TITLE: "HOME TRUTHS" AUTHOR: Alison M. DOBELL FANDOM: "FIREFLY" PAIRING: Wash/Zoe. Mal/Casey RATING: NC-17. STATUS: SEQUEL to "WILES" ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where. FEEDBACK: Welcomed. EMAIL: AlisonMDobell@aol.com WEBSITE: http://unilelu.net/Alison/Ali00.html

SUMMARY: "While Mal tries to solve his problem with Casey, Badger does some digging about his new shadowy employer." The usual disclaimers apply. The characters and 'Firefly' are the property and gift of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. No infringement of copyright is intended.

"HOME TRUTHS"

"Firefly" story

Written by Alison M. DOBELL

* * * * *

The Captain left it until the very last minute before retiring to his bunk. His eyes were weary and gritty, the lids so heavy it was a wonder he could keep them open enough to make it to his quarters. He paused by the hatch, noting it was shut not open. Hoping he would find it as empty as when he had left it over 24 hours ago. Mal shut his eyes and silently told himself to suck it up. Casey was a woman and a pregnant one at that. Being afraid of her cornering him was all manner of stupid yet still he felt his stomach twist as he opened his eyes and swung the hatch inward to climb down. It was empty. A relief so profound his knees felt weak made him also feel a mite guilty. After everything the poor woman had been through was it any wonder she had fastened on to the one person who hadn't hurt her? And was it any wonder he was determined not to break that trust?

Smiling to himself, the Captain undressed and pulled on some sleep pants then slid beneath the cool covers. Yawning he vowed not to worry about it any more but get some much needed rest. With luck things would look better come morning. With luck he might even have a plan.

* * * * *

It was not often that Badger had cause to reflect. He wasn't stupid but he also knew he was not as sharp as some. The new bully on the block had said they weren't staying. Just looking for some lost merchandise. Merchandise that now, apparently, was on Malcolm Reynolds' ship. Badger wasn't as smart as some but knew to cover what he didn't know by surrounding himself with people with any skills he lacked. Had to cover all eventualities in business. At least, if you wanted to be successful. And Badger was very successful. Had carved himself quite the little empire. King of the gorram hill. He didn't like being told what to do but when the lure of easy credits was added to a stack of gold how could he refuse?

Leonard hurried over to his boss as soon as he had finished fishing on the cortex. Badger's head came up, beady eyes sharp and impatient for news. "What did y'find?"

"No trace of anyone named Marcus Brunt but I found somethin' else." Leonard paused to suck his teeth, a nervous habit that put Badger on notice that the news was not good. "There's a corporation, buried deep beneath layers of partnerships and coalitions, called the Brunt Foundation. Not much on it except its' part of some cartel. Very big, very powerful. Boss, I don't like this. We're gettin' into somethin' we might not get out of."

"I'm well aware of that, Leo!" Snapped Badger. "When I want your opinion you can visit a medium, in the meantime we keep this quiet *dong ma*?"

Leonard looked at his *laoban* and nodded. A skinny sallow faced man with a permanent look of sadness on his face, the gloom he felt inside was pushed a little deeper. Maybe he was worrying for nothing. After all, Brunt wanted Reynolds. Or rather, whatever the good gorram that flying idiot had on his ship.

* * * * *

It was hard to sleep. Images unbidden kept slipping into her mind, teasing her with possibilities she could not bear to entertain and yet the woman was real. On this ship. She knew she was being unreasonable, giving in to a jealously that was not founded on fact but suspicion. Yet how could she deny the evidence of her eyes? Inara sat up and dropped the fiction that she would get any sleep this night. Every time she closed her eyes all she could see was that scheming *pofu* using any and every opportunity to cosy up to the Captain. Hands touching, body brushing, looking at him through those damned lashes as if he was the only man in the 'verse. Made her want to rip the woman apart.

Trembling a little from the strength of her flash of anger, Inara slid out from between the red silk sheets, automatically putting on her silk dressing gown. Inwardly she was willing herself to calm down, taking deep steadying breaths as she took out her incense and lost herself in ritual. For almost an hour she meditated, the beautiful smokey scent of sandlewood seeming to carry her troubles and concerns up into the ether. Feeling much more in control, Inara gracefully rose and sifted through her store of teas settling on the genmaicha. Water heated while she laid out her cup and saucer, her mind even more tranquil when the water had boiled and been added to the green tea, the bitterness muted and taken away by the rice and herbs. Just inhaling the aroma was a priceless gift, one that bowed her lips in pleasure.

By the time she had drunk her tea, Inara Serra felt in control again.

* * * * *

It was warm. No, make that hot. And yet cooling in an odd, localised sort of way. Not awake but not entirely asleep, the Captain began to stir. Gentle hands touched him with barely there caresses, a whisper stirred his consciousness coaxing him back to the depths of sleep. Tired as he was he needed no convincing. The hands paused, eyes watching his breathing even out and deepen. Sleep assured, they took up their self appointed task. Casey was determined not to wake him. For if Malcolm Reynolds woke he would surely send her away and that she could not bear.

Part of her was confused. When they were in the Alliance *jianyu* he had been different. More accessible to her. A warm body willing to share his warmth, his humour, even his touch. Now that they were on his ship it was as if she were a stranger. Did she embarrass him? Was he ashamed of her? But no, she didn't really think that. Right from the moment of their first meeting she had been intrigued by the contradictory sides of the man's nature. Now she was seeing those contradictions up close and Casey intended to learn each and every one of them until there was no part of him unknown. Mind and body, heart and soul. Her future and survival depended on this man. Oh, she knew he would not let her come to any harm while she was on his 'boat' but she wanted more than that. A stability not born of some archaic sense of doing the right thing or protecting those less fortunate. No. She wanted to carve a place for herself in his bedrock. A safe place with no more running and hiding.

