Disclaimer: Belongs to the almighty Joss Whedon. I'm just having fun playing.

THE WATCHER

Jayne watched people, he had to in his line of work, and he was pretty good at reading folks, if he did say so himself. Of course, there were times he missed signals, like that time Crazy had slashed him with a knife. He'd gotten…what was the word? Complacent, yeah that was it, complacent. Knew she was off, so didn't pay attention like he should have. He'd learned, though. Didn't take her for granted no more. Watched her careful whenever they were in the same room together, which was as little as he could possibly make it.

He wasn't smart, not like Doc and Inara with their book learning, but he weren't dumb, neither. Sure, he'd made bad choices a time or two, like back on Ariel, but, again, he'd learned. Should've known better than to trust the Feds, never would again. What he couldn't understand was how Mal could continue to trust people like Badger and Patience. He'd known from the first time he'd met them both that they weren't to be trusted, was right there in their body language, but Mal just wouldn't listen to reason. Sometimes he thought the man was as fēng le as the girl.

Problem was he couldn't always say things the way he meant them. Took too long for him to figure out how to say it proper, so it came out wrong, made people think he was a fool. That's why the shepherd was so easy to talk to. Shepherd never looked down on him, always treated him with respect--and not 'cause he were afraid of him, neither. Shepherd didn't seem to be afraid of no man.--ain't no one treated him like that since…ever. Made him feel kind of funny, but in a good way, not like the way them mudders made him feel.

Them setting him up as a hero just weren't right. Nothing heroic about accidentally dumping a buttload of cash in the middle of all that mud. Heroes were people who did the right thing, even if it got themselves killed, and that weren't him, no way, no how. He wanted to stay living, and he'd do whatever i