A string of mandarin running through his head, Jayne climbed out of his bunk. He hated not being able to sleep. The decking in the corridor was cold beneath his feet, waking him up even more.

"Wa Cao!"

He stood there for a moment, contemplating going back down to get his boots. He glanced into the bridge where the control panels cast a warm glow on the empty pilot's chair. *Wash's chair.* He wondered how long it would take to stop thinking of it that way. Wasn't like it was even the same one. They'd gotten rid of Wash's chair on account of the giant bloody hole.

It was a shame though, the man shouldn't have died like that. But still, with Reavers involved. Jayne shuddered. It coulda been so much worse. So much worse for all of them.

Floating up on the heels of that thought was the image of a slip of a girl, in a slip of a dress, holding weapons dripping with blood. Back in the hallway, the rest of them were all cut up and shot to hell. But there she was, standing alone, breathing heavy but not out of breath, surrounded by at least a dozen dead Reavers. With barely even a scratch on her.

He shook his head and rubbed his stomach, the latter too empty and the former way too full. No wonder he couldn't sleep. Some food and a big ol' helping of Kaylee and Serenity's freshest should cure both problems. His boots forgotten, he turned away from the stars outside and walked towards the kitchen.

He stopped at the doorway seeing River stretched out on her back on the far side of the table, her feet pointing toward the engine room. The palms of her hands were pressed to her eyes. For all he could tell she may have been laying there for hours.

As he stepped through the doorway she moaned. Not sure if it was just his own filthy mind making it sound all needy and breathless like that, he stopped on the top step his eyes fixed on her. Her right hand started to slide down the length of her body. He tilted his head to one side, eyes wide. She pulled her left foot up onto the table so that her knee rose up toward the ceiling. The hem of her dress fell down to her hip, exposing a whole lot of leg.

It occurred to Jayne that someone standing in the other doorway would have a much more interesting view. He silently came down the other steps, thinking that maybe he could get around her without her noticing when her right hand finished its journey and her fingers disappeared between her legs. His heart rate increased slightly. She whimpered softly and said something he couldn't quite hear. He took another step forward and raised an eyebrow as her hand started moving and her breathing sped up. River let her left arm rest on the table above her head her eyes still closed.

Jayne took another step forward and almost bumped into the table. He wanted to pull out a chair, settle in and enjoy the show, but he couldn't think of a way to do it without her noticing. And more than anything, he wanted to see how far this was gonna go.

Her breathing was getting downright ragged. Her hand was working in a frenzy creating the most deliciously pornographic wet sounds. He could smell her musky scent in the air and he licked his lips.

Her left hand gripped the edge of the table. Jayne realized he was holding his breath as her back arched and her hips pulled up off the table. River made a keening kind of groan and slowly relaxed back down onto the table.

Finally able to tear his eyes away, Jayne glanced around to make sure no one else had wandered in.

"She feels everything, she can't not." He looked back at her and found her sitting up and looking at him, her legs hanging off the side of the table between two chairs. As she slid off the table, and with the tone of someone conveying sage wisdom, she said, "More active participation would serve to enhance the sensory experience." She turned away and walked up the steps into the aft corridor, licking her fingers clean as she went.

Jayne stood there looking confused. After a second he blinked, *wait*, did she mean...

"The opportunity was fleeting and passed you by." As she disappeared around the corner to go down the stairs to the common area he heard her say, "You should work on that for next time."

His hunger shifted out of his stomach and his head filled with just one thought. Jayne went back to his bunk.