This took me awhile, it wouldn't cooperate with me (and I'm not completely pleased with it). Still really just fluff. Not much of the 'more' some requested . . . sorry . . .

Disclaimer; characters and ‘verse not mine, Joss’s. Not even the title’s mine, it’s just_unravel’s.

Rating: PG13

Shivers (The Ride Back)

River felt stretched when she slid down from S-something’s back outside the small store where the hitching post was situated. She took experimental steps, testing her inner thigh muscles. And her equilibrium; being near Jayne, letting him do what he had been doing, had made her dizzy. And now, moving away from him, she felt off-balance. Unsure of herself, which she’d recently become unaccustomed to feeling.

If she thought about it, she could still feel Jayne’s hands on her. Her tactile sensory apparatus must be malfunctioning, because he was no longer touching her. Frowning in concentration, she bent over and lifted her skirt up far enough to see if her sense of vision was also faulty. No, she saw nothing abnormal on her abdomen.

“Wei*!” For the second time today, Jayne grabbed her arm roughly. He yanked her skirt down around her legs while glancing up and down the street that only held the four of them. “What ya tryin’ ta do, draw all kinds of unsavory-like attention? Can’t be liftin’ yer skirt like that in public.”

Mal had caught Jayne’s action, and he watched as River narrowed her eyes at Jayne, then conversely grinned cheekily. With Zoë, the captain was unloading saddlebags and more-or-less agreed with what his mercenary had said, so thought little of the exchange. He might have thought otherwise if he’d known how pleasured River felt at the merc’s nearness. Or if he’d still been looking when Jayne said, “hey,” again, and reached to pull River’s skirt back up.

Jayne crouched down on his boot heels. Yep, he’d seen what he’d thought he’d seen. He stood back up to tower over River.

“Why didn’t ya tell me yer skin was gettin’ rubbed raw on that saddle?” He looked quite put out. River cocked her head at him. “The pain is minimal,” she assured him, “I can endure it until we are back at home.”

He didn’t like it, but Jayne let the subject lie as they all headed across the street. Say what they might about him, he knew when to pick his battles, and when to delay them.

The meeting went rather well, for them. If Mal or Zoë sensed any unusual tension between their gunhands they didn’t remark on it. They dropped off the bit of cargo they’d been carrying, which pretty well emptied Mal’s and Zoe’s saddlebags, and picked up their payment. No guns, not even raised voices this time. It made Jayne feel a little useless.

“Don’t like it,” Jayne announced as they headed back to where their mounts were tied. The sun that had been beating down on them was sinking in the distance. Mal didn’t ask, just shrugged.

“Take what you can get. We’ll be back into trouble before too long, I’ve no doubt.” Zoë nodded her agreement with that statement. River didn’t say anything; she rubbed her hands up and down her arms where goose bumps were rising. As the sky darkened, a breeze had kicked up. Besides bringing dust with it, it was chill.

Jayne watched her out of the corner of his eye, frowning. When she shivered, he shook his head. With all her book smarts, girl obviously didn’t know it could get right cool on the open desert at night. Or her brother, either; he’d let her leave the ship in a thin little sundress with a tank top beneath it. He debated mentally with himself, glancing up ahead to see how much attention Mal and Zoë were paying their crew. Not much; they’d started to outdistance them. Jayne realized he’d been kind of dawdling, drawing out the walk, and River had kept herself to his pace. He was wondering about that when he saw her shiver again.

“Deng yimiao*”, he said, grabbing her arm to pull her to a stop. She obeyed, questioning him with her eyebrows. He was untying the arms of the wool shirt he had wrapped around his waist. Be ready for anything, that’s what his ma had taught him, and she was right, ‘cus here he was the only one of the two of them who’d been bright enough to dress for changing temperatures.

He shook the drab olive shirt out self-consciously and draped it over River’s shoulders. It fell a ways past her hips, she was so small.

She was looking at him wide-eyed in the gathering twilight. Stars were poppin’ out overhead, but there weren’t a one of ‘em as pretty as them eyes. Feeling a flush creep up his neck at the mushiness oozing around in his head, he dropped his hands as River slowly pushed her arms into the sleeves. They swallowed her fingers. So he did up the buttons, then rolled up the cuffs. This was all right, he told himself, he wasn’t gettin’ all soft helpin’ her; it was just an excuse to touch her. She stood very still and let him, as darkness closed cozily around them.

