Rayne Fic: The Beginnings of a Love Unseen (part 2)

Jan 02, 2007 18:12

Title: The Beginnings of a Love Unseen (part 2)
Author: nutmeg610
Rating: R (for mentions of sex)
Fandom: Firefly
Pairing(s): River/Jayne
Word Count: 3,579 (for part 2)
Disclaimer: I don't own Firefly. If I did, Jayne and River would be married, having lots of sex and babies. Well, maybe not babies, but definitely the sex.
Summary: Jayne gets a late night visitor two nights in a row, but he doesn't know who she is. When he discovers her identity and she runs off, Jayne goes in search of her.
Author's Note: I got the idea to write this while messaging sandwch__zombie. We were talking about one of our favorite Greek myths, the myth of Eros (aka Cupid) and Psyche, and I thought it'd be cool to loosely base a Rayne fic on that, though turning the tables a bit. You'll see!

part 1





Original image by Sandy Gardner can be found H E R E

In an instant, Jayne had his gun out too, but the little boy shook with fear.

"I-I'm sorry, Mister!" the boy cried. "Ya jus' scared m-me's all."

Jayne relaxed and nodded. "That's ok. Jus' lower that gentle-like now..." He tried to speak soothingly, or in what he hoped was a soothing voice, and to his relief it worked as the boy dropped his arm to his side. Jayne slid Boo back into his holster and sized the boy up carefully.

"Whatcha doin' out here alone with that gun, boy?"

The boy was still shaking, and he ran a dirty hand under his dripping nose as he sniffed. "My pa says I gotta shoot us a rabbit ta eat 'er don't bother comin' home. But I ain't never shot a rabbit 'fore. I dunno how ta find 'em."

Jayne had to feel bad for the little kid. His own pa was never like that. He took his boys out hunting early in their lives, teaching them how to kill and clean an animal. He would never kick a son out of his house for anything.

"That's some bad luck kid." he murmured, unsure what else to say.

"D-D'ya think ya could help me, Mister? Find a rabbit?" The boy sounded so hopeful, that Jayne couldn't rightly refuse.

"Tell ya want," he began, "I'm out lookin' fer someone now. An' I got a powerful need ta find her. So I can help ya out, but only real quick-like, cuz I don't wanna lose her. That fair?"

"Yessir!" the boy nodded, bobbing his head.

"C'mon then." Jayne said. "I'll help ya find one, but we gotta be quiet 'bout it."

The boy trotted up to his side and together they set out. It wasn't but a few minutes later that they came across a clearing with tall grass, and Jayne stopped, pressing a finger to his lips and pulling his gun out of his holster. He knelt down and grabbed a smooth stone from the ground. Straightening up, he tossed it into the grass and a brown rabbit leapt up. Anticipating it, Jayne fired Boo at it and then strode over, smiling when he saw he'd got a clean shot.

"Here ya go, kid." Jayne said, handing the rabbit over to him. The boy's eyes widened like Jayne was his hero, and he couldn't stop thanking the large man for what he'd done.

"No problem. But I gotta git goin' now. Got me a girl ta find."

He was about to set off, when the boy suddenly piped up, "She got long, brown hair?"

Jayne whirled around. "Ya seen her?"

The boy bit his lip. "Sorry I didn't say anythin' 'fore, but I wasn't sure... an' I really needed the rabbit--"

"It's fine." Jayne interrupted. "But, ya seen her? Skinny, with big, brown eyes... real pretty face."

"Yeah!" the boy nodded. "She asked me if there was a town on the other side 'a the forest an' I told her there was, an' jus' ta keep goin' straight, she'd find it."

Letting out a sigh of relief, Jayne patted the boy on the head. "Xie xie, kid."

"No problem." the boy echoed Jayne's earlier words, before turning around and jogging off back home.

Jayne now hurried straight through the rest of the forest until he came to it's edge and saw a town not far off in the distance. Looking down, he saw clear bootprints in the dirt. He took long strides following them into town.

There were a few people going about their business, but it was still early, before lunch, and most people were in at work. He saw a young woman, around River's age, filling buckets with water at a hand pump near the center of town. She was struggling to push the filled one out of the way without spilling any, then moved the empty one under the spout. She was pumping out water when Jayne came up to her.

"'Scuse me. I'm lookin' fer someone."

"Yeah?" she said, brushing a few stray blonde hairs under her kerchief at her forehead.

"Yeah," Jayne said, picturing River in his mind. "She's a bit taller'n you, an' she's got this long, dark hair, an' big, brown eyes--"

"Skinny thing?" she interrupted, letting go of the pump handle and bending down to lift the bucket. She let out a grunt as she heaved it up.

