title: Dress Up

author: nancy

rating: G

pairing: Mal/Simon

archive: sure! just let me know!

email: feedback always welcome. :o) the_tenth_muse1@yahoo.com

website: http://www.geocities.com/the_tenth_muse1/

sequel: so ok. I wasn't going to write a sequel, let alone a series, but you people have the ddest requests! *grin* and it looks like there will be at least one more story after this one. *snicker* this is the sequel to Secrets, in case you didn't read that story. you probably should for this to make real sense.

summary: Simon gets an unexpected shock.

warnings: none, really. just a bit of harmless fluff...with floppy bows. *grin* mild spoilers for Ariel. no silk shirts were harmed in the making of this fanfic. ;o)

disclaimer: not mine, never will be, not making any money, gorram it!

Dress Up
by Nancy

It should have been funny. It should have been hysterical. But it was downright disturbing, instead. He'd knocked, he really had. He'd knocked pretty loudly, he'd thought. There hadn't been an answer, just more giggles and a soft, baritone laugh. He'd shaken his head at the sound and, a little nervous at River and Jayne apparently getting along so well, he had gone ahead and walked inside without a second thought.

And there, in all his glory, complete with beard and work-gloves, was Jayne in a bonnet, a silky blouse, and swishy piece of fabric around his waist that was obviously supposed to be a skirt of some kind. River was tying a floppy bow around Jayne's throat and still giggling when they both realized that they weren't alone anymore.

Simon had just stood there in shocked disbelief, mouth hanging open. Big, mostly-mean, and always intimidating Jayne was standing in his sister's room playing...dress-up? What was he doing with River at all, let alone...playing dress-up?

Jayne and River had stood silent for a second, then, for whatever reason, looked at each other and started laughing hysterically, when logically, it should have been him laughing. Still in a daze, Simon had just turned right around and left the room, headed back to his sanctuary of the infirmary.

In that one moment, so many of his assumptions about Jayne had been shot to hell. That was probably the most disturbing thing. He had always been able to count on Jayne being the hard-ass. The one who punched fist and asked questions later, if at all. The one to belittle and betray. But none of those could be true any more. You just didn't go through something like that for someone you didn't consider a friend.

What was more...you didn't do it if you weren't having fun.

"Hey."

Mal's voice startled him enough that Simon dropped the tray in his hands. If not for the Captain's quick reflexes, there would have been shattered glass all over the place.

Setting the tray on a counter, Mal frowned as he took in Simon's shaken appearance. Moving swiftly, he took Simon's hand and asked, "What's wrong? Is River okay?"

Blinking slowly, Simon opened his mouth to respond, but couldn't find the words.

"Come on, Simon, you're scaring me here," Mal said softly, running a hand over Simon's hair. "Tell me what happened."

Frowning now himself, Simon answered, "I'm, ah, I'm not sure...Jayne was..."

"Jayne was..." Mal prompted.

Abruptly collecting himself, Simon shook his head. "Sorry, Mal. I didn't mean to scare you. I just...I need to go talk to River."

Knowing that Mal was staring after him, confused, didn't slow Simon a bit as he hurried back towards his sister's room. He only prayed that if Jayne was still here, he was properly dressed. His mind could only take so much chaos in a single day.

* * * *

River was sitting on her bed, along thank God, and drawing, when Simon entered. She was demure and quiet, occupying herself as a young lady should. By not putting colorful, girly things on a man twice her size and breadth.

She looked up and smiled happily at him. "Simon! You should have stayed with us! I almost got Jayne into a real dress this time!"

This time!? Dear God. How long had this been going on? Running a hand over his brow, Simon sat on the bed beside his sister. "Mei-mei. How long have you and, uh, Jayne been doing that?"

Frowning, River asked, "Playing together?"

It sounded so innocuous when she said it. "Yes. How long?"

Her face scrunched up in concentration as she thought about it. "Since you and Daddy Mal got together."

Three months!? Where the hell had he been, all this time? How had he never noticed? Feeling the chaotic thoughts closing around him in another fog, Simon shook his head.

River took his hand and turned to face him, drawing her legs up to sit cross-legged. "You have Daddy Mal. Kaylee has Inara. Zoe has Wash. Book has his hair. Poor Jayne has no one, not even a teddy bear. He was sad."

