A/N: Here it is - the big rescue - will everyone make it out alive? You'll have to read on to find out ...

Thanks to Leiasky for the beta.

Inara awoke abruptly, any remnants of her nightmare evaporating into nothing as she did her best to gain her bearings. Blinking rapidly, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly: her shuttle, of course. Wrapping her blanket tighter about her body, Inara scooted up towards the head of her bed, resting her back against the headboard. Tipping her chin back, she took another deep breath.

She’d been dreaming about her son. Or, more accurately, a baby boy who she believed to be her son. He’d been crying and screaming and no one had gone to help him. And Inara, his mother, had been helpless, forced to stand on the sidelines, unable to comfort him, unable to even find him through the inky blackness that had surrounded her. She had been forced to listen to him scream.

Shivering slightly at the memory, she opened her eyes again and slowly swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Rising, she made her way across the shuttle, to the small bathroom. Splashing cold water on her face, she felt a bit better, but not much. Her nerves had been shot since they’d left Sihnon and she found her appetite almost non-existent. Of course, when she attempted to choke down food, she invariably saw it again when she threw it up a few hours later, but at least she was making the attempt. She was actually relieved that this whole business was almost done.

Inara wanted to help Kaylee and her family, but she also felt the strain of being separated from Mal for so long a time. She missed him, in a way she rarely had before. There was so much she’d discovered in the time he’d been gone, so much they hadn’t talked about and Inara found it distancing to know she was carrying such burdensome secrets. Despite what Mal may accuse her of, she did want to share her life – her whole life – with