Here's another chapter. Hope you like. Feedback welcome, posting on a another site is welcome if I get proper credit.

THE JOB (PartIV)

He wasn’t sleeping well. After the third nightmare that night, he decided to go sit on the bridge and look at the stars. If it was this bad already, how was he going to last the six months he was committed to this run? Every time he closed his eyes, he saw visions of all the people he loved burning in the fiery inferno that used to be their home. Maybe he’d better get something from the Doc to help him sleep. ‘Course that’d mean he’d have to tell him why he wanted it. And Malcolm Reynolds was a private man; he didn’t much fancy passing his troubles on to someone else. A man should be able to deal with his own problems.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t hear her approach. "Having trouble sleeping?"

He jumped, startled by the unexpected voice. "What are you doing up this late?"

"Couldn’t sleep so I thought I’d come look at the stars." Strictly speaking, that wasn’t true, but Inara had figured he would be having nightmares and she knew he often came up here when he did. This was actually the third time that night that she had checked to see if he was there.

They both stared at the stars for a few minutes, neither one sure exactly what to say to the other.

Inara got up her courage and spoke first. "This job is tearing you apart, isn’t it?"

"I’m fine. It’s just another place."

"Mal, you know you’re not fine. I know you’re not fine. Gorramit, even Jayne knows you’re not fine. I want to help. Please, Mal, let me help."

"It’s good of you to offer and don’t think I don’t appreciate it, Inara. But there ain’t really nothing as can help right now."

Well that was progress of a sort. At least the stubborn man had finally admitted he was hurting. "Mal, do you believe I know my job and that I’m pretty good at it?"

"Well, I don’t expect they’d sent you out to Companion if the Guild didn’t think you knew your business. What’s that got to do with it?"

"Then trus