Lady Sally's Place, Tuesday Night [5/2]

[moonbraingirl]

Fast Eddie is playing 'Tricky Fingers' on the baby grand, his own fingers a blur on the ivory keys. A dance-off seems to be happening on the warm wooden floor, each person performing their own sets of moves, graciously dropping out when their energy is depleted and retiring to the bar on the right-hand side of the north wall, which is dispensing

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[aint_no_hero]

Jayne walked into Lady Sally's with no preconceived notions of how River would react to seeing him again. He knew she had every right to be angry with him if she indeed got it in her head to be angry. He didn't plan on arguing, he didn't plan on begging for forgiveness. He was just too gorram tired for that kind of thing.

He immediately noticed her on the dancefloor and smiled to himself as he slid into one of the plush stools at the bar. He contemplated going over to her, but decided it would probably be a bad idea to interrupt her work, especially since he wasn't sure if he was in her good graces any longer. Instead he flagged down the bartender and ordered a whiskey, neat. He figured she'd find him soon enough.

[moonbraingirl]

River didn't notice him right away. There were too many people, too much noise, both physical and mental, and she'd stopped listening for him a while ago. It was only when she stopped dancing for a drink that she felt familiar eyes on her back.

River nearly dropped the glass, but held on. She sipped her water, nodding to the bartender as she left the half-empty cup with him. Now that she wasn't dancing, her wounds began to throb, and she held her right arm against her stomach, glancing down to make sure it hadn't bled through.

She made her way through the crowd, ignoring the repeated attempts to pull her back onto the dance floor. She stopped at the bar, a stool between them. "Jayne," she said, her voice flat.

[aint_no_hero]

Jayne was unsurprised by her lifeless tone, and merely sighed. Yep. She'd got it in her head to be angry.

Or, he thought with a bit of a sinking feeling, maybe she wasn't angry at all, maybe she felt nothing toward him. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"River," he replied, keeping his tone even. He finally noticed she was standing strangely, her arm pressed tight against her middle. He frowned, making to stand. "You okay, darlin'?"

[moonbraingirl]

River looked up into Jayne's eyes, trying to understand. "It's healing. Helped Dr. Wilson with some demons. There were four." The way River said were made it quite clear there weren't any demons any more, but she still cradled her arm tightly against her body. "Only hurts when I'm not moving."

She bit her lip, trying to figure out what to say. Her eyes dropped to the floor. What was there to say? "You left," she muttered finally, her voice still monotone. "I worried."

[aint_no_hero]

Jayne's brow furrowed at the word "demons," but decided that explanation wasn't nearly as important as his. He slumped back down into his seat, his hand blindly reaching for his glass.

"I had some things to take care of," he said at last, keeping his eyes on her face. "The shop got vandalized while I was out," he continued stupidly, trying to fill the void between them with words. "Broke a coupla windows, wrote a buncha piss-poor curses on the armor plate. Left me a right mess to clean up, is all they really did."

He looked away at last, finishing off his whiskey and placing the glass on the bar. His gaze fastened on the empty stool beside him. "Sorry."

[moonbraingirl]

"Oh." She clenched her teeth and looked away, feeling her pulse speed up as her body tensed. River didn't know what to do or say, and her confusion threw her off balance. She knew she was angry with Jayne for leaving without telling her, and for making her worry. But she was also angry with herself for reasons she wasn't sure she could explain. She took a breath, and after a moment she managed, "Things?"

A burst of pain shot through the wound in her thigh and she winced. River climbed up onto the stool next to him, rubbing the bandage under her dress. "Anxiety, pulse rate is high. It hurts. Doesn't mean you're forgiven. Just need to sit."

[aint_no_hero]

Jayne sighed again, but was secretly relieved at her words. He could deal with the idea of an angry River much better than an indifferent one. "Family things."

The bartender refreshed his drink, and he took a healthy mouthful before he turned to study her unhappily. She was pale, and obviously hurting in more than one place on her body. "You sure you should be on your feet at all?" he asked her, unable to keep the edge out of his voice. "You been to see your brother? He know you're hurt?"

[moonbraingirl]

Family. She understood family. Family was important, necessary. River waved to the bartender who dropped a glass of water off in front of her. "Is everything okay?" she asked, her voice soft.

"I'm fine," she said, removing her hand from her thigh and wrapping both around her cup. "Dr. Wilson took care of it for me. Just a few stitches. Blood loss was minimal, risk of infection only moderate." She didn't mention the fact that he'd suggested she see Simon to ensure they were healing properly, mostly because she hadn't done it yet. Simon would probably panic. "I rested the first day. I can't just lie around all week."

[aint_no_hero]

"Yeah," he answered tiredly. "No. I don't know." He leaned on the bar and rubbed his brow with the fingers of one hand while the other held onto his glass as if for dear life. "My ma ain't getting any younger. She's got Mattie, but she takes care of him more'n the other way around, like it should be. It's up to me to take care of everything, should something happen. That sorta weighs on a person."

He shot her another quick glance, then grunted; he weren't ever one to sit on his ass all day, injured or no. "Just take care of yourself, darlin'. Better you rest a week than end up abed for a month 'cause you couldn't wait to get back out there."

[moonbraingirl]

Picking up her glass, River stared at the liquid for a moment before taking a sip. "There's only the three of you? I--" She shook her head as if to clear it. She was mad at him, damn it! She set her glass down and hugged her injured arm to her chest. "I guess it would," she murmured.

River sighed. "Your concern is noted and appreciated but unneccessary. It will heal."

[aint_no_hero]

Jayne's mouth thinned. "Been just the three of us since the War," he said, taking a drink. This wasn't something he wanted to talk about.

"Other than the obvious, you been doin' okay? You wanna talk about them demon whatsits?" He found he couldn't look at her; the tone in her voice had been unmistakable, and no matter how much he knew he deserved it, it didn't make him feel better.

[moonbraingirl]

River pursed her lips and held onto her glass, wanting to know more, but not wanting to press Jayne. He obviously didn't want to talk about his family. Maybe she'd ask him some other time.

..which implied that she was planning on forgiving him sometime before they died. Which she didn't think she was. "They wanted to kill Dr. Wilson. He was tired from running, and I was there." She wrinkled her nose. "They were ugly and smelled terrible. Wings like bats, but bigger." She rubbed the bandage on her arm. "Big claws. But stupid. Very stupid."

[aint_no_hero]

"Stupider than even me?" Jayne's mouth twisted into a smirk. "They weren't no match for you, huh, River-girl?" He spun his mostly-empty glass on the bartop, leaving round wet trails in its wake.

[moonbraingirl]

River's mouth quirked into a half-smile. "Much. You know not to fight me, at least. And you smell better. Most of the time." She fingered her own glass, watching his spin and mentally calculating the velocity and angles of the drops of liquor. "Thought I was just a little girl; didn't see the danger."

Reaching out, she stopped it and spun it the other way. She looked up at Jayne. "Should've at least told me you were leaving." It wasn't exactly forgiveness, but it was close.

[aint_no_hero]

"I know." Jayne finally met her gaze, seeing plain as day the myriad dangers lurking there. "I wasn't thinking."

[moonbraingirl]

River snorted. "You do that a lot." She looked away, finishing off her glass of water quickly. "Should try it more often."