A Jayne Fic Part 3- Boy Gets Some Answers, Girl gets a present River sat calmly at the breakfast table, Kayle had made oatmeal and she could see a zoo in her bowl. There were dancing bears and playful penguins, a lion stalked a hippo- even though there was a fence in it's way. She watched the animals swim in her muesli as their guest walked in and seated herself at the table. "Good morning kidnappers." She said, with an easy smile.

Kaylee and Zoe traded looks as River giggled into her oatmeal, Simon kept reminding her breakfast food wasn't paint but all the same she dipped one finger into the grey mushy zoo and smeared a Zebra along her nose. "Is there a River underneath all that mush, Mei-Mei?" Inara took a wash cloth and started to wipe at her face, pushing her hair back. "There you are." Abbey had been aboard ship two weeks now, and had settled in nicely. Turned out she was a fair shot and had helped out on their last job. "Any breakfast left?" She cast a glance around at the dishes, in hope. "I can rustle ya sumthin- if ya like?" Jayne bit a lip, not sure what made him offer- he hadn't cooked on Serenity- not once. Abbey thanked Jayne, ducking her head when the girls laughed. "I'll get this cleared away." Simon said hiding a smirk. The hulking, bad-tempered, ruthless merc had been replaced by Jayne, an almost shy, mostly good-tempered young almost-gentleman who had come courting. In fifteen minutes Abbey had pancakes placed in front of her. They almost looked real too. "Don't eat any yet." Jayne said disapearing. Abbey blushed. River's face suddenly exploded, "Oh Abbey, I have something- it's yours, and I forgot, forgot till now, didn't know what was inside, now I remember that it's yours. I just thought it was shiny." She looked distressed and Abbey rubbed her arm to reassure her, but she was up and out of her seat so quick that she almost crashed into Jayne who was carrying a jar of what resembled liquid gold. "You had Honey!" Kaylee's squeal went unnoticed. "Ma sent me this for Christmas, and I was savin it." He poured a liberal amount on her pancakes. The girls rose from the table. "Your turn for dishes Jayne." Kaylee tried to sound mad but giggled, unable to hold her laughter in any longer.

He watched Abbey eat the pancakes glad she enjoyed them. "So I wanted to ask you- but I wanted to give you time, what were... What were you in the alley for that night?" Abbey swallowed her pancakes. "That's a question you and Mal and the rest of the crew pacing around- I'm glad you finally asked me and not the Captain."

"That ain't an answer." Jayne didn't like stalling he liked straight talking. She smiled, she and Jayne had an understanding. "Ok well I'd just sold my share of the bar, and I was pretty happy with myself, got a 200% profit on what I'd paid." She looked all sad for a second. "I lost all the money I had in the world that night." She raised her eyes looking Jayne straight in the eye. "Andy- the guy that beat me up- had been trying to get me to sell him his share, but I wouldn't because well he isn't the sort of person you want to to business with." Mal walked in, he'd been listening quietly at the doorway, she paused and then continued, "So he got mighty pissed and started pushin' and kickin' and then I woke up here." Mal nodded, he believed her, there was honesty in her eyes. "So you lost everythin' ?" She nodded. "60,000 credits, in a silver-tinder box, I had it since I was a kid." That was when River danced in, aware that Abbey had all but forgotten about her conversation. "I got confused as to who's it was, it's so shiny." She said putting the medium-sized silver box in Abbey's hands.