Shepherd was sitting on the couch, thumbing through his little Bible and looking mighty feared as to what was coming our way. Kaylee kept on staring towards the front of the shuttle, chewing her bottom lip and trying not to look like the little kid she really was. I sniffed... that damn smell again.

I kicked up, pushin' past Kaylee and heading towards Inara's bed.

"Jayne," Kaylee warned. "That's private."

"Don't care," I mumbled, pushing the curtain and lookin' inside.

"How'd you like it if I went through your private stuff?"

I turned to her and grinned. "Why, little Kaylee..."

"Oh, God." She groaned and turned her head away.

Snickering, I started to go back into Inara's sleeping area, but she'd gotten away from the controls and stepped in front of me. "I'll thank you to stay out of my personal space."

"That's funny, considerin' how many people been in your personal space this month alone. Figured you might enjoy it just a tad."

She smiled. "There are people I invite... and then there's you."

I poked my head into the curtain again and she pushed me back. "Look, I keep... smellin' something. What'd you do to this shuttle? It was workin' just fine 'fore Mal rented it out to ya. Now there's some kinda..." I waved my hand in front of my face, "...funk floatin' around in it."

"You come into my shuttle... there's a stink in my shuttle. Are the complexities of mathematics as lost on you as the idea of bathing is?"

I frowned at her. "No."

She laughed.

"No! Look, there's a stink and it ain't comin' from me, so hush up. It's... like... burnin'. I think you blew somethin' back here."

"Burning?" Inara asked. She walked to the side of her bed and picked up a tiny little bowl. She held it out to me; smoke was drifting up outta the top. "Is this it?"

I sniffed. "Hoe-tze duh pee-goo!" I stepped back, putting' my hand over my nose. "What is that gos se?"

"Incense," Inara said simply, putting the bowl back on her table. "Now please, kindly return to where you were sitting before."

"Sure burnin' that stuff is smart? Takin' up oxygen like that when oxygen is kinda important to us stayin' livin'..."

"It calms me."

"How does ass-fixiation calm ya? That'll slow your heartbeat right quick."

"Excuse me for needing a little relaxation."

"Yeah, whorin' really takes it outta ya, I hear."

Her eyes were wet and she looked away, so I knew I'd got her. She looked at me again with her lips tight. "If you're worried about oxygen consumption, maybe we should plug your ears. That vacuum must be sucking up a lot of our reserves."

"Vacuum...?"

"The empty space between your ears, dear."

"Now, look here, Inara. I'm a little fed up with--"

"Stop it!" Kaylee shouted. She was rocking back and forth, hugging her knees. "Just... all this arguin' is just as bad as burnin' anything. And I like 'Nara's incense. So... stop it." She put her face against her elbow.

Inara walked over to her and said, "I'm sorry, méi-mei." She looked at me again before goin' back to the front of the shuttle.

I considered fighting some more, but I figured I wasn't getting nowhere anyhow. "Fine. You ladies wanna get your rocks off smelling some rotten flowery burnin' stick, be my guest." I put my feet up on the table and sniffed. "Tell ya what we oughta be doin', we oughta be turnin' back for Mal." Inara came back in and I held up my hands in surrender. "All right, all right, I'll shut up."

"No," Inara said, lookin' at Kaylee and Book. "You may have just said something useful."

Book raised his eyes from his Bible. "Wonders truly never cease..."

Whatever *that* meant.