She was wearing his shirt when she entered the tavern. Mal noticed that the moment she set foot inside the bar. Not that he'd been starin' at the door all afternoon, waiting for her or anything, but Mal had happened to glance over in that general direction when Camille happened to walk through, and, naturally, one of the first thing he noticed was that her body was currently inside his shirt.

Camille's eyes found his right away and a wicked little smile curved her lips. It was a knowing smile, like she could see right into his head, see how the sight of her was muddling his thoughts and making his blood burn. He'd never given much thought to clothes before but, suddenly, seeing her in his struck him as the sexiest thing he'd ever bore witness to.

"Hey," she said, stopping in front of him. She was very close, closer than politeness called for, but that seemed to be her. Camille was a mixture of hesitant and overly-bold, dependin' on her mood. And when she was bold, she was always seductive. "Did the drop-off go well?"

"For once. You do what you needed to do?"

"Yeah. I went shopping. Got you this." She handed him a paper bag.

He looked inside to find what he knew to be a very expensive bottle of whiskey. "You... Um, thanks." Mal looked at her. "Why'd you do that?"

"She had to pay you back for the quickie somehow," Wash put in, stepping next to Mal.

Camille's eyes went heavenward. "Wo de tain a . I'm going to kill Jayne."

"Ain't his fault," Zoe said. "It's a small ship; word travels fast."

"Yeah, I've been told that. I guess I just didn't realize that a small ship would also be full of gossips."

Zoe's smile was bland. "It gets boring in space; sometimes we need entertainment. I'm sure you understand."

Camille cocked her head and said evenly, "Storytelling is the oldest entertainment. Well. Almost the oldest." She smiled sweetly Zoe.

"That barb was aimed at the wrong woman."

Mal was about to step in, prevent the fight that he sense brewing and didn't quite understand, when Camille blinked innocently and said, "What? Inara plays pool? I had no idea."

Zoe laughed and the tension was broken. Mal still had no idea why it'd sprung up in the first place, except that Zoe was protective over him and his heart and didn't like folk who waltzed in without flashin' proper credentials for it first. She'd sat with him plenty nights while he'd nursed a broken heart with drink, more before the war than after, but still. One never got over the image of their friend in pain, and he should know; he'd sat with her before she met Wash, although Zoe was always considerably more level-headed when it came to love than Mal ever was.

"See, now, this isn't fair," Wash complained suddenly. "She changes the odds. Mal, you shoulda told us she was coming out with us."

Mal smirked and shook his head. "Now, Wash, I ain't had nothin' to do with this bet in the first place." He put his hand on Camille's shoulder. "And she ain't gonna do nothing, anyway."

Camille leaned back against him, tilting her head back on his chest until her eyes met his. "What bet? And what am I not going to do?"

"Zoe and Wash have a bet."

"I only bet because I know I'm going to win, sir," Zoe interrupted.

"I thank you for the vote of confidence, Zoe. See, Camille, Wash here seems to think that I can't go into a bar without gettin' involved in some kind of brawl."

"I disagree," Wash said. "He and Zoe are always coming back bruised and broken when they go out for a drink. And I've seen Mal enter in plenty of innocent conversations that end in blows. So I don't think I'm being unreasonable here. But she could change things."

"You think I'm going to make him behave?" Camille seemed really amused by that thought.

Wash grinned. "One might think that, maybe. I know Zoe tries to behave when I'm around."

Zoe's eyebrow hit her hairline. "I do?"

"Sure you do," he said with an easy smile. "So you, Camille, might have an effect on Mal. But, then again, the first time we met you, you were bleeding to death. So... maybe you'll start a fight just for fun."

Camille shook her head and took a step away from Mal. "Don't go around starting fights as a rule, actually. That was a one time deal only." Then she glanced back at Mal, her smile crooked. "Maybe."

He smiled back at her and squeezed her shoulder. "Do you want a drink?"

"I, uh, don't normally..."

"I can get your somethin' without alcohol, if you want." If they had anything. Places like this tended to cater to the only people who came in, and that was those who wanted somethin' to make them forget their troubles for awhile.

"Yeah, okay. Thanks."

"Be right back." Mal pulled away from her and started towards the bar. To his utter lack of surprise, Zoe fell into step besides him, leaving Camille and Wash to talk. He wondered if Wash and Zoe were tag teaming them each takin' one to talk to about the follies of what they may or may not be doin', but decided that Wash would know he wasn't one to talk about the dangers of gettin' involved with someone. After all, he just waltzed in and stole his first mate right out from under Mal's nose without flashing the proper credential's first.

'Course, Zoe did all but make the poor man run the gauntlet before she even agreed to go on a date with him. And even that date had mostly been on a dare from Mal. No one, least of all Wash, expected it to turn out the way it did.

"So," Zoe said, after Mal placed the order for another round. "Camille's here."

"Yes, Zoe, that she is. And may I say your observational skills are working overtime today."

"Didn't tell us she was comin'."

