Title: Dawning
Series: A new day Dawning
Author: Sevangel
Disclaimer: Not mine
Rating: PG-13

Previous Chapters

-

Jayne carefully lifts River into his arms, being extremely careful not to jostle her body at all. "Let's go get somethin' in your belly."

River nods and leans her head against Jayne's neck, inhaling his scent deeply.

"You smellin' me kitten?" Jayne asks with a laugh.

"Yes." River murmurs, burrowing her nose under his ear. "You smell good."

"Don't know bout all that." Jayne walks down the steps and into the mess. "I don't smell all that good."

"Ain't that the truth?" Mal comments.

Jayne glares at him and then gently sits River down on her chair before sitting down on his. He dishes out some protein into the bowl in front of River before filling his own. "Eat up, kitten."

River digs into the protein in front of her, the chunky, kinda smelly sludge tasting a lot better than she ever remembers it tasting. And suddenly she's not only hungry, she's famished. She finishes her bowl in a matter of minutes and reaches out to get more.

"Gorram, kitten, you that hungry?" Jayne's own spoon is held in midair as he watches his wife eat in amazement.

"It's so good." River murmurs.

"You sure she ain't just sick?" Mal questions Simon. "First she said Jayne smelled good and now she's actually enjoying the taste of the protein."

"Her senses of taste and smell have changed." Simon replies. "She'll find things that she's never enjoyed before to taste wonderful and find some of the things she loves taste awful. The same things with scents. Her emotional state will also jump around erratically, at times being incredibly happy and at others absolutely miserable. And her sexual appetite will increase tremendously…."

"Simon!" River screeches. "I am sitting right here and could you not talk about my appetites?"

"Wait a gorram second." Jayne says, looking at Simon. "We can still have sex?"

"She's pregnant, Jayne, not sick." Simon's cheeks turn a little red as he looks down at his bowl. "As long as she doesn't over exert herself, she can still perform normal activities. I can give you a list of things she can and can not do."

River jumps to her feet, knocking her chair over. "I am not a little girl and I do not need a list of things I can and can not do." She says, her voice edging on hysteria. "And I may be pregnant but that's no need to treat me like I'm a breakable."

"Kitten." Jayne stands up and places a hand on her arm.

"No!" River shouts. "I will not be treated as nothing but a incubator with no thoughts and feelings of her own."

"I don't right know what an incubator is but I know you ain't one." Jayne says. "You're just in a delicate way…."

"I am not delicate!" River shouts, her bottom lip trembling.

"No." Jayne pleads. "Don't you dare cry."

"Don't yell at me." River whimpers, a tear dripping down her face.

Jayne steps forward and gently cups her face, his hands gently massaging her cheekbones. "Kitten, don't cry; I'm a bastard, didn't meant to yell at ya."

"Not crying." River says, sniffing back tears.

"No, guess you ain't." Jayne agrees with a small smirk. "Now, why don't you sit back down and finish eatin'."

River nods, straightens her chair, and sits back down.

"Huh, guess that was one of those mood swings you always hear pregnant women have." Mal comments.

River throws her spoon at him.

Mal wipes the protein off his cheek and glares at the genius. "Don't think that was necessary."

"Yes, it was." River replies. "May I have my spoon back, please?"

"There's one thing I don't understand." Mal comments as he tosses River's spoon to Jayne. "I thought she was on some shot thing to keep her from gettin' knocked up."

"I done thought that too." Jayne agrees.

"It's my fault." Simon says quietly.

"How's it your fault I got my wife pregnant?" A very confused Jayne asks.

"You remember when she was sick?" Simon replies.

Jayne just glares at him.

"Of course you do." Simon says, absently rubbing his eye. "Anyways, the antibiotic I gave her must have interfered with her birth control shot. I honestly didn't think about it when I was giving it to her, not that it would have stopped me from giving it to her anyways."

"Ain't you supposed to think bout those kinds things?" Mal questions curiously.

"Yes." Simon agrees, actually looking a little upset. "But honestly, as a surgeon, I never really had to consider if something I administered would interfere with birth control."

"Hell, doc, it's alright." Jayne says.

"Yes." River agrees, patting Simon on the back. "Your mishap has resulted in something good."

"Gee, thanks." Simon replies. "I'll try to screw up more often."

"Whadda ya mean, try?" Mal comments with a grin. "Don't that happen every time you talk to Kaylee." Then he's wiping his cheek again. "Gorramit, little Kaylee."

"Don't make fun of my man." Kaylee grins at the captain. "That's my job."

"I'd like to think I make fun of him just as much as you." Jayne says.

"Actually, you've been relatively nice to Simon lately." Wash comments. "It's starting to become a bit scary, to be truthful."

