More Than Friends

A/N: I’m operating under the assumption that the blue hands’ thingamajigs have to be aimed at someone to achieve the desired effect.
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Jayne swore softly, motioning Ehren to watch over Kaylee while he stepped from the lift and went to find Simon. He couldn’t believe that he’d completely forgotten about gettin’ River; after all, that’s why the rest of ‘em were picked up by Alliance. “Hey, Doc – where’s that sister of yours at? You seen where they took her?” he questioned, glancing around quickly to make sure nobody was starin’.

The young doctor swallowed hard, lookin’ around wildly. “I…I don’t know, they didn’t tell me where…”

“’Salright, we’ll find her – you think she’ll come quiet-like, or ‘m I gonna need a smoother or somethin’?” He looked around and motioned for Sascha to come forward. “You take ‘em back to Serenity with Aden, don’t talk to nobody…you remember what we worked out last night? Shiny. Take ‘em…Dhani, you’re with me.” Jayne rested his eyes on Kaylee one last time, turnin’ away just as she was opening her mouth to talk to him, and stepped back in the lift with Dhani on his heels. Gorrammit, I thought they’d all be held in one spot.

Dhani rubbed nervously at his crew cut, shiftin’ as the lift dropped several levels. “Uh, Jayne? You know where we’re goin’?”

“Nope.”

“Oh.” His brother cleared his throat and pretended to check his weapons, but Jayne knew he’d start to speak up soon enough – he hadn’t raised the boy from a squallin’ baby to not know when there was somethin’ on his mind. “Jayne?”

“She ain’t done nothin’, Dhan. Well, there was that butcher’s knife thing… but like it or not, girl’s crew.”

“And Kaylee’s friends with her?”

Jayne frowned over at him. “Never you mind about Kaylee. She ain’t my concern no more.” Except for bein’ enough of a concern that I rousted all you up to help me get her to safety, he told himself guility. “And she ain’t never been none of yours, so shut it.” The lift stopped, and he motioned for Dhani to put his gun away as they walked out and up to an irritated looking officer. “We’ve been sent for River Tam,” he announced, carefully tryin’ to sound like Inara had taught him.

“You and everyone else – I’ll tell you what I told the men in the suits; she’s in lockdown two floors up as we were instructed,” the man sighed, wipin’ absently at his nose which had started to bleed. A cold chill ran down Jayne’s spine at the sight, and he just managed to nod his thanks before urgin’ Dhani back on the lift. He hoped they weren’t too late, but maybe they had some time to get to her…after all, if them blue handed folk were after her they’d probably wait longer to kill her or some such thing.

As soon as the lift opened once again, he stared around in shock – every single worker in the place was just layin’ around and it looked like there weren’t nowhere clean to step, there was so much blood. Dhani retched at the sight and smell of it, the coppery sharpness makin’ Jayne rub at his suddenly itchin’ nose. He wasn’t surprised when he saw bright blood smeared on his knuckles, and immediately set Dhani to guard the lift. “Stay here an’ don’t let no one up, you hear me? Anyone comes at you, you drop ‘em.” He drew his sidearm and eased the throwin’ knives in their sheaths, slidin’ against the wall as he moved down to where he could hear faint screams.

He wiped more blood from his upper lip, wincin’ at the pain in his ears as he got closer. Gorram sick hundan’s – can’t even simply shoot someone dead, they gotta do whatever the di yu they’re doin’. He could understand torture for information, sure; everyone did that. These blue hands seemed to do it just for the hell of it, just like Niska liked to do. If only he’d just thought about what he was doin’, he woulda remembered that he shoulda got River out first, no matter what trouble Kaylee was in. Ruttin’ hell, but my head hurts. Even my eyes… The pressure eased suddenly just as the last scream echoed in the empty hallway, and Jayne rubbed the blood from his eyes in relief before he lifted his weapon – the Buhnder – and turned the corner to see one of the blue hands nudgin’ the dead body of a nurse. And as quick as that, the man looked up and right at him. Gos se. Jayne primed the rifle with a smooth movement and fired, droppin’ to one knee just as the other man lifted some sort of stick thing towards him.

