Title: Fixer Upper
Author: Eshva
Disclaimer: Joss owns everything. Or someone does. Not me, anyway.
A/N: First attempt at Firefly and feedback much appreciated ********* Inara was waiting when Kaylee knocked on her shuttle door, brushes and files and varnish and an elegant china basin laid out and ready. "Hey, 'Nara," she said, brandishing several bottles of nail polish. "I got some real pretty ones." It was hackneyed, she knew, but Inara always felt that Kaylee burst into her shuttle like a dazzle of sunlight. Almost she envied her, the simple pleasure of bright, pretty things. Inara ushered her toward the little table and poured water over her hands into the china basin. It would take quite some effort to remove the engine grease and accumulated grime. But she could take pleasure here too, the more subtle shadings of doing a thing beautifully for its own sake. "I take it you enjoyed yourself at the skyplex?" she said. "Mmhmm." Kaylee's eyes were closed and her face relaxed with pleasure as Inara delicately cleaned her hands. "Ooh, that feels nice." "Did Simon go with you? I can't remember if you're currently speaking to him or not." Inara's smile was a little wry. "Yeah, Simon came with me. He apologised, so we're talking again". "What was that about? I don't think you told me." Inara reached for a towel and dried Kaylee's hands, tending each slender finger with care and thoroughness. "Oh, he said mean things about Serenity again." She pouted a little. "I was only teasin' him about being smelly after he'd done septic vac, and he got all grumpy." The distinctive smell of acetone filled the air and did battle with the delicate scent of incense as Inara wiped away the old chipped polish from Kaylee's fingernails. "He does seem to do septic vac far more frequently than anyone else." Kaylee grinned. "He keeps having to do Jayne's turn and the Shepherd's when he loses at tall card. And, o' course he always does River's turn." Inara began applying base coat, each stroke precise and elegant. "It doesn't make sense for River to be on the rota. After all, you and I aren't on it, and I'm sure everyone would be horrified if she actually attempted to clean the septic vac." "I guess the Captain thinks it's good for Simon. Help him fit in, get used to life out in the Black." Inara suspected that Kaylee's faith in the Captain's goodness was not quite warranted. "More likely Mal just thinks it's funny." Inara didn't keep the asperity from her tone. Kaylee giggled. "Well it is, kinda," she said. "Seein' him all mucky and smelly and messed up. I couldn't resist teasin' him. Anyway, now we're docked and got mains water connected, he had a good shower, so he's cheered up some." Base coat now nicely dried, Inara looked at the various bottles of coloured polish Kaylee had brought with her. "Which of these would you like today, mei mei?" "They're all so pretty. I found some that had sparklies in them." After some deliberation, Kaylee finally settled on a bright glitter pink. It wasn't good quality, far from it, and wouldn't glide in a smooth rich coat, but Inara brushed it on as though it were from the finest maker in Sihnon. "So your trip to the skyplex was a success?" Just a gentle prompting to encourage her to continue. "Well, mostly. We saw these crystal swans on a stall - not like the one on Jiangyin, but real pretty ones - and Simon starting talking about some ballet he'd seen." She gave a little eyeroll. "I thought you liked listening to Simon talk." "I guess it's sorta cute," Kaylee said indulgently. "But if he keeps talking about ballet and such, people are gonna think he's sly. You don't hear the Cap'n or Jayne or even Wash talking 'bout such fei hua." Kaylee gave a little sigh. "I try and get him talkin' like a normal person, he just gets all tongue-tied and says something dumb. Or something mean." Inara decided some time ago that it was not her place to play devil's advocate - or Simon's, which was much the same thing - so she replied only with a sympathetic sound. First coat now dried, she regarded the bottle of cheap polish. Really, it was hardly worth applying a second coat of the stuff, especially as Kaylee's work in engine room would have it chipped off in no time. But habit won out. Her strokes were smooth and efficient with long practice as she applied the second coat. "Anyway, I found the perfect way to get him to stop talking." Kaylee's happy laugh filled the shuttle. "I kissed him right there in the market. He was so