More Than Friends

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Mal was handing Zöe a schematic of the warehouse they’d been hired to empty – he preferred to think of it as liberating the contents; made it not seem so bad – when a bloodcurdling screech from the direction of the engine room made him lose his grip on it. It lay forgotten as they raced up the stairs of the cargo hold, and when they rounded the corner, Mal stopped short in surprise at the sound of Kaylee yelling at Simon…Zöe plowed into him and nearly knocked him over. “What’s going on here?” he asked, bewildered as Simon ducked a volley of tools.

“You wanna know what’s goin’ on? You wanna know?” Kaylee shrieked, brandishing her welding torch at him threateningly.

Was this Kaylee, sweet little Kaylee? Mal blinked in confusion and looked to an equally startled Zöe. “Well, first I’d mightily appreciate not havin’ that in my face,” he answered. “If you two are havin’ a lover’s spat, then-’

“It is not,” she seethed, “a lover’s spat. If it were, at least that’d mean I’d been dealt with in the last month.” Pointing the torch at Simon, who was looking like he’d be glad to see an Alliance cruiser right about now, she continued. “This…this…this just broke up with me!”

“Hunh.” He scratched his head. “Doc? Is she sayin’ true? Put down that torch, mei mei, and let the man speak his piece.”

The young doctor swallowed nervously, eyeing the irate mechanic. “It – it was the for the best, we-”

“For the best?” Kaylee glared murderously.

“Zöe?” Mal asked.

His second immediately stepped in to hold Kaylee back as she looked like she was about to lunge forward. “On it, sir.” Simon sidled behind Mal and peered around at his ex.

“Simon, I imagine you’d best see to your sister and whatnot…I expect Kaylee here will need some time to cool off,” Mal suggested. Simon made his getaway and as Zöe relaxed her guard on Kaylee, the younger woman darted around her in hot pursuit.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


Jayne watched interestedly as Simon shot through the kitchen, lookin’ like had a pack of Reavers hot on his tail; moments later, a wrench hurtled through the air and struck him ‘twixt his shoulder blades. Another tool – looked like a spanner – hit him on the leg. Kaylee flew into the room as Jayne reached for another of the vegetables Shepherd sent, and Simon made his limpin’ escape. He decided that watchin’ this was more fun than makin’ dinner, so he put down the knife and leaned back against the counter.

“Where’s Simon – you seen him?” she demanded angrily.

Jayne pointed to the wrench that was lyin’ on the floor. “You already clocked him a good one – he done somethin’ bad to you?”

“He broke up with me,” she snarled back. “Can I borrow that knife for a minute?” Kaylee pointed to the butcher knife he had been using.

“Wash it off ‘afore you bring it back,” he said, tryin’ not to smile. Maybe, just maybe, his chance had finally come. “Maybe you could help me ‘stead of makin’ Doc fillets – Ma always used to say that cookin’ was real good for workin’ off a temper,” he said, sliding the cutting board closer to her.

After frownin’ up at him for a long while, Kaylee ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. “Well, I-”

He interrupted quickly. “On that last job, we got real flour and yeast – if you help me with that” he pointed at the cans of protein “I could make bread, I know how,” he tempted.

That decided her. “Okay,” she said, a smile beginnin’ to replace the frown. When Mal ran in a few seconds later, he found Kaylee happily helpin’ him

“You given up murderin’ our doctor?” the captain asked curiously.

Kaylee just looked up from where she was finishing the soup. “Naw. Jayne sidetracked me with his promise of real bread, is all – I’ll throw Simon out the airlock later.” Mal blinked and left as Jayne reached around her for a rag.

“You should space him first – that way we get more food,” he suggested.

She slapped his chest playfully. “That’s just plain mean, Jayne Cobb.”

He grinned down at her and tapped his finger on the end of her nose, leavin’ a smear of flour there that he felt like leanin’ in to kiss off. “You said once that everything I think was mean, so I dunno why you should be surprised.” Ai ya, but he wanted to kiss her! He knew that he would have to go slower than slow with her – even with Doc outta the way, if he moved too fast now he could ruin his chances forever. First she needed some time away from bein’ with Simon, then he needed to show her that he could be a lot more than a friend to her. Somehow, she’d need to get over thinkin’ he was her ge ge…but how could he possibly make that happen?

This whole love thing was nothin’ but a mess of trouble.

Kaylee was lookin’ up at him funny, and he realized that he’d been starin’ at her. “Jayne – you okay?”

