Chinese translations: Whoo dahn: Stupid; Cai bu shi: Yeah, right!; Jien tah-duh gway: Like hell!

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The sky was full of stars, so full Jayne felt like he was off planet on Serenity rather than lying on a large blanket in the cool of the night, his head cradled in Alice’s lap. Kinda nice lookin’ at ‘em from here, he thought.

It had been Alice’s idea to go for a picnic supper, and she’d known of a nice, secluded place not far from the landing field. Jayne had been surprised when she’d pulled fresh food out of the small hamper rather than modified protein bars. He was so used to protein bars, and those gorram strawberries Kaylee liked so much, that he’d almost forgotten what real food looked like let alone tasted like. To bad there weren’t any apples, Jayne mused while he ate a carrot, his head in April’s lap.

“Yep. I guess there are some advantages to bein’ a dirt farmer way out here.” He rolled over and reached up to pull Alice down next to him. Surprisingly, she slapped his hands away.

“Dirt farmers! Whoo dahn! We ain’t dirt farmers.” Alice sounded insulted. “We’re miners,” she said in a lofty voice. Stroking Jayne’s hair and running her fingers along the rim of his ear, she looked at the stars. “Rich miners,” she breathed.

“Cai bu shi,” Jayne muttered. He didn’t like being called stupid.

“Oh, Jayne. I’m sorry, but I just hate bein’ called a dirt farmer.” She gently pushed Jayne’s head off her lap and lay down next to him, her head on his chest. “We’re miners, Jayne, miners. Remember that.”

“Uh-huh.” Jayne wasn’t really thinking about dirt farmers or miners any more. When Alice had moved, Jayne’s hand had fallen onto her Callahan. What a perfect world, Jayne thought. Real food and a woman with a Callahan.

“Hey, Alice? How’d you get this Callahan, anyway.” One handed, he lifted the gun and held it up to the night sky, seeing its silhouette against the stars. It was heavier and a bit bulkier than Vera yet still had that classic Callahan look and balance. “I ain’t seen one like this before.”

“Probably cuz it’s old, Jayne.” Alice sat up and gently took the gun from him and turned it in her hands. “This was my mama’s, before she met my pa. She got it from her ma. It’s one of the early Callahans, long before the auto-lock feature was added.” She handed it back to Jayne. “My mama gave it to me when she died. Said a girl should always have something special she could rely on.” Alice reached out and brushed imaginary dirt off the site. “I take good care of it. I take it out on the plain and practice with it, too. I’m pretty good.”

“Sounds like you had a pretty special ma, Alice, to give you a gun like this.” Jayne reverently placed the gun back onto the blanket. “On second thought,” he muttered and moved the gun to the edge of the blanket, out of range of any moving bodies. He then pulled Alice down next to him, stroking her back with the hand that had just held the gun. One of these days he was going to have to figure out how to hold a girl and a gun at the same time without shooting his fool head off.

“Jayne?”

“Hm?”

“You like it here, then?” Alice reached up and lightly stroked along Jayne’s jaw.

“Much as any other place, I suppose.” Jayne was thinking of things not related to guns or stars. He shifted to his side and pulled Alice closer to him. “It’s got certain attractions,” he growled. He leaned forward to smell her hair, cinnamon, and then kissed her brow.

“You like it better on that ship over there, then?” Alice started unbuttoning Jayne’s shirt--slowly.

Jayne smiled, congratulating himself. He was glad he’d worn the one shirt he owned that did have buttons. “Ship’s okay. Could be better, I suppose.” Jayne tugged at the back of his shirt to ease it out of his trousers.

“How?” Alice helped Jayne pull out the last of his shirt and pushed it off his shoulders. “How could it be better?”

“Dammit, girl. I got better things to do right now than talk about that ship!” Jayne was having a hard time concentrating on what he wanted to be concentrating on. He wished she’d just shut up for a spell. Handling guns always made him hot and he’d thought he’d found a woman with the same penchant, and now she just wanted to talk!

“Jayne?” Alice whispered. “Wanna be rich?”

“Jien tah-duh gway!” Jayne was getting angry. Things had been going nicely and now they weren’t. What was this girl still talking about, anyway!

“Seriously, Jayne.” She pushed on his chest and leaned back to look at him. “It may not seem like it, cuz we can’t let the Alliance know or they’d take everything, but we’re very rich. If you and I was to work together, it could all be ours.”

”Who says I want to have any part in minin’?”

“That’s right, you don’t! You want that ship out there, don’t you.” Jayne’s sudden stillness let Alice know she had his full attention. “That’s right, Jayne. You help me with my pa. Then together we can take care of the captain, and that ship is yours. I’ve had a long time to work this out.” She led Jayne’s hands to the buttons on the front of her dress and then began loosening Jayne’s belt buckle.

Jayne was no longer interested in buttons or clothes or the bare skin beneath them. Every thought had become very sharp and clear, focused on one thing. He closed his hands around hers and pulled the two of them into a sitting position. “Fun can be fun, but it can wait a sec. Why don’t you tell me what you got in mind, Alice.”