Chapter Two

All was well on Serenity. Everyone had returned to the ship by the late afternoon, stowing their purchases from the market and exchanging the gossip they had collected on world, although Kaylee whinged about how much a cooling coil would reduce engine wear. Jayne was cleaning his guns in the kitchen and the shepherd worked around him as continued the job of restocking the kitchen. Mal seemed to be holding a staring contest with the dog. Wash was up with Kaylee on the bridge, finally having found time to teach her to hack on the cortex like he had promised a few weeks back.

'So, I'll show you an example first. What should I find out?' the pilot asked the mechanic, thoroughly enjoying having and audience and showing off slightly.

'Um, gee, I dunno. How about our new client?'

'OK. What was his name again?'

'Hang on a second.' Kaylee clattered down the stairs to the kitchen, smiling at the sight of the captain boring holes in the dog, which was staring back with equal immovability. Snagging a rasher of bacon off the shepherd as he walked past, she waved it to get the dog's attention, thus breaking the staring match and getting the captain's attention.

'Something you wanted?' Asked Mal, pursing his lips slightly as Kaylee tossed the bit of meat to the dog, who caught it expertly. She grinned at him. 'It's nothing much captain. Wash and me were just trying to remember what out client was called'

'Gabriel Rime… why?' Mal was suddenly suspicious. 'Don't worry.' She replied lightly, skipping back up to the bridge. The captain stared after her then dismissed it from his mind and turned his gaze once more onto the dog. The dog innocently returned his stare, all signs that the bacon had ever existed gone.

In the bridge, Wash had received the name from Kaylee and was working on recovering the man's secrets. The mechanic watched attentively.

'Well, he's a crime lord. That wasn't expected.'

Kaylee giggled. 'Isn't he more of a "partner in crime" lord?'

'Huh?'

'It says there that he has a brother.'

'That it does… Michael Rime. Their parents musta bin religious or something.' Wash looked over to Kaylee for agreement and noticed that she had suddenly become very still.

'What's…?' Wash didn't get any further for there was a commotion from the kitchen. They both stood and hurried down to see what was going on.

'It beeped!' Mal was repeating, pointing an accusing finger at the dog.

'Mal, you're getting paranoid.' Jayne didn't look up as he snapped the parts of a pistol back together.

'Captain, I'm not sure-'

Mal ignored both the mercenary and the preacher and backed the dog into a corner so he could pick it up. 'Where's Simon?'

'In the infirmary, same as always. What are you doing Mal?' Asked Wash, but was ignored like the others as the captain turned his back and headed down the stairs in the aft corridor.

The crew of Serenity could never resist a good scene- it was like a sort of street theatre- so the entire crew were very quickly assembled around the infirmary, either peering through the windows or in the room itself.

Seeing Mal insist that the dog was x-rayed to a sceptical Simon was well worth any tongue lashings they would receive later for not doing what ever they were supposed to be doing. Once that happened though, patronising smiles fell from faces.

'What is it?' asked the doctor, staring at the clearly mechanical implant under the dog's skin, silhouetted in white on the x-ray. Mal had his arms crossed over his chest and was looking grim, although with almost undetectable traces of smugness in there.

'A bug I'd say. What do you reckon Zoe?'

'Ten-D-Oh Toser it looks like.'

The dog looked innocently from face to face, still sitting on the exam table. Mal glanced down at it and realised that a bug meant someone was listening to the current conversation. He motioned with his head for everyone to leave the infirmary. He exited last, closing the doors just as the dog jumped down off the table to follow him. The crew were all stationed around the passenger lounge, waiting to see what the captain's next course of action would be.

'Any thoughts on who would want to be listening to us?'

'Niska?' Ventured Simon.

'No, he's more for the full frontal method of attack.'

There was a few moments silence, then Kaylee remembered what had hit her up in the bridge. 'Um, cap'n…?' her tone was hesitant, alerting Mal to the fact that whatever it was, it was probably bad. He nodded at her, asking her to continue.

'It could just be a coincidence, but Inara mentioned that her client was 'angelic in name only.' Our client's name is Gabriel. And if he was the one that planted the bug, then it could be that he was trying to cheat in the negotiations for the cargo.'

Mal's face went blank for a second as he contemplated the implications, then he abruptly strode up and out into the cargo bay.

'Where you goin'?' Jayne called after him.

'To warn Inara. Make sure the dog doesn't follow me.' The last words were shouted back, as his footsteps faded.

There were a few moments of silence, then Kaylee spoke. 'What I don't get, is how they got it to follow him' she pondered.

