Fic-Lights of Heaven

[walkwithheroes]

[#3, River Tam/Jayne Cobb, Firefly, PG]

Lights of Heaven

Theme: 3. Four rings of light upon the ceiling overhead
Character/s or Pairing: River Tam and Jayne Cobb
Series: Firefly
Rating: PG
Notes: I do not own them. No spoilers.

 

It wasn’t right, that much Jayne knew. You didn’t bring girls into a bar; or rather you didn’t bring little girls to bars when you were making a deal. And yet…yet Mal had allowed both Kaylee and River to come along on the job. The two girls were at a table with the doc and the three of them were drinking and eating and having a grand time. Zoe and Wash were off on some ’romantic date’ and the Shepard had chosen that week to head off to the abbey. As for Inara, she had a client. But, it wasn’t any of them Jayne was bothered by; it was the two little girls with the doctor. Little girls didn’t belong in a bar with no one to watch them but a prissy doc from the Core.

Jayne sat next to Mal and only half listened as his captain made some deal with the Mraz Brothers. The mercenary wasn’t very interested in the fact that the Mraz Brothers wanted forty percent and Mal only wanted them to have thirty; they’d settle on thirty-five in a couple of minutes. What Jayne was interested in was River-not in that way-but in the way that little crazy had gotten up from the table and strolled on over to the dance floor.

The bar had a tiny dance floor, that was really just a place for whores to warm up their clients and River was walking onto it like she owned the place. Simon and Kaylee seemed too busy flirting to notice.

Jayne watched River, standing at the edge of the dance floor and looking up at the four round lights that lit it. The crazy girl looked like she was in some kind of trance or something. She was standing there and just staring up at the four lights, almost like they were the most beautiful things she had ever seen.

Jayne watched her and he tried to get Simon to notice that his crazy little sister was about to get a nasty come on by one of the other men in the bar.

“Jayne, you got a friend here you like wavin’ at or what?” Mal’s voice broke through Jayne’s mind.

“W’at?” Jayne pointed a meaty finger at River. “Look.”

Mal briefly turned his attention to the girl, who was just staring at the lights. “She’s fine, her brother and Kaylee are keepin’ an eye on her.” He turned back to the Mraz Brothers. “We’ll be takin’ a loss, but you can have the thirty-five percent.”

Jayne glanced over at River and noticed that some gorram punk had walked on over and was trying to flirt; the gorram punk was also getting mighty annoyed that River was ignoring his advances. And no one was doing a damn thing about it; figured. Jayne growled in frustration and got up from the table. Ignored Mal’s yelling, Jayne went straight to River and the skinny guy.

“Hey!” The skinny punk jumped, but tried to play it off. Jayne rolled his eyes. “Didn’ yer Ma tell ya not ta try gittin’ crazy little girls ta dance wit ya?”

“Four rings of light dance in Heaven.” River’s child-like voice whispered. It shocked both Jayne and the boy.

“W’at ya say?” The boy questioned her, even as he was moving away from the duo.

River glanced at Jayne and even she looked momentarily confused. “Jayne?”

Pushing the boy away, Jayne moved himself between River and the dance floor. “Yea?”

“Four rings of light dance in Heaven.” River told him urgently.

The mercenary just shook his head, grabbed her wrist, and lead her back to the table were Simon and Kaylee were sitting. Somewhat roughly, Jayne put River back into her seat. “Watch her, doc. Or be prepared ta lose her.”

Simon just glared at Jayne as Kaylee tried to comfort a now agitated River. Jayne spared River a glance before stomping back over to an annoyed Mal.

“One of the rings went away.” River told Kaylee somewhat sadly. “It doesn’t shine as bright with just three.” Kaylee just patted River’s arm and looked to Simon for help. All Simon could do was try and sooth his little sister, who looked forlornly in the direction of Jayne.

Later that night, as they were all leaving the bar, Jayne could have sworn he heard River happily whisper to Simon: “The fourth ring of light is back, Simon! It dances above our heads and on the ceiling of Heaven.”

Comments

[ladylauraglyde.livejournal.com]

Aww...protective Jayne. Albeit reluctantly. :)

[walkwithheroes.livejournal.com]

Protective!Jayne really is the best one, even when he doesn't want to be. :)

[calijirl5150.livejournal.com]

AWWWWWWWWW that was real sweet. Love how Jayne is always watchin after River, even when its "not" his responsibility. Ya got the voices down pretty well, great job.

[walkwithheroes.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Yes, Jayne does seem to find himself watching out for River more and more. The voices, I'm still getting them down, but it's nice to know I'm not killing the characters' voices.

[purpleskyfly.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, more! I am now a junkie of your work...BE PROUD!

[walkwithheroes.livejournal.com]

:) I am very proud. Look for themes seven and eight sometime this week. And maybe a Rayne one-sot.