Chapter 1: Instantaneous Conception

Disclaimer: This all belongs to Joss, I don't own any of it.

Background: 6 months post-BDM. This is my first fanfic, please R&R and be constructive/kind. Thanks! Keep flying!

River Tam has one pair of boots, and rarely ever wears them. Got to be in touch with the ground, she reasoned. But today, on the cold and frozen ground of the mountains on an unusually crowded planet, far enough away from the reach of the Alliance, she had worn her boots. Almost as a way to placate Simon and keep him off her back. She sat to the left of and slightly behind her comrades. Zoë sat immediately next to Mal, with Jayne opposite of Mal. In these, the most Godless reaches of the ‘verse, their delivery was going to have meant something, and that meant plenty of coin for everybody. Sitting in front of Mal and half his crew were three bulky thugs named Bandero, Fritz and Bradley and one scrawny little runt who was obviously the leader. His name was Jackson. River counted the bricks in the road from the window and the number of bullets in Mal’s gun. Nothing added up. She pulled the metal alloy button on the very bottom of her woolen coat open to allow for movement. From the corner of his eyes, the mercenary to her right watched that subtle tell that they would all soon need to be able to move as freely as possible.

Gorram, Jayne hissed in his head. She’s always expecting things to go wrong. Can’t say I blame the moonbrained woman.

To throw their contacts on the planet off from the idea that River was purposefully taking off a movement-constricting piece of clothing in an extremely cold town, Jayne reached over to River’s side. With one hand trained as close as possible to his holster, he reached the other hand around the girl’s waist and let it trail in the most visible and obvious way down to her shapely rear and leaned in to nuzzle his bearded face against her neck. He then reached around front and unbuttoned another button, this on the topside of the fitted black garment.

“Wh