“An’ you just left him?” Kaylee gapped at Inara in astonishment. The gentle shudder of the small shuttle as it hit atmo barely registered.

“I had to,” Inara said briskly and quickly went through the pre-entry sequence. A small frown tugged at her lips and she finally sighed her face softening into something like regret. “It… it wasn’t easy,” she said softly. “He’s just so…” her lips tightened and a look of exasperation twisted her lips. “gorram stubborn.”

The curse sounded odd coming from the Companion’s lips, but Kaylee nodded wisely in agreement. If there was one thing the Captain was, it was stubborn. “He gets like that,” Kaylee said quietly. “‘Specially about stuff he cares about. Not that he’d ever admit to carin’ about anything except the ship.”

”Hmm.” Inara made a noncommittal noise of agreement, but the slightly fiery look in her eyes revealed a little more heat behind that bland sound.

“Not that he don’t care,” Kaylee said quickly. “I just don’t think he’s… comfortable ‘bout showin’ it.” She looked at the elegantly dressed woman who was proficiently landing the shuttle. “Know what I mean?”

Inara sighed and couldn’t repress her the eye roll of annoyance. “Yes very much so.” The small craft settled to earth with a small bump and Inara went through the post-landing procedures. She ignored the silent, insistent call that blinked to life.

Kaylee nibbled at a ragged fingernail and then looked at Inara again with anxiety. “You sure he was ok? Now what happened again?”

Inara sighed and thought back to the overwhelming terror she had been put through a week ago. Mal had been on the way “out” when she was coming back from one of her “diplomatic missions.”

Inara motioned Kaylee to follow her into the back of the small vessel. “I’ll tell you while you’re getting ready.” Kaylee’s face paled a little but she set her jaw with determination and began to strip out of the familiar jumpsuit she usually wore. “Sit,” Inara commanded and Kaylee settled nude, and not a little uncomfortably, onto the soft covering of Inara’s bed. Inara pulled out a small wooden box and began to prepare the mechanic. She had done her own preparations before entering the atmosphere of the planet.

“I should have told them,” Kaylee said in a tiny voice. She sounded guilty, a little lost, and scared, but then Inara concluded that Kaylee had a right. What she was doing was very dangerous.

Inara shook her head. “You know that what we are doing has to be done with the utmost secrecy. Not telling was for the best. Although, I think the Preacher might show them your message now." She smiled at the memory of that emotional moment when they had recorded it months ago. Even to her own ears she didn’t sound convinced about keeping silent. It had become doubly difficult of late to keep her own work a secret from the crew. The closer she grew to them, the harder it became.

Maybe that was why Book had joined her on the decks of Serenity. Had he worried that she was being compromised? After all, it was he who had pointed her in the ship's direction. The astute man had to have known the affect the crew would have on her. Or maybe he had run out of time himself and needed a place to hide. Whatever the reason, the months of careful acting had not been easy, even for a Companion as highly trained as herself.

Even now, Kaylee's didn't have the full knowledge of Inara's role in Book's plans. The mechanic still thought that Book had asked for Inara's help after joining the crew. They had left Kaylee suspended on her own conclusions. Inara was sure that in the end, even what she had been told was probably half-truths and lies. The Preacher's plan was a mystery even to her. Why had she agreed to help him? Because his arguments were so persuasive.

If only there had been more time… if they could have gotten Kaylee away from the ship for a longer period of time without suspicion. But Mal wouldn’t have let Kaylee easily leave for the time they needed to accomplish their task. He would have wanted explanations. And nothing short of death or kidnapping would have accounted for Kaylee's absence from Serenity past the three-month mark they had given.

Inara remembered tiredly the last month and how driven Mal had been to find Kaylee. It had been difficult to watch him struggle through all the horrors he imagined the girl being in. Nor had it been easy to convince Kaylee to go along with the deception and join in their cause.

