Disclaimer: It ain't mine. No need to sue me, nekkid people have no pockets. But I'll share my typos with you.

The Plotbunny Made Me Do It. Warning for Sadness.

Big, fat Thanks to BYTEMITE for having a look at it and giving me the Green Light for posting and for fixing where I fudged up the formatting. And for speculating with me about Jayne's Rule.

Buried his past

Jayne couldn’t wait to get back home.

The job was easy, most of the time all he had to do was stand around, bristling with weapons and look tough. He often wondered if Mr. Halliwell really needed a bodyguard. Man seemed to have no enemies at all, possessing of a personality that drew people in at the first smile. Still, bodyguards were expected if one was a public figure and the old man played along.

Jayne had no problem with looking decorative, since it brought him a big paycheck every month. And Jayne loved money. Lots of it. Came from growing up poor on the rim.

But Jayne also loved coming home, more than the paycheck.

Home was Lottie, with her smiles and warm body and good food waiting for him, romps between the sheets that left him so wore out, he didn’t want to move for a year.

Home was sitting in a hot bath with Lottie on his lap, surrounded by bubbles that smelled of roses and made Skip tease him unmercifully for at least a week.

And home was his little baby-girl come running up on short, stubby legs, squealing with joy when she saw her daddy, when he swung her up high and around, planted loud, smacking kisses on her face or blew a raspberry on her fat little tummy.

Home was cuddling her till she fell asleep on his shoulder, listening to Lottie read a bedtime story or him playing a lullaby on his old battered guitar.

Home was waking up to her calling “Dada!’ over and over again, till he dragged himself out of bed and picked her up, fixing her breakfast and playing in the little sitting room, giving Lottie a badly needed extra hour of sleep.

Jayne hated being gone. It never was for long, but even a day away was a day away too long.

Willing the hovercar to go faster, Jayne could hardly wait for the little house to come into view. Stumbling out of the vehicle before it had come to a full stop, Jayne grabbed his gear and rushed up to the door that already opened and revealed a brightly smiling Lottie. He pulled her close and kissed her soundly.

Home.

A business partner of Mr. Halliwell sent a request for a tracker. On one of his ranches cattle had been rustled and his own men were incapable of finding their own rear ends with a map and navigational systems, if Mr. Halliwell would be so kind as to loan him one of his boys, word had it he had an excellent tracker at hand.

Mr. Halliwell indeed did have and was so kind and Jayne had to pack up and leave his girls behind once again.

He had been promised a big bonus, which would be very welcome, because Lottie's Birthday would be coming up in a month and he wanted to get her something special.

And only this morning they had found out that their little family was likely to expand. It made Jayne happy and scared at the same time, but he didn’t do to bad with Emma, so he wasn’t likely to do too bad with the new one.

He was 28, with a little family, a nice nest-egg saved up and with a solid reputation as a tracker and reliable man in all kinds of situations. Life was good for this rim-rat with the name of a girl. Life was real good and he would be going places.

Jayne was gone three days and was close on finding his target, when a wave came in on the portable cortex his group had at the camp.

Lottie’s tear-stained face came into view, eyes puffy from crying. Her mama had taken a turn for the worse, finally losing the battle with cancer. She wasn’t expected to live out the week and Lottie wanted to go home to say her good-byes. She would take Emma with her, so Mama could see her first grandchild before she passed on. And Ma Cobb would finally have the same chance, after only seeing Waves and captures.

Jayne begged her to wait for him, he needed only another day, they had them and the day after he’d be home, going with her. There was talk of pirate activity in the Pandora Sector, he said, wait for me and we will go together, it isn’t safe.

He was sure the boss would give him some time off; he was overdue for it anyway. But he understood all too well why Lottie wanted to leave right away.

They found the rustlers half a day earlier than expected, most of the cattle was recovered and Jayne was ready to start a fight with the pilot of the little ship that was supposed to get him home because he didn’t fly fast enough.

They caught the distress call halfway back and without hesitating, the pilot turned to go that way.

Pirates attacking a passenger ship on its way to Pandora.

They came too late, but managed to get a good look at the pirate’s ship, before it accelerated and shot out of reach. It had no name, no markings, but Jayne would always recognize it. The black widow spacecraft was aptly named, being favorited by pirates and such like; dozens of them flying in half the sector, all looking like their deadly namesake from earth-that-was.

They docked in hopes to find survivors, but there were none.

The cruelty the pirates had displayed sickened even the most hardened of the men and some of them started crying when they found the murdered children.

Jayne didn’t cry.

He picked up Lottie and little Emma; brought them over to the ship he had traveled on, threatening to shoot everyone that got in his way. Held a gun to the pilots head when he refused to fly the rest of the distance to Pandora.

Lottie and her Mama were buried with little Emma resting between them.

Jayne never returned to work for Mr. Halliwell.