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toxic_cornSeries: Songs From a Firefly
Title: Track Two - Cowboy Take Me Away
Author: Toxic Corn
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Joss is Boss. He owns everybody except the kids.
Spoilers: Post series. I also re-work the BDM movie timeline at some point.
Warning: Raynekid fic. Not everyone's cup of tea.
Summary: Jayne's got a plan to keep his family together.
Author's Note: I should've stated before that this series is non-linear. The tracks are in the order my brain pops the story ideas into my head. Just thought I'd warn anyone so they wouldn't read this and think, "Wait, weren't they 12 and 16 not that long ago?" Thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
katsqueaks for being a super beta. Previous part and bitchin' banner can be found here.
Songs From a Firefly
Track 2: Cowboy Take Me Away
Jamey is 9 and Nettie is 5
“I’ll be seein’ all you Cobbs later, then!”
Mal’s parting words rang in Jayne’s ears as he walked the narrow little country lane towards home. Well, not walking, exactly. More like jogging.
He was always excited to come home but now, after today, the sight of the house where his wife and kids were had him sprinting with a big grin on his face.
~*~
“What’s zat one, Ma?”
“That’s a potato bug, also known as the Stenopelmatus, the Jerusalem cricket.”
Jamey scribbled this into his composition book, brow furrowed and his tongue poking out the corner of his mouth. “S-T-E…”
“Don’t worry about the spelling now, I’ll check it for you later.” Mommy turned over a leaf to inspect the other side for other insects for Jamey to record.
Nettie squirmed in her mother’s lap. “Mommy, that’s not a potato bug.”
“Hm?”
“You’re going to make Jamey get an F.”
Jamey stopped his scribbling and looked from Nettie to Mommy with a worried look on his face.
“That yucky bug with the face isn’t a potato bug,” Nettie explained. She got up out of Mommy’s lap and turned over a large rock nearby, making the insects underneath scramble around in a panic. “Daddy told me that these were potato bugs.”
Mommy nodded. “They are.”
The children stared at her.
“The two species share the same nickname, but aren’t the same. Like our Jamey and Jaime Turner,” Mommy said, naming a girl from Jamey’s class.
Nettie giggled and sing songed, “Jamey likes Jaime, Jamey likes Jaime!”
“Do not,” Jamey said, turning pink. “She smells like old cheese.” He nodded his head at the insects Nettie had revealed. “So what are those called?”
“Woodlice. Armadillidium vulgare.”
“Daddy called them roly polies.” Nettie frowned.
“And Daddy is correct. Close their door, Nettie Jane, you’re frightening them.”
Nettie carefully set the rock back into place then went back to cuddling in Mommy’s warm lap.
“D-I-L-L-I…” Jamey muttered, scribbling away.
They continued on, Jamey pointing out insects and Mommy naming them while Nettie grew more and more bored. She found herself glaring at the potato bug/Jerusalem cricket lurking in the darker shadows of the garden. Stupid yucky bug, trying to take the roly poly’s name. A sudden idea made her face light up.
“Hey Jamey, I dare ya to eat the potato bug!” She pointed at the insect.
Jamey glanced up from his homework briefly as he wrote down his last bug. “You do it first.”
“No, I dared you.”
“Well, I ain’t doin’ it.”
She pouted for a moment, then asked, “What if I put sugar on it?”
That stopped his writing. “What the- how’d that help?!”
Nettie started to giggle. “I dunno…”
Her giggles were contagious and soon Jamey and Mommy had caught them.
Suddenly, a loud voice boomed, “Woman, why you got my kids rollin’ in dirt?!”
~*~
Jayne had been worried when he wasn’t greeted at the gate. Usually, River could sense when he was home and he’d barely be in the yard before he got an armful of Jamey and Nettie.
His concern grew when he didn’t find anyone in the house. Ma hadn’t told him anything bad had happened when he’d been at his folks’ place earlier…
Then he’d heard the giggles from outside and through the window he saw River and their babies playing in the garden. The relief he felt made his hands shake.
