A/N: This one's a bit shorter, but I had to end it on a good cliffhanger ... I would describe this chapter as fluff with a healthy dollop of angst - enjoy!

Thanks once again to Leiasky for keeping me honest. And to all the readers and especially reviewers who take the time to leave feedback. Your comments are enough to make me smile.

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Best Intentions, ch. 13

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Inara, Mal and River made it back to their apartment in silence, the three of them tired and drained from the stress of being awoken in the middle of the night. Once inside, River drifted towards the guest room almost immediately, more than happy to go back to sleep. Turning to watch the couple as they moved in the direction of their room, she said quietly, “Remember, be honest.”

Sharing a confused look, both Mal and Inara smiled at her as Mal murmured, “G’night lil’ one.”

“Good night,” she sighed, her voice growing fainter as she left the room and fell again into her nice, comfy bed, asleep within moments of her head hitting the pillow.

On the other side of the apartment, Mal and Inara had a much more difficult time relaxing enough to drift off. Inara had sensed Mal’s foul mood the minute Kaylee had announced her engagement to Simon and it puzzled her. Sure, Mal had had some difficulty with Simon and Kaylee when they had first gotten involved, but over the past six months, Inara had thought he’d learned to live with it; thought he’d been able to look past his own insecurities and notice how truly happy Kaylee, and for that matter Simon, was. But it seemed as if that maturity had just been a façade.

As he flopped about and sighed heavily several times, Inara, with an eye roll, rolled onto her side facing him, propping her head up on one hand. Staring at him, it took him a full minute to turn to face her. “Yes?” he asked quietly, his voice tinged with annoyance.

“Is there a problem?” she asked, allowing her tone to match his.

Sighing, he rubbed a hand over his eyes and muttered, “No.”

Inara did not move, but continued to stare and he finally felt the heat of her gaze through his closed eyelids. Rolling on his side to face her, he mirrored her pose and said quietly, “Okay, maybe.”

Cocking an eyebrow to him and signaling him to continue, Inara waited. Finally, Mal asked, “You gonna wanna go back?”

Not at all sure what this had to do with Simon and Kaylee’s proposal and not at all sure where exactly she was ‘going,’ Inara questioned, “Back where?”

Rolling his eyes in a perfect imitation of her own expression, Mal answered in a huff, “Back to Serenity.”

Furrowing her brow, Inara wasn’t sure why that doubt had even entered his mind. “You know I love Serenity, Mal,” she assured him, reaching out a hand to his cheek. “Why would you ask me something like that?”

Glancing around at their fancy surroundings, Mal said quietly, “Well, look, I know my boat ain’t exactly a luxury liner. An’ now that lil’ Kaylee ain’t gonna be back on board-“

Pressing a finger to his mouth, Inara told him gently, “She’s just getting married, Mal. She’s not dying.”

Smiling at her, he nodded. “I know, but I saw the look on Simon’s face tonight.”

“What look?” Inara was perturbed that there might have been an expression, an emotion to be read and she had missed it.

“The look that says, ‘There is no gorram way my wife is gonna be on a ship an’ have another seizure,’” Mal intoned, giving her a dubious grin. “That look.”

“Ah,” Inara said quietly, laying her head down on her pillow to relieve the crick in her arm. “You really think Kaylee’s going to want to stay grounded?”

Sighing, Mal flopped down on his back and stared at the ceiling. “I think Kaylee would follow Simon to the end o’ the ‘verse. An’ if he tells her that it’s best for her health to stay, I think she’ll do it.” With another sigh, Mal finally uttered what had him so bothered. “An’ she should.”

“Shenme?” Inara asked softly, placing her hand to his shoulder.

Turning to face her, Mal said quietly, “Serenity ain’t no place for a young girl like Kaylee or a fine woman like you. You both deserve to be surrounded by rich things an’ pamperin’ an’ people who don’t name their sidearms or rub soup in your hair.”

Inara giggled slightly at this comparison, remembering with fondness the soup rubbing incident; it had been worth the stain on her silk kimono to see the look on Jayne’s face as the pea green substance had dripped onto his nose. When Mal’s expression did not change at her enjoyment, Inara’s face again grew serious. Running a hand along his jaw, she said, “You’re serious.”

Nodding once, he let out a big breath. “I am.”

Inara held his blue eyes in her gaze for a moment, noting the conflict there. Mal was torn, she could see it; torn between his love for his ship and his freedom and his love for her and their family. While it saddened her to see him so upset it also brought a warmth to her soul; this deep commitment was one of the things she loved most about him.

