Artistic Pretender

Title: Live Fire
Series Title: Wandering Home
Author: FabledFigment
Disclaimer: There is no original content, except for the original content. All Hail Joss.
Timeline: Post BDM plus three years.
Rating: R
Series Rating: NC-17

Previous

*

River watched Jayne as they set up their targets. He’d had such a mixture of emotions when she’d walked into the house with Mattie. If he hadn’t been hoping so hard she and Mattie might become romantically involved, she would have guessed he was jealous.

Was their interaction passing the point of simple lust and engaging his emotions? She frowned. If it was she needed to either stop provoking him or decide she wanted him. It wasn’t fair to tease someone who was emotionally attached.

The gnarled little old man who kept track of traffic in the shooting area also sold reloaded ammo, targets and straw men. There was a thick wall of hay bales to pin up your targets on already in the big u-shaped quarry.

They had splurged on metal disks that shot from a machine as well as stationary bullseyes. Old Man Murphy would collect up the metal targets to pound them back into shape to sell them again.

The grizzled old man had let them tie their horses near his house while they had hiked in.

“Are you ready to fire that thing?” Jayne grinned as he walked back to the shooting area.

He stopped close to her, still smiling.

“Absolutely.” She smiled, suddenly nervous as she looked up into his impossibly blue eyes.

The lust spike caught her unaware. She turned quickly, schooling her face and putting a little distance between them. Why would a spike come now? They’d been talking about shooting all day, that wasn’t it.

River probed his mind just a little. He was watching how Tracy moved against her bottom. The things his mind conjured they could do together were even more blush worthy. She withdrew her mind quickly. Whatever in particular had caused the spike was lost to time now.

Jayne was right behind her when she turned at the farthest distance marker.

“Shall we practice with pistols before Tracy tears up the targets?” River suggested.

“Yeah, good idea.” Jayne drew.

River drew Gloria, looking at her as if for the first time. Her long fingers caressed the gun lovingly. River glanced up at Jayne as he spiked again.

“Go ahead first.” He offered gruffly.

River took aim, breathed deep and caressed the trigger guard, then the trigger. Her focus flew forward with the bullet, directly to the center of the target. After the impact she breathed again and looked up at Jayne. Joy and freedom shone from her face. There was power in squeezing off a round that landed perfectly where it was aimed.

Jayne stared down at her. “Beautiful.” Then after a barely discernable pause. “Shot. Beautiful shot.”

“Thank you.” She turned back to Gloria and the target. She adjusted her aim five times, emptying her gun.

She felt the question in Jayne’s mind when all five shots landed in the area outside the painted area of the cloth. She smirked and raised her eyebrows at Jayne.

“Your turn.” She checked and reloaded Gloria.

Jayne shifted his attention from her to his own gun and target. He formed a tight cluster at the center of the bull’s-eye.

“Sexy.” River’s mouth got away from her as he paused to reload.

“What did I tell you about saying that sort of go se?” Jayne grumbled.

She finished her slow, businesslike check one more time. Hopefully Jayne would let her strip Tracy down when they got home.

“Hmm, that it turned you on?” River winced inwardly. True as it might be, that hadn't really needed saying. What happened to laying off that sort of thing? She hid behind moving Tracy into firing position and loading the first round.

Jayne was scowling. She ignored that.

She really had intended not to poke at him anymore until she had time to think herself through.

River looked up into Jayne’s eye. They nodded wordlessly.

River sighted on the straw next to her target and let off a short burst. The kick was killer. River adjusted herself and let off another quick burst. That was enough to give her a feel for Tracy.

Jayne was getting a little worried, she hadn’t hit the big painted square of cloth once.

River grinned down the long barrel. Just like firing drill. Perfection mandatory.

She shifted slightly to aim at the target instead of at the straw beside it. She checked to be sure the ammunition belt wouldn’t snag. Then she fired in one long stream. She painted a big star on her target, lining the points up with the five shots she’d made with Gloria.

Satisfied, she clicked the safety and double checked the machine gun.

