More Than Friends

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Jayne tried his best to behave, he truly did – after all, he didn’t want nobody to think he was some gorram contract jumper. Least of all Kaylee though it seemed like, just this once, she wouldn’t mind if he just ‘accidentally’ forgot he was s’posed to hang tight on the Daison for his whole time. He could see why the captain tacked on the extra time, could even say in his less-lonesome moments that he’d do the same… but mostly it made him so irritated he found himself drawin’ a bead on the hundan when he was supposed to be guardin’ him. I didn’t hafta come back to this heap a’ gos se at all. He frowned down at Boo and picked her up for cleanin’. So why did I? Ain’t like I ever cared none ‘bout what folks think of me. He reckoned it was all Kaylee Frye’s fault he started growin’ a conscience.

Thoughts of his best girl made him smile and shake his head as he reached to pick up the rag he was oilin’ his weapons with. Ai ya, he missed her. Goin’ on a month and a half without her, with only the occasional Wave whenever they were dirtside; captain had some mighty strange ideas ‘bout usin’ the Cortex, said it let in sin or some such crazy thing. Hell, Moonbrain was more ‘with it’ than he was – Jayne expected he knew full well why he’d only talked with the Second. If’n I hear one more ruttin’ word ‘bout how drinkin’ and whorin’ ain’t allowed while I’m inside this hull, I swear I’ll nail the chun zi right ‘twixt the eyes. He didn’t have much truck with whores these days – well, not at all since Kaylee’d shown him that a lovin’ armful was better than paid tail any day of the year – but not allowin’ booze on ship was just plain beyond his ken.

Funny thing was how the others acted like they were some sort of pack of ruttin’ saints or somethin’ when the captain was sniffin’ around checkin’ everyone’s breath …and he did, every time they were completin’ a haul. Jayne grinned again as he thought of the trick he’d played on the fool last time; for only a couple small coins he’d bought the nastiest cheese he could find and ate it all right before roll call. Captain Taylor was probably still unable to breathe proper, seein’ as how he kept gaggin’ the whole time they were loadin’ back up. Jayne figured the coin he’d spent as well as the rancid taste in his mouth was a shiny trade-off for not havin’ ‘em all in his face. At least it kept the pilot off his case and not tryin’ to sneak down into his bunk for a tussle. Now that had been a surprise, to wake up one night and find the scrawny little man tryin’ to get some touch… he figured all pilots must be basically you jing shen bing. Kaylee’d had a real good giggle outta the whole thing when he’d told her about it.

He’d just started up writin’ her letters, not mindin’ that paper was hard to come by sometimes and cost him as much as some of his ammo. She was worth it, and he made sure to let her know it each time he got to talk to her – he wasn’t gonna make the mistake of keepin’ silent on how he felt ever again. Ehren seemed to be settlin’ in well, and he was proud of his little brother; he just hoped the pi hua he’d been hearin’ about Ehren followin’ River around wasn’t true. Lord only knew the ‘verse didn’t need no crazy little critters runnin’ around…

After all his weapons were cleaned and locked up, Jayne swung his coat over his shoulders and headed out through the hatch after noddin’ to the Super Cargo as he went past. He found the closest Cortex screen and punched in Serenity’s code. “Well, look who it is – have you killed any of your new shipmates yet?” Wash asked cheerfully.

“Heya, Wash,” he greeted. “You know I’m on contract an’ that means no killin’ the crew. Kaylee busy?” The pilot transferred him to Kaylee’s bunk, and he grinned at the sight of her shimmyin’ down the ladder before she got up close to the screen. “Lookin’ good, ai ren. ”

Kaylee smiled sweetly at him. “You too, bao bei. How you been? I sure miss you; can’t rightly believe your captain don’t like the Cortex,” she pouted.

“Miss you too, darlin’…” they talked about everything and nothin’ ‘til he realized that he’d best get going, and signed off regretfully. “Love you, baby girl.”

