Disclaimers apply. Spoilers: post-BDM. A/N: Thanks so much for your reviews of pt 1! Let me know what you think of this one,too. I really appreciate it.

--- Separate Checks ---

“That all true?” Jayne asked down at the girl, still not quite wrapping his brain around the fact that she was curled up in his lap. She twitched her face up to scowl at him. She also hitched her little bottom around, and her skirt rode up even higher on her thighs, giving Jayne’s heart an excitement-spurred lurch.

“I SAID it was.” Her voice dripped haughtiness.

“Well, then,” (why hadn’t she quit playing with his hair yet?) “Thanks. I guess.” He really couldn’t drag up much annoyance that he’d lost his fun for the evening. That likely had something to do with the woman-fingers that had slid from his chest to his hip and were sort of massaging the skin there. The back of his neck felt warm and his heart was going kind of fast. Jayne shifted his arms on the table and thought about putting one around her waist. Maybe her craziness was catching, suddenly after all this time.

“RIVER!” A voice, the doc’s, finally broke through to the moonbrain. She turned her head so she could see him, but that was all she did. The rest of her stayed draped over Jayne. “River,” her brother had his ‘doctor’ voice on, “you can’t – this isn’t appropriate. Leave Jayne alone, now,” he cajoled. Simon flicked the mercenary a glance, which looked grateful; for not dumping his sister on the floor, or worse, Jayne supposed.

And he didn’t know why he hadn’t, except that Crazy-girl felt more like Crazy-woman, sitting on him, and he liked it. He felt River go really still against him right then and he figured she’d Read that at the same time he thought it.

“You were in danger,” River told him in a low tone. Her voice wasn’t entirely steady. He guessed she’d never sensed those kinds of thoughts from someone before, at least not ones about her. “My only motive for initiating physical contact was to rescue you.”

He chuckled, and answered with his voice as low as hers. “That so? Well, I’m rescued . . .” he paused to smirk. “So just what, exactly, are you still doin’ in my lap?”

River blinked, and stiffened away from him. She paused with her head cocked to the side, thinking; and then, for a wonder, eased back down against his chest.

Huh.

None of the crew had heard what River had told him about the blonde whore who was now approaching another table, one occupied by a thick brown man. They were all very focused on the bizarre sight of their mercenary with his lap full of psychic genius girl. Jayne couldn’t help the little smirk he felt coming on. Their upset, all the commands and entreaties they were aiming at River, it was starting to be downright amusing. To further press some buttons, he went ahead and wrapped an arm around the lithe form of the girl until she wasn’t just sitting on him, he was holding her. And it felt good.

Across the table Mal’s features tightened and his hand went to his holster. Up until then everyone’s threats and pleading had been aimed at River, who they’d assumed was having a crazy spell. That changed now. Inara stood to her feet, but she reached out to stay Mal, not Jayne. Good for her.

“River,” Kaylee tried her hand at detaching the two of them, “wouldn’t you like to come back to your own chair and finish your meal?”

River rubbed her cheek back and forth against Jayne’s shirt. “I am very comfortable,” she replied. She ran one arm behind Jayne’s back and linked it to the one that lay across his front, so that he suddenly felt as enfolded by her as she was by him. Surprise flame-fingers of desire sparked in his gut. He felt a little tremor run through River, and he thought it was a silent laugh. Here they were all treating her like she’d gone around the bend again, and she was having a joke at their expense.

Well, not at his, because he was sharing the joke. His stomach muscles were tight with holding his own chuckle in. That, and also the closeness of all the woman-curves in his arms. He wondered if he could get away with finding out how some of those curves would feel under his fingers.

River tucked her face into his neck to telegraph her smile to him by touch. He felt her lips curve on his skin, and their movement sent curls of heat down to his groin.

“They’re all too easy,” she murmured too low for anyone else to hear. He figured she meant the crew’s reactions to what she was doing. But he was fast losing his ability to think about anything but what he could do with the delectable little female who was suddenly so accessible.

Mal chose right then to decide he’d had enough.

