For
sirkpega: *giggles* i couldnt help it!
Strange sounds were coming from the common area. Sounds that are liable to make a grown man shrink back against the bulkhead and draw his piece.
Which Mal did.
And then he crept forward, and saw something he never thought he would see.
Jayne, wearing a frilly apron. Holding a plastic bag. Frosting cookies.
And swearing steadily under his breath.
Ok, so the swearing was normal.
But the rest, not so much.
Jayne stepped back to admire his work, and caught site of Mal, standing bemusedly in the doorway.
"Uh, hey Captain." He gestured with the plastic bag, "Hey. Uh. I was just.." He looked down at his hands, then finally hid the evidence behind his back. He cleared his throat and tried again, this time with a businesslike nod. "Captain."
"Jayne," Mal acknowledged.
Jayne looked he was wishful he could fit the cookies behind him too. Wouldnt have done any good, as he would still have flour in his hair, but he looked like he wanted to do it all the same.
They stood there, Jayne getting more and more fidgety as Mal examined his mercenary-baker.
Jayne finally broke when Mal reached for a cookie. "Don't touch those!" He slapped the captain's hand. Hard.
"Jayne!" Mal shook his hand out, trying to get feeling back in it. "What the hell?"
Jayne had the grace to look embarrassed. He twisted his hands in his apron. "They're for my mother."
"What?"
"Mother's Day is coming up, you see, and I can't go home this year, so I though maybe I'd send her something."
"And you decided on cookies?"
"It's her own recipe!" Jayne proclaimed proudly. "She taught it to me when I werent but a little guy. Her hands have gotten too bad now to do the frosting anymore, so I thought it would be a treat for her."
Mal just blinked. "Can I have one?"
"No. I gotta get 'em all boxed up so I can ship it out. I don't know if they will make it ok as it is. We're a mite far out, and I dunno how the frosting will hold up."
Mal shook his head in disbelief as the hulking brute went back to frosting cookies. With hearts.
"Hey, Jayne?"
"Yeah, Mal?"
"Can I lick the bowl?"
END