She leaned forward and planted her lips on the screen to send him a kiss. “Love you too, wenshen. Come back safe,” Kaylee said like always and he told her that he’d try, like he always did. He kissed the tips of his fingers and reached to touch the Cortex screen before he signed off and headed back to the ship.


_ _ _ _ _ _ _


The months seemed to crawl by for Kaylee, with only the rest of the crew and Jayne’s di di to keep her from goin’ crazy. Nearest she could tell, Jayne’s new captain’d never gotten no sexin’ a day in his life, he was bein’ so cruel to ‘em. She knew it was just payback for Jayne leavin’ on Silverhold when he coulda stayed on to honor the contract but that didn’t sweeten her towards him any. Yesterday was the day Jayne was s’posed to have been kicked loose, and she shoulda had him in her bed by now… but the shagua had doubled her man’s time an’ it would be three more months before he was back where he belonged.

She was busy helpin’ Wash with some wiring when the Wave came through, and she smiled at Mattie. “Hey there,” she greeted her friend fondly. “How’s Monty treatin’ ya?”

Mattie grinned back. “He’s real sweet. Listen, we’re fixin’ to do a job on Highgate in a week – Monty said to contact you, see if’n Mal wanted to help out movin’ some cargo. I hear it’s a big haul,” she said, startin’ to cough for some reason. Kaylee wondered what was wrong with her. “So just have Mal send a Wave in a few days, okay?”

“Yeah, sure.” Seeing Jayne’s sister on the screen reminded her that she hadn’t heard from him in a while. “You heard from Jayne lately?”

Mattie started giggling somethin’ fierce. “Yeah, he says he’s fine – didn’t have time to send but the one Wave,” she explained when she saw how disappointed Kaylee looked. “I gotta go, but maybe I’ll see ya next week?” Jayne’s mei mei signed off after getting another attack of the giggles and Kaylee just shook her head, wonderin’ what was so funny. Well, even if she didn’t hear from Jayne, she could at least spend some time with Mattie.

Mal agreed to helpin’ Monty out and Kaylee was set to run off in search of her friend when they touched down on HIghgate but was warned that she’d have to finish stackin’ the cargo first. She raised her eyebrows and started to protest that she was just fixin’ to say hello then come right back, and when hadn’t she helped him out first, but Mal gave her that look again. “Don’t be runnin’ off, mei mei. ”

She grumbled under her breath when the captain pointed to a stack of goods, and went over to get the boxes stacked on the Mule. Ehren went past her for another pile with Wash beside him. Just as she reached for the first box, someone grabbed her about the waist and a kiss was planted on the back of her neck before she could scream. “Hey there, baby girl.”

“Jayne!” Kaylee wriggled in his grasp and he set her down just long enough for her to turn about, then scooped her back up in his arms to kiss her breathless. “Whatcha doin’ here?” she asked softly when he plopped her atop a crate and rested his hands on her thighs.

“Crewin’ for Monty, ain’t I?” he replied, smilin’ big.

She gave the big merc a disapproving look. “Now, you know well as I do that your contract was added to, Jayne Cobb. You didn’t kill him or nothin’, didja?”

“Course not, bao bei. Thought about it many a time though,” Jayne admitted while rubbin’ a hand over his chin where, she was plenty pleased to see, his goatee had grown out. Ai ya, her man was a swai devil. “I just gave him so much gos se ‘bout keepin’ me on when I coulda just jumped the gorram contract all together that he traded me off to Monty.” His blue eyes twinkled. “Guess he didn’t take too kindly to havin’ the sump re-directed into his bunk, but you never know what’ll set a man off.”

Kaylee clapped a hand over her mouth. “You didn’t…! Jayne!”

