Disclaimer; They’re Joss’s toys and I just borrowed them to play with.

Rating: NC17, for explicit sex, adult language.

Remarks: Post “Objects In Space”, pre BDM. Final story in my “Faith” trilogy, following immediately after my story “Raping Serenity”. Part of a long Jaylee story arc. If you object to this pairing, consider it AU or read something else. To read the backstories, click on my name above.

Italics generally represent internal dialog.

Feedback: Sincerely appreciated when civilly offered. (Author does tricks for nice feedback…)

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Faith, Love and Serenity

Chapter Six

In the wee hours of the morning, Jayne rolls onto his back and starts to snore like a buzz saw, punctuated by great resonant snorts. The racket awakens Kaylee and she lies there for a minute trying to decide whether to smother him with the pillow or poke him hard in the ribs so he’ll roll back onto his side.

As she becomes more alert, she sits up on the edge of the bunk again and notices she’s wearing Jayne’s shirt. How in Buddha’s grace did I get this gorram shirt on? she puzzles, and suddenly, the awareness hits her,Hey, we’re back on main power again!

’Renity, girl, you there? she probes. What happened? Who got you fixed? For the first time since the scarper attack, she can hear her beloved ship again, hear the symphony of mechanical sounds that make up Serenity’s song.

With the ship’s voice restored, Kaylee realizes just how isolated and alone she has felt, and she can no longer contain her delight.

“Jayne! Jayne, wake up.” She shakes his shoulder.

“Mmmph? Whaa? L’me sleep, Kaylee.” The merc grumbles and turns over with his back to her and drags the pillow over his head.

“Nope, Jayne. Ya gotta wake up.“ The mechanic strips off the t-shirt, then gives the big man another shake.

“Jayne, ‘Renity’s fixed, she’s back on main power again! Don’t know how it happened but I can hear her loud as day.”

“Th’s nice, Kaylee. G’night.” The snores resume.

Only one solution for this, the girl reasons, determined that her man’s gonna wake up and celebrate with her.

Kaylee rolls the sleeping mercenary onto his back again and straddles him, pinning his half-hard cock against his belly. Her knees are spread wide over his body and a wicked little grin plays over her rosy face.

She spreads her fingers and rakes them ever so lightly up the man’s belly, across the rise of his ribcage and through the dark hair that furs his chest. His nipples contract and rise and he sighs in his sleep. Planting her hands on his wide shoulders, she bends to tease his jaw line and neck with her tongue, feeling him swell beneath her, responsive even in sleep.

Ain’t no man in the ‘Verse can sleep through all this! the girl vows.

Filled by the resonance of the Firefly, she has a sense of wholeness and joy that has eluded her since the scarper raid and her entire being exults. Her teasing draws a low moan from Jayne’s throat, a sound marrying pain and pleasure. He squirms a little, stimulated by the heat and pressure of her nethers across his diao, and Kaylee grinds herself against him more firmly, shivering with the pleasure she feels.

She looks down at Jayne’s face, relaxed and open in sleep, long dark lashes sweeping down from closed eyelids, sensual, slightly parted mouth amid the short, dark growth of his beard. Dark, otter-sleek hair cropped close to his skull begs to be touched. His jaw glistens moistly from her kisses and his head is thrown back, baring his vulnerable throat. Kaylee leans over him, rocking her nethers against his erection and enjoying the heat and bulk of him against her, then plants her mouth on the tender flesh at the base of his throat and sucks hard, determined that he’ll wear her mark for days.

He throbs against her again, and she feels her own gathering moisture, the sensitive bud of her clit pressed against the heat of him. She kneads his chest with her hands and then slides down his length just enough to flick at his nipples with her tongue tip, nipping one sharply between her teeth.

The big merc lunges awake. “Wu de tyen ah, Kaylee! What the fuck are you doin’ to me, girl?” Those eyes are wide open now and Jayne struggles to sit up.

“Oh no, ya don’t!” she scolds him and plants her palms on his chest, pinning him on his back. “Took me this long to get you woke up, Jayne Cobb, and you ain’t goin’ nowhere.” Lodging his cockhead at her entrance, she presses back and lodges his diao deep in her heat, grinning impishly as the big man hisses in delight.

