Title: The Cruelest Lie 6 / ?
Pairing: Mal/Jayne
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,200-ish
A/N: Sorry for the considerable delay...my muse has fled far, far away...

“Albatross! You let us outta here right now, young missy!”

 

Mal reached the now locked door just as the lock engaged and he saw River’s slight form unplug the electric kettle before dashing out of the galley, leaving him stuck alone in the storeroom with Jayne. Sighing heavily, he turned away from the window only to see the accusatory glare from his ex-mercenary. 

 

Holding his hands up in a conciliatory gesture, Mal defended, “this weren’t my idea. Ain’t had nothin’ to do with this.”

 

Throwing a part viciously back onto the shelf, his mouth twisting into a derisive sneer, Jayne made clear that he didn’t believe him. 

 

            “Uh huh,” he grunted, crossing his arms over his chest. “You just been waitin’ for somethin’ like this, Mal. Don’t give me that gou pi. Since we docked up, you been tryin’ ta spend all kinds o’ time ‘round me in spite o’ them rules Monty set. I ain’t the brightest tool in the shed, but even I ain’t that much of a dumbass.”

 

            Striving not to look at how the muscles of Jayne’s arms bulged attractively, Mal rolled his eyes and sighed; he remembered how immovable Jayne was when in a snit like this and decided to just give up, suddenly tired of the argument. “Anything I say gonna make you believe me that I ain’t behind this?”

 

            Jayne shrugged indifferently as he went back to hunting for the fuel optimizer, figuring to use the time productively. “Prob’ly not.” 

 

            “Ain’t like you got a real good track record ‘bout things bein’ trustworthy when they’s comin’ outta your mouth,” he finished under his breath.

 

            Mal heard his words, but chose to stay silent and keep an eye on the galley outside so he could flag down one of the crew should they happen by. As it was, Jayne’s mood always took a turn for the darker when he was caged somewhere, let alone when he was stuck with the person he believed responsible for it in the first place.

 

---

 

            After about ten minutes, Mal couldn’t stand the silence anymore.

 

“So. How’d ya come about workin’ for Monty?”

 

            Jayne growled, irritated that when he’d just about managed to forget that he was stuck with Mal, the man had had to go and start yappin’ at him.

 

            “Damn it, Mal, ya just can’t keep that ruttin’ mouth o’ yours shut, can ya? Always gotta be goin’ on ‘bout somethin’ or other an’ askin’ questions that ain’t none o’ your ruttin’ business.”

 

            “Well, we’re stuck here, Jayne. What else ya wanna do? I’m bored an’ I‘m hungry an’ I ain’t had my coffee yet; so just sittin’ here twiddlin’ my thumbs ain’t gonna cut it. So if you ain’t gonna talk, then I’m gonna have to. All this silence makes me a might twitchy,” he added ruefully.

 

            Tossing a random bit of metal back on one of the shelves, Jayne shot back, “Well your prattlin’ on over there ain’t doin’ nothin’ fer me ‘cept make my trigger finger itch!”

 

            Noticing a shadow at the window, Mal got his hopes up until he realized what that shadow was doing.

 

“Well we gotta come to a middle here, ‘cause our chances o’ someone findin’ us sooner rather than later just got a whole lot slimmer, seein’ as how Albatross went an’ put a sign up on the door coverin’ the window so people won’t see us in here.”

 

            Jayne frowned looked at the door and sure enough, there was a pink sheet of paper covering the small window. He could tell there was writing on both sides from the light shining through. 

 

The side facing them read:

 

Use this time wisely: TALK.

 

Also, Kaylee no longer requires parts for fuel optimization. 

 

They have been provided.

 

He squinted hard, trying to read through the paper and ink to decipher the writing on the other side; his voice slowly sounding out the words as he pieced together the message. 

 

“Serenity’s stove is non-functional. Lunch and dinner to be served on Sovereign.”