“Ya look ridiculous,” he muttered down at her. She gave him her sideways smiling clown look and smoothed the front of the large ugly shirt with her hands. He followed the action with his eyes as it outlined her body for a moment, and swallowed.

Mal called to them, all crabby sounding, so River and Jayne started walking again. He kept an eye her. She didn’t shiver no more; instead she hunched her shoulders up ‘round her neck, like she was cuddling that gorram shirt, and rubbed her cheek into the cloth. He knew full well it was just scratchy wool. Well, she wasn’t ever gonna be completely straight in the head, he knew that. And she did look kinda ridiculous. But she also looked all kinds of hot, in his clothes. He wasn’t sure why; you couldn’t see enough of her figure to tell without knowin’ if she was a woman or a boy, and it was too dark to see her nice eyes anymore, and she had those big ‘ol combat boots on. But she still looked amazing.

And she was walking kinda funny, not exactly a limp, but like she couldn’t let her legs touch each other. They had arrived at the horses, though, and Mal and Zoë were headed into the general store for a few supplies.

“Pain’s more’n ‘minimal’ now, isn’t it,” he said quietly. It wasn’t really a question, so she shrugged.

If it hadn’t been for that, he’d have stayed with the horses, pulled out a cigar and enjoyed a puff and the cool evening while Mal and Zoë were otherwise occupied. But instead he pushed open the wood-and-screen door and stepped into the small, stuffy, brightly lit store.

Mal and Zoë were at the ammunition racks. There was a decent selection, River saw, so she headed that direction. But Jayne walked away, towards another corner. He’d seemed uncomfortable outside, so perhaps he wanted some distance from her, River mused. She found she didn’t care for that idea.

“Cute shirt,” Mal drawled at her sardonically as she stopped beside him. She wrinkled her nose at him. Inside, it was much too warm to be wearing three layers, but River was reluctant to remove the unattractive clothing article. Ostentatiously she turned her attention to the grenade display. River had brought no money, nor did she need any bullets, so she just admired what the store had to offer.

She was aware Jayne purchased something before joining them as Mal and Zoë were debating the final addition to their stockpile. Jayne, who always had an opinion about guns and their accoutrements, offered none. Instead he grabbed her arm – fourth time, she counted silently – and moved her with him over behind a rack of clothes taller than she was. When he squatted in front of her it hid him, too. She stared down at the top of his dark head, and then giggled when he picked up the edge of her skirt and handed it to her.

“Hold that,” he commanded. She did so while he unscrewed the top of a round glass container he held. When he dipped his fingers into it they came out covered in a greasy-looking gel. It seemed to be a topical form of medicine, and River stepped back frowning. She’d developed a healthy distaste for medication in most of its guises, unless her brother Simon was administering it. Even then . . .

“Trust me,” Jayne told her, warming the gel by rubbing it between his fingers, “it’s just liniment. Got some any – ena -- uh, pain-reliever, and anti-whatever, in it.” He reached out and began applying it to the sore skin of her inner thigh. River found that she did trust him, and stood still against the pressure of his movements. She also found that she swayed slightly in response to them, and dropped her eyes to watch his fingers intently. They stroked gently but firmly over her, rubbing the gel in with a sure circular motion. Sensation lit along her nerve endings without warning. Inside her boots, her toes began to curl under. Her thigh muscles clenched. Jayne noticed; he didn’t say anything, but he let out a smile just this side of smug, as he kept working at his self-appointed job.

“Analgesic. Antibiotic.” River spoke out loud to try to distract herself from the feelings spreading through her. If she didn’t, she just might loose control of the legs he was rubbing so assiduously, and then she’d land right across the big man’s shoulders. Actually, that sounded not unpleasant . . . Jayne tilted an eyebrow up at her, his mouth just open, but didn’t reply. She looked at that mouth and remembered what it had done to her neck, right there . . . she cleared her throat.

“The words you were attempting to pronounce.” She clarified, recollecting her distract-self plan. “An analgesic for pain, an antibiotic for infection.”

