Possibilities

He finished stacking the crates in the cargo bay and stretched, pulling his body to full height and beyond, fingers reaching for the ceiling. He groaned at the pleasure it brought his body. Three days, they had three days 'til they met with the contacts that would possibly purchase this cargo, possibly shoot them all dead. That meant he had two days to relax and one to get ready. That was all his wife ever allowed him for getting ready anyway.

Moving up the stairs and across the catwalk that would take him toward the bridge, he quickly moved to the side as two tiny people went running buy him. One was a tall chocolate skinned boy, dark hair with natural blonde highlights, lips large like his mothers but eyes set too close together. The boy had a penchant for trouble, mischief, and a talent for humor that would often make his skin crawl, for more than just because it was damned annoying. He was being chased by a small girl, three or so years younger, her dark curls shiny as they bounced while she ran, her dark blue eyes shining with her spirit. Like her mother, she had almost too much light for a body to take in with just a single glance.

"Gorram kids, what've we said about running on the catwalk? Ya'll could fall and get yerselves killed, then where'd you be?" he snarled at them as he always would. No matter how many times you tried to tell them the dangers on board a ship, they never seemed to listen.

Both children stopped and turned to look at him. The boy's face was hard, analyzing, taking in the situation. Jayne didn't like it, he never liked that look; not when it came from the boy, and especially not when it came from his mother. He'd seen the look too many times over more than the last decade. He prepared himself for what came next.

"Perhaps you're worried that we'll inadvertently knock you off the catwalk, and you'll die. Then where would that leave Josie?" Gorram boy had the ability to be just as unsettlin' as his mother. Where was his humor now? For once Jayne would've appreciated it. Especially when the girl started snifflin'.

"Josie? Oh, no…I'm sorry, I didn't mean that he would…" the boy looked helplessly at his playmate, then turned to Jayne for help. Jayne tipped his head slightly, looked at the boy wonderin' what in the 'verse he was supposed to do about it. The boy raised his eyebrows, shrugged his shoulders, and then did a hell of an impersonation of both Mal and River sayin' 'you're and idiot' and it was all rolled into one.

Jayne hunkered down next to the girl, still awkward with this after the seven years she'd been around, and gently touched her shoulder. She turned quickly, and did an incredible job of turning into a leech, her body pressed hard against his chest, arms and legs wrapped fully around him. He easily took her weight as she turned her snotty, tear-stained face against his neck.

"Shhhh Josie girl, I ain't gonna die. I been in far worse scrapes than a couple o' munchkins runnin' about, and I ain't died yet." Jayne gently stroked her dark curls as he tried his damnedest to comfort her. He never had gotten good at this part. The story tellin' and the tuckin' in and the goodnight kisses had been alright. But the comforting part? That had never seemed to belong to him.

"Jayne, you threatening the children again?" Zoe stood looking down at him. Her face held that familiar smirk, the one she tried to keep behind her mask, the one that always seemed to get out. They all had thought, after Wash died, that they would never see it again, but there it was. It was all thanks to Hogue. No one had known he'd existed, not even Zoe, when his father was killed be Reavers while they were all trying to reach Mr. Universe. And for several weeks after, they'd thought they'd lost Zoe, too. But when she'd realized she was pregnant, she'd started reminded them of the Zoe that was when she and Wash had first been married.

"Noooo…" his voice was low and guttural, and had a hint of defensiveness too it."That were your son, telling the girl her pa were gonna die."

"Hogue, you do that? You tell Josie her pa were gonna die?" Zoe towered above her son. He was gaining on her in height, to be sure, but he hadn't yet reached her ability to intimidate.

"No ma'am, I was just mentionin' how it might happen that he could die, if he fell of the catwalk, just as we could. I mean, anybody could, couldn’t they?" He had the look of his father, just then, and Jayne watched as Zoe softened just a bit.

"Alright, you. Just don't go makin' anymore comments to little Josie 'bout her papa dyin', hear?" Zoe watched as her son nodded his head, then tugged on Josie's shirt. The girl sniffled, then turned to him. Giving him a forgiving smile before he even got the apology out of his mouth.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"S'Okay. Wanna go see what Simon's doin'?" the young girl's smile was blinding, much like her mother's. "Might show us more o' those medical captures. Like the one with the…the…stitchen' up the knife wound."

Hogue nodded, and the two children ran off again, as though Jayne had never scolded them in the first place. He smiled big. Stitchin' up a knife wound, indeed. She may have her mother's spirit, but she was certainly his child as well.

He pulled himself up from the crouch with a groan, he was getting too old for mucking about on the floor. When he looked over at Zoe, she had that smirk on her face again.

"What?" he grumbled at her, "Whatcha lookin' like that for?"

She gave him that regard that made his skin crawl, and he finally looked away from her.

"Hmmph," she said, and he thought she might've chuckled at him if she'd been anyone else. "Seem's your wife arranged for me to watch Josie tonight. We're having a sleepover in my bunk." She looked at him again, eyebrows raised this time, as though she was waiting expectantly.

Jayne stared her down for a moment, not because he was upset by the news, but because he couldn't figure out why his wife would've arranged for them to have the night alone. Then it dawned on him, and he panicked. Their anniversary. He'd gone and forgotten it again.

"Here," Zoe said softly, pushing something small and cool into his hand. "Knew you'd forget, you do every year." She smirked at him again, and then moved in the direction the children had gone just a few minutes earlier.

Jayne fisted the object into his hand for a moment, and then looked down at it. It was a charm, silver, two rings combined. He recognized it. Wash'd bought it for Zoe before they had gone to Miranda, but Zoe'd never worn it. He wondered then if his wife'd ever seen it. He thought not, though, Zoe would've never given it to him if she had. He knew he'd owe Zoe later for this. He also knew Zoe would want his girl to have it. A thing was a thing to them all, unless it meant something. And Zoe knew this thing would mean more to his lady now than it ever had to her, specially since her memories were stronger than any hunk of metal could ever be.

