"There ain't no more room on this gorram ship, Inara," Mal snapped as he stomped his way to Serenity's kitchen. The companion was hot on his heels.

"She can stay in my shuttle. It won't be permanent; just until whatever mess she's gotten herself into blows over." Inara moved in front of the captain and leaned against the cabinet he was trying to open.

"We can't be a bed and breakfast to anyone who needs a place to stay. In case you haven't noticed, we're smugglers."

"Ruby would never tell a soul about what you and your crew do for a living. She wouldn't even say she was ever on the ship." Inara placed her hands on Mal's shoulders, urging him to really listen to her. "It isn't just a place to stay that she needs. She needs help. She would have never asked me unless her life depended on it."

Mal sighed deeply, mumbled a string of barely-intelligible curses, and turned to leave the kitchen. "Wash! Re-route to Persephone!"

Inara grinned and hurried to call Ruby, her former protege.

*One week later*

Ruby shielded her eyes against the dust that the Firefly kicked up. All of the belongings she was able to grab from her former home sat at her feet in two suitcases. Her silk dress fluttered in the wind as the ship finally settled on the ground and the hatch opened.

"Ruby!" she recognized Inara immediately and the two rushed towards each other. Tears were zigzagging down Ruby's cheeks by the time they embraced. "Oh, Ruby. Shhh," Inara soothed, wiping the tears off the younger woman's face.

"I'm so happy you came," Ruby said, calming herself. She heard people approaching the pair and looked over Inara's shoulder. There were two men and a woman, each looking at her with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Don't worry. They're just a little wary of newcomers," Inara insisted, then turned around to make introductions.

"Ruby, I'd like you to meet our Captain, Mal. And this is Zoe and Jayne." Inara gestured to each person, who nodded their head.

Zoe seemed to be friendly, Ruby decided immediately. She could see it in the woman's warm brown eyes. Mal looked like he wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. But Jayne's gaze was the one that made Ruby shiver slightly. It was absolutely predatory, his eyes narrowed as they swept over her form. She found herself appreciating his well-muscled arms before Inara lightly squeezed her hand, drawing her out of her thoughts.

"Captain, I appreciate you letting me on board. I promise I won't be any trouble. You won't even know I'm there," Ruby swore, her hand covering her heart.

"Oh, no need to hide yourself away," Jayne said, his gruff voice making Ruby blush. As a companion, blushing was something she rarely did. In fact, she couldn't remember the last time it happened.

Mal rolled his eyes, already fed up with what he knew was going to be constant attempts to seduce Serenity's newest passenger. "Let's get you settled inside," he said, waving everyone into the ship.

Ruby turned to grab her bags but saw that Jayne had already picked them up. She smiled gratefully at him and followed the group into Serenity. Inara held her hand the whole time and Ruby was clinging to her like a lifeline. The past few weeks she had seen a lot of ugliness and it was a relief to have her mentor looking after her again.

The inside of the ship was as Ruby had expected it to be: fully functional with no extra frills. The simplicity of the metal floors and walls was almost soothing to her senses. She didn't feel the need to put on a show here. There were no expectations for her to be the entertainment.

"I'll show you my shuttle first so you can put your things away," Inara said, leading her up the catwalk. Ruby noticed Jayne's presence behind her, dutifully carrying her bags all the way to her new sleeping quarters.

Inara's shuttle was the exact opposite of the rest of the ship. It was something out of a companion's dream. Beautiful silk covered every imaginable surface, complimented by soft lighting. The bed was glorious. Ruby grinned as she sank down into the plush mattress, pulling Inara with her.

"It'll be just like old times!" she giggled, forgetting about the hulking man in the doorway.

"So you two are fixin' to share a bed?" he asked, and Ruby's mouth split into a devilish grin. She knew he was already imagining all sorts of wicked scenarios in his mind.

"It won't be anything we haven't done in the past," Inara replied, standing from the bed. All prim and proper, just like Ruby remembered.

The younger woman knelt on the bed and circled Inara's waist with her arms, her chin resting on her shoulder. "There's nothing we haven't done in the past," she added, letting her gaze stay on Jayne as her lips pressed a gentle kiss to Inara's neck.

Jayne's eyes widened and, to Ruby's delight, his pants became ever so tighter. He dropped the bags and backed out of the shuttle. "I should go clean some guns," he stated before hurrying away.

Inara waited until the mercenary was out of earshot before dissolving into a fit of laughter, along with her friend. "You'll have him following you everywhere if you keep that up," she warned.

"Maybe I wouldn't mind that," Ruby replied, a smirk on her lips.

The dark-haired companion rolled her eyes playfully. "I see your taste in men hasn't changed at all."

Ruby grinned and sank onto the floor, allowing Inara to sit on the bed and start undoing the braids that held her hair up. "Mmm, I can't help it that I'm attracted to muscle."

Inara's tan fingers made quick work of unbraiding Ruby's signature dark red hair. She picked up a brush from her table and slowly ran it through the long locks. "As long as all you're looking for is muscle, Jayne is certainly your man."

Ruby hummed in response, not particularly keen on discussing her future with men. Her recent past held enough grief for a long while. "Thank you again for coming to get me. I don't know what else I would have done. Hank threatened to kill anyone who dared to take me off-planet."

"What happened to make your arrangement go south? The last time we spoke, you seemed happy with becoming his personal Companion. Your own house, a horse kept at his stables, dining out almost every night. It was a dream."

"It was a dream," Ruby echoed, closing her eyes to focus on the feeling of Inara's brush in her hair. "Until he decided to break our contract by asking me to service his business partners. I thought he actually cared about me until the night he showed up at my house, another man in tow. He wanted me to sweeten their deal, hopefully get the other man to lower the price he was asking for some property."

Inara's hands had stilled in Ruby's hair. "What did you do?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"I refused. He didn't take it well. After the other man left, he gave me the worst beating I've ever experienced. Bruised a few of my ribs. Never touched my face, though. That would have been 'damaging property'." Ruby laughed bitterly.

"The next morning I called the Guild; had him blacklisted. As soon as he found out he went... Insane. Threatened to kill me if I tried to leave. Made sure everyone was told that it was me who broke our agreement. When I found out that I wasn't going to be able to book passage on a ship, I called you."

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that," Inara whispered, and Ruby didn't have to turn around to know that there were tears in her eyes.

Turning around and kneeling on the floor, Ruby wrapped Inara in a tight hug. "I'm just glad to have you as a friend. And that you have such an amazing captain who changed course just to pick up a stranger."

"Speaking of our amazing captain," Inara said, pulling out of their embrace and looking over Ruby's shoulder. "How much did you hear, Mal?"

Ruby turned to see Mal standing in the doorway, his eyes filled with a mixture of compassion and anger. "Long enough," he said, his voice strained with barely controlled hostility. He marched out of the shuttle and they could hear him called for Jayne and Zoe down the hall.

"He's not going to do something stupid, is he?" Ruby asked, turning wide eyes on Inara.

Inara almost laughed. "Stupid is certainly his specialty."