Title: Heart on a Chain
Series: Mercenary Series
Author: Azar
Timeline: A few
months after There Are No Claims on You
Pairing:
Jayne/Jamie
Rating: PG
Summary: Jameson Saito gets an unexpected gift.
Feedback: azarsuerte@livejournal.com
Ran Saito was a wealthy man, but he had
worked hard every day of his life to achieve that wealth and sometimes he felt
that was something his wife had never quite forgiven him for. Of course, there
were a lot of things that Lianna had never forgiven him for, not the least of
which was allowing their daughter to develop a mind of her own. It was that sin
in particular that was the reason their estrangement had only grown worse in the
months since Inara's visit; where once they had slept in separate bedrooms and
been little more than civil to each other, now Lianna barely even spoke to him
and the reason was plain for anyone to see.
Aside from the increased coolness between Ran and his wife, however, life on
Treasure had almost settled back to normal in the wake of Serenity's departure.
As predicted, once folks got wind of the fact that only the Danvers family had
been hit, any distrust or resentment from other folks warmed to admiration.
Other than Lianna's anger, the only signs that Inara's friends had ever landed
at all were that Alin Danvers had stopped his pursuit of Jameson, and
Jameson...well, the only part of the whole mess that Ran regretted was what it
had done to his daughter.
The Winter Festival was coming up--her favorite time of year--and he could only
hope that it would lift her spirits. Whatever trouble it might cause, Jamie's
independent spirit was one of the things he loved most about his little girl,
and he hated to see her so broken.
Ran sighed and looked down at his hands. As a man who knew the odds against
surviving--or worse, thriving--on the rim, he had to respect Malcolm Reynolds
for keeping himself and his crew alive while still maintaining even a semblance
of integrity. Inara he loved like a second daughter, even though she was
Lianna's niece, not his own. The rest of the crew he'd developed a healthy
respect, fondness or both for, but Jayne Cobb...
Jayne had broken his daughter's heart, and that wasn't the sort of thing any
father could forgive easily. So why was he standing outside Jamie's door with a
letter in his hands that bore no return address except for one scribbled
word--Serenity? Inara had given no indication that she was going to be visiting
again any time soon--he doubted they would see her again as long as she stayed
on board Serenity--but even if she had, he knew his niece's perfect penmanship
and the scrawl on the outside of the envelope was definitely not it.
Paper mail was rare these days, hand-written mail rarer--most people preferred
the simplicity and immediacy of sending a wave. But mankind had as yet to figure
out a way to send actual objects electronically, and there was a bulge in the
envelope that strongly suggested something inside it besides notepaper.
Part of him wanted to just throw it away, whatever it was. Chuck it in the
nearest rubbish bin and pray Jameson's heart would be healed before anybody
thought to come looking for it. Unfortunately, Mal Reynolds wasn't the only man
in the 'verse with a semblance of integrity. Try as he might, Ran couldn't bring
himself to lie to his daughter, not even for her own good. So, taking a deep
breath and issuing a quick prayer for the best, he knocked soundly on her door.
~+~+~+~
Jayne scowled at the paper in front of him, one of several on the table but the
only one left not yet crumpled into a ball. He still thought this was the
gorramned stupidest idea ever--not like he'n Jamie'd ever needed much in the way
of words--but Kaylee'd insisted and she could be awful persuasive for such a
little thing: "You can't just give it to her with nothin' to even show who it's
from, Jayne--t'ain't proper. Won't hurtcha to jot down a little note for her.
Just to say Merry Christmas and you miss her and such."
Had to be the damned doctor's fault--he didn't remember Kaylee ever caring for
what was proper 'fore he came along. Just one more thing gone wrong on account
of the Doc and his crazy sister: Wash and the Shepherd gone, the Alliance on
their ass all the gorramned time, and now him writing ruttin' love letters.
Growling, he gripped the pencil tighter and dragged it across the page one
aggravating word at a time. It weren't too fancy. Hell, it weren't even all that
romantic, but he didn't have no more paper neither.
Aw, hell. He weren't no eloquent type and she knew it. This'd just have to do.
