Ursa Major, Ursa Minor
folder
1 through F › Firefly
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
34
Views:
8,826
Reviews:
21
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
1
Category:
1 through F › Firefly
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
34
Views:
8,826
Reviews:
21
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
1
Disclaimer:
I do not own Firefly, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Stretching
Chapter Nine:
River dragged Jayne forcibly out of the kitchen (where he was disassembling and cleaning the newest additions to his collection of artillery) and into the hold where their dancing area had been set up previously.
“My leg muscles must be stretched,” said River.
Jayne let her move him into position and stayed where she placed him as she turned the cortex radio on. He recognized the song as the one they danced the tango to at Sir Whilton’s mansion.
“Ya wanna tango?”
River grabbed his hands and placed them around her waist. “Tango, waltz, ballet… Let muscle memory take control.”
“How bout somethin’ simple, then?”
He picked her up and dropped her so that her feet gripped the tops of his boots. He swayed back and forth. “Just as a warm up,” he said as he held River closer to his body.
River smiled and wound her hands up around Jayne’s neck—letting her fingers play with the shortened hairs there. The song was too fast for what he was doing, but River wasn’t complaining. She would just start the song over again when they finished warming up.
*
Simon bussed Kaylee on the cheek in the mess on his way to the infirmary for his weekly inventory check. He fully intended to do just that as he passed the cargo bay, but was distracted by the sight of his baby sister dancing with the man-ape-gone-wrong.
Not in the friendly sort of way they’d danced the jive a few days ago, either.
No, this was that tango that his sister had briefly glossed over when he found her after they returned from Whilton’s estate.
The clinical, detached portion of his mind was impressed with the talent involved with the dance, but the brother in Simon was nearing a boiling point.
His sister. His mei mei was pressed up against a man. Not just any man, but Jayne.
River’s step faltered for the first time at the anger she felt roiling off her brother and Jayne was forced to catch her before the back of her head slammed into the hard deck plating.
“You alright, xuan ni? What’s the matter?”
River felt an odd echo—a memory of Lilac—at Jayne’s concern and rolled her eyes around to find Simon.
“Simon?”
Jayne nearly dropped her.
“Liu kou shui de biao zi he hou zi de ben er zi!” Simon snapped.
“Hey!” Jayne protested and righted River on her own feet. “My ma ain’t no whore!”
Simon barged down into the hold and violently unplugged the radio. He wanted nothing more than to slam his fist into Jayne’s face. He very nearly did just that as he came toe to toe with the mercenary.
“You don’t touch my sister, you Rim bred pissant,” the doctor seethed. River was swaying in the force of her brother’s anger and pressed a hand against Jayne’s side to keep her balance.
Her touch kept him from saying what he really wanted to. Instead, Jayne very carefully bit the inside of his lower lip. He stared long and hard down at the smaller man without saying a word—blood filling his mouth instead of harsh insults.
Kaylee saved him the trouble.
“Hun dan! What the hell is wrong with you, Simon? Weren’t you just tellin’ me earlier ‘bout how Jayne here is helping bring River back to herself?”
His mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for air.
“And what is so wrong ‘bout bein’ born on the Rim? ‘S where I come from. ‘S where the Cap’n and Zoë come from.”
River felt like collapsing. Jayne seemed to sense it enough to swing her up into his arms and stomp off to the passenger dorms. He wanted no part of the upcoming argument. If Simon had a burr in his ass about him and River being so friendly (that’s what we are, right? Friends?) then he would just have to deal with it.
River watched him as he gently set her down on her own bed, turned, and spat a mouthful of blood into her pullout sink. Her heart felt like someone had their hand wrapped tightly around it as Jayne rinsed his mouth out twice and turned to face her.
“I’m sorry,” she blurted.
He looked surprised. “Fer yer brother?”
River gave a tiny nod—her hair falling into her eyes.
Absently, Jayne crossed the room and tucked her wild mane behind her ears. “Don’t need to do that. He’s just bein’ a big brother. He don’t think of you as a…”
He choked on the word.
“Woman?” River offered. He could see now that her eyes were shining.
“Right,” Jayne whispered. “A woman.”
River blinked once at the tone in Jayne’s voice—allowing the tears that had been gathering on the lower lids of her eyes to roll down her cheeks. He brought a calloused thumb up and wiped them away with tenderness one would not have expected of him and pulled her into a hug with his free hand.
