Not Dead Yet
Mal grunts as another round finds its way into his body. "I really should have listened to Zoe about body armor." Shaking the thought away, he forces himself to keep crawling forward. He won't fail her. He will make it. No matter what.
At long last he reaches the hatch controls. Pulling the release he depressurizes the bay sucking the thieves out into the black. He feels himself slipping as the pull of space drags him to its deadly embrace. Before he greets it, the hatch slides closed and he thumps to the deck. Now all the pain he has been ignoring comes roaring back and his head drops to the deck.
"Can you save him?" pleads Inara.
"I don't know. There is a lot of damage and he is losing a lot of blood." Simon answers truthfully as his hand fly over Mal's unconscious and still bleeding body. As fast as he works, he wishes he could go faster. Mal's life is slipping away. He must find a way to save him.
Painfully Mal regains consciousness. For a moment he considers black out again to escape the pain but he needs to know how his crew is. "Are we still flying?" he asks.
Simon stretches as he gets up from the bench he was resting on. "We are. You will need several days of rest but you should recover." Simon explains.
Fuzzy from the pain Mal didn't notice the other body lying on the other medical bed. His heart freezes as he realizes who it is. "It was all for nothing"
Seeing Mal's distress, Simon explains "She is just sleeping. The surgery took a lot out of her but she should be fine."
"Surgery? What happened to her? She wasn't anywhere near the cargo bay." Mal inquires.
"Both your kidneys were too badly damaged to save. She gave you one of hers. It will take a few weeks for the genetic adjustments to fully set but the kidney is working. She saved your life Mal." Simon explains.
Mal couldn't believe that Inara had sacrificed one of her kidneys for him. A thought strikes him "Will she be scarred?" he asks hoping her sacrifice hasn't cost her more than a kidney. While he wants her to give up whorein, he doesn't want it this way.
"Maybe just a little one but it won't be very noticeable. Rest. You need rest." Simon replies.
Mal reaches his hand out and embraces hers before settling back down to sleep.
Inara wakes to an odd sensation. Something is different. Her drugged mind takes a minute to realize someone is holding her hand, not someone but him. Smiling she thinks a kidney is a small price to pay.