OK Folks, It’s Jaylee. It’s a ruttin’ Jaylee Epic. Not your cuppa? Keep on walkin’.

Disclaimer: Not mine, no pay.

Thanks: To Jacqui, for excellent Beta, to Josh the Paramedic for med info, and to Rion, my own personal BDH. Thanks, also, to my readers. It's all for you.

Rating: NC17

Remarks: Part of a long story cycle exploring the challenges Jayne and Kaylee face in defining their relationship. Set after “Objects in Space”. Inara has departed from Serenity and the crew has been through a rough stretch. Click on my name to read the backstory.

Feedback: I've genuinely appreciated the comments, encouragement and support you've posted. Hang in there with me as we move on to the next part of the tale, coming soon.

Leaps of Faith

Chapter Twenty-Three

Wash and Kaylee spend most of the morning installing Serenity’s new sensor array. The state-of-the-art electronic system will make it possible for them to detect near-space traffic at a greater distance. With their increasing concerns over encountering Alliance patrols and the way that reavers are spreading out into populated areas, it’s a chunk of valuable technology they definitely need.

Systems like this are Alliance-built, hard to come by and very expensive on the black market, but Mal feels the additional advantage it will give his ship makes the money well spent. There have been just too many close calls in recent months and it seems like they’re spending more and more time workin’ the raggedy edge. Just one more thing to help tip the cards in their favor, he reckons.

While Wash is finishing up the final wiring details and programming the new system to integrate it with the sensors Serenity already has, Kaylee wanders down to the galley to scrounge up some lunch. Since they’re still on-planet, the selection is somewhat better than usual so she makes herself a sandwich and then roots around in the back of the chiller to see what might have been overlooked by her shipmates.

She’s bent over at the waist, her head and shoulders stuck in the unit as she struggles to reach a lone apple she spies tucked away in the far back corner, when she feels a pair of big, familiar hands clasping her hips and Jayne’s warm bulk pressed close against her ass.

“An he captured her usin’ a chiller and took advantage of her right in the middle of the galley…” The merc chuckles.

“At least let me get my head outta here afore you go to the takin’ advantage part,” Kaylee giggles and turns around, the prized apple in her grasp.

Jayne slips an arm around her waist and waltzes her over a bit, still pressing her body against the counter with his. This way he can close the chiller door. “An what makes ya think you can go swipin’ my apple?” he asks, indignantly. “I stuck that there apple away almost a month ago, figurin’ ta save it for some special occasion. Don’t ya know ya can’t just go around swipin’ a man’s fruit without askin? Damn near as bad as stealin’ his heart, li’l girl.”

Kaylee’s gigglin’ and squirmin’ every which way she can, doin’ her best to get loose from the big man and tryin’ to keep the prize out of his grasp. “T’ain’t yours if I got it. Ain’t got no label says ‘Property of Jayne Cobb’.”

The girl’s like an eel and, with his shaky leg, Jayne’s nowhere as steady as he might be. Still, he has his size and strength as advantages and he focuses on keepin’ Kaylee pinned between his body and the counter. Their close proximity and all the wigglin’ and laughin’ begins to have a predictable effect on the merc, and Kaylee suddenly stills completely, eyes wide, aware of his arousal.

Her mouth drops open, eyes startled and wide. “Uh, Jayne…?”

“Yeah?” He leans over her, presses himself even more firmly against her.

“What are ya doin’?” Her voice is low and shaky.

Jayne grasps her wrist and takes the apple from her hand, and sets it aside on the counter beyond Kaylee’s reach. He strokes one hand back through the silken fall of her hair and gathers it at the nape of her neck as he frames her chin with his thumb and fingers and raises her eyes to his.

“I’m makin’ sure you don’t forget about some things while you’re makin’ up your mind about us, ‘cause it’s been a right long while.” He bends and nibbles his way down her neck, his breath hot and electric on her skin.

She shivers as he grinds his hardness against her, her body’s response involuntary, all logic and rational thought irrelevant. How could he possibly think she could forget how he makes her feel, the rush of moisture and sudden expanding ache that blossoms deep in her belly?

The wanting has been there since the first day she saw him; God knows it’s there now. That’s never been the issue.

She wants him to undo his fly and take her right there on the floor. She wants to run away. She wants him to make the Black warm and safe. She wants him to carry her over the edge into full burn. She wants him to understand what being a family means. She wants him to belong, to expand his loyalty to include them all.

His hands shift and trace her form, cupping, cradling, quickening the fire within her. His jaw rasps against the tenderness of her throat and he encompasses her mouth with his, tongues merging, lips hard on lips.

She fears his mortality, the inevitability of loss. She fears his unpredictability, his rage and violence. She fears the utter uncertainty of the future, for him, for her, for them all. She fears the vast wilderness within him, unshared, uncharted, and wonders if he’ll ever truly let her in.

Sensations cascade through her body, the contradicting dialogue of desire and fear, want and uncertainty, and she suddenly gasps, arches, shudders and slumps against the big man’s supporting bulk.

He steadies her until her breathing slows, her face buried in the hollow of his chest against the softness of his t-shirt. “You okay, babygirl?” he whispers.

“I think so…”

“Think ya’ll remember that?”

“Yep.”

He takes the apple and places it in her hands like a promise.

++++

The End - for now...

I've lots more story to tell, so be on the lookout for the challenges that Jayne, Kaylee and the rest of Serenity's crew face in my next story, "Raping Serenity".