Disclaimer: Joss and Mutant Enemy own all… I'm just playing with the characters for my own amusement! Promise I won't damage them… too much.

A/N: Apologies for yet another long wait; I was on holidays for a week then got back to several weeks of exams and projects. And my muse decided it would be funny to go off and leave me hanging for a while… But here is the long-awaited chapter 6! Many thanks to everyone who keeps reviewing and giving me encouragement!

Baby Blue­ – thank you, sis!! I'm so glad you came to my little world and have enjoyed your stay!! Hopefully this chapter keeps you as interested as the last!

Half-elf, GarniGal, EreshkigalGirl, CalmintheChaos – Many thanks for the candy and chocolate chip cookies; I enjoyed them thoroughly!!

"Ni hao?" Inara's flawless face was the picture of polite inquiry as to who could possibly be waving her from Serenity; she thought perhaps Kaylee, hoped against hope that is was Mal.

"Inara," River started, her eyes shining with affection for her old friend.

"River!" Inara exclaimed with as much excitement as a lifetime of Companion training would allow. "How are you, mei mei? You're on Serenity now, so I take it your explanations were adequately received?"

The genius nodded and smiled. "They were hesitant and slightly nervous at first, but have since allowed their guards to lower once again. I apologize for not contacting you sooner; I wanted to wait a little to ensure that I was actually welcome on board."

"Oh, River, they love you! Of course you would be welcome on the ship."

River fixed the Companion with a direct, knowing look. "They love you as well, so why are you still at the House?" Inara blushed, mildly flustered, as she sometimes was, by the younger woman's directness.

"That's different, as you know perfectly well." The words came out slightly stiff, as she tried to mask her discomfort at all the thoughts that this line of conversation stirred up.

River rolled her eyes. "When are you going to stop pretending that you are happy and fulfilled living and working at the Training House? I know you, Nara, and you love this ship and its crew as much as I do!"

"It's different," Inara insisted. "Don't roll your eyes, it is! Besides, I am quite content where I am, mei mei."

"Tell that to someone who doesn't know you so well and can't read your mind! When are you and Mal going to stop behaving like children? I'm going to die of old age before you two figure your go se out!" River was beyond exasperated with the two of them. A blind man could see that Inara loved Mal and Mal loved Inara, but they were both too stubborn to let go of their pride and actually admit that to each other.

The reader sighed, and rubbed her right temple. She was still getting minor headaches from the crew's constant unfiltered thoughts, and this frustration was only adding to the pain.

She looked up when Inara, uncharacteristically hesitant, replied to her tirade. "I know you're frustrated and you mean well, but let this be. Please, liu jiang, just let this be for now. I'll figure it out in my own time."

Softened by the nickname only Inara used, River sighed again, but nodded. "Alright, I'll let it alone." Then she grinned impishly. "However, if you take too long, I'm taking matters into my own hands. Fair warning."

Inara smiled as well, the momentary tension between the two of them forgotten. "Fair warning," she agreed.

The ex-fugitive reader assassin and the Companion continued to talk awhile longer before saying their farewells. Ending the wave with a touch to the screen, River leaned back in her chair and stared blankly at the shuttle wall for a minute before rousing herself and leaving her new home. She knew that the crew were confused as to why she had spent so much time alone since she came back on board; with the exception of that night-long talk with Jayne the day before, she hadn't had much contact with any of the crew, and she wanted to make up for it. She decided the first step in rectifying this would be to have a long talk with Kaylee. She knew the mechanic had missed her and still regretted the pain her leaving had caused the sunny girl.

River had nearly reached the mess, where she sensed Kaylee and most of the crew to be, when Mal apprehended her.

"So what did Inara have to say?" He wasted no time with niceties and gave no thought to the fact that he was trespassing on things not his business. He was edgy, feeling uncharacteristically closed in on his beloved ship and still sore over the Companion's leaving. She'd barely given him warning, gorramit! And she'd never come back; she'd been s'posed to go off in a huff, but then come back.

Needless to say, Mal had worked himself into quite a snit in the time between hearing that River was waving Inara and the genius coming back out into the main part of the ship.

River looked at the fractious captain coolly, wondering briefly how both of them could say that there was nothing between them, and yet expend so much energy and time agonizing over each other. It was beyond even her tremendous comprehension.

"Inara is well, is happy that I was accepted back on Serenity and gives her best wishes to the crew." The ex-assassin told him, pointedly. If he wanted to know what exactly Inara had said, the stubborn ox could damn well ask her himself! Brushing past the irritated browncoat, River entered the mess, rolling her eyes as she felt Mal come in hard on her heels.

"So did she service you while you were bein' her guest? Since you weren't a passenger 'n all at that point, I guess her old rule don't apply." He couldn't have said just why he was being such an ass, and he was aware that he was acting like one, but all that talk of Nara a week ago and again today, after months of nobody mentioning her in his hearing, was damaging his tenuous calm.

Mal was entirely unprepared for the smack River gave him, or for the force behind it that sent him sprawling to the floor. He heard the gasps of his crew as he rolled over and stared at the 100-pound warrior woman standing over him and nearly shaking with fury.

