After putting up the crates in a few secret smuggling nooks, Mal wandered back towards the common area. He ran into Inara. She looked him over carefully. "What you lookin' at?" Mal asked.

"I don't know. Are you…did you…never mind," she rambled. She looked at him again and walked past him. She stopped and turned around. She looked at him again with a look in her eye.

"Are you…checking me out?" Mal asked.

"What? No! No! I…no!" she blushed and then quickly left. He walked away, slightly confounded.

"Kaylee! How's it comin'?" Mal asked. She appeared from under the engine.

"Same as last time I told ya, Cap'in. You haveta let me…" she looked at him and dropped her wrench. "…work…"

"You too? What's so…about me?" Mal asked.

"I…dunno…say…can you hand me that wrench? It's right there," she pointed towards her hammock.

"I don't see no…" he turned towards the hammock. She stood only a few inches away from him. "Wrench…" he finished. "Um Kaylee…what are you doin'?" he asked.

"My bad, it's right behind ya. Let me get it," she leaned against him and retrieved the wrench. "Say, it's gettin' a bit cold in here. Ya know body warmth helps…" she said with a wink.

"You're kiddin' right?" Mal asked.

"Kiddin' 'bout what?" Kaylee asked as she stepped closer to him. He took a step back.

"Yeah…um…I'll be…yeah," Mal quickly left and ran into Shepherd.

"By the look on your face I'd say you've seen a ghost," Shepherd commented.

"What's wrong with me?" Mal asked.

"Where to begin…" Shepherd joked.

"First Inara stares me down. Now Kaylee's actin' all weird…" Mal explained.

"By weird you mean…?" Shepherd asked.

"Comin' onto me!" Mal cried. Shepherd's eyebrows rose slightly. "I know!" he exclaimed.

"I'm sure it's nothing," Shepherd replied.

"Yeah…yeah," Mal agreed half heartedly.

They all met for dinner. Mal sat down at the head of the table like he usually did. Inara rushed to sit on one side of Mal, while Kaylee and River fought over the other side. Kaylee shoved River aside. "We got bread," Jayne announced. He sat down at the other end of the table with the bread basket.

"Could someone pass the bread?" Mal asked.

"I will!" Inara said.

"I got it!" Kaylee cried. She reached for the basket at the same time that Inara did. They each got one side of the basket and a war began. Kaylee pulled it one way while Inara pulled it the other. Everyone else watched in astonishment.

"Let me pass the man some bread!" Inara snapped.

"Let me!" Kaylee growled. The basket went flying through the air along with the bread. River caught the basket and easy caught all of the pieces of bread with it. She walked over to Mal and handed him the basket with a smile.

"Thanks…" Mal said quietly.

"Your welcome," River beamed. She stuck her tongue out at Kaylee and Inara. She sat down proudly. They started to eat. Kaylee kept staring at him and smiling. He felt someone's foot, most definitely Inara's, rubbing up and down his leg. It was making him very uncomfortable. Not as uncomfortable as when he felt Kaylee's combat boot running up and down his leg though. River also kept gazing at him, but she was too far away to do anything. It started getting colder as the meal went on. Inara had to be cold. She was barely wearing anything.

"Aren't you cold in that outfit?" Zoe asked.

"Not at all. Companions are trained to warm up rather quickly and stay hot for a very, very long time…" Inara replied as she looked at Mal. He almost choked on his bread. She winked at him.

"This is…am I missing something?" Wash asked.

"I am apparently," Mal responded, his gaze shifting between Kaylee and Inara. They didn't answer. An awkward silence fell over the room. Inara put her hand on top of Mal's hand. His eyes traveled from his hand, up her arm, to her face, and into her eyes. He quickly moved his hand away. "It's my turn to clean up right?" Mal asked.

"No, I thought it was my…" Wash started. He saw the look of desperation on his face. "No, no…it's your turn," Wash finished.

"I'll get on this then," Mal said desperately wanting to get away from the table. He grabbed a few plates and started going for the sink.

"Let me help you with that," Inara said, standing up and taking one of the plates.

"I got it," Mal snapped.

"You seein' what I'm seein'?" Jayne asked Wash. Wash replied with something in Chinese that clearly stated, "Oh yeah."

After arguing for a few minutes, Inara helped Mal clear the table rather provocatively. Kaylee watched in an angry silence. "Thanks for the help," Mal said awkwardly.

"No problem," Inara said flirtatiously. She ran her finger down his face. He swallowed hard.

"I have to go," Mal stuttered. He skipped over climbing down the ladder and just leapt down into his bunk. It was getting colder by the minute. He wrapped his sheets and a blanket around himself and sat on his bed. He didn't even get a few minutes peace before someone started coming down the ladder. "Hey Cap'in," Kaylee beamed. He was relieved that it wasn't Inara. Kaylee he could resist. He didn't trust himself around Inara. "It's getting cold. I wanted to show you somethin' in the engine room. It's warmest in there anyways," Kaylee said as innocently as she could.

"I…uh…" he muttered.

"Please Cap'in? Just real quick like?" Kaylee pleaded. He sighed.

"Real fast," he replied sternly. She smiled and went up the ladder. He followed. They walked down to the engine room.

"Go take a gander at the engine," she suggested. He timidly walked over to the engine. He heard the door shut. He turned around. Kaylee had shut and locked the door. She smiled at him. "Now we's alone," she said with a giddy chuckle. Now what?