Guess who's back? And with a real chapter 22!

Warning: innuendo ahead.

Simon looked around the homestead, a straw hat perched on his head and a bottle of medicine in his hand.

"Have you seen River?" he asked Kaylee, who was reclined in the grass nearby, enjoying the afternoon sun. She didn't bother to open her eyes.

"She and Jayne went to the boathouse. Plannin' a late night fishing trip when the fish will be bitin'."

Simon squinted toward the small shack in the distance. Calling the humble structure a boathouse was generous.

"It's been nearly an hour. What could possibly be taking them so long?"

"Quit squirmin'! Do y'want me to finish the job or not?"

"Yes, but it's in there so deep!"

"Just count to ten and it'll be over before y'know it."

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Just hurry and take it out!"

"Nearly there and... got it!" Jayne held up the tweezers triumphantly, the wooden splinter he just removed from River's finger grasped tightly in the end.

"See, it's only a tiny, baby sliver. I'm no doc like yer brother, but I think you'll make a full recovery."

River looked at the tiny splinter of wood then at her throbbing finger. "How could such a small object cause such big pain?"

Jayne leaned back casually. "Paper cuts, slivers... Somehow, it's the smallest things tha' seem t'hurt th'most."

There was silence for a moment. River lowered her eyes and shifted away slightly.

"Like me. I'm small, but I hurt people. Even you." Her voice was barely a whisper. She stared hard at her finger.

Jayne felt a tightness in his chest, right under his scar. He reached out, gently taking her hand in his. It looked so small in his large one, her skin so pale and smooth. He ran his finger along the lines of her palm and then, as he had done so many times with his own little sisters' injuries, he raised her hand to his lips and bestowed a gentle kiss on her fingertip.

"There," he murmured, lowering her hand, "all better now."

River watched him with wide eyes. Neither of them spoke and Jayne kept his gaze firmly on the floor. He found himself afraid to look at her. Afraid of what might or might not happen if he did. For quite possibly the first time in his life, he didn't trust himself not to do something extremely stupid.

Finally, River's dreamy voice broke through the quiet.

"Do you want her?"

Jayne didn't look up.

"Who?"

"Inara."

Jayne finally raised his eyes. River's face was set, calm but impassive. Jayne gently touched her cheek with his finger, as if wiping away a tear. Then a mischievous grin spread across his face.

"I mean, if she offered, I'm not one t'say no."

River frowned at his answer and moved to push him away. Instead, Jayne threw an arm around her and they leaned back against the wall of the boat house, River cradled against Jayne's wide chest.

"Course not, stupid. With six baby sisters and you, I've got enough women to worry about."

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, listening to the sound of the lake lapping against the side of the little wooden rowboat that had been the source of the splinter. River slowly sat up, turning to face Jayne. She leaned into him, their faces only a few inches apart. Jayne felt an unwelcome stirring inside him as her long hair fell over him. He felt the impulse to brush it aside, but he didn't dare move.

"Jayne," the word was a puff of air caressing his face, "there's something that... regular girls do... But I've never had it done to me before. Will you..."

Jayne stopped breathing for a moment. Things were going to get bad real quick and he needed an exit strategy.

"...ask your ma to braid my hair."

Jayne laughed with relief, releasing all of the air he'd been holding in his lungs.

"I want it in a crown on my head like the twins have." River looked so earnest that Jayne would have felt guilty for laughing at any other time. He hauled himself to his feet, pulling her up with him.

"Shoot, girl, I'll braid yer hair m'self! Yer best friend Jayne is a man of many talents."

River smiled widely.

"I didn't know you were such an accomplished hairdresser." Kaylee commented as she watched Jayne work, his tongue sticking out slightly from the force of his concentration. His fingers moved deftly through River's long, dark hair.

"Captain Jayne is full of surprises, it seems." Mal put extra emphasis on the first word. His sarcasm was completely lost on Jayne's mother, who smiled as she and Book sat on the porch steps, shelling peas into a large bowl for dinner.

Justine wordlessly moved next to Mal, sitting beside him on a log. She watched him as he used a knife to whittle away at a small piece of wood. It was clear from his clumsy movements that he was not a very accomplished woodworker.

"Sure, it doesn't look like much now," (Mal took Justine's silence as agreement), "but when I'm finished, this little bit of wood will be a mighty fine..." He turned the scrap in his hands, looking for any sort of meaning in its shape, "piece of junk."

Justine covered her mouth with her hand and giggled. Mal smiled in spite of himself.

"Aha! So she has a voice after all!" He handed her the wood and knife. "Here, I think you'll have better luck with that than I'm having. I think I'll stick to being a ship's captain."

Justine gave him a quizzical look.

"That's right," Mal leaned in, whispering conspiratorially, "I'm the real captain of that beautiful hunk of metal over there. But don't tell anyone else. This is top secret information. And I can't have a chatty girl like you spreading my secret all over the 'verse!"

Justine smiled shyly.

"Justine, lovey, give your dear, aged mother a hand, would ya?" Ma called from across the yard.

Justine stood up quickly, scampering over obediently. She turned back to look at Mal, who pressed a finger to his lips. She mimicked the gesture and giggled nervously before following her adoptive mother inside.

Inara had quietly observed the whole exchange, a small smile on her lips. She walked over and took a seat next to Mal, her warm silks exchanged for a cool linen sundress that displayed her slim figure to it's best advantage.

Neither spoke for a moment, looking anywhere except at each other. Inara took a deep breath.

"Malcolm, I owe you an apology."

Mal turned to her with a bemused smile. "Words I never dreamed I'd hear you say."

She smiled back weakly. "You were faced with a difficult decision and I judged you because your choice was different than mine, and that's not fair."

She reached over and put a hand over his. Their eye contact lasted a moment too long and she tore her gaze away, looking at the trees and sky around them. "Thank you for bringing us here. For the iron or copper or whatever."

Mal laughed softly. "Anything to turn a profit in these uncertain times."

They smiled.

"Ouch, you're pulling too hard!"

Across the yard, Jayne and River's hair braiding had devolved into some kind of wrestling match.

"Hold still, you gorram lunatic, and it won't hurt so much! Ow! No biting!"

Ming-Yue joined the fray, running around the pair in circles, barking wildly. In the end, River emerged with a beautiful crown of braided hair; Jayne managed to escape with only a black eye.