“Jayne,” he commanded in as captain-ey a voice as he could manage, “you let go of her if you want to see any of your cut from the next few hundred jobs. River, get in your own chair, now, or we’ll all be giving our fellow customers a bit more interesting meal than they’ve planned on.”

Jayne figured that had probably already happened. There were plenty of stranger’s eyes on their little group, anyway. He shrugged, but looked down into River’s big brown eyes. They sparkled. He stroked the cloth-covered portion of her thigh with the thumb of his free hand, angled so no crew could see it. River’s eyes widened and the teasing flirtiness that had been there flared into hot desire.

“Revelatory,’ she said softly. He wasn’t too sure what the Bible had to do with this. But his brain had gone right to the bedroom. And then she wriggled in his lap again, and it went straight to the gutter.

River’s eyes had been getting hazy, but she suddenly sat up and cast her gaze around the room.

“We should tend to the whore,” she said, and it sounded like there was regret in her voice. “She will harm another unless we alert him.”

Jayne slid his gaze to the table he’d last seen the blonde approaching; yep, the man there was standing and looked ready to exit with her at his side. Jayne grunted in irritation.

“Guess so,” he addressed River, but then dipped his head to whisper. “We’ll – revisit this? Later?”

The brown eyes danced now. “Agreed,” she said, and nodded, and slid off him. He let his hands trail and he got a nice feel of the bottom that had been pressed distractedly into him. He knew he heard her giggle, and Mal’s already furious face hardened further.

“A mission,” River addressed the group at large, who obviously expected her to sit and finish eating. She gestured at Jayne and headed to the door before anyone could stop her. The large brown man had already disappeared through it. Right, they were going to the rescue. Jayne sighed, stood up, and followed the psychic. Behind them, he heard some confused discussion; Kaylee called after them questioningly; and then there was the sound of feet following them. But as River and Jayne slipped out the door the others were held up by Maude demanding that they pay their bill before exiting the building.

Down a few blocks lit with street lamps they caught up with their quarry, who hadn’t waited long to start getting physical. River hailed them, and Jayne hung back a few steps.

“This woman has nefarious intentions,” River said to the blonde’s customer, folding her hands behind her. “You don’t want to go to her bed.”

The man shot her a confused, disgruntled look as he drew back from the whore. “Huh?”

River’s mouth did an annoyed down-turn.

“Whore plans to kill you,” Jayne clarified, stepping up and pointing to the blonde. He had his gun out, safety off, held discreetly down at his side in the shadows. “After some drawn-out torture, sounds like. ‘less that’s yer cuppa tea, you’ll likely find better fun back inside.”

The man now gave the entertainment he’d already chosen a wary but confused look. He wasn’t too bright, Jayne guessed. The blonde woman’s lips had pulled back over her teeth, giving her a rather feral look, and both her hands were at her sides. So, Jayne wasn’t the only one using the shadows to conceal a weapon.

River’s leg flicked out, sudden-like, and there was a clatter as a long wicked-looking knife flew out of the woman’s hand. It arched glinting under the streetlight for a brief moment and away into a gutter. There were sounds of Serenity’s crew coming up behind them, but Jayne knew they wouldn’t get here in time. The brown man backed up with a startled exclamation while the blonde woman snarled. She charged forward, and River met her with a swinging fist. The customer, who’d been staring confusedly, made a move finally with an apparent half-conceived idea of defending the whore. Jayne pivoted on one heel around him, getting an armlock about his neck and dragging him back a few steps while River swiftly laid the blonde out flat on the ground. Jayne watched with admiration. Of course, the prostitute hadn’t been a trained fighter; her accustomed methods were more devious than that. But still, River fighting was a lovely sight.

He realized that the crew was collected around them when Mal’s voice broke in.

“Do we have plans for any more interesting-ness this evening? Or may we go back and finish our meal?”

River looked to the woman unconscious at her feet. “We need to contact the sheriff that she’s here,” she said. “Tell him to check the knife blade. It will hold proof of what she is.”

“Likely we should tie her up,” Mal suggested languidly. River nodded.

“This one too,” Jayne grunted, getting tired of holding the whore’s hapless customer. The man was only struggling half-heartedly, but Jayne clocked him one upside the head anyway. Just hard enough to knock him senseless but not enough to do any serious damage.