Hey, you’re never gonna have to worry about them all alone ever again. The thought brought a smile to his face as he threw open the backdoor and dashed down the path.
Unable to resist, he boomed, “Woman, why you got my kids rollin’ in dirt?!”
They all jumped in surprise and then beamed at him so’s he couldn’t keep on his fake scowl for very long. The kids leaped up and ran at him.
“Daddy!!” Nettie got to him first and leaped into his arms. “I missed you.”
Jayne nuzzled a kiss into Nettie’s temple. “Missed you too, little bit.” He buried his face in her long, curly hair and took a deep breath, smelling the baby shampoo she used.
Jamey wrapped his arms as best he could around Jayne’s middle and squeezed. “Hiya, Pop.”
“Hiya, son.” Jayne ran the hand not supporting Nettie through Jamey’s unruly curls. “Looks like you could use a haircut, boy.”
Nettie gasped in horror. “Uh uh! Jamey’s hair is pretty!”
Jamey made a strangled sound and gave Nettie’s knee a poke.
“Hello, Daddy.” River had followed after the children quietly and now stood before him, eyes shiny and pink sundress grass stained.
She looked gorgeous.
Jayne carefully set Nettie on her feet and opened his arms wide for his wife.
“Hi, baby girl.”
She stepped close and wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on tiptoe to give him a lingering kiss.
“C’mon Nettie, let’s go inside; they’re bein’ all kissy.”
“But I like when they’re all kissy…”
Jayne chuckled but didn’t come up for air until a few more moments had passed. And even then, it was real reluctantly.
“I miss you when you’re gone,” River said, softly, cupping his cheek. “Days and nights pass so slowly without my Jayne.”
He rubbed his face against her smooth hand and rumbled, “What if I toldja I had me a plan to keep us together longer?”
~*~
Jamey had never seen his father look so excited; he was practically buzzing. Mommy was smiling, so whatever news Pop had called this family meeting to share had to be really good.
“Everybody’s been talkin’ ‘bout how much they miss their littluns when we leave ‘em planetside. So’s I got an idea where we leave the kids on Haven year round.”
“Haven?” Nettie interrupted. “You mean where Shepherd Book lives?”
“Yup, that’s the one.” Pop nodded. “Think about it; Haven’s our usual stopping place so we’ll be able to see the kids every three weeks or so between jobs. Shepherd even set up a school so’s they can still get their learnin’ and they’ll get to spend more time together than the usual Christmas gatherin’.”
Nettie squealed, “I like cousin Nova, she’s funny!”
“No she ain’t, she’s serious ‘bout everything,” Jamey said. “I don’t think she’d know a joke if it bit her.”
“That’s why she’s funny.”
Pop clapped his hands together. “So! Whaddya think?”
“Yay!” Nettie cheered as an answer.
Jamey frowned. “You said we’d be able to see the kids. Does that mean,” he looked to Ma for confirmation, “you won’t be with us?”
Nettie’s grin fell and she turned stricken eyes toward Ma. “You won’t be with us, Mommy?”
“No, Nettie, I won’t,” Ma said, softly.
Nettie sniffled. “Are we bad? Do you not love us anymore?”
“Little bit, that’s not it a’tall!” Pop dropped to his knees in front of Nettie, taking her hands in his. “We love ya so much that-“
Angrily, Nettie ripped her hands out of Pop’s grasp. “I hate you! You’re always gone and now you’re taking our mommy away!” She jumped up and ran back outside where it was starting to get dark.
Jamey hadn’t much liked the idea either, even before the revelation of Ma being away, too. He’d have to leave his school and all his friends, and he’d miss all the Cobbs who were within walking distance.
