(no subject)
Title: The cowboy in you
Author: Sevangel
Disclaimer: The characters from Firefly belong to the wonderful Joss Whedon and the song ‘The cowboy in me’ belongs to Tim McGraw and whomever might have wrote it (I’m too lazy to look it up)
Rating: PG-15
FYI: I don’t write song fics, in fact I’ve never written one but I was listening to this song on my way home from work and I just couldn’t get the urge to write this out of my head. Lyrics are inside 'lyrics'
-
'I don’t know why I act the way I do,
Like I ain’t got a single thing to lose
Sometimes I’m my own worst enemy
I guess that’s just the cowboy in me'
“You don’t have to wait up with me.” River spins the gold band on her ring finger around and around. “He’s my husband; I’ll wait up for him.”
“Hell, no, little witch, I gotta thing or two to say to that piece of go’se.” Mal growls.
“Captain, I appreciate your concern but I don’t need nor want you to fight my battles.” River says, pulling her wedding band off and putting it back on. “Jayne is my husband and I will deal with him when he returns.”
“And you’re so sure he’s gonna return?” Mal asks bluntly.
River nods.
Inara places a hand on Mal’s arm. “She’s an adult now, Mal.” She says softly. “You can’t solve everything for her.”
“I don’t understand why she puts up with him.” Mal growls.
“I love him.” River says simply.
“Why?” Simon asks, his body filling with an anger that rivals the one he felt when his father refused to help rescue River. “How can you love him when he does things like this?”
“I’m not the only one that has bad days, Simon.” River says. “Jayne just handles his differently.”
“Walkin’ out on his wife ain’t handlin’ nothin’.” Mal growls angrily. “I should just leave his sorry ass here and take you across the verse where he can’t do this to you no more.”
“No.” Real panic is evident in River’s voice. “Please don’t, captain, I fear I will fade away without my Jayne.”
“Mal is not going to leave Jayne here.” Zoe assures her.
“I ain’t?” Mal asks.
“No, you ain’t, sir.” Zoe replies. “It’s one thing to feel pissed on her behalf, I do too, but it’s a whole nother thing to butt in and try to fix things to your liking. They are married, Mal, and they have to solve their marriage problems together, not have them solved by someone else.”
Mal sighs and shoves an angry hand through his hair. “One day he’s gonna go too far and then what?”
“The day Jayne crosses a line he shouldn’t, you will be the third to know.” River replies.
“And then I’ll get to shoot his worthless ass?” Mal asks hopefully.
River shakes her head. “Then you will get to take me across the verse to where he can’t find me.”
Mal leans down and kisses her forehead. “For your sake, I hope that day don’t ever come.”
River kisses his cheek. “Goodnight, captain.”
“Night, mei-mei.” Mal smiles down at her and takes Inara’s arm. “Help an old man to bed.”
“If you need me…”
“I know where you are.” River interrupts, smiling fondly at the dark haired beauty. “Goodnight, Inara.”
“Goodnight, mei-mei.” Inara kisses River’s forehead and then follows Mal out of the Cobb’s bunk.
“Here.” Wash hands River a plastic dinosaur. “For courage.”
“Thank you, Wash.” River smiles fondly at him. “Goodnight.”
Zoe pats River sympthically on her arm. “Goodnight.”
“Mei-mei…” Simon starts.
“Don’t, Simon.” River interrupts. “I know what you’re going to say and I don’t….I can’t hear that right now. I love Jayne just like you love Kaylee; please don’t make me feel ashamed of that love, not tonight.”
With a sigh, Simon leans down to kiss River’s forehead. “I love you, mei-mei.”
“I love you too, Simon.” River pats his hand. “Don’t worry so much. I will be fine. Tell Kaylee I hope she feels better.”
“I will.” Simon looks one last time at his sister and then climb out of her bunk.
The second the hatch closes, River’s face falls and the composure she was holding onto melts away. She curls up onto the bed she normally shares with her husband, one of his t-shirts held against her chest as a torrent of tears pour down her face. It was so hard to pretend that she was okay, that she didn’t feel like she was dieing inside but she had to do it. If Mal and Simon knew how much Jayne really hurt her, they would take her away. She sobs until her chest burns, until she can’t breathe anymore, and then sobs some more. Then the tears leave and the anger comes in. In a dark rage, she rips her wedding ring off and throws it across the room. The little bit of metal pings as it hits the sink but remarkably, it doesn’t go down the drain. Instead, it rests in the ledge, right between her toothbrush and Jayne’s.