“Yep,” he agreed, but didn’t try to repeat the words. He was working on her other leg now, and quickly finished. Too quickly. River sighed, but Jayne just re-capped the container and got to his feet. Mal and Zoë were at the counter tallying their bill, getting ready to pay and then leave. Jayne stood still and tall in front of River and she was distracted from her self-distraction, caught in the wonder of the height and breadth of him.

“Stop starin’ at me like that,” Jayne muttered. Smart killer woman that she was, girl required a lot of lookin’ out for. He was surprised to find he didn’t mind doing the looking out, especially when she gazed up at him with soft eyes and a beaming smile. Like he was a hero or somethin’. ‘Cept he knew what he was, and it weren’t no hero. And he told her so.

She just smiled again, and tilted over so all her hair hung sideways. “I know what you are, Jayne.”

Well, that was good, he supposed. If it was true.

“Put these on.” He pushed a pair of shorts at her. “They’ll protect yer skin from the saddle.” She let him put them in her hands but didn’t move further.

“I am currently without funds,” she advised him. He shrugged.

“Not too worried ‘bout that. Pay me back when we get our cuts from tonight, if ya want to, but if ya don’t that’s fine.”

She nodded and slid her legs into the close-fitting mid-length shorts. He didn’t turn away. He didn’t look away, either, just watched her as avidly as a newlywed seeing his bride get dressed for the first time.

Of course, she speculated, if Jayne were the groom, in the first days there would be no getting dressed of any kind. Or the first weeks, maybe.

“What ya smirkin’ for?” Jayne rumbled in her ear as she exited the store in front of him. She just stretched her neck back to give him a full-fledged smile and didn’t speak.

Normally they would never have ridden over unfamiliar terrain in the dark, but this planet had several moons, and while they’d been inside two of them had risen. The combined light was bright enough for them to spot and avoid holes or other undesirables on the ground they traversed.

Jayne mounted first, then reached to haul River up too. Except the hauling became more of a sweet glide of body against body as he pulled her to his level and she maneuvered her legs and torso into position. He let his forearms trail against her sides while he reached for the reins. River now knew to slide directly up against Jayne, and to relish the sensation as she did so.

With River once again settled on the saddle in front of Jayne, and Mal and Zoë once again in the lead, they headed out. She found herself wishing the ride was much longer than the paltry ten miles they had to go. The pain reliever Jayne had bought her was beginning to take effect, and instead of sore she felt itchy and restless.

It also dawned on her that Jayne had done a lot of touching her today, and she had not been granted a similar privilege. That seemed a quite unfair set of circumstances. To rectify the imbalance, she set a hand on each of his knees and then began to slide them up. She understood little about purposeful tactile stimulation of the human male, but given that their nervous systems were comparable to the female version, she expected that what brought her pleasure would bring him pleasure.

Apparently she was correct in this assessment, for Jayne tensed against her, and then she felt more than heard his chuckle. She let her fingers drift higher, her elbows bending to sandwich his torso while she stared out over the horse’s bobbing head, until her palms bumped up against the angle formed by Jayne’s iliac crests. Upward momentum thus impeded, she spread her fingers out over his thighs and kneaded her palms down into the lavish muscle beneath them. Jayne let out a long breath that wasn’t a sigh. Then there was a pair of hard hands sliding beneath hers, lifting them away and tangling their fingers together. River frowned.

“Did you find that unpleasant?” she asked hesitantly over her shoulder. She was wondering if she might have cause to regret her inexperience with inter-gender relations of this type.

“No, no,” Jayne rushed to assure her. He still held her hands. He didn’t have the reins at all; they were draped over the saddlebow. The horse dropped to a shambling walk, and Jayne kept enough pressure with his knees that the animal would know he hadn’t forgotten him. Zoë and Mal were a ways up in the distance and didn’t seem to miss them.

“I liked it,” Jayne assured River. “You can go right on with that sort of touchin’, but first”- he raised the hands he held to his shoulders. She curved her fingers around him while he swept an arm under one leg and her bottom, and swung her sideways. She brought her leg up reflexively to clear their worthy steed’s head; he nickered back at them in a questioning tone. River read annoyance from him.

“We apologize for disturbing you,” she told him solemnly. Shaggy/Slappy snorted.

“No we don’t,” Jayne inserted sturdily. No way was he gonna apologize to some critter, however well-behaved it’d been so far.

