What The Captain Doesn't Know Won't Hurt Him
Title: What The Captain Doesn’t Know Won’t Hurt Him
Prompt # 21: Despair
Author: squish
Pairing: Jayne/Kaylee
Rating: G
Word Count: 1711
A collarboration between bookaddict43 and myself. Previous chapters can be found here. Thanks to bookishtype for the banner.
**********
Inara exited her shuttle in search of breakfast and found the captain instead. He was leaning against the railing overlooking the cargo bay. It was clear to her that he wanted to talk and that only the early hour had kept him from barging into her shuttle-it was most likely a novel experience for him.
She took a graceful step next to Mal and placed her hands on the rail, looking down to see what held his attention. Jayne was stacking crates in the bay. The new cargo had obviously been delivered that morning.
“The work will be good for him,” she said, opening the conversation up for Mal.
“Yeah, nothing like work to take a man’s mind off his troubles.”
“You’re feeling guilty.” Inara knew that Mal felt responsible for his crew, even when their trials and tribulations weren’t within his control.
Mal glanced at her and then back to Jayne. “Not as guilty as some.”
“Has the doctor released Kaylee from the infirmary yet?”
He nodded, “This morning. She’s back in the engine room checkin’ on her girl; think River’s with her.”
“At least they’ve talked.” Inara didn’t have to explain who ‘they’ were. “It seems to have helped both of them.”
Mal turned towards her, leaning against the railing on one elbow. “She tell you anything ‘bout that?”
Inara shook her head, “Only that they talked. About what, I’m not sure.”
Jayne was looking at Kaylee with an expression she couldn’t read. He said he wanted to talk to her about what had happened, but which part of what happened did he want to talk about? She sat on the medcot, struggling to find something to say. The warmth of him sitting next to her flooded her mind with images of warm hands and lips caressing her in a cold, dark barn.
Kaylee’s reverie was broken when Misty landed on the bed between her and Jayne and she jumped in startled response. Jayne frowned as he picked the kitten up and sat her on Kaylee’s lap.
“Didn’t you see her?” he asked.
“No, I saw her, she just spooked me is all. Been a little jumpy ever since…” her voice trailed off and she shrugged slightly, not looking at Jayne. The medcot shook with the force of his sigh.
“Kaylee…I’m real sorry ‘bout what happened. And I just want you to know that it ain’t never gonna happen again.” She looked sharply at him, but he was looking at the kitten, lightly patting her atop the head as he spoke. Kaylee thought she was gonna start crying-she knew she’d pushed herself onto Jayne, but she didn’t really want to hear that he was sorry about it. She blinked back her tears, trying to concentrate on his voice instead of what he was saying.
“It’s all my fault you got hurt. If I hadn’t turned on Stitch in the first place, none of this woulda happened. Hell, I couldn’t even look out for you proper down there.”
Kaylee’s breath caught as she realized he was talking about her getting hurt and not what had happened between them. She wasn’t sure what it meant, but she was desperate to make him understand that it wasn’t his fault.
“No, Jayne, you looked out for me just fine. You couldn’t help it that those dai yao guai was after you.” She put a hand on his arm and waited until he met her eyes. “You fought ‘em off real good-you were real strong.”
Jayne let out a huff that was a mixture of disbelief and regret. “No, Kaylee, you were the strong one. Gotta say I’m real proud of ya for not lettin’ them get to you. But you should never’ve had to go through that. And I just want you to know that as long as I’m breathin’, you ain’t never gonna have to go through nothin’ like that again.”
Jayne stood then, deciding that he’d talked long enough. Before Kaylee could say anything, he grabbed her legs and swung them back up on the medcot and had covered her with the blanket, not once disturbing the kitten who was curled up in her lap. He drew himself up to his full height and looked at her seriously. “You, um, you get some rest. I’ll come back later, after I get some work done for Mal.”
Jayne turned and was out the door before she could reply. He didn’t see the tiny smile that came over her face or hear her tell the kitten, “Maybe me and him can go back to bein’ friends afterall, huh Girl.”
“At least Jayne’s back to doin’ work and bein’ all tetchy about it. I was beginning to wonder if I’d have to order him to be grouchy.” Mal smirked as they watched the mercenary work, just enough to let Inara know that he wasn’t quite being serious.
“If there’s cargo, I take it that we’ll be leaving soon?”