Sad? The thought had honestly never occurred to Simon, and it made him feel rather ashamed. Of course Jayne would feel out of place now that everyone had predominantly paired off. Inara and Kaylee might not be a steady couple, but the rest of them were. But it just wasn't...seemly... for Jayne to be locked away with his sister...playing dress-up?

"I wanted to make him happy," River said quietly, squeezing Simon's hand and refocusing his attention on her. "No one makes him happy. No one makes me happy. Why can't we play together and be happy?"

Put that way, there was no reasonable objection he could make. He was a little hurt at the thought that he obviously wasn't everything she needed him to be, though, of course, there was no way he could be. It still made him very uncomfortable, though, she was still so young. "Mei-mei..."

Shaking her head, River released his hand and jumped to her feet, arms crossing stubbornly over her chest. "No. We're *just* playing, Simon. That's all."

Which, of course, made him feel like an old lech for thinking that way, but someone had to.

"He's not the same," River insisted.

Simon was cautious as he asked, "The same as what?"

"He won't hurt me again. He won't hurt you again. He's sorry about before. We've talked about it."

Jaw dropping for the second time, Simon stammered, "You talked about it? About Ariel?"

Somewhat indignant, River declared, "Friends talk. And friends play. Friends trust, Simon. Please, can't you be friends? It's just you now, you and Daddy Mal who don't trust Big Jayne. But he will if you do. Daddy Mal follows you now. If you say it's okay, he'll be okay with Big Jayne again. And that's what makes Big Jayne so sad. I want you all to be happy."

Simon got to his feet the moment the tears started and pulled her into his arms to comfort her. "It's all right, River, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. I'll talk to Jayne, I promise."

Her tears dried up suspiciously fast at his promise and she pulled away, beaming. "Good, good, good! One family for real now!"

Holding up a hand, Simon warned, "Just talk, River. I'm not promising you anything."

But she was already stretched out back on the bed, charcoal in hand. Shaking his head, feeling thoroughly manipulated, Simon sighed and left to find Jayne.

* * * *

Not surprising, Jayne was in his quarters. His gruff call to enter sent a bit of a shiver through Simon that was firmly stomped on. Also as expected, Jayne was on his bed and cleaning a very large gun, though Simon knew it wasn't Vera. The fact that he knew that added a surreal touch to an already bizarre afternoon.

"Jayne."

Jayne looked up and a smirk crossed his face. "Simon."

"Look, Jayne, I'm not sure what, ah, what I walked in on but..."

"You know exactly what you walked in on."

"Well, okay, yes. I do. But that's not..."

"And now you want to know my intentions."

"Ah, yes, I suppose so, but..."

"Because no grown man should be doing that, right?"

It sounded suspiciously like Jayne was trying to convince himself. Simon stopped short and really looked at the other man. He knew that tense body-set, had seen it often enough on River when she knew she'd done something wrong but didn't understand what or why. Another shock rippled through him as Simon realized that the play really had been innocent. Which meant that Jayne really did feel sad and alone. And perhaps he wasn't going to betray them again, after all.

Eyeing Jayne thoughtfully, Simon suddenly knew who was in control of the situation. River had been right about everything and he wondered, idly, if Mal really would take his cues from Simon now. Putting that thought away for later, he said, "You've never...we've never talked about Ariel."

Jayne flinched. "Nope."

"Are you sorry?"

"Yep."

"Will you ever do it again?"

"Never."

All throughout, Jayne had kept his eyes firmly on the gun as he wiped and re-wiped the same bit of metal. Simon could see the white-knuckled grip and moved to stand beside the larger man, stilling the movement by putting his own hand over Jayne's. "Look at me and tell me."

Jayne immediately looked up and whispered, "I'll never betray you again, Simon. I'm sorry."

The grief and guilt were too real to deny, so Simon nodded slowly. "All right, then. See that it doesn't."

He had reached the ladder before Jayne's astonishment faded enough for the mercenary to ask, "That's it?"

Smiling faintly, Simon looked back at Jayne and answered, "Unless you'd like for me to think up some kind of punishment?"

"Ah, no, no that's fine. But, what about...?"

Simon waved his hand airily, knowing the other man was asking about his play with River, and replied, "It's fine. Just...pick another color, will you? That shade of green does nothing for your
complexion."

END