Chapter 23
Inara looked shocked when she opened the door to find Mal standing in front of her. His face was a mess of scrapes and bruises.
"Oh Mal what happened?" She asked with concern.
"We got jumped by some a the casino owners, seems they figured out that River was cheatin em." Mal explained.
"Is everyone alright?" Inara asked.
"Simon looks bout like I do and River took one nasty knock to the head, but other than that everything's shiny."
Inara breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed.
"Good I'm glad everyone is safe." Inara said with a large smile.
"Just thought I should come by and make sure you didn't run inta any trouble on yer way back here." Mal said suddenly, explaining his presence.
"I'm fine. I stayed at a client's estate for the entire week. But thank you for your concern." Inara said softly.
Mal let out a deep breath and relaxed.
"I was real worried about you Nara. When them guys jumped us I thought maybe they'd find out bout you too and it scared me bad." Mal blurted out.
Inara looked at him with wide slightly confused eyes.
"Well I assure you I'm fine. Would you like to come in for some tea? You look like you need to sit down." Inara asked and stepped back so that Mal could enter the shuttle.
Mal slumped down on the couch and watched Inara closely as she moved around the shuttle gathering the ingredients to make tea. Once she had finished the tea she handed him a steaming cup and took a seat gracefully next to him.
"So other than the goons attacking you how was the week?" Inara asked, still slightly on edge by Mal's sudden attitude change towards her from the previous week.
"It was alright. River made a killing at the casinos. She made enough we'll be secure for at least six months even if we don't work any jobs. But…"
"But what Mal?" Inara asked seeing the torment on Mal's face.
"Guess I just realized somethin' this week. I was with River all week but I couldn't stop thinkin' about you. Every time I kissed her or touched her I couldn't stop myself from seein yer face." Mal confessed with a heavy sigh.
"Oh Mal." Inara said in a low throaty voice.
She reached out one slim hand and cupped his cheek and forced him to look her in the eye.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" She asked.
Mal swallowed involuntarily and nodded.
"I love you Nara." He whispered.
Inara smiled seductively and leaned in closer to Mal's face.
"I've been waiting for you to realize that. River was never right for you." Inara whispered.
"I know." He agreed sounding regretful. "I'm sorry it took me so long to realize it."
"Shhh. It doesn't matter anymore." She assured him and pressed a finger to his lips to silence him.
Mal grabbed a handful of hair at the nape of Inara's neck and pulled her to him crushing his lips to hers in a frenzied passionate kiss.
Inara's eyes popped open in surprise and then rolled up in her head as she lost consciousness. Mal caught her as she fell backwards and laid her gently on the couch.
He left her on the couch and returned to the galley.
Everyone looked at him expectantly when he entered. Kaylee and Simon had informed them of the situation while Mal was in the shuttle.
"Did the stuff I gave you work?" Simon asked.
"Yeah she's out." Mal replied with a nod.
"What stuff?" Zoe and Jayne asked at the same time.
Mal again had to suppress a grin, now that he was aware of the two of them it seemed so obvious that they were together.
"Simon gave me somethin like what Saffron used on me. Used it ta knock Inara out." Mal explained.
"When'd ya'll plan this?" Jayne asked confused.
"Right after Kaylee talked ta me. I pulled Simon inta the infirmary on his way down ta the engine room and he helped me out." Mal answered.
"Yeah but why are ya goin through all this? Why didn't ya just kick her off the ship?" Jayne asked sounding frustrated.
"Cause we don't know fer sure it was her and if it was we gotta figure out who else she talked to." Mal explained with a sigh.
"Can't ya just have crazy read Nara and tell ya?" Jayne continued to press.
"Because her head is throbbing and she isn't up for trying to read someone. Especially Inara who is very good at hiding her thoughts." River explained still irritated by her pounding head and Simon's refusal to allow her to sleep.
"Oh." Jayne replied seeming satisfied finally.