“Don’t cry,” he growled. “I hate it when pretty ladies cry.”
“Dui bu qi,” River apologized into his T-shirt.
Not realizing he was doing it, Jayne pressed his lips to the part of her hair. “Cut that out, River.”
She twisted her fingers in the loose cotton and they snagged on Jayne’s chest hair. “Simon stomps steadily toward the downtrodden dame and her fine fellow,” she murmured her alliterations into his breastbone.
“He mad?”
“Anger still rolls over him like small drops of rain. Not as mad as before. Kaylee yelled at him.”
Jayne rubbed her back and looked up—his chin still propped against the crown of River’s head—as Simon opened the door. “Come here to yell at me some more, Doc?”
Simon rested one wrist on the doorframe and waved the opposite in his best placating manner. The left side of his face was flaming red and had the distinct pattern of an open palm. “No, I came to… Apologize… For my behavior.”
Jayne raised an eyebrow at the elder Tam. “Really?”
Simon bit his lower lip and nodded—looking everywhere in River’s room except at Jayne.
“Mm… I’m, uh, sorry.”
Jayne shrugged and stood from River’s bed. She held back a whine when his warmth left her and tried hard not to follow immediately after him. “Ain’t me you should be apologizin’ to, Doc. That’d be yer sister.”
Jayne squeezed River’s shoulder as he left the room.
River twisted her fingers together and pulled at the ends of her hair. “Simon?”
“He’s right, River. God, I can’t believe it happened, but he’s absolutely right,” Simon took
Jayne’s place beside her and he tried to tuck his sister against him just as tightly as Jayne had. “I am so sorry for upsetting you.”
“Just bein’ my ge ge,” River hugged him tightly and smiled sadly into his shoulder. “But Simon,” she forced him to meet her eyes. “You have to know: I am no longer a little girl that needs protecting.”
Simon didn’t look excited about the idea of his baby sister being grown up, but the stinging in his cheek reminded him that sometimes he just needed a gorram slap to grow up in his own way.
TBC
Translations:
Mei mei: Little sister
Xuan ni: Pretty girl
Liu kou shui de biao zi he hou zi de ben er zi: Stupid son of a drooling whore and a monkey
Hun dan: Bastard
Dui bu qi: I’m sorry
Ge ge: Older brother
River dragged Jayne forcibly out of the kitchen (where he was disassembling and cleaning the newest additions to his collection of artillery) and into the hold where their dancing area had been set up previously.
“My leg muscles must be stretched,” said River.
Jayne let her move him into position and stayed where she placed him as she turned the cortex radio on. He recognized the song as the one they danced the tango to at Sir Whilton’s mansion.
“Ya wanna tango?”
River grabbed his hands and placed them around her waist. “Tango, waltz, ballet… Let muscle memory take control.”
“How bout somethin’ simple, then?”
He picked her up and dropped her so that her feet gripped the tops of his boots. He swayed back and forth. “Just as a warm up,” he said as he held River closer to his body.
River smiled and wound her hands up around Jayne’s neck—letting her fingers play with the shortened hairs there. The song was too fast for what he was doing, but River wasn’t complaining. She would just start the song over again when they finished warming up.
*
Simon bussed Kaylee on the cheek in the mess on his way to the infirmary for his weekly inventory check. He fully intended to do just that as he passed the cargo bay, but was distracted by the sight of his baby sister dancing with the man-ape-gone-wrong.
Not in the friendly sort of way they’d danced the jive a few days ago, either.
No, this was that tango that his sister had briefly glossed over when he found her after they returned from Whilton’s estate.
The clinical, detached portion of his mind was impressed with the talent involved with the dance, but the brother in Simon was nearing a boiling point.
His sister. His mei mei was pressed up against a man. Not just any man, but Jayne.
River’s step faltered for the first time at the anger she felt roiling off her brother and Jayne was forced to catch her before the back of her head slammed into the hard deck plating.
“You alright, xuan ni? What’s the matter?”
River felt an odd echo—a memory of Lilac—at Jayne’s concern and rolled her eyes around to find Simon.
“Simon?”
Jayne nearly dropped her.
“Liu kou shui de biao zi he hou zi de ben er zi!” Simon snapped.
“Hey!” Jayne protested and righted River on her own feet. “My ma ain’t no whore!”