He winked at her. “Well, weren’t nothin’ ever proved that said I was the one who did it.” Jayne joined in her laughter and reached for the crates. “Mal says that if’n I get all the cargo stowed real quick, we can spend some time while he talks to Monty,” he enticed with another grin. “Cap’n seems to think all I’m fixin’ to do is hold your hand or somethin’… hell, we’ll have that bed of your’n rattlin’ inside five minutes if ya help me load up.”

“Sounds like a mighty fine deal,” she grinned back.

Serenity had probably never had cargo loaded that fast before and by the time Mal had announced they were ready for lift off, Kaylee was still legless from the intensity of her big man’s sexin’. She knew from experience that Jayne liked to spend time when he was lovin’ on her but gorram if’n he wasn’t just as good for a quick tussle. “Look, we’ll be back at Silver Hold in a few weeks to restock the galley an’ all that… I could get us a private place if Mal’s gonna be anywhere around,” he suggested, leanin’ down to kiss her in farewell. “I’ll Wave ya tomorrow?”

Kaylee wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into the kiss. “Tonight would be better,” she insisted. “I love you, wenshen. ”

“Love you too, girl,” Jayne murmured. “An’ tonight it is.” He gave her an affectionate spank towards Serenity and nodded to Mal as he went past to Monty’s ship – Mattie waved at her from the ramp and she felt a tiny pang that she hadn’t even talked to her friend at all; she’d apologize for her rudeness after she’d talked to her man. Then she remembered that Mattie hadn’t even warned her about Jayne and she felt a mite better. Serve her right, too.

_ _ _ _ _ _


“Kaylee? Wave for you!” Mal shook his head as Kaylee came barreling past him, nearly shoving him down the hatch of his open bunk in her hurry to reach the nearest Cortex screen. “Well, ‘scuse the di yu outta me…”

He couldn’t help but grin as she stuck her head up on the bridge. “Now, no peekin’! Jayne and me got private things to say,” she warned Wash, as if any of them would even think of eavesdropping after what they’d seen that one time. Mal still wanted to stick a red-hot poker in his eyes after that; he figured it’d been Jayne’s idea to keep the rest of ‘em from listening in and boy howdy, had it worked! Kaylee ran past him in the other direction to her bunk, and he heard her voice soften the second she dropped down from the ladder. “Hey there, ai ren…”

River let out an almighty shriek from where she was on the bridge, so Mal hurried to see what was wrong. “Albatross? What-” he blinked to see the girl with her hands clapped over her eyes. “Oh. They at it again?”

“Man parts are everywhere,” River wailed hopelessly.

Wash made a gagging sound and Mal’s hands itched for that red-hot poker. “Well, that’s something I could go for a spell never thinking about again. ”

“Do I want to know what’s being said up here?” Zoë asked curiously, sticking her head in.

“Honey, just back away slowly to avoid all mention of man parts,” Wash commented, still looking horrified.

The first mate wrinkled her nose. “Oh.”

Inara called to Mal from the entrance to the galley and he went gladly; it seemed no matter how much time they spent together, he could never make up for all that was wasted. “I take it Jayne Waved Kaylee again?” she asked, an amused smile hovering on her lips.

Mal bent to kiss those mightily temptin’ lips. “Yes ma’am. Little one’s goin’ spare at the thought of the parts bein’ shown to Kaylee right about now.”

Inara just laughed. “It’s good that they can be intimate with each other even if they can’t be together physically.”

“What? Good? No, it ain’t! Not when the intimacy is bein’ beamed aboard my ship where anyone could just accidentally see it and then wish they were blind!”

She gave him a look. “Perhaps you shouldn’t have been watching in the first place, Malcolm…how long will it be until his contract with Monty is up?”

Mal sighed. “Little over a month, now.” He wasn’t about to say it aloud, but he missed having the merc around – they’d had their differences, and would have ‘em til the day they both died. Ehren was shaping up to be a fine young man, but he’d gotten used to the big man’s presence… and there was no denyin’ that Serenity ran smoother with a happy mechanic. And happy she was whenever they made landfall and Monty just happened to be parked on the same slab of rock; Jayne would appear and haul Kaylee off, wavin’ in acknowledgment when Mal yelled that she needed to be back before a certain time. She always came back flushed and happy – and really, who could grudge her that?