'Pheromones' replied River abruptly, 'probably splashed onto the victim's clothing.'

'Huh?' queried Jayne.

'Uh, like something that smells good to a dog. Like the scent a bitch gives off when she's in heat,' Simon translated.

There was another long pause as everyone thought about this, then everyone firmly agreed that the captain would not be allowed to find out that he probably smelled like a damn sexy female dog.

O0o0O

Mal hurried through the streets of Greenleaf as the sun finally sunk below the horizon. Local night life began to appear but Mal ignored it as he tried to remember the way to the place that Gabriel had specified for the negotiations. He was already half way there when he remembered that he hadn't told Zoe where it was yet. Pausing for a moment in indecision, he shook it off and continued, determined that nothing should happen to Inara.

The security for the mansion was low, and Mal had no trouble sneaking inside. Once inside was where he ran into trouble. He had no idea where Inara would be. Thankfully it appeared that Gabriel wasn't home yet, so the captain opted for the time tried method of just going from room to room.

He found her in a large entertaining room, studying the picture traced out by a holographic tapestry that projected down one of the walls. Just at that moment, Gabriel returned home, apparently with friends in tow.

As the voices got closer, Mal ran out of options, so, quickly seizing the companion by the upper arm, he pulled her through the holographic tapestry into the small alcove behind it. She let out a muffled yelp, as he had entered the room quietly and she had not been aware of his presence. In order to keep from being dropped by the self-defence that Mal knew companions were taught, he pulled her flush against him, wrapping one arm around her chest and the other across her stomach, binding her arms. With her back to him, she couldn't see who it was, but evidently figured it out as her struggles quickly stopped. Then, in the most annoyed tone he had ever heard Inara use, she said 'Mal?'

'Shh' he warned her, setting the volume at which they could safely speak. He loosened his hold on her slightly, releasing her arms, but did not let go. She shifted against him, silently protesting the contact.

'What the hell is going on? What are you doing here?' Her ire was actually rising, but to the captain's relief, she did lower her voice.

'We found out some stuff on your client that doesn't bode too well. Figured out you weren't safe here.'

'I screen all my clients carefully' she told him, her tone icy. At that moment the voices that had been getting closer broke into the room. Mal couldn't see through the hologram, but by the sounds of it, there were at least six men now talking and joking coarsely in the room. Both he and Inara fell silent to listen, so they both clearly heard what came next.

'Damn, I'd hoped that I'd managed to fool the whore into coming here. Then maybe we all could've had some fun with her.' This was followed by rough laugher, and Mal swore he actually felt Inara go pale in his arms.

'You probably weren't good enough for her high whore standards Gabriel.' More laughter.

'Nah, guess that Reynolds fella is smarter than I gave him credit for. Don't matter though, we'll just have to cut a deal the old fashioned way- without a hostage as a bargaining chip. In the meantime gentlemen, please, sit. Murphy, would you care to deal? I'll get the drinks.'

Conversation began to flow, as well as the sounds of the six men settling down at the card table in the middle of the room. After a few long moments of silence behind the holographic picture, Inara finally seemed to break out of her shock. 'How did you know?' She asked tremulously.

'It's a long story' replied Mal, 'but it does look like we'll be here a while. So-' he told her how they had discovered that both their clients shared a name, Wash's hacking exploits, and the bugged dog that had been following him around.

She was silent for a long time after the story finished, and they both remained still, listening with half an ear to the background conversation of the card game. Mal was becoming horribly distracted by how warm Inara's back was against his chest. She had begun to lean against him. Time stretched on.

'Are they going to keep this up all night?' the companion asked finally, exasperation in her whisper.

'Huh?' asked Mal, as he blinked out of the haze in his head and as his brain filled him in on what she had just said, 'oh, um, probably,' he replied, 'luckily you learn how to sleep standing up in the army.'

'Well some of us aren't so lucky.'

'I gotcha. You ain't gonna fall over.'

'Thanks.' Her tone was dry, but Inara snuggled back against him and Mal had to bite his tongue to keep from letting out a groan. This had to be the special hell that the preacher was talking about. She leaned her head back to rest on his shoulder, and the smell of her hair spoke very directly to parts of him that weren't allowed in daylight. He sighed. It looked to be a long night.

O0o0O

Eventually the crew of Serenity had given up waiting for the captain and begun dinner, reasoning that planning always happened better on full stomachs. In a hopeful way, a plate of food for him had been covered and left to one side.

Once everyone had served themselves and began tucking in, the conversation immediately turned to what they should do about their missing captain.