The blue hand man falls, lookin’ surprised that he just got nailed ‘twixt the eyes – well, there ain’t much left of his face after the bullet hits him, but Jayne can imagine the look on it without too much trouble. The silence after the loud report of his gun seems too intense, and he falls into a crouch as he scans the corridor for the other one. His nose starts itchin’ again, and he slips free a knife as the blood starts to drip onto his uniform. The only place that the other ‘un can be is through the big door up ahead, and whoever was waitin’ would have a clear shot at him through the glass – but if he didn’t get his ass in gear and drop the other blue hand, he’d be joinin’ the other dead bodies on the floor. The floor…. An idea hit him and he gritted his teeth as he threw himself on the floor in an army crawl towards the door, which has a small section of kickplates on the bottom of it. If he could just stay below them, the man might not see him comin’. Times like this, I wish I weren’t so gorram big. Jayne tried to ignore the feelin’ of the warm blood as he crawled through the puddles of it and kicked away the outstretched hands of the dead nurse in his path. He suppressed a shudder as he looked over and saw her open eyes just starin’ at him as the blood still seeped from ‘em like tears.

At the door, he lifted his head just enough to see the blue hand man with River behind him – she didn’t seem to be movin’, was she dead or somethin’? Nah, just saw her move a little. The pain stopped a second time as the man in the suit started towards the door, and Jayne lurched to his feet. Well, tried to. So much blood around made it slippery and he nearly fell as the man came runnin’ out towards him with another of them stick things. He guessed it was just his lucky day when the man slipped too, and Jayne did his best to throw him onto the floor. They rolled around ‘til he finally got a hold on the man – weren’t easy with the hundan tryin’ to point the whatever-it-was at him – and both of ‘em were totally covered in blood when Jayne got his hands about the man’s neck and twisted as hard as he could. A sharp crack and the man slumped, wide-eyed and dead.

Jayne pushed to his feet, dizzy from the blood loss, and staggered into the room towards River. She had her arms over her head and was rockin’ back and forth like she didn’t know what was goin’ on. “Hey, Moonbrain – we gotta go, c’mon,” he urged, pullin’ on an arm. She screamed and hit out at him, goin’ right back to rocking. “Gorrammit, move! ” he yelled, pullin’ again. The sound of Dhani’s yells made him hurry his decision on what to do with her, and he brought down the butt of the Buhnder down behind her ear as light as he could and still knock her out. Simon’d be spittin’ mad, but he’d worry about that later. Sounded like reinforcements were on their way, an’ he needed to get clear. Bending down to scoop her up, he hesitated and went back to the blue hand nearest him, riflin’ the man’s pockets and takin’ all he found as well as both stick things. When he looked, he found that the men didn’t have just plain blue hands – was some kinda suit under their clothes. The noise was gettin’ closer and that meant he didn’t have time to take that as well, so he just lifted River from the bed and made his way back to Dhani, who stood and stared at him. “What?” he snapped, forgetting about the gore that was clotting in his hair and soaking his clothing, staining his skin red. “We gotta git, so move your ass!”


_ _ _ _ _ _ _


The shuttle dropped away from the station with a sickening lurch, and Kaylee grabbed onto her seat as one of the Cobb brothers – Sascha, she thought it was – kicked on the boosters to get ‘em clear while Aden fidgeted nervously. Beside her, Zoë and Mal were on the comm talkin’ to Wash on a secured channel…Simon was just kinda huddled into a ball as he stared straight ahead. “He got to her, I know he did,” she tried to reassure him.

“I hope so,” Simon said quietly, turnin’ to gaze through the screen. Kaylee turned to look with him – didn’t seem right to seem happy while Jayne was still goin’ after River, but she couldn’t help the swell of love and pride in her heart that he’d been the one to realize she was gone and recognize that he had to go after her. That he’d come round to doin’ what was right simply because it was the right thing to be done. She weren’t sure where she stood in Jayne’s eyes, but he’d thought enough of her to come runnin’ when she needed him most – and she was ready to pick up where they’d left off, right before she’d had that fool notion of kissin’ on Simon just to prove she’d moved on.

Tears welled in her eyes at the welcome sight of Serenity, lookin’ just as beautiful as ever as they emerged from the nearby moon’s shadow and circled about to land. “You must really like that bird,” Kym commented from beyond her shyly. “You love Jayne that much?” Sascha hissed at him and he fell silent after a mumbled, “Y’all were wonderin’ too, ain’t like I was the only one…”

Kaylee looked down at her hands, then up at the brothers. Three pairs of blue eyes suddenly found other places to look as Mal took the controls and began to glide in to dock, but they slid back over to her when they thought she weren’t lookin’ no more. “Well, I don’t ‘xactly love him the same,” she began, but was cut off by the loud hiss of the clamps engaging. Then the door cycled open and Wash’s exuberant yell of, “Lambie Toes!” echoed through the cargo bay as he ran towards the shuttle. The married couple embraced without any thought of their audience, and even Inara came to greet Mal gladly…Kaylee felt her eyes burnin’ that she weren’t able to meet Jayne that way. Where was he?

