He's at the counter stirring up a mess of coffee, the powdered kind that he's been drinking since he was knee-high to a grasshopper, when he hears the noise behind him. Something about the soft slide of feet across the floor sets him on edge, so he draws his second favorite gun, Maggie, before he turns.
He's only half-surprised to see River in front of him. He keeps the gun out. She may be tiny and feng le, but that only makes her more dangerous.
"What ya doing here?" he asks, keeping her in his sights. He knows Mal would have his guts for garters if the cap saw him lining up on a crew member, but something has his hackles up. She's staring past him, her face as pale as a day old corpse.
"Two lost souls, searching for their place in the universe." Her voice is strong, stronger than she looks, but it feels like nails scraping his innards. "Tin man searching for his heart, scarecrow can't find a brain."
He squints, trying to figure out what she's hinting at, but then discards it as babble. Girl is fruitier than a nutcake. She turns her head, eyes finally focusing on his face, and she smiles a smile so sweet as to put Kaylee to shame.
That's when he sees the knife.
By the time he figures out that it's not meant for him it's already flashing across her chest.
"Wo de tian a," he shouts. He shoves Maggie back into the hip holster as he swallows the space between them in two large strides. The knife falls from her limp hand, clatters to the ground. He's just able to get his arms under her as she collapses.
He thinks it's a shallow cut, but blood is shining red and thick across her faded dress anyway. He starts walking toward the stairs, quickly but careful not to jar her too much.
"What in the gorram name of hell did you do that for," he says under his breath.
She looks up at him, eyelashes fluttering over dark eyes. "Matched set now."
Jayne ignores her looniness, and shouts for Simon.



Her skin is pale beneath his blue-gloved fingers. Ischemic, though not dangerously so. His hands are steady as he works the needle, doing the work that he spent years training them to do. Faithful servants, creating neat little stitches as surely as they button his shirt or brush his teeth.
It is his brain that is in chaos.
He had been annoyed out of sleep when he heard Jayne bellowing his name, sure that the great baboon had done something stupid, probably just to irritate him. Once his brain kicked over into a beta pattern he had realized Jayne didn't sound pained. The adrenaline surged; of course it was his sister.
He snips the last bit of string and begins the process of protecting the wound with a sterile bandage. Her eyes flutter open as he's patting the last strip of tape in place.
"Sorry," she breathes.
From somewhere he pulls up a smile, gently strokes her hair. "I know, mei-mei."
He wants to ask her why. He wants to yell and scream and shake her until everything is okay, but he knows that none of that will help. So instead he bends closer so that he can kiss her cheek, then her forehead.
"I know."



The huff and grunt of heavy lifting warns him as he walks across the cargo bay; Jayne has started ahead of him. The man is curling as much as Book himself presses. Jayne's face is tight with concentration and effort, the sweat pouring down his forehead and neck. He's working with a vengeance, a sure sign that the man is in one of his pondering moods.
Book waits a moment before entering the area, just watching. He's sure that most of the crew would be surprised that their rough and ready mercenary has moments of deep thought. Well, perhaps not the Captain. Malcolm has a keen eye for what passes among his crew, though he does get blind-sided on occasion. None of the rest bother to look deeper at a man they've written off as uncouth and stupid. But Book has spent time with Jayne, here and in the galley, and knows he often finds things to question. Ethics and emotion are much harder for Jayne than a normal man, though, so Book tries his best to herd him gently toward the right path.
"You going to watch all day, preacher?"
And he's not stupid, Book has discovered. His talents just lie in a different direction. Such as stalking and shooting. Book walks to the bench and starts loading weights on the bar.
"So what is our topic today, son?"
Jayne sets down his load with a careful thunk.
"I just don't get people sometimes," he announces.
Book settles in on the bench, praying for assistance to bear his burden.



