It was still early in the morning when Bane, Esper and Zoe return to Serenity to discover the cargo bay full of drunk and snoring men. River had stayed behind at the Frye house as she was Kaylee’s bridesmaid. They closed the door behind them quietly.

“Aren’t you glad you came with us now?” said Bane to them both. Zoe refrained from answering as the smell of stale moonshine, tobacco and sweaty bodies was making her more than a little queasy, but she nodded. The women looked at them all in disgust. None of them had made it to a bed it seemed, including Mal. “I dint know Koz was coming,” said Bane, recognising the large rising and falling belly – and the loudest snore, it seemed.

“He waved a couple of days ago to say he’d try and make it. I think Mal wanted to keep it as a surprise for Kaylee,” said Zoe. They separated and inspected the bodies for injuries and evidence of what they had been up to the night before. Zoe tripped over Spike’s leg and noticed he was spread-eagled under the stairs. Then she noticed most of them were not wearing shoes. Esper walked over to Jayne who was semi-propped up and hugging a large jug of moonshine, a peaceful contented smile on his face.

“Ahh, doesn’t he look sweet,” she whispered, but did not get too close in case she woke him.

“Er, Bane?” said Zoe. Bane looked up guiltily, she was standing over Karl, about to mess with him. “Where’s Simon?” They did a quick head count. Simon was missing and so was one of Kaylee’s brothers.

“You don’t reckon they’ve done something to him, do you?” Zoe looked back at her in such as way as to tell her she was not sure. Bane looked around again, spotting something. “There’s Kaylee’s capture maker.” She stepped over Kaylee’s father to get to it. Zoe caught another pungent whiff of the smell and bolted for the bathroom. Bane picked up the capture and turned it on and Esper came over, looking as well. She turned the volume down as soon as it started playing. “Shang yang ru-fang!” she exclaimed, choking on her own laughter. “Reckon Jayne shoulda got strippers.”

“I guess River wasn’t jokin’ about the pole dancin’, but that's downright unsettlin’ to watch,” agreed Esper. Bane could clearly see they were all trying to imitate her pole dancing routine on Greenleaf. All the men, bar Abram – they guessed Koz was the one filming – were being taught how to pole dance barefoot by Karl and Jayne. Part of their teaching methods included practical demonstration.

Bane gave her own little shudder as she watched Spike swing around the pole, lose his grip on the stair rail, and fall to the ground. That had to hurt, were both the women’s thoughts. Neither of then could contain their laughter as they watched Mal attempt to throw both his legs upwards, losing his grip as well, sliding down to land on his head. “He’s gonna have more than just a hangover when he wakes up,” stated Esper laughing. Bane was now thinking that she had to hide the capture maker, so that the night’s events were not deleted in the sober light of day, although she doubted any of them would remember.. Simon was the last to go and both women grimaced as they saw Lewis Frye stuff some money into his pants, before Simon threw up on him and himself. Kaylee would definitely want to see her imminent husband's activities. She turned it off after a few minutes and looked around at them.

“More evolved than our ancestors, are we? Yeh, right.”

“Bane,” said Zoe, coming back into the room. “Found Simon.” From her expression Bane could not tell whether it was good news or bad news, and they both followed Zoe out of the cargo bay towards the guest quarters. They went into the bathroom. Simon was propped up against the toilet wall, snoring loudly and Ray Jr, Kaylee’s eldest brother, was sitting next to him – snoring as well – their heads touching. Bane had already switched the capture on again and was filming. Ray Jr was wearing Simon’s smart waistcoat, which also had fetching vomit trails down the front. Zoe, swallowing bile again, decided it was probably better to retreat to the facilities in her own quarters. After Zoe left Esper rolled up her sleeves.

“Looks like it’s up to us two to get this rabble presentable for church. How long have we got?” she asked. Bane looked across at her.

“About three hours,” she said, not looking forward to the task. Then an evil idea came to her, “Wanna mess with them some more?” Esper could not prevent herself smiling, but was more than a little afraid at the expression on Bane’s face.

