Title: That Which Shapes A Man

Chapter Seven: Back to Sunderland

Author: hisgoodgirl

Disclaimer: All belongs to Joss.

Characters: Jayne, ofc, oms this chapter –

Rating: PG

Setting: About the time of “Those Left behind”

Word count: 3,152; chapter eight of thirteen.

A/N: From the first time I watched Firefly, I wondered what circumstances might have shaped the character of Jayne Cobb, an exceptionally complex man. The given name "Jayne" was a common variant of "John" in Victorian England. This story emerged from the questions I asked.

Thanks to ArtemisPrime for beta. Italics represent internal dialogue, emphasis, Chinese phrases. Reader comments are sincerely appreciated.

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Chapter Eight: The Prodigal Returns

With a slight turn of the shuttle’s yoke, Jayne banks the small craft away from Serenity’s bulk and points her nose down through the sooty cloud cover that blankets Sunderland. He doesn’t often have occasion to pilot the spare shuttle and has to work extra hard to keep his mind on the process. There are other folks back on the Firefly more skilled at piloting than he – Wash or Zoë or even Mal – but this is a journey he has to make alone. Mal had understood.

He peers out through the shuttle’s viewscreen at the dirty cloud-wrack that Sunderland’s refineries and factories pump out in an endless stream. “World ain’t changed a gorram bit,” he pronounces. The small moon looks much as it had when he’d left it twenty-two years before.

“Didn’t never plan on comin’ back here…” the big man mutters as he slows the small craft’s descent, his scarred, scabbed knuckles tightening on the steering yoke. He swallows hard against the knot of emotions that threaten to overwhelm him and focuses on the control array. There’d be time enough for all that, once he’s dirt-side.

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As the shuttle breaks free of the greasy cloud cover, Jayne can see the dark sprawl of Ironton’s jumbled ref