Ursa Major, Ursa Minor

Chapter Eleven:

Kerry was about a week out from Persephone. Once River had her course laid in, she sprinted down to the common area where everyone was already gathered and waiting for her. Without thinking, she gravitated toward Jayne and sat beside him on the sofa—her thigh pressed tightly against his. She twisted her hair nervously until Jayne grabbed her hand to stop her.

Inara sat beside the younger woman and grinned at Jayne’s action.

Mal cleared his throat, wanting to get down to business more than anything. “We got a problem. Now we did get coin from that last job, but we also got double-crossed by Badger’s cousin.”

Kaylee gasped.

“Apparently, she waved the Blue Sun Corp. and told them where River was, what ship she was flyin’, and who was with her.”

“Two by two,” River muttered and buried her face into Jayne’s shoulder. He automatically wrapped his arm around her shoulder and squeezed.

“What do we do, Mal?” Inara asked.

The captain scratched the back of his neck. “Well, Badger wasn’t too gorram specific, but he was acting like Donna was just about to dock when we hauled ass outta there. We’re headin’ to Kerry. It’s pretty far out on the Rim and Jayne’s got folk there.”

Simon spoke up. “If Donna knows the names of the crew, then wouldn’t she know that Jayne Cobb’s home world would be an option of safety?”

Mal grinned. “Well, she would if I had Jayne listed on our manifest as ‘Jayne Cobb.’”

“Still unsafe,” said River.

Forgetting himself for a moment, Jayne leaned down and kissed the top of her head for the second time. Jayne didn’t even notice that he’d done it, but River felt her face heat up with practically all the available blood in her body. Needless to say, she turned an interesting shade of purplish-red.

Mal ground his teeth and dropped their pay on the coffee table.

“Besides all that seriously dangerous go se, we did get paid and everyone gets their ten percent. I’ll be on the bridge doin’ captainy things.”

He left more because he didn’t want to beat Jayne’s head in because of the protectiveness he felt about River than because he really needed to do some ‘captainy things.’

*

Badger was fixing his afternoon tea when a distinctively feminine cough made him turn around.

“Donna?”

She was alone, untouched by his thugs, and holding a gun on him. A regular occurrence for Badger these days. He was beginning to think he needed to hire new goons if this kept up.

“Where did they go?” Donna asked.

“What, no ‘hello, my favorite baker’s dozen,* how’s the life been treatin’ you?’”

He saw her finger tighten around the trigger of her gun and raised his hands in surrender.

“Yee soo, Don, calm down! Reynolds is my best source of income and if I let you take him out—”

“I’m not going to ‘take him out’ you complete dai zi. I’m only after the girl. Now what’s that tall, big muscled fellow really go by? Because ‘Roger Hamilton’ doesn’t exist—and that means the only place they could have taken her would be his home planet.”

Badger mulled over his options for a moment. “Go se… Fine,” he decided. “I dunno where the hell he comes from, but it’s a Rim world for certain.”

Donna waved her gun about impatiently. “A name?”

Badger sighed. “Jayne Cobb. His name’s Jayne Cobb.”

Donna dropped her gun and smiled. “Now see? That wasn’t so hard.”

She left and Badger seriously debated whether or not waving Malcolm Reynolds would be beneficial to his health. In the end, he just sighed harshly and went back to fencing the paintings he’d just received. Donna knew just how to make it impossible for him to get any further business whatsoever—something Malcolm Reynolds couldn’t do.

Besides, how would Reynolds know he’d said anything?

*

“How you doin’, xuan ni?”

River looked up from her drawing to see Jayne sprawled in the chair across from her. She vaguely heard the sound of guitar strings vibrating and tried to see where he’d hidden it.

“Gonna answer me?”

River sucked in her lower lip and gnawed on it for a second. “I’m not sure how I’m doing,” she admitted.

Jayne leaned forward in his seat and set his best speculative gaze on her. His lower eyelids went up to half mast and he unconsciously mimicked her by chewing on his own lower lip. “Rememberin’ stuff or just feelin’ uneased?”

“Bit of both…”

He shook his head and knuckled her chin. “Ya ain’t got a thing to worry about. Anyone comes along to hurt you and we can put the hurt right back on them.”

She leaned into his touch.

“Ya believe me?” Jayne asked. His hand opened up and he let his palm drift into her hair. He could feel faint scars on her scalp and rubbed them with his fingertips—his eyes narrowing in the anger at what had been done to her.

“I do believe you, Jayne,” River’s eyes slid closed and she sighed as his fingers threaded further into her hair. It was a touch she’d been missing for so long—and one she quite enjoyed.

Jayne had gone quiet. He didn’t want to break the moment, but there had been another reason to coming to see River.

Eyes still closed, River hummed. “Your guitar…”

“Thought you might feel like dancin’ again. That ballet stuff you like so much.”

Her smile was practically blinding. “I do feel like dancing again, huan ren.”

Jayne released her and plucked his worn guitar off the floor. “Slow or fast, xuan ni?”

River stood from her seat and moved to the empty floor around the table. “Slow, please.”

Jayne’s calloused fingertips picked out an easy flowing chord that carried throughout the ship in its own sort of serenity. River let the notes wash over her and just danced lightly—not recognizing the tune. The form-fitting dress she wore flared out at the waist like petals on a windblown flower as she twirled in a weightless circle and swayed to Jayne’s music.

Idly, River wondered just how much this man was hiding from everyone… And how much they would discover upon their arrival at Kerry. She eased her movements and focused more on watching him play than dancing. Her eyes ate up every movement in his face and the flexing of his forearms as he moved his fingers along the frets and strummed the strings in a well-practiced manner.

She loved watching his arms do that. In fact, she had become so enthralled with watching him that her feet stopped moving. Jayne didn’t notice.

Neither of them noticed the small audience they had of Inara and Zoë.

*

Neither of them had a name. Donna didn’t really care—just so long as they handed over the promised cashy money once they had the Tam girl in their custody. What she did care about was being double-crossed.

The whole non-blinking thing that the two blue-gloved men did was just past unnerving territory and straight into creepifying land.

They told her to meet them on Bernadette when they contacted her with the girl in their custody. Donna decided to make berth on the planet, hole up in a shiny hotel for a bit, and just plain wait.

Bernadette was gorgeous during this season. She could sure as hell wait a week or two while those weird guys took what was theirs again.

TBC

Translations:
*Baker’s dozen: Cockney rhyming slang for “cousin”
Dai zi: Sucker/fool
Xuan ni: Pretty/clever girl
Huan ren: Good-looking/cute man