The galley is quiet when he enters, the crew still tense after River's descent into crazyland the night before. She's not here, obviously, and he guesses Simon must be keeping her company. Kaylee gives him a wan smile, then dumps her plate in the sink where Book is washing up. Both Inara and Jayne are nowhere to be seen, and the captain stalks out of the room with barely a nod of acknowledgment.
"Was it something I said?" he asks the air, hoping to ease his own mind if nothing else.
Zoe smiles and brushes a kiss across his lips before leaving without a word. He's feeling a bit bewildered, but that's nothing new in the state of the 'verse. He digs into lunch, the stew starting to congeal but the biscuits still warm at the core.
"Sometimes it sucks being the pilot," he grunts over the meal.
"They're just worried, son," Book says, his voice like the purr of Kaylee's fine tuned engine. "Doesn't reflect on you any."
Wash sighs, gulps down more of the cold stew. "I know," he admits. "It just seems like I'm the last to know about what's going on most of the time. And here I thought sleeping with the first mate would change that."
Book smiles at him, but doesn't call him on the absurdity. "Maybe you just need to open your eyes to the things that are right in front of you," he says cryptically.
Wash shakes his head and chomps on the biscuit. Maybe the Shepherd is right, but sometimes it's better not to know.



She knows Wash is feeling slighted, but she's got her eye on the captain. Something's going on in his head, and it's not anything that she's understanding. Which worries her. It's times like this that things tend to go feng le. Well, things go feng le all the time, but she's more comfortable with that fact when she knows what's driving him.
She finds him crouched on the steps over the medbay, staring through the window like he's scouting the territory. She sits on the step behind him, leans forward far enough to get a look at what's going on.
River is asleep on the main bed, her dark hair carefully brushed away from her pale face. Simon is hunched over the wall counter, studying something like it has the secrets to the 'verse. 'Course, she imagines that unless it contains a cure for River, the secrets of the universe would look like rotten gou shi to Simon.
"Did I make a mistake, Zoe? Keeping them here, trying to protect them?"
Zoe flinches at the sound of Mal's voice, just a brief blink in response to the uncertainty that he only shares with her. She sets to thinking, trying to be what he needs her to be.
"You think so, sir?"
He sighs, long and suffering, then stands gracefully. "No, you're right. I just don't like waves in the crew. Makes a man a mite cranky when things get out of his control."
Zoe smiles. "You don't have to know everything, sir."
He smiles back, tugs her to her feet. "Go see to your husband, woman. Think he was a mite cranky his own self."
She does.



River is still asleep, Simon deaf to the world as he studies his data. Mal watches them both. He wonders whether he can do anything to ease their burden; he wonders whether he should act to protect the rest of his crew. These are questions he has kicked around like a battered footyball since the day they came on board. He knows by now he won't solve them; instead, he just lets the thoughts circle around hoping the problems solve themselves.
Simon sighs and buries his face in his hands, then reaches up to rub his own neck. Sometimes Mal thinks the boy cares too much about his sister, that it ain't right, but he acknowledges that his own sense of what a right relationship is ain't too perfect either. And nothing about River is right, not even the moments when she is lucid. It makes the cold shriveled thing he calls a heart ache more than he likes to admit.
His eyes are drawn to a wad of fluff stuffed in River's fist. It's that same brilliant, mind-searing orange as Jayne's knit cap; Mal thinks it might be the very thing. That's another wrongness he should be looking into. Jayne's been withdrawn all day, which is normally a good thing, but Mal's afraid there might be things a brewing that are better left unperked. He closes his eyes, wishes those thoughts away.
When he opens them again, he sees Kaylee hovering on the other side of the glass, her face drawn with worry. His very own little sister. When he thinks about Kaylee, he thinks he might just understand the bond between Simon and River. He's more than willing to do murder on her behalf.
He crosses the room, lays a hand on Simon's tense shoulders. The boy jumps a little.
"Easy, doc. Just me."
He gives those muscles a couple quick squeezes, then lets go. "Come on, time for you to take a break. Have you eaten today?"