Leaning towards him, she pressed a light kiss to his lips, drawing his thoughts from the far-off place they had traveled to. “Mal, I’m not going to deny that being on Sihnon this past month or so hasn’t been great; it has. I’d forgotten how much I sometimes miss being on solid ground for longer than a few hours.” As he grimaced, his eyes dropping, she hurried on. “But honestly, I don’t care where I live as long as I’m with you. And if that means living on Serenity with a man who thinks personal hygiene is optional and a young girl who thinks that toy dinosaurs talk to her, then that’s where I’ll live.”

As he again lifted his bright blue eyes to her face, Inara smiled widely at him and kissed him. “I just want you to be happy, ai ren and I know that boat makes you ecstatic.”

Mal could only grin, unable to deny that she had a point. Running his hand down her cheek, he wrapped it around the base of her neck, drawing her towards him slowly. As he started to place a trail of kisses from her ear, down her cheek and towards her mouth, he whispered, “Have I ever told you how amazing you are?”

She nodded, her whole body trembling at his touch, at the nearness of his body, at the feel of his warm skin under fingers. “Once or twice,” she murmured, edging closer to him and feeling as though his body heat might burn her.

“Hmm, well, then apparently I have been lax in my duties,” he whispered as his mouth closed over hers. Gently at first and then with increasing intensity, Mal teased and tugged at her lips, parting them slightly to taste the sweetness of her breath before his tongue entered her mouth, meeting hers and causing the passion of their embrace to increase tenfold.

Inara moved into him, her body flush against his as she wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him close, her hands fisting into his short hair. With a gentle hand to the back of his head, she directed his mouth down her chest, his lips brushing against her cleavage causing more delicious tremors to race down her spine. As he finally brought his mouth to her breast and his tongue darted out to lave at one nipple, before his teeth nipped at it slightly, Inara felt her body begin to ache in that deliciously anxious way.

Moving her hips suggestively against his and rubbing hard, she felt his arousal swell against her and Inara gasped. Running her hands down his chest, she smiled as he groaned at her touch. His mouth fastening back on hers, the two of them spent the rest of the night proving just how amazing their union could be.

***

“All right now, everybody quiet down.” Mal stood at the head of the table, his wine glass in his hand and he allowed his eyes to rove over the group assembled there: his family. With a sigh, he glanced over to Inara who smiled at him, her eyes dancing in the light from the wine she’d had and her happiness. He returned her grin and then turned his attention to their guests of honor.

“Now, we all know the reason we’re here is to celebrate Kaylee an’ the doc gettin’ engaged,” Mal announced, getting a few “Here, Heres” from the group and a grunt from Jayne. Simon and Kaylee at the opposite end of the table, sitting as close as they could without one being in the other’s lap, could only smile wider. Mal was fairly certain that if they continued to make moon eyes at one another, his very delicious dinner would find its way back out of his stomach.

Shaking the thought of regurgitation away, Mal raised his wine glass to propose a toast. “I ain’t that good at speech makin’,” he said, getting another grunt from Jayne. “But I reckon’ this sort of occasion warrants one, so here goes.” Kaylee’s eyes shone with delight, while Simon’s expression wavered a bit. There was no telling what the captain might say and Simon was a tad worried he’d be the butt of whatever joke the man had planned.

Focusing his eyes on Kaylee, he started. “Mei mei, when you came on my boat, I thought for sure I’d stolen somebody’s sunshine. Every corner o’ Serenity just shone with a new light the minute you came on board an’ I ain’t never gonna forget that.” Kaylee’s eyes, still bright were now full of tears and Simon reached over, taking her hand and murmuring something to her that caused her to giggle. Continuing, Mal said, “An’ Simon, when you came on my boat, I thought for sure I was bein’ punished.” While Simon’s eyes widened at the analogy, everyone else at the table laughed.

“But then, you saved my sunshine, so I figured maybe you weren’t so much punishment as salvation.” At this last, he let his eyes drift over to River who was smiling wide in his direction. “An’ you brought me my albatross, so I’m thinkin’ we’re square.” Clearing his throat again as Mal felt an uncomfortable tightness rising there, he looked back to the happy couple and said, “Simon, we ain’t always had the easiest o’ roads, an’ we ain’t always agreed.”

“Ah, when have we ever agreed?” Simon asked casually, unable to resist the jab.

Frowning at him, Mal answered, “Well, I think we done well agreed that lil’ Kaylee’s somethin’ precious.”

Nodding once, Simon smiled to the man and then glanced to his fiancée. “We have at that,” he murmured, kissing her again.

