Fighters
Title: Fighters
Prompt: #4 Left
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2150
Title: Fighters
Prompt: #4 Left
Author: Cricket
Disclaimer: I’m just playing with Joss’ toys, but I promise to put them back when I’m done
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2150
AN: A million and one thanks to angel932 for beta-ing!
"Hey there, baby," Jayne crouched by his wife's bedside, carefully laying a hand across her cold forehead. "How ya feelin' today?"
River looked up at him with watery eyes. She'd been crying again and her face was puffy from all the tears. Her voice was raw and quiet. "When I'm gone-"
"Don’t talk like that, Riv, you're not goin' anywhere," Jayne interrupted. He intended it to be comforting, but it just came out annoyed. He'd said it too many times.
River laid a gentle hand over his mouth. "When I'm gone," she continued, "I need you to take care of Simon for me."
Jayne recognized him instantly. The brown duster swishing around his legs, belt slung low on his hips and a confident determination in his steps, all quintessential Mal Reynolds. The man hadn't changed a whit in the year Jayne had been away.
Jayne wasn't certain, he hadn't looked in a mirror in quite some time, but he thought he must look significantly different from the last time Mal saw him. The captain didn't even blink twice, just continued surveying the patrons in the bar around him. Jayne hadn't shaved in a long time and, raising a hand to his chin, felt the bristly hair grown thick around his mouth. His skin was darker, having spent more time working under the hot sun than cooped up in a ship over the past few months. He probably didn't smell too good either, Jayne reasoned. Fresh water was a commodity on this planet and he preferred drinking most of his ration mixed with cheap whiskey instead of bathing in it.
When Mal finally realized the man behind the dirty bearded face was his former employee, he ambled over and took a seat next to him at the bar.
"You don't need me to take care of nobody for you," Jayne insisted. He grabbed her hand and held it tightly to his chest. "You know why?"
River raised her eyebrows in response, prompting him to continue.
"Because you're gonna be here to do it yourself." Jayne smiled at her softly. "Ain't no way some little disease is gonna take out my big tough reaver killer, ya hear me?"
"Didn't expect to see you here, Jayne. Whatcha doin' nowadays?" Mal didn't look at him, instead waved over the bartender.
"Havin' a drink." Jayne sloshed the contents of his glass around as he raised it to his lips. He hadn't expected to see Mal either, or any of his old crew for that matter. He thought he'd hidden himself well, avoiding the planets Serenity usually frequented. Having the familiar face crop up out of the blue was disconcerting.
"Yes, I can see that." Mal rolled his eyes at that. Jayne always was a stubborn ass of a man, refusing to give up more information than was vitally necessary. "Findin' work alright?"
"I'm gettin' along." He'd found a few jobs on ships looking for a good mercenary, but killing and intimidating people for a living lost its appeal after Serenity. Mostly he'd been working manual labor jobs, lifting, hauling and digging, things that didn't require too much thought. No, thinking only brought up too many painful memories, it was better to turn off his mind entirely. But now, with Mal here sitting right next to him and talking to him as though they were long lost pals, Jayne's mind was flooded with all the thoughts he'd been trying to ignore. He couldn't resist asking any longer. "How is she?"
"I'm not giving up, Jayne," River sighed. She was too tired to fight with him about this again, but he just never seemed to accept the truth of the matter.
"Yes, you are! You could fight this, kick up merry hell and give this ruttin' thing one bitch of an ass whoopin'!" He was screaming and he knew the entire ship could hear him, but he didn't care. His fists were clenched tightly as he paced in front of her bed.
"There's nothing left to fight!" River dropped her head back onto her pillow, defeated.
"She's good, better. Brought her to one of the doc's medacad buddies, a specialist, not half a year back. Fixed her right up. You'd be surprised how smooth the recovery's been," Mal said proudly.
"Nah, I always knew she was strong enough to beat it. Could never manage to convince her though." Jayne threw back the last of his drink and let the glass slap down onto the bar.
"You'll fight with me, but you won't fight this?!" Frustration, love and a bone-deep denial blurred together and he erupted, spewing his emotions everywhere. River was shaken by the ferocity of it and fisted her hands in the blankets covering her. "You're just gonna lay back and let it take you from me!"
