Job Satisfaction

A/N: Thanks for all the comments so far, really glad you’re enjoying. Just a quick update, the first draft of the sequel to this has already been finished, and I’m in the planning stages of a third story. So I really hope this is going down well. :D

Chapter Two

To see translations, hover mouse over Chinese word.

Chapter Three – When Eyes are Elsewhere

“Kaylee?”

Without opening her eyes, Kaylee turned her face towards the voice. “Mmm?”

The speaker sounded amused. “Wake up, baobei.”

His breath tickled her skin pleasantly, and she sighed in contentment. “Simon.”

He chuckled. “Who else did you think it would be?”

Reluctantly opening her eyes to the bright light, she saw his blue eyes hovering above her, sparkling with mischief.

“Jus’ one of my other boyfriends,” she said airily. “You know it’s hard to keep track sometimes.” She felt his hands glide towards her ribcage and tensed, biting her lip to suppress a giggle. “I’m joking!”

Undeterred, Simon proceeded to tickle her mercilessly, grinning at her protesting squeals as she writhed next to him. “What was that?”

“Simon!” she gasped through her laughter. “I’m…joking! I take it back!”

Sniggering, Simon leaned in to kiss her softly. “Good.”

Panting to catch her breathe, Kaylee collapsed back against the pillows. “Thanks for the wakin’ up.”

“You’re welcome.”

She shot him a sideways look. “What are you so cheerful for?”

Simon shrugged, smiling uncontrollably. “I figured… since we’re going to be stranded on Tasnim for a few days…there’s no point moping about. We may as well make the most of it.”

Kaylee’s eyes widened in disbelief, and she sat up as he continued.

“So I thought we could make up a picnic and go wander down the coast till we find a nice spot…. What do you think?”

Kaylee looked down at him, momentarily stunned. “Huh.”

“What?” he asked, looking confused and a little worried.

“I really have rubbed off on you, haven’t I?”

Simon snorted. “Well, actually, not yet…”

“Simon!” Kaylee cried, unable to stop herself from grinning. “You’re being romantic and you just made a naughty joke, an’ it’s a first time for both. What’s got into you?”

Attempting to look offended, Simon rolled over. “Well, fine, if you’re not interested…”

“No!” Kaylee said quickly. “I am way, way interested!” She leaned down to kiss his bare shoulder imploringly. “And as to the rubbin’ thing…”

Smirking, Simon turned back to face her, nuzzling her happily. “Are you starting to wish we’d taken advantage of the nice big bed in your parent’s house, too?”

Kaylee giggled wickedly. “Does seem there’s always someone interrupting, or ruining the mood, or I’m too tired, or you are… or…”

“…or River is having a fit,” Simon continued in agreement. “Or I’m being an idiot…”

Kaylee wrinkled her nose. “Mostly just the idiot thing.”

Rolling his eyes good naturedly, Simon leaned in to kiss her. “Well, allow me to make amends.”

Smiling widely, Kaylee pressed closer. “Go right ahead.”

A loud yelp from the outside startled them both, and a few moments later Jayne’s shape appeared outside the door to Simon’s bunk.

“Lil’ help here Doc, I’m bleeding all over the place!”

Simon looked at Kaylee, eyebrows raised. “See. This time it was nothing to do with my idiocy.”

Kaylee laughed as she watched him scramble out of the bed and pull on a shirt.

“I’ll let you off this time,” she said lightly, pulling her own clothes on. “Come and find me when you’re done fixin’ Jayne. I’ll be packin’ that picnic.”

*

“Repeat after me: walking through the cargo bay with no shoes on is a very stupid thing to do.”

Jayne gave Simon a contemptuous look, before grunting in pain. “Repeat after me: bite me.”

Not responding, Simon returned his attention to the toe he was reattaching. As he attempted to continue his stitching, the older man groaned and yanked his foot away, ripping the few neat stitches Simon had already managed to make.