 

With a grimace, he sighed and rubbed a hand over the side of his face, “Well that’s jus’ peachy. Moony’s gone an’ thought of everythin’ then.”

 

After a beat, Jayne grudgingly bit out, “Guess it ain’t really your fault we’s in here; you’d ‘a’ made gorram sure you’d gotten your breakfast first if it was really your plan.”

 

Unable to help the smug smirk gracing his face or the urge to rub it in, Mal taunted, “Told ya.”

 

“An’ I said so! What more ya want?!” 

 

“You to talk to me, gorramit! We ain’t got nothin’ to do in here ‘til Albatross comes and lets us out so we might as well do as she says an’ talk!”

 

Jayne’s jaw jutted out in mulish petulance and he crossed his arms over his chest, “Well I don’t wanna an’ I ain’t gonna,” he finished with an emphatic nod before turning back to the shelves and attempting to categorize some of the random pieces.

 

Mal sighed heavily and rolled his eyes, growling a bit as he stalked over to the other side of the pantry and sank down onto the floor, elbows resting on knees as he leaned back against the bulkhead.

 

Nothin’ ta do but wait…, he thought to himself, giving up on getting Jayne to talk to him.

 

---

 

By the time an hour had passed, the tension in the pantry was so thick, even Jayne was feeling desperate to dispel some of it. He’d already had to resort to chucking random small parts at Mal every time the Captain started drumming his fingers or whistling or anything else that got on his nerves (which was pretty much anything that went beyond breathing). 

 

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath to rein in his temper. Maybe he could talk, he decided when he saw that he was out of small enough items to throw at his former Captain. 

 

Just then, Mal started to quietly drum his fingers on the floor again. 

 

Maybe he could talk a little.

 

---

 

The first time Mal started tapping his fingers on the floor, he’d had his eyes closed and so hadn’t seen the large bolt that had come flying at his head.

 

“What the hell, Jayne?”

 

He’d demanded only to get a satisfied grunt in return.

 

He was more cautious after that and kept an eye out for things flying his way. As time went on, he managed to collect a number of small objects that had been chucked his way.

 

Through all this, however, Jayne hadn’t said a word and so he was a bit surprised when he heard Jayne mutter, “Was stayin’ with my Ma when his ship came by an’ we crossed paths an’ he offered me a job.”

 

Mal looked at him dumbly, needing a moment to realize that Jayne was answering his question from earlier. “So you went home then? After you left here,” he prompted, hoping to keep the conversation going.

 

Jayne nodded, “Hadn’t really been plannin’ on headin’ back out no more, but Monty’s a good guy an’ I figured might as well.”

 

Genuinely interested now, Mal kept on this line. “If you was home, how’d you two happen upon each other? Ain’t never been there myself, but from maps an’ whatnot, Calderon’s a bit off the beaten path as I recall.”

 

For some reason that he couldn’t place, Jayne found that he didn’t want to tell Mal that he’d been helping the Sheriff so he opted to hedge around the subject. “Was in town is all an’ Monty’s ship came in ta do some business, legal like, an’ he offered me a job.”

 

Mal digested the information, sensing there was more to be told, but decided not tp push just yet. Instead, he half-jokingly asked, “So…ya like workin’ for Monty?” 

 

As Jayne’s expression turned thoughtful as if he was considering his answer, Mal sent him a sidelong look, “he a better Captain than me?”

 

Jayne frowned as he looked at him; trying to figure out what he was up to, “Well, yeah, mostly. He ain’t near as moon-brained as you, goin’ off half-cocked an’ not listenin’ like usual. He don’t say no ta good payin’ jobs just ‘cause he takes exception to the guy offerin’ it, an’ he don’t get us shot at gorram near every time we hit dirt neither.” 

 

He shrugged and continued on, oblivious to Mal’s hurt ego, “But then I ain’t got to shoot nobody for goin’ on five months now so that ain’t so much of a good thing neither.” 

