What the Captain Doesn't Know Won't Hurt Him
Title: What the Captain Doesn't Know Won't Hurt Him
Prompt # 19 jewel
Author: squish
Characters: Jayne/Kaylee, crew, OCs
Rating: PG13
Word count: 1692
Comments : Comments: a collaboration between
bookaddict43 and myself. Prompt table and previous chapters here. Thanks to
bookishtype for the banner.
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Kaylee woke to bright lights and whispered voices-and a small, warm bundle sitting on her stomach staring into her eyes. She raised an arm to scratch behind Misty’s ear and felt the pain shoot through her body, bringing with it memories of her recent ordeal.
“She’s awake,” River’s soft voice floated to her from the side of the infirmary and Kaylee turned her head stiffly to look at her. She was talking with Inara who smiled softly at Kaylee and reached for her hand.
“It’s good to have you back with us, mei mei. How are you feeling?”
“Been better,” Kaylee tried to smile, but ended up wincing in pain instead.
Simon approached her from the other side, making her flinch instinctively. “I’m sorry, Kaylee, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
She felt stupid, of course Simon would be there, it was his infirmary after all. She tried to cover her moment of panic, “No, s’alright, just didn’t see you there is all.”
Kaylee could see the look that passed between them and knew she hadn’t fooled anyone, but she didn’t want them thinking she was weak anymore. She’d worked too hard surviving those monsters who’d been after them to have her friends see her as weak.
“I’ll give you another shot for the pain soon, but first I want to check your vitals.” Simon finished his examination and told her how well she was doing. Kaylee could feel the pain meds begin to make her thoughts fuzzy, but there was still something she needed to know.
“Where’s Jayne?” she asked, looking to Inara for an answer.
The was a heavy pause during which Simon deftly excused himself from the room. Inara was stalling and it was starting to scare Kaylee.
“He’s fighting the demons,” River said slowly, trying in her own way to alleviate Kaylee’s worry. Inara saw the look of fear that crossed Kaylee’s face and rushed to explain.
“He’s talking with Mal…and the Shepherd,” Inara added quickly when the first part seemed to worry Kaylee even more. “Would you like me to get him for you?”
“No, it’s okay,” Kaylee closed her eyes, only partly from the medication. She drifted off, wondering how much she would be seeing Jayne now that they were back on the ship.
*****
The captain led the way into the kitchen with Book following closely behind him. Jayne sat at the table, head bowed over a drink. It seemed he hadn’t waited for Mal to bring the good whiskey. The captain sat across from his hired gun, placing the bottle he’d retrieved on the table while giving Book a significant glance. Neither of them particularly wanted to deal with a drunken mercenary with a guilty conscience, but Mal knew it would take quite a few drinks for Jayne to get that way, so they had time to talk some sense into him.
Mal had been plenty mad at Jayne for all this and had inwardly, and maybe a little outwardly, cursed him as they’d approached the ship where he and Kaylee had been held. But when Jayne had stepped out of the ship with Kaylee in his arms and that look on his face, well it had given Mal a whole bunch of things to consider.
It wasn’t lost on Mal that all of this connected back to Canton for Jayne. He’d got that mudder boy killed, or so he thought, and now he was likely blaming himself for getting Kaylee hurt. He watched as Jayne grabbed the bottle and poured himself a fresh drink. Seemed the man was too distracted even for drinking manners. Mal poured his own drink and made an offer to the preacher.
“No thank you, Captain,” Book said, keeping a watchful eye on Jayne.
Mal thought it was time to get on with the talking, though he dreaded it. “What the hell happened down there, Jayne?” It came out a little harsher than he’d intended and even though the shepherd winced, Jayne didn’t seem to take notice. The man began to tell them the story from the first attack to the end. The only time he looked up from the table was when he told them how strong Kaylee had been.
“It seems as though you did everything you could, Jayne,” Book said, his fingertips pressed together as if in prayer.
“Yeah. I did everything I could.”
The harsh sarcasm of Jayne’s words gave Mal the feeling he was leaving something out. The preacher had picked up on it too.
“Is there something else you need to tell us?” When Jayne hesitated, Book continued, “If there’s something else that happened that we should know about, Jayne, something that would help in Kaylee’s recovery…”
Jayne looked up sharply at that.
“No, it aint… I done something wrong, Preacher.” Jayne took another swallow of his drink, unsure why he was telling them this.
