Chapter 23

Mal was very happy with how Jayne looked in the morning and they headed off for their job. Everyone else puttered around the ship, waiting for them to come back. When they came back an hour later it was with a warning to have Simon ready, Zoë had made the call and hadn’t said what had happen or to who. Maggie waited in the hold with everyone else, worried that Jayne might not of been in top shape. When the shuttle came in it was the Captain that had been winged, but it wasn’t serious. First thought was to fly right out, but there was a land lock on all the ships at the port. After they stowed the crates it was decided to try and act naturally and attend the local fair. Inara would be their reason for being on Atsa *** All but Zoë and Wash headed for the fair, even Inara had consented to attend, dressing a bit down with Maggie’s help. They all headed to the outdoor restaurant after lunch. River was very excited to be allowed out, Simon of course was acting like a mother hen, Kaylee was almost as excited as River and Maggie was glad for the distraction. It had been so hard not to run for Jayne when she saw him helping Mal, although she was still confused with her feelings, she knew she loved him. They had never actually said the words to each other. She’s not sure what his feelings for her are, not anymore anyway. She wanted to be important, special to someone, she had thought she was to Jayne, until now. Jayne kept sneaking looks at Maggie, hoping that last night hadn’t been a one time deal. She had awoken first and half asleep she had done what they had always done, slowly awaken the other with kisses, he had stopped her before it gone to far, it was one of the hardest things he had ever done. Mal had a few rules “OK, no one wonders around alone” He looked at River to make sure she understand “it might be best if Simon and River were not seen together and we meet back here every couple of hours. Jayne, you take Simon, Inara and Kaylee for the first few hours and then we’ll swap” He noticed the frown Jayne had when Maggie wasn’t in his group and the smile on Kaylee’s face when she was put with Simon. “Captain, I’m not sure River…” “She’ll be fine, Maggie, Book and I can keep an eye on her for a couple of hours. We’ll call if we need you, relax and have fun.” Kaylee took Simon’s hand and smiled up at him “It’s shiny Simon, River will be fine.” Inara looked at Maggie and then walked up to Jayne and held out her hand, Jayne just looked at it and then over to Maggie. She was smiling at them so he figured it was OK. Maybe Inara could help him figure out what to do to get Maggie to forgive him. He held his arm out, like he had seen the Captain do. Inara held back her surprise and tucked her arm under his. The foursome headed out with Kaylee and Simon in the lead. Mal watched as Jayne and Inara walked off arm in arm, extending his arm to Maggie they followed Book as he followed River as she headed for the exhibits. After three hours of corn, flowers and quilts Mal was ready to trade with Jayne. He had planed it so he and Inara were together at night. Jayne was a little late getting his party back to the restaurant. Seems Kaylee had found the ‘Tunnel of Love’ and forced Simon to go with her untold times, while Jayne and Inara sat and waited. Inara had asked Jayne how things with Maggie were, he hesitantly told her all that had happened, even about last night and this morning. He wasn’t going to tell her everything, wasn’t his way, but she was trained in bringing problem to the surface and soon he was confiding everything to her, even things he hadn’t told Maggie. She wasn’t sure how much to interfere, but she considered Maggie a friend and wanted to help. When they all got together for dinner, Inara pulled Maggie off to the side and asked her some questions, satisfied with the answers she walked back to Jayne “Maggie would like to talk to you.” Jayne headed right over “Maggie?” “Did you kiss her?” Maggie just looked at him, with such need in her eyes. Jayne at first thought she was talking about Inara, then he figured it out “No, I didn’t.” “Why not?” wanting an answer, but still unsure. “Kissing special, ain’t gonna waste them on whores. Why?” “Just wondered why you kissed me that first night?” Grinning Jayne laughed “Hell girl, you kissed me, I just didn’t stop you.” She realized he was right “Why didn’t you stop me?” “Didn’t want to, kissing you was like nothing I had ever felt before. I miss it.” She couldn’t believe how those words moved her, even if he never voiced how he felt, Inara was right, together they are special. She walked up to him ready to give him her heart, when Mal interrupted to say it was time to order dinner. Jayne gave him a look that could kill and when Mal offered Maggie his arm, it was all Jayne