Chapter 6: All in the Details

Zoë was waiting for them, her legs crossed casually as she strummed her fingers on the table. Inara smiled in greeting and the other woman nodded but her eyes were on Mal. The Captain looked suitably sour and with a quick glance at Inara, Zoë could easily read why. Rolling her eyes to the ceiling, she tried hard not to seem too irritated with her captain's foot-in-mouth syndrome and Inara's ability to aggravate it.

"Well," Mal said as he dragged up the chair at the head of the table. "Guess what I found out today."

Inara muttered something under her breath that could have only been derogatory but Mal ignored her. Zoë glanced at the Companion quickly before focussing back on Mal. "What is that, Sir?"

He leaned forward, resting on his elbows as he grinned. "I've got a price on my head."

Zoë couldn't help but give an exasperated sigh. " Gou pi ."

"Nope, it's all actual fact."

"And you're proud of this?" Inara asked incredulously. "You could have been killed today." That made Zoë look at him hard and Mal brushed a hand over his mouth.

"Well, that's true."

"You don't think, sir, that your death might inconvenience us at all?" Zoë asked. "I'm not ready to inherit Serenity, you know."

"Inconvenience you?" Mal asked, blinking.

"I've got people to take care of, sir. Lord knows sometimes I feel like your mother as it is," Zoë answered and Inara smiled. The two women both began to share a wry look and Mal crossed his arms over his chest.

"I knew I should have regretted getting women on my boat," he muttered underneath his breath. Zoë shrugged and then put her hands on the table again. "It's on the Cortex. Nice fat price on my head in Persephone, but nowhere else strangely."

"Badger?"

"Badger."

Zoë slowly released her breath out her nose and then nodded. Inara glanced between the two of them and Mal nodded toward Zoë. "We had a run in with him about six months ago. He didn't take kindly to us takin' his one client away from him. Ha