Disclaimer: Joss Whedon et al own the characters, ‘verse and everything else in them. I’m only playing with his toys and not making a single bit of credit off this.

Thanks to Jacqui for the helpful advice. And I'm glad you liked the pic!

See Chapters one, two and three.

Rating: Teen and up

Chapter four

For the fifth time, Jayne cursed a streak that would have even made Mal reddened. For the fifth time, Jayne silently wished for Kaylee to arrive on the scene. She was the mechanical genius. He was just a merc. And mercs didn’t know how to fix gorram ta ma duh tractors. This was not his area of expertise.

Holding his finger to his lips, he sucked on the blood that was freshly sprung from the screwdriver that Jayne had lost a grip on and jammed into his finger. Examining his wound, he sat on the hard ground and leaned heavily on the tractor tire.

This wasn’t where he was supposed to be. No way in ruttin hell was he supposed to be trying to farm a farm that weren’t meant to be growing anything other than dirt. It was crazy and it was just the kind of stubborn that his mother was known for. The woman was determined to claim her stake and damn the consequences.

Feeling his stomach rumble, Jayne rose and trudged the half mile back to the homestead. Maybe some food in his belly, even protein rations, would help him focus and give him the motivation to want to fix the tractor.

The wind blew through the sheets that Emma Jayne had put on the line. It did bring a sense of comfort to her son, reminding him of younger times when the dirt had been a playground. He got swatted more than once for playing in those sheets and causing them to fall and thus, to be re-washed. He snorted on the memory and smacked his hands across the front of his pants to clear away some of the dust. With the amount of swirling debris, he didn’t see how his playing with them made a bit of difference. Sheets always had a bit of brown to them.

He entered the small home through