"Copper", Jayne/River, R

Mar 13, 2006 01:00

My first joss100 ficlet is complete!

Title: Copper
Author: lindentree
Rating: R, for the cussin'
Character(s): pre-River/Jayne
Prompt: #001. Dreams
Word Count: 909
Summary: The ways in which we begin again.
Notes: Post-BDM; vague spoilers. Ten million thanks to vegetariansushi for the always brilliant beta.



Jayne thought that, of all the ways River might appear in his dreams, this way was mighty odd.

Dreams where she was covered in blood; dreams where she teased him and left without no warning just as things was heating up; dreams where Mal spaced him and it was all her fault; dreams where she fucked him before making good on her threat to kill him with her brain. Them things were what was in his head when he was awake, when he caught her staring at him across the table at breakfast, or when he would stand silent in a doorway and watch her spin her way ‘round the cargo bay.

But he didn’t dream of her surrounded by dead monsters, a cocked gun. He didn’t dream of her naked body under his. Even after Miranda, he dreamt the same dreams about River he had before, as if nothing had changed.

It didn’t make no sense that he would jerk awake, drenched in sweat, shaking, with her playful voice burning his ears: “Copper for a kiss?”

Every night since Serenity sailed away from that fei wu planet with Jayne trapped in the airlock, his sleeping mind sailed right back. Long after he felt Mal’s wrath, long after Kaylee found his slumped form in the airlock and let him in, frantically asking how’d he hurt his head again, and didn’t he know the cap’n would kill him if he knew Jayne was messing around in the airlock? he dreamt they were back in that damn morgue.

It took Jayne a lot of thinking to get that the girl had been playing with him. She’d smiled and wanted him to tease back in kind, like they was friends. Like they was crew.

The dreams always end exactly as it really went: she scares the go se out of him, her face falls, she turns her head as if hearing some distant noise. He betrays them and earns nothing for it but a shame he can’t shake.

One night some months after Miranda, his dream changed.

Jayne walked slowly into the morgue; the doc and his sis were still out. Morbidly curious, he approached the honeycomb-shaped body storage unit. As he leaned forward, he heard a soft voice behind him.

“Copper for a kiss?”

Jayne spun around, his heart pounding, to face River, who was sitting up and smiling at him expectantly. He paused, staring into her open, sleepy face.

He smiled. “Girl, I wouldn’t pay even a penny for a kiss from a feng le little thing like you. ‘Sides, you know I never kiss ‘em on the mouth.”

River giggled softly and swung her legs around to the side of the exam table. Jayne heard the doc waking up on the other table.

As he tossed the hospital uniform to a sputtering Simon, Jayne noticed River was leaning heavily on her knees.

“Y’alright there, girl?”

“The seas are heaving,” she said, staring at the floor between her bare feet, “The boat is rocking.”

“Come again?” said Jayne, frowning.

She cast him an annoyed look from behind her messy hair, “I’m going to vomit.”

“Oh.” Jayne looked about for a tray or a bucket, but River began to retch - narrowly missing Jayne’s boots - before he could find anything.

“It’s a side effect of the drug,” said Simon.

Jayne felt a tug on his sleeve, and turned to see River holding her arms out. “Kindly help the girl down, please,” she said, “Dying has made her unbalanced and likely to fall.”

As if it was the most natural thing, he held her by her thin arms and lifted her to the floor. River smiled at him and squeezed his forearms. “She thanks you, gunhand man.”

The ‘verse tilted and Jayne jolted awake.

Jayne ran a hand over his sweaty brow. He weren’t sure which dream unsettled him more, his usual dream or this one with the new ending.

Restless, Jayne left his bunk and headed for the kitchen, aiming to make some of that weird tea of Inara’s that smelled an awful lot like horseshit but helped a body sleep. Glaring into the low light of the kitchen, Jayne was dismayed to find River sitting cross-legged at the table, her small hands wrapped around a mug of tea. Another mug sat across the table in front of Jayne’s usual spot.

After a long, silent pause, River spoke, “She heard him dreaming.”

Aggravated, Jayne didn’t reply.

“She understands he was looking after himself and his own. He knew she was a precious commodity and a danger. In practical terms it made perfect sense.” Her words came slow, and Jayne saw the effort it cost her to talk plain. “The landscape has changed. The family must change, too.”

“I reckon that’s so,” Jayne responded, not rightly knowing what to say.

“There has been much air through the engine. You are one of her own.”

There was a pause. Jayne understood what the girl was getting at, crazy as she was. She didn’t hold no grudge. They was crew now.

“Well now,” Jayne said, sitting in the seat across from her, “You still offerin’ that deal, or have your prices gone up?”

River smiled, clearly pleased. “A copper is no longer enough, and the girl thinks you could not afford her.”

“Hm,” Jayne responded, his brow furrowed, “Can I haggle y’down, or are you set?”

River considered this. “She is willing to negotiate.”

-end-

joss100, firefly, fic: mine, pairing: river/jayne

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