walkwithheroes | [12, Jayne/River, Firefly, G]

Theme: 12. Wake unto me
Character/s or Pairing: Jayne Cobb/River Tam
Series: Firefly
Rating: G
Notes: I don’t own them. Some light spoilers for ‘War Stories’ and ‘Objects in Space’; takes place shortly after ‘OiS’

Twelve Months

River had a bad habit of falling asleep in the strangest places. Every member of the crew had found her sleeping on the catwalks at least once. Kaylee had found the younger girl sleeping under the engine of Serenity more then once. Mal had found River asleep in the extra shuttle twice within the last three months.

He found her sleeping peacefully, all curled up in his covers. Her dark hair was around her face, like wild waves of water. She was laying so still and she looked so small and fragile. Apart of him nearly hated to wake her up. Then, he remembered what Kaylee had said River had done to the guards at Niska’s. ‘Course, that seemed like child’s play when you took in to account the way she dealt with Early; mind games were things Jayne was not fond of.

“Girl?” Jayne made sure to whisper, as the last thing he needed was to scare River. Scaring the girl could lead to all kinds of trouble that Jayne just did not need. “Girl?” He moved closer to his bed and gently kicked it; River did not move. “Girl?!” Just a little louder. This time River just muttered: “No needles.” and she shivered.

River was dreaming of the Academy, that much Jayne could guess. Dreaming and reliving her ordeal, ‘course to River dreams and her reality seemed too be the same thing these days.

“River?!” This time Jayne was hissing at her. He put a hand over her waist and shook her; River’s large chocolate eyes snapped open and she stared straight up into Jayne’s baby blues. “Yer in the wrong bunk.” He explained as he backed away from her.

River sat up and glanced around the room, almost like she wasn’t completely sure where she was. “Not logical.” She muttered quietly. “Serenity, home. There are no two by two here.”

From the corner of his bunk, Jayne watched as River climbed out his bed and began straightening her hair and sundress. The girl did seem a bit confused, but she also seemed more proper then Jayne had ever seen her. It was kind of odd to watch as she fixed herself like all the fancy ladies from the Core.

“There are five Core planets.” River told him as she glanced up with a sweet smile. “Sihnon, Londinum, Bernadette, Osirus, and Ariel.” She paused for only a moment. “They are surrounded by ten Boarder planets. They are called: Boros, Santo, Paquin, Beaumonde, Persephone, Bellerophon, Dyton, Verbena, Hera, and Newhall. We were at Newhall three weeks ago. Our current orbit is near the Rim planet called Silverhold; named so because of the Silver mined there.”

“That’s right.” He narrowed his eyes on hers. “How ya know all that?”

River just shrugged lightly and tapped the side of her head. “Genius.”

Jayne gave her a smile. “Guess ya are. ‘Course ya still ended up in the wrong bunk.” He gave her a teasing-nearly flirting-look. “W’at does that tell ya?”

She gave a little shrug and a light snort. “That I still know more then you.” Again she tapped the side of her head. “Mind reading genius, Jayne.” She gave him another sweet smile. “May not be my bunk, but it will be.” River let out a little laugh that sounded like bells.

Jayne eyed her carefully. “Now hold on one gorram minute…”

River ignored him as she went to the ladder and climbed up. The last thing Jayne heard as the hatch swung shut was River laugher as she yelled down at him. “Mind reading genius, Jayne. Twelve months!”