“Now that’s one hell of a wake-up, girl. What’s got you so frisky this morning?”

Jayne grins up at her and spans her hips with his big, rough hands, guiding her as she rises and falls on his staff. Her body feels like hot, wet silk binding and stroking him, the sensation delicious and maddening.

“Can’t you feel it? Serenity’s back on Main again! Lights, ventilation, filter system, everything’s workin’ pretty as ya please. I just woke up and there she was, Jayne, talkin’ to me again.”

He’s happy to see her in such a cheery mood, but other priorities seem more pressing. “How’s about you quit chatterin’ and ride me good an’ proper since ya woke me up so gorram early?” With that, he gives her ass a resounding smack and she laughs and moves into a more urgent rhythm.

“This is as bad as tryin’ to ride a pony at a fast trot,” she giggles as he picks up the pace, both of them breathing harder.

“Ain’t no pony, gal, in case you hadn't noticed," and he arches that much harder, making the girl gasp with the force of his thrusts. "And…” he grabs her wrists and flips them over before she can squawk, “I’m takin over this show, li’l girl.”

Kaylee whoops and wraps her legs tightly around the merc’s waist and hangs on for all she’s worth as he hammers himself into her center. He buries his face in the hollow of her neck and nibbles his way up to her mouth. Lips and tongues wrestle playfully, flesh sucking at soft, wet flesh.

She tries to get her hands loose but he easily pins them with his own, palm to palm, their fingers intertwined. She can feel her body tightening, feels Jayne swelling in her, too, both of them so close, riding the knife-edge of sensation and pleasure.

He raises up so he can watch her face and whispers, low and dirty, “Come for me, Kaylee…” and she does, crying out and arching up to him.

“Mmmmm… oh God… uhn-aaaaa!”

As she bucks beneath him, her face flushed with ecstasy, he groans, “Aw, shit…” and slides over the edge, his diao pumping into her pulsing core. Both shudder with the intensity of their release, contractions slowly easing, breath and heartbeat slowing. He gently rolls free of her and she cuddles close against him.

Jayne looks at her and notices that Kaylee’s lashes glitter with fresh tears.

“Bao bei, are you okay? I didn’t hurt ya, did I?” he cups her face in concern. “What’s wrong, darlin’?”

She smiles up at him. “Ain’t nothin’ wrong, Jayne. Folks can cry ‘cause they’re happy, too, ya know.” Her fingers trace his mouth, his brow. “You’re safe, and I’m safe, and now Serenity’s working like she’s supposed to. It’s a good kinda thing, Jayne.”

“Guess it is, at that.” He kisses her once more and yawns widely.

“Guess we better get showered and dressed, baby girl. Mal’s gonna be rearin’ to get us off this moon as soon as you and Wash can get us cranked up.”

++++

The galley is filled with the aroma of fresh-brewed coffee and grilling venison steaks. Kaylee sets the table while Jayne tends the meat he and Book brought in the day before, and the rest of the crew straggle in.

Mal’s all chipper and exuberant now that the ship’s back on main power, and takes a big gulp from the cup of coffee he's holding, then sniffs the rich fragrance of the meat Jayne's grilling.

“Damn that smells good! Can’t rightly recall last time we had real meat. Protein mush got no more smell than it does taste. Might as well be eatin’ library paste.”

Jayne snarks, “An’ how are we to know we ain’t?” He serves up a venison steak and dumps some peppery red-eye gravy over it, then hands the plate off to Kaylee who sets it down in front of Mal.

The girl’s grinning ear-to-ear. “G’mornin’ Cap! How’d th’ship get fixed over night?”

All Mal can think of is the heart-stopping image of his sleep-walking mechanic in next-to-nothing. He flushes bright red and nearly chokes before regaining his composure enough to gulp out, “Ain’t rightly sure. Musta been them space monkeys again.”

Jayne chuckles, “Steak too spicy, Cap’n?” and the rest of the crew laugh heartily.

++++

It’s been a long, intensive day. With Kaylee’s sleep-walking resolution of the glitch blocking power to Serenity’s main engine resolved, everyone’s pitched in to work through the complex process of getting the Firefly space-worthy, with Wash and Kaylee calling out directions.