“What did you have in mind?”

“I’m thinking proximity alarm and buckets of water.” Esper kept her lips closed, if she said nothing then she could not be blamed. Bane had turned off the capture and was already planning as they walked out of the bathroom. “Now where can I position this to get the best shot?”

* * * * * *

Jayne ran his finger along the inside of the collar on his best shirt and brushed imaginary fluff off his chest.

“That’s the fourth time you’ve done that,” hissed Karl, leaning over. Jayne scowled at him.

“An’ I’ll keep doin’ it,” he stated mutinously. At that moment the organ started up and Kaylee walked into the church. She looked amazing. Jayne’s eyes went past her, searching for Esper, but could not see her and frowned with disappointment. She was not here and he had put on his best shirt, gorram it. Kaylee did look pretty though, and River who walked behind her. He looked at Karl next to him who had his arm around Bane’s waist possessively and Jayne’s lips tightened; he was jealous and beginning to wish he had taken a trip to the whorehouse instead of holding out for some shy widow. The organ stopped and the preacher started speaking.

Jayne looked around as he heard the church doors close. Kwin-gwe-je deh, I’m in real trouble, he thought as Esper had appeared with her father. She had on a blue dress that showed the curves of her body real nice. She was not wearing her turban and straight light blond hair hung loosely down to her… lao-tyen boo, he really was in trouble – a whole curtain of trouble. Jayne dropped his hymn book with a loud thump making everyone in front of him turn around. Standing beside him Bane and Karl turned to see what he was looking at. Bane turned back almost immediately seeing it was only Jayne, but Karl saw the look on the man’s face and it was something he had never seen before. River faced back to the front of the church with a smile on her face; Rapunzel was coming out of her tower, but it was the Prince who needed rescuing.

~ * ~

“Are you happy?” Simon asked Kaylee even though he knew the answer. River stood next to them and rolled her eyes in disgust. After the brief ceremony everyone had gravitated to a hall that the Frye’s had hired out.

“Got my own swai husband,” confirmed Kaylee, “So I couldn’t be happier. I’m lookin’ forward to when we can sneak away to our room. I wanna take it real slow…” she whispered the rest in his ear. Simon gulped visibly and River made a rude noise in protest. Kaylee just giggled at them both, kissing River on the cheek as well. “I almost forgot. Koz has offered us two weeks in the best hotel on Boros as a wedding present.” Simon opened his mouth to say how wonderful that was and then looked at River, concerned.

“We can’t leave River on her own,” argued Simon seriously, “She’s got to come too or we can’t go.” For the first time in a long while Kaylee got angry.

“It’s our honeymoon! An’ I mean no offence to River, but you an’ me are goin’ alone an’ there’s nothing you can do about it.” River added her own heartfelt objections.

“I’m an adult now and I - you’ve got to stop trying to control me.” Simon stammered weakly and River held her breath – she needed him to trust her. He looked at them both, torn, and then his face cracked into a grin.

“You’re both such an easy mark!” he said triumphantly. Both Kaylee and River had their mouths open in a perfect ‘o’, as Simon wished Kaylee’s brothers were standing next to him right now. He had not expected to get both his wife and his sister, particularly in view of the fact that she was psychic. Kaylee was more than impressed and hugged him tightly, laughing. Simon smiled smugly at his sister who was not entirely as impressed by her brother’s smart trick. “Is that alright, River?” he asked. River kissed him on the cheek, willing to forgive him on this occasion because it suited her just fine.

“Have good sex, ge ge,” she chirped, floating away to the dance floor ecstatically. While he was away she might be able to see Stan again, and this time her brother would literally be on another planet.

Karl intended to have Bane all to himself at this wedding, but there was something he needed to do first. He walked over to Jayne, who was standing uncomfortably on one side of the room with a full and untouched glass of moonshine in his hand. He kept glancing over to Esper who was on the opposite side, talking and laughing with Zoe and Mal. Something was definitely wrong with the man to Karl’s mind.