"Cap'n I found somethin' else while ya were in the shuttle." Kaylee said suddenly.
"What'd ya find?"
Kaylee held out her hand and Mal saw a small silver square resting on the palm of her hand.
"It's a tracker. I found it on one of River's boots. Someone was trackin River's movements the whole time we were on Draco." Kaylee explained sadly, knowing there was really only one person who'd had the opportunity and the motive to bug River in that way.
"Well best we go do what we gotta do and make sure fore we doin anything." Mal said sadly.
"You up for doin a little bit a genius type stuff for me bao-bei?" Mal asked as he pulled River against him and gave her a hug.
River nodded against his chest.
"Might as well since Simon won't let me rest." She replied.
The entire crew followed Mal and River into Inara's shuttle. Kaylee looked down at Inara's sleeping form with a dark scowl on her face.
River made her way to Inara's Cortex screen and sat down at the chair in front of it. She began pushing buttons so fast no one was able to keep up with her actions on the screen. After five minutes River turned around looking frustrated.
"Can't find a record of contact with any of the casino owners." She told Mal.
"You sure?"
"Yes if she did contact them she didn't do it from this screen." River confirmed.
"Just cause she didn't do it here don't mean she didn't do it." Kaylee pointed out.
"I know mei-mei." Mal said sounding frustrated and angry.
"Buyaolian de dongxi!" Jayne suddenly muttered and gave Inara's still form a disgusted look as he held a scrap of paper in his hand.
"What is it?" Mal asked.
"Saw this stickin out from under the couch, she musta dropped it." Jayne replied.
"Well what's it say?" Mal asked impatiently.
"You remember which casinos them guys was from?" Jayne asked.
"No don't recall. I know I met at least five of em while we was playin but I don't remember which one was which." Mal answered.
"The one who hit me was from the Golden Spike. The others were from the Cloverleaf, Tammy's Saloon, the Red Dawn Hotel and Casino, the Rainbow Room, Lucky Larry's House of Cards, and"
"Terrible Joe's?" Jayne asked.
River nodded her head as Jayne finished the list for her.
"Numbers for each one a them casinos plus the names of the owners. It's in Inara's hand writing." Jayne confirmed as he held up the list.
Mal let loose a stream of English and Mandarin curses so vile that Jayne nearly blushed. River stood and walked slowly to Mal, when she reached him she wrapped her arms around him. He quieted immediately and returned her embrace burying his face in her hair.
"It's fine ai-ren. We're all safe and now we know for certain that she can't be trusted. We know the truth." River soothed.
"You shoulda told me bao-bei. You shoulda told me why she called the Alliance." Mal whispered.
"I'm sorry. I was trying to keep you from being hurt. I thought I took care of it. I didn't think she would try to hurt me again. I won't keep things from you anymore." River promised.
"Sir what do you suggest we do?" Zoe asked bringing Mal back to the present situation.
"She's gettin off. Here's as good a place as any and then we hightail it as far from here as we can get so she don't know where we are." Mal decided, not even able to bring himself to say her name.
Inara groaned and struggled to open her eyes. Her head was pounding painfully and her back was cold and sore, it felt like she was lying on metal grating. She opened her eyes and found herself staring at the cargo bay ceiling. Inara's confused mind tried to piece together what she last remembered and figure out what she was doing laying in the cargo bay.
"Get out." She heard Mal say from above her.
"Huh?" She mumbled groggily.
"I said get out. I don't wanna see ya again, ever." Mal continued.
Ignoring the pain in her head Inara forced herself to stand up and look around. Mal stood in front of her with his arms crossed, the rest of the crew stood behind him all with similar expressions of anger and hurt on their faces.
"What's going on? How did I get down here and why are you kicking me off the ship?" Inara asked with confusion.
"I drugged you to knock you out and you know why I'm kicking you off of my ship." Mal sneered and threw a balled up piece of paper at Inara's feet.