She sits up, pushing her mane of hair out of her face. A part of her wants to grab a knife and cut the locks away, knowing how mad Jayne would be at that action. He loves her hair; loves to wrap his hands in it as they make love and loves to bury his face in it as he sleeps. It’s all she can do not to grab a knife off his weapon shelf, wanting to hurt him just a little bit. Instead though she slips her dress off and puts his shirt on. A sob catches in her throat at his familiar scent. She bends her knees and wraps his shirt over them, rocking back and forth like a time from her past when she was still mostly broken.
'I got a life that most would love to have
But sometimes I still wake up fightin’ mad
At where this road I’m heading down might lead
I guess that’s just the cowboy in me'
Jayne stumbles into Serenity, stopping to brace himself a few times. His vision is blurry but he manages to fumble his way through the boat, years of drunken travels under his belt. He kicks open the hatch to his bunk and drops down, cussing loudly as his elbow slams against the ladder. His boots and coat come off as he turns around.
“Hello, Jayne.” River says coldly.
“Hey, baby.” Jayne mumbles, bracing one hand against the wall to keep himself righted as he pushes off his pants. “Know yer pissed, baby, but I’z too wasted to listen…”
“You don’t have to listen.” River interrupts as she moves off the bed and over to their dresser. “You just have to answer one question.”
“Shoot.” Jayne plops down onto their bed and then falls backwards.
“Did you fuck a whore?” River clenches her fists, her nails digging into her hands.
“Wha?” Jayne grunts, opening his eyes to search for his wife. “No, course I didn’t.”
“But there were whores there, weren’t there?” River asks, her hands unclenching slightly.
“Yeah, there’s always whores.” Jayne mumbles. “Purty ones too…”
“You were tempted.” River comments. “Wondered if maybe, just once, you could do it and get away with it.”
“Sure, I get tempted.” Jayne mumbles, one hand throwing over his eyes to block out the bright lights of their bunk. “But I didn’t.”
“I know.” River replies. “Just like I know if the day comes that you can’t so no, I will leave you.”
“Baby.” Jayne says, using his ‘charming’ tone.
“Don’t.” River growls. “I mean it, Jayne Cobb. I can put up with a lot of things but not other women. You ever do, I’ll let Mal take me so far away you’ll never find me again.”
Jayne just growls. “You ain’t gonna do that baby; you love me just as much as I love you.”
“Yes, I do love you.” River agrees quietly, her voice breaking on a sob. “But tamade, I sometimes wish I didn’t.”
Jayne tries to sit up, wanting to pull her down onto the bed, but he can’t. The enormous amounts of liquor he drank finally catch up with him as he passes out cold.
River takes one last look at her husband and then climbs out of their bunk.
'The urge to run, the restlessness
The heart of stone I sometimes get
The things I’ve done for foolish pride
The me that’s never satisfied
The face that’s in the mirror when I don’t like what I see
I guess that’s just the cowboy in me'
The first thing Jayne notices as he wakes up is the pounding in his head followed by the dryness in is mouth. Then he notices the lack of peach scented hair and the soft, lithe body normally pressed against his. He sits up with a groan. He opens and closes his eyes, trying to see past the orange spots in front of his eyes. When he finally gets some semblance of self back, he realizes with a start that they’re moving. And then realizes by the coolness next to him, his wife hasn’t been here in a good, long while. With another groan, he stands up and stumbles over to the sink. A few splashes of cold water on his face and he’s able to think somewhat normally. Intent on getting the shit taste out of his mouth, he grabs his toothbrush and then drops it in shock. Right there, on the sink between his and River’s toothbrush, is the gold band he slipped onto her finger six months ago. His heart drops with the realization that she took his ring off. And then last night returns to him and he feels the blood drain from his face as he remembers everything that happened.
He drank and gambled, actually won quite a bit of coin, and then drank some more. Hell, he drank until he couldn’t barely see no more. He didn’t lie when he said there were whores in the bar and that some of them were quite attractive. And yeah, he did wonder for a split second what he’s missing but River’s big browns flashed through his mind and he forgot all about that. Then some dumb hundan called him pussy whipped for sayin’ he had to head home to the misses and Jayne got stupid. He ain’t never taken insults well so just to prove that he wasn’t pussy whipped, he stayed out all night, drinkin’ and carryin’ on, not once thinkin’ bout the girl at home waitin’ for him.
