"Not Exactly Naptime FUN with River and Jayne"

[revdorothyl]

* * * *
Disclaimers, Tacit Apologies, and the First Three 'Books' here


Naptime Hide-and-Seek with River and Jayne (a slightly more 'advanced' Learn to Read with River and Jayne adventure, written in response to goddessofbirth's wonderful Naptime Chronicles 4: In Between)

Now that Jayne and River have resumed napping,
‘Serenity’ is not such a cranky ship anymore.
See everyone on the crew having a good time.
See Zoe and Inara talking about body armor.
Accessorize, Inara, accessorize!
See Kaylee beating Simon at chess.
Checkmate, Simon, checkmate!
Well, maybe Simon is a little cranky about that.

Oops! Here comes Mal.
It seems that he is still cranky.
Or maybe he is cranky again.
It is hard to tell with Mal.
Mal says he is cranky now because he cannot find Jayne.
Mal wants Jayne to stand behind him and glower while he is talking business.
Can you say “glower”? I knew you could!

Anyway, Mal is doing some pretty good glowering of his own right now.
Then Mal has an idea.
Uh-oh! That is rarely a good thing.
Mal wonders if River can help him find Jayne.
River is very, very good at playing “Hide and Seek”, you see.
But Mal is tired of playing.
Mal wants Jayne to be “It” instead of him.
Mal decides to find River and ask her where Jayne is hiding.

Things look bad for River and Jayne right now.
But look!
See Zoe come to the rescue.
Be awesome, Zoe, be awesome!
Zoe says that she will find Jayne for Mal.
Unlike Mal, Zoe knows exactly where Jayne is and what he is doing.
Well, she is pretty sure she knows what he is doing.
Probably.
Hopefully.
No, not that! (Do I need to get the soap?)

Zoe finds Jayne in River’s room, sleeping.
Yes, just sleeping.
Okay, there may be some inadvertent hand-holding.
Can you say “inadvertent”?
Never mind. It is not important.
The important thing is that River is sleeping peacefully.

See Zoe wake Jayne up.
See Jayne leave quietly so that River is not disturbed.
See Zoe and Jayne have a friendly chat in the hallway.
Chat, chat, chat.
Jayne is surprised that their friendly chat does not include threats of violence.
Or actual violence.
But Zoe knows that Jayne has done nothing wrong.
It is not his fault that he likes to cuddle while napping.
Or that River is also a cuddle-addict.
It is all perfectly innocent.
Innocent, innocent, innocent.
For now.

* * * *
Taking Turns with River and Jayne (another 'Learn to Read with River and Jayne' adventure, written in response to goddessofbirth's story, Naptime Chronicles 5: In the Cargo Bay)

This is Simon.
He is River’s big brother.
He is also a very smart doctor.
He loves his little sister very much
(Even though she is crazy sometimes).
It hurts him to see her unable to even talk straight,
Because he knows how smart and talented she is.
Simon wants to make his sister well.

This is Jayne.
He is River’s naptime buddy.
He is also a very good fighter.
Look at those muscles!
Jayne is not a doctor,
But he thinks River is kind of okay as she is.
He did not know River before she was made crazy,
But he can see that she is better lately than she was when they met.
That is good enough for Jayne.

This is River.
She is not napping right now,
Even though she is lying down and has her eyes closed
In the middle of the day.
She is not sleeping. She is unconscious.
Can you say “unconscious”?
Close enough.
River has been unable to wake up for two whole days.
Why? Why, why, why?
Because some of Simon’s medicine made her sicker, instead of better.

Even though he tries not to show it to others
(Except for Zoe, who sees all and says nothing,
Because she is just that awesome),
Jayne is just as worried about River as her brother is.
He may even be more worried than Simon.
At least Simon can do something to help River.
Jayne does not know how to help River get better from this.
He cannot hit or shoot a coma and make it go away.
Jayne does not like feeling helpless.
It makes him very angry.
Angry, angry, angry.
He is also very sleep-deprived.
Can you say “short fuse” and “extreme danger”?
I knew that you could!

Jayne has decided that Simon has had his turn
At taking care of River.
Simon’s turn will be over just as soon as River wakes up.
Then it will be Jayne’s turn to take care of her.
Jayne has very strong feelings about fair play and taking turns.
He strongly feels that fair play is overrated,
And that it should always be his turn from now on.
He will express those feelings in Simon’s blood,
If that is what it takes.

See River wake up.
See her pull out all the tubes and needles.
Look at all the blood . . . !
No, on second thought, better not look.
See River find Jayne in the cargo bay,
where he stayed on the ship to watch over her
While everybody else had to go out on business.
Jayne is very happy that River is awake at last.
Happy, happy, happy.
See? That was almost a smile.

Jayne reminds River that he promised to keep her safe.
He tells her that he will even keep her safe from her brother,
If Simon tries to do anything she doesn't want.
See River and Jayne cuddling in the cargo bay.
Jayne very much needs and wants a nap right now.
But he is supposed to stay awake and guard the ship.
What to do?

River does not want to sleep now. She just woke up.
So River insists that it is now her turn
To watch over Jayne while he sleeps.
River, too, has very strong feelings about taking turns
With the men who lo-- um, care about her.

See Jayne fall asleep with his head on River's lap.
Doesn’t he look sweet?
River certainly seems to think so.
But she will not tell anyone – especially not Jayne!
Jayne will have enough to cope with when he wakes up,
Now that he has agreed to take turns with River.
As some Reavers could testify (if they weren’t all dead),
Life tends to get 'interesting' when River says, “My turn.”

Comments

[goddessofbirth.livejournal.com]

Ah, I don't know what you meant about rough - this is one of my favorites! Best line, IMO - 'Jayne has very strong feelings about fair play and taking turns. He strongly feels that fair play is overrated...' That is just sooooo Jayne.

[revdorothyl.livejournal.com]

*blush*

Thank you! I take that as a high compliment, coming from you. :)

I kept thinking about that BDM speech Jayne gave Kaylee when they were cleaning up the cargo bay, about the circumstances in which Jayne would kill someone, and I couldn't resist.

[jabberwockpie.livejournal.com]

Then Mal has an idea.
Uh-oh! That is rarely a good thing.
*sporfle* Ain't that the gorram truth.

(Why is it that whenever I get on a Firefly fanfic kick my typing speech patterns start changing?)

[revdorothyl.livejournal.com]

It's contgagious, isn't it? :)