Inara bent down and scooped up the piece of paper. Her face fell as she read what was written on the paper and realized that she'd been caught.
"Mal I can explain." She started.
"Explain? Explain how you tipped off the casino owners to what we were doing? Explain how you put a tracker on River so they could find her? Or maybe you wanna explain how you made sure to tell each and every one a them thugs just how dangerous River is so'd they know ta take her out fast? Go head Nara explain away I'm dyin ta hear how you can make this right." Mal shouted.
Inara's eyes filled with tears and her lower lip quivered.
"I did it for you Mal. I was trying to save you." Inara whimpered.
"Save me from what?" Mal spit.
"From her! She's poison Mal, she'll only hurt you! God why can't anyone see her the way I do? The only thing River has ever brought us is pain! Dobson, Jubal Early, Miranda, The Blue Hands, your amnesia; none of that would have happened if it wasn't for her!" Inara shouted and pointed a long manicured finger at River.
Mal stiffened and prepared himself for the violent reaction he expected to come from River, but it never came. River simply stared down at the ground and crossed her arms in front of her like she was cold.
"You're supposed to be with me Mal she's just confused you and I'm trying to put a stop to it!" Inara continued.
"Shut the ruttin hell up Inara!" Jayne shouted suddenly surprising everyone in the group.
"I ain't never been River's biggest fan, but she hasn't done anything as bad as what you did, or what I did once." Jayne said with a far off look in his eyes.
"River never once tried to hurt any a us on purpose. She even put her life on the line more than once ta protect the crew. You turned against your own crew on purpose, that makes ya a traitor and you ain't even sorry for it." Jayne continued his voice growing louder and louder.
"This ain't gettin' us anywhere. I want ya off my ship and I want ya off now. Once you're gone ya stayin gone. If ya come after us again or send anyone after us I'll track ya down and kill ya, that's a promise." Mal said coldly.
Inara's eyes widened in horror at the threat. She looked down to that her clothes and belongings were set on the ground around her hastily thrown into bags. Mal suddenly reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash. He threw it at Inara's feet just as he'd thrown the scrap of paper.
"There's the remainder a your rent fer this month and yer deposit back. I don't owe ya anything now, so go." Mal finished and turned away from the Companion, not even giving her one final glance.
Inara looked to Kaylee, who'd been her closest friend on the ship.
"Kaylee?" She asked hopefully.
"I just don't know how ya could do that Inara. After Miranda we been family and ya don't set out ta hurt family like that." Kaylee said and began to cry.
Simon pulled her into his arms and together they followed Mal from the room. Jayne and Zoe gave Inara one final glance, but said nothing as they walked away. Inara stood still in front of the open cargo bay doors with River in front of her.
River took a slow step towards Inara and reached out one hand. She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear in a surprisingly gentle gesture.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe I am poison, I seem to hurt the people I love without meaning to." The Reader said morosely.
Inara didn't respond but looked at River with less venom in her stare than River had seen in a long time.
"I'm sorry you were hurt in all of this, but I can't help that I love Mal anymore than I can help that he loves me. I know you care for him and all I can do is promise to take care of him. I will do everything in my power not to hurt him."
Inara stared speechless at River for nearly a minute. She suddenly sighed loudly and bent to pick up her bags, she walked from Serenity without ever looking back. Serenity was in the air less than ten minutes later and going at full burn in the Black within the hour.
Dinner that night was a solemn affair. Inara had been part of the family and every single crew member felt hurt and betrayed by her actions. River left the table quickly claiming that her head hurt too much to eat. Mal quickly took a few more bites and then followed River from the galley, worried that she'd go into their bunk and fall asleep.
He didn't find her in their bunk like he expected and his panic began to grow as he searched the ship without any sign of her.
"Doc you seen yer sis anywhere?" Mal asked poking his head into the infirmary knowing that he wouldn't find her in the room she despised so much.
"I thought she went to your bunk." Simon answered glancing up from the medicines he was taking inventory of.
