Ursa Major, Ursa Minor

Chapter Nineteen:

Jayne fell asleep in the pilot’s seat with River in his lap. It wasn’t so much that he was tired as a wave of exhaustion that grabbed him by the back of his neck and dragged him down into a deep slumber that River thought not even Mal’s surprised exhalation of “bwah” could wake him from.

He was far too comfortable now.

River kept running her fingers against his sideburns—soothing his headache and easing his body into a state of total relaxation that he’d never felt before when leaving home.

Earlier he’d stamped onto the bridge, waited for River to finish setting the course to Persephone, then grabbed her out of the pilot’s seat and plopped her onto his lap. He kicked his feet onto a safe, button free space on the console and reclined the chair. After a moment of tension that was coming only from the merc, River shifted to lie sideways on top of him and gave him a scalp massage with her fingernails and words of nonsense to sooth him.

His last thought before dropping off into the land of Nod was: Wonder what that’d feel like in the bath…

River smiled and continued to smooth out her huan ren’s frown lines. The deeper he fell into her spell, the more River herself started to feel a sort of bliss-runoff.

Which was why the pair of them were so irritated when Mal and Inara both opened the door to the bridge as loudly as possible.

“You two got cargo in the bay,” Mal announced, Inara held tightly against his hip.

“An’ this couldn’t wait fifteen gorram minutes because…?” Jayne grumbled.

“Me an ‘Nara need to use the wave in here.”

“Shuttle,” River groused and buried her face into Jayne’s collarbone. She inhaled deeply.

“Need this one, little albatross.”

“Go se,” she whispered, but grabbed Jayne’s hand from around her waist regardless. “C’mon. Let’s go open crates.”

They took their time leaving—Jayne complaining that his legs were still sleeping without the rest of him and River whining right along with him.

As the door closed, Mal turned to Inara and smiled reassuringly at her. “Sure you wanna do this?”

She smiled that pixie grin of hers and keyed up the Sihnon Companion Training Temple on the call list. “It’s still business. And teaching has always been most rewarding for me. They’ll send me candidates to choose from and I’ll pick the person who needs me most. I have Jayne to thank for this idea.”

“Pretty rewardin’, turning that manner-less goat into a gentleman. Even fer one night.”

Inara shook her head. “He’s retained more of my lessons than you think. Just watch him.”

Mal nodded and kissed her cheek. “Teachin’ mean you ain’t expelled from the Guild?”

Inara grinned and kissed him right back. “Nope. In fact, my students at the Temple were hoping I’d continue teaching. As were my superiors.”

“Still makin’ people happy with this?”

“Yes. You’ve seen Jayne. He may have complained like a two year old while I was teaching him, but he was very happy to impress that Londinium Lord. And River.”

Mal grinned sideways and sat in the copilot’s seat while she made her wave.

*

Jayne had River draped across him piggy back style as he stomped down into the cargo bay. “Don’t see no gorram crates,” he said.

A thin finger released its grip on his shoulder and pointed delicately at a far corner at three different crates.

Jayne perked up. “Recognize those labels,” he moved his hands from behind River’s knees to beneath her bottom and ran across the distance. River squealed with laughter.

He set her down as soon as they were by the crates and peered around for something. “Crowbar?”

Automatically, River pointed to the stern of the vessel. “Engine room.”

Pouting, Jayne removed Binky from the leather sheath on his hip and went to prying the cover off the first crate.

There were bottles inside. Jayne plucked one out and grinned at it. “Cobb family recipe,” he growled pleasantly.

River took a bottle out to peer at. The label proclaimed “Best Gorram Beer on the Rim” and was simply designated “Cobb Brew.”

“Who is the brewer in your family?” she asked.

“Amber,” Jayne said, still grinning. “’Nough in here fer six months at most.”

River replaced the bottle she held with infinite care, then pushed Jayne toward the next crate. “More!”

Jayne’s grin couldn’t be removed. The next crate opened easier.

“Apples! Dark red with white centers, sweet more than tart…”

“My sister Jenny owns an orchard. Didn’t think on that while we were there.”

River grabbed an apple and munched into it. “Other things to think on,” she said around the fruit in her mouth.

Jayne followed her example and opened the last crate with his treat clenched between his front teeth. Juice ran down his chin and onto his shirt, but he ignored it after getting a look at the hay packing that gently surrounded two separate boxes with “Jayne” and “River” written on them in Katie’s handwriting (much easier to read than his Ma’s loopy cursive).

River leaned in close and gently pulled the box with her name on it out of the hay.

A pair of brand new dancing shoes laid atop wax-paper wrapped bars of vanilla scented soap and a genuine cotton bathrobe stared up at her with inanimate eyes.

Jayne grinned and watched her pulled the dance slippers on—the crisscrossing ribbons fascinated him.

River took another huge bite of her apple. “Open yours!”

“Feels like Christmas’r somethin’,” he remarked as he opened his own gift from his baby sister.

He pulled out a trio of sleeveless logo tees (one of them proclaiming: “big all over” in Chinese), a new knife (a black KA-BAR with an eight inch Tanto blade), and one very special button down shirt of deep blue with a note pinned to the collar that read: “Burn that gorram stripey thing!”

Jayne snorted and admired his newest pointy object. “Callin’ you ‘Maria.’”

River smiled and curled herself to sit on the floor beside the crate full of beer. “What did you name the M60?”

Jayne chewed away at his apple and fingered the edge of one of his new shirts. “Bertha. Read on the cortex bout this cannon one time. Built on Earth-That-Was fer a war. They named it ‘Big Bertha.’ I figured, since she shoots like a gorram cannon, I oughta name her after it.”

They finished their apples in a sort of noisy silence. Jayne plopped down beside River on the floor and pulled her up against his side, stretching his jaw to either fight off a yawn or pop the pressure in his ear.

“Hearing better?” she asked.

Jayne shrugged and dropped his face into her hair. “Gettin’ there. My eye lookin’ any better?”

River looked. She kissed his cheekbone soundly. “Gettin’ there.”

“C’n I kiss you again, River-girl?” he whispered in her ear. Her toes curled as much as they could inside her ballet slippers.

She arched herself so that their lips were barely touching. “Gettin’ there,” she repeated.

Jayne’s apple core fell from his free hand and his sticky fingers delved into her tangled hair.

*

Donna Tyler paced her living room for what felt like the billionth time. Blue Sun had contacted her just two days ago to confirm the suspicions that had been plaguing her mind ever since she returned to Londinium.

The Blue Hands were inoperative. But that wasn’t quite what the man said. He’d actually said: “The Academy team currently sent out to find and capture River Tam is now inoperative.”

Currently.

So, she could use this to her advantage later. There was just one problem. A six foot some-odd all muscle problem named Cobb. If he’d taken out the two Blue Hands Donna had been in contact with, that meant he’d be coming after her.

Thank God I moved last month and didn’t tell the family.

Badger did tend to have weak lips.

TBC