Chapter Text
Prologue/Ch.1
River sensed the man who entered more than she heard him, and when he let his bulky form fall ungraciously into the co-pilot’s seat she didn’t even look.
“Lookin’ for patterns in the stars again?”
“Hm.” She hummed an affirmative. He sensed her reluctance for conversation and fell silent, too.
She continued to watch the stars as the room around her filled with comfy orange warmth. Shifting in her seat to find a more snugly position, she only vaguely noticed that her skirt had rode up, revealing some of the creamy skin of her thigh.
The warmth lulled her into the most relaxed state she had been in for a very long time so she contentedly closed her eyes and missed the sharp intake of breath from the other side of the bridge.
But then this intake of breath morphed into a yawn and then turned into a soft snoring a few seconds later.
Snorting River grabbed one of the plastic dinosaurs that were still standing on the dashboard in memory of the deceased former pilot and threw it at the snoring man in the co-pilots chair.
“You’re not supposed to be sleeping!”
Jayne sniffled annoyed before he slowly cracked one eye open.
“Aww, c’mon, ‘s been a long day an’ we’re doin’ this fer how often now? Three, four times?”
He sighed at the stare she gave him and groaned as he wiped his face tiredly with his hands before he lifted his big frame from the chair again.
“Guess’ that means we have ta start over again.”
“Correct!”
Grumbling something under his breath he picked up the plastic dinosaur and put it back onto her dashboard. Then he walked back through the bulkhead door and climbed down the stairs with heavy steps. Meanwhile River rearranged herself again on the pilot chair, daintily putting her boot-clad feet back on the dashboard.
“This is ridiculous!” She heard the big man’s voice grousing from outside.
Sighing River bend her head backwards.
“If the ape-man wouldn’t be constantly messing up his lines or actions; we would have been over with this for hours. She’d suggest he better focus this time! ” She called into the general direction of the hallway. There were steps on the stairs and Jayne peeked through the door again.
“I am focused!”
Even without looking she could hear his smug grin.
“Not focusing on the right things.”
He chuckled. “Oh, the things I’m focused on are very right.”
Turning towards him as far as she could without taking her feet off the dashboard, River scowled at him.
“Stop acting like the moron you probably are! She’s talking about his lines. We’re not doing this for fun.”
“Huh, ya could have fooled me!” His smug grin now nearly split his face in two.
“Oh, really?”Disgruntled she turned back to the window in front of her. “Can we go on now?”
It wasn’t hard to imagine how the smug grin vanished off his face as she put off his innuendo so bluntly and she almost expected him to argue again but the only response she got was a displeased growl and a mumbled “Ain’t we just bitchy tonight?”
If River wouldn’t be so tired herself she probably would have given in to this argument but knowing how time consuming they always were and how desperately she wanted this scene to be a wrap-up she let his remark slide.
Shifting once more in her chair she focused her gaze onto the stars outside and exclaimed “Ready.”
She sensed him more than she heard him as he entered the cockpit and when he let his bulky form fall ungraciously into the co-pilot’s seat she didn’t even look.
“Lookin’ for patterns in the stars again?”