He glances up at the mirror and then slams his fist through it, hating the man lookin’ back at him. Then he slips River’s ring on his pinky and quickly brushes his teeth, having no desire to disgust his wife more than she probably already is. Forgoing boots and a shirt, he pulls his pants on far enough to cover his lower body and then climbs quickly up the ladder, completely prepared to beg River’s forgiveness. And just as his luck is goin’, the first people he sees when he turns around are Mal and Simon.
“I got one thing to say and you better listen up.” Mal growls angrily. “I wanted to leave your sorry ass but your wife, the one you left here while you went out and did Buddha knows what, begged me not to. But if’n I found out you was gettin’ a piece of trim, not even her begging is gonna stop me when I drop you off on some backwater moon and take your wife clear across the verse to where you’ll never see her again.”
Jayne clenches his fists against the urge to kill Mal for threatening to take River anywhere but he don’t argue; he knows he deserves it. A nod to show he understands and he walks past the two men.
“Jayne.” Kaylee says.
Jayne spins around and to his shock, gets smacked across the face.
“You’re an asshole.” Kaylee says and then pushes past him.
Jayne rubs his cheek and continues through the boat in his search for his wife.
'Girl, I know there’s times you must have thought
There ain’t a line you’ve drawn I haven’t crossed
But you set your mind to see this love on through
I guess that’s just the cowboy in you'
River rolls over in her old bed, looking intently at the wall when she feels Jayne coming towards her. She can feel the anger rolling through her man, the anger he directs at himself. She knows in her head that he didn’t do anything besides get totally intoxicated, knows he wasn’t even really tempted to do anything else, but telling her heart that is another thing. She knows Jayne loves her just as much as she loves him but also knows that sometimes he wakes up terrified with the responsibility of being a husband. But that fear is nothing compared to the fear he’s feeling right now; the fear that he’s finally pushed her too far.
The first thing he notices is his shirt coverin’ her small body. Then she rolls over and he sucks in a breath, never wanting to shoot himself more than he does right now. Her eyes are bloodshot and swollen, most likely from cryin’ herself to sleep, and he can tell with one glance that she never really slept in the first place. With a deep sigh, he crosses the room and sits down beside her. “Why do you put up with me?”
“I love you.” River answers simply, holding out her left hand so he can slip her wedding ring back on.
Jayne rubs his thumb over her hand and then bends down to kiss her now ring clad finger. “But sometimes you wish you didn’t?”
“Sometimes.” River whispers honestly. “When your hurt me so much I want to curl up and die, I wish I had never met you so I would never feel this way. I love you so much and you make me feel so good but you can also hurt me more than anybody else in the verse can; so much more than the academy ever did.”
His stomach clenches with fear, real fear that she’s going to leave him, and in a complete panic, he lies down beside her, burying his face in her belly. “Don’t, baby, I can take just bout anything but I can’t loose you.” Jayne growls against her. “Hit me, kick me, hell shoot me but please, don’t leave me. I think it would kill me.”
“I know it would kill me.” River whispers, running her hands through his hair as more tears run down her face. She thought she cried them all out before but it seems she has a never ending supply. “And what happens when you find something or someone you can’t walk away from?”
Jayne crawls up her body and wipes the tears from her face. “Only one thing in the entire verse I can’t walk away from and that’s you.” He says honestly, hoping she’ll see it in his eyes or read it from his mind. “I get stupid sometimes and sometimes I got a restlessness that I can’t fight but I need you to know I’ll always come back to you and I’ll never, ever, not in a gorram hundred years, find somebody else. You’re it for me, baby, and I’m it for you.”
“Promise?” River whispers as she runs shaky fingers over his lips.
“Promise.” Jayne kisses the tips of her fingers. “I love you, baby.”
“I love you too, Jayne.” River whispers.
Jayne leans down and kisses her softly on the lips. “Mine.”
“Always.” River mumbles against his lips.
Jayne breaks the kiss and crawls under the covers with her. One hand clasps over her belly while the other rests across the top of her pillow. His hips cradle her ass and his calves keep her little feet between them, warming the always cold toes. “Go to sleep baby; I know you ain’t slept none.”
River turns until her face is pressed against his bare chest. She sighs as his hand moves to rest on her hip and pushes her cold feet even more between his warm legs. It’s not perfect, they’re not perfect, but she’s never happier than she is when she’s with her Jayne.
“Don’t know why you put up with me but I’m glad you do.” Jayne mumbles against her hair as he falls asleep again. “Need you more than you’ll ever know.”
River kisses his chest and closes her eyes. “I know.”
'We ride and never worry about the fall
I guess that’s just the cowboy in us all'
The end.
