Serenity was never known for running quietly, but it seemed as though every creak and groan was drilling into Inara's skull as she made her way to the galley. And was it her imagination, or were all the ship's lights too bright?

Coffee. Some of Zoe's strong coffee should fix her up.

And if not, she'd throw herself on Simon's mercy and beg for a smoother.

As she slowly made her way into the galley, she noticed the rest of the crew except for Mal sitting around the table. The fact that Mal, who was usually first out of bed and last to go to sleep, was absent made her anxious. The additional fact of the crew all looking at her with knowing grins made her even more so.

Kaylee gave her a too-blinding smile. "So, you get to bed OK last night, Inara?"

She managed a weak smile. "Uhhh...yes, thank you mei-mei."

River cocked her head. "Where's Nantucket?"

Inara creased her forehead in confusion, only making it hurt even more. "I....what?"

"You sang us a funny song last night. About a lady from Nantucket."

"Nantu...? Oh!"

It was vaguely starting to come back to her. The crew had celebrated a lucrative job by sharing one of her good bottles of sake. By her dim recollection, she and Mal had been the ones to finally finish it off after everybody else had staggered off to bed. And something about him scooping her up and carrying her down the hallway...

At that moment, Mal came in, looking about in the same condition as Inara.

"G'mornin' Cap'n, Kaylee chirped.

Mal winced in response. "Kaylee, can you talk not so much with the loud? Or the perky?"

Simon gave Mal a quick clinical glance. "How are you feeling?"

Mal slowly moved to pour himself some coffee. "I'm testing the air. I like it but it doesn't like me."

At that moment, Jayne made his usual boisterous entrance, causing both Mal and Inara to cringe in even more pain. "So Mal, how was she?"

Zoe rolled her eyes. "That's our Jayne. Always the romantic."

The one thing stopping Mal from slamming the coffee cup on the table to short-circuit any further speculation about his love life was that he was not certain the impact wouldn't make his eyes fall out of his head. "Nothing to tell."

"In a pig's eye! I could hear you two carrying on all the way down the hallway to her shuttle. You don't have to tell me three times what happened!"

"That's right, cos' I'm only telling you twice. Nothing much to tell. It consisted of exactly two kisses. All of which I thoroughly enjoyed. After which, I deposited Miss Serra safe and sound, back to her shuttle."

Completely heedless of the crew enjoying the show being played out for them, Inara turned on Mal. "Was I so unattractive, so distant, so forbidding, or something...that?"

Mal had also forgotten about the onlookers. He leaned forward and took her hands in his. "Far from it, darlin'. You were extremely attractive, and as for distant and forbidding, on the contrary. But you also were a little the worse...or the better...for drink, and there are rules about that."

Inara was both grateful and suddenly reminded they were not alone by Kaylee's squeal of joy sounding as sharp as an icepick between her eyes. The expression of agony on Mal's face mirrored her own.

Simon finally took pity on them and promised to bring them both smoothers as he herded the rest of the crew out of the galley. "Let's give our patients some quiet."

"Aww, there had to be more than just kissin'," Jayne grumbled. "Hell, if it were me, I'd..."

"...get out of here before I deck you," Zoe threatened, as she followed everyone else out of the galley.

Mal stared into his coffee cup, not yet sure enough to look into Inara's eyes. "No regrets about last night, huh?"

She smiled. "About you preserving my honor? Not a one."

"I meant it, you know."

"Meant what?"

"The part about you bein' attractive. And about my enjoying the kissing."

Despite it making her feel like her face was going to crack in two, Inara couldn't help but smile even wider at his admission. "Well, we all go haywire at times and if we don't, maybe we ought to."

Mal gingerly returned her smile. "I will if you will, Miss Serra."