More Than Friends

>Jiao-zi – Pan-fried dumplings
Ni hao mei – You’re so beautiful
Ni mei shi ba? – Are you okay?
Wo hao – I’m fine
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Jayne let the spoon fall to the table with a clatter, starin’ at Kaylee. What the ever-lovin’ jiao-zi is goin’ on? “Like I asked earlier, what exactly was in them drugs Doc gave ya?” She just looked up at him with those big brown eyes, smilin’ and rubbin’ her knee against the inside of his leg. “Hey, quit it,” he protested.

“Kiss me, an’ I’ll stop,” Kaylee bargained.

“I can’t be messin’ with ya if’n you’re hurt, wouldn’t be proper,” he said stubbornly, still tryin’ to cover up how pleased he was that she’d stopped bein’ evasive and told him what she wanted. Although, she was so stoned outta her gourd that she might not’ve meant that she wanted to be with him…she probably was just wantin’ some touch. Maybe smoothers just made folk horny. He was also tryin’ to over his reaction to her lickin’ that spoon – he’d never wanted to be a piece of metal so bad in his entire life. “Look, while you was snorin’ in there Moonbrain said she’d switch bunks with ya til you were good with usin’ your hands to climb down your ladder – that gonna be okay?” She was real cute when she was all loopy, Jayne thought with a smile.

Kaylee pouted up at him and then gave a huge yawn that she stifled against her arm. “You’re no fun…carry me to bed?” Prob’ly thought she was bein’ subtle, but he obediently picked her up and carried her in to lay her on the bed. Looked like River also switched some’a their things too; there was some clothes hangin’ up, and a faded quilt spread over a small table. “Don’t I get a goodnight kiss?” she asked, flutterin’ her eyelashes at him and holdin’ her arms out. Yeah, subtle as a Reaver in a gorram party dress. Jayne leaned down to give her a peck on the cheek – didn’t seem right to kiss her proper, for some reason – and stood up to help her under the blanket while she grumbled at him.

“You need somethin’, I’ll be on watch tonight. You want me to send someone to check on ya in the mornin’ afore I get up?” he asked, restin’ his palm against her cheek. Kaylee blinked sleepily up at him and shook her head “no”. He’d ask ‘Nara to look in on her anyway. Jayne left the door slightly open and went to the bridge, passin’ Mal on the way…they’d made their peace concernin’ Kaylee after she’d been sleepin’ earlier. “Hey, Mal? Wouldja mind askin’ Inara if she’d look in on Kaylee in the mornin’ if’n I don’t get up first?” he asked.

“Not a problem, she’d be glad to help out. Kaylee mad at you?” The captain asked curiously.

Jayne looked away to hide a grin. “Not ‘xactly…Doc said it’d be ‘bout a week for her to heal up – well, it’s really only gonna be a few days, but if’n she starts workin’ too soon it’d set her back a ways so we’re just not tellin’ her ‘til the week’s up.”

“Means more work for you,” Mal said bluntly. “You up to it?”

He stood up straight at the implication that he couldn’t do it. “I can take care of her just fine, you’ll see,” he promised. Mal walked on, and Jayne went up to the bridge where he passed six hours thinkin’ on Kaylee before Wash replaced him and he headed to his bunk. He paused with one foot on the ladder and looked towards the guest quarters before leavin’ his door open and walkin’ back to slide the screen back. Jayne leaned against the door frame and watched Kaylee sleep for a bit before he slipped inside to kneel at the side of the bed and settle the covers over her. Ai ya, but she was precious to him.

He brushed his lips against hers gently, and she stirred in her sleep and smiled. “I love you,” he whispered before standin’ up and turnin’ to head on down to his bunk. Behind him, Kaylee’s eyes opened to look at him, closing quickly when he turned to look at her one last time before he slid the door shut.

_ _ _ _ _ _

Inara smiled as she opened the door to find Kaylee struggling with her clothing with an extremely annoyed look on her face. “You look like you could use a hand,” she said, stopping to wince at her choice of words. “Sorry. Here, let me help you with that…feel up to a shower?”

