Nature's Course
Chapter Seven
"Buenas tardes y bienvenido a La Isla de Porcelana. ¿Verificar en?"
Kaylee stared incomprehensively at the obscenely smiling receptionist behind the polished black desk, her tan skin, black hair, and red fingernails all disarmingly shiny. Rex didn't seem fazed.
"Sí. Mi esposa y yo tienen una reservación bajo el nombre de Trujillo." He rambled all of this off flawlessly before placing a loving hand on Kaylee's expanding stomach. "Para tres."
Kaylee's attempts to match the receptionist's glowing grin came up short, and she resigned herself to looking around at all the finery and frippery the resort had to offer as she and Rex were led to their room. Now Kaylee had done her fair share of traveling but before two days ago she had never encountered any planet like Santa María.
Two days earlier…
Gathered around the kitchen table, Serenity's crew listened to Mal speak with varying levels of patience.
"The Porcelain Isle is a um…"
"Health spa and resort."
"…located on the planet San-stan M-mario…"
"Santa Maria."
"The resort's run by the Castilo family…"
"Castillo. There's two 'l's, so it sound like a 'y.' Castillo—"
"Rex, are you gonna tell 'em or am I?"
Rex bowed his head and touched his hand to his chest looking wounded. "Forgive me. Go on."
Mal made a face but continue on nonetheless. "Anyway, the owners are dirty and the clientele is of the rich variety, so it costs a pretty penny to get in. Ya have to get reservations months in advance, but we just so happened to win…"
"Eh, eh, hem."
"…one in a friendly game of 5 card gamble on Persephone…"
"Ah hem."
Mal heaved a sigh. "Rex won the reservations in a game of gamble on Persephone," he said irritated.
The pilot held up his hands. "Please, no need to bestow me with your gracious praise. I owe it all to Lady Luck."
"So we're gonna get in with the reservations and get out with their safety deposit boxes," Jayne deadpanned from where he was rocking back on the hind legs of a kitchen chair. "Sounds easy 'nough."
"There's a catch," Inara said knowingly. She hadn't removed her eyes from Mal's face throughout the entire briefing and could tell there was something he hadn't brought to light.
"A few actually," Mal confirmed. "The people of Santa Maria only speak a language called Spanish, an old dialect from Earth That Was."
"That could cause problems." Zoe didn't like it, not one bit. It was no good being trapped in a place where you've got no means to communicate.
"Not as many as you might think," Mal interjected. "Rex's been to the planet on a few occasions and has picked up the language in his travels."
"So then, what are the problems?" Inara pressed.
Mal shared a look with Kaylee before saying, "The reservations are for a Mr. and Mrs. Trujillo, and they've scheduled prenatal therapy sessions for their visit."
Inara opened her mouth to protest but Jayne beat her to it. "That some term for kinky sex? Cuz I could learn Spanish."
As everyone turned to stare at him, Jayne's eyes widened, and he looked at them all in disgust. "Hell I didn't mean so I could get it in on with Rex! I figure Zoe or 'Nara would go as the Mrs."
"Mrs. Trujillo is pregnant," Mal said to direct the conversation back to the job, "which means Kaylee's our best bet."
"Mal, you can't be serious." Inara fixed him with a challenging look that he'd received on numerous occasions, but still always managed to get under his skin. "She's almost eight months along, and any sort of stress could cause…"
"Inara, I appreciate your concern, but I've already discussed it with Kaylee, and she's agreed to go."
She shook her head in disbelief. "Of course she did! She doesn't want to let you down, and you're just taking advantage without even thinking of the consequences."
Kaylee stood as if to speak, but as Mal's face turned stony and he settled Inara with a glare of his own, the mechanic couldn't find her voice. "Inara, that's enough."
"How can you be so selfish as to put Kaylee in danger just so you get some payout…"
Mal leaned forward, hands flat on the tabletop. "That's enough!"
The room grew silent.
It wasn't unusual for their captain to get angry or even raise his voice, but the look in Mal's eyes when he yelled at Inara right then…it was something fierce, and the crew was left feeling thrown.
After several moments of tense stillness, Inara flinched back to life, looking shaken and miffed as she refused to remove her gaze from Mal, who straightened and ran a hand across his chin in agitation.
Kaylee silently looked between the two in confusion before exiting the room altogether.
Present Day…
As their guide came to a stop, Kaylee almost ran smack into the back of Rex, as she was too distracted by the patrons passing them in the hall. They all looked so glamorous in their shiny silk dresses and satin shoes. Kaylee self-consciously fingered her own cotton maternity gown. She felt underdressed.
"Kaylee."
She turned and entered the room, only making it two steps inside before freezing in place.
AN: I'll owe any Spanish misuse to the evolution of the dialect on the planet. He he.