'He didn't say how long he'd be. They're probably fine'

'That as may be so Kaylee, but I think we'd all feel happier if there was no "probably".'

'So what are we going to do?' asked Jayne looking around the table.

'Did he say where he was going?' asked Simon, always taking the rational course of thought.

'Nope, and there isn't anything on the cortex either' replied Wash, looking glum. He had spent quite a while trawling all the corners of the electronic data base, looking for more information on the Rimes. The more he had found out, the more worried he had become, and yet nothing useful had materialised.

'We have the rendezvous point for the goods pick up tomorrow afternoon though,' pointed out Book.

'That ain't much help until tomorrow afternoon preacher,' Zoe told him.

'It's all we have at the moment. It might prove useful.'

'He does have a point.' Kaylee chipped in.

Zoe nodded. 'OK, Jayne, Wash and me will go and see if we can find anything out. Maintain coms silence unless we break it. We'll call you when we get there, and we shouldn't take more than an hour. If we're longer than that…'

'We'll figure out what to do then.' Simon assured her.

Zoe nodded again and scooped the last morsel of food into her mouth before standing. Wash and Jayne had already finished. They filed out of the kitchen, leaving silence in their wake.

O0o0O

Inara allowed her breathing to become even and shallow, mimicking sleep. It wasn't a skill as useful as being able to sleep standing up perhaps, but it had come in handy in her years as a companion. Her companion training also allowed her to recognise the choppy breathing of arousal from behind her. It was good to know the captain wasn't entirely made of ice.

But then, she wasn't immune herself. His hot breath brushed over her neck, raising chills on her spine and his arms felt strong and secure around her. She hadn't felt this way in an embrace since before she had enrolled as a companion. And no doubt, this sort of thing wasn't allowed, not without payment exchanging hands first. But a little voice in her head argued that she had a perfectly reasonable excuse and nothing was actually happening.

Yeah, right said another, slightly more sarcastic voice in her head. She chose to ignore the second voice.

It was very difficult to tell time in the incomplete darkness behind the holographic tapestry and the voices in the room faded into a continuous murmur. Inara relaxed even more into the captain's embrace, and his breathing didn't settle down any. She was just drifting off in to sleep for real when a thought occurred to her that snapped her back to full wakefulness. Yawning quietly and shifting against him, she feigned waking up from a feigned sleep. Even later, she was never sure if she imagined the small catch in his breath.

'What if the crew do the thing they did with Niska?' murmured Inara, her desire for the man behind her actually working in her advantage for once, to make her voice sound blurred and sleepy.

'Hnh?' came the incredibly articulate reply. Inara smiled and lifted her head away from Mal's shoulder, hoping it would break him out of his daze a little. 'What if the crew get worried about why you're gone so long and come bursting in here with guns?' She repeated.

'Oh, um….no, actually I think we're safe on that score. None of them know where I went looking for you and I hadn't told Zoe yet where we were going to negotiate.'

'What if you had needed back up?' demanded Inara quietly yet irately, her mind quickly gifting her with all sorts of situations in which Mal could have gotten himself killed.

'I assumed it would be as simple as coming and telling you that your client wasn't such a nice man. I didn't plan on this happening.'

No, you never do plan things like this to happen, thought Inara. Out loud she said; 'How did you know where this place was?'

'I was just going to cut the deal here in the morning. When that was sorted out, there was a rendezvous point out of town for us to pick up the goods. That's probably where they'll start looking'

'Will they find anything there?'

'Depends on whether this slime's brother is out there setting traps.' A thought occurred to Mal and he snorted softly in amusement. 'What?' asked Inara.

'Nothing really. It would just be kind of ironic if we were the ones that ended up with a hostage as a bargaining chip.'

'You mean if the crew captured the brother?'

'Yeah. Unfortunately, he'd probably then tell them about Gabriel's mansion and they'd come busting in here with guns.

As though the captain's words held some kind of special power, on cue, the crew burst in with guns. Behind the holographic picture, Mal buried his face in the back of Inara's neck to hide his smile.

'That was very precognisant of you.' Inara too sounded amused.

'Yes, I've been taking notes from River' replied the captain, lifting his head again. It sounded like the impetus of the crew's attack had failed upon discovering a perfectly innocent card game. Sighing, he released Inara for the first time in many hours and reached down between them to retrieve his gun from its holster.

Realising that they would have to reveal themselves, Inara quickly smoothed down her clothes and composed her features, then waited for Mal's command to step through the holographic tapestry that concealed them.

It was given a second later, although the companion heard the reluctance that dogged it.

Blinking in the sudden light, they emerged into the room.

End Chapter 2