"No, now I guess I didn't think it was important." He leaned his hip against the bar, facing her. "I did put out a general invite, you know that. Not my fault she's the only one that took me up on it."

Zoe smiled in that way she had where she didn't really smile at all. "What did happen this morning between the two of you, sir? Last I noticed, you and she weren't barely talkin. Now you're friends again. This ain't lie you."

He frowned. "If I make nice with her, I'm not acting myself, but if I don't, I'm not acting like myself either? Zoe, I'm not exactly sure..."

"You're givin her a lot of attention. Both when you're makin' nice to her, and when you're doing your best to ignore her. This ain't like you, Captain. Mostly, when we take on passengers, you keep to yourself."

"Mostly when we take on passengers, it's a shorter trip and they ain't always in my face. Camille is kind of hard to ignore, if you haven't noticed."

"Why? Because she's pretty?"

"No. Because she's..." He trailed off, not quite sure how to describe what it was that made her so noticeable.

Zoe took advantage of his silence. "Or because she reminds you of someone else you know?"

"Like who? Saffron?" Mal shook his head. "Maybe in some ways, yes. She's real savvy 'bout things, verse-smart, like Saffon turned out to be. But Camille's different. She ain't got that... thing that made everything seem so wrong when we were dealin' with Saffron. I know Camille's hiding things from us, and she admits it. She's got secrets, same as the rest; don't make her a criminal, though. Or, rather, don't make her out enemy."

"I didn't mean Saffron. And you know it."

Not Saffron? Then who the hell was Zoe talking about. N, he didn't think the two women were identical by no means, but the certainly were a lot more similar than anyone else he could think of. "No, now, I don't. If not her, then who you mean?"

"I mean, sir, we've got another River on board, only this one is lucid. And I tend to think that that may be twice as dangerous."

He looked at her for a long moment, trying to see if she was serious. Zoe just looked back at him, face bland, revealing nothing.

"You're kidding, right? Camille is nothin' like River."

"Then you're the only one who thinks so, sir. Except maybe Jayne, and that's just because he can't see past the pretty. But Camille... May not look like River, and she might be more put together than her, but she's just as creepifyin, as you aways put it."

"No, she..."

"Captain, half the time the two of you talk, you ain't saying much out loud."

Mal frowned. She wasn't making any sense, and yet... Sometimes he actually had gotten the sense that a lot of what they were talking about wasn't being said. In fact, sometimes, when he got right down to it, it felt like Camille was living in his head.

But he wasn't going to tell Zoe that. "You're crazy," was all he said. He took Camille's drink from the bar and went back over to her and Wash.

"You fought in a duel?" was how Camille greeted him. She was laughing, eyes twinkling merrily up at him.

He looked at Wash, eyebrow raised.

"Sorry, Captain," Wash said, still laughing. "I was just entertaining her with some of our more colorful exploits. I thought the idea of you fighting a duel was very entertaining."

"So did I." She took her drink and sipped it, eyes sliding to Zoe. "But he also said the two of you weren't there."

"No, but we did see him go off to the big party," Zoe said, sitting next to her husband. "All trussed up like some fancy gentleman. Took Kaylee with him, then got into a fight trying to defend Inara's honor."

"I'll be she loved that."

"Blackballed the client who stabbed me," Mal said. "Said she weren't going to do business with him anymore, which suited me just fine."

Camille had her drink cradled between her hands, and it looked like she was gazing down into the liquid like it could reveal her future. But she was really looking up through her lashes at Mal, all coy like as she said, "Plannin' on doing that to all her clients?"

"Only the ones that insult both me 'n her. Ones that stay out of my business, I got no quarrel with."

Both Zoe and Wash snorted, but quickly shushed when Mal shot them dark look. He was about to say more, when a man sauntered up behind Camille and said, "Beautiful day, in't it? Sky's blue as you could ask for."

Mal was about to reply, when he noticed Camille had gone completely rigid. Her jaw was clenched and lips pressed tightly in annoyance.

He glanced at Zoe, who had obviously noticed as well.

"I said," the man repeated sounding a little annoyed, "beautiful day..."

Camille turned. "I heard you. And I thought it looked a little bit like rain, myself." She made a dismissive gesture and turned away.

"Sorry, luv, but it ain't actually you that I'm here to talk to. Just making sure I had the right table." He climbed onto a stool and looked at Mal. "You Captain Reynolds?"

"I am," Mal said guardedly.

"My name is Tyber, and I've heard your the man to hire for delicate jobs."

Mal studied the man for a moment. He could be Badger's twin, and not just because of the native accent. Tyber had the same deep sunk eyes and lack of height; the nose was longer and mouth bigger, but he had just as much growth on his face. His hair was a greasy brown and hung around his face lankly, and he reeked of sweat and oil.