 

Despite the painful critique of his skills as a Captain, Mal couldn’t help but smile a bit at the pout forming on Jayne’s lips at the thought of not shooting anyone for so long. “Bet your girls ‘re gettin’ mighty restless then, huh?”

 

            Jayne busied himself with cleaning some gunk out of a couple parts and shrugged, a rueful half-grin forming, “Vera’s a bit prickly nowadays, that’s fer sure.”

 

---

 

            The two talked back and forth for a bit until Jayne asked out of the blue, “So how come you been avoidin’ me last few days?”

 

            Mal’s face took on a far too innocent look, telling Jayne that Mal was in fact up to something. “Why? You miss me?”

 

            Jayne turned toward him, his jaw clenching as he strove not to lose his temper in the small space. There was no telling when River would let them out and he didn’t want to be stuck there with a dead Mal bleeding all over the place. It‘d just be right creepifyin’.

 

“Don’t you play with me, Mal,” he warned, the growl telling how short his fuse was on the subject. “I already had enough o’ your plans; don’t need to be part of any more. You want somethin’ from me, you be straight an’ up front ‘bout it.”

 

Mal shot to his feet, arms gesturing helplessly as he strove to put what he felt into words that came out in a forceful rush. This might be his one chance to say what he wanted to say to Jayne and he needed to get it right. 

 

“I want you to let me say ‘I’m sorry’. I want you ta believe me when I say that if I could go back an’ change things, I would.”

 

Losing a good deal of his steam, Mal cautiously stepped closer to Jayne, his voice quieting, “I want you to trust me again and I want you back, any way you’ll have me.”

 

His lips twisted into a sad smile, eyes still locked onto Jayne’s, “that’s what I want, Jayne. That’s it. All o’ it. You wanna know what this plan was about? It was me givin’ you the space you wanted, obeyin’ Monty’s rules, an’ me hopin’ you’d notice an’ at least get ya ta thinkin’ on me a bit, see that I’m tryin’.”

           

            As much as he tried, Jayne couldn’t break his eyes away from Mal’s throughout the Captain’s speech, a lump forming in his throat that made it difficult to swallow. They continued to stare at each other for long moments after, Jayne striving to see the truth in Mal and Mal waiting for any kind of reaction from Jayne.

 

            Unable to let himself be vulnerable around Mal again, Jayne took care to harden himself before speaking. “Yeah, well what you want an’ what’s what ain’t always gonna be the same thing, dong ma? Ya wanna fix somethin’, fix your crew. You’re gonna be a right lucky man ‘f any of ‘em stay on once we hit dirtside on Beaumonde. They’s all jus’ waitin’ ta flee from ya soon’s they can.”

 

---

 

It was another four hours – three since anything other than a grunt had been vocalized in the room – before River let them out. She directed a fierce scowl Jayne’s way as she opened the door.

 

“Should not have said anything,” she whispered to him fiercely, her finger jabbing into his chest. “Not yours to tell.”

 

Not in the mood for being lectured when he already felt bad for running his mouth when he should have just kept it shut, Jayne shouldered past her just as Kaylee and Simon entered the galley.

 

She waved cheerily, scampering up to him. “Hey Jayne! We missed ya at lunch. Was gonna show you how ta put together that optimizer I sent ya for.” 

 

Taking in his dark expression and aggressive stance, Simon inquired carefully, “I hope everything is alright, Jayne. It’s not like you to miss a meal.”

 

Just then, Mal came strolling out of the locker, his face just as annoyed as Jayne’s. “Yeah well, Doc, ain’t like either of us rightly had a choice in the matter thanks to that sister o’ yours. Took it upon herself to lock us in there this mornin’ in hopes that Jayne an’ I ‘d start conversatin’ an’ such. Best you keep her from doin’ it again. Dong ma?”

 

            Simon’s mouth dropped open a bit as Mal stormed past, feeling the need to sarcastically point out, “Yes, I’ll just get right on that. We all know River always does as she’s told.”

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