I as always didn’t make these characters, that was Joss.

Washie thanks again so much, your wonderful guidance is always appreciated, and your comments make for a shiny day. Also a BIG thank you to The Datsuns for the title…for those of you who don’t know it both them and I are from New Zealand, and as a result I felt compelled to write them into my fic somehow…harmless promotion I guess.

Sky is Falling

The first few days back on Serenity had settled into a kind of a comfortable routine. Enhanced by the fact that upon their return no one save her and Kaylee looked any differently at each other. Mal had been his usual self, insulting and boisterous, but still reasonably personable.

Simon was still incredibly besotted with Kaylee, and with River very much coping better with her condition he would no doubt be taking more of an interest in her. Inara mused on this for some time, then thought that perhaps River may be her best bet at assisting in subtly discouraging the younger man. Not that she was worried about his reaction so much; she just didn’t want Simon to be crushed when the truth about Inara and Kaylee’s relationship reached him. Inara also figured that River would understand. In the young woman’s more lucid moments she had shared with Inara, she seemed to have a great grasp of (the concept of) empathy. Inara also had the strangest feeling that River would understand more than most about her and Kaylee’s relationship; the companion had noticed how River had stared a little too intently at her and Kaylee as they sat at the dinner table on their first night back.

Still, the young girl did have a habit of staring…'I’m probably just over thinking, splitting hairs as Kaylee would say’. Inara laughed, and returned to her usual routine. Much of her day she would busy herself looking into clients that she could take, making plans for her impending departure from companion life, and when the day was done she'd find her Kaylee. Or if Kaylee beat her to it, she would go seek out her lover.

Mostly they just held each other, happy to sleep in one another’s arms. Kaylee had been quite busy making little repairs on Serenity. Apparently Mal had had a few windfalls while she and Kaylee were away making the most of their time. This had led Mal to make good on promises of a new compression coil and a few other key parts for Serenity. Because of this her sweet Kaylee often collapsed, after a hot shower, into her bunk and wanted nothing more than Inara to hold her, something the older woman relished more than the finest caviar.

Inara had started to feel that time was dragging, however, despite her in-depth investigation of the recent Guild law reforms and changes. She had discovered that what Kyuss had slipped her was the access codes to an area on the Cortex where she could leave messages for him safe in the knowledge that only he could receive them. She left one asking what had him so worried, and what it had to do with Monica. Nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary, there had been a couple of changes to the rules regarding a permanent companion client relationship or long term contracts of that kind. Apparently the already stringent rules to do with dating had been altered too…yet the details were rather vague as to what had been changed.

Inara sighed, dismissing this as more semantics, something she felt less and less enthused at the prospect of having to weed out of all the guild's bureaucratic rubbish. Inara had laughed when she had first dealt with Mal and his vehement dislike of anything that resembled bureaucracy… she'd laughed because she knew that Companion bureaucracy made Alliance paper trails and addendums look like breathing in space was easy. That’s what one got for giving artisans the power to make executive decisions.

Inara stared at her small computer console, she sighed, turning to observe her empty shuttle. 'Surely there must be something I can occupy myself with till Kaylee is finished for the day.' She had washed, tidied needlessly, meditated for longer than usual. Inara sighed, knowing full well this was the cabin fever she had experienced before their trip to Persephone. She fidgeted, looked about her, then decided she needed to get out of her shuttle for a while, perhaps find little River and spend some time with her.

Inara strode out of her shuttle like a cool breeze off a glacier, with little purpose, but a single mind to get one. She wandered along the gangway, seeing that nobody was about in or around the cargo hold, she changed course and headed for the mess. She felt adrift, a fine cherry blossom left to float down a small clattering stream, not knowing where she was going, only that her feet would take her there. She wondered where everyone was, normally there was some movement about Serenity, even if it was just Mal prowling the decks like some kind of lost wolf. But not a soul was about; Book wasn’t seated in the mess as he often did, reading and such; River wasn’t about…admittedly Inara hadn’t gone down to her room to see if she was there, but often the young woman sat in the lounge playing solitaire or painting. Inara shrugged and wandered on; it was no surprise that she found herself at the far end of the hall that lead to Serenity's engine room. She had been preoccupied in thought and, upon realization, there she was, standing in the doorway.

Serenity's heart turned and hissed like the churning maelstrom of some forgotten poetic manuscript. Inara looked around the room for her lover, she saw evidence of Kaylee, tools strewn about, a sweatshirt placed neatly on the hammock she had strung up there months ago. Inara frowned stepping in, wondering what had happened to the whole crew. Paranoia briefly gripped the lovely companion; she suddenly felt the normally warmer air seem more like an endless cemetery.

