Eavesdown Docks, Persephone

"This is gettin' t'be a mighty bad habit, Captain Reynolds." Badger sighed softly, even as he counted the credits off. Behind the two men, the salvage was piling high, Zoe and Jayne both working hard to unload the mule. They were all eager to get away from the little man and his little empire of shit.

"What is?" Mal played dumb, smiling brightly as credits changed hands. Cashy money. The best kind in Mal's opinion. "Cause I 'spect gettin' paid is an awfully shiney habit to be in."

Badger hesitated, glancing at the mule, and then at the cargo being unloaded. A good deal of it would only be good for scrap metal, but there were always diamonds in the rough, as it were. Some spit and polish and a good work-through by one of his mechanics and a bit of that would fetch a pretty penny on the black market.

Waggling a finger at Reynolds, Badger laughed. "I like you a mite better when you're down on your luck and sad broke..."

Mal just smiled, and pocketed the cash. He wasn't about to tell Badger that his luck was changing thanks to a bitty little albatross he'd taken on board. Besides, fortune was a fickle mistress. As soon as he acknowledged her beneficial treatment, she'd turn on him and knock him down a few pegs. Best just ride the wave and enjoy the good times.

Jayne grunted as he hefted the final crate into place, just as Mal drew close to them. Zoe was already wiping her hands off on her pants, while Jayne straightened and cracked some tension out of his spine.

"We done here, sir?" Zoe asked, the picture of politeness. Already, she was watching Badger as he directed his new batch of minions about the labor of bringing the crates into his warehouse.

"Yah, yah, we're good. Finally." Mal rubbed the back of his neck as he followed Zoe's gaze. "Still not sure if he done let go of the mess on Athens. Might be why he's usin' us as his salvage monkeys."

"We get paid, at least?" Jayne interjected. Exchanging a glance with Zoe, Mal reached into his pocket to dole the mercenary out his part of the take. "And th' rest of th' night off?"

"A promise is a promise." When Jayne stuffed the money into his pants pocket and turned to leave, Mal stepped in front of him for a moment more. "Dust off's first thing. Be there. We ain't waitin'."

Jayne grunted and vacated the area. Zoe, her arms crossed, and brow raised, regarded Mal with amusement. "Was that really necessary, sir?"

"What part? The threat, or the promise?" Mal knew as soon as he started walking, Zoe would fall into lockstep. They'd been doing it since the war, since they'd first met. This was no different. Away from Badger, back toward Serenity. "Jayne's been actin' awful peculiar as late. Somethin's eatin' him, an' I want it settled, or off my ship. One or t'other, no druthers to me." Zoe's silence spoke loud and clear to him. "An' now I ken you know somethin' I don't 'bout this mess?"

"No sir. I don't know what you're talking about." Zoe spoke with the efficiency of someone who had practiced the line. Her evasion caused Mal consternation, and his pace quickened.

"I will have answers," Mal growled to no one in particular. "I will have answers on my own gorramn ship, regardin' my own gorramn crew, or so help me..."

Kaylee was already at the Post when Jayne got there. He looked around hopeful for a few moments, knowing that were their mechanic was, the medic was soon to follow. And wherever Simon went onworld, River was usually close on his heels. Loathe as he was to say it, it came in handy to find her, but mighty hard for him to steal any time alone.

And he was getting a powerful need to spend more time with her. Stolen moments with the pixie here and there weren't enough anymore. They'd gotten more careful after the near disaster with Zoe. It was getting to be that the only times he could see her was when they sparred. And even that was gaining an audience on boring nights in the black.

Kaylee was struggling with a box when Jayne snuck up behind her and plucked it out of her hands. The mechanic squeaked in surprise and ducked out of sheer habit, but burst into a smile as soon as she looked up.

"Shiny! Jus' who I was lookin' for!"

Jayne adjusted his grip on the box, nearly as wide as his arms were long. It was heavy, and awkward. Grunting, he used his knee as a brace and maneuvered his hands to the bottom edges. "What's in this? Gorram rocks?"

"Turbine blades," Kaylee informed him cheerily, waving a slightly crumpled envelope at him. "An' you got a letter."

With that news, Jayne practically dropped the box of turbine blades, but stopped the selfish impulse as quick as it rose. Without repaired blades, Serenity would ail, and if the ship hurt, so did the crew. As Jayne carefully set the box down on Kaylee's supply dolly, he reflected on what Book once asked him. Stick a bunch of loners together long enough, and they ain't so alone, are they? He knew that's what was happening to him. This crew was growing on him...

