Angelle is mine, the rest belongs to Whedon. -----------------------------------------------

Morning After...the next day after some event that you may or may not regret, usually what is also referred to has the hangover morning, or the time when you wake up, and find a strange person in your bed or worse, yourself in a strange bed with a strange person. What can make this even more of a bad thing....if you and the person are completely naked. Thankfully, I was maybe in a strange bed, but the one I was naked with was not a stranger.

"Nice to sleep in the peace and quiet of a Firefly." The naked god spoke to me, his chest warm under my head as my fingers began to explore their way down to the crater of his belly button. "Even though the bed is a bit on the snug side."

I laughed when he said that, knowing my bare ass was only about a centimeter from falling off the side and Mal's arm had become almost one with the metal side. Still, we had managed both in play and in sleep. "If this becomes a regular thing, we might want to move to my room. It's got a little bigger bed."

"I'm kinda hopin' it will be." He tussled my hair and then kissed my head tenderly.

I smiled and nestled down against him, circling his belly with a long fingernail before following the line of hair even further down. "You were quite kind to Jayne. Lettin' him stay with Lou one more night."

"Would you kindly not speak about Jayne and your aunt...well, mostly Jayne while your hand is strokin' down yonder. It's just a bit might unsettling and..." He took an audible gulp as I traveled just a bit lower.

"And?" I asked, fingers fiddling.

"Forgot what I wanted to add. Ain't important." His arms rolled me so that my body was on top of his, knocking my hand away. Straddling him, I just hovered above grinning.

"Malcom Reynolds, that wasn't nice a'tall."

He gave me that sexy half smile of his, the one that despite being angry or sad or depressed, which I wasn't at the time, made everything seem just a bit better. His hands found their way down my sides, they might have been a bit callused from working not only on a ranch and in the war, but also on his ship. Still, they felt like heaven to a woman born swamp side, where soft was reserved for babies and on a rare occasion ladies underwear.

"You tryin' to seduce me, Captain Reynolds?" I smiled as his fingers ran over the place just below your belly button, the one that's a might more sensitive than the rest of your belly.

"Think I already have." He held up his other hand and brought out two fingers. "Twice."

"But both times I was drunk." I laughed and he shook his head, then growled before wrapping his arms around me and rolling so that I was under him. It was a rather hard feat in a bed so small and it kind of amazed me when we didn't fall out.

"Not sure I could get you drunk, Bao Bei. Seems to me you could probably drink the entire crew under the table." He moved so that I was penned under him as I felt warmth inside of me and hardness of him.

"You could try." I whispered, but before the conversation could go any further, his lips brushed mine and then engulfed them as his body began to worship mine. It was soft, gentle...unlike the other times we had been together, even our last had been more a need of escape and release than what this was.

He traveled down my face to my neck, his mouth massaging as he did, my back arching at the sensation of his teeth just barely grazing the skin, teasing if you will. I could feel the caressing of his body, coming down against mine, reminding me that for once, I had done something right.

My lips muttered a moan as I could feel him against me, his body reacting now to the warmth and tightness that his administrations were causing. His lips traveled back to mine and this time he drew in my tongue, each of us letting them fight and dance as his speed increased. I couldn't help but moan again, this time the vibrations of it felt inside his mouth as he smiled.

Fire inside made me scream, not loud enough to carry through the metal walls, but enough to echo off them, his driving me to my own climax. It felt good and right, like the way it should always feel. I basked in the euphoria it brought as Mal leaned against my shoulder, his body spent, sweaty and breathless.

My hand found its way to his hair as I ran my fingers though it, kissing his forehead, the hot breathe of him teasing the beads of sweat on my chest. "I love you, Malcolm Reynolds."

I could feel him smile as his lips kissed the swell of my right breast. "And I you, Angelle Marcs."

"Ain't it a bitch when dreams come true." I laughed, my other hand stroking his back, running over the scars littered there.

"I don't know. Some say I should have be with a Companion."

"And instead, here you lay with some backwater gator child."

"Never was one for refinement. All them funny smellin' oils and perfumes...just get in the way of the fun stuff." He kissed my skin again, then blew gently as I shivered.

"Hey now, even though we're not in the black, this ship is cold." I reached for the dark green blanket on the side of us, but Mal stopped me.

"Shower will warm us up more and wash off all the refinement from the party."

"True, but I think you might want to go first. Both of us in the shower might not go so good. We need to get clean, not dirty again." I winked as he stood, still naked, still yummy.

"Suit yourself." He grinned and then turned to me, a look in his eye I couldn't quite place. "Want you to think about something while I'm gone...."

"Okay."

He knelt in front of me, his blue eyes sparkling and when he spoke, I almost wanted to start crying. The words he asked made me quiver inside and as he walked away, I could still hear them echoing. "Marry me."