“Why don’t you ask her to dance? There’s plenty of already people doing it.” Jayne shook his head mutely but Karl persisted. “It’s obvious she likes you, an’ I’ve no doubt you like her. What’s the problem?” Jayne pressed his lips together in consternation.

“I ain’t worthy of her,” he said quietly. Since seeing her in the church Jayne had come over all uncharacteristically unsure of himself. He could imagine doing all kinds of things with Esper, but this time the imagining and the doing were as far apart as planets. Everything she had covered up since he had first got to know her was now on display; her more than generous bosom, her defined waist and that hair. Cascading all the way down to her knees and never still. With every tilt of her head or gesture of her body, it seemed to shimmer like the reflection of the sun on a pond. Across the room River altered one of her opinions of Jayne, she had never realised he could be so poetical. He was still a boob and the man could be coarser than a toilet, but he knew how to appreciate beauty when he saw it.

“Ain’t worthy? What kind of pì huà is that?” Karl said horrified. He nudged Jayne out of his thoughts to look at him. “She likes you, you like her. There ain’t nothin’ simpler.”

“Leave me be,” said Jayne gruffly moving away. Karl blew out the air through his nose in annoyance and went to look for Bane. She was talking in her usual animated way to Kaylee – something about where she had hidden Kaylee’s capture maker – which sent a brief flicker of warning through his head, quickly forgotten when Bane turned around after a few moments and looked up at him with the same inviting smile she had given him a few nights ago. Karl responded in kind, wiggling his moustache, and then glanced up again at Jayne and over to Esper. He could see the old man doing the same across the room.

“Idiot space monkey,” he muttered and Bane pulled away.

“What?” she asked, convinced she had misheard. Karl looked down at her and indicated Jayne with his head.

“Him. He won’t dance with Esper – spoutin’ go se ‘bout not bein’ worthy.” Bane looked out over the room at the two people. She grinned.

“Fancy doin’ an Auntie Marge?”

“Huh?”

“You know. You dance with Esper, I dance with Jayne and then we swap on the dance floor. You remember that at my brother’s wedding, don’t you?” Karl remembered that all right, it was a rutting good idea too.

“Okay. But you ask Jayne to dance first an’ while he’s distracted I’ll pick up Esper.” They nodded professionally at the plan and went in opposite directions. Across the room Bane appeared silently at Jayne’s side.

“Hey, Jayne. Kick up a shindig with me?” Jayne shook his head but kept his eyes focussed across the room looking miserable. “Come on,” urged Bane, taking his hand, “Karl won’t dance with me – says I wore him out the other night.” Jayne now focussed on Bane.

“Really?” he said eagerly, and then looked resigned, “Like I’m gonna hear any details.” Bane bit her lip and tried not to laugh.

“I’ll give you some if you dance with me.” Jayne had her out on the dance floor before she finished the sentence. He was not a bad dancer either but he took big steps which meant that Bane felt like she was barely touching the ground.

“Well?” Jayne said expectantly and impatiently. Bane had been trying to think quickly.

“You know the ladder we all have down to our bunks?”

“Yes?” Jayne encouraged.

“An’ you know that pole dancin’ I did on Greenleaf…” Holy gorram rutting hell, thought Jayne. Bane looked around his wide shoulders briefly. She saw Karl nod and she spoke quickly. “…well, we ain’t tried that yet.”

“Hey! No fair,” protested Jayne. Bane lifted up his arm with a giggle and went under it, turning him around and letting go. At the same time Karl spun Esper into his waiting arms. Karl and Bane sailed off together laughing. Esper spoke shyly at first but then found her confidence, despite her fears.

“That was a neat trick they just did,” she said softly. Yeh, just peachy, thought Jayne ungratefully. Esper tried to stop from looking up into Jayne’s dangerously dark blue-gray eyes, but failed miserably.

