Mal sighed as he stocked the kitchen with a crate full of Fruity Oaty Bars. Wash had gotten the crew hooked, and since then, they went through them like candy. As breakfast substitutes went, he hated these because they weren’t very nutritious and they weren’t very cheap either. But he considered it a decent investment, because any other cereal bar tended to get eaten only reluctantly or left to mold and fester until he had to throw half the stock away anyway. Fruity Oaty Bars were valued and cherished as a breakfast treat, and everyone kept a strict count on the stock so they all got their fair share. It helped tremendously with port-to-port rationing. One couldn’t sneak a Fruity Oaty Bar in the middle of the night without facing a general interrogation and reprimand in the morning. Mal kept a secret box stashed in his bunk for specifically that reason.

He looked over to the lounge area where Kaylee was resting on Inara’s lap, both curled up on a too-small couch. Beaumonde had become Mal’s preferred re-supply world after Inara had relocated there. She came to visit whenever they were in port. Since Kaylee still wouldn’t sleep in her bunk, he was sure the two women had been sitting on that couch most of the night. Although she clearly hadn’t slept, Inara was a picture of beauty and peace, with her hair pulled up in glittering pins and her purple dress fitting elegantly over her body. She stroked Kaylee’s face tenderly, like a mother soothing her young daughter.

“Want one?” Mal asked Inara, holding out his personal box of Oaty Bars to her. She smiled and shook her head. Mal went quickly to his bunk, tipped open the door, and tossed the box inside before anyone else saw. There was something so peaceful about having Inara on the boat that made him want to stay dirtside all the longer. But he had a job waiting and no time to dawdle. He returned to the dining room, took a few minutes to soak in the vision of Kaylee sleeping in Inara’s arms, then reluctantly went to wake his mechanic.

“Kaylee,” he called, adoptin