"Hey, I gave him a black eye a while back and threatened to kill him not more than thirty minutes ago. What more do you want?" Jayne asks.

"I don't know." Wash replies. "Something in the sissified category."

"Wait one gorram second." Jayne smirks, understandin' finally dawning on him. "This ain't bout me bein' mean to the doc; it's bout me bein' mean to you, ain't it?"

"Husband, are you feeling neglected?" Zoe asks with a smile.

"We had a thing." Wash explains. "He made fun of my size and the way I dress while I called him ape-like names and mocked him. It worked and worked well. But now he's gone and become all…nice."

"NICE!" Jayne bellows. "I ain't now nor have I ever been nice. You know what's good for you, you won't call me nice again, dong ma, little man?"

"Fine." Wash agrees with a smile. "You're not nice; you're sweet and romantic."

Jayne's eyes go big as he jumps to his feet, intending to pummel Wash when he feels a little hand grab his arm.

"He's just teasing you." River says, smiling up at her husband. "Isn't that right, Wash?"

"You didn't have to tell him." Wash pouts. "I was having fun."

"You were about to get your gorram face knocked in." Mal comments. "Neither one of ya got the sense of a gorram goat."

"And you're so much smarter?" Inara questions curiously. "A man who has been shot so many times he's actually lost count?"

"Some of them bullet wounds were part of the plan." Mal defends.

"And that's the scary part." Inara replies.

"And I don't recall askin' you your opinion on my jobs." Mal says. "Why don't you stick to fancyin' up them students of yours and leave the crime to the experts."

"Fine." Inara agrees. "Zoe, good luck with your next job."

"Why you tellin' her good luck?" Mal asks.

"You told me to leave the crime to the experts." Inara replies as she gracefully stands up.

"Woman, don't you walk away from me when I'm bout to yell at you." Mal orders, following her out of the mess.

"They're fightin'." Kaylee whispers, a worried look crossing her face.

"Don't worry, Kaylee." River assures her. "They enjoy fighting with each other. In another thirty minutes, they will have makeup sex."

"Hey now, don't wanna hear you talkin' bout Mal and sex." Jayne says. "Hell, don't want you talkin' bout sex and anybody but me."

"You're being silly." River kisses Jayne on the forehead and starts out of the mess.

"Where you goin'?" Jayne catches up to her and wraps his arms around her waist.

"I find myself becoming very tired." River says with a fake yawn. "Would you like to come tuck me in?"

"Hell, yeah." Jayne drawls, kissing her neck as he slowly walks her towards their bunk.

"Go." Zoe says, smiling at the wistful look on Kaylee's face. "Me and Wash'll get the mess."

"Thanks, Zoe." Kaylee stands up, grabs Simon's hand, and drags him out of the mess before he can question what's going on.

"Maybe I wanted to go have sex too." Wash says as he helps his wife clear the table.

"I can finish this alone if you wanna go." Zoe offers with a grin.

Wash grabs a dishtowel and snaps her on the ass with it.

"Watch yourself, husband." Zoe warns with a small smile.

Wash leans back against table. "I'd rather watch you." He replies. "How you can make washing dishes sexy is beyond me."

Zoe smiles up at him before returning to the boring task of cleansing their dishes.

"It's so weird." Wash comments. "Kaylee and the doc are finally together, Mal finally moved in on Inara, and Jayne is married, to River."

"Yes, I did get the memo." Zoe replies, not looking up from the sink.

"What I mean is, this is our crew." Wash says. "All that bullshit from before and all the distrust, I think it's finally gone. Hell, even Jayne is trustworthy now."

"I know." Zoe agrees. "Mal finally got the crew he always wanted; who knew it'd turn out to be a family."

-

"I want to meet your family one day." Simon comments, rolling over onto Kaylee and cupping her face. "I want to meet the mother of the woman I'm going to marry."

"Huh?" Kaylee gasps.

Simon grabs something off Kaylee's radio. "I want so very much to give you the verse but I know you don't care about that." Simon says quietly. "You've got one of the purest hearts I've ever seen and I can't imagine not seeing it every day for the rest of my life. And you deserve so much better than a fugitive boob of a doctor but I love you, Kaylee."

"I love you too, Simon." Kaylee whispers, tears filling her eyes.

Simon swallows heavily and takes Kaylee's left hand. He slips the small band on her finger and looks up at her face with a hopeful yet terrified expression. "Will you marry me, Kaylee Frye?"

"Yes!" Kaylee squeals. She throws her arms around him and presses the biggest kiss on his mouth, her lips salty from her tears.

Simon laughs at the pure bliss on Kaylee's face and presses a kiss to her ring before kissing her again. "I promise to make you happy."

Kaylee sighs into his mouth. "You already do."

