Disclaimer: They ain’t my characters and it ain’t my ‘verse and no money changed hands. Thank You List includes Joss and gang for inspiration, Jacquie the Goddess of Jaylee for beta and a great deal of support and encouragement, and to my own dear big, bad man for providing certain, …er, technical resources and guidance. Bein’ as this is my very first fanfic, all comments, suggestions and feedback are most appreciated. If ya don’t wanna talk, please just click a rating. Can’t make it better if I don’t know what’s broke.

Waited Long Enough Part 1: Rules and Problems

He was a big man who wasn’t afraid of hard, mean work. Never had been. He did what he had to, to get by. Did a lot of things he weren’t real proud of. The school of hard knocks had taught him little in the way of loyalty except’n to himself.

When the slim man in the long, brown coat he held at gunpoint offered him a significant improvement over his marginal situation, he didn’t hesitate to switch sides. Shot his old boss Marco in the leg by way of lettin’ him know how he felt about him, too.

The new deal promised good – a bunk of his own, a fair cut of the ship’s take, and a chance to get off-planet and away from the boys who would soon enough come gunnin’ for him. But there were complications Jayne hadn’t known about when he accepted Mal’s offer.

Women.

He’d never worked with a crew that included females before, wasn’t so sure they had any business ship-side. Back home an’ in the bedroom, that was another matter. Ship-board, they tended to get in the way of a man stayin’ focused on his job.

In Serenity’s close confines, it proved impossible to ignore their distractin’ presence: all that sweet, swaying stuff they did, how they smelled and the sound of their laughter. Common sense told the big man sexin’ it up with someone in the crew was a bad idea, but parts of him didn’t have much by way of sense. Jayne was never quite able to relax on-board Serenity and it was all because of the gorram womenfolk.

Zoë was the first