The Circular Irony Part 4 by Nailani Williams

Disclaimer: No Copyright Infringement intended so Joss put down the Sword of Infinite Truths!

Summary: After the BDM. Zayne, M/I, S/K, R/OC pairing. Taking place after the events of “The Bravest Thing” and “The Welcoming Committee”. When Mal gets a job on Persephone he realizes he’s transporting a new generation of Browncoats, who have their own special person straight out of the Alliance Academy. Meanwhile Zoe and Jayne work out their working relationship and River gets a new creep-a-fying boyfriend.

Rating: PG-13

A/N: Lookit! Another chapter! I’m on a roll.

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Simon:

I had a headache, partly because of River, mainly because of Mal. How stupid was he to just sign on to a job without learning who he was dealing with. I was pretty much waiting for him to show his face at supper tonight so I could tell him just how stupid I felt he was when Inara came in made her feelings known. After that my anger vanished. It must’ve been some kind of money to get him to blindly except like that. And the infirmary was still short on supplies. If we could save lives and restock the infirmary at the same time it was a good thing. I would just have to be extra careful with River.

Inara glowed at supper, literally, I saw her glowing… like there was a halo over her that no one else could see. I always found Inara to be exceptionally beautiful like all Companions were, but tonight there was something different about her and I gave myself a headache trying figure it out.

I went to the little drawer inside the examining table and pulled out two tablets of acetaminophen, for my headache. I choked when I saw Kaylee in the doorway her arms folded across her chest, one eyebrow raised. I knew I had to apologize for my behavior this morning. I tried early , but she gave me the cold shoulder.

“Hey,” I said, when I got my breath back. She sashayed into the room quietly and my heart sped up. I wondered just how angry she was at me warily. She stopped when she was in front