“Gorramit, doc, can’t you numb it some?”

Simon looked up sceptically. “I’m sorry, would you like to be sedated? While I fix your toe?” He placed a delicate stress on the word ‘toe,’ and the slight colouring of Jayne’s cheeks told him his message had been clear.

“Just don’t see why you gotta poke so,” Jayne grumbled, allowing Simon to return to his work. “And besides… you can’t talk about walking around barefoot. Your moon brained sister spends enough time without her boots on.”

“Well, River isn’t exactly in full possession of her wits,” Simon explained, and then paused, realising what he had said. He glanced up at Jayne, considered making one of the several very easy jokes now bubbling at his lips, but decided it would be cruel to kick a man while he was down. “Still, even she manages to avoid standing on any of the large, protruding chunks of metal.”

Jayne made a noise halfway between a growl and a whimper. “Just get on with it, I got stuff to be doing.”

“Like what?” Simon asked evenly, as Jayne’s twitching dislodged yet another recently formed stitch. “Can you at least try to keep your foot still?”

“I am ruttin’ trying!” Jayne insisted. “An’ it’s none o’ your business what I do.”

“Of course it isn’t,” Simon conceded politely. “It just seems while we’re stuck here there’s nothing important to do except …enjoy the weather.”

Jayne sniffed in agreement. “Was gonna go fishin’ actually. Give us some fresh grub for a change.”

Hiding his surprise at Jayne’s use of the word ‘us,’ Simon nodded in interest. “Do you fish a lot?” At Jayne’s puzzled glance, he elaborated. “Before you joined Serenity, I mean.”

Jayne shrugged. “Used to fish all the time with my ol’ man. Can be real… what’s the word?”

“Wet?” supplied Simon. “Fishy?”

Jayne sniggered. “Ha ha. Therapeutic.”

“Oh,” Simon said. “I’ve heard that.”

“You ain’t never been fishin’ before?”

Simon shook his head, still concentrating on Jayne’s toe. “Some friends of mine used to go for long weekends to the country to go fishing, but I always seemed to be too busy.”

As he spoke, he saw Kaylee approaching, and smiled at her.

“So, what about your ol’ man?” Jayne was saying as Kaylee entered the infirmary. “He never take you on fishin’ trips, or anything?”

Frowning, Simon shook his head once more. “No.” He turned Kaylee. “Hey.”

“Hey yourself,” she replied, pecking him shyly on the cheek, being careful to not get in his way. “You’ve been almost an hour, I thought you’d forgotten about me,” she teased.

“Of course not,” Simon said apologetically. “It’s just…”

He was cut off by another yell of agony as Jayne pulled his foot away once more, and watched in resigned horror as every meticulous stitch ripped open. He sighed.

“This could take a while,” he told Kaylee, praying she wouldn’t be mad.

As always, she just smiled understandingly. “No problem, sweetie. Tell you what, me and Inara’ll take River out to the beach, seeing as how she’s doing loads better today. Fresh air’ll be good for her. You come find us when you’re done, we won’t be far, okay?”

Simon nodded in relief. “Thanks, bao bei. And… we can do the picnic thing tomorrow, I promise.”

Kaylee smiled. “I’m gonna hold you to that.”

With a quick hug, and a friendly wave to Jayne, she flitted out of the room, leaving the two men in silence.

“Picnic, doc?” Jayne said after a pause. He snorted. “You’re such a xui li niu.”

With a long suffering sigh, Simon pulled Jayne’s foot back into position and ignored his comment. “Right. Let’s try this again.”

He worked in silence, punctuated by Jayne’s grunts, for only a few minutes, before the older man spoke again.

“So, you’ve really never been fishin’?”

“Really,” Simon confirmed, a little puzzled. “Why is that such a surprise?”

Jayne scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Just seems like somethin’ every boy does with his Pap. What did you do instead? Count money together?”

