Mal watched her sleep and realized she must have dozed off while he was on his way here. He smiled at how beautiful she looked. She could be his...if she wasn't engaged to Oscar Santos.
"I love you," Natara murmured in her sleep.
Mal's stomach clenched. Oscar could hear her say that any time he wanted to. Mal, on the other hand, would never...
"Mal," she said, still sleeping.
"What?" he said instinctively, and therefore surprised that the sleeping woman answered him.
"I love you," Her lips barely moved as she slept on. "Mal," she finished firmly.
It took him a full ten seconds to register what she had said, by which point Natara was awake.
"Oh Mal, I'm sorry. I must have fallen asleep! Are you ready to... Mal?"
His facial expression was stony. This was quite the predicament. She loved him...subconsciously. Now he couldn't even say it back.
"Mal, are you...?"
He closed the distance between them in two small steps and wrapped his arms around her waist. She hugged him back, slightly perplexed at his sudden affection.
"What...what happened?"
"I love you too," he said suddenly.
"What? 'Too'?"
He had small comfort in the fact that she wasn't questioning the statement itself, but the way he had said it.
"Never mind," he said. "I love you, though."
"How did you know?"
"What?"
"How did you find out I love you?"
"I didn't," he lied smoothly. "I just figured it was about time I told you."
She smiled at him and they hugged. As she buried her face in his shirt, he added quietly, "Did you know you talk in your sleep?"