Chapter 22

“Wash head us to Asta, we got a job tomorrow” The Captain called up to the bridge as he headed down for breakfast “Jayne, you, Zoë and I are going to relieve the Alliance of some of their cargo. Finish eating and we can work out the details.” Mal looked around for Maggie, but didn’t see her. He grabbed a bowl and headed back to his cabin.

Jayne just sat, didn’t really hear anything Mal had said, he finished up his mush and headed back to his bunk.

Wash was careful to wait for Jayne to leave before heading down for breakfast. He wasn’t sure why he had lied to Jayne, he had just been so tired of hearing about Maggie and their perfect marriage. Two or three times a day, Wash didn’t believe it at all. Taking his mush he headed back up to the bridge.

Maggie just laid in bed, she hadn’t been able to sleep, every time she closed her eyes she saw Jayne with his hands in the women’s hair, the look on his face and her hands on his body. She didn’t know what to do, Jayne really thought it had been her idea. She was puzzled about what he said Wash had said, something about them being gone for three more days. She knew she had to get up soon, just wasn’t ready to face everyone. Rolling over she tried to go back to sleep.

***

Dinner was a quite affair, Maggie had helped Book cook a big steak dinner, using up the last of the frozen steaks. She and Jayne kept stealing looks at each other, it was all Mal could do to not yell at them.

“Jayne, you look like hell, what’s going on?” Mal asked him.

“Haven’t been getting much sleep lately.” He looked at Maggie from under his eyelashes.

“Well you need to be in top form tomorrow, so either get some sleep on your own or go see the Doctor.” Mal knew how much Jayne hated to see Simon “I don’t want to get shot cause you’re tired.”

Maggie looked at Jayne, he did look awful, he hadn’t told her that he hadn’t been sleeping. She was worried about tomorrow, she might be mad at him, but she didn’t want him shot.

“I’ll be fine Captain.” He muttered, not wanting e