Kaylee flopped down onto the bed and sighed in relief at being rescued. “Yeah, I was just tryin’ to get outta the coverall first. Don’t think Jayne wants ta tote around somethin’ as smelly as me, no matter how much he loves me.”

Well, that was interesting. “So he’s finally told you? I didn’t think it would take him long,” Inara said thoughtfully.

“What, you knew? An’ you didn’t tell me? I thought we was friends, ‘Nara,” She complained, but let herself be guided down to the shower room. Inara smiled as she helped her friend out of her wrinkled clothes and listened to more of Kaylee’s grievances. “He actually told me last night, thinkin’ I was asleep when he said so.”

Inara leaned into the shower enclosure and flipped on the water, angling the spray towards the wall. “Well, I suppose that’s not really surprising, mei mei. Jayne’s loved you for a long time and even though he won’t show it, he’s afraid of being rejected. How do you feel about him? Do you love him? I think you’ll have to get the wrapping wet…”

Kaylee sighed and ducked under the water, turning around to face Inara and reaching out her bandaged hands for the soap. “It’s still a mite strange, but…yeah. I do.” She frowned suddenly. “He don’t wanna sex me while my hands is all wrapped up though. I tried my best ta get him into bed last night - mighta tried too hard on account of the pain meds…think I scared him a bit.”

“That’s a surprisingly wise decision, and very considerate of him.”

“What? No! No it ain’t at all!” Kaylee scowled as she stepped out, shivering as she allowed Inara to towel her down.

Inara helped her dress quickly and wrapped a towel around her wet hair after helping her clean her teeth, ushering her out and into her shuttle. “Let’s fix your hair up in here…” She suppressed a smile at the sullen look on Kaylee’s face. “Mei mei, just think of it – if you want him as bad as he wants you, you won’t be happy not being able to touch him….lean forward? Yes, that’s perfect… and if you insisted upon trying, you’d hurt your hands. But there are plenty of things to do that don’t require the use of your hands, just his for some of it. Tianna, I can’t believe I’m actually giving you tips to try out with Jayne.”

“Tell me!” The sparkle was back in Kaylee’s eyes as she looked into the mirror at Inara. “Do you think he’d do it?” Inara sighed, shook her head, and proceeded to tell her friend exactly what she needed to do to ensure Jayne’s compliance. Kaylee was giggling and looking positively diabolical by the time she was finished, and they talked in murmurs together on their way back to the galley.

Jayne was awake and making tea when they walked in, and Inara smiled to herself to see the look on his face when he looked up. “Heya,” he greeted, leaning down to engulf the smaller woman in a one-armed hug when Kaylee went straight to him to lean against his side affectionately. “How you feelin’ tod-” he broke off with a frown when he noticed the sodden bandages. “Gorramnit, girl, you ain’t supposed to get them things wet.” As he led her away to change the wrappings, Kaylee looked over her shoulder at Inara with a wink.

She made a mental note not to tell Mal about having given the ship’s mechanic tips on the best way to seduce Jayne…it really wouldn’t lead to anything good if he found out about it. Shaking her head again, she left to return to her shuttle.

_ _ _ _ _ _

Kaylee smiled as Jayne bent over her hands, carefully patting them dry before spreading the burn cream over the palms – the salve was cold, but she shivered from the sensation of his fingertips touching the sensitive skin. Her hands actually felt lots better, but she weren’t ready to grab onto anything…she supposed Jayne’d been right about not wantin’ to mess around, but ‘Nara had given her all sortsa ideas that she was confident she’d be able to talk him into tryin’. “You eat yet, bao bei? ” he asked, flickin’ his eyes up to see her reaction to the affectionate term. She smiled at him.

“No, not yet. Didn’t even get no mornin’ kiss,” she said, pushin’ out her lower lip. She waited for him to finish wrappin’ up her hands and sighed when he raised them to his lips and kissed the back of her knuckles. “This is just gettin’ a bit silly,” she informed him and immediately clambered into his lap the best she could – he was forced to put his arms around her to keep her steady, and she placed her arms over his shoulders with her hands stickin’ straight out so she didn’t bang ‘em on nothin’. “Try again,” she ordered.