They all emptied out into the cargo bay with Mal and Inara headin’ off to the bridge, and the Cobbs all gathered around her an’ Simon to wait for their big brother…she was about to sit when a yell rang out and the poundin’ of boots up the stairs made her look around. “You get her or not? Kym, you getcher pi gu movin’ and get her somethin’ to eat, Alliance don’t feed prisoners if’n they gotta pay to do so! Sascha, you go help Ehren get the gear from the engine room so she can have her place back, she don’t wanna step over your nasty old socks…” the tirade abruptly ended as Mattie came into view and stopped. “Hi,” she offered a bit shyly. “I’m Mattie.”

Kaylee smiled back hesitantly, feelin’ kinda embarrassed at ever thinkin’ Mattie were somethin’ more than just Jayne’s mei mei “I’m Kaylee.” She took a deep breath and began to speak at the same time as Mattie. “Look, I’m sorry about before…”

“I never woulda run up to him like that if’n I knew…” They both started laughin’, cause itwas plenty silly, and Mattie moved on up beside her to give her a hug. “I hope the both of y’all are gonna stop this whatever-it-is ya got goin’ on – he really misses you, an’ I know he loves you. I ain’t never seen him so crazy ‘bout a girl afore, I swear to Tien,” Mattie said, grabbin’ Kaylee’s hands in both of hers. Eyes that were a fair match to Jayne’s stared at her imploringly. “You gotta tell him to stop his fei oo nonsense an’ come back – he’ll listen if’n we gotta tie him up or sit on him or somethin’.”

“He’s been talkin’ ‘bout me?” Kaylee leaned forward curiously, already feelin’ like Mattie was a friend. They’d just met – well, officially – but it seemed like Mattie had the same quality Jayne had of puttin’ her at ease.

“Well, it’s more like what he don’t say, if’n you know what I mean? Though he talks ‘bout you a lot – to me, anyway. None’a them other boys’d know love if’n it chased ‘em through the mud an’ sat on their heads, but me an’ Jayne always tell each other stuff.” Her blue eyes twinkled as she shook her dark curls from her face. “And lordy, does he got it bad for you. I say you need ta put that boy out of his misery an’ slap a ring on his finger so he can’t go nowhere else.” Mattie rushed to apologize and say she’d no business bein’ so familiar when Kaylee blinked in surprise, but a wide smile so like the one she loved to see on Jayne’s face shone out when Kaylee impulsively leaned forward to give Mattie another hug.

She winced as the contact pressed on her injuries and Mattie looked at her, questionin’. “Oh, it ain’t nothin’ much,” she lied, but had to wince again when her shirt brushed against her again. That made her think of Higgins…she hadn’t seen the man since they were put in lockup – had he been paid for turnin’ them over? Anger surged up in her sharply and she was fixin’ to find Mal an’ remind him about Higgins when Simon suddenly jumped to his feet, lookin’ over to where Shuttle Two’s door was. Kaylee realized that she’d missed the sound of the docking clamps fastenin’ and she stood, heart hammerin’ wildly at the thought of Jayne comin’ back to her. Now she could finally tell him all she’d meant to, an’ weren’t nobody gonna stop her this time…

Dhani stuck his head through the door and yelled for Simon, who ran over with his med kit. Jayne’s younger brother came through and tried to block Kaylee’s view. “Think it’s best if’n you wait, he ain’t lookin’ too shiny…Mattie?” he appealed to his little sister just as Kym came back with a plate of protein which he nearly spilled as he set it down and ran to help carry River from the shuttle. The blood drained from Kaylee’s face as she saw the mess River’s clothes were in, and Dhani tried to turn her away again. “It ain’t hers, don’t worry…”

“But that means it’s Jayne’s,” she realized, and pushed hard at him to get past. Then she couldn’t help but scream as she got her first look at Jayne as he stumbled from the shuttle – there didn’t seem to be even an inch of him that weren’t covered in blood, ‘ceptin’ for his eyes. “Jayne…?”