Kaylee let him tear into the envelope privately, turning her attention to strapping down the box on the dolly. It wasn't until he made a strangled sound that she glanced back over. Jayne didn't have the best education; it took him powerful long to read through the words his Ma wrote, but he bit down on one of his knuckles to stop from making a fool of himself. Kaylee approached gingerly, like she would a wounded engine, and ventured his name to get his attention.

Jayne looked up from the letter, hurting and sore. "I gotta go home..."

Everyone gathered around the mess table, waiting for the captain and the pilot. Jayne scrubbed his face, and tried to avoid the gazes of the rest of the crew. He felt judged, and mocked. None of the rest of them, except maybe little Kaylee, had family they were close to. Hell, the Tams had been disowned and cut off; Mal's died on Shadow, and Zoe was a widow. And here he was, trying not to get all emotional about the letter that sat on the table before him. They weren't waiting but a few minutes before Mal came up the back walk with a certain albatross in tow. River carried Amanda tucked under one arm, the silly white bear, in the frilly pink tutu still seemed to be her most prized possession lately. She sat, little more than an arms length away from Jayne.

"So what's this I hear, Jayne? Somethin' about goin' home?" Mal broke the silence as he took his seat, and in the split second that everyone glanced at him, River set her bear on the table, halfway between herself and Jayne.

Jayne managed to nod, and slid the letter forward for Mal to take. "Ma needs me." He grunted out. "Matty's taken a bad turn."

"Damplung." Simon murmured the word thoughtfully.

Struck mute hearing the truth like that, Jayne nodded. Mal pulled the letter the rest of the way across the table, and scanned the contents. "Stonewall's a mighty long way." He mused, glancing up to see the crew's reactions. They were all looking at him, expectantly; except for little River, who watched Jayne with something of a concerned expression.

Probably for good reason, Mal surmised. Jayne'd never seemed so frayed than right then, like the merc was coming apart at the seams. Mal knew his family mattered; it was one of the man's few redeeming qualities. But Stonewall was a tiny scrap moon, on a tiny Rim planet. And Serenity needed money. But the need sounded fairly urgent. River's gaze shifted from Jayne, to fix on the captain.

"Forty hours." She answered the question he hadn't yet posed.

"At cruise?" Mal voiced, knowing he didn't need to. Before he'd even finished asking, the Reader was nodding her affirmative. "Kaylee, will my boat take that kinda punishment?"

"We're shiny, Capt'n. She's gotta coupla dinged turbine blades, but that ain't nothin' we can't fix there." She glanced at Jayne, and offered him a watery smile, before reaching across the table to pat his hand. "Don't you worry none; it'll all be jus' fine. Simon'll take a look at your brother an' have everything right as rain! Right, Simon?"

Simon blinked, startled for a moment at his sudden inclusion in the commentary. He'd just noticed how close to Jayne the ballerina bear was sitting, poised like some kind of peace offering between his sister and the mercenary. Simon often willingly overlooked the fact that the bear was originally a gift from Jayne to his sister, but every now and then, he wondered just what the mercenary's true motives were.

"Right, yes. Right. I'll do my best."

"That settled then." Mal proclaimed. "As soon as Inara docks in the mornin', we're headed t' Stonewall."

For a moment, Jayne looked like he might blubber, but the merc managed to keep it down to a slight sniffle. He'd owe them all big.

Eighteen hours into the black, artificial night had come upon Serenity. With the captain's approval, River had shaved another four hours off their travel time with a brief stint of full burn. But she was careful, citing efficiency in landing vectors instead of her burning curiosity regarding Jayne's family as her reasoning for wanting to get there sooner. It worked. They believed her. And as one by one, they all retired to their bunks, River took care to wish them all a good night. Even Zoe. Especially Zoe. Because Zoe knew.

And because Zoe had questions. River peeked around the edge of the passenger berth door with that in mind. The widow Washburne was sitting up in her bed, with a book in her lap. She wasn't reading it, but instead, using it as a prop for the motion capture of her husband.

Before River could speak, Zoe looked up. "Can you answer me one question?"