“Son, those men coming after you…that wasn’t your fault.”
“Ain’t what I meant. That was my fault, but I didn’t have much control over it. No, I done something I shouldn’t have and now everything’s ruined.”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” Book said, looking back and forth between Jayne and the captain.
Jayne took yet another drink, trying to bolster his resolve. He sat the glass down on the table with a soft thud. “Me an’ Kaylee, see we…well we kinda… Aw hell, Shepherd, I can’t tell you this!”
Realization dawned in Book’s eyes a moment before Mal. “Ah, I see.” Book wasn’t unwise in the ways of the world outside of the abbey of course.
“Jayne, what the hell did you think you were doin’?” Mal had it figured out at last. “No, don’t answer that, ‘cause apparently you weren’t thinkin’.”
Book interrupted the two men, wanting to keep this conversation focused on the point for once. “And I take it that you’re feeling guilty about what happened between you and Kaylee?” he asked.
“Took advantage of her.” It was all he would say.
Mal felt as though his jaw was going to come unhinged at the thought of Jayne Cobb feeling guilty over sex. If he weren’t so annoyed with the man, he’d think it was downright funny. Clearly there were some things about Jayne that he hadn’t seen over the last year or so, one of them being his attitude toward his mechanic.
“Jayne, I happen to know a few things about Kaywinnet Lee Frye and one of them is that for all her cheery ways, she ain’t the sort of girl that lets others take advantage of her.” Jayne looked at Mal with a confused expression, clearly waiting for the other shoe to drop. “This’ll all get sorted out soon enough, now you’d best get down to the infirmary and let the doc take a look at those wrists. Don’t need both my merc and my mechanic outta commission.”
Mal stood and headed for the bridge, not seeing the surprised look Jayne gave him. He’d tried hiding the wounds from where the handcuffs had dug into his skin under the long sleeves of his shirt and hadn’t thought the captain had seen them. Book stood from the table as well and gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze.
“Get on down to the infirmary, son, perhaps Kaylee is awake by now and you can talk with her.”
Jayne wanted to see Kaylee, but he wasn’t sure about the talking part.
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He could see Kaylee lying still on the medcot through the window of the infirmary. She looked to be all alone and he silently cursed the doc for not watching after her when she was hurting so much. Jayne took a deep breath and stepped inside.
The kitten was still curled up with Kaylee and she stretched and yawned when she saw Jayne. “You just stay still, girl. Kaylee needs you now,” he said as he patted her head to get her to stay in place.
Jayne could feel the anger coursing through him as he looked at Kaylee. That hun dan had hurt her bad, her face was all black and blue, but even with that he thought she was still the prettiest thing he’d ever seen.
“You think she’s a precious jewel,” a soft voice from behind him said. “A shiny treasure.”
Gorramn crazy girl, Jayne thought, turning to see River curled up in the corner. “Course she’s shiny,” he spat out at her in a harsh whisper, then turning back to Kaylee. “Too shiny for the likes a’ me.”
River unfurled her long legs and floated over to stand beside him. “You’re no longer her protector, Jayne Cobb. Now you’re the steel-the setting the jewel needs to shine.”
“You don’t know what the di yu you’re talkin’ about.”
River smiled sweetly at him and turned away, gliding out of the room. “She’ll be awake soon.”
Jayne looked back at Kaylee, hoping she hadn’t just heard what they’d been saying. He watched as her eyes blinked open and he fought the strong urge to turn and run.
“Jayne?” Kaylee said groggily.
“Yeah, right here.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say, but he wanted desperately to fill the silence that stretched between them as Kaylee looked at him. The kitten stood from her spot and stretched again. Jayne reached out a hand to scratch her cheek. “You, uh, you doin’ okay?” It was a stupid question and he knew it; ‘course she wasn’t okay.
“I’m alright,” Kaylee said, looking down at Misty instead of Jayne. She watched his hands as he petted the tiny kitten. She remembered those hands being gentle with her, as well as being deadly with their captors.
She gasped when she saw the marks on his wrist and reached for his hand. “Jayne, you’re hurt!”
Jayne pulled his hand quickly away from Kaylee’s touch. “It’s nothin’,” he said flatly. ‘Cause I’m nothin’ lettin’ you get hurt that way, he thought. Don’t deserve to be in the same room with you. “I gotta go, you…you get some rest now.”
He turned and walked quickly away, leaving Kaylee to cry herself back to sleep.
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