He’d been surprised and at the same time not surprised when they had landed on Persephone three weeks ago…and not taken off.

Mal had quietly turned down the various jobs that were offered.

The same way he’d kept them to prairie runs.

With Zoë heavily pregnant, a shoot out wasn’t any place they needed to be.

Still and all he could wish that Mal weren’t so damned determined to stand by her side.

The babies would be born in the infirmary, with the hospital nearby just in case.

But he needed someone who had a steady hand to assist him with the delivery.

And Mal was determined to hold her hand, putting him off the very short list of assistants.

Kaylee’d flat out refused, though he hadn’t asked…or intended to.

Much as he loved her, she just wasn’t someone he could count on to remain calm.

He’d been relieved when she’d refused, saving him from having to not ask.

He considered River, but she herself had told him to forget it.

That left Inara and Jayne.

Or rather that left Inara.

He’d been hesitant about approaching her.

She and the Captain were still dancing around each other.

He wondered if the crew had been as frustrated by his stupidity when he and Kaylee were still dancing around one another as he was with the Captain’s.

She was no longer a Companion.

Though he wondered if that was part of the problem.

She hadn’t left after Miranda, but she hadn’t renounced being a Companion.

Not that she’d had any clients.

But the wave that had been broadcast over the cortex from the Guild’s Central House declaring that Inara Serra was no longer a registered Companion and that anyone found dealing with her as such would no longer be welcomed by any registered companion had pretty much put paid to the possibility of any clients.

She hadn’t been upset, or even surprised by the wave, but the fact that she hadn’t quit but had been fired seemed to bother the Captain.

She stayed in the guest room she’d occupied since they’d “rescued” her, had taken over cooking, cleaning