Title: For the Job: chapter two Author: bookishtype Characters: Inara, Mal, River, Jayne Rating: PG Prompt: Several ways to break a promise Word Count: 438

Inara sighed. She shifted around her shuttle, the saloon dress fitted her snugly, pushing her breasts high and cinching her at the waist. It was ridiculous. Why she agreed to this was beyond explanation and now that they were landing planet side to complete the job made her even more annoyed. She was slutted up to the eyeballs looking like some cheap-yet-expensive whore and she had no idea who she was supposed to be entertaining while the others were off being the petty thieves they were. In her whole life as a Companion, Inara promised she would never play the ‘whore’. But here she was, Mal looked across at her “Are you always this nervous when you do your whorin’?” he asked, a smirk played on his lips. She threw him a look and turned away, this had better be worth the trouble, Inara thought, all those years of training on manners and style – all thrown to the darkness for this job.

They landed finally, the shuttle kangaroo-hopped a bit, and Inara fell forward on to Jayne who was sitting near her. “Hey!” he cried out. Inara pushed herself up off him, the last place she wanted be was sitting on Jayne’s lap dolled up like his whores back home. Mal walked over to her, “Now, now you leave some of those wiles for inside, Jayne don’t need to be serviced”, his face was serious but his voice held a humour to it. She noticed his eyes glanced quickly across her body.

Breathing in deep “You know I could simply stay here and let you walk out that door without your distraction”, she replied with some contempt in her voice. Mal chuckled at her response "You know, I really believe you would do that", and walked out the shuttle door. River passed by her and then slowed and looked back, “funny ol' man” and followed Mal out the door. Inara didn't know what to make of River sometimes. She went to reach for her shawl but was hindered by Jayne who stood next to her, saying nothing. She looked at him - he was staring at her breasts, his eyes glazed over. His hand reached up and grazed along the front of her dress. "Jayne!", Inara slapped him, he jumped, his hand snaked back down to his gun. “C’mon, Mal’d be wonderin' if ya givin' me a quickie or somethin'", he stalked past her and out the shuttle. Inara shook her head, sometimes she wondered, what on earth she was doing on Serenity, she reached down and grabbed her shawl off the bed and headed for the door.