"It's always about you, isn't it?! Poor Jayne can't get sex from his sick little wife!" She was being unfair, she knew. Once they found out it was something more than a temporary virus, he hadn't pushed her. He'd been shockingly patient with her, taking care of his needs himself and never asking for more than she offered.
"This isn't about that and you know it!" Jayne ran a shaky hand through his disheveled hair. He dropped down onto the bed next to her and gathered her in his arms, burying his face in her neck. "Don't do this to us," he whispered against her skin.
"She's up and walking around again. Saw her just last week dancing a bit around the bay." Mal smiled at the memory, it'd been too long since his Albatross had done anything to show she was the same person she was before she got sick.
"Yeah?" Jayne remembered how much he loved to sit on the catwalks and watch her dance on the cargo bay floor beneath. Sometimes others would join him and admire his girl, but it always seemed like she was performing just for him.
"She misses you," Mal nodded, still staring down into his own glass. "Won't say it, but she feels awful 'bout what happened between you two."
"I love you too much to let you go." Jayne rubbed soothing circles onto River's back, the frail bones under her skin sticking out far too much for his liking.
"It hurts, Jayne. The pain is too much. Love me enough to let me go." She clung to his shoulders, little fingers gripping the fabric of his t-shirt tightly.
"I can't. I can't watch you die." He shook his head and leaned back to meet her eyes.
"Then don't look," River whispered pleadingly.
"It's been a while. Things've changed." Truth was nothing had changed for him. He still loved her through and through, but he was an old man set in his ways. River was younger, able to roll with all the punches that the 'verse threw at her, of which there were many. She might have moved on by now, might be happy to be rid of him.
"Still think she'd like to see you." Mal had seen her sit at Jayne's weight bench for hours, running her hands along the bar, paying special attention to where the mercenary's palms had worn dull spots in the metal. He realized that River must still be angry at Jayne for leaving, but if there was one thing he learned in this life, it was that love was far more powerful than he'd ever given it credit for. And River still had a whole heart full of love for Jayne.
As for Jayne's feelings, it was no mystery that the man was torn apart. Mal had seen him practically tearing his hair out as River's health slowly deteriorated. The day they discovered Jayne was gone, Mal had called him every curse he could think of for leaving her so carelessly, but after long stretches of time, he'd come to realize that it was love, not selfish indifference that made Jayne leave. And seeing the former mercenary now, Mal knew the decision had taken everything he had.
River was finally asleep, her thin pale face released from the grimace of silent agony that gripped her in her waking hours. He wished there was something, anything, he could do to ease her pain. He felt absolutely useless.
Shuffling slowly past the infirmary on his way to the cargo bay, he glanced into the small bright room. Simon hunched over piles of paper wasn't an unusual sight since River had taken ill, but the quiet shaking of his shoulders wasn't something he'd witnessed before.
Jayne barely held back his strangled moan. Even her own brother, the genius surgeon who had reattached limbs and brought crew members back from death's door on countless occasions couldn't destroy the disease eating River up from the inside out.
And then he knew. It was over. The only person who could change River's fate was the girl herself. This was her battle and it was up to her to decide if she was going to fight. A little piece of him broke as he realized she'd already made her decision.
"How long you stayin' here?" Jayne asked, giving Mal a searching look to be sure he wasn't lying to him.
"We were gonna leave tonight, but we can stay 'til the mornin' if you wanna come by and say hello to the crew. Kaylee'd love to see you and Simon could give you a quick checkup while you're there." Mal's eyes silently pleaded for Jayne to take the bait. Though never one for otherworldly thoughts, he couldn't help but feel that finding the missing member of their family so coincidently had to mean something.
"Hmm, I got this cut that don’t seem to be healin' right," Jayne reasoned. It was a lame excuse, he knew, but it was still hard to admit how much he missed her.
"Well then show up tonight, say 1900, have dinner with us and catch up a bit." Mal stood and pulled a handful of coins from his pocket. After placing the money on the bar, he paused and turned back towards Jayne. "You know there's always a place for you on Serenity."
