Since We Found Serenity (A Firefly Fanfiction)

Chapter 5: Civilized Folk

Four years later...

Jayne sat in what he called his little slice of heaven. He had the entire hold to himself, so he had opened the cache of his favorite guns, pulled out the oil and the rags, and systematically selected, stripped, and polished each piece till he could see his face in their glossy black surfaces. He sighed with rapture as hammers and pins slid smoothly into place. He stared down the sights and admired the razor-sharp accuracy of the crosshairs. He—

Jayne froze as a coldness unfolded down his spine. The snub-nosed handgun with the redwood-inlaid grip wasn't where he had left it. His mind automatically catalogued the locations of everyone on the ship, lest anyone wasn't where they were supposed to be. Was there a traitor among them?

He still had not moved when a heavy blow landed across his back. Jayne landed on his hands and knees as long limbs wrapped around his neck and began squeezing—and bouncing against his head.

"Uncle Jayne give horsey ride!"

Thud, thud.

"Horsey ride! Horsey ride!"

Jayne lifted a hand and pulled the legs down straight so they stopped cutting of his air supply.

"Ready, kid?" He asked his erstwhile attacker.

A giggle, and small hands buried themselves in his curls. "Ride'em, yee-haw!"

With a buck and a snarl, Jayne began a haphazard, heavy-footed gallop around the maze of weapons crates. The tyke on his shoulders screamed and flopped, wrapping his hands around Jayne's eyes when the bouncing got too much.

"Hey, kid!" Jayne tried to twist out of the way, but the hands held on. "Yer diggin' my eyeballs out! I can't see—"

His boot landed on something unstable and Jayne ejected his passenger as his feet shot out from under him. Man and boy landed with heavy thuds that brought the others running.

"What in the VERSE is going on?" Zoe emerged on the walkway. "Lief? Wo di tian a—Lief!" She descended the steps and stepped past the moaning gunman to rescue her son from the crate he landed in.

The copper-headed toddler held the stock of a gun almost as big as he was. She immediately yanked it away.

"Lief Hoban Washburne you put that down this instant! You know you aren't supposed to have guns!"

The door to Inara's shuttle burst open and Captain Mal stumbled out, hair tousled, suspenders tangled around his knees, and fighting furiously with the button on his fly. "Wh-what is it? What happened?"

Zoe was already carrying her son to the stairs. "Nothing serious, thank God; Jayne was letting Lief play with guns."

"Hey!" Jayne grumbled. "It was an accident! I tripped!"

"Now, Zoe," Mal chided, "we both know that if there's anybody fit to teach Lief about guns, it would be Jayne; he knows those weapons inside and out; he wouldn't even dream of harming the boy."

Lief, aware that he was the subject of the conversation, took advantage and began squirming so hard, Zoe had to set him down.

She looked hard at the captain. "With all due respect, sir," she replied. "If my son is going to learn about guns, he will do so from nobody but his mother!" She turned to where she had set him. "Lief, baby—"

But the "baby" had already moved on. Zoe's frantic eyes searched till she spotted him—up on the catwalk, climbing the outside of the railings!

"LIEF!" She shrieked. "GET DOWN!"