“I’ll have to find my own way of thankin’ ‘em,” he replied with gritted teeth. Esper laughed at his facial expression and Jayne forgot all about the others, liking her low chuckle. It was very enticing. He grasped her hand and waist more firmly and started to enjoy himself, specially watching her blond hair float around her every time they turned on the dance floor. “You still got that bee sting with you?”

“Not tonight. I’m not expectin’ any troublemakers.”

“I’m a troublemaker,” stated Jayne truthfully, his face close to hers. Esper felt a hot flush engulf her and squeezed his hand.

“You’re all kinds of trouble, Jayne Cobb, but I’m not worried,” she replied with more confidence than she felt as she could not run away from him now. Jayne swallowed.

“What about your ghosts?” He immediately wished he had not asked when he saw the look on her face, but he needed to know as it still creeped him out some. Esper avoided his eye, looking at her hand. She had not found her rings when she had gone back up to the galley to look for them and had not got around to asking if anyone had seen them yet. She had worn them for so long, too long.

The music stopped and Jayne escorted her to a dark side of the room, still waiting for her answer. As she walked a little ahead of him he touched her hair and let it run through his fingers. It felt like feathers. Esper was conflicted, things had been safe and controlled for a long time now and now things were all changing, too fast. In the space of barely a day her protected world of ghosts and memories had come crashing down. She could not hide from the ‘Verse anymore and she could not hide from flesh and blood men, or this man. Jayne was concerned by her silence, patience was never his strong point and he was working up to saying something. Esper squared her shoulders like she was preparing for battle, decision made.

“They’re fading,” she said frankly and then to Jayne’s surprise, she banged her lips against his almost painfully as she kissed him – cutting off Jayne’s attempt to inform her of his rule about kissing. He did not pull away, it was too late, he was already lost and sinking into their soft sweetness, fingers snaking into her feathery hair.

“Don’t that jus’ make you feel all warm and fuzzy,” said Karl to Bane as they slowly waltzed around the dance floor.

“He’ll probably give you chapter an’ verse in the mornin’,” she observed ruefully, although for someone dead set against kissing he looked mightily persuaded at the moment. Karl had already forgotten about Jayne and Esper.

“Hope you ain’t plannin’ on disappearin’ tonight?” Bane pressed herself against him and shook her head.

“No cousins being sick that I can see,” she replied, not taking her eyes away from him. “How’s the hangover?” she asked him.

“A dull roar during the church service, but after some hair-of-the-dog, it’s disappeared quite nicely. Mind you my leg muscles feel a bit strained, not sure why though.” Bane dipped her head to hide her wide grin and giggle. When she composed herself she looked up again at him again, eyes wide.

“Well hopefully the wake-up call you’ll get tomorrow morning will be more pleasing than today’s,” she whispered suggestively. Karl’s arm tightened about her waist, willing the music to finish sooner.

“So you gonna tell me what you said to make Jayne dance with yer, cuz he looked like you offered to flash him yer boobs.”

“Better,” she answered with a chuckle, “I told him I was plannin’ to pole dance for you like I did on Greenleaf.” Holy gorram rutting hell, thought Karl. And before Bane could say she was joking or anything, she was pulled off the dance floor and out of the building.

~

“Kaylee,” said Abram, coming up to her.

“Abe,” she responded, hugging him, “Are you enjoyin’ yourself?”

“More than I thought possible,” he said with a quick glance at his daughter now leaving the room with Jayne. “You look very beautiful, my dear.” Kaylee blushed with pleasure, she was liking all the compliments she was getting today.

“Did you have fun last night at the bachelor party?” Abram chuckled and shook his head.

“I think the fun was had by others, but it made interestin’ watching. I meant to tell you before, I left you a present.”

“Oh, Abe, you dint need to do that. What is it?”

“You’ll have to wait an’ see. I left it by your hammock in the engine room – with the Captain’s permission,” he added. Kaylee smiled and looked at him, pretending annoyance.

“You gonna keep me in suspense? You know I’m gonna haveta take a look at it now.” Abram kissed her cheek indulgently.