Jayne always made sure to send some hooch back with her too, and then Mal really couldn’t grudge her anything.


_ _ _ _ _ _


Kaylee’s eyes flew open and she scrambled to sit up and check the calendar she’d pinned to the wall right beside the purple hat Jayne’s Ma had sent her. Only two more days, and then Jayne would come back to her for good. She couldn’t rightly understand why she’d been filled with such a longing for him lately – well, she understood the longin’ part of it but she’d been away from him for longer periods of time than this. Maybe it was just the fact that his time was nearly up… Just a few weeks ago they’d been on Persephone and Jayne had gotten a room at some fancy hotel for ‘em – they’d had dinner, a bath together, and then he’d nearly sexed her blind.

She giggled. He was probably still complaining that his back hurt after all that ruttin’, but she paid his grousin’ no mind – he always liked to tease her about how much of his lovin’ it took to make her satisfied, and thought it was the shiniest thing in the whole ‘verse whenever she asked for more. Kaylee thought about Waving him so they could do somethin’ naughty like they did that one time – ai ya, that’d been fun – but figured she could handle waiting. Inara was always tellin’ her about absence and all that… she just planned to get Jayne so wound up that it took him a week to let her up for air.

Throwin’ on her clothes, she hurried to the galley for breakfast and smiled at Ehren who was tryin’ to keep his attention focused on his food while River danced around the table; it slopped off his spoon anyway as he kept lookin’ at her. “Cap’n says Jayne’ll be back in a few days, so I guess it’s off to home fer me,” Ehren sighed, still starin’ at River.

Kaylee bit her lip, realizing how it must seem to the younger boy, and put a hand on his much larger one. “Look, ‘ren, I’m sorry that you gotta go… I don’t mean to be so excitable ‘bout Jayne comin’ back to replace you, I really don’t. It’s been real shiny havin’ you here.”

Ehren ducked his head. “’Sokay, I understand. It’s Jayne’s place here anyhow – it’s just that…” blue eyes the mirror of his ge ge’s flicked towards River, who stopped twirlin’ suddenly and looked at him mournfully.

She nudged him. “Ain’t you even told her how you feel?” she asked, already knowin’ the answer.

Ehren shook his head, blushin’. “Can’t do that.”

Kaylee frowned. “Look here, Ehren Philip Cobb – that brother of your’n wasted years not speakin’ on how he felt, and just look what happened?” Ehren recoiled from her glare. “You go right on up to that girl right now and give her a kiss!”

He turned an even brighter shade of red and started stutterin’. “B-b-but, I-”

River came over and stood beside her, fidgetin’ all nervous-like as she heard what Kaylee was thinkin’. She looked at Ehren under her lashes. “Kissing can burn calories,” she said to no one in particular.

Kaylee grinned. “You two go on down to the cargo bay, if’n you’re done with breakfast.”

Ehren nearly overturned his bowl in alarm when River held out a hand to him. “Um, I dunno – I just – okay,” he stammered, nearly trippin’ all over himself as his hand touched the Reader’s.

When Mal came in a few minutes later, he was shakin’ his head. “Saw the damndest thing in the cargo bay just now.”

“Didja really?” Kaylee smiled innocently and drizzled honey on her mash, pointin’ towards the stove. “Made some tea.”

The captain reached for the pot with a sleepy grunt of thanks. “’Bout time those two got a move on. I’m thinkin’ all that waitin’ and fussin’ must be a Cobb thing.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Hey, watch it.”


_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Jayne folded the last of his clothes and pushed ‘em into his duffle while his mei mei watched, checkin’ his gun cases one last time and glancing round the bunk to make sure he’d gotten everything. “You know, we’d take you straight there if ya wanted to wait a few more days,” Monty’s Second sighed from the doorway. “Got us a job and could use you for true.”

