So, this is my first ever Firefly Fic. I woke up half an hour ago with this in my head, and scribbled it down, and here it is. I ususally write things better when I don't take my time... anyway, it hasn't been beta-d or anything, so feel free to call me up on anything. I am in the middle of a much longer S/K piece, this one just sort of popped out. Also, just so we're clear, I am English. In the Harry Potter fandom, fan fiction writers get a LOT of stick for writing Americanisms into their work. So I figure it's only fair that I get the same treatment. If any Britishisms annoy you, PLEASE let me know and I will try to fix it. Enjoy (please!)

Once you know

Inara was sitting on her bed, thinking, when Kaylee bounced into the shuttle, skipped over to her, and flopped down on the bed beside her, beaming up at her friend.

“It’s true what they say,” Kaylee told her, in the same blissful, relaxed tone she’d been speaking in all week.

“What’s that, mei mei?” Inara inquired, amused.

“It really is better when you’re in love,” Kaylee wiggled her eyebrows a little, ensuring that Inara didn’t miss the full meaning of her statement.

Inara allowed herself an indulging smile. “Is that so?”

“It surely is,” Kaylee murmured, her eyes fluttering closed.

Inara giggled. “So, top marks for Simon then?”

Kaylee’s eyes flicked open at once, now filled with a mischievous glint that spread to her wicked smile. “I’ll say.” She licked her lips. “I dunno how he got to be so good, but I don’t think he learned it at medical school!”

Inara reached down and stroked her friends her, resigning herself to the play by play she had known she would receive all week. “Tell me,”

Kaylee closed her eyes once more, as if to allow her self to fully access her memories. “It aint like sex I’ve ever had before ‘Nara. It’s different. Sometimes it’s real slow, when we’re tired, an’ we barely even move, we just lie there kissing, an’ it’s …” she trailed off, unable to find an adequate word.

Inara simply watched her, silently urging her to continue.

“And sometimes, if’n I’m working in the engine room late, an’ I’m thinking about him … by the time I get my hands on him I just can’t think anymore, I just grab him, an’…” she giggled. “That’s always pretty incredible.”

She paused, her face relaxing into a gentler smile.

“And sometimes,” she began, and her voice had taken on a new tranquil quality, “sometimes, it’s like he’s trying to prove how much he loves me. And he just let’s me lie back and then…oh, ‘Nara. I didn’t know it was possible to feel so good.”

Inara remained silent, still stroking the mechanic’s soft hair.

“An’ it aint even just the sex,” Kaylee went on. “It’s before… and it’s after, when we just lie there talking. ‘Nara, we talk about everything, and anything, and I dunno why I love it so much. It’s like I wanna know everything about him, ‘bout his past, ‘bout working at the hospital, ‘bout growing up with River… an’ he asks me stuff too, ‘bout growing up on Harvest, ‘bout Serenity…” she gave a pleasant sigh. “It’s in between, too. Through the day when he comes an’ finds me jus’ to tell me…”

Inara raised her eyebrows. “So the magical words have been spoken then,” she asked, slightly surprised and impressed by the usually reserved doctor.

Kaylee looked up at her friend, her eyes wide and innocent. “O’ course ‘Nara. There aint no point in waiting to say ‘em, once you know.”

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, each lost in her own thoughts.

“What does it feel like?” Inara asked quietly. “To hear those words from someone you love?”

Kaylee thought about the question, a small smile on her face.

“When you hear ‘em,” she started after a moment, “It’s like… it’s like you been waiting your whole life, for something, an’ you don’t know what. An’ then you hear those words, ‘an you know … that’s what you was waiting for. You know that wherever you are … flying out in the black, struggling to get by on the rim, or living in the core … you know that, so long as he’s there … you’re safe. You’re home.”

A single tear ran down Inara’s face. She looked around her shuttle, her home. She looked at her beautiful décor and fine possessions, and wondered if they were what made it a home. And then she looked at the door and thought about a certain captain who never knocked, and knew that they weren’t.

Fin.