Inara opened her eyes to see her own shuttle around her...and Mal asleep next to her. It looked as though he had tripped and fallen asleep halfway to the bed; it wouldn't actually surprise her if that was the truth. He had probably been pushing himself past his limits again...he seemed to do that often enough.

He stirred in his sleep and mumbled something about gardeners before trying to roll over using his right arm. His sharp intake of breath and the suddenly alert eyes wrenched at her heart. She tried to sit up and found a dull ache where previously she had felt a throbbing chorus of agony. She looked to him for answers...he was now cradling his arm and looking at the ceiling.

"Mal?" she tried. He looked at her and smiled tightly.

"Still stings a bit," he offered as explanation.

"I can see that," she smiled. He sat up carefully and looked at her with new concern in his face.

"We thought you'd be more comfortable in here," he said softly. "Shoulda seen us all carrying a corner of the stretcher. Next time we might just let you stay in the infirmary. I think Jayne's stitches ripped halfway here."

"Jayne's stitches?" she repeated his words back to him. He mentally kicked himself for the slip. It was the real reason he had insisted they bring her back to the shuttle. He didn't want her to know how bad things were just yet.

"Seems you and I weren't the only ones receiving guests," he admitted. "We're tryin' to suss out who sent them, though, so don't worry. Just rest."

"Who would--" Inara stopped herself with a shake of her head. She rephrased her query. "Who is on the short list?"

"Changes with every bit of information I get," Mal sighed. "Seems everyone on this boat wrote a letter with just enough hint at where we were that it could be anyone from the Alliance hunting River again to Jayne's mother looking for new knitting projects."

"I highly doubt Jayne's mother would attempt to kill us just for knitting projects," Inara replied drily. Mal looked at her with his doubt