Feeling a little uncomfortable, Simon didn’t meet Jayne’s gaze. “My father and I were never really close.” Jayne said nothing, which Simon took as a sign to continue. “As long as I got good grades and behaved myself, my father was happy to indulge me for ten minutes every evening. But he was always pretty busy.”

Jayne clamped his hands down on his ankle, staying his foot which had jerked a little involuntarily. Simon smiled gratefully, and Jayne nodded for him to continue.

“I all but worshipped my father back then. He had pretty high expectations for me, and I guess while I was making him happy and proud of me, it never occurred to me to…” he trailed off, shrugging. “The older I got, the less we saw eye to eye. Even before River went away, we were on rocky ground, and after he refused to help me help her… well, we barely spoke.”

“Well, that ‘splains a thing or two,” Jayne said roughly.

“How?” Simon said, amused.

“You got daddy issues.” Jayne said, sounding unsympathetic.

Simon blinked. “I do not.”

“Aha,” Jayne said disbelievingly. “S’why you got no backbone. You didn’t have your Pap beatin’ on ya when you did wrong.”

“Well, that’s because I was impeccably well behaved as a child,” Simon countered.

“Whatever.” Jayne scratched his nose, shuddering a little as Simon worked. “Ya wanna come fishin’ with me?”

Simon almost stabbed Jayne’s toe as his hands slipped in surprise. “What?”

Jayne shrugged. “But ya gotta quit ya yappin’.”

“Erm,” Simon mumbled, “I’m supposed to be…”

“Lil’ Kaylee won’t mind,” Jayne said confidently. “She’s got that picnic to look forward to tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Simon said, and then wondered what had possessed him to agree.

“Shiny,” Jayne said, “Ow!”

He jumped back, practically falling from the infirmary bed. Simon groaned in frustration as yet more stitches ripped. Jayne hastily scrambled back into position.

“What you waitin’ on?” he asked, as Simon made no move to return to work.

“I’m just wondering,” Simon said steadily, “whether I can repair your toe while sitting on your leg.”

* “Took your time didn’t ya?” Kaylee called as Simon approached, Jayne hobbling at his side. “You been in the infirmary all this time?”

“Took a lil’ detour,” Jayne replied. “Caught some fish for later, an’ took em back to the boat to keep ‘em fresh,”

Kaylee smiled at him before returning her gaze to Simon. “You went fishin’?”

“I can hardly believe it myself,” he admitted, kissing her softly. “Have you been having fun?”

“Hell yeah,” Kaylee said enthusiastically. She turned to look at River who was dancing about in the waves, wearing a cotton poncho Kaylee’s mother had given her to protect her from the heat. Simon had to admit he hadn’t seen his sister this happy in a long time. As he watched, she kicked at the waves in Jayne’s direction, showering him in water.

“Gorramit, girl!” Jayne yelled angrily, unable to do much about it as he swayed on the spot. Ignoring River’s peals of laughter, he looked angrily at Simon, Kaylee and Inara, all three of whom immediately ceased their laughter.

“Sorry, Jayne,” River said, sounding sincere. Jayne grunted in response.

“I’ll tell you a funny story about Simon,” River continued, beckoning him forward, “Come here, it’s a secret.”

Looking intrigued, Jayne took a cautious step forward. “What?”

In response, River kicked again, the water this time hitting him fully in the face as River darted out of his reach, giggling madly. “Dai zi!”

“River,” Simon reprimanded half heartedly.

Shaking himself like a dog, Jayne sat down beside them. “Gee, Doc, thanks for the support.”

Kaylee giggled. “Good to see you two getting on,” she teased. Simon smiled leniently as Jayne ripped off his shirt and flicked it at Kaylee, wetting her.

“If you’re going to start flicking water around, move away,” Inara instructed calmly. “Much as I would love to have my dress ruined…”

“We’ll behave,” Kaylee promised.

“Simon!” River called, pausing from her inspection of sea shells. “Let’s play ‘I-Spy!’”