Jayne nodded in thanks and watched as Mal strode out of the bar. A smile quirked his lips as he thought about his girl, healthy and waiting for him. It was time to go home.
He didn't have much in his duffle bag, but he didn't want to bring anything that would remind him of her. The only thing he could do for her now was to leave and if he was going to leave, he had to leave everything. He couldn't watch her torturous surrender without protesting and if she wanted to die in peace, god damn it, he'd let her. He didn't have to like it and he didn't have to approve, but he refused to saddle her with the extra burden of his daily challenges of her decision.
Jayne left quietly and without a single glance behind him.
The creak of Serenity's cargo ramp under Jayne's heavy footsteps felt like an old friend welcoming him back. The familiar warm caress of slightly stale air inside the ship made his skin tingle in anticipation. It had been so long and he wanted so desperately to see her, to replace his haunting memories of her sickly pallid face with new ones of her fresh and alive as Mal had described her.
Kaylee was the first one to spot him. She gave a startled gasp and the heavy engine part in her hands dropped to the floor with an echoing crash that drew crewmembers from all sides of the ship. She ran to him and threw her arms around his midsection, cramming her face into his chest. He could feel her tears through his shirt and his heart gave an aching twinge at how much he'd missed this.
When he saw the small face peek around the doorframe in the rear of the cargo bay, Jayne patted Kaylee on the back and disentangled himself from the young woman's arms. He could see the disbelief on River's face as she stepped completely into the room and made his way quickly to her.
Her skin was flushed pink with emotion, the once dark circles under her eyes now merely a shadow. He noticed that her hair was a stringy with grease and knew that she probably hadn't washed it in a few days, but it didn't matter. She was alive.
"You came back." Her voice was soft as though she was saying the observation more to herself than the man standing before her.
"I had to." He reached out a hand to cup her cheek, relieved when her skin didn’t feel feverish to his touch.
"Couldn’t give up without a fight." She nodded understandingly and turned her face to nuzzle into his palm. "Neither could I."
Prompt: #4 Left
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2150
Title: Fighters
Prompt: #4 Left
Author: Cricket
Disclaimer: I’m just playing with Joss’ toys, but I promise to put them back when I’m done
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2150
AN: A million and one thanks to angel932 for beta-ing!
"Hey there, baby," Jayne crouched by his wife's bedside, carefully laying a hand across her cold forehead. "How ya feelin' today?"
River looked up at him with watery eyes. She'd been crying again and her face was puffy from all the tears. Her voice was raw and quiet. "When I'm gone-"
"Don’t talk like that, Riv, you're not goin' anywhere," Jayne interrupted. He intended it to be comforting, but it just came out annoyed. He'd said it too many times.
River laid a gentle hand over his mouth. "When I'm gone," she continued, "I need you to take care of Simon for me."
Jayne recognized him instantly. The brown duster swishing around his legs, belt slung low on his hips and a confident determination in his steps, all quintessential Mal Reynolds. The man hadn't changed a whit in the year Jayne had been away.
Jayne wasn't certain, he hadn't looked in a mirror in quite some time, but he thought he must look significantly different from the last time Mal saw him. The captain didn't even blink twice, just continued surveying the patrons in the bar around him. Jayne hadn't shaved in a long time and, raising a hand to his chin, felt the bristly hair grown thick around his mouth. His skin was darker, having spent more time working under the hot sun than cooped up in a ship over the past few months. He probably didn't smell too good either, Jayne reasoned. Fresh water was a commodity on this planet and he preferred drinking most of his ration mixed with cheap whiskey instead of bathing in it.
When Mal finally realized the man behind the dirty bearded face was his former employee, he ambled over and took a seat next to him at the bar.
"You don't need me to take care of nobody for you," Jayne insisted. He grabbed her hand and held it tightly to his chest. "You know why?"
River raised her eyebrows in response, prompting him to continue.
"Because you're gonna be here to do it yourself." Jayne smiled at her softly. "Ain't no way some little disease is gonna take out my big tough reaver killer, ya hear me?"