“Yeah, sure.” And he was, ‘cause he had just figured out exactly who he could ask about all this. “Hey, thanks fer helpin’ and all,” he said with a smile; she sure was pretty with her hair messed like that.

She grinned back at him, and surprised him by standin’ on her toes to kiss him on his cheek. “I reckon I was wrong about ya – you can be mighty sweet sometimes.”

Jayne stopped his hand from reaching up to touch his face where her lips had been, knowin’ he was probably turnin’ red. “Aw, don’t tell no one,” he said gruffly, turning away slightly so she wouldn’t see the effect of that innocent kiss in his eyes. They worked together in silence until she decided to torment him further by leanin’ on his arm and ask when the bread would be ready. “It’ll be ready when it’s ready,” he warned her. “Don’t be breathin’ all over it, or it ain’t gonna rise proper.” He sighed in relief when she knuckled him in the ribs and put up her things, announcing that she was gonna check on the engine one last time.

He cleaned up the kitchen quickly and covered the bread – he came back to put it on top of a cabinet so Moonbrain couldn’t get at it – and walked as fast as he could to the bridge before he lost his nerve. Sure ‘nuff, Wash was sittin’ at the controls playin’ with them animals. Jayne dropped into the co-pilot’s seat and watched the other man pretend the smaller toy was herding the bigger one into an airlock, before he cleared his throat. “Uh, Wash?”

“Hang on, we’ve almost spaced the Tyrannosaurus so that the earth can be free of, um, tyranny,” Wash said, walking the smaller toy across the console. Sometimes, Jayne had no idea why Mal let that man near the controls. When “they” had finally won – or whatever they were tryin’ to do – Wash looked up at him. “What’s going on…this isn’t about Zöe getting naked again, is it? Because you can forget about it.”

Jayne shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “No, it ain’t. Actually, uh, I wanted to ask you somethin’…you gotta promise not to tell no one ‘bout it, though.”

The other man turned towards him curiously, leaning forward as he, too, glanced at the doorway. “So, ask.”

How in the nine hells was he supposed to do this? He cleared his throat again nervously, and gave it a shot. “Supposin’ – just supposin’ – there was someone. A woman. Well, supposin’ there was a woman and I…I….” He scrubbed a hand through his hair and tried again, starin’ down at his boots. “She don’t think of me as the kind who – I mean…”

“You? And a woman? How much did she cost?”

Jayne snarled angrily and pushed to his feet – he shoulda known he’d be treated like this. “Forget about it.”

Wash put out a restraining hand quickly. “No, wait…sit back down. It’s kind of a habit by now, sorry. So, the woman in question isn’t a whore?”

“No, she ain’t. And I-”

“ Tien almighty,” Wash gasped suddenly. “You, Jayne Cobb, are…in love? Have you been drinking?” he asked suspiciously. Jayne moved to stand once more, and was again stopped. “I’m sorry, let’s try this again: so, you’re in love. Why are you telling me this astonishing news, again…?”

Jayne sighed. “Well, you got Zöe, ain’t ya? You musta done something’ to get her. I just wanna know how you did it.”

“How I ‘got’ Zöe.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re not in love with Zöe, are you?”

“I ain’t stupid, ‘course not.”

Wash looked at him. “I’ll just let that one slide right on by. Now, we’ve got it clear that you’re in love, and it’s with a woman who is not my darling wife. And not a whore. Is it Inara?”

“No. Look, it don’t matter who she is!” Jayne protested. “Just tell me how you got Zöe, gorrammit! I mean, please,” he added as an afterthought. Some folk always wanted to hear that word, for some reason.

Serenity’s pilot rubbed his chin and looked at him. “If it’s not Inara, then….oh, I’ve got it! It must be Saffron; I remember how you wanted to trade her for Vera. No? Then it has to be – oh, okay. The advice part. Tell you the truth, she was the one who got me but she always said how much she admired my flying.” He sat back and stretched. “So all you have to do is hope your lady love is impressed by your, um, ability to blow things up and be angry about everything,” he concluded.

Jayne leaned forward. “So I gotta impress her somehow, is that what you’re sayin’?”

“Pretty much, yes. Does she like wanton destruction?”

“Whu...?”

“Never mind. You should find something that she likes – clothing, jewelry, food…and you could talk about it with her.”

“What if I just got her somethin’? Would that work at all?”

Wash turned down the dial of the nearby Cortex screen before answering slowly. “It’s not River, is it…?”

“Gorrammit, Wash! NO!”

“You can’t blame a fellow for being curious, Jayne. After all, the kind of non-whorish woman who would attract your notice isn’t one I can easily picture. How long have you been in love with this woman?”

