Disclaimer: All belongs to Joss.

Characters: Jayne, Kaylee, Mal. Pre-Jaylee flirt alert.

Rating: PG-15 for strong language and sexual references.

Comments are sincerely appreciated. Thanks!

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Dancing With The Devil

By the time Jayne Cobb walked into O’Malley’s Bar on Lemnos, Serenity’s little mechanic was more’n a few sheets to the wind. He could hear her laughter, giddy and bubbling, clear across the crowd. Hell, he could tell the damn fool girl was half lit just by lookin’ at her.

The big merc shook his head in disgust. Girl didn’t have no business lettin’ herself get that drunk in a place like this – too damn many hún dàns all too eager to take advantage of such a pretty young thing. He knew Mal had warned her to take someone along with her if she planned to go drinkin’ dirtside, but Kaylee’d just laughed him off and gone her own way.

Girl was as stubborn as she was pretty. Probably why her folks let her sign on with Mal – they just got tired of tryin’ to raise such a headstrong li’l hellion, he figured, thankful she was someone else’s problem. He wasn’t a man to go stickin’ his nose into other folks’ business, unless, of course, there was coin to be made. Kaylee Frye was a growed-up woman and it weren’t his job to rescue her from her own flirtatiousness and stupidity.

Jayne stepped over to the bar and rested his hat on the gleaming wood as he ordered a whisky. He picked up the glass the barkeep set before him and sipped, savoring the burn as the potent amber liquor warmed his gut.

Mal had divvied up shares between his crew and cut them loose for the night. This last job had been especially successful for a change – nobody shot, no problems gettin’ paid. Why, a man could come to like that sort of work. Jayne snickered to himself as he compared his present situation with working for his last boss, Marco. He’d really come up in the world.

The merc was sipping on his second drink when the situation be