"Yeah, that's her." Jayne said with relief in his voice. "Ya seen her?"

"Sure did!" the girl said. "She asked me were she could git a meal in town. I pointed her towards the diner not ten minutes ago."

"Much obliged." he said, about to move away, when the girl added, "Um, I hate ta bother ya when yer lookin' fer someone, but--"

Jayne sighed and leveled his gaze at her. "Ya want me ta help carry that water wherever ya goin', huh?"

She blushed a bit and nodded. "I mean, I told ya where she is an' all. An' I'm sure she'll still be there when ya git back. I don't live far away."

He looked out at the main strip of the dusty town. River had better still be there when he came back, or he'd go back to the girl's house and knock her water buckets over.

"'Kay, let's hurry this up." He picked the bucket from the ground, then easily took the one in her arms despite her protests. "Which way?" She directed him out past the main street to a small grouping of shacks in the distance. Gritting his teeth, he took long strides that she had to struggle to keep up with.

"So, is this yer girlfriend yer lookin' for?" the girl asked cheerily. She reminded Jayne of Kaylee with her sweet nature, so he really couldn't be grumpy with her.

"Nah." he mumbled, flexing the muscles in his arms as they started to feel strained.

"But ya want her ta be, dontcha?" There was a slightly teasing tone to her voice, and Jayne had to look at her in disbelief that she'd ask a complete stranger that kind of question.

"How ya know I ain't her... father, 'er sumthin'?" Jayne hated drawing attention to the fact that he was way older than River was, but it seemed weird how the two women he'd run across on this little journey had assumed River was his girl.

The girl clicked her tongue. "Ain't her pa. I know from the way ya described her. Ya had this look on yer face like... like she was a goddess 'er sumthin'."

Her words caused Jayne to practically trip over his own feet, but he managed to catch himself in time and not spill any water either. "What look?"

The girl shrugged nonchalantly. "I dunno. Like... you was picturin' her in her head. Like when people look back an' remember the good times they had with someone. All those good memories. Like that, ya know?"

Jayne swallowed hard. He had been focused on nothing but River all morning, looking back at their two nights together, unable to get over them. It was like she'd woven a spell around him where he could never forget, and could never push the thoughts of her aside.

The girl suddenly jogged ahead to unlock a gate for him and he walked through before coming to a stop. "Where to now?"

"Jus' over here." she pointed out a clear space in her tiny dirt yard to set the buckets down. After he did, Jayne waved his arms to get the heavy feeling to go away.

"Xie xie, sir!" she said with a bright smile. Jayne remembered feeling River's smile when he traced his fingers across her lips the night before. He had never bothered to think on it before, but she really was beautiful when she smiled. Shaking himself from the thought, he nodded.

"Yer welcome, but I gotta git goin'--"

"'Course ya do!" she answered with a knowing smile. "Ya gotta go find yer goddess." She made a shooing motion with her hands. "Go on now, git!" she added good-naturedly.

Jayne resisted rolling his eyes as he turned and made his way back towards town, and if he happened to walk a bit faster than normal, he wasn't going to admit it to himself. He finally got back to the main street by the water pump, and followed the street down further, easily finding the diner. His heart was pounding against his ribcage as he came up to the door. What was he going to say? Well, an apology would be a good starting off point. If he just came in and yelled at her for running off, there'd be a big scene, and she'd fight him, and he'd probably end up unconscious on the floor again.

He was just going to have to be straight with her. Tell her that she was a powerful hard creature for a man to forget, and that he shouldn't have yelled at her in the first place. Hell, he never should have turned on that flashlight either. He'd started the whole thing. She was fine with being hidden in the dark, because she knew how uppity he'd get if he knew with whom he'd been in bed.

Taking a deep breath and praying he said the right thing, he opened the door.

...To find that she wasn't in the diner. With a growl, he slammed the door shut behind him hard enough to rattle the glass pane in it. This was what he got for being nice. Sitting down with the old lady, helping the poor boy shoot a rabbit, carrying the water for that girl; they had all slowed him down. If he had just been his usual self, self-serving to the last, he would have caught up with her. Now he had no idea where she was.

He decided that instead of finding the nearest bar and getting drunk, he should look around the rest of the town since she could still be about. He started down at the bank, though he didn't know why she'd be in there. He continued on to a dry-goods store and combed the short aisles, but came up empty. He came back out onto the street, walking along the poorly crafted wooden sidewalk the townsfolk had built. He looked down at his feet and tried to picture what life would be like without her. A year ago he would have imagined himself dancing on the dining table to have her, and her stuffy brother most like, good and gone. But now, well things were different now, and not just because of what they'd done in his hotel room.