No one appeared to have brought any suitable restraints with them to dinner. Finally, Inara shook her head resignedly and stepped out of her shoes, bending to remove her stockings with the statement that they were strong nylon and should hold for awhile. Jayne watched with interest as she hiked her skirt. Then for some reason he darted a glance over at River; and she was aiming a narrow-eyed look back at him. He squinted an apology at her without thinking.

Then he had time to wonder what that had been about, as Mal took over the man he’d been restraining. River slid up next to him.

“Changing precedence,” she said, as though that explained the reason why he was suddenly feeling guilty about getting looks at other women.

Other women? Since when did she merit her own separate category? If others were ‘other’, that meant River wasn’t other. He shook his head, bemused. One hour ago she’d mostly been the annoying doctor’s annoying little sister. Something had changed . . .

Once they’d left two unconscious people piled just off the road, bound in Kaylee’s and Inara’s underthings (River had extended a bare leg from under her skirt to exhibit that she had nothing to contribute), they all trouped back to the bar. Mal made an anonymous, audio-only wave to the local law while River finally got to empty her bladder. And then they had their now-cold meal re-heated, with apologies to the cook.

Settling back at the table, River found occasion to imitate what she’d seen Mal and Inara doing earlier. She sneaked her left hand under the tablecloth and settled it on Jayne’s thigh. She took a moment to absorb the same pleasure that had surprised her before, when she had sat down on him. She’d never expected to get enjoyment from physical contact with Jayne, but there it was, spiraling into her fingers, up though her arm, and then across her chest.

Jayne’s leg muscles tensed under her hand as he absorbed her touching him again, without the excuse of needing to rescue him from whores with evil plans. She let her fingers spread and rub a bit, exploring, but he saw she was careful not to disturb the tablecloth and alert anyone else to what she was doing. Him wanting River wasn’t all that surprising, he figured. Her wanting him – that was sudden and all manner of surprising, but he was definitely gonna follow this track and find out where it led.

He took huge bites of the food that was suddenly unimportant, hurrying through his meal to free his right hand. When all that remained was his drink, he picked it up in his left while slipping his other hand down. He rubbed his palm over the back of hers, wrapped his fingers around to turn it over, and twined her digits in between his. She slid her thumb back and forth over his knuckles, discovering his texture and tightening a coil of desire in the pit of his stomach.

He couldn’t take much of that. Before long, he wouldn’t be able to stand up without giving everyone a clear view of what she was doing to him.

“Time to go,” River announced abruptly. Most of the group was finished with their food, but had been lingering over drinks. Kaylee looked up to protest. She’d been leaning into Simon’s side with his arm about her shoulders. It wasn’t a posture she’d easily surrender.

“Why the hurry, albatross?” Mal asked lazily. Apparently everyone had decided to chalk the earlier River/Jayne scene up to her crazy attempt to rescue him, and his inability to resist accessible female flesh; lamentable, but nothing to dwell over. Though Mal had made a mental note to have a little talk with Jayne at some point.

“The prostitute and her would-be victim have been found, examined medically, and held for questioning. The knife has been discovered where you told them it would be, with her fingerprints and slow-acting poison found on its blade. Connections to a murder three weeks ago are being made. Your wave was traced to this facility, and deputies are on their way here.”

“Can we get back to Serenity without being noticed?” Mal was regretful, but he’d straightened. He had no wish to get into a drawn-out affair with the locals.

River nodded.

“And they’ve enough evidence to bind that woman by law, without speaking with us?” Inara wanted to know.

“What use is Crazy gonna be, if not?” Jayne asked impatiently, standing. He was in a hurry. “Never yet knew a world where mind-reading was admissible evidence.”

“He’s right,” Simon contributed.

Payment was left on the table and they again exited the bar. They fell into natural groupings, walking back to the ship. Mal and Inara led, and the dark seemed to encourage daring; Inara slid her hand candidly into the crook of Mal’s arm as they rounded a corner, and he glanced down at her with a small smile. Kaylee and Simon turned the same corner with their arms around one another. Following, not touching, Jayne and River stopped in unspoken concurrence. The corner remain unturned. The street was quiet and empty except for them. Jayne looked down sideways at River, and she met his look wide-eyed under the light of a streetlamp. He moved sudden and pressed her up against the nearby wall with his chest and thighs.