* * * * *

Wash had been sleeping. Happily worn out by his beautiful, energetic and very sexy wife. The pilot thanked every star in the Black for having found someone who was not only his perfect lover but also his soulmate. That she loved him with equal depth and abandon never failed to touch his heart in ways that both scared and amazed him. There was nothing in the entire 'verse he would not do for Zoe. Nothing he would not give to make her happy, keep her safe. He turned his head and smiled. Zoe lay in the tangle of their limbs, her naked body still glistening with the aftermath of their exertions. A smile on her sleeping face that made Wash want to weep for joy. Leaning forward he dropped a kiss on to those lush lips, feeling his heart speed up when her dark sultry voice whispered against his warm lips proving she was not asleep after all.

"You tryin' to ravish me in my sleep, *zhangfu*?"

"You need ravishin', I can ravish."

She stretched languidly beneath him, eyes still closed, Wash taking in every devine inch of her as the sheet slid away hiding nothing.

"I love my wife." The words fell like a prayer from his lips, a sonnet, an offering to some Goddess of Love. Touching her skin was like walking on hallowed ground.

"Mmmm." Zoe's eyes opened, her smile widening at the look of adoration and lust on her husband's face.

They kissed and touched, nothing hurried, just a slow pleasurable journey into bliss. Wash rolled on top of her, one hand cupping an ample breast while the other slid between them. Eyes closing he paused, lids stuck half open as he stared.

Zoe's eyes widened a little, fastened on his as she noticed his distraction. "Wash? *Bao bei*, what is it?"

"We're gettin' a wave."

She blinked. "A wave?" The magic moment instantly vanished. "What time is it?"

Wash sounded grumpy but resigned as he slid apologetically out of bed and searched for his pants. "Still early. You should go back to sleep. I'll call you if it's anything that can't wait 'til mornin'."

The first mate was half recumbent, leaning back on her braced hands as she looked at Wash. "*Zhangfu*, if it could wait until mornin' we wouldn't be gettin' a wave now."

* * * * *

He woke fully roused, his breath catching in his throat as feelings mounted in him crying for release. With a groan his eyes flew open, unable to speak, hips pinned down while the wet heat of her mouth enclosed him bringing him closer and closer to the edge. The Captain braced a hand against the wall of his bunk, hardly daring to believe what was happening to him. Casey had someone managed to get herself down his ladder while he slept, the huge distortion of her swollen belly not seeming to have been any handicap. She was kneeling, straddling his hips, covers pushed to the floor and no sign of the pants he had been sleeping in.

Mal blinked and tried to bite back a moan, his body vibrating and aching to her gifted touch. The head of his shaft leaking in her mouth, her hands doing things he would never repeat in polite company. Or any other for that matter. She was drawing it out, hanging him over the edge but not letting him come properly. His senses reeling he was on the verge of begging but only his will stopped him. This wasn't right. She wasn't his and he wasn't hers. Having sex wasn't exactly the issue, it was what she would think his agreement to it meant.

"Casey...th..this can't be happenin'."

She smiled around her full mouth, the image sparking off things in Mal's brain that made him want to thrust into that ready cavern of pleasure. Oh, how he wanted to thrust! To let her let him rutt his brain out but he couldn't. Casey though was not into spectator sports. She slid a hand under him and teased, the finger stroking and burrowing looking for an entrance held so tightly puckered she wanted to laugh only she didn't want to send the wrong message. To have Mal think she was mocking him.

"D...don't do this. Th.. think of the b..baby."

Casey didn't answer in words. Leaning forward her warm lips captured his, stealing the air in his lungs, the hand between his legs still touching, caressing, each stroke and probe more intimate than the last. His shaft wet from where she had savoured him in her mouth, the cool air on wet skin making him shiver with the desire for her to finish what his own reticence had interrupted. All the reasons he couldn't let her do this were flying out of his head quicker than suicidal lemmings over a cliff. Her tongue danced with his, her mouth gaping around the kiss enough for him to suck in some much needed air. A finger pressed gently, setting up a dancing rhythym seeking entrance. Then it vanished, he breathed an inward sigh of relief only to gasp into her mouth when it returned seconds later, cool and slick and gliding past his defences. The intrusion distracted by the deepening of her kiss, then Casey shifted and her lips withdrew leaving him dazed.

Like a drunk trying to surface through a hangover he watched her head dip, her mouth finding him again, tongue licking the salty slit where he was leaking once more. His head thumped back against the pillow. "*Wode ma*, what you doin' to me woman." He groaned.

But he couldn't resist. Couldn't withstand the assault of mouth and fingers and over heated body just oozing sex and want and need. The heady aroma was affecting more than his judgement, pheromones thickening the air he breathed so that he could do naught but surrender just as she breached him. That wicked finger penetrating past the momentary pain until it struck his prostrate and he jerked as if electrocuted. Her soft throaty chuckle was his only warning before she began to suck in earnest, her finger stroking and probing his gland until he was bucking up into her eager mouth completely lost to the sensations taking over his sleeping libedo until he spilled like a fountain into her mouth. It had been too long. Too much of a desert between wanting and being wanted in return. He had held himself apart from casual sex, wanting it to mean more than the rutting of two over sexed people. He didn't want to have sex, he wanted to make love. Yet here was Casey proving that even he couldn't control the needs of the body to coset the needs of the heart.

* * * * *

CHINESE GLOSSARY: (Mandarin - Pinyin)

*dong ma* = understand? *laoban* = boss *pofu* = bitch *jianyu* = prison *zhangfu* = husband *bao bei* = precious/treasure *wode ma* = mother of God