* “I can’t believe you went fishing without me,” Wash said for the third time, chewing as he spoke.

“Swallow first, honey,” Zoe said in amusement. Jayne snorted, but fell silent at her look.

The nine of them were sitting in the galley, eating fresh food for the first time in a good long while.

“I mean,” Wash continued undeterred, “Fishing has been a male bonding ritual for centuries.”

“Me and the doc never bonded,” Jayne said quickly.

“I wasn’t even allowed to speak,” Simon added.

“Speaking isn’t important,” Wash said dismissively, now fully in rant mode. “It’s the fishing. The fishing is important. Why wasn’t I invited?”

“Wo de ma, you can come tomorrow,” Jayne said gruffly. “Quit whingin’.”

Wash settled back in his chair, looking a lot happier, much to the amusement of the rest of the crew.

When the table had been cleared and the people had dispersed, River got to her feet and followed Jayne to the cargo bay.

“You had fun today,” she told him, sounding curious.

Jayne grunted, settling himself on his bench. “So? Like fishin’.”

River smiled. “Like Simon too.”

He snarled at her. “Get away, lil’ nutjob. Was just makin’ up for the boy’s deprived childhood. Still think he’s a gorram pansy.”

River lowered her eyes sadly. “Can’t see the wood for trees.”

Jayne sighed heavily and began to work out. “If’n your just gonna talk at me in riddles, you can get lost.”

“Sometimes it’s best to be hidden,” River said agreeably.

Jayne blinked. “Right. If’n you’re a fugie.”

“Exactly,” she said sagely. “It’s best to act when eyes are elsewhere.”

“Come again?”

“Can get away with anything. When eyes are elsewhere.”

And with that, she spun and floated out of the room, leaving Jayne with an ache in his head that overpowered the one in his toe.

* Three days later, the crew of Serenity were forced to leave their sunny refuge.

“But we ain’t even explored yet, Cap,” Kaylee whined as Mal closed the airlock, and signaled for Wash to get them in the air.

“We’ve got to eat, lil’ Kaylee,” he told her. “’Sides, t’ain’t my fault you’ve been spending every second locking lips with that-”

“Captain,” she reprimanded.

Mal sighed. “Once we’ve stocked up, we’ll come back for a little while, okay. We ain’t even leavin’ Tasnim. Jus’ looking for a spot of green that’s inhabited.”

Kaylee nodded. “Okay, cap.” Shooting him an amicable smile, she made her way up to the engine room, checking nothing had been damaged during take-off. Once satisfied, she left, hastily wiping her face with the cleanest cloth she could find.

Simon wasn’t in the infirmary, which puzzled her, but the sound of voices drew her to the open doorway of River’s bunk.

“Sleep now, mei mei,” Simon was saying, brushing a strand of hair from his sister’s face.

“Night, Simon,” the girl replied sleepily, her eyes closed fast. “Night Kaylee,” she added a little louder, and Kaylee saw a smirk flit across her face as Simon turned, startled.

“Boo,” she teased quietly.

With one last glance to his now sleeping sister, Simon stood and exited the room. “Hey,” he greeted her, kissing her gently. “Where’ve you been?”

“Got distracted in the engine room,” she told him happily as they moved to his bunk.

“I trust there’s no impending disaster?”

“Not unless you count the amount of rust that’s gathered since being parked here.”

Simon looked uneasy. “I guess it isn’t the best climate for an engine.”

Shrugging, Kaylee settled herself on the bed. “It ain’t nothin’, Serenity’s just old, ya know.”

With a smile, Simon perched beside her. “Then I guess it’s a good thing she’s got you to look after her.”

Kaylee beamed at him, and Simon felt the familiar swooping sensation in his stomach at the sight of her smile. On impulse, he leaned in to kiss her, filled with a sudden urgency that she quickly returned.

“Mmm,” she giggled as they finally parted for breath. “Miss me?”