"Wonderin when you would come down here…" Inara sighed happily, Kaylee’s voice touching her ears like the dawn chorus from somewhere behind the bulkhead. Inara turned, smiling; Kaylee stood there in her usual coveralls and sweet floral t-shirt. Inara could have melted.

"I…um…cabin fever…" Inara looked sheepish. Kaylee smiled and strode forward, ready to hug Inara.

"Shh…it's ok." Kaylee smiled so warmly. "Its not like I've been having lots of fun…well, it's not like I haven’t…but I'd rather be doing fun things with you." Kaylee slid her arms about Inara, backing her up slowly, pressing her against a wall.

"What did I do to deserve this…?" Inara smiled.

"You brought me a nice gift…"

"Oh?" Inara raised her eyebrow as Kaylee lent in and kissed her softly.

"Mmmm…you." Kaylee smiled, then lent in to deepen the kiss, Inara not objecting. Kaylee’s tongue slid into Inara’s hot waiting mouth, her hand coming to rest at the base of the dark haired woman’s neck, thumb caressing her sensitive nape. Inara moaned into the mechanic's mouth, Kaylee wasn’t quite sure, but it sounded faintly like her name. Kaylee pressed her body into Inara’s, the older woman’s hand slipping around Kaylee’s waist, her long slender fingers slipping down the back of her coveralls, her hand caressing the warm skin she found there. Kaylee groaned, pulling slightly out of the kiss.

"Might need to clean these coverall’s after ta’ day." Inara smiled, feeling her own passion blossom, hot and wanting. Kaylee lent in to resume her successful annex of Inara’s mouth, the kiss consuming time like Kaylee consumed Inara’s mouth.

"Well…aint that a fine thing?" Malcolm’s voice cut through the room with the precision of a warrior trained in Nin jit su . Kaylee pulled back from the kiss her; both womens' heads snapping round faster than a cattle whip. Inara gasped, Kaylee tried to fix herself quickly, but to little avail.

"And here was me wonderin' why I had a Companion that aint been buggin' me about getting more work or bitin’ my head off at every turn…and a mechanic that is noticeably absent in the evenings…like she can’t wait to be somewhere other than where she always used to be." Mal’s eyes narrowed, his tone was hard to place, part realisation and shock, part anger, part something else. The imposingly tall man stepped down from the end of the corridor, looking hard at the two women.

"Mal…I ah..ca-"

"Not much to explain…thought you of all people woulda had more sense n’ that ‘Nara…" He turned to Kaylee who stood looking sheepish; this reminded her far too much of being talked to by her father after she was caught with a boy from school at the age of fifteen. "Kaylee…" he shook his head. "I…" The tension in the room seemed to ricochet off the walls, left to hang like the spectre of death.

Inara breathed, looked up from the floor to Mal. "We were going to say something…just a little further down the path, …I…" Inara couldn’t finish.

"Need I remind you of our arrangement…" Mal spat the words like a piece of bad fruit he’d just eaten.

"Hey! It's not like that…I mean people gots feelins’…!" Kaylee shot at the Captain, who couldn’t help but sigh, a slight concession over the point. "You know it's not like that Mal!" Mal was stung. Kaylee didn’t usually call him by his first name, he felt they had become closer than that. The browncoat captain felt like someone had dumped a set of bricks on the toes of his boots. Inara looked to Kaylee who looked back, face cast in resolve not to concede anything. She knew there was nothing wrong with her and Inara’s love, and she would be dammed if she was going to let Malcolm Reynolds tell her so. Inara slipped her hand into Kaylee’s, comforting her lover by caressing her fingers.

"Mal?!" Wash’s voice slid down the hall with the grace of exploding shrapnel.

"In a minute Wash…I’m a little busy!" Mal shot over his shoulder.

"Well do you know where Inara is?…She’s not in her shuttle."

"She’s busy, whatever it is it can wait Wash!" Mal shot a dirty look at Inara like she had planed this whole fiasco.

"Um…not for this she isn’t Mal…The Guild wants to speak to her immediately!" By this stage Wash had made it halfway to the engine room, and could vaguely make out the shape of Kaylee and Inara standing close to each other, in front of Mal. Inara turned to Kaylee, her eyes wide. Impossible scenarios played out across the companion's eyes, her lustrous skin becoming pallid, almost sickly looking. Kaylee squeezed her hand.