embarrassed. And an old lady came by and sniffed and said 'Well, really. Young people these days - no sense of decorum.'" Kaylee's impersonation was wicked and made Inara laugh too. "Honest, Simon went so red, I thought he'd spontaneously combust." Kaylee looked at her bright pink glittery nails. "Shiny! Are we nearly done?" "Just the top coat now. Was that all the mischief you got up to on the skyplex?" Neatly distracted, Kaylee continued. "Simon went to get some things for River, and I did some shopping." Inara smiled. "The nail polish." "Not just that. You know how I've been trying to get Simon to wear nicer clothes?" Inara nodded, but made no comment. Kaylee's face took on a dreamy expression. "He's got such a pretty body, he oughtta wear some clothes that show it off. Like the kinda shirts Jayne wears." A naughty grin quirked her mouth. "Or tight pants like the Captain. So I bought him some real tight t shirts. And not in those dark colours he seems to like, but nice bright ones. I 'specially like the yellow one." Most of what money Simon had went toward things for River, Inara knew. The clothes he had acquired for himself, most of them second hand, seemed chosen to be warm and hard wearing rather than attractive. She found it hard to imagine Simon in a tight bright yellow t shirt. Evidently Simon had felt the same way. "When I gave 'em to him, he said he was really grateful, but they were too small and maybe they'd be okay for River." Kaylee sighed, and her expression clouded a little. "I get so frustrated with him. Why can't he ever do what I want him to?" The clouds didn't stay long - they rarely did with Kaylee - and she smiled again. "But I've got a plan. I'm gonna offer to do his laundry and put my new pink top in with those boring white shirts he's got. He won't want to wear them if they're streaky pink, so he'll have to wear his new t shirts instead." Inara offered no comment on this plan, but instead decided to ask a question that she had been puzzling on for some time now. "Kaylee, if you don't like how he dresses or how he talks, he frustrates you and frequently makes you angry, why are you pursuing the relationship?" Rather than giving a quick, flippant answer, Kaylee's expression creased into a frown for a moment as she thought. Kaylee always expressed her emotions - it was something Inara envied a little. She laughed and smiled when she was happy, she cried when she was sad, she frowned and she pouted when thwarted. But she rarely articulated those feelings and Inara was fascinated to hear what she would say. "Back on Harvest, my daddy and I found a Hao-Tran-Brickman flyer, a Torrent, the 280 model, and there weren't many of them every built. Prettiest flyer I ever saw - fine clean lines, sweepin' back to this real well balanced engine mount." Kaylee expression was beatific, as strawberries and engines made it. "She was a mess though. I mean, she'd been crashed for a start, but weren't hardly surprising. Reckon she'd been customised as a racer - engine was a great big Brickman 8E, too much thrust for the size. They'd compensated by over-cranking the grav boot, and that meant hair-trigger thrust control. No wonder she got herself crashed." None of this meant very much to Inara, the technical details well beyond her knowledge or interest in engineering. But she kept it from showing in her expression - long companion training allowed her to seem fascinated no matter what the topic. "My daddy and I spent all our free time on her. He was mostly busy with the shop jobs, so I did a lot of the work. Stripped her out and rebuilt her from scratch just about. Found a smaller engine in a scrap yard, reconditioned it and replaced that ole Brickman. Re-routed all the thrust controls, and put in dampeners. Took near twelve months, but by then she was a whole new machine. Real sweet, easy ride, smooth as a con man's chatter. And still with the prettiest body ya ever did see. I finished up by re-spraying her pink." Kaylee's look turned a little wistful. "I'd a liked to have kept her, but we needed the coin, so we sold her on. Got ten times more than we paid for the parts." Inara smiled. "You really are a genius when it comes to mechanical things. But I'm not sure how that relates to Simon." "Well, 'Nara, I reckon Simon's just like that pretty flyer." A confident little smile played on her lips, and she wiggled her sparkly pink fingers as though preparing for some excitingly complex mechanical task. "A real fixer upper."