Disclaimers apply.

Spoilers: post-BDM.

A/N: Thanks so much for your reviews of pt 1! Let me know what you think of this one,too. I really appreciate it.

--- Separate Checks ---

“That all true?” Jayne asked down at the girl, still not quite wrapping his brain around the fact that she was curled up in his lap. She twitched her face up to scowl at him. She also hitched her little bottom around, and her skirt rode up even higher on her thighs, giving Jayne’s heart an excitement-spurred lurch.

“I SAID it was.” Her voice dripped haughtiness.

“Well, then,” (why hadn’t she quit playing with his hair yet?) “Thanks. I guess.” He really couldn’t drag up much annoyance that he’d lost his fun for the evening. That likely had something to do with the woman-fingers that had slid from his chest to his hip and were sort of massaging the skin there. The back of his neck felt warm and his heart was going kind of fast. Jayne shifted his arms on the table and thought about putting one around her waist. Maybe her craziness was catching, suddenly after all this time.

“RIVER!” A voice, the doc’s, finally broke through to the moonbrain. She turned her head so she could see him, but that was all she did. The rest of her stayed draped over Jayne. “River,” her brother had his ‘doctor’ voice on, “you can’t – this isn’t appropriate. Leave Jayne alone, now,” he cajoled. Simon flicked the mercenary a glance, which looked grateful; for not dumping his sister on the floor, or worse, Jayne supposed.

And he didn’t know why he hadn’t, except that Crazy-girl felt more like Crazy-woman, sitting on him, and he liked it. He felt River go really still against him right then and he figured she’d Read that at the same time he thought it.

“You were in danger,” River told him in a low tone. Her voice wasn’t entirely steady. He guessed she’d never sensed those kinds of thoughts from someone before, at least not ones about her. “My only motive for initiating physical contact was to rescue you.”

He chuckled, and answered with his voice