Simon couldn’t speak, he grunted in assent before covering her mouth once more with his.

Within moments, they were lying back on his bed, his body pinning hers into the mattress. Overcome by the sudden torrent of desire now flooding through his body, Simon gasped as she writhed beneath him, igniting him further.

Half formed plans and ideas about ‘doing it properly’ and ‘taking it slowly’ left his head as her deft hands found his waist band, untucking his shirt in a flash. Her hands crept up his back beneath his shirt, grazing her nails over his skin until a low groan tore from his throat. The next instant, her fingers were flitting down his front, undoing buttons skillfully, and her eyes twinkled wickedly at him.

Needing to feel more of her skin, he slipped his own hands beneath her cover-alls, panicking slightly as his lust-clouded brain fumbled. Sucking on his bottom lip, Kaylee propped herself up and helped him remove the jumpsuit, before pulling him more firmly between her thighs.

“Want you now, Simon,” she whispered, her words making his head spin.

“Kaylee,…” he began, and then all words abandoned him as her fingers worked at freeing him from the confines of his pants.

“Kaylee!” Wash’s voice came over the comm. “Just wondering, should I be concerned that my ship is shaking like this?”

The couple froze, and sure enough, they could hear an unpleasant rattling noise from above. Somewhere in the distance they heard Mal yelling “It’s my ship!”

Kaylee swore.

“What is it?” Simon asked, breathless.

“I gotta get to the engine room,” she told him, still panting as she pulled her clothes back on at record speed. “I’m real sorry, it’s just…”

“It’s fine,” he assured her. “Go.”

She kissed him apologetically. “I’ll make up for this,” she whispered to him sincerely, and not a little suggestively, before darting out of the room faster than Simon had ever seen her move.

Simon sighed as the door slid closed. So, this is what it feels like.

* “So, when you said there was no impending disaster…” Simon said, standing at the doorway to the engine room an hour later, “what you meant was…?”

Kaylee smiled sadly at him. “I’m real sorry, Simon,” she murmured. “Was worse than I thought.”

He crossed the room to crouch beside her, shrugging off her apology. “How much worse?”

She pointed at one of the legs of the engine casing, which looked considerably unstable. “There was more rust than I thought. Leg snapped, and bits started flying off on account of the funny angle.”

“But it’s okay now?” Simon asked, not liking the upset look on her face.

She shrugged. “Got the leg as stable as can be till I get a new one. It should hold. But I gotta fix up the rest of the damage, or we can’t land.”

She met Simon’s eye, and answered his unasked question. “I’m gonna be here a while.”

Simon did his best to hide his disappointment, and pressed an encouraging kiss to her lips. “You want some company?” he asked.

“Love some,” she said. Then she smiled sadly, running her fingers through his hair. “But truth be told you’d probably just distract me. And you could do with a good night’s sleep.”

Kissing her once more, Simon nodded. “Okay, baobei. But come to my bunk when you’re done. I sleep better when you’re there.”

She smiled, blushing a little. “Really?”

Simon nodded, a grin creeping onto his own face. “Really.”

In an instant, her arms were flung round his neck, and she kissed him firmly. “I sleep better when you’re there too,” she whispered.

“Kaylee!” They both jumped at the sound of Mal’s voice.

“I’d better go,” Simon said hurriedly, kissing her once more before leaving the engine room. The captain frowned at him as they passed, but said nothing. Simon could hear him lecturing Kaylee on negligence all the way back to his bunk.

* “Whoa!” Kaylee gasped as Jayne, Book and Zoe made their way up the ramp, each carrying a large crate. “I thought we was running low on cash.”

“What did we get?” Wash asked excitedly. He was sitting beside Kaylee, the two of them having being playing jacks in the cargo bay as they waited for the shopper’s return.

“They had a little sale,” Jayne said nastily, and Kaylee frowned.

“Jayne, did you threaten those poor people with your guns?”

