[Next entry: "Firefly Fic: Glamour (Kaylee, PG)"]
08/12/2007: "Firefly Fic: Gifts (Jayne, Kaylee, PG)"
Title: Gifts
Characters: Jayne, Kaylee (Jayne/Kaylee undertones)
Rating: PG
Summary: Jayne hasn't had many gifts in his life.
Notes: Set during Trash.
Disclaimer: Clearly I claim no ownership to the Firefly 'verse or its characters; nor am I making money from this fic writing thing.
Jayne's never gotten much in the way of presents. Bits and pieces from his ma, pa, and Matty, when there was a little coin left for things, but mostly, presents are something other folk get. His line of work don't exactly make him the kind of guy people want to gift things to, but that don't usually bug him too much. Getting presents means he's got to give 'em too.
So he can count most of his presents on one or two hands. The most recent on one hand, if he really wants to think about it. The hat from his ma is the first he can think of - soft against his fingers, warm on his head. He don't know where she might have got the yarn to make it, sheep being rare back home and all, but
he's glad he's got it. Even if it was like to have set her back some coin, maybe.
Jayne'll never tell Mal, but he considers his bunk a present. Way he figures, Mal could have gone and promised him his own bunk, then hired more mercs to fill it up. If Jayne were captain, that's what he would do. But Mal didn't do it, and Jayne figures he ain't never going to, not now. So his own bunk is a present, something that tells him maybe Mal don't hate him too much.
Not that Jayne gives a gorram crap if Mal hates him, long as he gets paid.
Rainstick was a gift too, and Jayne got paid on top of it. He still can't help but feel a mite pissed that he didn't get given a woman, though. Mal mighta got fooled by that girl's wiles, but if she'd been Jayne's he'd never have let her trick him by kissing him on the mouth. The thought makes Jayne smirk - Mal thinks he's so mighty, but he got his weaknesses, all right.
And that's just about it, if Jayne don't count Mal not killing him after Ariel. It were a present, but Jayne figures it ain't such a good idea to go dwelling on it. It gives him an uncomfortableness.
~ ~ ~
Jayne's next present comes while he's in the infirmary after being shocked to shit by that gorram garbage bin. Rutting rich folk.
He wakes up, confused, the doc speaking about his spine, and trust, and little sister making creepy eyes at him. Gorram fugitives. He shoulda -
But then he figures out what it is Simon's saying. He figures he's being told that Simon coulda killed him just now, or at least left him useless. But that ain't gonna happen, Simon's telling him.
"I don't care what you've done. I don't know what you're planning on doing, but I'm trusting you. I think you should do the same, because I don't see this working any other way."
Simon won't try to get even. He's being told this calmly, like it's natural for Simon to go around threatening people.
Jayne ain't stupid. He maybe don't know about the bits of fancy core machines that can shock a body, or about medical tech. But he knows when he's being told something, and he knows right now what he's being given. It's a gift. A truce. No rutting worry anymore about what Simon might do if he finds out about Ariel. No more Mal holding it over his head.
Don't mean he has to like the man, or his rutting sister, don't mean he still ain't scared about his spine. But Jayne knows what it is he's got.
~ ~ ~
After, Kaylee comes by, visits a little, her face all sad. "I'm real sorry about you falling. I shoulda warned you better."
Jayne wants to shrug, but still can't move. Even if he could, he wouldn't, he's fearful for his spine. No matter what the doc says. He might have made a mistake, no matter how smart he is. Smart ain't perfect. Instead, he grunts.
"Simon says you'll be shiny in no time." Stupid moon smile comes on her face, and she says, "He's a real good doctor."
"Yeah. He's my hero." Meds must be wearing off, 'cause he ain't slurring no more.
She frowns at him a little, just for a moment, and then smiles again. "You just can't ever be nice, can you?" She punches him on the arm lightly, then gasps, hand to mouth, all horrified. "I'm sorry! I forgot. I didn't hurt you, did I?"
The day little Kaylee hurts him with a punch is the day he's going to ask Mal to shoot him out the airlock after all. "Nah," he says, and she relaxes again, all smiles. He doesn't tell her he can't feel much.
"Anyway, I got you something!" She turns and walks out the infirmary, then walks back in, her hands behind her back. "I was gonna save it for your birthday or somethin', but I don't know when it is, and then I thought it'd be real nice now, cheer you up and all." She pulls something from behind her, smiling even wider. "Ta-dah!"
He squints, turning his head slightly. That's the best he can do. Looks like she's holding a ratty black case. Don't look like much. Something good better be in it. He's about to ask, when Kaylee speaks up,
"It's a case! For Vera!"
"What?"
"You said, that one time with the net, you didn't have a case for Vera to work in a vacuum. Figure, if we ever need to do somethin' like shoot out of the airlock again, we can't go and use a suit every time. Only got so many suits. So I made this for you!"
He wants to reach out and touch it, but he still can't move. So he says, "Move closer. Wanna see."
She steps close to the bed, and brings the case with her, holding it up for him. "See, I made it to measure - sorry, hope you don't mind I snuck into your bunk to see your guns. I wanted it to be a surprise! And it's got this seal here, so all you have to do is -"
Jayne tunes out the details, because he don't follow half of what Kaylee says anyway when she starts talking about making things and mechanical stuff. Instead, he just looks at the case, which don't look so ratty after all. It's all shiny, like she polished it up good. He wonders if it's padded inside.
Kaylee's still talking, and now she's opening up the case, and talking more, and she's real excited about it all. And Jayne smiles, kinda, because sure, he can't move his arms and legs, but he will soon, 'cause the doc ain't gonna piss Mal off by wrecking his merc. And today he got two presents, and one of them didn't involve not being dead.
It's a good day. Kaylee stops talking for a minute, still holding the case open. It's padded inside all right, all soft looking. "You like it?"
He nods his head as best he can. "Yeah."
She beams at him, and leans down a little. "Shiny."
End
