Disclaimer: Firefly and all the characters belong to Joss Whedon.

A/N: Book’s line to Inara in the episode "Serenity" as he brings her supper about being surprised by Mal’s concern always interested me as a M/I shipper. My take on how the scene in the kitchen might have gone down on that score. This is my first Firefly piece ever and English isn't my native language, so feedback and con crit would be shiny! (I'm also new to BSR, could someone tell me do normal html-tags work here for italics and bold text? Thanks!)

* * * * *

Jayne’s angry footfalls can still be heard in the distance as he stalks away from the kitchen. Everyone seems to take notice of the silence that ensues, except Mal who is eating his tomato as if nothing had happened.

“Zao gao, what’s got Jayne riled up now?” Wash breaks the quiet as he steps into the kitchen, looking puzzled. “Nearly bowled me over, stomping out like that.”

Mal ignores the question, determined not to bring Jayne back into the discussion. “Hope we ain’t headin’ towards anything that might pulverize us, with the pilot not on the bridge where he should be.” Realizing the uneasy way the passengers shift in their seats at this, he hurries to add, “Not that such scenario’s very likely. You’ve not a thing to worry about.”

The doctor, in particular, doesn’t seem too convinced by Mal’s reassurance.

“Everything’s under control, Captain. No pulverization, explosion, malfunction or other such nastiness in sight,” Wash confirms cheerily. “And case there were, I’m sure we’d notice it real soon. Just dropped by for quick bite.”

“That’s… terrific.” Mal pauses, regarding the passengers. “Again, not likely to happen.”

Kaylee, having gotten over her worst mortification, glances at Simon. “Sorry ‘bout that,” she says quietly, not quite looking at him in the eyes. “Jayne is, uh…”

“A repulsive fiend?” Wash supplies good-naturedly, seating himself on the chair vacated earlier by Jayne.

“Well, yeah… but he sorta grows on you!” Kaylee adds, before elaborating in more tentative fashion, “In time.”

“Bit like mold.” Wash’s amused grin turns into a pensive frown as he glances at Zoe. “Not sure that’s a very favourable commentary on us, though.”

Zoe’s mouth twitches into a tiniest of smirks, but she soon composes herself as she notices the look Mal throws towards them. Discreetly, she nudges Wash with her elbow, and her husband dutifully keeps further comments to himself.

“Kaylee.” Mal glances briefly at the girl to make sure she’s listening. “May wanna fix a tray for Inara when you’re done, get it to her while it’s warm. Seein’ as how she’s chosen not to join us for chow.”

Shepherd Book thinks it’s curious how the Captain’s mention of the absent Companion causes a momentary pause in the crewmembers. Zoe and Wash share a glance, but remain silent. The fellow passengers look somewhat perplexed at the abrupt silence. Kaylee appears hesitant for a brief moment, biting her lip as if trying to keep from saying something. But then she frowns, and a touch of distaste creeps into her tone when she retorts, “Maybe if you weren’t so mean to her earlier, she would’ve.”

Mal’s chopsticks still in mid-air as he fixes a hard look on the girl. Kaylee looks instantly contrite under his glare and casts her gaze down, but doesn’t apologize. She still thinks it was wrong and cruel, the Captain name-calling Inara like that again, and she weren’t gonna to be sorry for saying it out loud.

Seeing the “kicked puppy” look on Kaylee’s face, Mal feels like he’s no better than Jayne. Biting back a curse, he tamps down on his urge to apologize. Hadn’t been a very good day, so far. First the hassle with Badger and Patience, then he got a gorram Shepherd onboard, the words with Inara, Jayne bein’ his usual, crude self, and now this. No, he doesn’t enjoy hurting Kaylee’s feelings in the least; girl’s as dear as a little sister. But he also doesn’t much care to be confronted so in front of the passengers not even full two hours after they’ve stepped onboard. So he remains silent, poking at his meal with a bit more force than necessary. Mal suddenly has a funny notion the day will turn heaps worse before it gets any better.

It’s Shepherd Book who finally breaks the awkward silence that reigns over the table. “I must say, Captain, I find your concern over Inara getting her meal to be slightly… surprising, quite honestly.”

Having witnessed the scene in the cargo bay and the Captain’s behaviour towards the Companion, Book would have assumed it would matter next to nothing to Mal even if Inara should miss a warm meal. Which had indeed puzzled the Shepherd after the incident; if the Captain is so against her occupation, why does he rent her of one the shuttles of his ship? Is the gain of what respectability she brings with her so valuable that Mal is willing to tolerate her onboard, as long as she gets him and his ship to places he normally would have no access to?

Mal lifts his gaze from his plate and meets Book’s, staring at the older man with an unreadable look on his face. Then, he shrugs one shoulder slightly, a flippant gesture of indifference.

“She needs to eat, same as the rest of us,” he finally responds in an even, offhanded tone, returning his attention to what’s left on his plate. “Ain’t nothing more to it.”

It’s evident Mal picked his words to mark the ending of that particular topic. Book humours him and chooses another tack instead. “Perhaps then, that is if Kaylee doesn’t mind,” he pauses to give Kaylee a friendly smile that is instantly returned by the girl, “I might take Inara’s meal to her?”

The words have barely left his mouth when Mal looks up sharply, his eyes narrowing in – suspicion? Book cannot quite decipher the sentiment behind the stare. “That a fact? Would’ve thought a Preacher man, of all folks, ought to be keepin’ away from… ladies of her trade.”

Book is surprised, yet again. Not only is the Captain now addressing Inara with a decidedly more acceptable title than the one he chose to throw in his face before, there is also a warning undertone in the Captain’s voice. Subtle, but it’s there. Book is nonplussed. Is he speaking to the same Mal Reynolds whom only some time earlier so bluntly, spitefully even, insulted Inara in the cargo bay, humiliating her and shocking him? If so, why does the Captain now almost seems to defend her in some strange way?

Book is aware how the only sound in the room is the hum of Serenity’s engines, how everyone else by the table is following the discussion from the sidelines like some sort of a sports match.

“I feel we didn’t quite get to finish our introduction,” Book replies slowly in calm tone, keeping his gaze steadily on Mal’s. “I simply wish to ensure there is no… confusion.”

“Confusion, huh?” Mal returns with a sardonic smile, shaking his head slightly. “Alright. Feel free to do that, Shepherd, but you best keep any sermons to yourself. God ain’t welcome on this boat. And long as Inara pays the rent on time, that shuttle’s her personal space. Understand what I’m saying, here?”

Wash raises a brow at this and glances incredulously at Zoe, seated beside him. “I’m sorry, but since when did Mal start caring for Inara’s privacy?” the pilot half-whispers, half-mouths to her, his brows lowering in confusion. The warrior woman gives him a cautioning look and shakes her head at him almost imperceptibly, before favouring Mal with a cool gaze of her own. Book notes the exchange from the corner of his eye, but the Captain is oblivious it – or chooses to ignore it.

“Of course,” Book inclines his head in agreement, and after another, hard stare, Mal fixes his eyes back on the scant remains of his dinner.

“Well, I think that’s real shiny of ya to offer, Shepherd,” Kaylee speaks up with a beaming smile, her earlier disquiet over the Captain’s reprimanding glare and Jayne’s crass behaviour forgotten. Book cannot help but to smile back, and the tension in the kitchen seems to dissolve as the conversations slowly pick up around the table.

Shepherd Book is now even more curious about the paradoxical younger man seated at the end of the table. But, he reflects as he rises to help Kaylee prepare Inara’s tray, perhaps exchanging a few words with the Companion in question may help clarify the mystery some.

-FIN-