“So, anyway, what I’ve been tryin’ to say is, congratulations to Simon an’ Kaylee. I don’ rightly know what fates in the ‘verse brought the two o’ you together, but it’s plain that it was meant to be.” And with that, Mal raised his glass, and heard the tiny clinks as everyone else did the same, before taking a big gulp of wine, and dropping into his chair.

“That was a beautiful toast, Mal,” Inara said, leaning towards him and whispering in his ear. Running her hand over his upper thigh, she squeezed a bit, getting a wide-eyed expression from him as she added, “It was so wonderful, you might even get lucky tonight.”

“Well, then, I need to be toastin’ things more often,” he murmured back, turning his head to give her a quick kiss, before they both rejoined the happy conversation at the table.

As laughter again filled the terrace, Simon grabbed for Kaylee’s hand and took it in his own. As she turned to him and swayed a bit in her chair, Simon could only smile wider. “I think that’s enough of that,” he teased gently, reaching for her still half full wine glass and taking it out of her grasp.

Pouting at him, she said, “Aww, but it was yummy.”

Only able to smile wider at the way her lips puckered in the pout, he said, “I know, bao bei, but you’re still taking some medications and you really shouldn’t be drinking at all.”

Kaylee nodded once, knowing he was right and then she leaned in easily to his side, sighing contentedly. It had been a little over two weeks since their last trip to the hospital on the night of his proposal, and Kaylee was doing better. Her scans were coming back negative, her nausea and dizziness almost non-existent and Simon was relieved; more than relieved, ecstatic. He finally felt some semblance of normalcy coming back to their lives and he was enjoying it. Just as he was enjoying the feel of Kaylee’s warm breath against his neck as she nuzzled her head into his chest. “You smell good,” she murmured, her words a bit slurred as she had obviously imbibed too much. In truth, she’d hardly imbibed any at all, but the mix of the slight alcohol in her system with the medications she was still taking made for a powerful combination.

Chuckling lightly, Simon wrapped his arms around her and could only bury his face in her hair. It was the perfect night.

Glancing around the table, much as Mal had done only minutes before, he let his eyes take in each member of the crew, each member of his extended family and he found his gaze finally falling to his sister. She was happy, talking to Jayne and Zoe animatedly about something, and it warmed his heart. She’d been a permanent fixture in Simon and Kaylee’s apartment over the past two weeks, and Simon found he didn’t mind having her close. He’d figured that after having spent the past two years cooped up on Serenity with her, he’d find her presence a bit tiresome, but it wasn’t like that at all – it felt right – as right as he felt with Kaylee; but different; like family.

Feeling his eyes on her, River smiled to him and then quietly excused herself, wandering towards him on light feet. As she moved to his side and knelt there, she smiled and reached a hand up to rest gently on Kaylee’s head. The young woman had fallen asleep, all the excitement and the wine getting the best of her. “Perfect for you,” River murmured, staring at her soon-to-be sister for a minute more before turning her eyes back to Simon. “Perfect for her. You fit.”

Sighing, Simon couldn’t deny that assessment. “I think you’re right, mei mei.”

River watched him for a moment more, thrilled to see her brother so at ease, not only with himself, but with life in general. It wasn’t his usual way of being, as he normally tried to take on all the problems in the ‘verse and solve them singlehandedly. But Kaylee had brought a level of contentment to him, a level of peace to his mind and heart. She had helped to heal the part of his soul that had been torn the minute he’d known his sister was in danger, the minute he’d felt he had failed her. And that soul, so fragile in Simon, but so important, had needed the soothing of Kaylee’s tender touch, more than anyone, including Simon, could have guessed.

Sighing a bit, River only hoped that her brother could hold onto that feeling, make it last, as the next few months again tested him.

Glancing down at the sound of her heavy exhalation, Simon asked, “Are you all right, mei mei?”

She smiled at him and then rose swiftly, heading to go inside. As Simon watched her quizzically, he heard the door chime sound and guessed she had been anticipating their visitor. Propping Kaylee up, Simon woke her with a kiss and said, “I have to go get the door.”

“Hmm, okay,” Kaylee murmured, rubbing her eyes to wake up. Once she’d raised her gaze and smiled brightly to him, Simon hurried off after his sister, curious as to who could be calling so late.

Entering the living room, he headed towards the entryway, calling, “River? Mei mei? Who is-“

Stopping before the door, Simon felt the breath rush out of his lungs at the sight before him. Coming to his side, River took her brother’s hand and smiled brightly at him. “Came to congratulate you,” she murmured, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

Simon could barely hear her words, let alone register their meaning, as he stared at the two visitors in his foyer. With his mouth agape, he knew it would be a few minutes before he could speak. Fortunately, his guests knew it as well, and stepping forward, the gentleman spoke first.

“Hello, son.”

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