"So did I but she ain't there and she ain't on the bridge, in the cargo bay, or anywhere else I've looked." Mal said.
Simon looked up at him suddenly concerned. It was never a good sign when River couldn't be found, it usually meant she was having an episode or something bad was soon to happen.
"I'll go get Kaylee and we'll help you look." Simon told him quickly.
"I'll go get Zoe and Jayne so they can help." Mal added.
"I wouldn't bother them Captain, they're in Jayne's bunk, together." Simon informed him with a smirk.
Mal did not just a double take at the doctor, it was more like a quadruple take. His mouth hung open and he couldn't seem to find the link between his ability to speak and his brain.
"You- you- you- know about them?" He finally stammered.
"Well since Zoe came to me to get on birth control four months ago and I walked in on them doing it on his weight bench, yeah I kinda figured it out." Simon snickered enjoying the look of shock on the Captain's face.
"Does Kaylee know too?" Mal asked as he and Simon began to walk the halls of Serenity looking for River.
"Yeah, she walked in on them doin it in the engine room. She was mainly just pissed that they did it in our room." Simon turned bright red when he realized he'd just informed the Captain that the engine room was he and Kaylee's sex spot.
"Ok well thanks for that Simon, lets say we stop talkin' and look for yer sister." Mal said, but couldn't help enjoying the embarrassed look on the Docs face.
Twenty minutes later Mal's panic had reached new heights when the three of them still hadn't managed to find River. Logically he realized she was still on the ship, being as how they were in outer space that was pretty much a given, but he still worried when she disappeared.
It suddenly dawned on Mal that there was one obvious place he hadn't bothered to look for River, simply because he figured she would never go there. Feeling guilty about not asking first Mal climbed the ladder down into Zoe's bunk and found River sitting on Zoe's bed. She had her knees pulled up to her chest and was holding one of Wash's garishly bright Hawaiian shirts.
"Hey my love what ya doing down here?" He asked quietly, not sure whether or not she was in the middle of an episode or not.
River looked up at him with sad but clear eyes and he knew that she was still all with him.
"Just remembering." She explained.
"Remembering Wash?" He asked and sat down on the bed next to her.
She nodded and hugged the shirt a little tighter.
"You think it's my fault?" She asked.
"What? You mean what happened to Wash?" Mal asked.
"Yes maybe Inara was right, I hurt everyone. Wash would be alive if it weren't for me. Zoe must hate me."
"Hey now, ain't no one on this boat who hates you or blames you for anything. Plus you saved us more often than you've put us in danger and not once has any a those things that Inara mentioned been yer fault. Come on now bao-bei we been through all this before and ya know how I feel bout ya. Don't let the words of a jealous jianhou make ya doubt yerself." Mal said sternly.
River gave him a large bright smile and pulled him towards her so that she could kiss him fully on the mouth. She dropped the shirt on the floor and moved so that she was straddling Mal's lap, kissing him hungrily the whole time. Her hand moved inside of his shirt and her nails scratched lightly at his chest muscles. When her hand moved lower and brushed lightly against his growing length Mal suddenly jumped remembering where they were.
"Bao-bei we gotta get outta here." Mal said and began to stand.
River stiffened and pushed Mal back down to the bed.
"Zoe and Jayne have a fondness for having sex in as many places as possible. They have done it in your bunk at least five times." River suddenly informed him with an evil grin on her face.
Mal grimaced and pulled away from River.
"Five times? In my bed? I swear to God I'm spacin Jayne right now." Mal said with disgust.
"Then you will have lost a very good mercenary and Zoe will also kill you." River pointed out.
"So what exactly do ya suggest I do bout this?" Mal asked.
River pulled off her dress quickly and lay back in the bed, completely naked.
"Pay back?" She asked sweetly and pulled him down on top of her with a giggle.
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So sorry for the delay in updating, but it's been a crazy week. But hey I got engaged!!! Just felt the need to share that with as many people as humanly possible