Author: Sevangel
Disclaimer: The characters from Firefly belong to the wonderful Joss Whedon and the song ‘The cowboy in me’ belongs to Tim McGraw and whomever might have wrote it (I’m too lazy to look it up)
Rating: PG-15
FYI: I don’t write song fics, in fact I’ve never written one but I was listening to this song on my way home from work and I just couldn’t get the urge to write this out of my head. Lyrics are inside 'lyrics'
-
'I don’t know why I act the way I do,
Like I ain’t got a single thing to lose
Sometimes I’m my own worst enemy
I guess that’s just the cowboy in me'
“You don’t have to wait up with me.” River spins the gold band on her ring finger around and around. “He’s my husband; I’ll wait up for him.”
“Hell, no, little witch, I gotta thing or two to say to that piece of go’se.” Mal growls.
“Captain, I appreciate your concern but I don’t need nor want you to fight my battles.” River says, pulling her wedding band off and putting it back on. “Jayne is my husband and I will deal with him when he returns.”
“And you’re so sure he’s gonna return?” Mal asks bluntly.
River nods.
Inara places a hand on Mal’s arm. “She’s an adult now, Mal.” She says softly. “You can’t solve everything for her.”
“I don’t understand why she puts up with him.” Mal growls.
“I love him.” River says simply.
“Why?” Simon asks, his body filling with an anger that rivals the one he felt when his father refused to help rescue River. “How can you love him when he does things like this?”
“I’m not the only one that has bad days, Simon.” River says. “Jayne just handles his differently.”
“Walkin’ out on his wife ain’t handlin’ nothin’.” Mal growls angrily. “I should just leave his sorry ass here and take you across the verse where he can’t do this to you no more.”
“No.” Real panic is evident in River’s voice. “Please don’t, captain, I fear I will fade away without my Jayne.”
“Mal is not going to leave Jayne here.” Zoe assures her.
“I ain’t?” Mal asks.
“No, you ain’t, sir.” Zoe replies. “It’s one thing to feel pissed on her behalf, I do too, but it’s a whole nother thing to butt in and try to fix things to your liking. They are married, Mal, and they have to solve their marriage problems together, not have them solved by someone else.”
Mal sighs and shoves an angry hand through his hair. “One day he’s gonna go too far and then what?”
“The day Jayne crosses a line he shouldn’t, you will be the third to know.” River replies.
“And then I’ll get to shoot his worthless ass?” Mal asks hopefully.
River shakes her head. “Then you will get to take me across the verse to where he can’t find me.”
Mal leans down and kisses her forehead. “For your sake, I hope that day don’t ever come.”
River kisses his cheek. “Goodnight, captain.”
“Night, mei-mei.” Mal smiles down at her and takes Inara’s arm. “Help an old man to bed.”
“If you need me…”
“I know where you are.” River interrupts, smiling fondly at the dark haired beauty. “Goodnight, Inara.”
“Goodnight, mei-mei.” Inara kisses River’s forehead and then follows Mal out of the Cobb’s bunk.
“Here.” Wash hands River a plastic dinosaur. “For courage.”
“Thank you, Wash.” River smiles fondly at him. “Goodnight.”
Zoe pats River sympthically on her arm. “Goodnight.”
“Mei-mei…” Simon starts.
“Don’t, Simon.” River interrupts. “I know what you’re going to say and I don’t….I can’t hear that right now. I love Jayne just like you love Kaylee; please don’t make me feel ashamed of that love, not tonight.”
With a sigh, Simon leans down to kiss River’s forehead. “I love you, mei-mei.”
“I love you too, Simon.” River pats his hand. “Don’t worry so much. I will be fine. Tell Kaylee I hope she feels better.”
“I will.” Simon looks one last time at his sister and then climb out of her bunk.
The second the hatch closes, River’s face falls and the composure she was holding onto melts away. She curls up onto the bed she normally shares with her husband, one of his t-shirts held against her chest as a torrent of tears pour down her face. It was so hard to pretend that she was okay, that she didn’t feel like she was dieing inside but she had to do it. If Mal and Simon knew how much Jayne really hurt her, they would take her away. She sobs until her chest burns, until she can’t breathe anymore, and then sobs some more. Then the tears leave and the anger comes in. In a dark rage, she rips her wedding ring off and throws it across the room. The little bit of metal pings as it hits the sink but remarkably, it doesn’t go down the drain. Instead, it rests in the ledge, right between her toothbrush and Jayne’s.