Jayne laughed and tried to get away with peckin’ her on the lips real quick, but she pressed forward and started kissin’ him like she meant business. “Your hands,” he muttered against her lips, and moved back. “We can’t be doin’ nothin’ with you hurt,” he began.

She silenced him with a glare. “There’s lotsa things we can do that don’t involve no hands, Jayne Cobb. Like kissin’, for starters – get yer lips back here.”

“No hands? Like what?”

“Lips over here, Jayne.”

His arms tightened around her and he touched his lips to hers again in a kiss that fair made her see stars. Kaylee relaxed against his chest, curlin’ her arms around the back of his neck as his tongue slid into her mouth… she moaned when Jayne pressed her close and ran his hands up and down her back, his fingers slidin’ beneath the hem of her shirt to touch her skin. When he’d finished scramblin’ her brains all to hell, Jayne pulled back slightly and laughed when she collapsed against him. “That good enough?”

“Yeahhhhhh, that was fine,” she sighed happily.

Jayne kept her on his lap while he fed her breakfast, not payin’ any attention to the looks they was gettin’ from the others, but her plans for makin’ him carry her down to his bunk were neatly derailed when a loud noise from the engine nearly made her fall off his knee in surprise. He put down their food and went with her into the engine room to see what was goin’ on – her face fell as she saw the problem, and knowin’ she couldn’t fix it with her hands like they were. “If’n I could just hold a wrench, I’d get it,” she lamented, leanin’ against the engine.

“Can ya tell me what needs doin’, maybe? You know, like that time we was outrunnin’ the Reavers?” Jayne asked, peerin’ into the engine housing. She smiled in relief – that would do it for sure. Pointin’ to various tools, she started tellin’ him what he needed to do. At length it was fixed, and she was explainin’ the various parts of Serenity’s engine to him while he concentrated hard and tried his best to remember what she taught him. They spent the rest of the day in the engine room, Kaylee’s heart near to burstin’ with pride as Jayne slowly started to understand the terms she was usin’, pointin’ to various parts she named to show her how hard he was tryin’. “I dunno, maybe we need to come in here tomorrow to see if’n I remember somethin’,” he frowned. “I ain’t smart like you, knowin’ how to fix things.”

She smiled at up him from her hammock. “Don’t put yourself down near me, Jayne Cobb – you ain’t stupid though sometimes you do a fair job of actin’ like it.” Jayne snorted. “We just learned different things first is all; my daddy taught me all ‘bout fixin’ stuff, and you leaned to be all intimidatin’ and a good shot besides.”

“Learned how to get in good with the ladies too,” he said smugly, flexin’ his muscles and makin’ her laugh. After he helped her eat dinner, they passed the remaining hours before bed cuddlin’ up on the rec area couch and talkin’ about whatever came to mind while the others played cards and Simon watched River draw blueprints. Her friend looked up to smile sweetly at her, winking as she picked up on Kaylee’s thoughts of wantin’ to get down Jayne’s ladder....did that mean she’d help her down? River laughed aloud suddenly, and Kaylee hid a grin – yeah, that’s what it meant. Past time I went down there.

Between them they got Jayne to stop hoverin’ by her long enough for Kaylee to give Inara the heads-up to send the merc down as soon as he came back from fetchin’ her sweater in the engine room…it weren’t there, a’course. “I ain’t aidin’ and abettin’ any sex,” Mal announced loudly when he finally figured out what was goin’ on.

“Sex? Who’s having sex?” Wash piped up, lookin’ around.

“Honey, just deal the cards,” Zoë instructed.

Simon kinda just looked like he was about to lose his supper and sank down behind the cards Inara calmly dealt him after takin’ control of the deck from Wash.

It actually wasn’t hard at all to get down the ladder after she’d told River what code to put in, but her friend was there to make sure she didn’t fall or nothin’. “Have good sex,” River said seriously before climbin’ back up and closin’ her in. Kaylee walked around Jayne’s bunk, inspectin’ the place and marvelin’ yet again how neat and clean he kept things. Everything had a place, she noticed, all tucked away to make the room seem bigger – which Kaylee guessed was because he took up quite a bit of space just with his own body. A body she’d get to see tonight, God willin’.