"I…ah…" Inara failed to grasp the words.

"Go handle your business…I’ll speak with you later."

Inara, reluctant to leave Kaylee to face the wrath of Mal alone, cast a worried glance their way before walking away with a speed that noticeably undercut her grace and poise. Mal turned to Kaylee who stood there locking eyes with the older man.

"So help me god, if you give me and ‘Nara any more grief you best be looking for a new mechanic…good luck findin’ one that knows Serenity like I do." Kaylee pitched her voice low and harder than any steel in her favourite ship. Mal breathed out slowly, feeling the rug being pulled out from under him as his life so often seemed to show. He groped, then settled on a diplomatic turn of phrase.

"Now, now…let's not be doing anything rash. We're just talkin' here, Kaylee, and I…ah…respect that you're looking after …your own." Mal stood for a long while silent.

"So long as we’re clear…" Kaylee paused, the followed up with. "I have work to do, I’ll be seeing you later." She turned as Mal nodded his defeat and then left. Kaylee returned to mending her capacitors, tears burning at the corners of her eyes. Fear, sadness and the worry that she might lose her Captain as well as her lover dwelt on her mind. … Inara sat for a few moments after her conversation with the adjunct of the guild's head companion. She had been told off by the guild's head and her teachers before, ironically it usually meant that they liked you and wanted you to succeed, having to be informed on something of such importance by an adjunct came with the unspoken message of just how low your position was on the hierarchy. This was a blow, as for much of her adult companion life Inara had been on a first name basis with the guild's head. Inara pressed the intercom button slowly, attempting to compose herself. It was hard, she felt hollow, sick and transparent. The world had seemed to lose its glow; everything seemed blurry and drab, like walking an endless cemetery at night. Her training had left her, possibly at the one time when she could have used it most.

*Malcolm…can I see you please.* Inara’s voice rattled the halls of Serenity like a poorly recorded vinyl record she had listened to once in a museum, her lack of fine control evident and amplified for all the crew to hear. Inara slumped, clicking off the intercom; she looked at her hands that were wringing a silk handkerchief stained with black eyeliner.

There was a heavy knock on her door, Inara looked up.

"…Cheeng jeen"

Mal stepped in regarding Inara with a stern expression. Inara chose to stand, her had tipped forward, regarding the floor with a religious zeal, long strands of hair partially obscuring her features.

"Somethin’ we need to discuss ‘Nara…I jus-"

"I’ve been suspended Mal…" Inara looked up, the tone in her voice barely holding together under the strain of her most recent wave, her face stained with black around her eyes, her lips buckling under pressure; a beautiful woman with features now forged in despair. "I’m to be investigated for breaking guild law while we are on Boros…I ah…hope that does not affect your schedule…please leave me behi-"

"It wont affect anything." Mal deadpanned his voice low, looking into Inara’s face with a hardened stare.

"I uh…I’m sorry about earlier with Kaylee and I…" Inara’s voice was breath-laboured; as if living now carried a weight almost too much to bear.

"These things happen…bumped into Wash and Zoë more times en I’d like…"

Inara tried a smile, then looked down, she sighed knowing that this was Mal’s way of saying that it was ok…well, as ok as it could be.

"There’s a short mechanic in the mess worried sick…needs to hear your voice mor’n me." Mal motioned with his head. Inara nodded her thank you, and then slipped out more like a ghost along the Pearl river than the opinionated confident woman that had haggled him down from his initial shuttle rent price. The browncoat captain sighed then departed shortly after her, to look into an acquisition or two he had kept for moments like these. …

Kaylee looked up as her polite conversation with Book and Simon stopped with the arrival of Inara in the mess doorway. Kaylee gasped, having never seen her lover so distraught. She rushed over to Inara scooping her up in a tight hold, kissing the broken woman’s forehead and temple as the older woman started to weep uncontrollably, her body wracked with sadness.

" Oh…god…bao bai…shuu" Kaylee cooed, she shot a look across the room at Book and Simon that was little but explicit in the notion that the two needed to get gone, then returned to her loving hold on her lover.

"Come on boy…this aint your battle." The old preacher man voiced in a low tone, Simon stood witless. He turned to Book who just shook his head, then ushered the younger man out.

Inara wept on, Kaylee led her to one of the couches in the lounge, the companion crumbling in her arms. Inara felt broken, like she was drowning beneath an eternal ocean of sand. Kaylee cradled her, holding the other woman tightly, letting her pour her grief out into her neck as she rocked her.

Inara felt like her world had dissolved.