Karaoke night. Not a tradition, but rather an experiment. It had never been a big group thing, just a few people that happened to be at a bar for it. The whole group had never gone. Inara had no idea why she had agreed to go. She hated singing in public. But when Mal looked at her in just that way… Her heart melted, even though she had been over him for years. The two of them had had such a connection… and they both played it to their advantage when they wanted something. This time, Mal wanted her to sing. With him. He picked the song. It didn't take much to drink before she agreed. Which was how she ended up on the stage with him, the two of them trading back and forth on the lyrics like they'd rehearsed this song a hundred times.
"Back to you
It always comes around
Back to you
I tried to forget you
I tried to stay away
But it's too late," she sang.
He responded: "Over you
I'm never over
Over you
Something about you
It's just the way you move
The way you move me
I'm so good at forgetting
And I quit every game I play"
Inara: "But forgive me, love
I can't turn and walk away"
Mal: "Back to you
It always comes around
Back to you"
Inara: "I walk with your shadow"
Mal: "I'm sleeping in my bed
With your silhouette
Should have smiled in that picture
If it's the last that I'll see of you"
Inara: "It's the least that you
Could not do
Leave the light on,
I'll never give up on you"
Mal: "Leave the light on,
For me too"
Inara: "For me too"
And together: "For me too"
Then she sang alone again: "Back to me
I know that it comes
Back to me"
And he answered: "Doesn't it scare you
Your will is not as strong
As it used to be"
And as the music trailed away, she looked into his eyes and saw everything that the two of them had worked so hard and for so long to lock away. So she ran. Off the stage and out of the bar, and into the cool rain outside.