Jayne was gaping at her.

“Ain’t no way in hell I coulda managed that.” Jayne admitted. “Tracy is yours if you want her.”

River shook her head slowly and lifted the strap over head.

“I will regret that display in the morning when my shoulder purples up.” She offered the gun back to Jayne. “You don’t get enough chances to fire her.”

His hands were slow to raise, but he took Tracy firmly. “You’re right. She gets lonely and she’s worth more than to be ignored like that. She’s a lady.”

River’s breath caught. She almost felt like he could be talking about her. Especially with the way he was looking right into her eyes.

Jayne finished off the first string of ammo in a big X over his target. The action worked over twice, click, click after the bullets were gone.

Wordlessly, River unhooked the second string and handed it to him.

Their hands met around the ammunition. The sizzle made her eyes seek his. They stood there for a moment, staring. Jayne looked away first.

“You want to shoot moving targets with her next?” Jayne asked, seeming to shake himself inwardly.

"No." River shook her head. “I’m through with firing her today. I’ll stick to handguns.”

“Then there ain’t no cause to be wasteful.” Jayne set Tracy and her ammo aside on the weathered table beside him.

As he double checked the remote for the launching machine, Jayne cursed himself for a fool. River with Tracy in her hands was the most sexifying thing he’d ever seen. They shoulda waited, taken a third wheel along. Then he wouldn’t dare take action on any one of these urges she was causing.

When their hands met he wanted to hold on and caress her palm. He wanted to keep her hand in his. Hell, he wanted to throw her to the ground and sex her until her eyes crossed.

When she shot that star, the precision, the sheer control… Only the fact that the machine gun was still loaded had held him back from sweeping her into his arms.

Seriously, he needed to get a grip on himself.

Even now, watching her double check on the machine that was gonna spit targets into the air for them, he wanted to crush her against his body and…

Jayne tried not to blush as she looked his way.

She’s a reader, you idiot. Stop them thoughts.

River joined him. She took the remote from his hand and set it on the ground where she could step on it.

“You first.” She said, she paused slightly. “Pull.”

Jayne let instinct drive him. The first disk at a new range was always the hardest. It usually took him two shots to get it right. You just couldn’t be sure how the launcher would behave.

Jayne fired three times. Sure enough, the second shot hit and the other two flew on by.

Jayne grimaced.

“Pull.”

He only fired one round this time. Dead on. The disk spun away.

River readied her pistol.

“Your turn?” Jayne asked.

“You shoot it.” River pointed Marta towards the target area.

“Right.” He agreed.

“Pull.”

Jayne fired his one round, he could tell before it hit the shot would strike.

River shot seconds after he did. Her bullet hit the disk as it spun away.

Jayne let his arm drop to his side as he looked down at her. He’d done that to his own targets sometimes, usually when he had control of the launcher, but he had to be totally in the zone of pull and shoot.

River grinned up at him.

He had a thoroughly disquieting urge to kiss those smiling lips. His gut clenched. Not the brightest idea.

She sighed audibly when he turned away.

“Pull.” She announced again.

They shot together until they heard the distinct sound of Serenity’s mule.

Zoë, Mal and Mattie hopped out, smiling.

River glanced down at the readout screen on the remote. “Just five fake pigeons left if you want to take aim.”

“Ma wants us home before full dark.” Mattie reminded them. “But five more won’t take long.”

Zoë pulled out her mare’s leg. “Go ahead.”

“Pull.” River announced.

Zoë made the shot on the first try. “That’s good enough for me.”

“Do you want to try?” Mal offered to Mattie.

Jayne’s brother shook his head. “I get plenty of practice time.”

Mal nodded. “Go ahead, River. I’ll take them.”

Mal hit three out of four.

Jayne dismantled the equipment and took down the stationary targets, carefully rolling up River’s five pointed star. He stowed the targets in the mule.

Jayne was a little surprised to see River had taken possession of Tracy again.

They took the gear back to Old Man Murphy and Jayne paid the local man to take the horses back to the Webberville stable for him.

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