But then he saw the heartbroken look on Pop’s face and knew that it was all meant for the best. Come to think of it, Pop did spend more time on Haven than he did here. It would’ve made more sense for them to have settled there in the first place; they probably would have if Gramma Cobb hadn’t threatened to disown Pop if he deprived her of watching her grandbabies grow up.
“I better go see if…” Pop gestured to where Nettie disappeared and shambled off after her.
“Jamey?” Ma scooted over on the couch so she was right next to him. She started to stroke his hair, gently. “Is this okay with you?”
“I guess so, yeah.” He paused a moment. “Will you wave us everyday?”
“Every day,” Ma promised.
Jamey dropped his head to her shoulder and she drew her arm around him, kissing the top of his head.
“Shiny.”
~*~
Jayne picked his way through the yard to find Nettie in the garden, tossing rocks into the nearby forest.
“You’re gettin’ to throw real good,” Jayne said, softly.
“I’m mad at you.”
“I know.” He stood next to Nettie and watched the next rock she threw sail through the air and peg a tree with a satisfying CONK sound. “Guess I was so excited at the idea of havin’ you so near, I forgot to think ‘bout how you’d feel ‘bout losin’ your Ma.”
Nettie didn’t say anything but she paused in mid-throw.
“That was wrong o’ me and I’m sorry. Hell, you see her every day and…” He trailed off then sighed. “Thought I was gettin’ better but I guess I’m just as selfish as I always been.”
The rock Nettie had been holding fell to the ground. “You’re not selfish.” Her little hand curled around his. “Mommy says you spend all the time you wish you were with us out in the black so’s you can send money home to feed us.”
“Mommy’s right.”
Nettie was quiet for a long moment. Then she looked up at him with big, mournful blue eyes. “I’m sorry I said I hated you.”
Jayne swallowed with difficulty. “’Sokay, little bit. I understand.”
They stood there hand in hand for a little longer until Nettie suddenly squealed, “Look Daddy, the fireflies are out!”
So they spent the hour until bedtime chasing the bugs with no real intention of catching them.
~*~
Mal stood out on the ramp and took a deep breath of fresh air. Something about the air planetside made a body want to bottle it up and keep it forever.
Off in the distance, he could see figures approaching, pushing a big cart. Cupping his hands around his eyes, he grinned at who he saw.
“Permission to come aboard, Captain?” River called.
“Always, little witch,” Mal answered.
When the Cobb family were closer, Jayne said, “Sorry we got here so late, Mal. Jamey here had his last day o’ school and everyone wanted to say ‘bye ta him. And he needed to get his final grades.”
“Oh? How’d you clean up, Junior Cobb?”
“Four A’s and a B!” Nettie piped up, proudly.
Jamey grinned modestly.
“Good to hear you take after your ma, then,” Mal said, chucking Jamey playfully on the shoulder. “Well, Jayne, looks like you got the house packed up.” He indicated the cart Jayne had been pushing.
Jayne scowled at him then said, “We can’t leave just yet.”
Mal bristled. “And why not?”
“My Ma’s havin’ this big fare-thee-well dinner fer us. She invited ya but she’ll prolly take back the offer once she finds out you implied I was stupid.”
Mal was about to respond when Nettie interrupted, “So that’s a firefly?”
“You’ve been on the ship before, bao bei,” River said, smiling.
“I know, but I didn’t know it was called a firefly before.” She squinted up at Serenity. “She kinda looks like a real firefly if you look at her a certain way.” She beamed up at her ma. “They share the same name, but aren’t the same!”
River and the girl giggled together like it meant something as the family brushed by Mal to settle their things in their bunks.
Mal huffed out a laugh and muttered, “Yep, no doubt who her ma is.”
END
************************
Still reading? I hope so. I have a question: Should I keep going with this or stop and work on the sequel to Filcher? Or should I alternate? It's up to you guys; whatever you feel like reading, I'll post. It's all fun to write for me, anyway.