He rides over Simon's protests in his captainly way, nods to Kaylee as he guides the doctor out of the room. He may not have all the answers, but he tries the best he can for his crew.



Twinkle lights wait, shine bright in her eyes. Twinkle light enters the room, dancing around calling her name.
River shakes her head, loses her place as the light dances on tiptoes while her stomach spins round. This is not what she wants. She focuses the lights, forces them to stream in particulate waves rather than Cinderella's ballet.
Twinkle bell is still here, calling her name, shining like the light that everyone loves. River catches that on the waves, sees the love aimed like a shot at this one. This one; not River. Hate circles through her, takes over as she sees how alone she truly is.
"Mine," she shouts. "You don't get them all!"
She reaches out, searching for the words to label this threat, this black hole that sucks away everything from River.
He sees lush lips, framed by dark hair, kissed by a thousand faces.
"Whore," they spit together.
He sees a man who would sell out a crewmate for a handful of plat. He's afraid his own soul is no cleaner.
"Traitor," they hiss.
She sees a woman who will take whatever she can, and the men around her are too enamored of her wiles to see.
"Bitch," they shout, and launch their first at the smug little face.
An instant before it lands she sees Kaylee's wide eyes before her.
"No," she screams. She throws her body across the room, where it cannot hurt anyone but herself. "Sorry, so sorry."
It is not enough, but she doesn't know how to make it better. Make the dark things go away so she can appreciate the light. Gentle hands reach for her, but she crawls away. She's not safe.
"Go away," she sobs.
The hands do, and she's all alone with the voices of the universe.



Her hands shake as she leaves the room, so she sticks them in the pockets of her overalls. That doesn't feel right, so she takes them out again, runs them through her hair, over her face. Covers her mouth.
By the time she realizes the wetness coating her fingers is from her own tears, her feet have taken her across the cargo bay and up the stairs. Away from her usual retreat, on to somewhere that has been drawing her like a polarized power cell for the better part of a year.
She stops in front of Inara's shuttle.
She feels stupid, like she's the biggest cry-baby in the 'verse. She can't go inside, 'cause she doesn't want Inara to see her like this. She still wants to, though. She knows River didn't mean it, that it's just the craziness talking, but it hurts all the same. Scares her all the same.
It's times like this that she realizes how different she is from the rest of the crew, how she don't exactly fit in except in the way that's family. The captain, Zoe and Jayne, even Wash in his own way, they're all hardened and tough, taking whatever the 'verse dishes out, able to do whatever needs to be done to get by. Book is that way too, though he don't like to show it. Simon's different; refined and posh and innocent to the dirtiness of it all, but that just puts him even further away from herself. He's a pretty bird flying just beyond her fingertips.
Inara, though, she's a little bit of all of that, but none at the same time. Nothing seems to touch her, nothing leaves the dirty fingerprints of life on her soft skin. Kaylee thinks Inara could fit in anywhere, into any situation she wanted to. Nowhere is good enough to suit her, though. Kaylee's just glad that Inara has decided to stay on Serenity.
She's cried out now, and she snuffles against the ragged flannel of her sleeve to dry her face. Good thing, too, because she hears footsteps on metal behind her.
She gathers whatever courage resides in her purple-bellied heart, and looks up at Inara.



Kaylee is hunched in on herself, her face red and swollen as she sits awkwardly on the edge of Inara's satin couch. Inara sighs as she fixes the tea; she had hoped that they were past that point in their relationship, that Kaylee no longer felt overwhelmed by the niceties of her life. But stress always brings out the smallest insecurities, so perhaps once she finds the root cause of Kaylee's current distress the rest will ease away.
She pours two cups from the fine porcelain pot, the one she keeps aside for her personal use. It was a gift from the High Priestess herself, a sign of her favor to pass on a family heirloom to the one she thought to take her place. Inara wonders if that gift is begrudged now; its presence is an edged reminder in her own heart of the beauty she has left behind. She stifles the urge to sigh, picks up the tray and carries the scent of rose petals and chamomile over to her guest.
