He watched her play, nimble
fingers twisting around the necks of plastic beasts, wrapping
around their bellies, while she sat in his chair, until
finally he reached out, snatched them away.
“Give me those.” Jayne cradled Wash’s dinosaurs.
“Shouldn’t play with things that ain’t yours.”
“Jayne!” Kaylee reached over his shoulders, pulling them free.
“That wasn’t very nice.” She passed the creatures back to River.
River peered up at him from between strands of dark hair and
smiled, knowing. “He’s still here, can’t leave. We won’t let
him.” She petted the dinosaur.
“Besides,” Kaylee said, gesturing at the pilot’s console. “They
belong here.”
Jayne snorted, stood. “You’re both gorram crazy,” he growled,
stomping out of the cockpit. He brushed past Mal on his way out;
stopped to rest against the corridor wall just out of sight,
rubbing a too-big hand over tired eyes.
“What’s his problem?” He heard the creak as Mal settled into his
vacated chair, the clicking as he checked over Serenity’s
instruments.
“Oh, nothing, Cap’n.” said Kaylee. “Just Jayne bein’ Jayne.”
“He sees their ghosts.”
Peering over his shoulder he watched River hold the dinosaurs up
to Mal in supplication.
Ghosts. Yeah, he saw ghosts. Hauntings that caught him off
guard, quick flashes of memory, when he’d come around the corner
and see River’s dark head instead of Wash’s bright one, hear
River’s airy voice twisting words that made no sense at all
instead of Wash’s raucous laughter, his cheerful optimism.
Times like these he wished he’d been smarter, found some way to
get the money on Ariel and run, before he’d actually come to
care for Serenity, for the inhabitants of Serenity’s
tiny self-contained world.