Inara reflected warily that if there was one person beside Zoe whom the Captain felt close to it was Kaylee. But then Kaylee was hard not to like, and Inara was sure that if they hadn’t viewed each other in a purely professional and later sibling light, the two would have been a couple. Kaylee was exactly the kind of warm, earthy light that Mal needed in his life.

She had been surprised when he agreed so easily to slow their search. She remembered that at the time she’d been grateful for the break. Inara knew that it was only a matter of time before Mal found out where and what Kaylee was doing. He was just to persist and smart. She had let her relief blind her though and left the ship to accompany Kaylee on her latest mission, coming back to find Mal stealing out.

Inara paused in her careful ministrations and stood, arching backwards, trying to ease the tight muscles in her lower back. She ran her eyes critically over Kaylee’s body, admiring her handy work and the young girl's voluptuous figure. The pattern was coming along nicely. “You should have seen him when I threatened to wake up the whole ship if he left without me,” she said with amusement. “He threatened to tie me up and stuff me under my bed.”

Kaylee shook her head in amazement, but Inara could see the sorrow and stress tightening at the corners of her eyes. “Fei hua,” Kaylee said and shook her head. “The Captain would never hurt you.”

Inara shrugged elegantly and returned to her knees and work. “I don’t know if he would have or not. But I am glad he took me along.”

Mal had left for Persephone, Inara a day behind him, racing to catch up. She had had to lie to the group again, feigned disinterest and contempt at Mal’s recklessness. She had joined him at the agreed meeting spot, surprised he had waited. Their journey had taken a couple days in the small craft to reach Persephone.

“So did anything… you know… happen,” Kaylee asked mischievously. “Seein’ as how you two were alone in the shuttle for two whole days... and nights.”

Inara grinned in spite of herself. Kaylee was a hopeless romantic and she was sure that at some point in her life she had been one too. Her life as a Companion involved romance, but not the kind that Kaylee dreamt of. the lifelong, earth shattering, all consuming passion kind. Her smile dimmed a notch and she pushed aside the thought of those unsettling two days. How would Inara face Mal next time she saw him. It felt like so much had changed. “Are you going to let me finish this story or not?” she said with light amusement.

When they arrived finally on the planet Mal had made it clear that she was to do her “whoring” while he went and talked. For no reason was she to come and find him. She was only there because it had been too much trouble to bind and gag her. Apparently he hadn’t trusted what Badger had told him and decided to scout out the situation before meeting the man face to face.

“I don’t know why Badger attacked Mal,” Inara whispered and carefully ran the thin brush around the curve of Kaylee’s navel. “Mal didn’t say.” Her fingers shivered and the perfect line shook with them. “But one of my more… shady contacts found me and told me Mal was in danger.”

She sat back on her heels and looked at the carefully drawn five-petal, stylized rose she had sketched on Kaylee’s lower abdomen. “I had him contact one of his associates to discretely watch what was going on.”

Inara stood and drew the girl to her feet, leading her to the small table and chairs that sat in the room. She motioned for Kaylee to sit, and gather a hairbrush to straighten the girl’s tousled hair.

“I was contacted and told to come quickly. But that it might be too late.” She began to draw the brush through Kaylee’s thick brown hair, watching the girl’s shoulder tighten with apprehension at the telling.

Inara remembered with dreaded the secluded spot her guide had taken her too. His brethren had hurried out of the shadows, telling them that Badger and his men had left moments before. She had feared for a moment that the man had lead her into an ambush, and prepared herself to fight. But he had hurried towards a spot where blood soaked the ground. The three of them had spent several panicked minutes searching. It was she who stumbled upon the freshly turned dirt. And it was she who had fallen to her knees digging franticly at the ground.

They hadn’t buried him deeply. The shallow box they had put him in, bound and gagged, prevented any movement. There was no possibility, even if he had been free, of clawing his way out. She had looked upon his bloody, pale face and felt her heart stop, thinking he was dead.

