably ask if the girl had been attacked by some qingwa cào de liúmáng bounty hunter that had tried to take her.

“I’m fine thank you Jayne,” she said with a genuine smile, “But Simon was shot. We need help getting him to the infirmary,” she added before her head disappeared.

“I’ll go help the Doc then,” Jayne said to Mal as he handed him Vera and climbed up the ladder, not even stopping to pull his boots on.

Mal shook his head as he watched Jayne’s legs disappear. He put the bullets back where they came from and placed Vera back on her mantle. He had been more than a little angry at Jayne for not helping out with Jubel, but if River had stopped him… stopped him from getting shot then he was more relieved than anything.

He quickly made his way up the ladders and down to the infirmary where Jayne was just placing Simon on the table.

“Quit your whining,” Jayne said to him, “Wait until you get shot in the ass. Now that really hurts.”

Simon made a face of disgust, “Do I even want to know?” he asked.

“Probably not,” Jayne said, slapping him on the back and leaving Zoe to it. He walked past Mal and back up the stairs, deciding that now he was awake he was going to do some working out. Plus, he was still in a bit of a downer about the whole being made fun of thing and exercising would help him get his thoughts in order.

Mal watched him go before turning to River who was standing in the infirmary next to Kaylee and talking to her quietly, trying to calm her down some.

“River,” he called, “Come on and get out of that suit. Kaylee’s got to have a look at Inara,” he said, knowing that Kaylee would prefer to feel like she was being of some use rather than a spare part.

River nodded and followed Mal up into the cargo bay. As Mal helped her out of her suit she tilted her head back and looked up at him, “He doesn’t want anyone to know, but he cares about you,” she said quietly.

Mal paused, not really knowing who she was talking about but had a sneaking suspicion it was Jayne, “Well, if he doesn’t want me to know, then why are you telling me?”

“So you’ll understand,” she explained, “How would you feel if your family, if the man you loved made fun of you all the time?”

“The what now?” Mal asked in complete surprise.

River just grinned at him before stepping out of the last of her suit and skipping away. Mal watched her go for a moment, feeling a mite warm before finally deciding to get out of his own suit. What the hell was that girl on? I mean, he knew she was bit unhinged, but love? She had to have been sniffing glue or somethin.

No one had bothered going back to bed. After Zoe had removed the bullet from Simon’s leg and patched him up she had doped him up to let him sleep it off. He had woken up in the afternoon to find everyone either in the infirmary with him, or out in the common area. Even Jayne was there polishing his guns.

Jayne, although saying to Mal the night before that he was upset with them all, hadn’t left their side the entire day. He was in the room with them at all times, well actually, that wasn’t true. He was actually everywhere Mal went.

After hearing River’s words, Mal had been watching him closely, watching the way he interacted with the others, and even the way he interacted with Mal himself. And true to form, he was treating all of them as if they were his family, even River but with Mal… well, he was just that little bit more considerate with him, helping him carry all the food down when they were having lunch, being considerate of his injuries, asking him if he wanted smoother and the like. Not to mention the little looks he kept giving him and the touches. The touches. He had never noticed just how much Jayne touched him before, but he was extremely tactile with him, more so than he was with any of the others. So maybe River was right.

“Of course I was,” River said to him as they all sat and played some tallcard.

“What?” Kaylee asked.

“Nothin just… I’m goin to bed,” Mal said as he stood, “Y’all would do good to do the same. It’s been a long day and we got some business to attend to in the mornin,” he added before looking down at Jayne, “Jayne, I need a word,” he said, turning and heading up the stairs.

Jayne frowned at him before throwing down (what would have been a winning hand) and following Mal up the stairs. He caught sight of him just as he was climbing down into his bunk and so climbed down after him.

“Somethin wrong?” he asked, or at least tried to ask. His mouth was too busy bein smothered by Mal’s to actually make any kind of sense.

Mal managed to push him up against the ladders and reach up to close the hatch door without pulling away. However, as he wound a hand round the back of Jayne’s neck and tried to deepen the kiss, Jayne pulled back.

“What are you doin?” he asked as he grabbed hold of Mal’s wrist and pulled his hand away from his neck.

Mal looked up at him in confusion, “I thought… I thought you had feelins for me. River said…”

“Gaoyang zhong de guyang!” Jayne said as he stepped away from Mal, “I knew she wouldn’t be able to keep out of my head,” he snapped, “And I guess this is just another way to make fun of me? Well ha ha! You’re hilarious!”

“Jayne I ain’t makin fun of you,” Mal said as he stepped forward and tried to place a calming hand on Jayne’s shoulders but Jayne pulled away from him.

“Ain’t ya! That’d be a first! And even if you aren’t, you really think I can stay here with y’all knowin my personal business? When we land on Beaumonde tomorrow I’m getting off!”

“Whoa, whoa, who said anythin about anyone else knowin?” Mal asked finally settling his hands on Jayne and holding him still, stopping him from pacing, “And you can’t leave. Not now. I mean, I just realised I liked you…”

Jayne stared down at him, “You promise no one else knows?”

Mal nodded, “I promise. But even if they did, they wouldn’t hold it against you.”

“No, but they’d make fun of me,” Jayne told him.

“Jayne, no one is deliberately goin out their way to make fun of you. But you put on such a show of bein all mean, they probably don’t realise that they’re hurtin you.”

Jayne looked into Mal’s eyes, searching for humour, but he didn’t find any, “You really like me?” he asked rather uncharacteristically shyly as he put his hands on his waist.

Mal nodded, “Maybe even a bit more than that. And if anyone teases you for it, remember they ain’t just teasin you, they’re teasin me too.”

Jayne smiled slightly before leaning forward and pulling Mal into a deep kiss.

“Don’t say anything,” River said to everyone as they all sat down at the breakfast table.

Book had just helped Simon hobble up the stairs and had just sat down himself when River spoke.

“Don’t say anything to who?” Wash asked curiously. But he got his answer when they heard Mal’s hatch door open.

Everyone turned to look into the corridor and were more than a little surprised when they saw Jayne following Mal out of his bunk, smiling up at him in what could only be described as a loving manner before he pulled the hatch shut.

“Mornin all,” Mal said as he walked into the galley, Jayne close at his back.

“Mornin,” most of them said back, Inara and Book were finding it a little bit too difficult to speak at the moment.

Wash was grinning at the two of them and was about to open his mouth and make a joke when River punched him on the arm, “What did I just say?” she asked him.

“OW!” Wash said before turning to Zoe, “She just hit me.”

“I know, I saw,” Zoe nodded before turning back to Mal.

“What?” Mal asked her as he sat down and handed Jayne a coffee.

“Nothin Sir,” she said, “Only, it’s about time. Thought you weren’t never gonna make your move.”

Mal just smiled at her before scooping up some cereal. He nudged Jayne’s leg under the table and got him to look up, “What?” Jayne asked him, trying to hide his blush.

Mal however, just winked at him making him and everyone else smile before going back to his breakfast.

THE END

CHINESE

Jesu - Jesus

ben tiansheng de yidui rou - stupid inbred sack of meat

qingwa cào de liúmáng - frog-humping son of a bitch

Gaoyang zhong de guying - motherless goats of all motherless goats!