Disclaimer: sings bare naked ladies If I had a million dollars, if I had a million dollars, I'd buy Firefly and Serenity…but I don't.
Beta'd by Wylouloucoyote!
A/N: New Chinese! Pen ti means sneeze, more on that later.

Part 1: Now You're Saying Bye

The bay doors opened and Jayne adjusted the duffel over his shoulder. Without a backwards glance, he walked off the boat and into the crowds on Beaumont.

Before following him, Mal turned quickly to Simon. "She gonna be alright?"

"I think she'll be fine, but since she's the mind reader, I don't know," Simon answered with a sigh. Mal shook his head.

"Zoe, let's get this show on the road, gotta meet a contact in twenty minutes!" Mal hollered. Zoe came running looking frazzled.

"Sorry sir," she told Mal. "Simon, you might want to go to the nursery; River mentioned that Kaylee needs ya."

Two days earlier

"Are you okay?" Jayne asked River as he descended into their bunk.

River sat with her back against the bulkhead. She had been shaking and by the look of her splotchy face, crying; but now had herself under control. Nodding in response to his question, she was surprised that his eyes didn't hold concern but anger.

"You feelin' sane?" Jayne asked rudely.

"Yes."

"Good," he barked. "Because we're gonna have words and I wanna make sure you're all here."

"I'm lucid," she said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"You didn't trust me," Jayne started yelling, thankful everyone else was down in the common area outside the infirmary. "You trusted that son of a whore instead o' me and look what happened! Got ya almost caught again!"

River's face became stony, but Jayne knew she was gearing up for a knock down drag out fight. That's how Tam's worked. Got all quiet-like then let a person have it.

"You didn't trust me," she ground out. "You didn't support me in anything that has happened. Need to count on someone, can't be Simon anymore, have to count on you."

"Well, you can count on me to get your ass outta trouble," Jayne bit back. "Like I did today, even though I told you this would happen! I ain't gonna do it anymore!"

"Then don't," River rose her voice. "I'm the 'killer woman' remember? I can take care of myself."

"Right, like you did earlier?" Jayne shot back. "See, when I saw ya, you were passed out; was that part of your master plan?"

"That's not fair!" River argued. "Didn't know he was gonna use it!"

"Lot o' good that mind readin' thing is, maybe next time you can just ask if a person plan's on knockin' ya out and kidnapping ya," Jayne's shoulders were heaving with fury.

"You're letting your jealousy influence your feelings on my safety," River accused; standing herself on the bed so she was taller than him.

Jayne laughed humorlessly. "That runt couldn't make me jealous if he stuck his tongue down your throat in front o' me!"

"Don't have to read minds to know that's a lie," River scoffed.

"Can't even admit you were wrong can you?"

"My calculations were slightly flawed, but you could have…" River huffed in frustration and then started again. "I don't need you to protect me!"

"Good, now get the hell outta my bunk!" Jayne yelled.

That surprised River. He was kicking her out? "What?"

"I look at it this way," Jayne explained harshly. "I love you. You're gonna keep gettin' in trouble, I can't take that. So, you better just move on. You ain't gonna be the death of me and I won't watch you get yourself killed, or worse, caught again."

River took a step back and just stared at Jayne. His face was red from the yelling he'd been doing and he was breathing hard. She wouldn't read him, but his eyes looked sad.

"Fine!" River recovered and yelled back. She was up the ladder before she could look back and cry.

Mal and Zoë walked into the flower shop. It smelled of lilac and Zoë's nose started to tickle.

"You sure this is the right place?" she asked, rubbing her nose.

"Yep, you gonna pen ti?" Mal asked, searching his jacket for a handkerchief. "I forgot you were allergic to all this stuff."

"I'll be fine," Zoë told him, still holding her nose. "Assuming we can get out of here quickly."

"You ain't gonna like this job," Mal mentioned as he gave her the newly found hanky.

"Why's that sir?"

"We're hauling a pallet of those petunias," he pointed towards the back of the shop. "Taking 'em to Kerry."

"Sir, that's a good six days ride from here," Zoë noted. "Do you mind if I camp out in my bunk?"

"I don't mind, but you know the pollen will get into the air ducts, you're gonna be just as miserable in your bunk as you'll be anywhere else."

"Great," Zoë deadpanned.

"You think we can pick up another merc on Kerry?" Mal asked.

"Are you sure you want to?" Zoë countered. "I mean, we got River, and Inara works pretty well as a get-away driver when needed."

"Don't plan on using River for a while," he explained. "She can pilot but I can't trust her with weapons right now."

"She seems fine," Zoë said. "I wouldn't trust her to not pull one on Jayne, but since he's gettin' himself another berth, I don't think we have cause to worry."

"Yeah, well," Mal stopped when he noticed the shopkeeper. "Ah, hello Mr. Cho, those the flowers?"

"He's gone?" Kaylee asked Simon while watching Fuss waddle through the cargo bay. "He really left? He didn't even say goodbye."

"Did you expect him to?" Simon said. "It's not like he likes any of us."

"Don't say that!" Kaylee scolded. "You don't know what happened between him an' River. Could be her fault he left!" Simon turned from watching Fuss and looked at her in shock. "Well, it coulda been, she won't say what happened. She don't look upset. Holdin' her nose in the air, betcha it was both o' them bein' stubborn."

"River has been known to be a brat," Simon conceded, turning back to watch Fuss take faster steps. "But I can't imagine what she would've done that made him leave. It had to be something he did."

"You can't imagine? Simon, were you on this boat the last two weeks?"

Simon shook his head. "They fought, but they've fought about jobs before, it wasn't that different than a normal job."

Kaylee shrugged and bent down to catch Fuss before she tumbled onto the grating. "Woulda been nice if we coulda landed during the day, Fuss coulda played outside," she said dancing with Fuss on her hip.

"Well, it's probably for the best," Simon replied. "Who knows what kind of bugs they have here, I wouldn't want her to pick up a form of Lyme disease or something."

"Oh, you're such a worry wart," Kaylee nudged his side. Turning to some people gathering at the entrance of the ship, she spoke, "Ain't takin' on passengers, sorry."