Fic: fán shì dōng xi lái dào
Title: fán shì dōng xi lái dào (all things to come)
Author: Rinny
Series: Firefly
Characters: Jayne, Jaylee, crew
Word Count: 2,869
Summery: This is intended as a sequel to End of All Things, but it is not required reading. The premise is simply after Miranda, the crew left Serenity one by one, leaving behind Kaylee and Mal. This is three years later.
1.
Jayne was gone on near three years.
And that was precisely how he thought of it, too. He was gone. Absent. Mislaid. Wandering. For three years, he felt conscious of the pull in his chest; the unexplainable need to keep moving forward.
Forward toward something.
What that something was, of course, took three long years to figure out. Three years of drunken stupor, of shady dealings and even shadier plights. Three years of being confined to wander freely through the verse with only Vera at his back.
Three years.
Being rather slow to catch on, and a little heartsick to boot, it wasn’t until the spring of that third year that he cottoned on to what exactly he was moving toward. Or rather, what he’d been running from.
Home and Serenity.
And Kaylee.
It took him three years to figure out he’d been goin’ in circles and not a damn thing to show for it. Well, all except the startling realization that either they were all safely ensconced in Serenity’s warmth without him or else he was the one going to bring them all back together again.
He spent the rest of that night laughing himself sick. And the following day drinking himself silly.
The third day, after his hangover had mellowed to a mere ache behind his eyes, he raised them to the heavens and squinted, as though he could see Book’s visage somewhere in the stray wisps of cloud over head. “Always knew you had a right twisted sense of humor, Shepherd.”
2.
By some wild twist of fate he found ‘Nara first.
The beautiful, exotic, renowned Companion: Inara Serra.
Jayne got a load of awful looks when he went askin’ after her. Folk didn’t think a grizzled man like him could have nothin’ to do with Inara’s ilk. It made Jayne think, ‘cause after all he’d been through with Inara, sure as hell felt like he should have somethin’ to do with her. The way he saw it, a man can’t turn his back on no one who took on Reavers with nothin’ but a fancified bow and walked away from it.
The way he remembered, ‘Nara’d been the only one ‘sides the Girl who’d been able to walk away without help.
It got him thinkin’ least wise, about Inara. And maybe no one else thought he could get close enough to breathe the same air as a companion, but Jayne figured he knew otherwise. Maybe whether Inara liked it or not, they was family. Only one Jayne got.
And he was fair certain it was the only one she got either.
Didn’t mean he wasn’t more than a mite bit nervous when he finally tracked her down on a moon off Gilda. He figured it made sense, she’d go to ground near to the core. All the harder for Mal to fetch her back if he ever decided to give chase.
Hard too, for Jayne. And he didn’t have near on half the brains like Mal did.
So he didn’t use his brains.
He broke into one of those glittery shindigs that ‘Nara was so fond of, guns drawn and four days growth of beard. And damned if Inara didn’t run into his arms and hug the life out of ‘im.
Made a man feel right confident in comin’ for her.
And like he maybe ought to pay for the privilege.
3.
Inara didn’t even ask him why he’d come. It surprised him some, that she hadn’t had to ask. She just knew. Figured maybe that was all part of Companioning-the ability to look an’ just know. Whatever it was, he was grateful she didn’t get all gooey on him.
Turned out she and Simon kept in contact, which shoulda made it all kinds of easy to track the doc down. Only he’d stopped writing in the last six months and knowin’ the doc and little sister, that was all manner of bad.
Inara’d promised to pull some strings and try and pick up the last of their trail and Jayne’d set off to find Zoe.
By the time he’d come back, three months later, with an Amazon woman too thin for her bones and eyes almost as bright as they were when Wash was alive, Inara had the scent. All that was left was for them to break River back outta whatever place got her locked up and rescue Simon from one of the back water moons he’d been forced to doctor on.
That was ‘bout the time Jayne wished Mal would jus’ come to his senses and do the thinkin’ for them.
4.
All and all, Simon’d been hardest to find.
River knew they was comin’, probably before they did, and met them half-way, her hair flying behind her just the way he remembered.
Jayne didn’t think he’d been happier to see blood on someone’s hands his entire life.
They’d had a time fightin’ their way back out again, and he’d broke his foot and taken a laser burn to his back before it was all over. Most exhilaratin’ two hours he’d had in three gorram years.
5.
Weren’t much they could do ‘bout Simon. The Fed’s had pressed him into service on one of the furthest moons from the Core. Kept him guarded nice too.
Jayne was a big fan of breakin’ and enterin’ but Zoe, ‘Nara and River wouldn’t let him. The girls cooked up some fancy scheme where all he’d had to do was carry the Doc, droolin’ all over his shoulder, out of the complex.
Guns woulda been more fun.
6.
He, Inara, Zoe, Simon and River all in one spot was like some kinda funny renunion with smiles and grim laughter and the acute knowledge that there were two still missin’ and not no way of findin’ them.