***************************
Track 1 < #1 Crush : Track Three > I'll Be There
Title: Track Two - Cowboy Take Me Away
Author: Toxic Corn
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Joss is Boss. He owns everybody except the kids.
Spoilers: Post series. I also re-work the BDM movie timeline at some point.
Warning: Raynekid fic. Not everyone's cup of tea.
Summary: Jayne's got a plan to keep his family together.
Author's Note: I should've stated before that this series is non-linear. The tracks are in the order my brain pops the story ideas into my head. Just thought I'd warn anyone so they wouldn't read this and think, "Wait, weren't they 12 and 16 not that long ago?" Thanks to
katsqueaks for being a super beta. Previous part and bitchin' banner can be found here.Songs From a Firefly
Track 2: Cowboy Take Me Away
Jamey is 9 and Nettie is 5
“I’ll be seein’ all you Cobbs later, then!”
Mal’s parting words rang in Jayne’s ears as he walked the narrow little country lane towards home. Well, not walking, exactly. More like jogging.
He was always excited to come home but now, after today, the sight of the house where his wife and kids were had him sprinting with a big grin on his face.
“What’s zat one, Ma?”
“That’s a potato bug, also known as the Stenopelmatus, the Jerusalem cricket.”
Jamey scribbled this into his composition book, brow furrowed and his tongue poking out the corner of his mouth. “S-T-E…”
“Don’t worry about the spelling now, I’ll check it for you later.” Mommy turned over a leaf to inspect the other side for other insects for Jamey to record.
Nettie squirmed in her mother’s lap. “Mommy, that’s not a potato bug.”
“Hm?”
“You’re going to make Jamey get an F.”
Jamey stopped his scribbling and looked from Nettie to Mommy with a worried look on his face.
“That yucky bug with the face isn’t a potato bug,” Nettie explained. She got up out of Mommy’s lap and turned over a large rock nearby, making the insects underneath scramble around in a panic. “Daddy told me that these were potato bugs.”
Mommy nodded. “They are.”
The children stared at her.
“The two species share the same nickname, but aren’t the same. Like our Jamey and Jaime Turner,” Mommy said, naming a girl from Jamey’s class.
Nettie giggled and sing songed, “Jamey likes Jaime, Jamey likes Jaime!”
“Do not,” Jamey said, turning pink. “She smells like old cheese.” He nodded his head at the insects Nettie had revealed. “So what are those called?”
“Woodlice. Armadillidium vulgare.”
“Daddy called them roly polies.” Nettie frowned.
“And Daddy is correct. Close their door, Nettie Jane, you’re frightening them.”
Nettie carefully set the rock back into place then went back to cuddling in Mommy’s warm lap.
“D-I-L-L-I…” Jamey muttered, scribbling away.
They continued on, Jamey pointing out insects and Mommy naming them while Nettie grew more and more bored. She found herself glaring at the potato bug/Jerusalem cricket lurking in the darker shadows of the garden. Stupid yucky bug, trying to take the roly poly’s name. A sudden idea made her face light up.
“Hey Jamey, I dare ya to eat the potato bug!” She pointed at the insect.
Jamey glanced up from his homework briefly as he wrote down his last bug. “You do it first.”
“No, I dared you.”
“Well, I ain’t doin’ it.”
She pouted for a moment, then asked, “What if I put sugar on it?”
That stopped his writing. “What the- how’d that help?!”
Nettie started to giggle. “I dunno…”
Her giggles were contagious and soon Jamey and Mommy had caught them.
Suddenly, a loud voice boomed, “Woman, why you got my kids rollin’ in dirt?!”
Jayne had been worried when he wasn’t greeted at the gate. Usually, River could sense when he was home and he’d barely be in the yard before he got an armful of Jamey and Nettie.
His concern grew when he didn’t find anyone in the house. Ma hadn’t told him anything bad had happened when he’d been at his folks’ place earlier…
Then he’d heard the giggles from outside and through the window he saw River and their babies playing in the garden. The relief he felt made his hands shake.