"Do you want to tell me about it?" she asks, averting her eyes from Kaylee's face as she settles the tea on the table. There are a thousand and one ways to set a distraught person at ease, though they vary with every individual. Kaylee, she knows, does not wish to appear childish or ill-mannered in front of those she respects.
"Weren't nothing," Kaylee murmurs into her tea. The redness is fading from her nose, but her cheeks are still puffy and there are threads of worry in her eyes. Inara thinks she looks lovely, as fresh and pure as a newborn Damask rose.
"Now we both know that's not true," she chides. She scoots closer, takes one of Kaylee's hands in her own. Kaylee's hands are small but not delicate--strong and roughened by the work she does everyday, the work that keeps them all alive. "Surely you can trust me with it."
That works, as she knew it would. Mal Reynolds would accuse her of manipulation via her feminine wiles. She has always thought of it as showing a person the best path to their true heart. Kaylee plays with the small cup, twirling it between her fingers, before she looks up to finally meet Inara's eyes.
"River yelled at me," she whispers. "Attacked me."
Panic flares through Inara, the adrenaline a tickling sharpness in her solar plexus. She clenches Kaylee's hand, proper manners gone with her concern.
"Did she hurt you?"
Kaylee shakes her head. "No, she stopped herself just in time. But she was going to hit me, and..." She bites her lip, stopping the words from seeing the light.
Inara brushes her thumb across Kaylee's own. "Tell me," she coaxes.
"She called me things. Bitch, and," she looks down at their hands, "whore. I mean, I know it's just the craziness talking," she rushes onward, "but it took me by surprise. I was scared."
Inara brings her other hand up, brushes the hair back from Kaylee's face. "I can imagine."
"I want to help her so bad, but every time I think I am, that things are going okay, then something happens again." The words are pouring out now, and Inara listens, Kaylee's troubled eyes the only thing in her universe. "I wish I was strong, like all of you, but I'm not. I get scared all the time, and I'm gonna get somebody hurt because of it. What if River had tried to hurt herself again? Oh God, I just left her there all alone!"
Kaylee jumps to her feet, pulling out of Inara's grasp and knocking over her abandoned tea cup. There are a few awkward seconds as they both try to straighten the mess, but finally Inara gets Kaylee settled back on the couch.
"Hush," she instructs. "Let me take care of it."
She opens a channel to the bridge from the cockpit, trying to track down Simon or Mal. A few moments and the deed is done, and she is reassured that River is in good hands. She thinks Mal is on the verge of racing to Kaylee's rescue, but a few feminine wiles see that they are left some space for girl talk.
Kaylee is chewing her nails when she returns, so Inara gently takes her hands into her own once again.
"Everything is fine," she tells her. "Now let's get back to this business of you being scared. Why do you think that is such a bad thing?"
Kaylee shrugs and ducks her head. "Because I freeze up. Like with rescuing the Cap'n. Like with Early." Her voice is hoarse and shaking on the last.
Inara swallows the wad of emotion in her throat. She had thought that Kaylee had recovered remarkably well after that experience, but she should have known that no one could go through such horror blithely. She should have known and done something about it. Inara is the only one on the ship anywhere near equipped to do so.
She lets go of one of Kaylee's hands and uses that arm to pull her in close to her own body. "I'm so sorry you had to go through all that," she says firmly. "But there was nothing you could have done in either situation, except for be stupid and get yourself hurt. And didn't you help save us all when Early was here? I'd say that was pretty darn brave."
Kaylee is shaking, just a subtle quiver that rustles the silk of Inara's sleeve. She shakes her head against Inara's chest. "I almost didn't," she whispers.
"But you did," Inara says. She grasps Kaylee's chin, lifts her face so she can look into her eyes.
And she's caught.