“I think that would have been a kindness though. He was still…” she faltered to a stop and put the brush down. “I couldn’t believe they actually buried him alive.”

Kaylee whimpered a second time in dismay. “Wuo de ma,” she whispered hoarsely. Some how the retelling of it hadn’t lessened the horror of the act. She stood motionless as Inara silently helped her into an intricate, yet surprisingly revealing green dress. The painted rose was a deep red on her stomach, disappearing into the waist of the graceful skirt she wore. The silence hung heavy in the small cabin as both women contemplated the near death of Malcolm Reynolds. Each had their reasons to be deeply shaken by that possibility.

Inara’s face was a tight mask of neutrality. Mal had been silent and angry through the trip back to her deserted shuttle. Two days in hot, boiling, angry silence. Inara hadn’t felt the need to break it. She didn’t know if Mal had been mad at her for disobeying his orders or the fact that the lead had been another dead-end. She had seen the opportunity, even as the plan that formulated in her mind sickened her. They finally arrived at her shuttled. She could remember the harsh words of reprimand and anger she had calmly spat at Mal while he sat quietly in the pilot’s chair.

“I told him that I felt he was thoughtless and irresponsible. That I was disgusted by how he had acted and that I regretted being involved,” she said. Inara carefully smoothed Kaylee’s hair against the bared skin of her back. Her hands trembled and she carefully gathered one into the other, clenched to still the unsettling movement. She had left him, and told him that she didn’t know when she would be back. He didn’t even protest the loss of his precious shuttle. It had been the perfect opportunity to join Kaylee, and not have the crew know about what she was doing. “I told him that I regretted that we had...” she stopped mid-sentence, lips tight.

Kaylee turned and enfolded Inara in a tight hug. The dark-haired woman returned the embrace and the two stood a long moment holding each other tightly, letting the combined pain between them spread and then dissipate. Inara pulled back and sighed shakily.

Kaylee stroked Inara’s hair in a smooth, soothing gesture. “Captain will understand. But we should have told them. No matter what the Preacher said.”

"I don't know if I really care if he does understand," Inara said harshly. Wasn't Mal more trouble then he was worth most of the time?

Kaylee turned, tears staining her face, and settled in front of the small mirror. She hastily wiped the tears away. “It’s ok. We’re both in this together now.” She smiled a little nervously and began to carefully apply makeup to her face.

Inara hugged herself for a moment and then smiled a little sadly at Kaylee. “I’m glad you’re here.” She hesitated. “I know you miss Simon.”

Kaylee stiffed for a second and then went back to outlining the lid of her eye. “Don’t matter. I’ll be seein’ him soon,” she said firmly.

Inara looked at Kaylee’s steady hand, and couldn’t help but admire the chance she had gone through in the past months. Kaylee had grown. She was no long quite so idealistic, but still somehow maintained her wonder and adoration of the world around her. Simon was going to be quite surprised when his new psudeo-girlfriend came back to him.

Inara smoothed silky fabric over her hips and took a deep breath, finding the tranquil center that rested at the heart of every trained Companion. “Are you ready?” Inara asked calmly.

Kaylee looked at her appearance one last time and then nodded. “ I believe I am ready,” she said in a verbal-style and accent not her own. She stood and approached Inara. They stared at one another silently. Two beautiful women, one of dusky sensuality, the other an earthy goddess. Kaylee took a deep breath and a similar pleasant serene mask settled over her features. One reflected the other. Only Kaylee’s eyes held the hint of doubt… the trembling edge of fear. Inara reached out and took Kaylee’s hand. “You are beautiful,” she reminded softly. Kaylee closed her eyes, her mouth opening to let out a soft breath, when she opened them the dark emotions were gone.

Inara nodded and approached the console of the ship.

“Shuttle to Ariel Command Base One.”

“This is Alliance Base One, Shuttle. State the reason for your visit.”

“I believe we have an appointment. Two Companions for a Major Wextly and a Colonel Reist.”