“Yes we do,” River insisted, commanding him with her eyes. He just rolled his, but didn’t say anything else. Satisfied, River attempted to get more comfortable. Now seated cross-wise on Jayne’s lap, she felt off-balance and had to tightly grasp his shoulders for support. She wriggled around, trying to center herself, until Jayne groaned and she froze.

“You doin’ that on purpose, girl?” His voice was rough. She looked at the tightness of his jaw, and tried to read some of his emoting. Then she grinned, shy and sly at the same time.

“I wasn’t,” she murmured from the back of her throat, “but I could . . .” and she changed the movement to a slow downward circling that ended with her body well-planted against his groin; and his chest, because he’d snatched her up with a guttural “wode tian*” so near to him she struggled to breathe.

“Apparently that was satisfactory,” River giggled against his neck, while massaging her fingers into the newly accessible muscle of his arms and upper body. Jayne growled at her while he wrapped his arms more comfortably about her torso.

“The last thing I am right now is satisfied,” he said, but then he laughed too, so it was all right. She sat still, though of course the movement of the horse and consequently of Jayne moved her, too, up and down in a rhythm she found pleasing. She wasn’t so sure Jayne did; his breathing was growing unsteady. But no, when she quested out with her reading senses, he was only exuding pleasure. Hot pleasure, pleasure that pulsed through him from each of their contact points, legs and chests and shoulders and hands and especially pelvises. The warmth of him and his enjoyment seeped into her and she was shivering again in reaction.

Jayne felt her vibrate against him as he lipped the hollow of her collarbone and edged his fingers under her skirt. He grinned, ‘cus he knew it wasn’t from the cold. He inched his hand up her leg, over the knob of her knee-

“Yer too bony, girl, need to eat better”. Then higher, to the softness of her thigh, while River debated smacking him for his unromantic comment or kissing him for what the slide of his calluses was doing to the pleasure center of her hypothalamus.

She chose the latter, and in imitation of what he’d done to her earlier, she flicked out her tongue and traced it around the nice curve of his ear. She raised her free hand and stroked it into his soft short hair hesitantly, savoring the feel of it.

River was still pressed up tight against the front of him while experimenting with her tongue against his skin. Jayne leaned into her touch and murmured to her, even as he felt the shorts he’d given her impede his own wandering fingers. And wrapping the rest of her was his own wool shirt. He cussed in his head. It was buttoned all the way up, and she was sitting with it tightly tucked around her. Maneuvering her out of it while riding, then turning her so she faced him full-on, did seem a bit much to put their long-suffering horse through.

Then River pulled his shirt up to stroke her palm under it and against his belly, and Jayne cast aside his momentary consideration for his mount. He was tightening his grip around River’s waist to reposition her when the animal stopped moving. Jayne took a moment to glance around.

“Ta shi suoyou diyu de biaozi de ma*!” That one he said out loud. River moved her head back on her neck to frown at him.

“Not precisely appropriate to the situation,” she said reprovingly. He shook his head and gestured at the shack-and-corral assemblage before them.

“We’re here."

___________

As disgusted as Jayne was to be back, he noted that River seemed unfazed. Removing the saddle and other gear, he listened in disgruntlement as she asked the stable owner what their horse’s name was. The man was being careful to maintain a respectful distance, at least, as said horse gently head-butted Jayne’s arm. He patted him absently before handing him off to a stable hand, and wondered why he was waiting, if all the girl wanted to do was stand around and talk to that scarecrow of a man.

“Bill,” was the answer River received, and she rolled her eyes over at the mercenary. He shrugged back and moved silently in the direction of Serenity, which was poised not far away, lights visible on her bridge. Mal and Zoë had already disappeared inside her.

Jayne felt better when River ran a few steps to catch up and slid her chill hand into his. And when she leaned her head on his arm, he couldn’t resist a small smile down at her.

“You are unhappy?” She questioned him.

“Just wishin’ that ride was longer,” he admitted. “No bid deal.” The ramp was cycling down to let them aboard.

River nodded. “But it is cold, and your munificence has left you without your second shirt.”

“Think ya coulda found ways to keep me warm.” Jayne leered, but it was in a teasing way that warmed her spirit. “Speaking of my shirt, ya better take it off ‘fore yer brother catches sight of ya.”