He moved through the ship then, down the hallway that led to his bunk. When he descended the ladder, he blinked heavily for a few moments, before his eyes adjusted to the flickering light in the room.

"Don't think the captain'd think too highly on you havin' live fire on his ship," he said softly, noting the number of candles his wife had set around the room and now had lit.

"Don't think the cap'n knows everything I know about this ship," she answered back softly.

He turned then, and took her in. Her eyes were soft and glowing, looking at him with love and hunger. Her hair curled softly down her neck, over her shoulders. And she was wearing some Gorram slinky nighty she could only have gotten from Inara, or that Inara had helped her pick out.

She looked beautiful.

"Kaylee," he breathed, as his hand clenched around the small charm Zoe had given him. "Here," he added, thrusting his fist out to her, "Happy anniversary".

If it was possible, her smile got larger as she looked at him, then she got up from the cot and moved toward him, looking at what he held in his hand.

"Oh, Jayne, it's beautiful…" she breathed, then took it and gently placed it on the shelf above the cot."Come 'ere."

She took his still outstretched hand and pulled him toward the cot with her. Pressing him onto it, she kissed him gently, still smiling the whole time. She pulled his shirt over his head, and then ran her hands over the muscles she had revealed, gasping as she did so. It never got old for him. Every time she looked at him, every time she touched him, she reacted as though she were seeing him for the first time. He loved it every time.

She kissed him then, and gently coaxed him into lying down on the cot. When he finally opened his mouth to her tongue, her hands were already working on his belt. She unfastened it quickly, and the fastenings on his pants were undone just as fast. His jaw went slack as she removed his pants and boxers in one go.

"Jayne," she said again, and then moved onto the cot to straddle him. He jerked when she lowered her pelvis to meet his. He hadn't been aware that she'd been wearing nothing underneath that silky nighty.

"This is my night," she whispered, lowering her mouth to his ear. "You just get to lay back and enjoy."

She did this every so often. Usually she relished in his strength, his size. She liked the fact that he could pick her up and hold her against any surface while he took her, liked that he could fuck her until the sun came up if he wanted, if she wanted. But every so often, she took over. And their lovemaking then was slow, easy, torturous.

She moved her hips then, up and down, and he could feel her wetness seeping out of her and over him. Eventually, she picked her hips up and then took hold of him, sliding onto him slowly and gently. He gasped as she sank. Her heat and wetness still a surprise to him, after all these years.

He closed his eyes and put his hands on her hips as she started to move. He intended to enjoy this. He listened to her, much as he could since her murmurs and groans always sent him over the edge, and went back to the wondering he always did at these moments.

After Miranda, after Mr. Universe, he'd watch her and Simon come together. He'd watched them, then, for a year. Watched the love she seemed to have for him, recognized the yearning he saw on Simon's face every time he looked at Kaylee.

He still didn't understand what'd happened between the two. One day, they were as close as two peas in a pod, and then next, she was comin' to his bunk, telling him they were over, and that she had finally realized what she wanted all along.

That got him, there. He thought he'd been real careful about how he felt about her. She indicated to him, though, that she'd always known. And that she'd finally come to the conclusion that he was the one, not that Simon, that she'd only been blinded by his brilliance and intelligence. That she'd only been interested in his differences. Jayne never did find out the truth on that. He only knew that Simon seemed to be fine with it. Had it been anything else, something woulda come out in all the years they'd all lived together on this ship.

He sighed again, opening his eyes and looking upon his woman. She was beautiful. Her head was tilted back, her lips open. He watched as her tongue came out and ghosted over her lips. How'd he get so Gorram lucky? She started moving faster, then, her bottom lip caught in her teeth, and he thrust his hips to join her, moved his thumb down to her clit as he realized how close he really was.

"Jayne!" she gasped, as her body stiffened above him, then her lips went slack as she started to shake just a bit. He started thrusting in earnest then, and it only took the natural clenching of her muscles in climax to send him over the edge. She stayed stiff, her body milking him to the last drop before she collapsed over his chest. Her breath came in rough pants against his neck.

"I love you," she said softly.

"I love you too, bao bei." He wrapped her up in his arms, then kissed her ear gently.

As he settled into the cuddle, he wondered again how he had gotten so lucky. What had started as lust at finding how she had come onto this ship had turned into love, and he never thought he'd find that. He never thought he'd find that out here in the black.

*********************

"Jayne, get your lazy ass up here! We reach Persephone in thirty minutes, and we need your hands to help us over at Badger's!"

Jayne woke with a start, his body covered in sweat. Where the Gorram hell had that dream come from?

He got out of his cot quickly, and moved through getting ready. When he ran into Kaylee on the cargo bay, he barely gave her a nod. He couldn't do much more than that, considering the things he'd just been dreaming about her. Things went bad with Badger, and he wasn't totally surprised.

What surprised him, though, was when they all came back to the ship, still carrying the cargo they'd meant to unload, and he'd met the grey haired Shepard, and that Doc. He knew that Doc, he knew the Shepard. He knew them both, though he didn't want to acknowledge why. What left him uneasy was that there seemed to be no girl called River.

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This is my first foray into Firefly fanfiction, please be kind. Also, this is not my favorite pairing. I only thought, with my own background, Jayne would be easiest to write. So here it is. Please let me know what you think. Oh, and I wanted to mention, I just want to get this story out. I would love to know what you think. The plot kinda got away with me, much as I wanted it to be a PWP. Just couldn't happen, the characters deserved more than that.