“You just playin’ with me back there?” he demanded, knowing that even as fast as he’d moved she wouldn’t have let herself be trapped between him and the brick unless she’d wanted to be.

“No,” she answered, absorbing the new sensations of all his hardness pressed full-length against her. She swallowed, breathless. “No,” she said again. “Unexpected, but ... “

“But good,” he supplied when it seemed she couldn’t find the word. He hitched her up off the ground to be more on a level with him. His body was already hard with wanting her. Her face coalesced into a smile, wide and beaming, and she moved her arms to hook around his neck.

“Very good,” she agreed. “Kiss me.”

It was his turn to swallow. He rotated his hips against hers, making her head drop back on the brick and pulling a groan from between the lips that he was contemplating. He breathed heavily against the thumping of his heart. And then before Mal and Simon backtracked looking for them, he leaned in and did it. Kissed her full on the lips, their mouths opening, tongues touching tentatively, and then tangling with growing fierceness. River strained against him, and he groaned as he wedged his hand between them and began to explore any parts of her that she’d let him reach.

Too soon, though, River relaxed back against the wall and opened eyes that had closed in passion. He felt her retreat and backed off too, reluctantly, slowly. Her feet reached the ground once more and he leaned against hands braced on either side of her head, staring sightlessly at the wall. He was still a little shocked at this. He tried to catch his breath, and wondered where this had come from, this fierce emotion and wanting.

“Doesn’t matter,” River murmured, tilting her face sideways onto his wrist. The hand trembled a little. He unfisted it and stroked a thumb from her eyebrow to the corner of the mouth that had just been causing complicated going-on in his insides. “Only matters where it’s going.”

“Yeah?” he managed, although his voice was hoarse. “Where is it going?”

Her teeth gleamed startlingly at him in the dim light. “Right now, back to Serenity. Simon is coming.”

He’d figured that was why she’d stopped. He shook his head, growling just a bit as he stepped farther back from her. “We keepin’ this a secret?” He awaited her answer tensely.

River sighed, following him as they returned to walking. They turned the corner the others had gone around before them. The street stretched wide and straight ahead.

“For now, don’t you think?” River replied. Jayne scowled, but then nodded. She reached out to his arm, caressing the muscles there, getting another touch of him before they were back among crew.

Sure enough, Simon appeared at the end of the street, Kaylee trailing him. Mal and Inara were nowhere in sight.

“I’ll see you later?” Jayne asked in an undertone, hurriedly. He was again edgy about her answer, but she didn’t make him wait.

“Yes,” she said, and scintillated up at him. His heart squeezed painfully. “Will – will you come to my room?” She searched his eyes closely, seeming to look for something. He didn’t know what, but met her gaze as honestly as he knew how. He only had time to nod before they caught up with Simon and Kaylee.

River didn’t register the rest of the walk, only Jayne at her side. Simon talked, questions she supposed, and Jayne must have answered to his satisfaction because there was companionable silence after that. They went back into the grieving space and it was no longer so lonely. Zoë didn’t appear, but River could sense her away in her bunk.

“The warrior sleeps in peace,” she said as the ramp closed behind the foursome. Inara and Mal were nowhere to be seen either, but there was a flaring of passion from the Companion’s shuttle that pushed River into Jayne’s side. He didn’t put his arm around her because Kaylee had turned at River’s words, but she knew he wanted to.

“Zoë’s OK?” the mechanic asked anxiously. River nodded back.

“And Mal and Inara are exploring futures.” River smiled.

Simon smiled back at his sister, then at his lover. River left the bay and the other two trailed after her. Jayne lingered impatiently, long enough to know everyone was settled where they belonged.

Then, with his gut still coiled in knots of desire, he moved down the corridor and knocked quietly at River’s door. It slid aside and she was there, smiling greeting and looking passion up at him. He swallowed, and stepped into her, and knew everything had changed.

Like as not, next restaurant they was in, he would be paying for both of them. And maybe not even minding it.

The End