She sits up, pushing her mane of hair out of her face. A part of her wants to grab a knife and cut the locks away, knowing how mad Jayne would be at that action. He loves her hair; loves to wrap his hands in it as they make love and loves to bury his face in it as he sleeps. It’s all she can do not to grab a knife off his weapon shelf, wanting to hurt him just a little bit. Instead though she slips her dress off and puts his shirt on. A sob catches in her throat at his familiar scent. She bends her knees and wraps his shirt over them, rocking back and forth like a time from her past when she was still mostly broken.
'I got a life that most would love to have
But sometimes I still wake up fightin’ mad
At where this road I’m heading down might lead
I guess that’s just the cowboy in me'
Jayne stumbles into Serenity, stopping to brace himself a few times. His vision is blurry but he manages to fumble his way through the boat, years of drunken travels under his belt. He kicks open the hatch to his bunk and drops down, cussing loudly as his elbow slams against the ladder. His boots and coat come off as he turns around.
“Hello, Jayne.” River says coldly.
“Hey, baby.” Jayne mumbles, bracing one hand against the wall to keep himself righted as he pushes off his pants. “Know yer pissed, baby, but I’z too wasted to listen…”
“You don’t have to listen.” River interrupts as she moves off the bed and over to their dresser. “You just have to answer one question.”
“Shoot.” Jayne plops down onto their bed and then falls backwards.
“Did you fuck a whore?” River clenches her fists, her nails digging into her hands.
“Wha?” Jayne grunts, opening his eyes to search for his wife. “No, course I didn’t.”
“But there were whores there, weren’t there?” River asks, her hands unclenching slightly.
“Yeah, there’s always whores.” Jayne mumbles. “Purty ones too…”
“You were tempted.” River comments. “Wondered if maybe, just once, you could do it and get away with it.”
“Sure, I get tempted.” Jayne mumbles, one hand throwing over his eyes to block out the bright lights of their bunk. “But I didn’t.”
“I know.” River replies. “Just like I know if the day comes that you can’t so no, I will leave you.”
“Baby.” Jayne says, using his ‘charming’ tone.
“Don’t.” River growls. “I mean it, Jayne Cobb. I can put up with a lot of things but not other women. You ever do, I’ll let Mal take me so far away you’ll never find me again.”
Jayne just growls. “You ain’t gonna do that baby; you love me just as much as I love you.”
“Yes, I do love you.” River agrees quietly, her voice breaking on a sob. “But tamade, I sometimes wish I didn’t.”
Jayne tries to sit up, wanting to pull her down onto the bed, but he can’t. The enormous amounts of liquor he drank finally catch up with him as he passes out cold.
River takes one last look at her husband and then climbs out of their bunk.
'The urge to run, the restlessness
The heart of stone I sometimes get
The things I’ve done for foolish pride
The me that’s never satisfied
The face that’s in the mirror when I don’t like what I see
I guess that’s just the cowboy in me'
The first thing Jayne notices as he wakes up is the pounding in his head followed by the dryness in is mouth. Then he notices the lack of peach scented hair and the soft, lithe body normally pressed against his. He sits up with a groan. He opens and closes his eyes, trying to see past the orange spots in front of his eyes. When he finally gets some semblance of self back, he realizes with a start that they’re moving. And then realizes by the coolness next to him, his wife hasn’t been here in a good, long while. With another groan, he stands up and stumbles over to the sink. A few splashes of cold water on his face and he’s able to think somewhat normally. Intent on getting the shit taste out of his mouth, he grabs his toothbrush and then drops it in shock. Right there, on the sink between his and River’s toothbrush, is the gold band he slipped onto her finger six months ago. His heart drops with the realization that she took his ring off. And then last night returns to him and he feels the blood drain from his face as he remembers everything that happened.
He drank and gambled, actually won quite a bit of coin, and then drank some more. Hell, he drank until he couldn’t barely see no more. He didn’t lie when he said there were whores in the bar and that some of them were quite attractive. And yeah, he did wonder for a split second what he’s missing but River’s big browns flashed through his mind and he forgot all about that. Then some dumb hundan called him pussy whipped for sayin’ he had to head home to the misses and Jayne got stupid. He ain’t never taken insults well so just to prove that he wasn’t pussy whipped, he stayed out all night, drinkin’ and carryin’ on, not once thinkin’ bout the girl at home waitin’ for him.
