TITLE: "HURTING"

AUTHOR: Alison M. DOBELL

FANDOM: "FIREFLY"

PAIRING: Jayne

RATING: G.

STATUS: SEQUEL to "LISTENING"

ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.

FEEDBACK: Welcomed.

EMAIL: AlisonMDobell@aol.com

WEBSITE: http://carlajane.50megs.com/Ali00.html

SUMMARY: "Jayne considers his get-rich scheme and

comes to the painful realisation that the only one he short

changed was himself. Zoe is still processing his treachery."

The usual disclaimers apply. The characters and 'Firefly'

are the property and gift of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.

No infringement of copyright is intended.

"HURTING"

"Firefly" story

Written by Alison M. DOBELL

* * * * *

It was a lot of money. More than he had ever seen in his own hand before. Had seen others pawing through a pile like this but always, by the time it got to his share, the coin was so low in his palm it was almost an insult. This though, this covered both his palms, had the weight of a lot of coin. Money he could go anywhere he gorram pleased with. A quiet almost holy silence gripped him, stunned almost that he had actually done what he had done. A wide grin spilling over his face before another image filled his mind and squashed the happy in his lungs. One he was less proud of. Mal. The Captain. Moving, turning, too late to field the treacherous bullet and too slow to send its' doppleganger into the man he had finally called friend.

It hurt. Shouldn't'a done. Not really. He was a mercenary, gorrammit. Wasn't Mal's lap dog nor some *chun wangba dan* needing to be told not only what to do and when to do it but how. Sometimes he felt like he was treated as some backbirth, too dumb to question, too slow to be anything but a man walking in another's shadow. He'd got sick of it. Wanted to step out and stand in the sun. This coin would do it. Prove for once and for all that Mal hadn't tamed him. That he was still his own man. But another thought imp