Mal-Inara.

[badinlatin]

Either Mal didn't feel like buying paper, or Mal felt like he hadn't sucked up to his wife enough.

"Got bored," Mal lies, as he shows Inara the new decorations on the outer hatch door to Shuttle One.

Comments

[ff-ambassador.livejournal.com]

Inara stops, staring at the door, then a smile grows over her lips. She reaches out a hand to trace the letters, her name and Mal's.

She turns and takes hold of the front of Mal's shirt, pulling him down to a long kiss.

[badinlatin]

Should o' done this damn sooner.

"You need to inform me," Mal chuckles, grinning an inch or two from Inara's nose, "when a half hour o' effort'll pay off so much."

[ff-ambassador.livejournal.com]

"Keep doing sweet things like this and you'll learn awfully fast," Inara murmurs back and kisses him again.

She moves away from him a bit, and looks back at the door. "And what caused this sudden burst of artistic energy?"

[badinlatin]

"Couldn't paint in the kitchen," Mal offers the first answer he comes up with. "It's all green in there; can't clash you know."

Says the man in purple suspenders.

[ff-ambassador.livejournal.com]

"Uh huh." Inara arches an eyebrow at him, then gives up and grins. "Well whatever caused it, I most definitely appreciate the results."

She starts to head to the shuttle door, then pauses looking back at Mal. "Are there any surprises inside I should be prepared for?"

[badinlatin]

"Ain't that creative," Mal explains, following Inara into the shuttle and immediately settling in the pilot's chair, swivelling backward to face the living area.

"You bored?"

[ff-ambassador.livejournal.com]

Inara was seating herself on the couch when Mal asks his question. "Bored?" she repeats as she settles herself, looking confused.

"Right at this moment, no. Is that what you mean?"

[badinlatin]

"Not really."

Leaning forward elbows-to-knees, "Are you bored in general? I know you deal with Lilly's business at Milliways and all, but..."

[ff-ambassador.livejournal.com]

Inara looks surprised. "No, not really." She sits back and looks at him. "There's the brothel and nightclub, both of which take a lot of work, surprising. It's...satisfying, in a way. Not quite like being a Companion, of course," she shrugs, "but it keeps me busy."

She looks at Mal, seriously. "Do I seem unhappy?"

[badinlatin]

"No! No."

How to explain?

"...Thought I'd...take stock. What with other marriages around here bein' not so much."

[ff-ambassador.livejournal.com]

Ooohhhhh. Understanding floods across Inara's face.

"I'm good. Really." She gives a half-smile. "Life isn't nearly as interesting now that things have settled down a bit, but it's not bad."

She looks at him. "How about you?"

[badinlatin]

A hand raises to Mal's forehead in a maneuver that, if Mal thought about it too long, would look terribly similar to Simon's.

"I got no clue -- I hate seein' them so apart. Even the first ruttin' day he were here it wasn't like that."

[ff-ambassador.livejournal.com]

Inara nods, knowing exactly who they are talking about. "I do too. It's tearing them both apart, and I hate seeing Kaylee this way. It's almost like she's a different person."

[badinlatin]

("-- You meet a fella named Sylar in the bar...be real careful.")

Mal just shakes his head, fractionally.

("-- Oh god, Kaylee, so was I.")

"She's the same person," Mal corrects. "Just...the interpretation's changin'."

[ff-ambassador.livejournal.com]

Inara nods slowly. She loves these moments when Mal can articulate things better than anyone.

"You're right. And I don't know how to help her reinterpret back, or if she even can."

[badinlatin]

"Would you be able to go back to how you were, after everythin' what's happened with them?"

[ff-ambassador.livejournal.com]

"No." Her voice is very quiet. "I don't think I could."

[badinlatin]

"It's situations like this that made me order Zo' not to marry Wash," Mal laughs weakly. "At least that worked out -- I'd be out a pilot elsewise."

[ff-ambassador.livejournal.com]

"Hey." Inara's voice is still soft, but it's intense. "That's the risk of love. But it doesn't always end badly. It can make things better."

[badinlatin]

"And it can make things a lot, lot worse."

[ff-ambassador.livejournal.com]

"Then why did you tell me you loved me that night by the lake?"

[badinlatin]

You can almost watch Mal mentally skid to a halt.




"Because it's true," clear and final, "And I didn't feel like not being true anymore."

[ff-ambassador.livejournal.com]

"And so that wasn't true for Simon and Kaylee?" she presses him.

"Sometimes things go wrong, Mal. That doesn't mean you don't try because of the what-ifs."

[badinlatin]

"I know that." Mal lets his hand drop, finally, and he mumbles something like "Useful-yet-uplifting" before:

"Did she tell you at all 'bout being away? Somethin' happened, she was gone in Peter Petrelli's 'verse for 2 weeks or so but was only gone a day or two here."

[ff-ambassador.livejournal.com]

"No, she didn't." Inara looks worried. "Is she okay? Nothing...happened there, did it?"

[badinlatin]

"She's alright -- somehow I think she's better 'n she was. I mean, she came to dinner finally 'n all.

"Don't know what happened there precisely, but I think I rubbed off on her in the running-and-hiding way o' things. Staying safe."

[ff-ambassador.livejournal.com]

Inara nods, giving him a small smile. "You are good at that."

"I hope this will bring her back to us. I've missed her."

[badinlatin]

"It's..." Mal grimaces; for as eloquent as he can aspire to when the situation calls for it, usually he fails pretty miserably at finding the appropriate words to match what he wants to say.

"It's an odd thing."

[ff-ambassador.livejournal.com]

Inara cocks her head. "What is? Kaylee's actions or you teaching her?"

[badinlatin]

"...I think the second?






"It's not that I think the crew can't take care o' themselves when they're on their own."

[ff-ambassador.livejournal.com]

Inara knows her husband's way of thinking well enough to understand his discomfort.

"Of course you don't. But you've helped them learn how to better protect themselves." She hesitates a moment before adding, "You are a good teacher, you know."

[badinlatin]

Dinh
"It's a good thing to be -- for crew and for family."

Mal's brain is thinking far faster than he actually articulates, leading to
I could teach a child to be safe
other places, but for now:

"Some things you just don't think about on your own."

[ff-ambassador.livejournal.com]

Inara is a little amazed that he would allow himself to articulate even that much, but she schools her expression to keep him from seeing.

She just smiles and takes his hand, squeezing it gently. "Exactly."

[badinlatin]

A shrug. "At least that's what the old wives say."

And the beginnings of a smirk. "Ain't that right? Old wife?"

And the smirk grows stronger -- if it's amusement or avoidance, Mal is not telling.

[ff-ambassador.livejournal.com]

The smirk may be wiped off of Mal's face beneath the pillow Inara has smacked into it. Sounds of laughter and other happy noises continue for a while in the newly painted shuttle.