She couldn’t even hardly tell it was him under all that gore, but the glare he gave all of ‘em reassured her. “Gorrammit, get her outta here,” he sighed, slammin’ a hand down on the comm unit by the railing. “Wash, get us the hell outta here,” Jayne yelled.

Kaylee came up to slip an arm around his waist, since it was plain to see that he weren’t feelin’ good. “Let’s get you to see Simon, big ‘un…ya ain’t lookin’ too shiny.” She tugged on him to get him movin’, but he protested tiredly that he still had somethin’ to get from the shuttle. “I’m sure the boys can getcha whatever’s in there,” she reassured him, tryin’ not to make a face at the smell of the blood soakin’ into his uniform and leakin’ onto her clothes as she steered him to the infirmary.


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Simon looked up as Kaylee brought Jayne through the doors, the big man still protesting that he was fine and was just tired. He’d checked River for injuries and she seemed to be fine except for a small bruise on the back of one ear, but he’d know more when she woke. For now, he’d cleaned her up and she was curled up asleep on one of the beds, the sheet rising and falling gently.

He advised Kaylee to come back later, wanting to speak to Jayne alone first, and the mechanic nodded unwillingly and left to tend the engines as Simon picked up his scanner and approached the other man. “Is any of this yours?” he asked cautiously. Jayne certainly was a sight to behold – only a scrap of fabric between his shoulder blades remained the original blue instead of being dyed violet with blood and Tien knew what else.

“Some of it…ain’t even from no proper weapon, either,” Jayne sneered contemptuously, then stopped as if remembering something. “Them things they use, like back on, uh, Ariel? I stole ‘em, thought they might be worth somethin’.” He reached a red-stained hand into a pocket of the uniform and pulled two slender objects from it, dumping them on the stainless steel tray upon which were kept surgical implements. Simon bade the mercenary to keep still while he wiped as much of the blood from the other man’s face so he could check for fresh blood loss. “Don’t know if’n there’s any more comin’ out, but I got so much on me I couldn’t rightly tell,” Jayne admitted wearily.

Simon grimaced slightly at the signs of recent bleeding from the eye sockets – what kind of weapon did that kind of damage? He supposed it was a good thing that Jayne had had enough presence of mind to bring not only one, but two back with him for analysis…perhaps if he studied it enough he could work out a way to shield against the effects. “It looks as though you’ve simply lost enough blood to cause extreme fatigue, but we’ll know for sure that the bleeding’s stopped as soon as you get into the shower to wash the rest of this away. Get cleaned up, find something to eat, and then come back,” he advised. As Jayne lurched to his feet to obey without arguing, which was a wonder in itself, Simon drew a deep breath and spoke again. “Thank you, for coming for us. I know it was Kaylee you were coming for, but all the same…thanks. You didn’t have to go back for her,” he said softly, motioning to the still-sleeping form of River.

Jayne lifted a hand to scratch at his blood-caked hair. “Uh, about that? I kinda had to pop her one so she’d let me get her out – weren’t tryin’ to kill her or nothin’,” he said defensively. “Don’t know what them blue hand men were tryin’, but she just went all nuts when I got in there, is all.”

“Once you get near to a mirror, you might have an idea of why she might be hesitant to let you within a ten foot radius,” Simon said dryly.

He stopped and was about to open his mouth a second time to speak about the situation with Kaylee, but Jayne simply shrugged and turned away. “Don’t reckon it matters no more,” he said, surprising Simon once again. “’Less you decide to start kissin’ on her again, then me an’ you’s gonna have somethin’ to talk about…make sure you tell Moonbrain that she can’t be after some revenge for me conkin’ her on the head,” the big man said as an afterthought as he left the infirmary.

Simon stared after him for a long moment – against all odds, it looked as if Jayne Cobb had finally made it thorough adolescence. A sleepily confused voice roused him from his reflections, and he turned with a tender smile for his little sister. “River? I’m right here, mei mei…you’re safe now. You’re home.”


_ _ _ _ _ _

“Jayne, that you? We’ll be headin’ over in Shepherd’s direction to stay at Haven for a spell since we ain’t but a few hours out, and – Holy Mother of God! ” Mal got his first look at him and despite feelin’ like he was about to fall over, Jayne grinned at the captain’s reaction.

“Shiny. Look, I really need to…” Jayne hooked a thumb in the direction of the shower room and Mal nodded vigorously in agreement, shooin’ him off.

“You do that, then. You go do that right now.”