"How dare you!" She cried. "You ignorant, prideful, stubborn, sanctimonious liu koushui de biaozi he houzi de ben erzi! Did you never question why she is at a Training House, rather than hauling out with a luxury liner or taking up residence on a Core world like Osiris or Sihnon? You didn't, did you?"

River glared at the man who had finally hauled himself to his feet and was now eyeing her just as furiously as she was him. She briefly gave thought to Nara not wanting her to tell Mal this, but god knew if the older woman was ever going to do it herself!

"She's trying to change, for you! Because you're unable or unwilling to accept her as she is. Do you have any idea how hard this has been for her? She's had to go against everything she has been taught since childhood. And every time you denigrate her or call her a whore, she questions her reasons for doing so!"

She very nearly smacked him again, but managed to restrain herself. Instead she pushed past him and flung herself into the seat beside Kaylee. The mechanic reached over and squeezed River's hand sympathetically as she too scowled at her captain. Mal, noticing the look, pointed a finger at her.

"Don't you start with me too, little Kaylee. I ain't got the patience for it. And what the hell do ya mean 'she's tryin' to change'? She's still a whor- Companion, ain't she?"

Her voice very close to icy, River answered him as calmly as she could manage. "She is no longer active. Inara is now a teacher and a counsellor; she trains young girls at the House, as well as acting in the capacity of a counsellor for those in need. She is, for all intents and purposes, retired. And had I known what a fei fei de piyan you'd turned into, I would have told her not to make the effort. Mind what you say about her in my hearing, Captain, she has been a very good friend to me and I will not tolerate you slandering her out of pettiness." Turning to Kaylee, she said, "Do you want to go talk?" The mechanic nodded enthusiastically, and after one final reproachful look at the captain, she skipped out of the mess beside River.

"Did Nara really quit?" The crew could hear Kaylee's voice float back to the mess from down the corridor.

"Well she sure told you." Jayne smirked with immense satisfaction, as he leaned back in his chair. They had all been tiptoeing around the subject of Inara for ages, and he felt it was high time someone had set Mal straight. He didn't think anyone could have done it better than the xiao xiongcan. "Bout time, too"

"Jayne." Zoe warned, an eye on her captain as usual. He wasn't stable enough for Jayne's needling right now, no matter how much she might agree with the merc. Said merc shrugged, utterly unconcerned.

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River and Kaylee settled themselves on the mechanic's bed. Simon's too, River reminded herself as she looked around, taking note of the little touches her brother had added to the bunk he now lived in.

"I'm sorry I didn't come see you sooner," River began. Kaylee waved the apology away.

"You was gettin' used to being back here, that takes time. It don't matter none." River nodded in assent, relieved by the other woman's unfailing forgiveness and acceptance.

Then, in an utterly Kaylee way, the mechanic said, "So any of them boys you was with worth the looking? Didja have a sweetie out there?"

River grinned, feeling the tension ease out of her body. "I didn't have a boyfriend, no time for one really, with all the running we did. But, there was Nicos…" She trailed off, unsure just how to describe her relationship with the black haired reader. "He was- well I suppose you could say that he liked me…"

"He had a crush on you?" Kaylee clarified, her face lighting up with excitement over this new detail.

"Yes, although I tried to dissuade him from it several times. He was far more interested in me than I was in him, and our lifestyle was not really conducive to any sort of relationship."

Kaylee nodded in understanding, thinking about a boy back home that she'd had to discourage at one point. "Did you ever, you know, with him?" She asked, grinning mischievously.

River blushed slightly. "Only once, which was probably a mistake, in hindsight. It made him much more attached from that point on."

"Was there anyone else, besides him?"

"No, I spent too much time on the run or hiding, to establish such a connection with anyone."

Kaylee nodded in understanding, even as she thought that is was awfully sad that the last four years had been so lonely for her friend.

"Not so lonely." River said, without thinking. Kaylee was mildly startled by River answering her thoughts, but shrugged it off as something that didn't matter none; weren't like she had anything to hide anyway.

"So how did you and Simon finally get together? Was he a boob for very long?" River changed the subject abruptly, hoping to dispel the small bit of discomfort they both felt at her unconscious reading of Kaylee's mind.

Kaylee gave a little squeal of excitement and proceeded to tell her everything from the start of Jayne and Simon's unlikely friendship, to how the merc had loosened the doctor up enough to pull his head out of his pigu and finally ask her on a date. River sat back, content to listen to Kaylee chatter about all the things that had happened to her first family while she's been gone. Her thoughts, however, also strayed to her second family, the one she had left behind.

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Chinese Translations:

Liu jiang - "Lovely river"
Liu koushui de biaozi he houzi de ben erzi – "Stupid son of a drooling whore and a monkey"
Fei fei de piyan – "Baboon's ass-crack"
Xiao xiongcan – "Little ass-kicker" (probably not an entirely correct translation, but it's the closest I could get!)
Pigu - "Butt/bottom"

A/N: Once again, apologies for the late update. Unfortunately this is probably going to be the last update for a few weeks; I'm coming up on finals for this semester and I won't have time to write.

Sorry if Mal seems a little out of character, I just wanted to show how conflicted and screwy he still is on the subject of Inara (he does have a volatile temper!).

Please review and let me know what you think. I've turned into a total review-junkie!! -Druid