He dropped his crate at her feet. “Nope. With my knife.”

Wash chuckled. “Kaylee, how you manage to remain so innocent on this crew is beyond me.”

“Suffice it to say,” Book put in, joining them. “We have quite enough for a little celebration tonight.”

Wash’s eyes widened.

“So what are we celebrating?” he asked, half an hour later as the entire crew tucked into the hastily prepared feast.

There was a pause as everyone thought.

“We’re still flying?” Simon said. Mal raised his glass to the younger man and grinned.

“We’re on the ground, genius,” Jayne said, downing the contents of his own tankard.

“I was being figurative,” Simon said, with no real effort to explain himself to the man. He was much too happy, with good food in his stomach, a mug of half decent ale at his side, and Kaylee’s hand entwined in his.

Two hours later, however, Simon was becoming quite impatient to leave the merriment.

“Sweetie, I think we’re the only sober people in the room,” Kaylee said, snuggling further into his lap.

Simon looked around in some amusement, at Mal, Wash, and Jayne, all sitting in various states of undress, attempting to play poker, and Zoe who was laughing, looking uncharacteristically disheveled beside them. Inara, Book and River had all already retired.

“I think you may be right,” he replied, kissing her neck. Squirming, she turned to nibble at his ear in return. The alcohol he had drunk had lowered his inhibitions enough to not be embarrassed at this public show of affection.

A burst of laughter drew their attention, and they turned in time to see Jayne struggling to remove his pants.

“I think that’s our cue to leave,” Simon suggested, allowing his fingers to ghost her thigh momentarily. Taking his meaning, Kaylee’s eyes darkened with desire.

“My room’s nearest,” she murmured, and taking his hand, she led him, unnoticed, from the room.

The second Simon dismounted the ladder into her bunk, her hands grabbed his shoulders and pulled him towards her, their lips meeting forcefully. Desire coursing through his blood along with the alcohol, Simon impulsively wrapped his arms around her rear and lifted her cleanly off the floor. She gave a surprised and not displeased squeak, wrapping her legs tightly around his waist as he moved towards the bunk.

“Waited too long,” she gasped as his lips left hers to suck at her neck. “Can’t… need you now…”

“Uh huh,” he agreed, depositing her on the bed, and whipping off his shirt. “No more interruptions.”

“I don’t care if the ship explodes,” she said, reaching out hungrily to stroke his muscled chest.

He grinned at her outright lie as he disposed of her top. “Really?”

“Really,” she said, and she moaned against his lips as he slipped between her legs. “There could be a whole troop of feds outside that door and I wouldn’t let them stop us.”

He smiled against her skin as he moved down her body, his hot mouth setting her alight as it moved over her chest and down her stomach.

“Simon,” Kaylee gasped. “This is no… time… for teasing.”

He swirled his tongue around her belly button, and she squeaked adorably. “Simon!”

His lips danced the final inch and came to rest at the hem of her pants, and he looked up at her, grinning. “Kaylee?”

She groaned, her face flushed with desire. “Now,” she breathed, unable to utter any further syllables as he stroked her through the material.

“As you wish,” he said, quickly removing her trousers.

Kaylee writhed against the mattress, clutching at the sheets as she felt his fingers move inside her. Breathing heavily, she barely noticed the sounds of someone running through the corridor above. The sensations thrumming through her distracted her from the sounds of people yelling, all she could hear in her ears was her own frantic panting.

“Simon,” she moaned, desperate for more.

“Simon!” A strangely familiar voice registered at the back of her mind.

He sat up, and she whimpered at the loss of his touch.

“Simon!” The voice said more insistently. “Are you down there?”

Kaylee’s brain clicked into gear and she recognized the voice as being Zoe’s. She sagged against the sheets.

“Yes,” Simon called unsurely, sounding annoyed. “What is it?”

“Sorry to interrupt,” came the reply. “But your sister has disappeared.”

Don't make me beg...

Chapter Four