“It can wait until tomorrow, my girl,” he said mock-sternly.

“Hello Cap’n,” greeted Kaylee as Mal came up to the both of them. She looked down at his trousers. “Nice tight pants – you better watch out for my cousin Glory, she has a things for men’s butts.” Mal laughed.

“She was your cousin? I wondered why she was so forward,” he joked good naturedly, “She must have pinched me five times so far.” He paused before continuing, “Koz is shipping out tomorrow evenin’ so you’ll have the whole day to pack, if’n you don’t lay abed too long.” He turned to Abram and explained, “Kaylee and Simon are honeymoonin’ on Boros so I’ve a need for your services while she’s away. I’ll pay yer what I can from the jobs we do, an’ you still have chores like crew. Esper is part of the deal as well.” Abram was overwhelmed.

“I can’t thank you enough, Captain, really I can’t,” he was feeling all sorts of emotional. Mal was a little embarrassed. He placed his hand on the man’s shoulder.

“You’re crew, just do your job, can’t ask for more thanks than that. ‘Sides you can give me a tour an’ we can see if I found all the secret compartments and panels that Serenity has, since you bought her from new.”

~ * ~

Jayne had his arm tightly around Esper’s waist as he led her outside into the crisp night air. She was all kinds of willing now and he had been patient and still interested for longer than he cared to remember. Karl had been right, it was a sweet feeling, but he was sure glad he was going to be getting some sexin’ real soon. He spied a dark alley, thinking it a perfect place, and pulled her into it.

“I don’t want you to worry,” Jayne murmured huskily in her ear, “I’m always dosed up and ready to fire blanks.” Esper came back to reality with a bang and pulled away.

“I – er – I can’t do this, Jayne.”

“Come on, girlie, you ain’t unwillin’ an’ I’m all kinds of touched.” He roved his hands over her buttocks and pulled her against his crotch. It had the effect of making Esper go rigid and out of surprise Jayne dropped his hand and lifted his head from nuzzling her neck.

“I’m – I’ve,” she took a breath, “I’ve never done this before.” There she had said it. Disbelieving, Jayne chuckled happily with a low and aroused growl, stroking the edge of her jaw.

“You know you’ve gotta stop teasing me like this, cuz one time you’ll mean what you say an’ I won’t beli – Dah bien!” he exclaimed, seeing the look on her face, “You’re serious. You never had a man, or anythin’?” Esper swallowed and nodded, more than a little frightened, not by Jayne himself, but that it would matter to him.

“I’m sorry. I know you must think – I’m too old.” She dropped her chin sadly and went to pull away. Jayne thought about his other rule – no virgins – and then saw her face, feeling the last piece of selfishness fall away from him, and the rule book. He did not want to let go of her and, realising it had taken a pile of courage to tell him, he lifted her chin up with a single finger to look at him.

“Darlin,’ you get younger ever’ time I see you,” he said with complete truth and then kissed her softly on the mouth. Unsure of herself but not wanting to stop, Esper nervously tried to undo Jayne’s belt. It was Jayne’s turn to stiffen. He removed her hand gently.

“Don’t you want to?” Esper whispered, her confidence sagging again.

“Oh I want to, believe me,” he said, looking down at the proof, “But a girl’s first time should never take place in an alleyway an’ I don’t plan on breakin’ that rule.” Esper sighed with something like relief and also wondered what other rules there were.

“Can we go to Serenity?” she asked.

“You sure you wanna go there?”

“Yes,” she said firmly, and they started to walk, Jayne stubbornly ignoring all the rule-breaking alarm bells going off in his head. He was relieved that they met no one else on their way through the ship, as it was not normally his way to bring women back to his room.

“This is your bunk?” she pointed.

“Yep,” said Jayne and then he added defensively, “It ain’t that tidy, you’ll just have to take it as it is.”. Esper placed her hand on his chest, after the last couple of days this new coincidence came as no surprise.

