Life on this boat. A Firefly story. #fanfic

On Pandora

Once they touched down on Pandora Lou was told her part of the plan. Her job was to sell the stash of sheepskins to Badger at a profit.
"Once that is done, you are free to go to the village where your brother serves as a Shepherd. We will be here for a few days. Inara has work to do and we need new trade," Mal told her.
"I will be happy to escort you to see Shepherd Halvard if you'd like," Book offered. Mal had told the preacher the plan and Book understood why Lou had to be kept in the dark. Going to visit Lou's brother had been Book's idea.
"That sounds like a good idea. Thank you, Mal," she replied, touched by his ability to remember her family ties.
Back in the ship, Simon was trying to teach Zoe how to stand and speak like a rich lady, while Inara was trying to find something to dress Zoe in. Inara had an appointment with another agency, but was in no hurry to get ready.
"Lou, Jayne, you go on foot. I need the mule to get in a stock of water and fuel," Mal said and practically pushed them out the door.
Jayne patted down his waistband making sure his guns were secure.
"You and your guns," Lou said.
"What. I don't wanna be caught out is all," he smiled flexing his arms making Lou laugh.
"Well. It's a sunny day, we are off for a walk through some scenic landscape with interesting scents all around. We may as well get going," Lou said.

Once they had left, Zoe and Simon hailed a taxi and left for their appointment. Wash was standing in the dock with Kaylee as they left.
"Why can't she ever dress like that for me?" He muttered looking at his wife in her expensive looking finery.
Once inside the adoption agency, they were shown a folder of pictures of girls available for adoption.
The cover story was that they were returning to Ariel following some years working as ambassadors on Shadow. They wanted to adopt because the rest of their friends on Ariel were expecting them to have children and to not have children would make them look ridiculous.
Inara had copied out the picture she had scanned on their first day so they had something to go by. Blonde children were in fashion, so when the agent asked for preferences, they described Sapphire and Brooke without raising suspicion.

Lou and Jayne made it to Badgers territory without any major problems. Even though she was slightly nervous about meeting Badger, Lou's biggest problem was walking next to Jayne. She had an almost uncontrollable urge to touch him or somehow make him touch her. For weeks she had been on that boat, up in space and so close she could touch him by brushing past. She felt embarrassed to admit it even to herself, but she had several times made up reasons to be where he was even timing her exercise routine to match his. It seemed no amount of fighting or teasing was getting her meaning through to him. And now they were on land, with lots of other people all around, she suddenly felt stupid for not actually doing something before.
Two streets away from Badger's den, Jayne suddenly grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her into an alleyway. Facing her and holding her arms he was closer than ever.
"What?" Lou asked.
"Just... Badger... he likes women," Jayne mumbled.
"Yeah, and?" Lou said confused by his information.
"Well... you're a woman..." he said helplessly.
"Gee... thanks for noticing. What gave me away?" Lou smiled.
"Just.. don't.. he might want to... and you.. " Jayne mumbled.
Lou found the butterflies multiplying in her gut and a wide grin spreading across her face.
"Just don't let him try anything," Jayne finally managed.
"I won't," she said softly. "There is only one man for me."
Jayne quickly let go of her and stepped back scratching his head.
"Right... Danny," he said and turned to walk towards the main road again.
Lou threw her hands up in frustration. What the hell was wrong with this man?