Jayne scratched his head. “Ever since I seen her, I reckon.”

“We’ve only been here on Persephone for a day and a half,” Wash protested. Jayne glared at him, and the pilot stopped snickerin’ to start to answer his question. “So it’s been a while, then.”

Couldn’t do no harm in tellin’ him. “Yeah, a couple years or so, I guess. I ain’t never really bought her nothin’, but I seen plenty of what she likes so it shouldn’t be hard to find something for her. Thing is, she thinks I’m like a brother to her and always is chasin’ after those who won’t treat her good.”

For a minute, he thought he’d said too much when Wash’s eyes widened and the man rocked back in his seat, raising a finger to point at him. “I know who it is, now! That woman back in Canton, what was her name…?”

“No, that ain’t her neither. Told you, it don’t matter who she is. Can you help me any or not? You can’t be tellin’ everyone, though.”

Wash heaved a long sigh and gave up trying to get Jayne to tell him Kaylee’s identity. “Okay, here’s some things you can try…” They spent the next several minutes discussing ways to get a woman’s attention – he usually never had no problems with that, he thought ruefully – until Zöe walked in.

“What’s going on?” she asked, taking up station behind her husband and puttin’ her hands on Wash’s shoulders.

“We were just talking about dinner tonight, lambie toes,” Wash lied just as Jayne said, “Nothin’.”

She narrowed her eyes and looked at both of them. “If you say so.”

Jayne rose to his feet quickly. “I gotta check on that bread, make sure Crazy didn’t mess with it.” He left the bridge as fast as he could, and nearly walked right into Kaylee. “Where you goin’?” he asked as soon as he stepped back to avoid knocking her over. She looked all sad for some reason.

Kaylee gave a little sigh and brushed at her eyes with her sleeve. “Oh, I just came from sayin’ sorry to Simon for tryin’ to kill him earlier. I was just so surprised and angry, I…I just didn’t think too much ‘bout what I was doin’. Thought if I was nicer, maybe he’d say he didn’t mean it when he said we shouldn’t see each other no more.”

Jayne found himself holding his breath. “And…what’d Doc say ‘bout that?” He tried to act like he didn’t care; he had lost out to other men so often with her that he shouldn’t be surprised or sorry about it by now.

“He said that he meant it,” she whispered, getting’ all sniffly. “It’s really over, Jayne.” Then she flung herself at him and started cryin’ all over his shirt.

Why was it that she never wanted somethin’ like this when she weren’t upset or afraid she was gonna get killed? He asked himself as he put his arms around her awkwardly. Kaylee burrowed closer and cried louder, her hands pullin’ at the back of his shirt like she couldn’t help it none. Maybe it was the sort of thing women did whenever they got all emotional at people – he had no idea. Whenever a woman looked like she was about to cry, he was the first to escape to a safe distance where he didn’t have to deal with it. What were you s’posed to do about it, say that everything was shiny even thought it weren’t at all? He thought about it, then remembered somethin’ his Ma had told him about babies when they were cryin’ – well, she most like wouldn’t want him to bounce her around none, so he moved his hand experimentally down her back.

Kaylee moved her head and seemed to relax a little, so he tried it again and got the same result. Touchin’ her hair seemed to be somethin’ she liked too, so he smoothed his palm over the top of her head and ran his fingers down through her loose hair until she stopped cryin’ and just stood there, lettin’ him touch her. It felt surprisingly good, Jayne thought, to have her this close and wantin’ comfort from him. “Feelin’ better?” he finally asked when her grip on his shirt loosened slightly.

“Yeah.” She let go of him and stepped back as he released her reluctantly. “Thanks for lettin’ me cry all over you – I’m awful sorry about that. I just seem to be all emotional at you lately,” she said, echoing his earlier thought. Kaylee looked up at him, tryin’ for a smile. “You been real sweet to me. Promise you won’t tell Simon I cried?”

Jayne brushed a tear from her cheek gently with his thumb. “You can count on me,” he said, meaning it and willing her to see the different meanings of those words. “I won’t let ya down.” Ever.

She smiled, for real this time, and took one of his hands in both of hers to squeeze it before lettin’ go and walkin’ towards her bunk. “See ya at dinner tonight?”

“Wouldn’t miss it, girl – I hear tell there’s gonna be bread,” he called to her, earnin’ a tiny giggle. When he turned around, he was face to face with Wash who had a mighty peculiar look on his face.

“It’s Kaylee, isn’t it?”

Go se.
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tbc..