“It used to be my room,” she replied with pleasure. Jayne grinned and pushed open the hatch, letting her go first. He took some deep breaths before following her down, more than a little worried that he was about to deflower a virgin, however willing she may be. It meant that she would use him as her frame of reference every time she slept with another man. He closed the hatch behind him and locked it. Gorram it, he was not sure he liked the idea of her sleeping with other men.

Esper saw that Jayne’s room bore no resemblance to the room she had, apart from the location of the furniture and facilities, but especially in terms of smell. It had an interesting odour but she had not yet worked out whether it was unpleasant or not. Jayne switched the lamp on his table and then turned off the main lights. Esper went to him and he grasped her hair and kissed her, letting it lace through his fingers like a waterfall. He wished he had the will power to stop all the kissing but she was warm and soft and he was long past caring. Just this once, he vowed to himself, then back to normal. Esper was feeling more bold now that she knew and wanted what was going to happen. She was a grown woman, after all, albeit an inexperienced one. She sat on the edge of the bed and pulled Jayne with her. Before he overbalanced he sat on the bed next to her.

“You still shiny about this?” he half whispered, not sure that he would be able to stop himself if she said no. Esper broke away from his embrace and undid the buttons on the front of her dark blue dress, slipping it off her shoulders down to her waist. She was not wearing anything underneath and her skin was like milk. Jayne touched her skin reverently and found himself repeating his litany, though he had no idea why it popped into his head at that moment; Whilst my soul like quiet palmer, Travelleth towards the land of heaven.

~

“What are you doing?” she asked, trying not to move as she came awake.

“Brushing your hair,” said Jayne. Esper rolled over and because her hair was so long Jayne could continue brushing as she looked at him. For Jayne it was like touching some of that silky clothing that Inara had and he could not get enough of it. Esper saw that he was sat up on the bed beside her and she reached out, running her hand over his broad hairy chest. Last night had been beyond her imaginings, and whatever she might briefly have wondered Jayne to be like she had been proved wrong. Gentle but insistent and deliciously persuasive. She watched his absorbed face as he carried on brushing her hair and she tweaked a fingernail over one of his nipples. One half of Jayne’s mouth curved up in a smile as he looked up from his task and then down at her naked generous breasts. She was real feng mande and all kinds of tasty, he mused. Esper took the hair out of his hands and brushed it over the same nipple. Jayne’s eyes closed as he felt the hair brush exquisitely over his chest and then upwards to his neck. Esper stroked her hair down the middle of Jayne’s chest towards his belly. The sheet covering the base of his torso twitched.

“So, is it morning yet?” said Esper.

“Huh?” Jayne said, opening his eyes. He saw Esper’s willing face and grinned. “Yep, but its still too early to be surfacin’.” Esper sat up and bent to kiss his chest, revelling in the smell of him, the same one that filled his room. No ghosts here, just flesh and bone, she thought. Jayne brought his hands around her to the base of spine and then lower to cup her buttocks.

Esper woke up from another light doze and found she could barely move her head. Jayne was snoring softly on his belly, hand clasped firmly on one of her breasts, lying on her hair. She could just about turn her head to get a good look at him asleep. It was his mouth which her eyes kept returning to after watching the fluttering eyelids. His beard and moustache were cropped to perfectly frame it like a picture. He had the sweetest mouth.

“You done lookin’ at me?” Jayne said, smiling when he felt her stiffen. Esper swallowed and found she was really thirsty.

“Nothin’ else to do with you lying on my hair. Dint wanna wake yer as you looked so sweet.” Jayne opened a sleepy eye and then lifted his head so that Esper could gather all her hair out from under him.

“Never slept me on a bed of feathers before,” he said, getting all aroused again as he watched it float around her. Esper took a bunch of hair and swatted him on the nose.