So much of the seduction in her life is carefully planned and manipulated that she feels off center when lust strikes her unexpectedly. It happened when she first saw Mal Reynolds smile at a child; it happens as Kaylee's soft brown eyes look up at her with undeserved trust.
She reminds herself that now is not the appropriate time, that there is never an appropriate time when it comes to any of Serenity's crew. Instead she gropes for what she had planned to say.
"It doesn't matter if you get scared, sweetie," she says finally. "Lots of scary things have happened, things that no one should ever have to deal with. And it's okay if you don't know how to deal with River. Simon doesn't know how to deal with her, and you don't think he cares about her any less for that, do you?"
Kaylee doesn't say anything in response, but she shakes her head just the slightest bit. Her soft cheek presses into Inara's finger tips more firmly. Telling herself that it is only comfort, Inara moves her hand to stroke that cheek. Kaylee's eyelashes flutter.
"Never doubt yourself, Kaylee."
When Kaylee's eyes open again, Inara is once again caught off center. Those soft brown eyes are burning with passion like smouldering autumn leaves. Before she can pull away, put this back to what it should be, Kaylee dips her head and captures Inara's thumb between her lips.
Instead of protesting, her breath catches in surprised anticipation. Kaylee looks up through her lashes, her face a beguiling mix of doubt and determination.
"I shouldn't," she eventually gets out. She is a Companion; she should not let herself be so affected by such a simple gesture.
But when Kaylee's face falls, when she draws back off Inara's thumb with embarrassed awkwardness, Inara knows she has made a mistake.
"I'm sorry," Kaylee stutters out, her cheeks flaming already. "I know I'm not up to a Companion's--"
Inara stops the words by laying her finger across Kaylee's lips, shushing her. Her own heart has started to beat faster, and she wonders if there is a bit of natural blush staining her cheeks. It is possible; the entire shuttle feels warmer.
"Don't ever say that," she says more strongly that is prudent. She gentles her tone. "You are more than worthy, but I cannot take advantage of you. It would not be right when you are so upset. Mal would have me off this ship before I could put on a space suit." She adds that last as a joke, but Kaylee's expression hardens.
"Mal ain't my Daddy," she says. "And if you don't want me, all you got to do is say so."
The soft lust in Inara's stomach turns to panic as Kaylee stands and pushes past her. Self-awareness crystalizes. It may not be appropriate, but she wants this. And Kaylee needs it.
"Wait," she calls, her voice neither strong nor sure, her wiles failing her.
Kaylee waits.
Her back is stiff beneath the dirty brown coveralls; her shoulders still slightly hunched. But her head is high, and Inara knows that though Kaylee expects disappointment, she will face her fear. Inara steps forward to stand a breath away from Kaylee's back. When she reaches up to brush the hair away from Kaylee's neck, her fingers do not tremble. Inara's body never betrays her, though some days she feels it should.
"Now who is the courageous one," she whispers into Kaylee's ear.
The tension falls out of Kaylee in one deep sigh. Inara knows a thousand and one steps to take next. A Companion always is in control of her client's pleasure. Instead, she closes her eyes.
The pleasure is exquisite as Kaylee turns against her, coarse denim buzzing over smooth silk as their bodies press together. Inara always enjoys her encounters, but this zinging anticipation is an unusual thing.
"What do you want me to do?" Kaylee whispers. The air from her breath is warm against Inara's lips.
"Whatever you want to do," Inara says.
The kiss is tentative, Kaylee's soft lips barely brushing over her own. When she moves forward to deepen it, Inara breathes in passionate relief. Her mouth opens, and so does Kaylee's. Their tongues meet for the first time. It's soft and gentle, and exploration and revelation at the same time.
Then Kaylee nips Inara's lip. Passion flames between them. She's got her hands wrapped in Kaylee's hair, trying to pull them into one being. Kaylee kneads Inara's breast, and she breaks the kiss to gasp for air.