Hey, you’re never gonna have to worry about them all alone ever again. The thought brought a smile to his face as he threw open the backdoor and dashed down the path.
Unable to resist, he boomed, “Woman, why you got my kids rollin’ in dirt?!”
They all jumped in surprise and then beamed at him so’s he couldn’t keep on his fake scowl for very long. The kids leaped up and ran at him.
“Daddy!!” Nettie got to him first and leaped into his arms. “I missed you.”
Jayne nuzzled a kiss into Nettie’s temple. “Missed you too, little bit.” He buried his face in her long, curly hair and took a deep breath, smelling the baby shampoo she used.
Jamey wrapped his arms as best he could around Jayne’s middle and squeezed. “Hiya, Pop.”
“Hiya, son.” Jayne ran the hand not supporting Nettie through Jamey’s unruly curls. “Looks like you could use a haircut, boy.”
Nettie gasped in horror. “Uh uh! Jamey’s hair is pretty!”
Jamey made a strangled sound and gave Nettie’s knee a poke.
“Hello, Daddy.” River had followed after the children quietly and now stood before him, eyes shiny and pink sundress grass stained.
She looked gorgeous.
Jayne carefully set Nettie on her feet and opened his arms wide for his wife.
“Hi, baby girl.”
She stepped close and wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on tiptoe to give him a lingering kiss.
“C’mon Nettie, let’s go inside; they’re bein’ all kissy.”
“But I like when they’re all kissy…”
Jayne chuckled but didn’t come up for air until a few more moments had passed. And even then, it was real reluctantly.
“I miss you when you’re gone,” River said, softly, cupping his cheek. “Days and nights pass so slowly without my Jayne.”
He rubbed his face against her smooth hand and rumbled, “What if I toldja I had me a plan to keep us together longer?”
Jamey had never seen his father look so excited; he was practically buzzing. Mommy was smiling, so whatever news Pop had called this family meeting to share had to be really good.
“Everybody’s been talkin’ ‘bout how much they miss their littluns when we leave ‘em planetside. So’s I got an idea where we leave the kids on Haven year round.”
“Haven?” Nettie interrupted. “You mean where Shepherd Book lives?”
“Yup, that’s the one.” Pop nodded. “Think about it; Haven’s our usual stopping place so we’ll be able to see the kids every three weeks or so between jobs. Shepherd even set up a school so’s they can still get their learnin’ and they’ll get to spend more time together than the usual Christmas gatherin’.”
Nettie squealed, “I like cousin Nova, she’s funny!”
“No she ain’t, she’s serious ‘bout everything,” Jamey said. “I don’t think she’d know a joke if it bit her.”
“That’s why she’s funny.”
Pop clapped his hands together. “So! Whaddya think?”
“Yay!” Nettie cheered as an answer.
Jamey frowned. “You said we’d be able to see the kids. Does that mean,” he looked to Ma for confirmation, “you won’t be with us?”
Nettie’s grin fell and she turned stricken eyes toward Ma. “You won’t be with us, Mommy?”
“No, Nettie, I won’t,” Ma said, softly.
Nettie sniffled. “Are we bad? Do you not love us anymore?”
“Little bit, that’s not it a’tall!” Pop dropped to his knees in front of Nettie, taking her hands in his. “We love ya so much that-“
Angrily, Nettie ripped her hands out of Pop’s grasp. “I hate you! You’re always gone and now you’re taking our mommy away!” She jumped up and ran back outside where it was starting to get dark.
Jamey hadn’t much liked the idea either, even before the revelation of Ma being away, too. He’d have to leave his school and all his friends, and he’d miss all the Cobbs who were within walking distance.
But then he saw the heartbroken look on Pop’s face and knew that it was all meant for the best. Come to think of it, Pop did spend more time on Haven than he did here. It would’ve made more sense for them to have settled there in the first place; they probably would have if Gramma Cobb hadn’t threatened to disown Pop if he deprived her of watching her grandbabies grow up.