“It’s gonna take me ages to brush out all the tangles,” she said in tone that sounded like she did not mind a bit. Before Jayne could offer to do that for her, she reached for the cloth she used to tie around her head. She twisted the hair around the cloth and then tied it on itself. Jayne watched amazed at the speed with which she did it. He realised that she should probably be leaving his bunk otherwise there would be a pile of questions for them both, which he was not sure he was ready to answer.

“You goin’?” he said ever so carefully. Esper banged her elbow on one of Jayne display guns as she finished wrapping her head.

“I hope you won’t mind,” she said kindly and a little worriedly, “I just, well, this ship is full of your friends and I don’t think I can handle all the questions. There’s my father too.” Abe, rutting hell, he had forgotten all about Abe. Damn it, that’s was why he was supposed to keep to the rules – no more shotgun weddings for him. No sir. Jayne swallowed.

“He ain’t likely to come lookin’ for me on account of what we did is he?” Esper saw that he looked genuinely worried – no, scared. Until then, Jayne had never experienced Esper’s sense of humour at full throttle. She looked at him anxiously and then she scrambled out of bed. Seconds later Jayne launched himself from the bed as well, ready to run, but Esper could not hold the laughter in.

“I’m sorry. That was just too hard to resist,” she laughed as he stood there naked and poised for action. “The only thing Abe’s like to do is shake your hand, but I’d appreciate it if you dint go announcin’ it to him.” Jayne looked annoyed, but it did not last long as her shoulders were not the only things shaking with laughter. He strode over to her and by the time he got there she was looking very enticing standing all naked in his quarters. Esper looked down at him.

“Again?” she asked, a cross between amazed and exhausted, and already in more than a little pain in her nethers.

“I could always put you over my knee and spank you for scarin’ me half to death jus’ now.” Esper bit her lip to stop from smiling.

“I promise not to do that again,” she said, “But I don’t think I can go another time until my body’s had time to, er – restore itself,” getting all flustered by the end of her sentence. Fortunately Jayne understood, kissing her to show her it was alright. Esper picked up her dress from the floor and Jayne lay down and watched her put it on. She spent some minutes trying to find her underwear and then finally gave up.

Before leaving she sat on the edge of Jayne’s bed and ran her hand over his chest. “I know that my father an’ I are due to leave the ship at some point, be it days or weeks, but I just wanna say that you are about the finest man to be had, Jayne Cobb – an’ I don’t mean just in the sexin’ way.” Jayne could not speak. He did not want to speak in case he said something to spoil it. She kissed him lightly on the mouth and climbed from the bunk leaving him alone with his many confusing thoughts. Despite his worries about her being a virgin and getting all clingy, she had just as good as accepted that she would be leaving and possibly never seeing him again. He frowned when that last thought made him annoyed, then rolled over to sleep and found he could not stop thinking about her.

~ * ~

Kaylee tapped lightly on Abe’s door. He slid it back and gave her a welcoming smile.

“It’s nice to see you Kaylee but ain’t you supposed to be in bed with your husband at the moment?” Kaylee waved a hand.

“Oh he’ll be asleep for a while yet. I plumb wore him out.” Abe said nothing. Kaylee handed over some untidy bits of paper. “As I’m gonna be away for a while I made you a list of things that might be useful.” Abram took the sheets, written on both sides.

“This musta taken ages?” Kaylee grinned naughtily.

“Like I said, Simon’s asleep an’ I wanted to see that lovely poem you wrote for me. It was real special.” She kissed him on the cheek. Abram was not sure he was getting the best end of the deal, until he saw the first item on the list. He smiled.

“Thanks Kaylee. I’m sure this’ll come in useful. You have a nice time on Boros, won’t you.”

“Doc won’t know what’s hit him, Granpa,” she explained, mock seriously. Abe slowly slid his door closed as she left, but spoke loud enough for her to hear.

“I’m sure it’s bin like that since he first met you.” Kaylee giggled as she walked away. She really liked Abe and trusted him to look after Serenity almost as well as she could.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Translation: feng mande - buxom

I had an absolute ball writing this and I hope you get the same enjoyment from reading it.