River hesitated. She knew what the question was. It was there, on top of the pile of carefully handwritten notes, waiting for her to read it. There were many questions beneath that one, but River could feel that her answer to the first, would change the nature of the rest. Soon there would be scribbles and crumpled-up discarded thoughts cluttering the passenger berths. Even as she nodded, River longed to be with the simplicity of straight lines.

"Why him?"

Instead of answering right away, River slipped into the room, placing her back against the paneling beside the door. Her brow furrowed, she fought to find the right words to describe. This piece and that, single word combinations here and there. She had to sort through the thoughts to find the right combination of mosaic pieces. "Understanding. That one thing is two. Girl is weapon, weapon is girl. Not mutually exclusive."

Zoe contemplated this, thought on this for a few moments. River could feel the notes being shuffled. She edged her toes toward the exit a little further. One question was asked; one question was answered. Zoe stared at the capture in her lap without really seeing it, as River snuck closer and closer to the exit.

"You're going to him." To her credit, Zoe offered it as a statement, not a question. "Just be careful, River. Please."

Mute, River nodded, but she paused before slipping out. Instead, in two quick strides she crossed the room and hugged Zoe tightly. "You won't be alone for long." She promised softly, before flitting out of the passenger berths.

River slipped on cat-feet through the ship, moving quickly before anyone else could waylay her progress. Tiptoeing through the mess hall, she glanced back toward the engine room, where a soft light meant that Kaylee was bunking out there, as a precaution. If Simon weren't a boob, he'd be in the hammock with her. But no eyes pried on her intent as she stepped lightly up the stairs to the crew quarters. Her fingers hesitated over the entry pad beside Jayne's door. The numbers were there, just on the edge of sensing. But there was something else too.

Placing her toes lightly against the hatch, River gave an experimental push, to find it mercifully unlocked. With one last glance around the hallway, River descended quickly, closing the hatch behind her. She found Jayne waiting, sitting on the edge of his bunk in his shorts. He remained hunched over, arms on his knees, hands dangling before, even as River ventured closer.

His bunk wasn't tidy. It never was. It smelled of gun oil and grease and man. It smelled like Jayne. And River had stopped minding at some point. She only stopped when her dainty bare feet were situated between his big ones. She didn't speak as she traced her fingers along the edge of his goatee, up his cheek to tentatively meander through his hair.

She wanted to echo Kaylee's words; she wanted to assure him that everything would be alright. But the words got stuck in her throat, tasting false and mean. So instead, she ventured forward another half-step, letting her fingers slide along the back of his neck, to his shoulders. The roles were reversed. So often he provided a sense of safety and comfort, and now, it was her turn. If she could only figure out what he needed.

As if picking up on her own hesitation, Jayne wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her down onto the slat with him. It took him a moment to settle with her, finally getting both of them on their sides, her back pressed against his chest. Burying his face in her hair, he let out a sigh that was almost a whimper, and began to relax. River clasped her hand into his, and closed her eyes. The lines began to straighten out, accompanied by the sense of relief that he wouldn't be doing this alone. Without words, he began to drift off into a dreamless sleep, his long, slow breathing lulling River into her own slumber.

"You live on a farm!" Kaylee exclaimed in shock. They were all clustered in the bridge, Mal in the co-pilot's seat while River gently set the great bulk of Serenity down on the moon. Jayne looked embarrassed at the mechanics outburst, and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Nuthin' like that.. it's a... not a farm..." He muttered.

Unable to contain herself, River tipped her head back to grin up at him impishly. "Are there cows?" She asked, with Kaylee's style of brightness.

"Gorramn it, girl, yes, there's cows." Jayne groused.

"Then it's a farm." River stated with a smug grin. She leaned forward to flip a few switches, before looking expectantly at Malcolm.

"Kaylee, whyn't you go power us down. So's long as Jayne's mama don't mind us using her field for a spell, you can get them turbine blades repaired. Jackson ain't far. I'm plannin' on taking the Mule, Zoe and 'Nara t'see what work we might find. That leaves.."

"I'm going to visit the cows." River stated, before Mal could assign her something. It was reason enough. And it gave her reason to be on the homestead, reason to meet Jayne's mother, and reason to be near the clean, simple lines.

"We've got company." Zoe observed, as the engines wound down. Jayne was already off and lumbering toward the cargo doors at full speed.

"Let's go make friendly." Mal couldn't help but laugh. "After all, my own mama always said introductions are everything!"