He shook his head. “Any other time, I’d be glad to help ya out.”

“But not this time cause you got Kaylee waitin’ for your worthless ass, right?”

Mattie giggled, and Jayne grinned. “Right.”

They touched down on Persephone, and Monty made no effort at hiding his disappointment at losin’ him. “You ever change your mind about Mal’s rusty death trap, you give ol’ Monty a Wave and we’ll see what we can do for ya,” the older man said, pullin’ on his moustaches that made him look like one of them walruses Jayne’d seen captures of when he’d been a boy.

Monty offered his hand, and Jayne clasped it readily. “If you ever need a gun hand an’ a mechanic, I’ll think about it,” he smiled. “Me an’ Kaylee come as a matched set.”

“Never thought I’d see the day when you settled down,” the other man shook his head in mock disbelief.

Jayne grinned. “My Ma always had quite a bit to say ‘bout the word ‘never’… look, I’m mightily obliged to you for all you done,” he said seriously.

The other man gave him a hearty buffet on the shoulder. “Get outta here, boy; I don’t wanna be explainin’ to an angry lil’ lady about what’s keepin’ you.” Jayne shouldered his bag and picked up his gun cases – givin’ the other crew a nod and Mattie a hug an’ a kiss on the cheek, he walked down Monty’s ramp for the last time.

He booked passage halfway to Beaumond on a small passenger freighter, scowlin’ at the man in charge of loadin’ up. “You best make sure nothin’ happens to them bags,” he warned and the way the little fei ren turned white made him satisfied that nothing would happen to his girls. The other crew members and passengers stayed out of his way, a thing that suited him just fine… he spent most of his time in his berth thinkin’ on Kaylee, finishing the letters he’d been writin’ to her, and wonderin’ what she’d think of the gifts he’d gotten for her.

Jayne opened his duffel and pulled out the gifts, runnin’ his fingers over the silk of the pale pink kimono. Kaylee’d love it for sure; he’d also picked out a handful of the frilliest, girliest clothes he could find – he’d prefer some of the slinkier things, but she’d look real cute in all them ruffles. His eyes rested on the most important gift, but he didn’t take it out to remind himself what it looked like. Tien willin’, she’d like that one the best.

At the transfer point, his was the first cargo to be unloaded like they couldn’t wait to get rid of him. He smiled to himself and grabbed up his guns, headin’ off to find a ship bound for Beaumond. Waitin’ for the loadin’ time would’ve normally driven him up the wall, but when the boarding call finally came he just repeated his threat of bodily harm if his girls went middin’ and found his bunk… again, it took half a gorram year afore they were underway but he endured it with a lighter heart because he was on his way to Kaylee.

Persephone seemed a lot bigger this time round. Jayne rammed his broad brimmed hat onto his head and squinted in the afternoon sun’s glare as he made his way to the landing field. He’d already caught a little sneak tryin’ to pick his pocket and sent the scrawny boy off with the fear of Tien put in him, and he’d caught sight of Badger tryin’ to cheat someone else in the market.

When he finally located Serenity, Jayne stood for a while and looked his fill at the Firefly class ship that’d become his home – it was odd to think that the beaten up hunk of metal was the one place where he’d never stopped wishin’ he was during the past year, but the one thing that made it his home more than anything was currently twirlin’ a colored umbrella at the top of the ramp. Jayne fought the urge to just go barrelin’ through the crowd to her and walked around real slow, lookin’ his fill at the tiny mechanic who meant more to him than anything in the ‘verse.