could do not to knock him aside. He really wanted to know what Maggie was going to say. He followed Mal and Maggie to the table, He saw he was not going to be able to sit near Maggie, grumbling he sat between Kaylee and River. *** Dinner had been one of the best Maggie can every remember, granted she had only been with the crew a little over a month, but this was the most relaxed she had ever seen them. She wondered what was different, then she realized, Wash and Zoë we not here. She liked them both, but Mal seemed a little more relaxed with Zoë not around and Jayne was much more pleasant without Wash to needle him. After dinner the party again split into two groups, Mal, Inara and Simon were dragged back to the ‘Tunnel of Love’ by Kaylee, as Jayne, Book and Maggie followed River to the games of chance. Book walked with Jayne and asked him how things with Maggie were going. Jayne replied that he wasn’t sure, but he hoped Book could take River off somewhere and give Him and Maggie some alone time. Maggie came over to Jayne and Book with her arms full of stuffed toys “It seems River is very good at tossing darts.” She handed the toys to Book, smiled at Jayne and went back to River. River had moved on to another booth, this one was shooting bulls eyes. River looked at the shawl that was the prize and turned to Maggie “No touching guns” she said sadly. Jayne had told Maggie all about River’s gun rule. Maggie looked at the tears in River’s eyes and said “I’ll try, Jayne was teaching me.” She paid the money and picked up the gun. River was giving her all sorts of instructions, Maggie just closed her eyes and tried to remember what Jayne had said. She took her stance and raised her arms. She felt Jayne before he actually touched her, he ran his hands down her arms and corrected her stance. “You have to open your eyes, Baby” He whispered in her ear “You can do this.” He slowly removed his hands and Maggie opened her eyes and shot. A perfect bulls eye “You did it!” Jayne picked her up and swirled her around. The operator handed her a shawl, she smiled and gave it to River. Jayne laid down another coin and picked up the gun and shot his own bulls eye and selected a blue shawl for Maggie. She smiled at him and wrapped herself in his gift. “What about Kaylee?” River asked “She would like a green one.” Jayne laughed and put down another coin, shot another bulls eye and picked up a green shawl. River laughed and ran off to find Kaylee. Book took off after her, he yelled back “I’ll meet you back at the restaurant.” Maggie and Jayne watched as he ran off, Maggie took Jayne’s hand and started walking back to the restaurant. They didn’t talk, they just enjoyed being alone. When they got back to the restaurant Kaylee had on her shawl and ran over to Jayne and gave him a kiss. “Thank you, Jayne. I love it” Kaylee gave Jayne another kiss. “Well, anyone else up for a drink? All that ‘Tunnel’ riding gave me a deep need for a whiskey.” Mal laughed at the blush growing on Kaylee. “I don’t think so, I need to get River back to the ship.” Simon sputtered out while he tried to hold on to River. “I’ll take River back to the ship, I’m a little tired myself.” Book offered, he took River’s hand and headed off before Simon could object. “I’m not sure Book…” Simon started after him. The Captain grabbed his arm “River will be fine, Book has the com unit and he can call if he has any problems.” He turned the Doctor around and practically dragged him into the bar. Kaylee had a large smile on her face as she followed Simon, this had been one of the best days ever. Jayne held the door for Maggie and Inara, then followed them thru. He looked around, always on guard, the only thing he saw that bothered him were the whores. He grabbed Maggie’s hand and used her as a shield. They all sat down and Mal ordered whiskey for everyone. Jayne asked if anyone wanted to play pool. Kaylee said she and Simon would play Maggie and Jayne. “I’m not sure, Kaylee, I’ve never played before. I’d be more of a hindrance than a help.” Simon looked at Kaylee and tried to resist the smile she gave him. “Simon, I think you and I are at the same level of play.” Maggie laughed “We can cancel each other out.” Standing she followed Jayne to the table “You go first so I can see how it’s done.” Maggie saw how worried Jayne had been about the whores, it made her wonder what the attraction was. “Come on Simon, it’s just a game.” Kaylee tugged on his arm until he got up and followed her. “This should be an interesting game.” Mal said to Inara. Turned out that Jayne was a much better player then Kaylee and Simon and Maggie did cancel each other out. Mal challenged Jayne to the next game and took him for the cost of the next round. The group settled down to talking and laughing. Finally Kaylee said she was