Every one of the crew cared about her. She was like a light that shone on them when times were at their worst. She'd laugh and joke, or comfort and console. She'd tease Simon and have girly talks with Kaylee. She'd even get Mal and Zoe to grin, and get Inara to join in more activities. For his last birthday, she had helped Kaylee bake his cake and, despite the fact that he complained it was probably poisoned, he had to admit to himself that it was the most realistic chocolate-tasting protein cake he'd even eaten. Huh. Girl could cook. That was always a plus to a guy like Jayne, who had an insatiable appetite.

Lifting up his head, he spotted a dark-haired girl in a flowing dress and large combat boots walking away from him. His heart leapt into his throat before he managed to yell out, "River!" He started off quickly after her, calling out her name again, louder this time. She stopped and started to turn back, but suddenly he was struck right in the middle of the forehead and fell back onto the sidewalk, passed out cold.

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

River had been glumly walking through the town after leaving the diner bathroom. It had been severly lacking in hygiene, but she'd gone all morning without a bathroom break, having slipped out of the hotel at first light.

She knew she had to go back though. She wouldn't just up and leave Simon and the others. It would be difficult to return and have to live within close proximity to Jayne, but she had suffered with her feelings for him for months, so she reasoned she could suffer with knowing what his skin felt like against hers, but never experiencing it again.

Then she thought she'd heard her name, but the way her broken mind worked, it could have been a long-forgotten memory trying to resurface. But then she'd heard it again, much louder, and sounding like a deep, rumbling voice was saying it. She didn't want to dare to hope it was Jayne, but it sounded so much like him that she started to turn before she even tried to reach out with her thoughts and sense if it was him. She ending up turning just in time to see Jayne running in front of the post office, as a man was coming out, and he ended up smacking the open door right into Jayne's face.

River gasped and threw her hands over her mouth before she dropped them and ran over. The man who'd accidentally hit Jayne was kneeling over him, apologizing profusely and trying to rouse him. She dropped to her knees beside Jayne, a large red lump already forming across his forehead.

"Jayne! Oh, Jayne." She felt for a pulse, finding it slow and steady, and the man, around Jayne's age or slightly older, looked at her with wide eyes.

"It were a' accident! I never saw 'im--"

"Do you have a hankerchief?" she asked breathlessly. When he nodded and pulled it out, she pointed towards the water pump. "Please, could you saturate it with water to serve as a cold compress?" He nodded again and hurried to complete the task, River running her fingers down Jayne's unshaven cheek.

"Oh, Jayne. Were you coming to find me? Were you on a quest to find your lady fair?" A soft sob escaped her throat before she could stop it. "No, the most likely explanation is that the Captain forced you to search for me. You would rather the ship take off without me, I'm sure."

The man returned, handing her the wet hankerchief. She thanked him, wringing it out a bit before placing it against Jayne's forehead. Across the street, a few people were gathered together, gawking at the scene, but they offered no help and River didn't ask for it.

"Ya think we should move 'im 'er sumthin'?" the man asked, but just then Jayne groaned.

"River?" he mumbled. She scooted against him and pressed her palm to his cheek.

"I'm here."

"River." he repeated, before his eyes opened slowly and focused on her face. He sat bolt upright, the hankerchief falling in his lap, but he immediately fell back in dizziness.

"Be careful!" River admonished, placing the compress back against his head. "You have a concussion."

"Don't ruttin' care 'bout no concussions!" he grumbled, fumbling to find her hand. "I been looking fer ya all mornin'!"

She sighed and handed the hankerchief back to the man. "Thank you for your assistance. He will be alright; his normal demeanor of being grumpy has returned."

Jayne let out a grunt and the man stood uncertainly. "Ok, well, if he needs anythin', we got a doc in town."

"That won't be necessary." she answered. "We have a doctor on our ship. Xie xie." The man left, the crowd across the street slowly broke up, and River and Jayne were left alone.

"Ya run off cuz 'a me, didntcha?" Jayne asked quietly.

She looked away and shrugged. "I was disheartened. I needed to escape for awhile, away from your presence in my mind."

"Oh." he replied, looking at her sad face. "Look, I--"

"It's alright." she whispered. "I'm alright."

"No," he answered, latching onto her arm. "Look, I dunno what kinda spell ya put on me, Lil' Witch, but I can't gitcha outta my head, an' I don't want to. An' that ain't never happened 'fore."