He stopped to study his reflection in a piece of shined-up metal, glad that he was wearin’ his new clothes – Kaylee wouldn’t recognize him in them, so he could surprise her. Well, if’n the fact that he was a good couple inches taller than everyone else didn’t tip her off that it was him. Jayne ambled around the side of the landin’ field, eyes fixed on Kaylee and watchin’ as she scanned the crowd every so often; he reached the side of the ramp just as Wash, Zoë, and Mal came by on the Mule. Loungin’ against the hull, he waited til Kaylee kissed Mal on the cheek for bringin’ her an engine part before steppin’ forward.

“Is any of that for me?”

“Jayne! ” Kaylee squealed and launched herself at him, knockin’ him onto his pigu as she planted kisses all over his face.

“Whoa there, baby doll,” he laughed, tryin’ to get a word in edgewise as she babbled on how happy she was to see him. “Lemme get my ass out of the dust. Permission to come aboard, Cap’n?”

“People are starin’,” Mal warned. “Get up here.”

Zoë was watching them with an amused look on her face. “I don’t know, Sir – might be good for business if people think we’re this friendly with all our passengers,” she deadpanned. Wash guffawed like that was the best thing he’d ever heard in his life, and called Ehren to come help with Jayne’s cargo. Jayne had only a little time to be surprised at the way River was hangin’ around his brother and the cow’s eyes they were makin’ at each other before Kaylee grabbed him again.

Mal made the decision to look for passengers the next day since Kaylee was too busy kissin’ on Jayne to spare the time, and he sent them off to her bunk with a warning that he wouldn’t put up with any more ‘tomfoolery’ now Jayne was back on the crew.

After a mightily satisfyin’ round in the blankets, Jayne stroked Kaylee’s hair with one hand and reached for his bag with the other. “Got some stuff for you, bao bei.”

Kaylee sat up cross-legged and nekkid as the day she’d been born, clappin’ like a little girl. “Oooh, presents!” She gasped over the kimono and oohed over the other clothes, nearly jumped him when she saw the tools he’d bought her, but when he reached for the last gift, she stopped him. “Hang on a sec, I got somethin’ for you too.”

“You sure you don’t want this’un first?” Jayne tempted with a grin.

She wriggled excitedly, plainly wantin’ to see what it was. But she shook her head. “I wanna give you yours first, dong ma? ”

“I don’t need nothin’ but you,” he protested, tryin’ to reach for her.

Kaylee batted his hands away, and started lookin’ nervous. “I, uh, hope ya want it. Had it made special an’ everything, but if’n you don’t want it that’s okay.” She reached beneath the pillows and brought out a small box, shovin’ it at him as she bit her lip.

He reached out to take it, opening the lid and starin’ down in shock at what was in the box. “Is this what I think it is?”

She started blushin’ all over. “Yeah.”

Well, he’d be gorramed. “Don’t you know you’re s’posed to ask proper?” Jayne started to smile; he guessed River weren’t the only genius on board who could read minds.

Kaylee’s smile just about lit up the whole bunk as she took the box back from him. “Jayne Austen Cobb, will you marry me?”

He stroked his goatee and pretended to think, but couldn’t keep the foolish grin off his face. “Yes.” Jayne held out his left hand and she slid the heavy silver ring onto his finger before leapin’ into his arms for a kiss. “I ain’t never had no one ask me to marry her before,” he teased.

“An’ you’d better not have anyone ask you ever again,” Kaylee laughed, kissing him. “What were you gonna give me?” she asked after they came up for air.

Jayne reached into his bag and pulled out a box that was slightly smaller than the one she’d given him. “Just this. I guess I don’t gotta worry about whether or not you want it, huh?”

Her eyes sparkled. “Nah.”

After he’d placed the engagement ring onto her finger, he slid his arms around her. “Wo hui yong yuan ai ni, xin gan. ” Kaylee melted against him as he drew her down to the blankets to make love to her, and joy welled up inside him at the knowledge that he’d be doing this with her for a long, long time. Their path had been full of obstacles and uncertainty, but he wouldn’t change it for anything; the best thing that had ever happened to him was in his arms and he blessed the day that they’d become more than friends.

~originellement~
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