“Yeah. Kaylee’s outta the woods and the supplier has been more than patient, but we ain’t gettin’ paid to just sit around. Wash and Zoe are up plotting us a course now, I want to be off planet by afternoon.” Mal pinched the bridge of his nose as he felt his head begin to pound. “Only got one more problem to wrap up.”
“Problem?” Inara asked, immediately concerned that there were more repercussions to their stay than she had been made aware.
Mal cocked an eyebrow at her and motioned to the cargo bay and the scene below them. Inara couldn’t help but smile as she watched the small kitten jump from the top of one crate to another while Jayne moved them.
“It won’t be easy,” she warned him.
“It’ll be easy for me,” he snapped, his allergies finally getting the better of his patience.
Inara fought to contain her amusement, “Mal, you really can’t blame that tiny thing for your allergies, or anyone else for that matter.”
“I can so! In fact, that is one thing that I can definitely blame Jayne for.”
“Blame Jayne for what?”
The voice came from behind him, and Mal grimaced as he realized how that must have sounded. He turned to face his small mechanic, an explanation on his lips. Kaylee interrupted him before he could speak.
“You can’t blame Jayne for this, Cap’n. Weren’t his fault those men did what they did. They coulda been after you or Zoe or even River as far as that goes.” Mal tried to interject, but Kaylee just spoke faster, her voice getting more and more agitated as she went.
“No, I ain’t gonna have it. You’re always blamin’ Jayne. And maybe he deserves it sometimes, but not on this one. An’ if you’re gonna hold to that, well then…well then I’ll just quit!” she said with a menacing look in her eye and a stamp of her foot.
Mal was backed up against the railing at this point with his hands half raised in surrender. While he wasn’t fond of mutiny, he had the sneaking suspicion that Kaylee telling him off was somehow good for her. Still, he thought he’d better calm the situation down just a might.
“Easy now, little Kaylee. I may be a mean old man, but even I can see that this wasn’t Jayne’s fault. That wasn’t what we was talkin’ about at all.”
“Well what was you talkin’ about then?” she put her hands on her hips and gave him that look. The one that every gorram woman in his life seemed to be able to make.
Mal never got the chance to answer.
“What the hell’s goin’ on up here?”
Mal and Inara both jumped at the sudden presence of Jayne at the top of the stairs. He’d clearly heard the raised voices-Kaylee’s raised voice-and come running.
“Mal, what the hell’s wrong with you? Girl’s just got outta the infirmary and you’re yellin’ at her?!”
“Uh…I am not yelling at her.” Mal said indignantly. “For your information, she was yellin’ at me.”
“What are you makin’ her yell at you for?!” The man was clearly angry.
Inara placed a hand on Jayne’s shoulder. “We were just having a discussion, Jayne, nothing more.”
“’Bout what?” Jayne asked suspiciously.
Mal closed his eyes to get control before his head exploded. When he opened them, it was to the feeling of a small tapping on his arm. He looked down to see the kitten sitting calmly on the railing, her multi-colored paw reaching up at him. He immediately sneezed.
“We’re taking off later today.” Mal said, ready to change the subject, even if it was to one that he was dreading. He looked sympathetically at Kaylee. “Mei mei, I know you’ve gotten attached, but Mr. Bevis has been asking about his new cat.”
“Oh. Right,” Kaylee said quietly, making Mal feel like a real ass.
“He’s been askin’ about you too. Thought maybe you could take her down to his shop and visit with him for a spell…maybe even get a few extra parts while you’re there.” He hadn’t meant to throw that out, but if it made her happy…
Kaylee’s eyes lit up for a moment before she realized that taking Misty to Mr. Bevis’ shop meant leaving the ship and making the same trip that had resulted in so much trouble the first time.
Inara and Mal glanced at each other over her head. Jayne froze where he was, his hand gripping the railing until his knuckles were white.
“Jayne’s gotta take back that medical equipment that Mr. Bevis borrowed for us, so he can go with you,” Mal said casually, as though he were giving them an order to do the dishes.
Mal didn’t want Kaylee being afraid to leave the ship. He also didn’t want Jayne thinking he couldn’t trust him to look out for Kaylee. Even though Mal did blame Jayne a bit for what had happened, he could see that the man was wracked with guilt over it and he needed a chance to make up for it. Still, it didn’t mean he couldn’t blame him for the kitten-he was the captain after all.
Mal turned to escort Inara to the kitchen, waving his hand in the air at the protests that he could hear forming behind him. “It’s an order. Don’t spend too much of my coin and be back by 1300, dong ma?”