The hatch opened, and Jayne stuck his head down. “What the ruttin’ hell you doin’ down there?” He sounded mad.

“Waitin’ for you,” she said sweetly. “You comin’ down?”

“Yeah, and I’ll haul your bitty little pi gu back up ta where you belong,” he threatened, makin’ the ladder rattle as he stomped on down the rungs. “You need to quit messin’, baby girl - told you my mind on things and I meant it,” he said, foldin’ his arms and starin’ down at her.

Kaylee sighed and reached out for him. “Baby, don’t be mad…I just wanna spend some time,” she cajoled. What if he really did haul her back up?

“For the last ruttin’ time, your hands…”

She blessed the pain meds she’d taken at dinner. “Toldja I knew ‘bout some things to do that don’t need hands. Put yours behind your back,” she ordered, doin’ the same.

Jayne did like she asked slowly, suckin’ in a breath when she started to rub against him. “You’d best watch it, girl,” he warned. Kaylee just grinned up at him, turned around, and began to grind against him – she pulled away when he tried to put his hands on her hips, and shook her head.

“No hands, remember?” she murmured.

“Right,” he said huskily. “Don’t wanna knock you over, is all. Get against that wall.” She shivered as she did so, gaspin’ when he bent his head to suck and bite at her neck. Kaylee arched into him when he started movin’ on her, pressin’ back as hard as she could. Somehow they ended up on the bed, rubbin’ nethers slowly and kissin’ whatever skin their lips could reach until Jayne pulled away slightly and began to slide down her body, his mouth movin’ over her. “You like this shirt?” he growled suddenly.

“W-wha..?” she gasped. “You ain’t stoppin’, are ya?”

“This shirt. It a favorite or somethin’?”

“No, it’s just an old-” she gave a surprised yip when he got a mouthful of the fabric and tugged, makin’ the buttons fly off and clatter onto the floor. His lips brushed against her bare belly, settin’ off another wave of heat that spread straight to her nethers. “You’re wearin’ too much,” she gave a panted complaint. Jayne grinned and tugged his shirt off over his head in a quick movement. “Cheater.” He just grinned again, leanin’ forward to kiss her before movin’ farther down to try his luck at undoin’ her pants. The feel of his mouth so near to where she needed some touch near drove her crazy. “Cao, Jayne, just touch me,” she moaned frantically.

Jayne kissed his way back up her belly, pullin’ at her bra with his teeth. “You sure?” he rubbed his face against the thin material, makin’ her nipples peak before he moved his mouth to lick at her through the cloth.

When he closed his mouth around her fabric covered nipple and sucked, her eyes nearly rolled back in her head. If he didn’t stop playin’ soon, she swore she’d kill him herself; as it was, it was gettin’ mighty hard to remember that she weren’t supposed to touch him none. “Tian xiao de, I’m sure.” He propped himself up on an arm and brushed his fingers between her legs, makin’ her clamp her thighs around his hand. “Jayne,” she wailed. “Baby, please.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Jayne made short work of her pants, strippin’ ‘em off and sittin’ back on his heels to stare. “Ni hao mei, ” he breathed.

Kaylee shivered again at the want in his eyes; she weren’t even out of her unders an’ he looked like he wasn’t about to let her up for three weeks. “You’re still kinda overdressed for the occasion,” she suggested, reachin’ out with a bandaged hand to run the tips of her fingers over his thigh.

He grinned. “I ain’t wearin’ no unders.”

“So?”

“So, I’m thinkin’ we’ll save the gettin’ nekkid part for later.”

She spluttered. “But...but…what…”

“Ain’t said nothin’ against bein’ naughty, though,” Jayne laughed, lowerin’ himself over her. Much later, he pulled a blanket over them while she was layin’ against his chest still tryin’ to breathe proper – that man sure had a way with his hands, even if he hadn’t even taken off her unders to do it. “Ni mei shi ba, ai ren? ” he murmured, kissin’ her lovingly.

She sighed and snuggled closer, warm and happier’n she’d ever been. “Wo hao, bao bei…believe me. Wo hao. ”

A girl could get used to this, was her last thought before she drifted off to sleep in his arms.


tbc…
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