This is based on the Firefly 'verse created by Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy Productions, and all characters and other things in that 'verse belong to him alone.

Comment, please! I'm a sucker for comments, good or bad, plus this is my first time, so I really wanna know if I did good or not.

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She had never been a part of the crew. He hadn't let her. He knew once he did that, he'd lose her. Shipboard relations always caused problems. As long as she was just a passenger, he could handle it, but if he gave in, made her crew... he'd never get to sleep with her. To make love to her.

To love her.

Inara Serra looked up at the man in front of her. The fact that he held a gun didn't seem to frighten her at all. "As I have already made clear, Sir, we had a deal. A business transaction. If you feel it necessary to revisit the terms, but I warn you, a black mark in the Client Registry is not to be taken lightly. If you renege on this deal, no Companion will ever contract with you, ever again."

The bumbling man looked as if he were having a hard time sorting that out. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Normally, his application would have never been considered, but since Mal had been layed up, she'd secretly taken a role in some of the crew's jobs.

Hence the man staring her down with a gun. "You say you'd mark me in your regismastry?" She once again resisted the temptation to show him just how little she thought of him.

"Yes, if you try to break our dea..." She didn't get any further, because that was the moment the man's trigger finger took over his limited brain function.

Even as the bullet ripped through her side and spun her hard to the ground, the man was riddled with holes by Jayne and Zoe, hidden just out of sight. Within moments, she could feel Zoe leaning over her, checking her wounds.

"Tamade hundan, Jayne, get her on the mule, ma shong! We gotta get he