She blinked, unsure she had heard him correctly. Joy bubbled up through her and she could hardly suppress her squeals of delight. She managed to tamp down those sounds, however, and instead smiled shyly. "I am not like the other women, into whose palms you press bills and coins. I am untouched by anyone but you, and you are the only one who will ever touch me again. I am yours."

His head was pounding, but not as much as his heart. "Yeah? That a fact?"

"It is a certainty. I have thought this through most absolutely." Her fingertips skimmed his jawline and up to his cheek. "You are the one I want. We are the most alike, yet the most different. We are a paradox that must be explored until it's end."

Jayne grinned. "Sounds worth explorin' ta me too. Other's ain't gonna like it though."

"They must learn to except it. I don't rutting care what they think."

Jayne chuckled, sitting up more carefully this time. River wrapped an arm around him to help support his back, and it was Jayne's turn to caress her face.

Blushing, she whispered, "I understand you have had bad experiences with kissing on the lips, but perhaps we could make good experiences together?"

"Reckon we could." he answered, not waiting another moment before crushing his mouth against hers in an urgent kiss. She giggled happily against his lips, wrapping her other arm around him in a hug. He rotated his head the other way, opening his mouth and memorizing the feel and taste of her lips.

River felt like she was floating on a cloud, and though that was scientifically impossible, she now understood from where the phrase had come.

Jayne pulled away, wincing somewhat. "Ruttin' hell, my head hurts!"

She bit her lip to keep from smiling, turning it into a sympathetic look instead. "Back to the hotel? I am sure you will be exempt from work detail today."

"Sounds like a plan, Psyche." He winked at her before wincing again. She gave him a tender look as she helped him to his feet and wrapped his arm across her shoulder to aid him in walking back to the others.

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

Simon and Kaylee were covered in grease, dust, and cobwebs from crawling all over the ship, searching for River. They were taking a break in the cargo bay, when Mal called on the comm.

"Uh, think you two might wanna git back here now."

Simon straightened up and looked anxiously at Kaylee. "They found her?"

"Ya find her?" Kaylee asked through the handheld comm.

"Jayne did." Mal answered. "But he's got one helluva lump on his forehead. Think ya should look at it, Doc."

"We'll be right there." Kaylee answered excitedly, although concerned for Jayne's health. She and Simon raced from the ship out past the edge of town back to the hotel. Upon opening the door, they found the crew and a few of the hotel staff gathered around the sofa in the lobby, Jayne lying on it with River seated on the edge, lightly holding a wet washcloth to his forehead.

"What happened?" Kaylee asked, at the same time Simon cried out, "River!"

She stood and embraced her brother, assuring him she was alright. "Running off was an error in judgment. I apologize for concerning you all and disrupting your day."

"Aww, nah, it's ok!" Kaylee said, hugging her tightly.

"Uh, 'scuse me?" Jayne grumbled from the sofa. "Dyin' man lyin' here?"

River smirked at him, but Kaylee gasped as he lifted the washcloth off his forehead, which was swelling.

Simon knelt beside him, examining the lump. "And how'd you get this?"

"Well," Jayne began, "I was rescuin' yer sister from these pirates. Fought nine 'a them barehanded--"

"Jayne," River interjected, "that is not the truth."

"Well it's more excitin' that way, girl!" he answered. Simon pressed against his wound and he let out an "Ow!" shoving the doc onto his rear end. "That hurt ya gorram ta ma de hun dan!"

"Jayne..." Mal warned, but River shook her head.

"Merely instinct to lash out when injured. One tries to avoid aggravating the injury."

"Yeah, what she said." Jayne agreed. "If the Doc's done makin' it worse, I'm 'a go lay down fer awhile."

"I will accompany you." River said, taking his arm as he stood.

"Wait, what?" Simon asked in disbelief as he stood and brushed himself off.

"Oh, yes, we had news." River replied as she and Jayne started for the stairs. "By mutual agreement Jayne and I are entering into a romantic relationship." There was a pause as she let this sink in with everyone. She and Jayne started up the stairs and she added before anyone could argue, "There will be sex. Protected coition, of course." She directed the last part at Simon, whose face was turning an odd shade of sickly green. "For now." she snuck in, grinning at the varying looks on the crews' faces.

She and Jayne disappeared from view, and everyone was shocked into silence for a moment before Mal found his voice first.

"What the hell happened while they was gone?!"

THE END

pairing: river/jayne, fandom: firefly, theme: one shot

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