Disclaimer: All hail Joss! Nothing is mine. All is his. Bow down before the tubby little genius!

A/N: Okay, it's not much but I thought I'd put it up in case it inspires me to more. Thanks for all the nice feedback, thusfar.

The next morning Jayne woke up with a ferocious headache, a very vague recollection of the past twenty four hours and a taste in his mouth he usually associated with too much fun. This morning however, he was in restraints- Jayne’s lifestyle was such that waking up in restraints wasn’t all that unsettling, especially with the symptoms of a hangover but it looked like he was in the infirmary this time. Pushing past the fog of pain and confusion he sorted through his fuzzy memories. He went out with Mal and Zoë to collect a payment. Things turned rowdy. He took a hit. They made it back to the ship. The infirmary- that’s why he was here. Doc stitched him up. The doc . . . something was nagging at him there but all he could remember was a pale face peering at him intently. Ruttin’ doctor.

Why the hell had he been tied down? Jayne felt a moment’s panic wondering if the doc had been fooling them all and was sly and had tied him down for some nefarious purpose- after all he didn’t seem to want Kaylee and that was a sign of somethin’ in Jayne’s book. Well, if that was the case Jayne would-

The big man opened his mouth to start bellowing to be released when Simon appeared. He looked particularly hesitant, standing in the doorway and Jayne had to wonder why that was. Normally he’d come strutting into a room like he owned the whole gorram ship.

“You’re awake.” Simon observed.

No shit.

“Wow- that fancy educatin’ really paid off for you, doc.” Jayne said sarcastically, glaring at the doctor with his usual contemptuous anger. “You’re a ruttin’ marvel of modern scientific thinkin’. Now-” Jayne took a deep breath, “-Let. Me. The. Hell. Up!” The big man’s voice was getting progressively louder with every word until he was almost roaring. It seemed to snap Simon out of whatever spell w