Jayne's Crush by Michael J. Welch

“You really think it’s a good idea to send those two out together?” Zoë asked. She was standing on the catwalk with Mal.

“Dunno,” Mal answered. “But there’s no one else that could go with Simon right now, and with all the supplies their bringing back, we can’t afford to put anyone else in the mule anyway.”

Jayne was below them going over all the things that they were going to need to take with them, very few of which Simon agreed with. Jayne now constantly insisted on having grenades with him. Kaylee was doing her best to keep things civil between them.

“We’re going to buy supplies,” Simon kept saying. “What could you possibly need all that artillery for?”

“It’s all about options,” Jayne told him, trying to sound like he had some kind of plan concocted. “You never know what’s going to happen out there.”

Simon did have to admit that what Jayne was saying had more than once turned out to be true. But he didn’t have to admit it out loud.

“Besides,” Mal said. “It could be quite hilarious.”

“Just humor him,” Kaylee said to Simon. She was standing so close to him that they might has well have been connected at the hip. “You’ll be back quicker than you can spit.”

Kaylee no longer apologized for not speaking like a lady around Simon. He had even started to tell her that he thought it was cute.

Jayne, on the other hand, did not like how comfortable Kaylee had gotten around Simon. “Don’t you have some engine work to do?” he asked her as he threw half a dozen clips into the mule’s storage compartment.

“Oh,” she said. “Yeah, well…” She moved in close to Simon, with a look on her face that said she was definitely expecting to be kissed before she left.

“You probably don’t want to keep River waiting up there,” Simon warned her. “She may have the whole engine torn -”

Jayne looked away as Kaylee grabbed Simon and pulled him to her, and he purposely made as much noise as he could while putting a belt full of grenades into the mule. That didn’t seem to disrupt their kissing, so he threw an overcoat at Simon.

“Ai yah tien ah!” Simon looked like he might actually start yelling.

“Put the coat on,” Jayne ordered. “It’s colder than the blazes of hell out there.”

Kaylee reached down and picked up Simon’s coat, then helped him put it on. Jayne was already in the mule, and Mal had come down the stairs to open the doors for them. Snow started to blow in as soon as it could fit through.

“Keep your coat zipped up tight,” she told Simon. “Don’t need you catchin’ no cold, cuz we’d be a little short on doctors for ya.”

“You comin’?” Jayne barked at him.

Simon kissed her again, and then climbed in to the mule. He wasn’t even completely seated before Jayne hit the throttle.

Zoë was still standing on the catwalk after Mal closed the doors. Once Kaylee was out of earshot, Zoë felt comfortable speaking a little louder to Mal.

“You know, sir, I really am still fully capable of doing my job on this ship,” she said. It wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation. “I’m pregnant, not dying.”

“No need to give you any undue stress,” he told her. “You just take care of that baby.”

“I’m worried about those two being alone together,” she said.

“Oh, don’t worry about Simon,” Mal reassured her. “He can handle himself.”

“It’s not Simon that I’m worried about.”

“Jayne?” Mal asked, a little surprised.

“He’s been a little tense since Simon and Kaylee got together.”

“This is why I say that relationships on my ship are a bad idea.”

He didn’t mean to say that, but it was too late to take it back. Zoë looked down at her pregnant belly, and for a moment Mal thought she was going to cry. She looked up at him with a stare that would probably kill most men, then turned and left.

Inara had the misfortune of coming into the room just at the moment that Zoë was leaving, and nearly got run over for it.

“What did you do?” Inara asked Mal.

“Me?” he replied. “She’s the one all crazy hormonal lately.”

“You could try to show just the slightest hint of sensitivity,” she told him.

Considering that Mal was now the only man left on the ship, he didn’t think that arguing about this would be a good idea. He really didn’t like the idea of not having total control on Serenity, but he had learned to pick his battles, especially when it came to Inara.

Besides, he was too busy staring at her to think straight.