Jayne paused before entering their bunk: he always did that, River thought, as if to savor the moment. Then he would turn and smile at her; he rarely smiled, but when he smiled at her it made her feel better about what ever was going wrong.

Things went wrong a lot of the time.

But that just made it more interesting, didn’t it?

Jayne plopped down on the bed beside her, and she folded her legs up as she did so often.

“Is it okay now?” she asked quietly, studying her bare feet. She was referring to the scare from an earlier job; Mal had gotten shot and Inara had been pacing the hallway, snapping at anyone who crossed her path.

“Your brother will fix him; it’s about gorramn time he went back to his job instead of hanging around the engine room the whole time,” Jayne growled, and River leaned into him.

“He can’t help it,” she murmured. “He’s not like you; he has to make sure she knows every waking second how he feels.”

“Well, maybe I’d be like that if you wasn’t a psychic,” Jayne said, but despite his snarling manner he let River lean against him.

“Not enough sleep. I need more sleep,” she mumbled, snuggling closer to Jayne, who almost smiled at that comment. He knew he might have something to do with her lack of sleep. Even though she couldn’t see it, she knew. “Not funny.”

“‘Course not,” he said.

Inara tapped her foot impatiently on the metal grates, the sound echoing throughout the cargo bay. She had confined herself here until she knew what was going on; no more making Kaylee cry.

A noise behind her made her jump, and she spun to see Mal limping towards her.

“Ugh, this gorramn medicine ain’t doin’ the job,” he moaned, coming to lean against the railing beside her. He winced when she went to embrace him, but didn’t pull back. “Gently now, ‘Nara.”

“Do you know how odd it is to see River and Jayne together everyday?” he continued, shifting her so that she was only holding on to his whole side. “That's is the damndest thing, the two of them.....I gotta stop thinkin' about it