****************
Prompt # 21: Despair
Author: squish
Pairing: Jayne/Kaylee
Rating: G
Word Count: 1711
A collarboration between bookaddict43 and myself. Previous chapters can be found here. Thanks to bookishtype for the banner.
**********
Inara exited her shuttle in search of breakfast and found the captain instead. He was leaning against the railing overlooking the cargo bay. It was clear to her that he wanted to talk and that only the early hour had kept him from barging into her shuttle-it was most likely a novel experience for him.
She took a graceful step next to Mal and placed her hands on the rail, looking down to see what held his attention. Jayne was stacking crates in the bay. The new cargo had obviously been delivered that morning.
“The work will be good for him,” she said, opening the conversation up for Mal.
“Yeah, nothing like work to take a man’s mind off his troubles.”
“You’re feeling guilty.” Inara knew that Mal felt responsible for his crew, even when their trials and tribulations weren’t within his control.
Mal glanced at her and then back to Jayne. “Not as guilty as some.”
“Has the doctor released Kaylee from the infirmary yet?”
He nodded, “This morning. She’s back in the engine room checkin’ on her girl; think River’s with her.”
“At least they’ve talked.” Inara didn’t have to explain who ‘they’ were. “It seems to have helped both of them.”
Mal turned towards her, leaning against the railing on one elbow. “She tell you anything ‘bout that?”
Inara shook her head, “Only that they talked. About what, I’m not sure.”
Jayne was looking at Kaylee with an expression she couldn’t read. He said he wanted to talk to her about what had happened, but which part of what happened did he want to talk about? She sat on the medcot, struggling to find something to say. The warmth of him sitting next to her flooded her mind with images of warm hands and lips caressing her in a cold, dark barn.
Kaylee’s reverie was broken when Misty landed on the bed between her and Jayne and she jumped in startled response. Jayne frowned as he picked the kitten up and sat her on Kaylee’s lap.
“Didn’t you see her?” he asked.
“No, I saw her, she just spooked me is all. Been a little jumpy ever since…” her voice trailed off and she shrugged slightly, not looking at Jayne. The medcot shook with the force of his sigh.
“Kaylee…I’m real sorry ‘bout what happened. And I just want you to know that it ain’t never gonna happen again.” She looked sharply at him, but he was looking at the kitten, lightly patting her atop the head as he spoke. Kaylee thought she was gonna start crying-she knew she’d pushed herself onto Jayne, but she didn’t really want to hear that he was sorry about it. She blinked back her tears, trying to concentrate on his voice instead of what he was saying.
“It’s all my fault you got hurt. If I hadn’t turned on Stitch in the first place, none of this woulda happened. Hell, I couldn’t even look out for you proper down there.”
Kaylee’s breath caught as she realized he was talking about her getting hurt and not what had happened between them. She wasn’t sure what it meant, but she was desperate to make him understand that it wasn’t his fault.
“No, Jayne, you looked out for me just fine. You couldn’t help it that those dai yao guai was after you.” She put a hand on his arm and waited until he met her eyes. “You fought ‘em off real good-you were real strong.”
Jayne let out a huff that was a mixture of disbelief and regret. “No, Kaylee, you were the strong one. Gotta say I’m real proud of ya for not lettin’ them get to you. But you should never’ve had to go through that. And I just want you to know that as long as I’m breathin’, you ain’t never gonna have to go through nothin’ like that again.”
Jayne stood then, deciding that he’d talked long enough. Before Kaylee could say anything, he grabbed her legs and swung them back up on the medcot and had covered her with the blanket, not once disturbing the kitten who was curled up in her lap. He drew himself up to his full height and looked at her seriously. “You, um, you get some rest. I’ll come back later, after I get some work done for Mal.”
Jayne turned and was out the door before she could reply. He didn’t see the tiny smile that came over her face or hear her tell the kitten, “Maybe me and him can go back to bein’ friends afterall, huh Girl.”
“At least Jayne’s back to doin’ work and bein’ all tetchy about it. I was beginning to wonder if I’d have to order him to be grouchy.” Mal smirked as they watched the mercenary work, just enough to let Inara know that he wasn’t quite being serious.
“If there’s cargo, I take it that we’ll be leaving soon?”