"Let's move to the bed, shall we?" she invites once she has gathered a semblance of her wits. She leads Kaylee by the hand, feeling like she has captured some fairy princess in an enchanted forest.
"You're so beautiful," Kaylee breathes.
Inara smiles. "So are you," she says. She has learned to find beauty in places most people never look, but there is no need to search with Kaylee.
She eases down the zipper of those nasty brown coveralls, hating the patch that covers the bullet hole in the side. She understands Kaylee's practicality, but she wishes such a thing had no reason to exist.
"It's okay, Inara," Kaylee says. She pulls Inara's hand away from the zipper and pushes out of the fabric. "I ain't hurt anymore."
Before she can wonder at her own transparency, Kaylee is stripping off her pink flower-covered blouse. Kaylee's skin is as pale as Inara's own, her breasts high and tipped with berry-colored nipples. Inara wonders whether Kaylee had ever been a brown-skinned baby running free under the sun of her home planet.
"Lay down," she instructs.
"But your clothes," Kaylee protests, and Inara silences her with a quick kiss.
"Lay down. Let me use a little of what I know at least." She winks as Kaylee blushes, and they both giggle in shared anticipation.
Kaylee stretches back along the satin covered bed, wriggling a little against the feel but keeping her eyes on Inara. Inara works the clasps of her gown, and then with a shimmy she perfected years ago, drops it to the ground. She's satisfied to hear Kaylee gasp.
She reaches back to pull the cloisonne barrette from her hair, shaking her head to tumble her curls artfully around her shoulders. She sets it on the bedside table as she kneels between Kaylee's legs. Then she slowly crawls up the length of Kaylee's body, skin ghosting over skin, heating her own blood as the anticipation builds.
When her head is level with Kaylee's own, she lets her weight sink as she takes Kaylee's mouth in a yearning kiss. She feels Kaylee's breasts against her own, rough nipples tickling with sensitive brushes, crinkly hair against her leg just over the burning heat below. Inara moans as they move together, thrusting into each other's thighs, chasing each other's mouths.
Kaylee pulls away, panting. She opens her eyes, and Inara can see her pupils are dilated.
"I want to eat you up," she says, then pushes Inara back with strong but gentle hands.
She shifts to the side so she can lay on her back, letting Kaylee do as she pleases. Joy can be found in giving, this she knows. Then lips and tongue suck on her nipples, and pleasure arcs through her.
"Just like that," she gasps.
She reaches for Kaylee's hair, loving the silky softness of it in her fingers. Kaylee kneads one breast while sucking on the other. Inara arches just a little, not wanting to demand but enjoying the way her breasts feel full and electric. Kaylee responds by sucking harder, almost to the point of pain, and then nipping as she lets go.
"Is this okay?" she asks.
"Dangran, baobei, just don't stop," Inara pleads.
She can feel the smile against her skin as Kaylee moves down to her belly, nipping and sucking as she goes. Her belly twitches and tingles with the light caresses. Her hips start to move as well.
The first touch of Kaylee's finger is tentative, but it's enough to set her on fire. She knows she's wet and ready, and she wonders if Kaylee is prepared for that. But then Kaylee dips her head and all reasonable thought is driven from Inara's mind. There's a wet strong tongue, stroking and lapping and winding her higher and higher and higher.
"Yes," she pants. "Please."
Her orgasm spirals up and up, drawing and tightening and clenching through her. As it bursts upon her she closes her eyes and lets her mind empty into oneness with the universe, just as she was taught to do so many years ago.
When she comes back to herself, Kaylee is grinning up at her from between her legs, mouth shiny and red.
"Come here, you," Inara tells her.
Inara leans forward as Kaylee crawls upward, and they meet in the middle with a fiery kiss.
Finally they separate, and Inara brushes Kaylee's hair back with a tenderness in her heart that threatens to swallow her.
"Let me please you," she whispers.