~+~+~+~
Jamie's hands shook as she held the package. Her father had been reluctant to
leave her alone even after she'd asked him to, and no wonder--it was from Jayne,
it had to be. The writing on the outside of the envelope was too rough for Inara
or Simon, too masculine for Kaylee, and no one else on Serenity would have any
reason to write to her.
It had been months since the ship and her crew had left and they hadn't heard a
word from any of them in that time. She'd begun to wonder if even Jayne had
forgotten her, which strangely enough hurt worse than him leaving in the first
place. She didn't want to be forgotten; she didn't want to be easy to forget.
He'd kissed her--really kissed her--that had to mean something, right? So why
the long silence?
Now that silence was broken, and Jamie cursed her own contrary nature because
now she was even more terrified.
Harlan would be laughing himself silly if he could see her right now. She could
hear his voice in her head as clearly as if he were in the room, instead of
halfway across town: "Oh, for Buddha's sake, Jamie, open the gorramn thing
already! A man's package doesn't do you a bit of good if you just let it sit
there..."
She felt herself color a little, embarrassed that she could come up with such a
suggestive remark even in the guise of her best friend's voice. But he was
right, a more stubborn part of her argued. She was never going to shake this
fear if she never opened the envelope.
Gritting her teeth as if the task were somehow unpleasant, she fumbled for the
letter opener on her dressing table and slit the end open with one swift
movement. Almost immediately, a flash of silver tumbled out into her hands,
something that revealed itself to be--when she unclenched her fist--a simple,
beautiful locket in the shape of a heart. Jamie's mouth dropped open in
astonishment--this was from *Jayne*? Her Jayne? The man who probably wouldn't
understand the concept of giving a girl flowers, let alone jewelry?
Stunned, she fumbled in the envelope for the scrap of paper she'd seen in it,
unfolding it with one hand shaking and the other sweating all over the necklace.
"Jamie--" the note started, and she laughed rawly. Only Jayne would forget the
"dear" in a love letter...if that's what this was. She read on eagerly.
"My Ma always said you get something nice for your somebody for Christmas, and I
guess you're the closest thing to a sombody I got. Ain't much, but then I ain't
even sure you celebrate Christmas on that fancy world of yours and Kaylee says
it's pretty so I guess it's good enough. --Jayne"
Jamie's heart jumped into her throat. ...the closest thing to a somebody I
got...
Coming from most men, that would be an insult. But this was Jayne, who didn't
speak the language of decorum, and it told her everything she'd been hungering
to know. In his own coarse, loveable way...he'd given her his heart.
Still shaking, she opened her hand and lifted the locket from it, struggling to
hold her hands still long enough to fasten the clasp around her neck. When she
finally succeeded, she laid one damp hand over the silver weight at her breast
and smiled genuinely for the first time in weeks.
~+~+~+~
"Heart on a chain," River murmured from nowhere, startling Jayne who hadn't even
heard her approach on those gorramned quiet feet of hers. She tilted her head to
the side so that her eyes were about level with the locket where it dangled
loosely from his hand as he scrawled his name to the bottom of the note. Her
speech lapsed back into the sing-song quality it had always possessed before
Miranda--she was better now much of the time, but what had been done to her was
something that could never fully heal. "Pulling, pulling, can't stretch much
farther before it'll snap back to where it belongs."
Jayne leapt to his feet, unnerved by her sudden appearance and her words to the
point of forgetting that she could take him down as easily as if she were twice
his size instead of half. "All right, I had just about all the crazy I can take
outta you. Now git!"
River smiled and scampered away like a rodent. Watching her go, Jayne shuddered
and for a moment balled the necklace up in his fist as if to hide it. Then, with
a grunt, he opened his hand again and dumped chain, charm and letter back into
the envelope and sealed it with one swift swipe of his tongue. "Xiongmeng de
kuangren--every word comes outta her gorramned mouth, don't bring nothin' but
trouble with it."
He looked down at the letter in his hands, then back up at the empty doorway, a
speculative frown creasing his features. "...nothin' but trouble."