Simon barged down into the hold and violently unplugged the radio. He wanted nothing more than to slam his fist into Jayne’s face. He very nearly did just that as he came toe to toe with the mercenary.
“You don’t touch my sister, you Rim bred pissant,” the doctor seethed. River was swaying in the force of her brother’s anger and pressed a hand against Jayne’s side to keep her balance.
Her touch kept him from saying what he really wanted to. Instead, Jayne very carefully bit the inside of his lower lip. He stared long and hard down at the smaller man without saying a word—blood filling his mouth instead of harsh insults.
Kaylee saved him the trouble.
“Hun dan! What the hell is wrong with you, Simon? Weren’t you just tellin’ me earlier ‘bout how Jayne here is helping bring River back to herself?”
His mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for air.
“And what is so wrong ‘bout bein’ born on the Rim? ‘S where I come from. ‘S where the Cap’n and Zoë come from.”
River felt like collapsing. Jayne seemed to sense it enough to swing her up into his arms and stomp off to the passenger dorms. He wanted no part of the upcoming argument. If Simon had a burr in his ass about him and River being so friendly (that’s what we are, right? Friends?) then he would just have to deal with it.
River watched him as he gently set her down on her own bed, turned, and spat a mouthful of blood into her pullout sink. Her heart felt like someone had their hand wrapped tightly around it as Jayne rinsed his mouth out twice and turned to face her.
“I’m sorry,” she blurted.
He looked surprised. “Fer yer brother?”
River gave a tiny nod—her hair falling into her eyes.
Absently, Jayne crossed the room and tucked her wild mane behind her ears. “Don’t need to do that. He’s just bein’ a big brother. He don’t think of you as a…”
He choked on the word.
“Woman?” River offered. He could see now that her eyes were shining.
“Right,” Jayne whispered. “A woman.”
River blinked once at the tone in Jayne’s voice—allowing the tears that had been gathering on the lower lids of her eyes to roll down her cheeks. He brought a calloused thumb up and wiped them away with tenderness one would not have expected of him and pulled her into a hug with his free hand.
“Don’t cry,” he growled. “I hate it when pretty ladies cry.”
“Dui bu qi,” River apologized into his T-shirt.
Not realizing he was doing it, Jayne pressed his lips to the part of her hair. “Cut that out, River.”
She twisted her fingers in the loose cotton and they snagged on Jayne’s chest hair. “Simon stomps steadily toward the downtrodden dame and her fine fellow,” she murmured her alliterations into his breastbone.
“He mad?”
“Anger still rolls over him like small drops of rain. Not as mad as before. Kaylee yelled at him.”
Jayne rubbed her back and looked up—his chin still propped against the crown of River’s head—as Simon opened the door. “Come here to yell at me some more, Doc?”
Simon rested one wrist on the doorframe and waved the opposite in his best placating manner. The left side of his face was flaming red and had the distinct pattern of an open palm. “No, I came to… Apologize… For my behavior.”
Jayne raised an eyebrow at the elder Tam. “Really?”
Simon bit his lower lip and nodded—looking everywhere in River’s room except at Jayne.
“Mm… I’m, uh, sorry.”
Jayne shrugged and stood from River’s bed. She held back a whine when his warmth left her and tried hard not to follow immediately after him. “Ain’t me you should be apologizin’ to, Doc. That’d be yer sister.”
Jayne squeezed River’s shoulder as he left the room.
River twisted her fingers together and pulled at the ends of her hair. “Simon?”
“He’s right, River. God, I can’t believe it happened, but he’s absolutely right,” Simon took
Jayne’s place beside her and he tried to tuck his sister against him just as tightly as Jayne had. “I am so sorry for upsetting you.”
“Just bein’ my ge ge,” River hugged him tightly and smiled sadly into his shoulder. “But Simon,” she forced him to meet her eyes. “You have to know: I am no longer a little girl that needs protecting.”
Simon didn’t look excited about the idea of his baby sister being grown up, but the stinging in his cheek reminded him that sometimes he just needed a gorram slap to grow up in his own way.
TBC
Translations:
Mei mei: Little sister
Xuan ni: Pretty girl
Liu kou shui de biao zi he hou zi de ben er zi: Stupid son of a drooling whore and a monkey
Hun dan: Bastard
Dui bu qi: I’m sorry
Ge ge: Older brother