Kaylee nods, her eyes wide. Inara lets her hands slide down silken skin, tweaking and tickling with small teases. Kaylee is still crouched above her, leaving her body perfectly open. She slides her fingers through the curly hair, tugging gently and sporadically, coaxing Kaylee's body to higher anticipation. Kaylee's thighs are already quivering and damp, so Inara decides not to tease her much longer. There will be more time to play. She moves her finger between the hot cleft, brushes over Kaylee's swollen clitoris. Kaylee's eyes are closed now, her breath coming in short gasps and quiet moans as she tosses her head back and forth.
"You like that?"
"Yesss," Kaylee hisses, and Inara smiles. She likes her vocation very, very much.
"Come for me, mei mei."
She rubs fast and hard, driving Kaylee to a quick climax. Kaylee's voice rises in a loud, wordless moan before she falls silent.
Inara withdraws her fingers. She helps Kaylee ease down on top of her, welcoming the warm weight of her body.
They lay quietly together for a few precious moments. Then Kaylee lifts her head to look at Inara.
"That was nice," she says. "Did I do okay?"
Inara leans down to kiss her. "More than. You were wonderful."
Kaylee's grin is huge, her whole face lighting up like Serenity's own glow. "You were, too," she says, then her cheeks pink just a little. "You know that, of course."
Inara laughs. "With you I am not a Companion in service, dear one. We are ourselves only."
Kaylee nods, then rests her head on Inara's chest. "I can't tell heads or tails of this day," she says. "It sounds awful to be grateful that River went a little crazy, doesn't it?"
Inara strokes her hand down Kaylee's cheek. "I understand what you mean. It's not that you want her in pain, rather you are thankful that the chain of events led you to this place. It's not evil for one to draw pleasure out of unfortunate circumstances. Rather, it is a gift."
Kaylee traces unknown shapes on Inara's side. "You always know what to say. Do you know what's going on with River? Why she went moony last night?"
Inara shakes her head. "I can only guess, but she seems to have fixated upon Jayne. From what I have gathered she hurt herself just like she hurt Jayne earlier."
Kaylee sits up a little, her brow drawn in thought.
"You think she and Jayne..." She trails off, but her expression says it all.
Inara shudders a little inside. "I think River is a young woman looking for a hero, and her hormones are making her as confused as whatever those monsters did to her brain. I'm sure it will pass. Probably onto Mal, as likely as not."
Kaylee nods, tickling Inara's breasts with her hair. Inara threads her fingers into the fine strands, finger-combing through the tangles produced from their lovemaking.
"Do you think--I mean, she said them." Kaylee clears her throat. "I think she was talking about Simon."
Inara's fingers still as she hits a snarl. The words hang in the air, not nearly as innocent as they should be.
"I think Simon is the biggest hero River will ever have," she says as her fingers slip through the knot. "He's her entire world, and that can be confusing for anyone. I'm sure she will learn, in time, that others can share in that love without taking anything from her."
Kaylee nods again. Inara brushes the hair away from her face, tries to smooth the taut muscles of her forehead.
"You don't think Simon..." Kaylee says hesitantly, then clamps her mouth shut as if she has spoken an obscenity.
It should be a question that confuses her, but Inara knows immediately what Kaylee means. It should be a question that makes her leap to his defense in righteous disgust. There should be no question in her mind about Dr. Tam's intentions, and so she makes the denial.
"Simon would never," she assures Kaylee. "He loves River very much, but as a brother should."
Kaylee sits up, crawls up Inara's body so their breasts smoosh together. "You must think I'm the crazy one with all this talk."
She smiles gently, not wanting Kaylee to think she is belittling her. "No, mei-mei. It has been very strange lately. It is good that you share your concerns with someone."
Kaylee gets a devilish look then, one that shows she's not nearly as innocent as she appears. Inara smiles in anticipation.
"That ain't all I'm sharing," she says. Her kiss is lush and hot and very, very commanding.
Serenity might not be living up to its name lately, but tonight Inara thinks that the ship is a haven of bliss.



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