Blood…rain…anger. The emotions surge through her, as powerful as if they were her own. But they aren’t. River’s never seen images like these. Screaming…pain. She wants to cry and drown them out. But they won’t stop. Sadness. And then the images shift, and now she recognizes them. They’re her own…her own images….her own memories. No, please, go back… The captain’s dreams were better…so much better. She feels the sharp prick of a needle being inserted and then she’s swept away. She knows its not real. None of its real. None of it. But it feels real…feels too real. River sat up in bed, tears coursing down her cheeks. The dream is over, but the memory remains. She sits up and lets her feet take her away. Her hand brushes the side of Serenity, the cool metal and wiring that make it feel so inviting…so safe. It’s good to feel safe…more important than most think. The memories come rushing back…they won’t leave her alone. She feels everything, just like in the Captain’s dream, except she knew what was happening…it did happen. She drops to all fours and pukes, unable to keep it down, and then dissolves into a heap of tears. But it doesn’t help. Only moving helps. She gets back up and makes her way to the kitchen. No one’s there, but a small light flickered in the corner. She sits down on the couch and wraps her arms around her legs, pressing her forehead to her knees and cries. It had been so long since she had her dreams. The captain’s probably set her’s off. Fear begets fear. She sits there for a little while, cold…and it is not just space that makes her cold. Suddenly, Jayne walks in to the room, looking sleepy. She watches him, and he doesn’t notice her at first as he walks into the kitchen and looks for food. Once he finds some, he turns around and goes to put it on the table, and that’s when he sees her. “Hwoo di jihn ma, girl…wh…don’t scare a man like that!” She doesn’t respond, only digs her head in to her legs and cries. The shouts won’t stop. Jayne pauses, staring at her uneasily. “Whus wrong?” He steps around the table, a little ways towards her. She feels concern from him. It’s not unexpected…she’d been feeling very unusual emotions from him of late. “Whus wrong, girl?” She lifts her head up slightly. “dreams…bad dreams. They….they won’t leave me alone.” He blinks. “Nightmares?” She nodds. He fiddles with his hands, not knowing exactly what to do with them. “Cold.” He blinks again. “Ur cold?” She nodds in response, and he looks around for a blanket. It looked like Kaylee had taken hers that was usually laying around. He considers going to get one from his bunk, but he isn’t entirely comfortable with leaving her alone. She looked so…helpless. Not entirely realizing what he’s doing, he sits down beside her and puts an arm around her shoulders. She curls up beside him. “Thank you.” “Er…no problem.” She smiles. “You’re confused.” He shifts, uncomfortably. “Yeah, well, guess it ain’t unusual.” She shakes her head. “Is with emotions. So sure…so confident. Always knows if it’s anger…or sad…or lonely. But care is new…never cared like this.” “I ain’t carin,” he growled. “Jus don’t want ur brother to prick me with needles if I leave ya here alone.” “I’m used to being alone…was alone for so long...” “That don’t meen you like it.” She smiles, snuggling deeper beside him. His emotions come out loud and clear. “Not as confused as you think…know your emotions but don’t want to believe them.” Jayne remains silent for a moment, not entirely understanding her, but having the eerie feeling that she knew exactly what she was talking about. But then, she usually did. “Les end this particular talk, and talk about somin else.” With a smile, she closes her eyes. “Like what?” “Uh….I don’t know…never been good with words, remember?” She looks up at him, and shows him her warm smile. “Good enough.” He laughs, and she puts her head back down. His eyes run down the length of her, but mainly look at her face. So pretty, so…serene. Before long she’s asleep and he just sits there, watching her. The warmth coming from her feels so much better than his lonely bunk. And before too long, he too is drifting off into a very nice sleep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “WHAT is going on!” Jayne wakes up at the sound of the shout, and realizes that he is still laying on the couch, and looks up to realize River is laying on top of him, still asleep. He would have smiled, except he realized that the Captain was the one that shouted, and looking very angry. “Uh…Captn…this ain’t what it looks like!” River looks up suddenly. “Yes it is.” She looks at Mal. “We snuggled.”