“Yeah. Kaylee’s outta the woods and the supplier has been more than patient, but we ain’t gettin’ paid to just sit around. Wash and Zoe are up plotting us a course now, I want to be off planet by afternoon.” Mal pinched the bridge of his nose as he felt his head begin to pound. “Only got one more problem to wrap up.”
“Problem?” Inara asked, immediately concerned that there were more repercussions to their stay than she had been made aware.
Mal cocked an eyebrow at her and motioned to the cargo bay and the scene below them. Inara couldn’t help but smile as she watched the small kitten jump from the top of one crate to another while Jayne moved them.
“It won’t be easy,” she warned him.
“It’ll be easy for me,” he snapped, his allergies finally getting the better of his patience.
Inara fought to contain her amusement, “Mal, you really can’t blame that tiny thing for your allergies, or anyone else for that matter.”
“I can so! In fact, that is one thing that I can definitely blame Jayne for.”
“Blame Jayne for what?”
The voice came from behind him, and Mal grimaced as he realized how that must have sounded. He turned to face his small mechanic, an explanation on his lips. Kaylee interrupted him before he could speak.
“You can’t blame Jayne for this, Cap’n. Weren’t his fault those men did what they did. They coulda been after you or Zoe or even River as far as that goes.” Mal tried to interject, but Kaylee just spoke faster, her voice getting more and more agitated as she went.
“No, I ain’t gonna have it. You’re always blamin’ Jayne. And maybe he deserves it sometimes, but not on this one. An’ if you’re gonna hold to that, well then…well then I’ll just quit!” she said with a menacing look in her eye and a stamp of her foot.
Mal was backed up against the railing at this point with his hands half raised in surrender. While he wasn’t fond of mutiny, he had the sneaking suspicion that Kaylee telling him off was somehow good for her. Still, he thought he’d better calm the situation down just a might.
“Easy now, little Kaylee. I may be a mean old man, but even I can see that this wasn’t Jayne’s fault. That wasn’t what we was talkin’ about at all.”
“Well what was you talkin’ about then?” she put her hands on her hips and gave him that look. The one that every gorram woman in his life seemed to be able to make.
Mal never got the chance to answer.
“What the hell’s goin’ on up here?”
Mal and Inara both jumped at the sudden presence of Jayne at the top of the stairs. He’d clearly heard the raised voices-Kaylee’s raised voice-and come running.
“Mal, what the hell’s wrong with you? Girl’s just got outta the infirmary and you’re yellin’ at her?!”
“Uh…I am not yelling at her.” Mal said indignantly. “For your information, she was yellin’ at me.”
“What are you makin’ her yell at you for?!” The man was clearly angry.
Inara placed a hand on Jayne’s shoulder. “We were just having a discussion, Jayne, nothing more.”
“’Bout what?” Jayne asked suspiciously.
Mal closed his eyes to get control before his head exploded. When he opened them, it was to the feeling of a small tapping on his arm. He looked down to see the kitten sitting calmly on the railing, her multi-colored paw reaching up at him. He immediately sneezed.
“We’re taking off later today.” Mal said, ready to change the subject, even if it was to one that he was dreading. He looked sympathetically at Kaylee. “Mei mei, I know you’ve gotten attached, but Mr. Bevis has been asking about his new cat.”
“Oh. Right,” Kaylee said quietly, making Mal feel like a real ass.
“He’s been askin’ about you too. Thought maybe you could take her down to his shop and visit with him for a spell…maybe even get a few extra parts while you’re there.” He hadn’t meant to throw that out, but if it made her happy…
Kaylee’s eyes lit up for a moment before she realized that taking Misty to Mr. Bevis’ shop meant leaving the ship and making the same trip that had resulted in so much trouble the first time.
Inara and Mal glanced at each other over her head. Jayne froze where he was, his hand gripping the railing until his knuckles were white.
“Jayne’s gotta take back that medical equipment that Mr. Bevis borrowed for us, so he can go with you,” Mal said casually, as though he were giving them an order to do the dishes.
Mal didn’t want Kaylee being afraid to leave the ship. He also didn’t want Jayne thinking he couldn’t trust him to look out for Kaylee. Even though Mal did blame Jayne a bit for what had happened, he could see that the man was wracked with guilt over it and he needed a chance to make up for it. Still, it didn’t mean he couldn’t blame him for the kitten-he was the captain after all.
Mal turned to escort Inara to the kitchen, waving his hand in the air at the protests that he could hear forming behind him. “It’s an order. Don’t spend too much of my coin and be back by 1300, dong ma?”
****************