-

"Damn, we need to do that more often." Mal pants, sweat running down his face as he collapses back onto his bed.

"Have sex?" Inara questions.

"No." Mal replies. "Well, yeah but I meant fight. I love fightin' with you, Nara; makes my blood boil."

"Mine too." Inara wiggles around until she's on her stomach, her naked body draping Mal's naked body. "Simon and Kaylee are getting married."

"How do you know that?" Mal asks.

"Simon used the cortex in my old shuttle to order the ring and I picked it up for him." Inara replies. "And before you start in on that 'this is my boat and I should know everythin' that goes on it' go'se, I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone, especially you."

"Why me?" Mal says. "And don't you go mockin' me again, darlin'."

"Because you have a habit of butting in where it's none of your business." Inara replies. "Because 'this is my gorram ship and ain't nothin' happen on it that I don't know bout'." Then she's squealing loudly when she's flipped over, a naked, grinning Mal straddling her body.

"Believe I done warned you bout that." Mal cracks his fingers as he looks down at Nara.

"You did." Inara agrees.

"And you chose to ignore me?" Mal growls in fake anger. "That ain't gonna fly round here, Nara?"

"Ain't it?" Then she's squealing again as Mal's fingers dig into her rib cage and armpits. "Okay, okay, I'll stop."

"Good." Mal rolls onto his back and pulls Inara on top of him, helping her straddle his hips. "You ever think bout gettin' hitched?"

"Before, no." Inara braces her hands on his chest and slowly lowers herself onto his now hard cock. "But now, sometimes."

"Wanna?" Mal asks.

"Right now?" Inara replies, one eyebrow arched.

"Sure, I am a captain of a ship." Mal says. "There, we're married."

Inara rolls her eyes. "You're going to have to try harder than that." She murmurs. "You have to win me over."

Mal flips them back over and moves one of her legs over his shoulder. "I believe that's done happened."

Inara tries to reply but nothing but a low groan comes out.

"Yep." Mal smirks. "You're mine."

-

"Jayne, it can't see us." River says, smiling at his silliness. "There's no reason for my stomach to be covered while we're having sex."

"Just don't wanna traumatize the tyke." Jayne moves down her side until his face is level with her stomach.

"It's only three months old." River says. "Far too young to be traumatized."

Jayne rests his head a few inches above her mound and intently studies her belly. "You ain't gotten no bigger sides your tits."

"In a few months I will be so fat you will not even want to look at me anymore." River murmurs.

"That's bout the dumbest thing I've ever heard." Jayne says. "First off, you ain't gonna be fat, just pregnant. Second, I could be seconds from dyin' and I'd still wanna have sex with you; my baby in your belly ain't gonna change that."

"We have to write your mother." River says softly. "And Shepard Book."

Jayne presses a soft kiss to her belly button before crawling up to cocoon her body with his. "Tomorrow."

"Hmm." River mutters, wiggling back into him.

"You know if we're havin' a girl or a boy?" Jayne asks.

"The sex can not be scientifically determined yet." River replies.

"Didn't ask bout science." Jayne says. "Asked if you knew."

"Yes." River replies. "But I didn't want to ruin the surprise for you."

"Ain't gonna ruin nothin'." Jayne assures her. "Just tell me."

River places her hand over the one he has cupping her belly. "You are cradling your daughter."

"Oh." Jayne murmurs.

"You're disappointed?" River asks nervously.

"No, not at all." Jayne replies. "Can already see her; she'll look like you, all small and dainty."

"Then why do you sound upset?" River turns around to face him. "I can hear it in your voice and see it on your face."

"What happens when some punk wants to take her out?" Jayne says, a low growl rumbling through his chest. "And you know he's gonna have all kinds of ideas bout takin' what he don't even need to be thinkin' on and then I'm just gonna have to kill him and she'll get all pissed off, probably you too."

"Jayne, she's not even born yet." River giggles, pressing a kiss against his lips. "Dating won't be an issue for at least 15 years."

"Twenty." Jayne corrects. "Hell, maybe twenty-five."

River giggles again and settles into his chest with a sleepy sigh. "It will be okay." She assures him. "She will change things, change us."

"Huh?"

"Our daughter is going to be the dawning of a new day." River explains. "Things will change after she's born, for the good."

"She will, huh?" Jayne kisses River's forehead and closes his eyes contently. "Should name her Dawn then, shouldn't we?"

"Yes." River agrees. "We will."

-

The End

Sort of-it's the end of this story but I will write some one pieces about River's pregnancy, the wedding, Mal's courtship, that kinda thing but they'll be more of drabbles than anything else. I honestly felt it should end here and don't have the desire to write her entire pregnancy. But don't worry, I will write some funny fluff about how Jayne handles a pregnant River and the birth. Thanks for reading.