Jayne sighed happily as he stepped out onto the catwalk slurping down his third bowl of noodles, thanking any god vying for attention that he was eating solid food again. He wore his ‘Troublemaker’ t-shirt, which hung loosely on his torso since he’d dropped thirty pounds being laid up in the Infirmary, but he fully intended to live up to the label today. He’d had to add a few notches to his belts to get them to fit, but he was eating his way through Serenity’s stores and had spent the morning working out, so he didn’t expect to be a lightweight for too long. His tool belt was appropriately adorned with flashlight, utility tool, knife and sheath, holster, and his favorite day-gun of the week, Liza.

He stretched side to side, cracking his back, feeling the taut pull of his atrophied abs next to the satisfied soreness that comes from building new muscle. Plopping down on the catwalk and dangling his feet over the side, Jayne continued eating as he looked at the vacant cargo bay, listening to the rhythms of home. It sounded so different outside the Infirmary. Mal and Inara entered below, bickering about some nonsense or other as they rearranged some of the storage crates. They’d made it through the first hump, which Jayne was sorry he didn’t get an earful of. He recognized the difference in the tension between the two. Now it was closer to where Zoë and Wash had started out, and Jayne knew it would end well for the pair.

Kaylee entered a moment later, pulling engine parts from storage containers, breaking up Mal and Inara’s bickering with her cheerful chatter. He watched her wistfully, remembering the feel of her lips on his, knowing it never would be. She was the first woman since … forever ago that he trusted enough to let touch his lips. He could see the soft swell of her stomach – Simon’s baby. Zoë came behind him on the catwalk, hollered something to Mal, and turned to leave just as quickly. Jayne noticed that Zoë never liked sharing a space with Kaylee if she could help it. He figured it had something to d