“I better go see if…” Pop gestured to where Nettie disappeared and shambled off after her.
“Jamey?” Ma scooted over on the couch so she was right next to him. She started to stroke his hair, gently. “Is this okay with you?”
“I guess so, yeah.” He paused a moment. “Will you wave us everyday?”
“Every day,” Ma promised.
Jamey dropped his head to her shoulder and she drew her arm around him, kissing the top of his head.
“Shiny.”
Jayne picked his way through the yard to find Nettie in the garden, tossing rocks into the nearby forest.
“You’re gettin’ to throw real good,” Jayne said, softly.
“I’m mad at you.”
“I know.” He stood next to Nettie and watched the next rock she threw sail through the air and peg a tree with a satisfying CONK sound. “Guess I was so excited at the idea of havin’ you so near, I forgot to think ‘bout how you’d feel ‘bout losin’ your Ma.”
Nettie didn’t say anything but she paused in mid-throw.
“That was wrong o’ me and I’m sorry. Hell, you see her every day and…” He trailed off then sighed. “Thought I was gettin’ better but I guess I’m just as selfish as I always been.”
The rock Nettie had been holding fell to the ground. “You’re not selfish.” Her little hand curled around his. “Mommy says you spend all the time you wish you were with us out in the black so’s you can send money home to feed us.”
“Mommy’s right.”
Nettie was quiet for a long moment. Then she looked up at him with big, mournful blue eyes. “I’m sorry I said I hated you.”
Jayne swallowed with difficulty. “’Sokay, little bit. I understand.”
They stood there hand in hand for a little longer until Nettie suddenly squealed, “Look Daddy, the fireflies are out!”
So they spent the hour until bedtime chasing the bugs with no real intention of catching them.
Mal stood out on the ramp and took a deep breath of fresh air. Something about the air planetside made a body want to bottle it up and keep it forever.
Off in the distance, he could see figures approaching, pushing a big cart. Cupping his hands around his eyes, he grinned at who he saw.
“Permission to come aboard, Captain?” River called.
“Always, little witch,” Mal answered.
When the Cobb family were closer, Jayne said, “Sorry we got here so late, Mal. Jamey here had his last day o’ school and everyone wanted to say ‘bye ta him. And he needed to get his final grades.”
“Oh? How’d you clean up, Junior Cobb?”
“Four A’s and a B!” Nettie piped up, proudly.
Jamey grinned modestly.
“Good to hear you take after your ma, then,” Mal said, chucking Jamey playfully on the shoulder. “Well, Jayne, looks like you got the house packed up.” He indicated the cart Jayne had been pushing.
Jayne scowled at him then said, “We can’t leave just yet.”
Mal bristled. “And why not?”
“My Ma’s havin’ this big fare-thee-well dinner fer us. She invited ya but she’ll prolly take back the offer once she finds out you implied I was stupid.”
Mal was about to respond when Nettie interrupted, “So that’s a firefly?”
“You’ve been on the ship before, bao bei,” River said, smiling.
“I know, but I didn’t know it was called a firefly before.” She squinted up at Serenity. “She kinda looks like a real firefly if you look at her a certain way.” She beamed up at her ma. “They share the same name, but aren’t the same!”
River and the girl giggled together like it meant something as the family brushed by Mal to settle their things in their bunks.
Mal huffed out a laugh and muttered, “Yep, no doubt who her ma is.”
END
************************
Still reading? I hope so. I have a question: Should I keep going with this or stop and work on the sequel to Filcher? Or should I alternate? It's up to you guys; whatever you feel like reading, I'll post. It's all fun to write for me, anyway.
***************************
Track 1 < #1 Crush : Track Three > I'll Be There
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-04-27 01:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-27 01:52 am (UTC)*hugs the Chores fic*