Malcolm Reynolds sat back from his plate with a satisfied groan, belly full and mind settled. The food had been good, fresh and well-prepared, the result of a well-paying job gone right. Serenity was flying, his crew were gathered round him, laughing and content and for gorram once not making a lick of trouble, and all was right in his 'verse.

Inara looked over at him then, a soft smile on her face. It was that soft smile that meant she wasn't pissed at him as of yet, and though it would take a lot to get her there, he better not push or she would. Sometimes that smile just egged him on, but tonight he liked the mellow contentment of his people too well to destroy it. He smiled back and she leaned in closer.

"Wash was telling me that we will be in dead space for two days."

Mal nodded. "True enough. Don't have a lot to worry about in dead space, long as nothing goes wrong with the ship." Little things like a catalyzer exploding, or a crazy-ass captain shooting him in the gut. No one had warned him when we went into the ship-flying business that Murphy had a special reserve collection of laws set aside just for captains of Firefly-class ships named Serenity.

"Then perhaps we should take advantage of the time, do something fun as a whole crew," Inara continued. She was batting those sparkly eyelashes at him as if their power alone was keeping Serenity going. They might, for all he knew.

"I don't know, folk don't want to get roped into any morale building exercises. Anyone on this ship needs their spirits lifted, I can find them work to do. It's an old proverb, you know. Work builds morale."

Inara did that trick where she looked up and gave the impression of rolling her eyes without being so crass as to actually do so. "Oh, come on, Mal. It doesn't have to be that way. I just meant that one should take an opportunity to have fun if it is presented to oneself."

Jayne leaned in from Mal's left and stuck his fork out, the waving tines practically taking off his nose, or an equally important eye. Mal