Nor any way to get to find them as all they had were a few more weeks in ‘Nara’s apartments before her contract expired. At least she said that was what were happening, but Jayne’d heard a tightness in her voice when she’d said it.
All the monies they got were Inara’s and the measly amounts he and Zoe’d been savin’ over the years.
Still, they’d all seen worse and there was a quiet kinda joy that permeated the air he breathed.
Even when River stole his favorite shirt with the nekkid ladies on it, he couldn’t really get mad.
But he tried.
7.
Jayne didn’t like it, but in the end they split up. Inara with Jayne and Simon and River with Zoe. If he’d had his way, he’d have left the other three behind and gone with Zoe to track down even the least likely of Mal’s old contacts, but they weren’t having none of it.
Wouldn’t have admitted it, but their stubbornocity made him glad he’d gotten them back in the first place.
8.
A man as old as he, this kinda work, had seen a lot of the ‘verse. But it was a damn sight bigger than he could have seen given a dozen lifetimes and an unlimited supply of coin. Neither of which he had.
What he did have was Inara, a trackers good sense, and the uncanny ability to know what kinda man Captain Mal Reynolds was.
“What about Kaylee?” Inara had asked, when Jayne had seemed hell bent on searchin’ for the Captain. “We’ve got to locate her too.”
“We find Mal, we find Serenity.” He said simply, scouring a map of Genesis quandrant. “We find Serenity, we find Kaylee.”
Inara had looked at him then. Looked at him. Like he was some sort of puzzle she meant to unravel and he didn’t like it one bit.
“Whatcha lookin’ at, woman?” he growled, shooting her his meanest look.
Instead of gettin’ fearful, like he’d wanted, a slow, knowing smile curved her generous mouth. “What happened on Serenity when you left, Jayne?”
What happened? He opened his mouth to shoot off some…some…thing that would make her leave him alone, but the words didn’t come.
Her all knowing expression faded to something compassionate and she touched his arm, her graceful fingers warm through the rough cotton of his sleeve. “We’ll find them, Jayne.”
“After all,” she continued, a little smile curving her mouth. “It’s not like Mal to lie low for long.”
He laughed.
9.
Hard as he and Inara were looking, it never occurred to him that Zoe, River and Simon would have found them first.
He said as much to Inara, after the wave from Zoe ended. She gave him an indulgent smile and shook her head. “You’re a qi miao tracker, Jayne Cobb, but you’re no reader.”
Jayne grunted and left their modest appointment in Lien-tiah-ja with a handful of coin and booked passage to Lynden, a colony on Verbena.
He came back to their studio with supplies enough for four days travel to the outer planets on the other side of the verse and a scowl. He found Inara knelt serenely in front of the small, make shift alter in the corner of the room, incense burning to fill the room with a smoky, sultry scent.
Knowin’ better than to interrupt, he felt itchy and uncomfortable in his own skin. “You gotta burn that stuff?”
Her placid expression never faltered, “When do we leave?”
“Tomorrow. 0900. Not ruttin’ soon enough,” he dropped a sack on the table with a clang.
Inara continued her ablations. “Jayne?”
“What?!” He growled and the ferocity surprised him.
But apparently not her. “Go. Pick a fight with someone your own size.” Her brown eyes flickered over him once, “Or at least only slightly smaller.”
“But-“
“Go.” She said firmly, lighting another stick of incense. “We’ve more than fourteen hours before we leave. I know,” she said softly. “I understand the need.”
He studied the piles ashes laying before her, the knuckles of her clasped hands gone white, and the soles of her feet pale beneath her gown.
Meeting her brown eyes with his blue, Jayne nodded, “Think maybe you do.”
He left.
10.
The wave from Zoe hadn’t contained many details. Only that they were two days from Lynden and that a Firefly had been spotted there, grounded for eight months. There were traces of red paint on the hull.
If it bothered Inara some that they were walkin’ into a strange place with nothin’ but a shred of hope and the promise of at least three friends waiting, she didn’t show it.
They didn’t talk much during the four day trip.
There was plenty that could have been said, but what did it matter when there weren’t words enough for the important things. Silence suited them just fine.
And right down to it, so did the company.
11.
Lynden was just like most mining towns, reminding Jayne eerily of a slightly more fertile Haven. He sent a silent prayer up to Shepherd Book.
Inara met his eyes and he had the uncanny feeling that they shared the same thought.
Hauling bags off the transport ship, Jayne squinted into the sun. “Where do we start?”
Inara pointed through the mostly abandoned docks, where the unmistakable outline of a Firefly class ship stood against the fading afternoon light. “I think we’ve found it.”
She began to walk forward and Jayne didn’t follow.
Turning back, Inara raised her hand to shield her eyes, “Jayne?”
Guilt shadowed his eyes, “You don’t know what he was like when I left.” He cleared his throat, “Mal’ll be different, ‘Nara. I shoulda thought of that.”