hungry and it was decided that they would go back to the ship and have a last drink and snack. *** Back on the ship everyone headed up to the kitchen, Maggie made a snack and Jayne got out a bottle of his whiskey and the group sat around the table and talked. Zoë and Wash joined in and Book came in for a quick bite. Nights like this made Mal very happy, everyone was getting along, they had just finished a good job, no one was really hurt and Inara was sitting by his side. Slowly every one went to bed, until just Maggie and Jayne were left. They were cleaning up when Maggie put her hand on Jayne and asked him to have ‘sex’ with her. He looked kinda shocked “What?” “Just sex, Jayne. Like you would have with a whore.” She looked him in the eye “I want to understand what the difference is.” “Not sure I can do that, Baby” Jayne placed his hand on her arm. “Jayne, I need to know, know how you can separate the two. Please” She leaned into him, pleading into his chest. Jayne didn’t know how to handle this, he wished there was someone to tell him what to do. Maggie was still leaning on him, he decided that he had better try, or he could lose her forever. “OK Maggie, let’s go.” Maggie smiled up at him, it just about broke his heart. “Thank you, Jayne” She headed towards their quarters. He grabbed her arm and said “No, not that way.” He led her to his old bunk. Once they were down the ladder Maggie put her arms around Jayne and leaned in for a kiss. “No Kissing, Baby. Just get naked.” Jayne pushed her away and turned his back on her. Quickly undressing he turned and walked to the bed. Maggie just stood there, unsure what to do. Jayne had always taken great joy in undressing her. Slowly she took off all her clothes and watched Jayne as he walked over to the bed and sat down. He refused to look at or touch her, wasn’t sure he could follow thru if he did. Maggie walked over and reached out to run her hand thru his hair. He grabbed her arm “No touching, Maggie. Just sex. Get on the bed.” Maggie sat on the bed, she was now having second thoughts about this. This was nothing like what she thought it would be, Jayne was being so distant, so cold. Jayne stood up “Lay down.” He pointed to the head of the bed. Jayne was having second thoughts of his own. He knew he wouldn’t be able to do what she wanted if she was looking at him “Roll over, up on your knees.” He climbed onto the bed behind her and took hold of her hips and pressed into her, He had to stop himself from caressing her and tried to remember that this was what she wanted. Slowly he slid inside her, she arched up and moaned. Jayne started to move and closed his eyes and tried to pretend that it wasn’t Maggie. For awhile he just moved, like he was in a fog, then he found himself caressed her back and had worked his way up to kissing her neck when he remembered that this was supposed to be ‘just sex’, he stopped moving completely and withdrew “I can’t do this Baby, I tried but you ain’t just a whore and I can’t pretend that you are.” With that he left the bed and put his pants on. Maggie had tears in her eyes when she turned over and looked at him “I’m so sorry Jayne. I had no idea how hard this would be. I just wanted to know that what we had was special, different then what you did with other women.” She started to get dressed. Jayne waited until she was dressed, then came over and sat down next to her “I had no idea how hard this would be either. Damn it Maggie, this should have been easy. I’ve been having sex like this for years, before you came around I never kissed or caressed the whor… women I slept with. I think you’ve spoiled me for other women. I was having trouble with that whore the other night, I went in thinking it would be a quickie, but no matter what she did, it didn’t feel right. Maggie smiled at him thru her tears “I’m happy to hear that.” She took his hand and brought it up to her mouth. “I guess I’m being selfish, I don’t ever want to see anyone else making love to you.” She kissed his fingers, one by one. “So it’s OK if you don’t see it?” He yelped when she bit down on the finger she was kissing. “I don’t know Jayne, we’re going to have to come up with something. I can’t stand not having you in my bed, I think you’ve spoiled me too.” She leaned into him and he put his arm around her “We don’t have to decide right now. How about we work on the rules over the next few years, ‘til we get it right.” She raised her hand and caressed his cheek and brought it down for a kiss. After a few minutes they broke for air and Jayne picked her up and headed for the ladder and carried her to their quarters. He laid her on the bed and removed his clothes before he removed hers, as slowly as he could. This was what he wanted, this women looking up at him with a lustful smile on her face.