"Didn't expect to see you here, Jayne. Whatcha doin' nowadays?" Mal didn't look at him, instead waved over the bartender.
"Havin' a drink." Jayne sloshed the contents of his glass around as he raised it to his lips. He hadn't expected to see Mal either, or any of his old crew for that matter. He thought he'd hidden himself well, avoiding the planets Serenity usually frequented. Having the familiar face crop up out of the blue was disconcerting.
"Yes, I can see that." Mal rolled his eyes at that. Jayne always was a stubborn ass of a man, refusing to give up more information than was vitally necessary. "Findin' work alright?"
"I'm gettin' along." He'd found a few jobs on ships looking for a good mercenary, but killing and intimidating people for a living lost its appeal after Serenity. Mostly he'd been working manual labor jobs, lifting, hauling and digging, things that didn't require too much thought. No, thinking only brought up too many painful memories, it was better to turn off his mind entirely. But now, with Mal here sitting right next to him and talking to him as though they were long lost pals, Jayne's mind was flooded with all the thoughts he'd been trying to ignore. He couldn't resist asking any longer. "How is she?"
"I'm not giving up, Jayne," River sighed. She was too tired to fight with him about this again, but he just never seemed to accept the truth of the matter.
"Yes, you are! You could fight this, kick up merry hell and give this ruttin' thing one bitch of an ass whoopin'!" He was screaming and he knew the entire ship could hear him, but he didn't care. His fists were clenched tightly as he paced in front of her bed.
"There's nothing left to fight!" River dropped her head back onto her pillow, defeated.
"She's good, better. Brought her to one of the doc's medacad buddies, a specialist, not half a year back. Fixed her right up. You'd be surprised how smooth the recovery's been," Mal said proudly.
"Nah, I always knew she was strong enough to beat it. Could never manage to convince her though." Jayne threw back the last of his drink and let the glass slap down onto the bar.
"You'll fight with me, but you won't fight this?!" Frustration, love and a bone-deep denial blurred together and he erupted, spewing his emotions everywhere. River was shaken by the ferocity of it and fisted her hands in the blankets covering her. "You're just gonna lay back and let it take you from me!"
"It's always about you, isn't it?! Poor Jayne can't get sex from his sick little wife!" She was being unfair, she knew. Once they found out it was something more than a temporary virus, he hadn't pushed her. He'd been shockingly patient with her, taking care of his needs himself and never asking for more than she offered.
"This isn't about that and you know it!" Jayne ran a shaky hand through his disheveled hair. He dropped down onto the bed next to her and gathered her in his arms, burying his face in her neck. "Don't do this to us," he whispered against her skin.
"She's up and walking around again. Saw her just last week dancing a bit around the bay." Mal smiled at the memory, it'd been too long since his Albatross had done anything to show she was the same person she was before she got sick.
"Yeah?" Jayne remembered how much he loved to sit on the catwalks and watch her dance on the cargo bay floor beneath. Sometimes others would join him and admire his girl, but it always seemed like she was performing just for him.
"She misses you," Mal nodded, still staring down into his own glass. "Won't say it, but she feels awful 'bout what happened between you two."
"I love you too much to let you go." Jayne rubbed soothing circles onto River's back, the frail bones under her skin sticking out far too much for his liking.
"It hurts, Jayne. The pain is too much. Love me enough to let me go." She clung to his shoulders, little fingers gripping the fabric of his t-shirt tightly.
"I can't. I can't watch you die." He shook his head and leaned back to meet her eyes.
"Then don't look," River whispered pleadingly.
"It's been a while. Things've changed." Truth was nothing had changed for him. He still loved her through and through, but he was an old man set in his ways. River was younger, able to roll with all the punches that the 'verse threw at her, of which there were many. She might have moved on by now, might be happy to be rid of him.
"Still think she'd like to see you." Mal had seen her sit at Jayne's weight bench for hours, running her hands along the bar, paying special attention to where the mercenary's palms had worn dull spots in the metal. He realized that River must still be angry at Jayne for leaving, but if there was one thing he learned in this life, it was that love was far more powerful than he'd ever given it credit for. And River still had a whole heart full of love for Jayne.