But his clothes spoke of someone who prided themselves on status. Probably had status on this damned colony, although that wasn't worth much. Still. He'd made money in the past somehow, if the fine material told the truth, and he just might be able to make money again. Besides, even Badger, when he wasn't pissing in the wind, managed to make a tidy sum and, again, sometimes even managed to pass a portion of that sum onto Mal for the work he did.

"How delicate?" he finally asked.

Tyber smiled revealing gray teeth. "It requires some subterfuge and a fast exit. See, there's a party on Beaumonde in a few days. If your itinerary don't change none, you'll be there for it. The man throwing the party is very rich and has many beautiful toys. One of them is a diamond. A big one, biggest ever set. Been around centuries. Legend has it that it came from Earth that was, a wedding present for a pretty lass. The lass died on a ship that sank, taking the diamond wif 'er. When the whole thing was excavated, it bounced around from 'and to 'and."

"And now it lives on Beaumonde," Mal said.

"In the home of one Dr. Edward Rutledge. And the night of the party, the bauble will be out. It's a necklace, you see. Hi wife will wear it, oh, not long. An hour or two, then put it away. At which point, you'll liberate it."

Mal glanced at Zoe, who was fairly expressionless. Her eyebrow raised slightly, which usually meant that it was a job, and it was money and he'd be a fool not to take it.

At least, he assumed that's what it meant; it weren't like they had a code. "What's the pay?"

"You take it to my fence. It's thirty percent of whatever they pay."

"Forty-five, or I say no," Camille said suddenly.

"It's not your call," Zoe said.

Camille shook her head, smiling tightly. "No. But I'm the one with the invitation to Rutledge's party. I can get you in, but I'm not doing unless you give them forty-five percent."

"Now, now, luv," Tyber started, but Camille leaned across the table until they were almost nose to nose and said, "I will make sure you disappear. This is clearly outside the boundaries of your agreement with my employer. You ignored my code. I said I wasn't doing business with you, and whether or not you are contracting me, you are quite clearly expecting him to get in on my ticket. I've got work to do that night, and I ain't bringin' tag-a-longs unless I know the money's worth it."

Tyber swallowed hard, and Mal didn't blame him. Camille was scary right now; there was a light in her eyes that made her think that maybe, just maybe, if Tyber didn't give her the answer she wanted to hear, she'd just reach right over and snap his neck.

All that danger packed tight into one pretty-lookin' package. Maybe Zoe wasn't so crazy after all.

"Forty-five percent," Tyber said roughly. "Agreed."

Camille sat back. "You work out the details. I'll get him in."

"Captain?" Tyber turned back to him.

Of course, there wasn't exactly much to work out at this point. He had a way in, he had the promise of a good cut of the profits, and he had a date who'd help him blend in better than Kaylee could. The rest was worked out pretty quickly, which was good, since Camille was glaring at the verse like she wanted to destroy it.

"You made at somethin'?" he finally asked after Tyber left

She blinked, like comin' out of a trance. "Huh? Oh. No." She was pretty unconvincing.

"You know, it's funny," Zoe said. "You talking to Wash about the last big shindig Mal went to, and you have an invitation to another one. And then, us gettin' a job involving it, too. That's a pretty big coincidence."

Camille smiled, but it looked forced. "I was just askin' for entertaining stories from Wash. I guess he thought that one was the best."

"It's still pretty strange."

"What, you think I led him into talkin' about it?"

Zoe shrugged. "I don't rightly know. We ain't big shindig folk. How would you know to ask?"

"Maybe I read his mind," Camille said shortly. "I'm going back to the ship." Pushing her stool back roughly, she stormed from the bar.

"What the..." He ran after Camille, confused as all hell as to what was going on. "Camille!"

She didn't stop when he called her name. When he reached her, he grabbed her by the arm and swung her around to face him roughly. "What's goin' on?"

"Nothin'." She wouldn't look at him.

"Then why are you acting like someone just kicked your pet?"

"I ain't... I don't like being used."

"You angry with me for taking the job?"

"No. It's money. I understand. But he... he shouldn't have offered it to you. I gave the code to tell him I weren't interested in talking to him, but he ignored me."

"He wasn't doing business with you."

Blue eyes rolled skyward. "It's my invitation. Mal, I'm busy that night risking my life. If somethin' goes wrong, and I have to leave you..." She hesitated, teeth catching her bottom lip for a moment before she said, "I'll have to leave you. And this man, by all accounts, ain't exactly what you'd call friendly."

"And I ain't exactly what you'd call a babe in the woods. I can take care of myself."

She shook her head. "I know, but... It's more than just you. It's..." Camille stopped talking and looked away.

He stepped closer to her. "It's what?"

A wind picked up, blowing hair across her face, obscuring her eyes. Gently, he tucked the strands behind her ear. Then, cupping her chin in the palm of his hand, he lifted her face so he could see it clearly.

"Camille?"

Camille still wasn't meeting his eyes. "I hate being used. I hate..."

He didn't get to hear what it was she hated. Without finishing her sentence, Camille pulled away from him and fled down the street.

This time, Mal let her go, wondering exactly who this girl was.