“I know, Jayne,” she looked toward the ship, a hint of trepidation tightening her mouth. “I knew the way he was headed. I know how bad it can get. I know-“ she corrected herself, “I think I know how to help.”
“How?”
“By going back.”
Jayne stared at the Firefly, still and silent in the distance.
They went.
12.
Jayne didn’t know what to expect, walking up to the airlock of Serenity. Zoe, Simon and River had two days on them and he’d confirmed their arrival at the docks.
They’d be here, surely.
Would Mal?
Would Kaylee?
Would they be glad to see them?
He glanced at Inara before pounding on the hatch, wondering if she felt as nervous as he. She was composed as ever, her hands folded serenely in front of her. He grunted. Prim and proper, always.
Just a little nerves, that’s all he asked.
The door creaked open, the hinges squeaking from disuse. Kaylee would never have let them get that way. But then, Jayne felt a tug in his chest, Kaylee maybe wasn’t here.
That notion was quickly disabused when a moment later he had his arms full of greasy, sweet smelling girl. “Jayne!”
His name had never sounded so good in his ears.
13.
Kaylee was bubbly and effervescent, her face aglow as she bustled around the reunited crew, fixing up rooms, chatting and laughing and utterly, completely happy. Her joy was contagious and they gathered as one in the kitchen, as they always had.
They shared the meager bits that amounted to the food they had, exchanged stories and tales of where they’d been and what they’d done. There were awkward moments and uncomfortable shifts as they glossed over the unhappy bits, the loneliness, the guilt.
They didn’t speak of before.
They didn’t speak of Mal.
14.
Jayne could see the worry clouding Inara’s eyes the next morning, and it was he who asked.
And it was Kaylee who answered.
They’d gotten word the others were coming and Mal had volunteered a scouting trip into the mines, into the mountains. He would come home, he always came home, she promised. “He just needed more time,” she said quietly.
“Three years weren’t enough?” Jayne grumbled.
“Jayne,” Kaylee touched his arm and didn’t let go.
“He ain’t back tomorrow, I’m goin’ after him.”
“He’ll be back,” she whispered and Jayne could see her throat work as she swallowed. “He’ll come back, just like you did. Just like you all did.”
They were alone for the first time since he’d arrived and he was unaccountably nervous. She was still touching him.
“Inara told me,” she said softly. Kaylee looked older, thinner. There were wrinkles of worry in her forehead that hadn’t been there before. “You brought them back.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she smiled-glowed, really. “Yeah, she did.”
“An’ you believe her?” His tongue felt tied in knots.
“Yeah,” she moved closer.
“You-you don’t gotta be thankin’ me for it or nothin’. I did it ‘cause I wanted to. Weren’t for no one but me.”
Her eyes crinkled with a smile and Jayne stupidly smiled back, “I know, y’old fool. You did it ‘cause you wanted to and that’s why I-“
“Why you what?” He blinked stupidly at her.
“Why I’m gonna do this…” she cupped his cheek and kissed him, slow, tentative, like she hadn’t kissed a man in a long, long time.
15.
In the end, Jayne hadn’t had to go haul Mal outta the mine. He showed up in time for the evenin’ meal. He was gaunt and quiet, quick to look to Kaylee for assurance that this weren’t some dream he’d made up.
Simon started talkin’ about getting’ in the air, what they needed to get flying. Kaylee was eager enough to talk about repairs and Serenity’s needs. They started there, everyone pitching in on the ship while Jayne took to the mines with Mal, savin’ up coin for fuel. They didn’t talk, but they didn’t need to. Jayne was content to let the rhythm of hard labor fill in the time and distance between them since he’d left Serenity.
Zoe quietly took the initiative, testing connections, lookin’ up work for when Serenity got flying again. She led until Mal felt certain that when he took the reins they’d still want to follow.
And they would, Jayne knew. They all knew. All except Mal.
16.
A kiss was a beginning.
Those first days on Serenity were full of beginnings and starts. Remembering each other and learning what had changed and stayed the same.
Jayne learned how to make Zoe laugh again, how to get Simon to roll his eyes in that ever infuriating and familiar way, how to look at Mal and make him smile, how to do the dishes with River so that he kept the knives well out of her reach.
Most importantly, he learned the smell of Kaylee’s hair, the calloused feel of her hand clasped in his, the way to touch her neck to dissolve the tension built there.
It was a beginning and they were in no rush.
17.
They gathered on the bridge, all of them, the first time they took to the air. River was at the helm, Mal standing at her right shoulder, his hand firm on the back of her seat. Inara stood close beside him, watching his profile rather than the disappearing horizon.
Kaylee appeared at his own side, ducking beneath his arm and placing herself secure in his arms.
He squeezed her, smiling faint to himself.
“Thank you,” she whispered, kissing his cheek.
He didn’t have to ask what for.
“You’re welcome, baobei.”