Soon after they entered Badger's den.
"Well hello there darlin'," he said and went to kiss Lou on the cheek. She put up a hand between his mouth and her cheek.
"Too soon?" He asked.
"It will always be too soon," she said giving him an acidic smile.
"But, Lou, darlin'. I thought you came back to stay?" Badger grinned widely.
"I came coz I have some trade to offer. Picked up some sheepskins on Dorian, found a ride to transport them and as per our arrangements, I am offering them to you first," she said as Mal had instructed.
Badger looked closely at Jayne.
"I see you've arrived with Captain Reynolds and his merry men. How did you find the journey?" Badger asked with poorly hidden disdain.
"Not to bad. Better than some other shuttles," she shrugged.
"Looks like you got comfortable enough," Badger said measuring Jayne with his eyes.
"Well you know. Poor defenceless woman in the big city. Reynolds was gracious enough to let me borrow this one for a couple of days. You never know...," she said.
Jayne frowned.
"Besides, I might get some fun outta this one before I hand him back," she winked before seating herself in the sofa in the corner. On the table in front of her she found a bowl of plastic wrapped hard candy and helped herself to a yellow one in an attempt to look casual and confident.
"Not bad, Badger. Looks like you've been doing some central planet trade lately. Naughty, naughty," she smiled at the trader while wagging her finger slipping the candy into her mouth tasting the sweet lemon flavour.
"Now, then. Business. I have four large crates of cured sheepskins. What's your offer?" She continued, leaning back.
"Oh, do I have an offer for you?" Badger said with a cunning smile before snapping his fingers towards his cronies who fetched a smallish wooden chest from the back with a hinged lid and a carry handle on each end.
"Turns out, little Lou, that there was a fella' here a few months ago claiming to have salvaged some stuff off a wreck. I offered him a fair deal, received the purchase but to my surprise, the stuff was branded. Marked with a name," he said creeping closer to her.
Lou felt her pulse increasing, smelling a big, fat city rat.
"Your name," Badger said.
Lou got up and walked over to the chest on the floor. It was the same chest Fred had tricked her out of on Boros. The lock was broken and the lid was open so she could see all her belongings in it. She knew her name was branded into the lid. Her clothes, sewing machine and a stash of cloth and wool was all there.
"Seems the ball is in your court," she said turning to face Badger.
Jayne walked over and looked into the crate calculating if he could take it and run.
Badger went closer to Lou with a leering smile.
"See I have a proposition for you. I will take your sheepskins and you get your box of... well... essentially crap," he said inching closer. "In addition, you develop a sudden inclination towards sending the mutt back to his kennel and spending a - shall we say... romantic? - evening in my charming company. I'm sure Captain Reynolds can do without your services untill tomorrow."
"Oh, I think you have a better chance in a nunnery," Lou replied, her voice dripping with disgust.
"Well, then I don't see how we can make a deal," Badger said.
"I have a different proposition," Lou said.
"I'm listening," Badger smiled.
"You take one step closer, and I will personally feed you that stupid hat through your backside. You will give me back my stolen property. And if you can not find any reason to buy my cargo, I will find someone else to do my business with in the future. Misogynistic attitudes does not mix well with a good trade," she said venomously with Badger standing close enough for her to smell his stale breath.
"No deal," Badger grinned.
"Fine," Lou snapped. "C'mon Jayne. We're off."
She sidestepped Badger heading for the door.
"Don't you want your stuff?" Badger asked in an ingratiating voice trying to lure her back.
"As you said, its mostly crap," she shrugged and took a few steps towards the door ironically saluting a minion on her way past him.
"Stop, stop, stop... I might have something of more value to you though," Badger said in a sing-song voice.
"What could you possibly have that could interest me?" Lou asked with disdain.
"How about the location of two little blonde girls," Badger said.
Lou turned around looking ready to rip Badger's head off.
"Where?" She asked, voice shaking.
"It will cost you," Badger said with a dirty smile.
"What. Do. You. Want." Lou sneered while quickly calculating an aproximation of how many armed men Badger had within range.
"In exchange for your box and the information, I expect your company, sans clothing, for one night. There are a few things I have never had the opportunity to experience. You sit quite high on that list," Badger said casually pulling a piece of paper out of his waistcoat pocket.
"The information is written down on this paper and will be handed over to your mate over here on his exit from my little palace," Badger taunted.
"You ruttin, evil, opportunistic little man," she spat.
Within seconds Jayne had his gun trained on Badger's head.
"I'm thinking you give her that piece of paper and let her go," Jayne grumbled.
"I forgot that the trained ape could speak," Badger said.
"Compared to you, he's quite a catch," Lou said feeling grateful for Jayne being there.
"Well if that's the idea, we can tie him to a chair and let him watch," Badger laughed.
Without loosing a moment, Lou took both guns out of her waistband and shot at the two men approaching to grab her from each side.
"Back off," she ordered.
A second later, Jayne was holding the paper in his hand and storming through the room towards Lou, holding the chest.
"We are leaving," he said firmly. Lou backed out of the room training her guns on the remaining men.
"A pleasure doing business with you, Badger," she said before slamming the door shut and running after Jayne.
As soon as they hit the main road, they slowed to a fast walk.
"Thank you," Lou said.
"Not yet. We're being followed," he muttered.
They quickly sidestepped into a sidestreet and then an alley before making their way back to Serenity. Once inside, Jayne set the chest down and put a hand on Lou's shoulder.
"Are you OK?" He asked.
"Yeah. Shiny," she smiled.
"You are one hell of a woman," he said.
Lou smiled back, grateful for the compliment.
"You wanna look at the note?" He asked holding it up. They unfolded it to find a location on Demeter written on it.
"What an idiot! He's the one who told me Demeter before I went to Boros!" Lou grumbled.
"So trash?" Jayne asked.
"No. Might be worth checking out if we pass that way," she said carefully folding the note and putting it into the chest. When she looked back up, Jayne was staring at her with an enigmatic crooked smile.
"So you think I'm a catch, huh?" he said.
"Not exactly prince charming, but you have your qualities," Lou smiled fighting down the fluttering.
"You're hardly a damsel in distress either," he replied.
"Maybe that's a good thing?" She asked grabbing the front of his shirt pulling him towards her planting a feather light kiss on his lips.
He tensed up and pulled away for a moment looking into her eyes before closing the distance between them with a deep kiss that made Lou's knees buckle.
"I've had enough of you playing around," he growled.
"Really? Then why don't you just do something about it," Lou replied dryly.
"Oh, I plan to," Jayne grinned and grabbed Lou by the hand dragging her into the ship.
"What are you doing?" Lou asked tearing her hand out of his grip.
"I thought that was pretty obvious," he said looking confused for a second.
Lou swallowed the butterflies that suddenly collected in her throat.
"A lady generally likes to be asked," she said, suddenly feeling a bit shy.
"You sure aint no lady tho," Jayne grinned.
"Still wouldn't hurt to ask," Lou replied with a flirty smile.
"Right then," he thought for a moment. Then he walked closer to Lou and put an arm around her, forcing her body close enough to feel his muscles through both their clothes.
"I intend to get you into my bunk for a few hours of beastly, sweaty, animal action," he said with a happy, dirty grin.
Lou lifted an eyebrow.
"Oh for the love of Serenity!" He huffed.
Lou bit her bottom lip to stop herself from laughing.
"Please?" He whispered hoarsely.
"That's more like it," Lou smiled and let her hands run over his muscular back while streching up stealing another kiss.
"That's it. Enough jabbering," Jayne muttered and lifted Lou up and carried her into the depths of the ship.