Jayne slid the door open and made short work of pullin’ the uniform off, turning the water up as hot as he could get it and he stepped in with a sigh of relief. Even with his stomach rumblin’ fit to kill, he took his time gettin’ clean – he’d caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and couldn’t really blame the womenfolk for screamin’ at first sight of him, though he’d been imaginin’ a totally different reaction from Kaylee. Aiya, Kaylee. What was he gonna do now they was finally on the same ship an’ she couldn’t just smack him and run off where he couldn’t follow? He’d need some privacy with her, so’s they could talk without no one buttin’ their heads in, and just now privacy was on thing Serenity didn’t have with his family aboard. Maybe he’d have to wait til they got to Haven, then corner the girl somewhere on the ship…he only hoped that she wouldn’t try to scamper off into the access panels like that one time he was chasin’ her around – he weren’t small enough to fit in there, no way no how.

When the water was finally runnin’ clear and he smelled more like soap than Alliance innards, he toweled off and pulled on the pants he’d snagged from his pack while his stomach did its best to remind him that it hadn’t been fed yet. Jayne scowled at himself in the mirror, rubbin’ a hand along his jaw – just looked and felt odd, not havin’ nothin’ there like he was some gorram little boy. At least it didn’t look like he was bleedin’ no more. He kicked aside the bloodstained uniform and went in search of food; first thing he heard was a buncha gigglin’ in the galley and he rounded the corner to see Mattie, Kaylee and Inara gathered around each other and whisperin’ while all five of his little brothers tried their hardest to listen in. “What’s goin’ on?” he asked Aden who was about to fall off his stool, he was tryin’ so hard to get his ears closer.

“Woman talk, I s’pose,” his brother reassured him. “Coulda sworn they said somethin’ about sexin’, though.”

Jayne snorted and grabbed a plate of whatever it was, headin’ to the table with it. “You always think folk don’t talk ‘bout nothin’ else…” he kept one eye on Kaylee as he inhaled the food – somethin’ weren’t exactly right with her, and he wasn’t sure what it was. After he’d eaten three helpings and gained the awed attention of his brothers at the amount he was puttin’ away, Kaylee suddenly realized he was there and came over. Not wantin’ to be caught starin’ at her like he was some kinda lovesick chun zi, he looked down at his empty plate and wished he hadn’t eaten it so fast – then he’d have an excuse not to look at her. The rest of ‘em got real quiet, waitin’ for him to say something to her - he grabbed at his nearby cup to drain the water inside it before he looked at her. “Thanks for the food,” he said, knowing that she’d been the one to cook it for him.

She sat down next to him, puttin’ one tiny hand near his. He ground his teeth and barely kept himself from reachin’ over and coverin’ her hand with his – damned if he was gonna put on a show for everyone. It was still so gorram quiet, a man could hear a shell drop on the floor. “You’re welcome,” Kaylee told him. Aiya, why’d she have to look at him like that; all sweet an’ meili… he was just about ready to just pull her into his arms and forget about everyone watchin’ them, when she leaned across the table to get her mug of tea. Then the little look of discomfort on her face made him realize what it’d been about her that had him puzzled earlier. “Oh, it ain’t nothin’,” she said quickly when she looked back at him.

“What happened, what’s…” he trailed off as he caught sight of purpling bruises at the edge of her top. Jayne forgot about bein’ tired as rage spurted through his veins, and he reached out a finger to brush back the material slightly. “Who did this to ya?” he asked, so angry he could barely see straight.

His brothers set up an ugly murmur as Mattie leaned in to whisper what had happened and Kaylee pushed his hand away self-consciously, coverin’ back up. “Higgins did, right when we was taken – he’s off spendin’ the bounty, I reckon…”

Jayne kicked back his chair and headed to his pile of gear in the hall. “No, he ain’t. And he ain’t gonna be spendin’ nothin’ never again,” he snarled, snatchin’ up his newest knife and headin’ back to Shuttle Two with Mal and Zoë on his heels. He dimly heard Dhani explainin’ about how they found Higgins tryin’ to scamper with his coin as the Alliance reinforcements responded to the alarm that’d been set off, and he leaned in the shuttle to drag the trussed-up figure of the hundan who’d hurt his girl out onto the catwalk. Higgins was nearly out of his mind with terror as he finally recognized his captor and started to struggle, babblin’ for forgiveness an’ sayin’ he hadn’t meant nothin’. Too bad for the ben tiansheng de yidui rou that he was fresh out of anything slightly resemblin’ mercy.


tbc…
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