Disclaimers : Everything belongs to Joss, except for one character of my creation

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**Mousing over the Chinese should reveal the English translations on most browsers. If not, translations follow the story.

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“What was the stop this morning?” Alex asked Simon groggily. He had upped her pain medication enough that she’d slept most of the day; but the stop at the training house registered.

“We dropped Inara off,” Simon answered, and at that Alex came fully awake.

“Huh? Dropped Inara off where?”

She tried to rise up on her elbows, and winced as she did. Simon pushed her gently back down.

“She left...to work at a Companion training house, or somesuch.” He answered almost absently as he pushed buttons on the IV pump to adjust the flow rate.

Alex frowned, an uneasy feeling coming over her. “What prompted that?”

Simon shrugged and gave her an odd look. “Not sure. Why?”

Alex decided not to pursue it. “It’s nothing,” she murmured. She recalled her conversation with Kaylee, during her transport to the prison, about Inara and Mal. Kaylee had been concerned that Mal’s encounter with Alex might further complicate things. Alex tried to assure her she was only a blip on the radar, and wouldn’t mean anything in the grand scheme. Now she wasn’t so sure.

“When did she decide to leave?” she asked, opting to pursue it after all.

Simon looked at her curiously.

“A few weeks ago. I’m not sure exactly.”

Alex hesitated.

“You sure you don’t know why?”

“No, sorry. I don’t.” He checked the connections on her IV line and smiled at her. “Good news,” he said.

“What?”

“I’m pulling your feeding tube—you get to try some real food today.”

Alex felt her stomach roll. She made a face.

“Sounds yucky right now.” She patted her stomach and smiled a small smile. “’Course, the critter here would prob’ly disagree.”

Simon was quiet a long moment before he spoke again.

“This is almost cer