Crack Pairing number 2 - Jayne and Inara
Once Upon a December
Inara brushed River’s hair, speaking slowly as she did so. “Once upon a time, there was a little girl whose parents decided she needed to be trained to be a princess. The little girl loved it - everything was so proper. There was a code for everything and a set way to behave. The rules were easy to learn and everything made sense. She learned a lot, and learned well, and she was her teachers’ favorite.”
***
When Inara had first arrived, she’d felt overwhelmed by the beauty. All the ladies were so pretty and gracious, looking like the little dolls she’d played with before Daddy had sold them. The ladies were nice to her and let her brush their hair if they weren’t busy and weren’t expecting company. Inara liked to play with their hair. She loved the colors and the clothes that the ladies wore. Everything seemed so beautiful and peaceful that Inara wished she could stay there forever.
Be careful what you wish for. Every fairytale princess will say wishes are a bad idea.
***
“Then the little girl grew up, and she realized that princesses are prim and proper and never allowed to be themselves. Worse than never having a chance to be by themselves, to never be who they want to be and instead be what people expect them to be, worse than that, princesses are pawns to be traded on a whim for pleasure or politics. The princess learned this as well as she’d learned all her other lessons and told her parents that she didn’t want to be a princess anymore. Her parents told her that they’d spent too much money training her to be a princess for her to not be one just because she decided to not be one anymore. So she decided that since she had to be a princess, she would be the best princess she could be.”
***
Inara wanted to scream, but she’d learned long ago to only show the emotion that other people wanted to see. She could never be herself. She always had to be what other people wanted.
She learned that the first time she’d been treated as a pawn had been by her own parents. Her father’s fortune had changed, and Inara found herself being taught to be a courtesan. If her own parents weren’t willing to keep her around, no one would. So Inara learned to not make attachments, to travel from planet to planet. She would exercise what control she could.
***
“Then one day, the princess met a man who was most definitely not a prince. He was loud and uncouth and coarse and everything she had been taught to hate. But one thing about this man that caused the princess to seek him out and spend time with him, just to spend it, was he had the complete and utter inability to tell a lie. The princess had grown up with people to whom lying and acting came as naturally as breathing, the fact that this man couldn’t lie to save his life made him someone she could relax with. He’d betray her the instant someone offered him enough money, but he wouldn’t lie to her.”
***
She rented the second shuttle on Serenity because of Jayne. She’d seen him with the others - the rough edges he displayed, how he needled Mal, the respect he gave Zoe, and the indulgence he showed to Kaylee. Unnoticed by the others, he replaced Kaylee’s apple with his own, because hers had been bruised while his was shinier and redder.
He had his own faults, she wouldn’t deny that, but she’d decided right then and there that she could deal with a lot for that kind of kindness.
***
“Then one day, the princess found herself in need of help - as every princess has been known to be in at some point or another. Some wicked men had decided they wanted the princess for themselves, and tried to kidnap her. Luckily, the man who was not a prince got word of what was happening, and he rescued her. The princess tried to show him her gratitude with a kiss, and he performed the most aggrifying act: he rebuffed her.”
***
Jayne had rescued her - just Jayne. He hadn’t had time to go to Mal or Zoe, and he had no other reason to do it other than she needed rescuing and he was there. She’d given in to what she wanted on a personal level for the first time in years, and he’d turned her away.
He’d turned her away. She knew he thought she was beautiful - she was not being arrogant. It was simply a fact of life. Inara was a beautiful woman, plain and simple, and she knew when a man desired her.
She didn’t speak to him for three days.
***
“The princess locked herself in her tower, refusing to acknowledge that he had hurt her. She avoided him, and he avoided her. She thought that he might try to convince her to leave her tower, but she should have known better. She grew weary of the loneliness that she’d been accustomed to before and hadn’t realized that she’d gotten used to being around people until she wasn’t with them anymore due to her own choices. So she left her self-imposed prison and talked to the man who was not a prince.”
***
Inara finally decided that enough was enough, and she needed to speak with him, if only to clear the air. She asked him why he would do what he had done with a calm voice and an expressionless face she had perfected so long before. He had the nerve to tell her that kisses meant something, and he wouldn’t let one happen unless she meant it.
She didn’t speak to him for another three days.
She cornered him again. This time, she didn’t start off speaking. She simply grabbed him and kissed him, and said simply, “It means something.”
***
“The princess took control of her own story, her own destiny. She would be who she was, and no longer what others wanted and expected of her. And the two lived happily ever after, because every story that begins ‘Once upon a time’ needs a happily ever after, even if the story is still being written.”
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[The bits between Inara’s narration are drabbles.]