“How...” Mal murmured. “How long has he been gone?”

Taking Mal’s hand into hers, Inara gave him a sad smile. The immunoboosters weren’t as fast-acting with Mal as Simon had hoped, and so he was still on a healthy dose of painkiller. Thus, Mal had no concept of time. “Two weeks,” she replied. “We fixed up Serenity as best we could, and we’ve been trying to track the Reaver ship.”

Mal closed his eyes. “*Two weeks,*” he whispered, and Inara thought he was about to cry. He did not. Instead, he opened his eyes again and stared at Inara. “I guess we can write Gab off as a loss then, huh?”

Vehemently, Inara shook her head. “Never. Knowing Gabriel, he probably killed all of the Reavers and is piloting the ship himself.”

Mal started to smile, but it didn’t take. “Yer lyin’ to me, Inara,” he decided. “Unless he got medical treatment right quick...” He cleared his throat. “Never mind that. Keep...” He rubbed his face sleepily with his good arm. “Are ya lyin’ to me, Inara?”

Placing a palm gently on Mal’s forehead, Inara leaned in and kissed him slowly. “*That was no lie,*” she breathed as she finally pulled away.

Mal grinned. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waitin’ fer that.”

Inara did it again, more fiercely this time. “How about that?”

Mal arched an eyebrow. “Somethin’s itchin’ at me ‘bout that not bein’ a Companion kiss.”

Inara nodded. “It was an Inara kiss.”

Mal nodded. “I’ll bet it was the best kiss you ever gave.”

Inara had no reply for that.

There were long moments of silence with Mal laying on the table and Inara holding his hand. “Do you wanna talk about it, Inara?”

Inara sighed, then shook her head. “I don’t know... I never have before.”

“You told me,” Mal reminded. “Though I don’t remember a lot of it. Chase? Was that his name?”

“Chance,” Inara corrected. “He... was a Browncoat. But I still loved him.”

Mal nodded. “An’ ya turned him in when he told ya he was plannin’ a Sihnon revolution.”

Inara released Mal’s hands and placed them in her lap as her shoulders sagged. “Yes,” s