Chinese translations: Whoo dahn: Stupid; Cai bu shi: Yeah, right!; Jien tah-duh gway: Like hell!

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The sky was full of stars, so full Jayne felt like he was off planet on Serenity rather than lying on a large blanket in the cool of the night, his head cradled in Alice’s lap. Kinda nice lookin’ at ‘em from here , he thought.

It had been Alice’s idea to go for a picnic supper, and she’d known of a nice, secluded place not far from the landing field. Jayne had been surprised when she’d pulled fresh food out of the small hamper rather than modified protein bars. He was so used to protein bars, and those gorram strawberries Kaylee liked so much, that he’d almost forgotten what real food looked like let alone tasted like. To bad there weren’t any apples, Jayne mused while he ate a carrot, his head in April’s lap.

“Yep. I guess there are some advantages to bein’ a dirt farmer way out here.” He rolled over and reached up to pull Alice down next to him. Surprisingly, she slapped his hands away.

“Dirt farmers! Whoo dahn! We ain’t dirt farmers.” Alice sounded insulted. “We’re miners,” she said in a lofty voice. Stroking Jayne’s hair and running her fingers along the rim of his ear, she looked at the stars. “Rich miners,” she breathed.

“Cai bu shi,” Jayne muttered. He didn’t like being called stupid.

“Oh, Jayne. I’m sorry, but I just hate bein’ called a dirt farmer.” She gently pushed Jayne’s head off her lap and lay down next to him, her head on his chest. “We’re miners, Jayne, miners. Remember that.”

“Uh-huh.” Jayne wasn’t really thinking about dirt farmers or miners any more. When Alice had moved, Jayne’s hand had fallen onto her Callahan. What a perfect world , Jayne thought. Real food and a woman with a Callahan.

“Hey, Alice? How’d you get this Callahan, anyway.” One handed, he lifted the gun and held it up to the night sky, seeing its silhouette against the stars. It was heavier and a bit bulkier than Ve