Mal decided to head to the mess for some tea before he got another ghostly visitation. He found Inara already there, absently stirring her cup of tea. He cleared his throat. "Hey, Inara."

She looked up, startled. "Oh, hello Mal. Couldn't sleep either?"

His mouth twisted into a half-smile. "Ghosts that haunt us, I guess."

"Mal, I've got something to tell you..."

He shook his head. "Nope. I'm captain of this here boat, which means that I get to say my piece first. Assumin' I had a piece to say."

She smiled a bit sadly. "Do you? Have a piece to say, I mean?"

"I do, but ya gotta promise me somethin' first. Promise you'll hear me out in full and not run away like last time."

"Mal, I..."

He made his best attempt at a Stern Captain-y Face. "Promise?"

Inara couldn't resist the Stern Captain-y Face. "Alright, I promise."

Mal took a sip of his tea. "Did I ever tell you what happened to Shadow?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Got fried from orbit by the Alliance. Killed everything and everyone that ever lived there. My Ma. Molly. Everyone."

"Molly? You never mentioned having a sister."

The half-smile again. "Not my sister. Girl I swore I'd come back from the war for. We was gonna get hitched, have our own piece of land, raise some kids. Had it all planned out, simple and easy. Ain't it somethin' how life didn't turn out any of those? I didn't win the war, or get to come home, or get myself hitched."

Inara recalled Book's words from earlier. "Well, I was supposed to stay on Sihnon and become the high priestss for House Madrassa. And we both know how that turned out."

"Guess neither of us is terrible good at doin' what we was supposed to."

"I suppose not."

Mal leaned forward and gently took both of Inara's hands. "Yanno, a wise man told me that I can either get busy livin' or get busy dyin'. Seems to me I've done myself far too much of the latter and not enough of the former. I mean to rectify that."

A genuine smile started to play around the corners of Inara's mouth. "And just how do you mean to rectify that, Captain?"

"By doin' somethin' that mebbeso I ain't supposed t' be."

And with that, Mal leaned across the table and very gently kissed her. She tasted of tea, jasmine and worlds in the 'verse Mal had only dreamed of visiting.

He finally pulled away, a bit afraid to look into Inara's eyes and more than half expecting to have earned himself a slap across the face. Like Wash had said, it was all about the risk. When he didn't feel the stinging blow, he finally looked up at her.

Inara was unreadable. "Well, Captain, have you finished saying your piece?"

Mal flushed. "I...uhh...yeah."

"Good. Now I can say mine."

Mal cringed inside. Here it comes. She’s gonna whap me, call me some sorta terrible name and storm off in a huff, he thought. So much for risk. He should have know better than to listen to a gorram ghost. Of a man who played with dinosaurs, no less.

Inara sipped at her tea for a moment. "I want to apologize to you."

OK, not the turn he was expecting the conversation to take. "Apologize? To me?"

"Yes. For calling you a petty thief. Because the truth is, Mal, you may be a thief, but you are far from petty."

"How do ya figure?"

"Because a petty thief only goes for what is easy to steal. Too much risk to try for something difficult. You, on the other hand, stole something very difficult to get away with."

Oh hell. She’d found out about the bottle of her perfume he'd nicked right before she left. Just like a female to raise a fuss about one little bottle of smelly stuff. Mal decided to brave it out. "Yeah, what’s that?"

"My heart." She finally burst out into a smile.

Before Mal could react, it was his turn to be on the receiving end of a kiss. Which, by his estimation, was a gorram sight better than a smack across the face.

When she finally pulled back, Mal reached out a hand and lightly ran his thumb over her cheek. "You know, bao bei, maybe we need to have our ghosts visit more often."

*****

"Zoe...hey lambytoes, wake up."

At the mention of Wash’s pet name for her, Zoe opened her eyes to see Wash sitting on the bed next to her.

"Wash? What the...?"

"Shhh, it's OK. I’ve done my good deed and now I get my reward." He looked inordinantly pleased with himself."

Zoe wasn't quite sure what to say. There was so much she wanted to, yet none of it would bring him back. Not really.

Wash reached out and placed his hand over her belly. "It’s a girl. Hope she gets your looks."

"But Simon doesn’t know the sex yet..." His hand felt too warm and too real on her.

"Well you tell Doctor Three Percent that Wash said it'll be a girl."

Zoe smiled sadly. "Yeah. That'll go over real well." She looked away for a moment, unable to face him. "So, are they treatin' you OK."

There was no answer. She was once again, alone, save for the lingering warmth of his touch.

*****

River knew he was there before he said a word. He'd remembered to tie his hair back beforehand. "Hello, Preacherman."

Book smiled. "Hello, River. I hear you're doing better these days."

"All relative. Good days. Bad days. Balances out, though. Feel like I have a place now."

"That's good. I was worried about you."

She giggled. "Not your responsibility any more, Preacherman. Don't need to feel guilty over me. You didn't know their purpose with me, not in full. Bits and chunks, but not the whole of the puzzle."

"River, I am sorry. Sorry I didn't say anything. I suspected, but didn't want to believe..."

She placed a delicate finger on his lips. "And now you do. But you cannot undo your past. All you can do is make peace with it."

Book held her hand for a moment before letting it go. "River, I..."

She laid back down in bed and rolled over, turning her back to Book. "Go in peace, Preacherman."