He glances up at the mirror and then slams his fist through it, hating the man lookin’ back at him. Then he slips River’s ring on his pinky and quickly brushes his teeth, having no desire to disgust his wife more than she probably already is. Forgoing boots and a shirt, he pulls his pants on far enough to cover his lower body and then climbs quickly up the ladder, completely prepared to beg River’s forgiveness. And just as his luck is goin’, the first people he sees when he turns around are Mal and Simon.
“I got one thing to say and you better listen up.” Mal growls angrily. “I wanted to leave your sorry ass but your wife, the one you left here while you went out and did Buddha knows what, begged me not to. But if’n I found out you was gettin’ a piece of trim, not even her begging is gonna stop me when I drop you off on some backwater moon and take your wife clear across the verse to where you’ll never see her again.”
Jayne clenches his fists against the urge to kill Mal for threatening to take River anywhere but he don’t argue; he knows he deserves it. A nod to show he understands and he walks past the two men.
“Jayne.” Kaylee says.
Jayne spins around and to his shock, gets smacked across the face.
“You’re an asshole.” Kaylee says and then pushes past him.
Jayne rubs his cheek and continues through the boat in his search for his wife.
'Girl, I know there’s times you must have thought
There ain’t a line you’ve drawn I haven’t crossed
But you set your mind to see this love on through
I guess that’s just the cowboy in you'
River rolls over in her old bed, looking intently at the wall when she feels Jayne coming towards her. She can feel the anger rolling through her man, the anger he directs at himself. She knows in her head that he didn’t do anything besides get totally intoxicated, knows he wasn’t even really tempted to do anything else, but telling her heart that is another thing. She knows Jayne loves her just as much as she loves him but also knows that sometimes he wakes up terrified with the responsibility of being a husband. But that fear is nothing compared to the fear he’s feeling right now; the fear that he’s finally pushed her too far.
The first thing he notices is his shirt coverin’ her small body. Then she rolls over and he sucks in a breath, never wanting to shoot himself more than he does right now. Her eyes are bloodshot and swollen, most likely from cryin’ herself to sleep, and he can tell with one glance that she never really slept in the first place. With a deep sigh, he crosses the room and sits down beside her. “Why do you put up with me?”
“I love you.” River answers simply, holding out her left hand so he can slip her wedding ring back on.
Jayne rubs his thumb over her hand and then bends down to kiss her now ring clad finger. “But sometimes you wish you didn’t?”
“Sometimes.” River whispers honestly. “When your hurt me so much I want to curl up and die, I wish I had never met you so I would never feel this way. I love you so much and you make me feel so good but you can also hurt me more than anybody else in the verse can; so much more than the academy ever did.”
His stomach clenches with fear, real fear that she’s going to leave him, and in a complete panic, he lies down beside her, burying his face in her belly. “Don’t, baby, I can take just bout anything but I can’t loose you.” Jayne growls against her. “Hit me, kick me, hell shoot me but please, don’t leave me. I think it would kill me.”
“I know it would kill me.” River whispers, running her hands through his hair as more tears run down her face. She thought she cried them all out before but it seems she has a never ending supply. “And what happens when you find something or someone you can’t walk away from?”
Jayne crawls up her body and wipes the tears from her face. “Only one thing in the entire verse I can’t walk away from and that’s you.” He says honestly, hoping she’ll see it in his eyes or read it from his mind. “I get stupid sometimes and sometimes I got a restlessness that I can’t fight but I need you to know I’ll always come back to you and I’ll never, ever, not in a gorram hundred years, find somebody else. You’re it for me, baby, and I’m it for you.”
“Promise?” River whispers as she runs shaky fingers over his lips.
“Promise.” Jayne kisses the tips of her fingers. “I love you, baby.”
“I love you too, Jayne.” River whispers.
Jayne leans down and kisses her softly on the lips. “Mine.”
“Always.” River mumbles against his lips.
Jayne breaks the kiss and crawls under the covers with her. One hand clasps over her belly while the other rests across the top of her pillow. His hips cradle her ass and his calves keep her little feet between them, warming the always cold toes. “Go to sleep baby; I know you ain’t slept none.”
River turns until her face is pressed against his bare chest. She sighs as his hand moves to rest on her hip and pushes her cold feet even more between his warm legs. It’s not perfect, they’re not perfect, but she’s never happier than she is when she’s with her Jayne.
“Don’t know why you put up with me but I’m glad you do.” Jayne mumbles against her hair as he falls asleep again. “Need you more than you’ll ever know.”
River kisses his chest and closes her eyes. “I know.”
'We ride and never worry about the fall
I guess that’s just the cowboy in us all'
The end.