She unbuttoned and shrugged out of it as they tramped up the ramp into Serenity’s homey grey metal and welcoming yellow light. She attempted to hand it back to Jayne after he hit the button to close the ramp but he stuffed his hands in his pockets and avoided her eyes.

“Keep it,” he said, “ya need some warm shirts.” River smiled and began folding it and didn’t remind him that she already had a couple.

They had to track down the captain to obtain their cuts from the job. Mal handed them out in the cockit, where River was settling into her pilot’s seat and making preparations for lift-off. They weren’t staying on-planet overnight.

“Good night,” Mal told his mercenary pointedly from the open door when Jayne evinced no signs of vacating to his bunk.

“Good night,” Jayne returned, affably, and deposited himself solidly in the spare pilot’s chair. Mal squinted at him a moment for that oddness, then left. On the way back to his bunk he made a note to tell Simon to check on his sister in, oh, twenty minutes or so.

Jayne just watched while River lifted Serenity into the darkness, the quiet hum of the engines the only sound. They rose high enough to briefly glimpse the lights of the small town ten miles distant and then were past it and up into the true Black. When they were clear of the gravity well, and their course was set, he rose and stood behind her chair. She leaned back in it to see him while he rubbed circles on her shoulder blades.

He looked down into her face, specifically at her mouth, and experienced a desire he rarely felt anymore. And he moved to act on it, scooping her out of the chair and back in it again, on his lap, inside of two seconds. He reached out and framed her face with his hands, and she leaned toward him so their faces were level. Her lips parted in anticipation, and he felt short of breath just watching them move.

“Haven’t done much of this,” he advised her, smoothing a thumb over the lower curve of her mouth. “So yer warned, I’m prob’ly not as good at it as I am at, you know, other things.” At this point he would normally be waggling his brows wickedly. But his face was serious. River shook her head, just as grave.

“I am not an appropriate judge,” she told him, “I have only done it once. I may be very bad at it.”

“I doubt that,” he muttered, filing away that ‘once’ and determining to ask about it. Later.

Right now, he was more interested in the deep-belly craving he had to kiss her mouth.

When they drew apart, quite a bit later, they were both gasping for air and River’s shivers were full-blown shudders. Her eyelids flickered open to peer at him rather dazedly. “Overloaded my reticular activating system,” she informed him when she had enough breath. He just blinked back at her, slowly realizing where his hands were and reluctant to move them. But the door behind them was open . . .

“I did it right,” River observed with a little smirk of satisfaction. He laughed at her, and pressed her into him so she could feel just how she affected him.

“Not that I’m an expert,” he acknowledged, and she felt a sweet glow of gratification at that fact, too, “but yeah, you did. And so did I.”

“Oh yes,” River nodded emphatically. “You were very good.” She could feel how he felt, it was exploding off him. She became conscious of a fierce pride in herself that regardless of how many skilled and knowledgeable women Jayne had enjoyed, she herself was able to give this to him, that he never allowed from anyone else.

Her eyes jerked to the doorway, and she frowned fiercely at it. Jayne, finding himself in a remarkably jovial mood, lifted her and deposited her gently on the floor.

“Somebody comin’?” he questioned softly. River tossed her head, clearly annoyed.

“The boob,” she said. “Don’t forget, Jayne, I am still in need of riding lessons. A lot of lessons, I think.” She raised her eyebrows significantly, and he grinned, and nodded back firmly.

“Def’nitely,” he agreed. Simon appeared a few seconds later. He regarded Jayne standing, checking over one of his guns, and River sitting, making a last-minute survey of the pilot board before she quit for the night.

“Everything all right?” Simon wondered aloud as Jayne pushed through the door beside him. “The captain said you went up on a horse today”–

He was interrupted by his sister as she rose, and moved toward him.

“All is well, Simon,” she told him gently, “Jayne is a wonderful teacher.” She stretched up to kiss his cheek. “Good night.” She, too, slipped past him, before he could say anything else, and followed the big mercenary down the corridor.

_____________________________

* Wei; hey

Deng yimiao; hold on a second

Wode tian; oh sky

Ta shi suoyou diyu de biaozi de ma; whores in hell