Title: Cracked Summary: Pre Series sometime within the first few months of Inara’s stay on Serenity. PG Prompt: Written for Deviant Muses

She flinched as he barged into her shuttle, slamming the door back so that the walls shook with it. She’d had a bad day and a terrible client. She didn’t need this on top of it.

“Do you not know how to knock?” she asked between gritted teeth. Her fury made her voice harsh and gravelly. It was the first crack in her armor.

“I’m sorry, is my presence botherin’ you?” Mal asked with a cocky grin. He hooked his thumbs in his suspenders and stretched them away from his body.

She looked up at him, one eyebrow arching slightly. “Not in the least,” she said as she got to her feet. She’d been trying to meditate. Mal’s overly dramatic entrance had mangled any hope of doing so.

She had to bite the tip of her tongue when he sauntered over and sat down on the couch. He grinned at her from that position, waiting for her reaction when he got none he put his boots up on the table. That was the second crack.

“What do you think you’re doing?” The question was a gunfire snap.

Mal merely smirked a little, quirked an eyebrow and put his hands behind his head. “Makin’ myself comfortable. You said my presence wasn’t botherin’ you.”

“Get. Your. Feet off. My table,” she spat. “Go put your feet on the galley table, although I’d take it as quite a courtesy if you didn’t since the rest of us have to eat there.”

Mal chuckled, took his feet off the table and leaned back against the couch. “Darlin, if I’m botherin’ you just say so an’ I’ll leave.”

“You’re not bothering me,” she repeated but this time her voice carried an irritated tone almost like a guitar string out of tune.

“Good,” he said in a self satisfied tone and glanced around the shuttle. “Everything holdin’ up in here? All your flyin’ controls good an’ your plumbin’?”

“Everything’s fine. Is this a landlord check up? I’m perfectly satisfied. Thank you,” Inara told him with a tight smile. She stood awkwardly to the side, determined not to ask him to leave.

“Nah, just had some time to kill, thought I’d come see how you were doin’,” Mal answered.

“And you’ve accomplished that. Bravo for you,” Inara said, her teeth grinding slightly as she said it. The fingers of her right hand drummed on her leg, an outlet for the anger Mal managed to rise in her. The third crack.

“You got somewhere to be? You seem awful anxious to hurry me out of here. Ain’t offered me tea or nothin’ of the like,” Mal smirked while she seethed. He was really enjoying this.

“Fine. Would you like some tea? You never drink it when I make it for you but far be it from me to be anything but the perfect hostess,” Inara ground out as she turned and crossed over to the tea cabinet. She put together the things for tea meticulously, only occasionally clinking the cups together. She could feel him watching her, his eyes all over her, raw and needy. She cleared her throat and turned quickly, catching his eyes on hers. For a moment she held his gaze. The heated look in his eyes flayed her skin away and burned down to her bones. He found all the cracks in her armor and they split until she was shattered.

“Think it’s time for me to go…got captain-y things to do,” Mal said in a gruff, raw voice as he got to his feet and walked out of the shuttle.