As for Jayne's feelings, it was no mystery that the man was torn apart. Mal had seen him practically tearing his hair out as River's health slowly deteriorated. The day they discovered Jayne was gone, Mal had called him every curse he could think of for leaving her so carelessly, but after long stretches of time, he'd come to realize that it was love, not selfish indifference that made Jayne leave. And seeing the former mercenary now, Mal knew the decision had taken everything he had.
River was finally asleep, her thin pale face released from the grimace of silent agony that gripped her in her waking hours. He wished there was something, anything, he could do to ease her pain. He felt absolutely useless.
Shuffling slowly past the infirmary on his way to the cargo bay, he glanced into the small bright room. Simon hunched over piles of paper wasn't an unusual sight since River had taken ill, but the quiet shaking of his shoulders wasn't something he'd witnessed before.
Jayne barely held back his strangled moan. Even her own brother, the genius surgeon who had reattached limbs and brought crew members back from death's door on countless occasions couldn't destroy the disease eating River up from the inside out.
And then he knew. It was over. The only person who could change River's fate was the girl herself. This was her battle and it was up to her to decide if she was going to fight. A little piece of him broke as he realized she'd already made her decision.
"How long you stayin' here?" Jayne asked, giving Mal a searching look to be sure he wasn't lying to him.
"We were gonna leave tonight, but we can stay 'til the mornin' if you wanna come by and say hello to the crew. Kaylee'd love to see you and Simon could give you a quick checkup while you're there." Mal's eyes silently pleaded for Jayne to take the bait. Though never one for otherworldly thoughts, he couldn't help but feel that finding the missing member of their family so coincidently had to mean something.
"Hmm, I got this cut that don’t seem to be healin' right," Jayne reasoned. It was a lame excuse, he knew, but it was still hard to admit how much he missed her.
"Well then show up tonight, say 1900, have dinner with us and catch up a bit." Mal stood and pulled a handful of coins from his pocket. After placing the money on the bar, he paused and turned back towards Jayne. "You know there's always a place for you on Serenity."
Jayne nodded in thanks and watched as Mal strode out of the bar. A smile quirked his lips as he thought about his girl, healthy and waiting for him. It was time to go home.
He didn't have much in his duffle bag, but he didn't want to bring anything that would remind him of her. The only thing he could do for her now was to leave and if he was going to leave, he had to leave everything. He couldn't watch her torturous surrender without protesting and if she wanted to die in peace, god damn it, he'd let her. He didn't have to like it and he didn't have to approve, but he refused to saddle her with the extra burden of his daily challenges of her decision.
Jayne left quietly and without a single glance behind him.
The creak of Serenity's cargo ramp under Jayne's heavy footsteps felt like an old friend welcoming him back. The familiar warm caress of slightly stale air inside the ship made his skin tingle in anticipation. It had been so long and he wanted so desperately to see her, to replace his haunting memories of her sickly pallid face with new ones of her fresh and alive as Mal had described her.
Kaylee was the first one to spot him. She gave a startled gasp and the heavy engine part in her hands dropped to the floor with an echoing crash that drew crewmembers from all sides of the ship. She ran to him and threw her arms around his midsection, cramming her face into his chest. He could feel her tears through his shirt and his heart gave an aching twinge at how much he'd missed this.
When he saw the small face peek around the doorframe in the rear of the cargo bay, Jayne patted Kaylee on the back and disentangled himself from the young woman's arms. He could see the disbelief on River's face as she stepped completely into the room and made his way quickly to her.
Her skin was flushed pink with emotion, the once dark circles under her eyes now merely a shadow. He noticed that her hair was a stringy with grease and knew that she probably hadn't washed it in a few days, but it didn't matter. She was alive.
"You came back." Her voice was soft as though she was saying the observation more to herself than the man standing before her.
"I had to." He reached out a hand to cup her cheek, relieved when her skin didn’t feel feverish to his touch.
"Couldn’t give up without a fight." She nodded understandingly and turned her face to nuzzle into his palm. "Neither could I."