Kaylee hair’s twisted back in a messy bun and she’s grimy and sweaty from crawling around in and under parts of the ship all day. She keys in a command sequence and the board before her lights up green. “A-okay!”

Wash finishes checking off the list on his clipboard. His orange coveralls are grungy and his hair spikes out every which way, but he’s grinning like a maniac.

“Wow, Kaylee, I think that’s it! We’ve run all the diagnostics twice, checked the ignition sequence, you’ve double-checked the catalyzers, cleared the filtration systems for water and air, we’ve got our sensor and cortex links up and operational, and the new sensor array tuned up as best we can until we’re back in the Black.”

The pilot and mechanic slap their palms together in a “High Five” and laugh in relief and the little mechanic remarks, “Sure did all get easier once I could talk with Serenity again and she could tell me what was still out of whack.”

River is sitting in the navigator’s seat, swinging her long legs back and forth, following the conversation with interest. She’s been a lot of help to Kaylee, her innate intuitive rapport with Serenity much like the mechanic’s.

Wash puts the clipboard down just as Mal strides onto the bridge and asks Kaylee, “Wonder what made the difference? How come one day you couldn’t connect with the ship and the next, everything’s like normal?”

River giggles, hiding her grin behind her hand, her liquid eyes twinkling.

“Jayne fixed her. Connection was loose, all wrong. He had the right tool. Knew how to use it.”

“River, hush!” Kaylee blushes furiously and waves at the girl to be quiet while Wash laughs uproariously.

Mal stops in his tracks, his jaw hanging open. He grabs his suspenders with white-knuckled hands, closing his eyes against images from the night before, then announces in his most captain-y sort of voice, ”Got a new rule on my ship. No more talkin’ about sex on the bridge. No doin’ it, no talkin’ about it. Off the boat or in your bunks but not,” he emphasizes, “on my bridge or in my chair or on my console or…whatever, dong ma?”

He look really distressed, glancing first at River and then at Kaylee.

“An’ what’s Li’l Bit over there doin’ knowing anything about whatever you an’ Jayne were doin’ that I don’t wanna know about?”

The mechanic is livid. “Beats me, Cap. I ain’t told her and you can bet Jayne ain’t been talkin’ to her…

“Ai ya, what a fine bunch a rubens I got workin’ for me!” He shakes his head and rakes his hair back out of his eyes.

“So Wash, we ready to give it another try and see if we can get this boat off of Newhall?”

“You bet.” Wash affirms.

Mal picks up the comm mike and buzzes down in the cargo bay. “Close up the bay doors and ramp, Jayne. We’re ready to take ‘er up. People, we’re taking off in five minutes, so heads up.”

“And you,” he looks pointedly at Kaylee, “Get yourself on down to the engine room and work some more magic.”

++++

The firefly rises heavenward, propelled by thunder and the controlled explosion of her mighty engines, rising through cloud on a pillar of fire. Mal stands behind Wash, one hand braced on the back of the pilot’s seat, gazing out through the view ports before them.

Wash radios back to Kaylee in the engine room. ‘Breaking atmo now, Kaylee. She’s going real steady. Switching over to artificial grav.”

“Roger, Wash.”

Through the intercom comes a pause and then a giggle. “Stop that, Jayne… radio’s still on…!”

From her perch in the navigator’s chair, River studies Mal, noting the transcendent joy that spreads across his features as Serenity punches through and into the Black. His feet are well apart, anchoring him on the deck of this vessel he loves, and his blue eyes are bright with purpose.

Storm’s over for now she observes. Faith and love brought him home, gave him back his Serenity.

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(The End)

Author’s note: I hope that you've enjoyed this trilogy of stories, “Leaps of Faith", “Raping Serenity” and “Faith, Love and Serenity”. They've carried me on quite a journey. Feels kinda like giving birth to triplets, only no diapers to deal with.

A sincere thank-you to all of you who have stuck with me through this long and convoluted tale, and especially to those of you who have taken time to offer your sincere and thoughtful comments. These are genuinely helpful to me in the writing process.

Keep Flyin’!