Inferno – Chapter Twenty

Me no owny, me no makey money, me just having funny. :)

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For the second time in just over a week, Jayne was pulled from his sleep. He was upright in an instant, grabbing for the gun at his side by instinct.

Chelsa Timmons was screaming. River was already awake, and took the girl in her arms, making simple soothing nosies.

“They killed my parents,” she sobbed into River’s shoulder. “And they tied me up, and they. . .touched me, and told me all the things they’d do to me later, when they had time.”

“I know, baby, I know,” River rocked the scared girl back and forth. She looked up at Jayne. He mimed himself leaving the bunk, and she shook her head furiously. Extending her hand, she waited for him to take it, and pulled him down to sit on the bed. Chelsa looked up at the weight shifting in the bed, and recoiled slightly.

“Easy, nizi,” Jayne told her. “You’re safe here, I promise.” The girl cocked her head at that, her crying easing away a bit.

“It was you,” she said softly, and Jayne didn’t know whether to nod, or not, so stayed quiet. River turned Chelsa’s head to look at her.

“It was him, what?” she asked gently.

“You answered me when I called out for my Daddy,” Chelsa said, forcing her gaze back to Jayne.

“Well, yeah,” Jayne felt his face heat. “You was asleep, and I carried you down here, and you kinda woke up, but didn’t really, and when you. . .”

“You killed the men who took me,” Chelsa interrupted, and again Jayne nodded.

“Yes, Liam and I,” he amended. “We did. They’re gone, nizi. They’ll never hurt you again.”

“But my parents,” Chelsa’s tears started again, and once more River enfolded her in her arms. “I’m alone, without my parents,” she sobbed. River glanced up at Jayne, her eyes questioning.

‘Are you sure, ai ren?’ he heard her voice in his mind. He nodded.

‘If this is what you want, I want for you to have it. Besides, she’s got no one. I know what that’s like.’

River’s eyes glistened with tears at that. She hadn’t considered